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What are the advantages and attributes of anime that draw you to it as a medium in contrast to live action or even other types of animation?
sorry for the late reply and thanks for the question!
there are lots of personal reasons that i'll try list later but the most important one is, i guess, similar to kojima's love for cinematography. he often talks about how movies and cinema was his retreat in younger years, how it filled him with inspiration and energy to create, and how he is 'at home' in cinemas even now, years later.
my attitude toward anime - something i discovered for myself in my early/mid-teens - is very similar. it's one of the few constants in my life that has been giving me strength, inspiration, and joy. it's also something that prompted me to start writing, brought me my most life-changing and meaningful bonds, and was there as a distraction, emotional support, and entertainment in the most challenging and stressful moments.
i did try to branch out during my 2nd-3rd years of uni in the attempt to become a more 'multifaceted' and/or apt conversation partner. those years were when i barely watched anime - ongoings or otherwise - and instead focused on movies and tv series. (i still think i watched everything there was for me to watch, haha, although i know that anyone keeping up with the industry would disagree.) it's not that i didn't enjoy what i watched and even had a few faves among actors/actresses. still, somehow, when i stopped being hung up on pleasing others with my knowledge/interests in conversations, i ended going back to anime/anime-aesthetics things, even despite a lengthy pause. so you could say i just subconsciously gravitated to it after a conscious effort to try something else.
now, i feel like i'm even more accepting of anime as a medium than before - not sure if it's because of the significant title counter or my age. i used to be very picky about what to watch, but now i see some charm and beauty even in old/kids' shows or something that isn't rated >7 on MAL. likewise, i don't perceive watching some mainstream 'meh'-stuff as a waste of time - sometimes just seeing a thing first-hand and making your own judgment feels worthwhile.
the personal, subjective, and mildly controversial 'advantages' of anime for me are:
- inherently japanese ideas/outlooks/cliches that i find more relatable and endearing than the popular western ones.
- aethetics removed from reality (+lack of real people as a pro for a misanthrope).
- extremely low risks of encountering a sudden het sex scene, lol.
- high risks of encountering lgbt agenda in any form.
- creativity-friendliness (bc personally, i'm not too comfortable with writing rpf or even something about characters portayed by actors).
- VA scene which i've known longer and am more well-versed in compared to any hollywood cast.
- many great instrumental OSTs and not just 'mix tapes' with 'Various Artists' as the background music. not too many movies/series had much to offer in the OST department for me; even herr Zimmer sadly got repetitive to me with time.
- the very fact that 90% anime are adaptations of light novels/manga/games makes it an opposite to "streaming companies' churning of content for consumption" for me and more of a "marketing campaign for an OG material" promotion. while it doesn't always positively affect quality (as doesn't content-churning, to be fair) but the goal itself is something i can easier get behind.
i guess, that's it? i don't believe that anime is 'better' than any other medium but it's certainly better personally for me. i admit that this preference makes me a conversation partner of a questionable and limited interest, hah, but it's something i've long accepted as a downside. besides, this definitely doesn't make unaccepting or unsupportive of others' interests and i'm always open to recs and exchange of mutual nature.
I absolutely LOVE your take on gender and identity, speaking as a trans person who is (in some contexts, mostly for the spiteful aspect, LOL) very fond of microlabels. Everyone lives life differently! Even understanding of what labels mean can vary so much between people with different life experiences. I have so many feelings about this... It's so cool to see someone with such a smart, nuanced and thoughtful take on the subject. So, thank you!
thank you!! i think everything about people's psyche and mentality is never clear cut and requires nuance in understanding. i can get where the confusion or lack of relatability comes (= different personal experiences, no communication with people who do have these experiences), but can't grasp what causes pure aggression or fear in some.
the topic of gender has, admittedly and sadly, become a political instrument, so people tend to see only 2 major stances in attitude to it - fully support or completely discard. but each side has extremes i can't get behind.
to elaborate on 'what can even be extreme in fully supporting freedom of gender expression?' - i was recently approached by a person online who claimed to be 'trans' because of being 'trans-body'. as in, all food made them nauseous and they hated to eat as well as "be covered with skin". they didn't explain right away but when they did, i cautiously suggested that maybe it was a mental rather than just a gender issue that they should address. i was called transphobic and a few days after they deleted their profile.
