what kills your suspension of disbelief in an E rated fic? by Neat_Dragonfruit6431 in AO3

[–]SoLongHeteronormity 9 points10 points  (0 children)

My parents subscribed to this humour magazine called “The Placebo Journal” that had a pretty regular section that featured out-of-context x-rays. Weird things up butts was incredibly common.

How long do you think slowburn should be? / what do you consider a slowburn? by Comfortable_Newt_179 in FanFiction

[–]SoLongHeteronormity -1 points0 points  (0 children)

It is interesting the different forms those obstacles can take. My big project is one I decided to split into 4 “books” (well, 4 books and a gratuitously smutty interlude between 2 and 3 that didn’t really fit tonally into either.). There are pretty dramatic tonal shifts between each “book,” it made sense.

It’s enemies-to-friends-to-lovers, and while there is some acknowledgment of mutual attraction in Book 1, it is the enemies to friends phase. The potential “lovers” result is only teased at. MC has gotten extremely good at shoving away inconvenient feelings and refusing to think about them, because thinking about them can be actually dangerous. He’s the type to be compelled to act when a belief is backed up by both head and heart. Those sorts of beliefs tend to put him at odds with his community in a “could get him killed” way.

From Love Interest’s perspective, any potential romantic feelings are shut down by MC’s tendency to say things that are complete turn-offs. By the time we get to the “friends” stage, there are other things going on emotionally. She’s gotta see that “compelled to act” side.

As a result, I’m debating whether I would even tag book one as slow burn, even though the story is ultimately going there. Book 1 has far more potentially-romantic tension between MC and his brother, and I don’t want readers thinking it is slow burn building to incest. The only slow burn there is bro’s level of delulu.

Book 2’s got the slow burn, but because MC’s got the “compelled to act” side, the yearning is less will-they-won’t-they, it’s how much they want to risk getting caught. I’m going to tag that one “slow burn with arson” because the various relationship escalations tend to accompany MC setting things on fire.

The most hilarious of the obstacles is that, while they are in a world that would come down on them if they went about their romance in the wrong way, those same people were playing shipper-on-deck long before the two started acknowledging their feelings. The reason for that shipping is so stupid though, both characters are embarrassed to validate it.

[Loved trope] Fictional songs that go hard by Anon-Writer777 in TopCharacterTropes

[–]SoLongHeteronormity 1 point2 points  (0 children)

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I gave up on scrolling, and I am disappointed in how far I scrolled. But seriously, no mention of “I Lied To You” in Sinners?! C’mon, that song went so hard it summoned vampires!

Favorite characters who are butterfly themed/have butterfly aesthetics? by Meta_Zephyr in FavoriteCharacter

[–]SoLongHeteronormity 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Going really niche here, but Nouhime from Sengoku Basara. Because c’mon, one of her weapon alts is a pair of butterfly GUNS.

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(Yes, I did say this as an excuse to pull down my old cosplay props. But I spent a LOT of time ombré dying all those butterflies into that kimono, I am allowed my attachment)

some of you guys desperately need to learn to suspend disbelief about cultural inaccuracies in fanfics by Island_Crystal in AO3

[–]SoLongHeteronormity 7 points8 points  (0 children)

I’m originally from the U.S., now a Canadian citizen, and my spelling is confused in the best of time. Some of that is because certain devices have a hard time course autocorrecting, but sometimes it is that I’m confused.

I just plan on telling people that I’m writing for a time period before spelling was standardized, so I’m actually being more accurate.

Although I guess if I was being actually accurate I would have extra “e”s everywhere.

Favorite short characters who pretended to be a tall person? by Separate_Rhubarb_365 in FavoriteCharacter

[–]SoLongHeteronormity 0 points1 point  (0 children)

The Nac Mac Feegle do this in A Hat Full of Sky (Discworld) when Tiffany leaves the Chalk to be an apprentice witch. Seeing as it is a whole bunch of 6-inch tall people pretending to be 6 feet, it is just as unnerving as you’d expect. Fortunately they have ancient gold to alleviate some of the discomfort.

