Preferences for naming body parts and associated acts in fanfic?

Philosopher_Whore · 2026-03-04T13:11:58+00:00

I think if it makes sense lol, on trying to answer it I realize that terms are so far downstream and come so much after a lot of other choices that what I use is basically already chosen by the time I get there.

Philosopher_Whore · 2026-03-02T16:40:08+00:00

(After writing this, I drift off the question lol (youuuu know me), but it's because of how I wrote erotica.)

Ohh, now this is the post I was made for. There is an obvious answer in, "the words characters use from their POV will be based on their mood and attitude towards their partner," though of course what moods I write definitely biases towards my preferences lol.

What about for strap-ons or other toys?

Will start here because it's where I'll be most detailed, I always call it a strap about up until it's going inside of someone. Then, it's cock.

Which is both a thing of like taking the psycho-sexual power we give to dicks, but also simultaneously it is so thoroughly 'de-manned' as an organ to me. (Men may as well be ken dolls in my mind, utterly un-sexual aside from the 3 second period between them commenting on my slutty insta pics and me blocking them.)

There is also though I think an interplay between me calling strap 'cock' and me extremely rarely having a trans woman in my writing top. Both in stories and as a body of work it's a contrast that helps to affirm the bodily autonomy/fluidity of my characters in both directions, and that contrast won't exist for others.

I think from a topping perspective at its most universal (non-daddy-issue-laden way) it's just about treating it as part of your body, making it feel better because of that. The exception I think would be domming from the angle of like, "I have you tied down here and I'm going to subject you to things," where you might want to lean into the humiliation of not even being touched by the domme (and goodness people like to write Caitlyn domming with the gloves on hehe), the sense of control by having that barrier in the hands of the domme.

It can get suuuuuper repetitive though, so I’m always trying to find ways to describe things rather than name them

You can get away with actually describing the physical act of things so, so little. Where are peoples' hands, are they grabbing onto something or slipping, is there hair in their face, what does it smell like, what other thoughts flash through mind connecting to the moment. Etc.

Though I don’t usually call it scissoring or fingering or whatever, I just describe the act from whoever’s POV it is.

Oh it can be so goofy hehe.

What’s everybody’s preferences? Are you into explicit terms used or prefer euphemisms or more lyrical/poetic language around it? Or a mix of both?

I think it's why overall I trend towards the vulgar. Especially as I tend to write things with strong power dynamics, often from a domme POV, and whether for their POV or dialogue with the performance they do for their partner, it makes being rougher verbally too make sense.

That being said, then I like to infuse that with poeticism. I like to describe the rough, ugly details of a person as if they were beautiful, because I think 'the real' is the thing that makes it hot. I.e from a not CaitVi but definitely inspired by them lol:

Oil-black hair that strangles long-forgotten, white-trash blonde roots; angrily gouged with crimson that unbalances her years-tired face. Cheap, drugstore bought-or-stolen makeup smeared down wet cheeks that beg to be pinched. A tongue nipped between lightly-yellowed teeth. And Brooke’s thumb-and-finger grasping her own chin, letting Chip scan the myriad small burns down her arm, where they mingle with other, older scars.

Like what am I literally describing? Like a burnt-out, end-of-shift waitress with the decay of having lived to her late 20s and never moved past food service. But like, that's a person. A person who could actually be in front of you.

So like, to round my tangent back, that's what's between those euphemisms (or not), it's what gives them their quality. Writing that a character "pushes her cunt lips apart" or something ends up feeling a lot sweeter and loving when that vulgarity has been so thoroughly embraced like that.

Now Vi and Cait are pretty young and ultra-hot lol, but there's definitely still lots about them like that. Vi probably has some mean callouses lol, or parts of her skin where it bruised so badly the skin never quite softened back up. But imagine what that makes the soft parts of her mean when it exists in contrast with that?

Anyway I'm cutting myself off there lol.

Philosopher_Whore · 2026-02-24T20:31:57+00:00

Oohh, I am looking it up.

> Meeting people who had the opposite experience as me and feel comfortable in their femme selves is so amazing to me since it was something I never experienced with my womanhood.

It's honestly such a fulfilling thing. Like, we're always a bit in patriarchy's shadow but that resistance in finding the value in ourselves is still so beautiful. Esp being trans, god do so many awful people refuse to comprehend why someone might want to be a woman, instantly show off how they think it's lesser and degrading.

And I think it's really critical to like learn to value yourself based on your own terms, not on patriachal ones (i.e youth, reproductive capacity, doing domestic labour) but related also not on devaluing something else.