i'm not an expert in diagnosis or trans experiences - this just sounded life-threatening to me. i was shut down with one word and i simply stepped back bc i'm just a stranger. but what if people (including doctors) who genuinely want to help this person address their disorder aren't listened to either and are just branded 'phobic'? what if there are people who (possibly gen-z, fearful of appearing transphobic to this person) support them in "you're so valid, yes, burn your skin off"? the dangerous paradoxical extreme is see here is: if we put a complete veto on questioning personal experiences (which are definitely difficult to question, due to being innately personal), we inadvertently let people with other mental illnesses "find a loophole" to stay undiagnosed and at risk...
i agree that the odd person i've encountered is not a popular trans representation, though. but it still shows that the only concern i have on the issue is somewhat relevant. that's why i'm still all for a certain (non-exhausting and not years-long) level of diagnostics before any treatment. other than that - please be whoever you want to be~
sorry for the uncalled for addition and details, haha, but thanks a lot - i'm glad if my views appear to be nuanced and thoughtful enough for the people in the community!
this is my first time ever asking a retrospring question, but I got so excited seeing that my old 2020 fave shuada fanfic writer is now into umineko! ahh! I read your george/shannon fic and I do love the (spoilers) bits you put in there, as well as your analysis on retrospring about umineko cause like you get it man!!! its so good. I wanted to ask, who's your favorite umineko adult? (like, out of the older ones) as well as, how do you feel about the culprit and how they were handled in the story? tysm!
hey and sorry for the late response but thanks so much for asking! i haven't met too many people who're both into adashuada and umineko myself and seeing that they do exist is always exciting~
i'm also glad you enjoyed that RS answer, hehe. i don't interact with fandom much so i've always believed my interpretation of umineko to be somewhat subjective. happy if people agree with it 🔥
[spoilers below]
if i'm honest, my favorite adult from the very start was Kyrie, haha. i adore her design, her general demeanor, and seiyuu. so in ep7 Tea Party my brain went "well-well, do we ever not get automatically attached to the villains, huh?" :'> not like umineko doesn't make any major adult a villain at one point or another, of course. but i think Kyrie is the only one whose flaw is revealed to be near-sociopathic attitude, where she holds nothing dear except herself and her future. i mean, one could say her heart-shattering drama was having Rudolf and Battler stolen from her but.. she doesn't really grieve her husband when he's dead in ep7 massacre and says 'welp, now i don't need Ange, cause i only needed her to get tied to that man, yay'. i love villains and all, so this entire twist didn't make her completely uninteresting for me - i still love her psycho chessboard brain, tbh. bu-ut i do wish she ended up being more multifaceted, haha.
for instance, the way Eva's and Natsuhi's personalities are explored throughout the game is on an a whole other level entirely. their major flaws aren't justified/negated but you still feel sorry for them and understand where they're coming from, admitting their humanity as a result. (especially Eva's - she's my second favorite). even Rosa - one of the least likeable adults for me bc horny abusive mother with abandonment issues - gets something akin to a redemption arc in manga's ep8, where she finally remembers herself as a kid and apologizes to Maria.
my third adult favorite is Ikuko/Featherine. she's odd in a fun way, rich-unmarried-recluse-writer (=life goals) and occasionally shares some good thoughts on the reader/writer relationship which, i assume, is Ryukishi's own thinking.
oh yeah, men exist too. Rudolf's womanizer status feels like a bad joke, Krauss is just a stressed and insecure child most of the time (he kind of grew on me after ep4 and 5 though) and Hideyoshi is a ray of sunshine in this entire family who did nothing wrong (except maybe agreed to kill people for money in ep1 and told his son his lover was dead).
the main blocker for my love toward the "servants"' gig is "why the hell did you not persuade that child to use all that money to get a surgery and leave this cursed island to find happiness outside this family?!". i guess the real root of the tragedy is both Genji and Nanjo being submissively gay for Kinzo and obeying the Ushiromiya head like their lives where at stake there or something...