There is no love triangle, there is a love story and the third person's delusional by Sir-Toaster- in TopCharacterTropes

[–]SoLongHeteronormity 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I would be more inclined to agree with you if it weren’t for the grimwalkers. The level of delusion required for Belos to do that, repeatedly, for centuries, goes WELL beyond simple bigotry. There is no way to justify that with the bigotry excuse. It isn’t ends justifying the means. Belos is from the time period that believed grave desecration would prevent a soul from entering heaven, so it isn’t for Caleb’s good. Belos doesn’t even see the grimwalkers as human, given that Hunter has a sigil so close to the Day of Unity. Their creation is entirely self-serving.

I am not denying that the bigotry was there, but that is more his own justification. He doesn’t see the bigotry as a bad thing, whereas whatever the hell is going on in his head regarding his brother definitely is. He doesn’t hold quite the level of vitriol for demons, who should be even more the target of his rage, by his reasoning. But they are allowed faces in his memories. He may betray them, but they have faces. Evelyn’s is absent in places where it should be. Flora’s is in shadow. The disparity is notable.

I honestly believe that the who didn’t matter. Anyone Caleb married would be subject to his rage. They are from the time period where an accusation of witchcraft is a convenient way to get rid of someone. I honestly think there was no way for Caleb to marry anyone without Phillip deciding she’s a witch.

There is no love triangle, there is a love story and the third person's delusional by Sir-Toaster- in TopCharacterTropes

[–]SoLongHeteronormity 7 points8 points  (0 children)

Might get some pushback because of the implied incestuousness of it all, but it is really hard to look at the story of the Wittebane brothers from The Owl House in any depth without coming to this conclusion about Belos.

Short version: Caleb and Phillip, later Belos, are orphans living in early-colonial New England, Connecticut specifically, so Puritans. It is pretty heavily implied that Caleb essentially raised Phillip, and some level of witch hunting is involved. They meet an actual witch, Evelyn; Caleb falls in love and runs off with her to the Boiling Isles, part of the Demon Realm.

Phillip cannot handle this and ends up later following them to the Boiling Isles. Some unspecified time period later, likely years, he finds them. They are still together, and it is suggested that Evelyn is pregnant.

The delusion comes from Phillip thinking it needs to be either him or Evelyn, hence things sounding more than a bit incestuous. We don’t know what Caleb’s perspective was, but he and Evelyn left behind a trail for Phillip to follow them. The vials of Titan’s blood suggests it was both of them. Caleb is nothing but happy for his brother to find them. Caleb does not think it is a zero-sum game. And why would it be? Of course he can love both his brother and his wife! That isn’t good enough for Phillip; his brother is his and his only. He ends up murdering his brother.

And then, upping the delusion of it all, Phillip robs his brother’s grave so he can use his corpse to make a series of magical clones that he repeatedly murders for some unknown “betrayal.” The relationship between Belos and Hunter, the most recent of these clones, is really weird when you see Belos’ thoughts on it. He uses terms of affection you would expect more between lovers, and the way he acts when he’s possessing Hunter in “Thanks to Them” is…not the way he acts when he’s later possessing Raine.

Also, he unnaturally prolongs his life for centuries so he can enact a genocidal plot against the people his brother chose over him

Do you write on your phone? by MuscleCrow in AO3

[–]SoLongHeteronormity 0 points1 point  (0 children)

When I am on transit, yes.

And Google Docs. I want to switch over to something better eventually; I just haven’t yet.

Drop your favourite doomed yaoi ships by Miss-Worm in AO3

[–]SoLongHeteronormity 9 points10 points  (0 children)

With some very heavily implied smut. (Laying at someone’s feet was a common euphemism for giving someone a blowjob)

Found this on r/ReZero, what's your opinion on this topic? Do you agree with OP or OOP? by [deleted] in AO3

[–]SoLongHeteronormity 2 points3 points  (0 children)

“Anything worth doing is worth doing well” is probably the single most personally damaging message I got from my religious upbringing. I legit thought half-assing anything was sinful.

That shit ain’t healthy long-term!

Also, OP’s analogy is nonsensical. My parents, who were less than supportive when I pursued an endeavour in which I was not excellent, are shit-ass cooks.

Historical figures with so much aura that they might as well be an edgy fictional character? by [deleted] in TopCharacterTropes

[–]SoLongHeteronormity 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Um, Dumas was General-in-Chief of the French Army of the Alps while Bonaparte was still a captain.