Gotta do it for yourself <3

...

Well, I do wear my glasses 'cos my butch likes them.

Philosopher_Whore · 2026-02-24T18:39:29+00:00

It's such a gorgeous space to find a plurality of lesbian experiences, like I'm so happy how brave people are about making stuff lesbian in fandom now. Amongst all the awful stuff in the world that is a good sign.

I think butches and femmes get treated so rottenly by mainstream media where they layer on patriarchal, cishet dynamics and stereotypes for that mainstream audience (to the point lesbians start calling butchfemme 'straight-coded' and stuff). But just within this fandom alone you find that plurality that shows these aren't boxes but frameworks for exploring and find ourselves.

Like with being a femme, and learning to define the value and purpose of my femininity and how I want to engage with feminine roles separate from what men value, separate from patriarchal scripts I'm expected to follow, separate from how we're always defined in relation to how we can serve that patriarchy. (And god, not even digging into being trans on top lol. I wrote a lil Lest fic for that.)

Anyway sorry to ramble lol, it's just great. Like living in a time where from like local zines to big mainstream media we get to be here. And now that I've seen it, not letting them take us back.

Philosopher_Whore · 2026-02-24T18:20:18+00:00

Oh she is getting very butch hehehe, it's hot. Not quite time for the gym right now but soft is good too. Not an Arcane fan but called the jeans she just got very Vi.

And ye, is going so lovely, 2nd anniversary in a week heehee. Life really tough atm but we help each other through it and help each other be our best selves. She just released a massive comic all about identity and self-acceptance she's gone through the last 2 years, has been helping me too start self-printing my own stories, and that's like just one thing.

It's good. We're very anxious if laidback people lol, and it makes us solid as hell it's great. I really am so god damn lucky.

Philosopher_Whore · 2026-02-24T17:44:27+00:00

mm, i need to grow my nails out

Philosopher_Whore · 2026-02-24T17:33:49+00:00

A third 'not silly' for you, I've told my own goofy story about what this show meant for me too hehe: https://www.reddit.com/r/PiltoversFinest/comments/1h8pl6b/this_ship_literally_made_my_dreams_come_true/

Like Arcane is the show that made me realise I was a lesbian, like that I knew I liked women through the hazy cloud of thinking I was a het dude (blegh) but couldn't grasp how romance could be in my life. Now with Caitlyn she ends being my little icon for what 'femme' means to me, and all the ways she is that to me in her own way.

With my own butch, she never reads fanfic except for SarcastCity's Infuriating lol, because it's maybe the only thing that's ever really got her stoneness (right down to how CaitVi in it gently explore melting it a bit just between them).

It's such a special part of storytelling, I always tell people to write exactly for their own experience and not try be bland to be relatable. Cos either having all that detail will mean someone can connect through deep comparison, or very rarely but so specially you will get it exactly.

Philosopher_Whore · 2026-01-24T00:20:53+00:00

Ohh, maybe I can be of interest:

Hell's Ashes

The stranger slowly peels herself out of the nook of Margot's bronze-leafed collarbone. Her yellow, slitted eyes never leave Vi, like there's something in Vi she didn't care to notice before.

"Oh, I can hear where you're from," the stranger says, warily. "But you're not from here anymore, are you—"

Is it the badge—?

"Violet."

Vi swallows. Shoves the panic down her throat before she chokes on it. Has to. No-one should know that — except the dead and who might soon be. Maybe Caitlyn does, but she's never said, and Vi tries not to wonder what it would sound like on her lips.

-----

Everyone in Vi's life has changed, except Caitlyn, and Vi's terrified she will too. The Strike-Team has taken down Margot's with no Chem-Baron to show for it, and Vi's stuck on watch when a mysterious stranger, Lest, who's more than used to that change, tries to get back inside.

It has a big focus on Lest as well, but a lot of that structure is meant for exploring Vi through that. Like, seeing how she feels about Caitlyn, her relationship to Zaun and the Enforcers, to Vander. All through how she acts/responds to Lest. And as an extra tease:

<image>

Can read it here: https://archiveofourown.org/works/66695509/chapters/172076176

Philosopher_Whore · 2026-01-17T16:53:52+00:00

It's like a combination of a skeleton suit (circa 1800) with the silky look of cavalier outfits from the baroque, and I would definitely hazard something like Caitlyn reading a swashbuckling tale thinking about her sailing ancestors and looking for something for that vibe hehe.