speaking of the culprit - i love how intricately Yasu's worldview and perception of reality is shown in both the novel and the manga. the 'confession' chapters add the necessary nuance to the reality situation which was only implied in the game - and it's a very important part of the angst, imo. Ryukishi likes to say in the interviews that the motive for everything was 'love' and that those who didn't experience love wouldn't believe in/understand Beato's extremes. but despite being a romantic, i'd agree that if a reader only sees Battler's broken promise as the reason for the "killings", everything can feel like an unhealthy overreaction. it's all much deeper and more understandable though when you take into account the very specific and seemingly unsolvable depressed situation Yasu was in (including the "we're all related???" part of the things). the nuance hinted to in the game and explored in the manga really helps to better understand why exactly they felt so cornered and why they went for the "murder"-suicide.
thanks so much for asking about this forever-favorite masterpiece, anon! and feel free to drop by to talk in person in DMs if you ever feel comfortable :>
What is your relationship to gender if it’s okay to ask?
absolutely ok but - unless you read the views i shared through Naoto in my fics - my attitude may feel like unpopular one.
in a nutshell: i'm all for gender-nonconformism and expressing personality without necessarily giving it any specific label. i admit that people strive for some sort of categorization and sense of belonging to a certain group, but i think that creating dozens of various genders to try fit individuality in a yet another box doesn't make much sense and simply keeps feeding existing gender stereotypes.
i was actually very hung up on gender myself in my late teens/early 20s. the reasons were very common for a girl that age - i didn't feel like i could or wanted to meet the societal expectations from a woman and felt insecure around men. my first two AFAB crushes identified as transmasc and non-binary and i myself saw genderfluid as a fitting label for me for a while. i think it matched my then-regular mood swings from depressed vulnerability to defensive antagonism/rebellion.
what i, personally, arrived to with years though, is that i don't need to fit into a girl box to have she/her pronouns and keep being a woman. i don't need to look masculine to feel more secure and capable - i can achieve this sense of capability with my skills and inner strength. (a-and complete safety is, sadly, a pipe dream for anyone AFAB anyway, haha..). i also don't need to be a guy to like a girl bc that would just make me fearful of something that's not heteronormative. in short, taking on men's social representation made me feel like i was hiding behind the 'male' status, hence boosting its importance and grandness, while diminishing and discarding the already downtrodden 'female' label.
it's just my situation though. different people have different experiences, i can't speak for them, so i don't judge anyone's choice and respect others' pronouns. i also recognize the importance of labels for many people: even if gender is a social construct, i don't see us getting rid of this construct any time soon. people do innately like categorization simply because it simplifies the already difficult process of getting to know & understand other people.
i myself find mbti labels helpful, for instance - they give me a quick and high-level idea of a person's priorities. still, i know that some people tend to mistype themselves even in mid 20s, some people change throughout their lives, and some don't even fit any clear type at all (actually, most of the people i know the closest are the most difficult to type). so, even if there 16 types, none is ever truly a given picture of a personality after all. i don't treat mbti as a recipe or a definite judgement with guidelines but (since i myself more or less fit the stereotype) i feel like it's easier to convey my 'self' through the mbti code. and it's a nice high-level reference at the start of a conversation.
same with gender, i think. as far as our current real society goes, it's more practical and easier for an effeminate man to fully transition to a woman and refer to themselves as 'she/her' rather than keep explaining their complex individuality and situation to every person in every social situation. (something they shouldn't really do but the bureaucracy and the 'explain your weirdness to me'-attitude, unfortunately, exist). ideally though - imo - people shouldn't assume that a person has to like this, work as that, date this, and dress like that - all simply because of their gender. it's too hard to put the entire individuality of any person's inner world in any box, no matter what it's based on and how many of them we create to avoid judgement and find personal comfort. that's why i truly respect the brave and confident people who just dress, behave, and present themselves the way they want and feel - without conforming to the popular expectation and guardrails and without a care about the pronouns other people address them with.
thanks for the question and i hope i conveyed my thoughts clearly and respectfully enough!
Same anon from before, I’m so sorry to hear about your dad. I understand, you take the time you need for yourself, and just know that all of your readers over the years - new, old, whatever, whenever — are here for you, and care about you. You’ve inspired a creation that I’ll be happy to share with you on Twitter when it’s done - and that I hope will be able to at least make you smile in these difficult times.