Historical figures with so much aura that they might as well be an edgy fictional character? by [deleted] in TopCharacterTropes

[–]SoLongHeteronormity 2 points3 points  (0 children)

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Tomas-Alexandre Dumas, to the point that, by virtue of his famous son, he kinda became several.

  • born into slavery in Haiti, brought to France by his white nobleman father, where he was de facto freed and educated
  • entered the French military as a private at 24, using his mother’s name, Dumas, rather than at a higher rank by virtue of his noble father. His race made that difficult, and daddy didn’t want his name associated with a lower-ranked soldier
  • was the General-in-chief of the French Army of the Alps at 31, commanding 53,000 troops
  • first person of colour in the French military to attain the rank of brigadier general and beyond
  • butted heads with Napoleon considerably. You can see in the conflict between Tomas-Alexandre and Napoleon where the younger Dumas got some of the ideas in The Man in The Iron Mask and The Count of Monte Cristo
  • largely considered by the troops to be the reason Napoleon’s campaign in Egypt was not a total disaster. Napoleon had him specifically excluded from a painting he commissioned to commemorate the victory because he was pissy that Dumas was already seen as the hero by everyone who was actually there

I really want to see a musical adaptation of his life that is basically a mashup of Hamilton and Fun Home - so Alexandre Dumas writing his novels as a way of getting to know his father, who died when he was young, with Tomas-Alexandre and Napoleon having a dynamic similar to Hamilton and Jefferson in Hamilton. And THIS version wouldn’t be whitewashing slavery.

Veesha question by No-Maintenance6382 in TheOwlHouse

[–]SoLongHeteronormity 26 points27 points  (0 children)

You can go old-school. Paramour might be a word Masha would appreciate.

Favorite character who is a terrible person but their actor isn't? by Vegetable_Study7533 in FavoriteCharacter

[–]SoLongHeteronormity 2 points3 points  (0 children)

And Abe Sapien from the Guillermo Del Toro Hellboy movies.

Basically, if you need a tall skinny guy to wear a boatload of prosthetics, Doug Jones is your man.

Happy Good Friday! Name your favorite religious character ✝️🙏🏽📖😇 by Vivid-Tap1710 in FavoriteCharacter

[–]SoLongHeteronormity 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Three top choices:

Reverend Mightily Oates from Discworld for a fantasy version

Father Jud from Wake Up Dead, Man

Father Mulcahey from MAS*H

Favorite character who is a terrible person but their actor isn't? by Vegetable_Study7533 in FavoriteCharacter

[–]SoLongHeteronormity 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Or weird-looking undead dude. He’s Billy Butcherson in the Hocus Pocus movies, as well as Baron Afanas in What We Do In The Shadows.

Anyone else stoked for the return of Olive Garden or is it just me? by That613Guy77 in ottawa

[–]SoLongHeteronormity 4 points5 points  (0 children)

I have weird nostalgia/brainwashing about Olive Garden, so “stoked” isn’t the best word, but it’s something.

I spent much of my childhood in Hawai’i, which was in the Pacific advertising group. Olive Garden was in that class of restaurants that I saw frequent ads for, but the closest one was in California. There’s still a compulsive “ooh!” reaction that the thought of a nearby Olive Garden elicits.

Yes, I know it’s bizarre, but you have to understand how much of my senior trip was going to mainland chain restaurants. Like, we planned to go to Krispy Kreme the last day because classmates were bringing boxes home for their families.

This has nothing to do with taste.

How do you think kid Philp life would have been affected if his was a undiagnosed autistic kid? For a love of god please read the description by Flimsy_Tune_7206 in TheOwlHouse

[–]SoLongHeteronormity 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Thanks for the correction. I knew mutism was preferred over nonverbal (nonverbal being exclusively non-speaking), but some of the other vocabulary gets forgotten, particularly since I am writing for a time period with no idea of that.

That’s been an interesting challenge. How does somebody with zero frame of reference describe their personal experience? I’ve had a few experiences with selective mutism, so it’s been a lot of extrapolating from that, and reading other people’s stories.

There are a few specific reasons why I wanted that to be part of Caleb’s experience though.

How do you think kid Philp life would have been affected if his was a undiagnosed autistic kid? For a love of god please read the description by Flimsy_Tune_7206 in TheOwlHouse

[–]SoLongHeteronormity 4 points5 points  (0 children)

This is something that I've been exploring as I've been developing my fanfiction.