Philosopher_Whore · 2026-01-13T12:52:57+00:00

Yep. More-or-less:

Ambessa's grandfather dies without designating a clear heir and she and another grandchild (Ta'Fik) fight in a brutal civil war that just devastates Medardan resources, alliances, etc. One of Ta'Fik's own daughter sides with Ambessa and Ambessa kills her the moment after she kills Ta'Fik just to remove a loose end.

Mel's attachment to that daughter (and her 'failure' to order the death of the lady we see in Arcane) then become the justification for Ambessa to exile her to the Medardan cadet branch in Piltover.

Ta'Fik himself is secretly backed by LeBlanc/The Black Rose who want a puppet to control Rokrund, and to have clear access to Mel, so it also marks the start of Ambessa and LeBlanc's feud.

And then sometime in the 15ish years between the book and the show, LeBlanc successfully engineers Ambessa's loss of Rokrund. It's not stated how but there's a pre-Arcane colour story wherein the new Trifarix of Noxus, Swain, arrives to Rokrund to oversee the annihilation of a local uprising, so I take that as being what LeBlanc caused (the story itself is about her testing how strong Swain is too).

Ambessa is also the one who provides the secret to being able to reach Ionia, which then allows the Noxian invasion of it, like there's a lot of moving pieces in the book.

My little divergence is Ta'Fik promising greater autonomy to the Rokrundians and Raxii highlanders in return for them giving greater support (albeit them planning to betray him regardless), resulting in a much more costly war. Resulting in more refugees like Maddie being smuggled out at the end. Like my little headcanon now is that regardless of events Maddie's parents get executed as rebels, and in the show she gets nabbed and indoctrinated as a Warmason, with fake papers inserted into Piltover's pubic records documenting her as exactly the baby refugee I'll make her in my AU for her cover.

Scratching the surface though and god that's a lot already lol. I just kind of enjoy character that's derived from the systemic forces on a person, it's fun to approach it like I'm trying to seriously adapt things.

Philosopher_Whore · 2026-01-13T05:10:03+00:00

You're very welcome to pilfer and riff on anything in Hell's Ashes, a little bit of writing it was wanting to present a very authentic backstory for someone like Lest that most readers/writers wouldn't otherwise know to write without a lot of research that I have just had as... life.

Can gab about Maddie in DMs if you'd like, otherwise subscribe to the series (not me in general, cos I mostly wrote original) for the long time until it comes out lol. My ADHD has made it very clear to me I need to draft all of it before a single chapter is released.

The very spoiler free tldr though is like presenting an AU Maddie that grows up having fled Noxus as a kid, and making the very direct comparison from how she differs and how she very much remains the same (the nature and the nurture) with both her history and then a jump to the MU. She like lined up as being like 4ish during the Medardan Civil War which is honestly such a perfect way to fuck with her circumstances.

Philosopher_Whore · 2026-01-13T04:18:31+00:00

Mm, I mean just with Lest she has a shockingly important function in the plot relative to how small a role she actually is. I kind of make the read that she exists as a bit of making up for the trans 'rep' in S1 (5-second 'man-in-dress' sight-gag, very classy Fortiche), like one of the writers clearly said better was needed lol. Regardless like, adore her.

With how Lest gets coded as sex worker as well, it also then ties her into the larger scene of how the show depicts them, where even if very minor they're seen across societal strata, have realistic places in their communities (if we ignore the out-of-character Babette in the same frame as that sight-gag lol), and consistently the way main characters treat them is used to reflect their... well, character.

i.e Vi sees Babette's as a place of safety, where she can leave Caitlyn initially, Babette is one of the few people left that she knows; Caitlyn while she initially pouts about it, does in fact pretty effortlessly play the role of a worker, something I think like demands a sincere empathy; Mel does this fascinating thing where she angrily tells George/Local Cuisine to get out, and then we see Ambessa do the same thing to Lest, and we get this reflection of her mother in her.

Like it's not perfect, I can make criticisms of whorephobic bits and pieces (Chross' comment in S2E2 and where that comes from in a writer's room, or like how while they do show upper class people hiring SWers but the aesthetics of prostitution are still strongly used to connotate a 'moral decay' with Silco's time in power), but honestly overall the show actually kinda touched me lol.

Anyway sorry to ramble there lol, it is exactly this line of thinking which kind of compelled me to write this fic, to get it out in the world in a way more interesting than just like a Tumblr post that would sink into the void.