You were born with a wonderful talent to create and write your stories into reality.
thank you so much for the kindest words, support, and patience 🙏💙💦 hearing things like these truly just makes me want to keep up the struggle and write more. and i'm extremely flattered to know that my writing has inspired someone to create, too. wish you lots of fun with the process and looking forward to when you can share it! 🌸🙏
Hey! I hope you’re well. I was wondering if you had any updates on In Limbo for us! It’s been on my mind for years now and I keep checking back on it hoping to see something new. Saw you mention on your Twitter last week that you were looking at the drafts again, so just wanted to see how that was going! No pressure absolutely but your writing and storytelling is just beautiful, and I thoroughly enjoy everything that you put out — so was just curious!
thank you so much, dear anon! i thought it was mostly those who just finished reading IL asking about the continuation, and it warms my heart to know that there are people who read it long ago and still would want to see the finale! ;w;
i did indeed dig up my draft not that long ago and even managed to get it out of a lo-o-ong stalemate in a way i think is quite satisfactory. taking a trip in mid-october also helped me get in the mood for brainstorming future arc4 scenes (i love doing it while listening to music on the long rides) and that's where the tweet with the scene requests came from.
the plan was to get down to outlining the entirety of the arc4 in detail last week but.. (forgive me for the TMI) i suddenly lost my dad, and am still quite reeling from the fact, the ensuing events, as well as the tension with other relatives who i barely ever contact. (plus, i'm trying to find a new home for his cat, which creates additional conversations..). no matter what we plan, universe always has its own plans for us, i guess, huh...
because of this, i'll need time to get back my mental health back on track enough to focus on writing. fiction has always been the best way for me to escape reality and i still see a lot of comfort in it. it's just that life events have been pushing my brain into much darker concepts or ideas that don't fit in my adashu longfic outline :'> i'll be trying my best to find my lighter groove though.
for now, the only update i can offer is that the draft has 2 standard-IL-chapter-length chapters in it so far. i also don't see the arc being shorter than ~13 chapters, since i want to cover many events before the trial (the major focus will be on the 2 months leading to the trial) as well as the trial itself.
the tweet with the scenes request is still pretty much relevant, by the way, so feel free to share your ideas either in the comments or anonymously here. (some braver people sometimes dm them too, heh).
and thank you so much again. hearing that my writing is engaging for others to read - albeit it always starts as simple entertainment and/or therapy for myself - is always mind-blowing and very joyful. and every anon like you or an ao3 comment on IL gives me more energy to persevere and keep telling the stories. thank you 🙏
can you talk about why you like umineko? it seems very important to you!
(spoiler free, almost) umineko honestly has so many themes and messages that it's impossible to point at a specific one and say "that's what it is all about" when trying to ~advertise~ it to friends. i think every single reader can find something deeply personal in it that would either resonate with them or be somewhat of a mindset-rewiring insight. so i'll just share the 3 personal things for me in umineko, too.
as i see it, one of the key themes of umineko is sublimating emotional energy into fiction. the story features 3 people who, at different points in time, grapple with their intense emotions through writing stories - and inevitably affect others through them. this writing is dark in the hands of someone who's succumbed to deep depression, poignant at the pen of someone who's suffering and repenting, and hopeful coming from someone who's hurt but learned to look into the future. in a way, i view umineko as a story about how creating fiction can be a method for working through your thoughts, conveying feelings (when you can't do so directly), or even healing. i hold fiction in high regard and love writing as a form of self-therapy, so it's pretty obvious why this theme is important to me.
perhaps the most subjectively interpreted theme i cherish in umineko is that of the material & immaterial realities or physical & emotional loves. arguably the biggest part of the umineko's core tragedy is in the socially-acceptable belief that real love cannot exist without its gendered worldly aspects and that people who can't grant them can't love or be loved. at the same time, the story shows that any rampant material urges and desires (be it sex or money) can be deeply distorted and flawed, leading to all sorts of deep traumas for other dear people. and in a way, it ends up ~romanticizing~ the realm of immaterial for me. it shows that while being known and seen is scary and difficult, a genuine and deep connection of souls can create a new universe. and this universe is where love can become the force that lives on through time, distance, and even existential planes.
finally, the message i really love is the humans' need for self-healing. like higurashi, this is a story about how people can't carry the weight of the darkness alone and need to do something about it. like higurashi, umineko acknowledges that communication isn't always possible and sometimes someone just ends up being a scapegoat or a victim of someone's suffering. but while higurashi still mostly focuses on the importance of communication and/or even self-sacrifice (= hanyuu), umineko adds a wise message to that "scapegoat" reality. it says that even if you find yourself in a position where someone pushed or keeps pushing their darkness onto you, you can and should stop the cycle of abuse. instead of propagating darkness further or ruining yourself by wallowing in self-pity - work to purify it, turn that pain/anger into kindness and understanding.
without love, the truth - i.e. the pain of every single person alive in this world - can not be seen.
i guess these are the main reasons why umineko is important to me personally - but these certainly aren't all of the reasons, haha. but i guess just from these 3 points, it's obvious why basically anyone who read and loved umineko is an instant green flag of a person for me 😅👌
Hi! Sorry if this is an uncomfortable or bothersome question, but do you plan on continuing with the final part of "in limbo"? I recently read it and i still think about it a lot...sorry for the sudden question, if it's uncomfortable don't feel like you have to answer
hi and no worries - not bothersome at all! i do feel awkward for putting it on hold but it's more of a bittersweet than uncomfortable topic for me :'>
i do feel more inclined to work on longer works right now and a few days ago i finally got my arc4 draft out of the chapter-planning stalemate it's been in for half a year or so. i even transferred the local doc online for the comfort of drafting from my phone, which i've been doing when writing the latest shorter orv/umi fics and that one very hazukashii kannao one-shot. but when it comes to actually putting words down for ER adashu, i do sense some sort of a wall blocking me somehow and am being pulled toward other ideas that feel more in tune with my current mindset.
i'm not sure if it's me being rusty with the fandom's characters after this long. me thinking that it's a story that needs an open ending after all. or me feeling disconnected from the message aka the hope & belief in love as an unstoppable force that can overcome any barriers. i can't say i've become fully cynical toward romance but my dumb brain's initial reaction to any written line on mutual & comfy established relationship is "what the hell is that? that would never happen, lol". and as dumb as it is, i'm the type of person who needs to believe in what i write - anyone reading will notice if i don't bc the process of writing won't be fun and pleasurable for me.
tldr: arc4 draft does exist and it's more of a 'wip' than 'haven't even started yet'. but while people out there are fighting for and against 'fiction affects reality', i'm pathetically facing the fact that reality affects fiction, haha :'> i do want to think that it's a passing phase though and i'll pull through somehow (i was in a similar state after writing RtD and putting IL draft on pause for a ~year bc of personal drama). but i don't want to force things bc i want to enjoy the process of writing this story's end - hence making it more enjoyable to read it for the few people (that would still maybe be interested to read it, haha).
thank you so much for letting me know that there actually are people who still want to read the ending! i hope that once i recover the bits of hope and ideals i used to hold on to i'll be back on track :>
besides weeb stuff what kinda things do you like to be doing in free time? :3
bold of you, anon, to assume that i wouldn't be hanging out with the normies now if i had many more conventional views on interests and hobbies, haha :>
if we unite "watching anime + playing games (VNs, JRPGs, rhythm, mahjong) + writing fic + reading manga/manhwa/japanese novels" under the 'weeb stuff' umbrella, then these really are my go-to past-times. besides that, let's see..
i think that's it? some of these are more frequent than others due to the relevant need/occasion or sheer lack of time to do everything, considering the 40h/week job hours. but that doesn't make any of these activities less enjoyable for me.
Not the previous anon but that answer made me curious. Would you say you believe in fate?