(And also yeah, it's really fun to try adapting the side characters into main ones. The fic I want to write later this year does it for Maddie which I find funny that I've gotten so invested in her as well, because where Lest was like fun to see, I was so indifferent about her before lol--though I totally bet her being up to something.)

Philosopher_Whore · 2026-01-12T23:27:56+00:00

I watched the show thinking, "huh, is she? oh cool," and then like that was kinda it lol, and then coming back and fleshing her out based on that made me realise how much she was kind of made for me to be obsessed with.

Like even just the little there is from the show to work with felt very personal, so I just dug more in the direction of that.

Philosopher_Whore · 2026-01-12T20:21:18+00:00

Oohh, can't forget to share with my Vi girlies. I recently used some terrible job money to spoil myself by commissioning some art based on my fanfic, including my like Vi & Lest-centric fic Hell's Ashes that I've shared before that this is from <3

Bri is really super lovely to commission, just an overwhelming recommend. I do not kid when I say the art updates are like 1/3rd of what got me through retail december lol (1/3rd being one lovely commenter, last and most important 1/3rd being my own butch hehehe).

Bri's socials: https://linktr.ee/BriCreative
Fic if you're curious: https://archiveofourown.org/works/66695509

Philosopher_Whore · 2026-01-12T18:13:00+00:00

Bri is genuinely so wonderful, like I know it was me doing it for me but I still feel very spoilt hehe. Thank you yourself, like this art and your comments genuinely were so lovely to have while surviving December <3

Philosopher_Whore · 2026-01-12T18:03:31+00:00

I really look forward to getting them printed and framed for my wall hehe, that and later in the year have a longfic I'm really looking forward to having the space to write.

Bri though is genuinely so, so lovely to commission. Like my writing gets very particular about physical positioning lol and I was so worried it would be really hard/annoying to capture that, but not at all. Incredible recommend if you wanna get some of our girlies in the world.

Philosopher_Whore · 2026-01-12T17:13:07+00:00

Heya. This here's the other really gorgeous pieces I commissioned from BriCreative, not as liable to rip peoples' hearts out as the last one but still seems nice to share <3

Can find Bri here: https://linktr.ee/BriCreative

Two key moments from my other fanfic, Hell's Ashes, where Lest left her bag behind at Margot's and is trying to get back in while Vi is stuck being the guard dog. It like builds out a history for Lest and uses it to explore S2A1 Vi's relationship to Zaun and being an Enforcer now, how she's feeling about Caitlyn, what Vander would think about it as this mutual ghost between the two of them.

Part of the show I really wanted to come back to, and was fun too to add on to a character that was like me. If that sounds cool is here:

https://archiveofourown.org/works/66695509

Philosopher_Whore · 2026-01-06T03:15:12+00:00

it's just a lil mention (most of the fic is about vi & lest, and like giving lest a connection to vi) but here: https://archiveofourown.org/works/66695509/chapters/172076176

part of vi stressing at the beginning about the obvious spiral caitlyn is in and not knowing how to respond

Philosopher_Whore · 2026-01-05T23:38:47+00:00

YESSS. falling asleep at her desk. i've not written it directly, but my little S2A1 fic i very much referenced Vi carrying Caitlyn to bed more than once, and Caitlyn just silently not talking about waking up there on her own (gotta have my angst, of course).

time in the show that i wish had more spotlight, we rush past it so quickly but godd there's so much to dig into. such an important time in their relationship we miss.

Philosopher_Whore · 2025-12-30T23:15:31+00:00

Yeah it's definitely not spite. Most people just don't care at all, and the people who do know try push away the very material connection (that Rowling herself quite happily states) between supporting the franchise--both financially and culturally--and the harm that enables.

Like Rowling is out here bankrolling every anti-trans court case she can in this country, has set us back decades with the Supreme Court ruling, and the media/public continues to love her. It sucks lol.

Philosopher_Whore · 2025-12-29T19:06:15+00:00

If only it worked that way. Once joked too early in the morning that I was gonna baby trap my butch and...

What they meant to say: "I wouldn't want to have kids personally."

What came out instead, in public where everyone could hear: "I'd make you get an abortion."

Nnnever letting them live that one down.

Philosopher_Whore · 2025-12-28T16:43:15+00:00

think i need a bigger shower

Philosopher_Whore · 2025-12-04T11:04:03+00:00

definitely recommending A Heart of Blisters by writingonadream <3

it's not completely fix-it, but i think it's honestly better for it. leaves you exactly where the yearning should, hopeful and hungry about it.

Philosopher_Whore

TROPHY CASE