..tough question, anon. i realize i've been giving off the vibes of someone who definitely does but outright agreeing with the idea feels somehow wrong? it's weird..
perhaps the reason for the weirdness is that since long ago, i was veeery much against the fate or 'meant/not meant to be' concept. especially in terms of people. i was very moved by all the portrayals of misunderstandings in fiction, so every time i had a falling out with someone, i'd think "it must be one of those exasperating 'if only they talked more-' situations. we aren't 'destined to part', it's just a trial. i need to do something!". and then i'd go reach out/apologize/try talking things through etc... but honestly, it never worked in the end. i just prolonged things a little. :'>
my latest encounter felt like the kind of a blessing fate in all senses. but the blessing still ended in me being not enough. not "can you work on--" or "i'd love things to be more--" but simply me not having to offer what they need at the moment. i'll leave out the specifics (i regret sharing too much as is..) and i still wish the person all the best in the world. but this situation was and is too tough for me. i don't know how to change myself to be genuine and enough for the people i love. i don't know why and how to stay in their lives in any capacity after i unwillingly ended up being the reason for their hurt & darkness. i don't know if any of my attempts to adapt make any sense at all because i'm a just an all-round 'meh' person.
so, it's either accepting that i'm some sort of a monster or that there's some invisible force that has long decided that intimate relationships shouldn't be a part of my life. and in this dilemma, i think choice #2 can be seen as a weird coping mechanism (even if, perhaps, it's choice #1 that is the objective truth of the world). it's not even 'fate' but.. me trying to assemble the pieces of evidence i have? and the idea that i'm not made for human relationships and that the universe is steering me into a loner route is at least some sort comfort in all the discomfort i experience now.
how’s life treating you these days?
to answer this assuming you've read my 'backstory' of the past few months: i think 'life' has finally made it indisputably clear for me that i'm not made to have or enjoy it to begin with, dear anon. and i think that's fine. i can't be 'normal' in too many ways. i can't try changing my weird self without appearing fake. and i can't have intimate long-term connections that don't eventually rip me apart (usually with one-sided decisions which don't allow for any second chances).
close human relationships have been my biggest life challenge since forever. and while continuously fighting against life's challenges is considered a virtue - because 'persistence' - i think there's a fine line between 'persistence' and 'stubbornness'. at this point, trying to tackle my challenge is just being idiotically stubborn on my part. because it's just not what i can achieve, regardless of my inherent wish for a deep 'special' connection. i'm old and damaged enough to finally accept the point my life's been trying to make for decades.
that point being: my existence should just keep revolving around consuming art in different forms, discussing it with like-minded people at times, and spewing out some silly writing in the process. it's always been like that and it should stay that way. trying to build and sustain intimate, 'specia', real-life bonds has never done me any good and probably even brought confusion or disappointment to other people, due to the abnormal way i am. there's no point in knocking on the door that won't ever open and disturbing those on the other side.
tl;dr and "omg, what the hell's she talking about?? i just asked how she's doing, wtf...": my life's been treating me like the luckless garbage i am and i feel burnt beyond repair after getting too close to the feel-good and alluring fire. but i have my books, anime, and vn games. and fiction. i can afford taking days off this week to read a good lengthy novel while drinking a smoothie and petting my dumbass cat - all because i no longer need to save days off for a proper vacation, which i would've so craved to spend traveling with a certain dear person. i can love characters without fearing that i'll directly hurt them with the broken way i am - or that i'll get hurt myself. i hope i'll survive this way, somehow.
really sorry for the loaded answer, anon, but that's how things have been, i guess - very-very 'loaded'. and thank you for the interest. i sincerely hope that your life has and will be treating you well 🍀
hope this isn’t too personal of a question and if it is feel free to delete without regret, but what was your journey to discovering your sexuality? are there still things you’re figuring out?
this twitter has been needlessly too personal lately and full of pathetic tmi stuff anyway, haha.. so i don't mind answering. (it's a surprising ask, though)
actual sexual attraction is something, i'm afraid, i've never felt toward anyone at all. the idea that some people just look at someone and go 'wow, i'd do them' or start mentally undressing them simply blows my mind. not in the victorian 'how indecent!'-kind of way but in the genuine 'how does that work for you, guys??' kind of way. so, while i did identify as gay/pan in my teens due to simple lack of self-awareness, i'm pretty sure i've been on the ace spectrum since forever.
i'd casually drop the term 'romantic attraction' next but unlike other types of attraction, this, i feel, is a very subjective term. different people understand different things under 'romance'. for some it's butterflies in the stomach, for others - it's the rare sense of peace and quiet. the 'desire to date', often used to determine romance, is also very vague.
in my personal interpretation, 'romantic attraction' is a wish to build and support each other in going through life together, to often elicit pleasant emotions, to ignore the differences/negatives and focus on the similarities/positives (or even bridge any existing gaps with effort), to trust and sometime understand each other without words, to forgive because you can't not forgive, to share critical life views and big life goals, and try working on your shared relationship comfort through deep respectful talks. the "we're each other's #1 person"-kind of relationship that implies healthy emotional independence and inherent sense of self-worth with mutual respect and motivated work together.
now that i've (messily) defined romantic attraction, the simple truth is that i've only ever felt this toward women or feminine-aligned non-binary people.
in case of the romantic attraction being present, i'm not averse to sexual intimacy. it's not a physical need/drive of mine per se, but more of a conscious motivation to give a person comfort and pleasure (if they wish for it) or get closer to them for a more intense emotional intimacy.
whether i'd enjoy being on the receiving end of this intimacy in such a bond, is something, i guess, i'll never know. many of my romantic bonds either are (from the start) or end up being one-sided before i feel relaxed/safe enough and figure out anything that i'd even want.
the other thing i'm also unable to conclusively "figure out" is my potential for sensual attraction. i don't get touch-starved and don't require physical affection to feel and know i'm loved. but sense is important for many people and "emotional" component is only enough for the 'in-the-head' weirdos. being out of touch with your senses can get you dumped. but most of my relationships in the so-called ~formative teen years~ were one-sided, and learned to restrain my then-present touchy-feely reflexes. whether they're 'dormant' or 'not there at all' seems like the unattainable knowledge for me, hah.
thanks for the question, anon! i hope this wasn't an awkward read and i answered what you were interested in. wish you a less messy and less hurtful self-discovery if you're still on your way to figuring things out for yourself!
Didn’t see the vents you were referring to (maybe I’m just blind ig), but I hope you’re okay. 🫂💕 navigating a LDR is very hard…
thanks a lot, sweetest anon ❤️🩹🫂 i'm trying to trust in the universe for now and hope to be okay again someday. long distance bonds are tough indeed. and because of where i'm from and what relationships need to be sustained, it was probably obvious that ours wouldn't work out from the very beginning...
i now often regret agreeing to try it at all due to the level of pain i'm currently in. but.. i know i wouldn't have been able to ever turn that amazing person down, even if i went back in time. it was a pleasure to be her girlfriend, even if for a while. and hopefully, in the future, i'll be able to calmly cherish this relationship as a heart-warming memory..
thank you again for the care. and i'm glad if my twitter hasn't actually turned into a breakup-vent mess so far :'>
Wait did you cheat on your gf or something??
least favorite fic tropes? 🤔
i think it'd be easier to list the ones i like - not because there are only a few but because i rarely think about the ones i dislike :'> but let's see, hmm..
i'm not sure it's a 'trope', more of an entire genre, but i tru-uly don't get the whole a/b/o thing. i think people's animalistic nature hasn't evolved as much as it should have, so introducing even more primal physicality aspects is an idea that is quite confusing to me, to say the least.
as much as i love angst, i also don't really like the tropes of conscious and explicit cheating and/or polygamy involved. it can be very IC for some characters and/or written very well but i know it'd just hurt my ship feelings, hah, so i tend to avoid this.
'there was only one bed' is more of a crack than a trope at this point. but any similar petty circumstantial reasons to make your ship confess/make out is something that'd earn a roll-eye from me. i want to see actual work put into forcing the 2 become a couple, not a gay deus ex machina do its job.
again, not sure it's a trope but seeing a stoic "i don't have feelings!"-character get "broken" with too little build up is something that can make me close the tab. my brain is very picky&demanding and genuinely doesn't enjoy anything pwp-style - it needs to see, co-experience, and believe the emotions behind actions in order to let me feel something from any rated scene. so 'a lack of buildup' - if it can be considered a trope - isn't something i'm particularly fond of.
mm, i think that's mostly it? i can't come up with a long list of tropes to assess them in my head, haha, so if you had some specific ones in mind - do share!
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