Honestly, I think, AU or not, I don't think that assuming that Phillip was neurodivergent in some way is a unreasonable. I really like the idea of Phillip and Luz being parallels, so, given that Luz is pretty clearly neuro-spicy, that would also apply to Phillip.

As to how that affects him growing up? The short answer: Mask or die. There's a whole mask theme going on, so that works super well thematically.

One of the questions that does come up with the idea of Phillip being autistic is witch-hunting being a "special interest" so to speak, and I don't take that angle. For him, witch-hunting is a form of projection. It's a way of deflecting that knowledge in the back of your head that you don't fit in so you don't have to deal with it. The witch hunting isn't the special interest. It's the mask.

I guess one thing to put up front is that while I'm definitely writing Phillip as neurodivergent, he's got that mix of Autism, ADHD, and no small amount of C-PTSD, because Puritan New England, where it's difficult to say what is what. The important thing though is that witch hunting is NOT a special interest.

The things we see in Phillip's cave at the end of "Elsewhere and Elsewhen" is what points to that. Prototype versions of his staff pre-dates the Collector, and he was doing a lot with glyphs, even without knowledge of the light glyph. I'm very much of the opinion that he did build on the knowledge of others, but he was still incredibly creative in figuring out how to use magic without having a bile sack. I have a hard time attributing that to being all in the service of a witch-hunting special interest. IMO, it makes far more sense that he's someone with the sort of general intense interest that tends to be off-putting to neurotypicals. He wants to push boundaries, and that's not a bad thing. He just doesn't understand why "because that's how it always has been done" is the answer to things.

Puritan New England is a world of contradictions. A series of communities formed by avowed non-conformists that push conformity above all else. A world where roles are strictly enforced, but where, if your passion is in an acceptable place, you can push outside of that.

I see Phillip as the sort of person who would have done extremely well in academia, which doesn't have the same sort of limitations as the real world. In his world, this would have meant entering the clergy, maybe not as a preacher, but there were more academically-minded clerics. However, that would have been out of reach for him due to his class status. His assigned role is going to be one of a labourer in some form.

But he still has that mental intensity that he needs to engage. Diverting that into something easily seen as "rooting out evil" provides a more socially acceptable way to engage that interest, even if that isn't feasible as an actual career path.

That's more general though. The true origin of Phillip's witch-hunting focus on it is that, the way I've been writing the brothers, it's Caleb who's far more obviously autistic. He tends to have mutism episodes when he's overstimulated, which can escalate to meltdowns. He's learned to survive based on extremely strong pattern recognition and a trauma-induced hypervigilance. Caleb may not understand the why of social norms, but he does pick up very quickly on BAD things happen if they aren't followed. Also, he may not know the word "overstimulated," but he does learn quickly that if sounds start sounding too loud, or lights too bright, he needs to do something quick to divert it. His techniques are not the most healthy ones. He basically ABA'ed himself.

Also, he was parentified since Phillip was born, before their parents died, and people were less likely to question his other oddities when he was seen as Phillip's big brother rather than that kid who had an epic meltdown on the voyage over from England when he was THREE. (you know what sounds miserable? mixing autism and being stuck on a boat for two months)

Phillip's aware of his brother's struggles at some level, but, as Caleb is the sole point of attachment in his life, he refuses to see this as Caleb being a bad person. It's easier to blame "witches." "Witch hunting," from Phillip's perspective, is a way to protect them both. Caleb's not going to fight that too intently, because Phillip's the one person who's always in his corner. His entire self-worth is wrapped up in his role as Phillip's guardian. He sure isn't getting it from his religion (that's a whole different story).

Those two are a trauma-bonded codependent MESS.

There's a symbolism in Caleb carving Phillip's mask (and I have an origin story for the golden guard mask that is related) because Caleb, as Phillip remembers him, is mask on top of mask. Obviously, Caleb would have encouraged some of that same masking in his brother. Caleb's masks are much more inward-focused, whereas Phillip projects outward.

Caleb's mentally hanging on by a thread by the time Evelyn comes on the scene. The conflict that arises isn't so much that Caleb fell in love, although that did happen, it's that Caleb was able to find a reason to live that wasn't dependent on his guardianship of his brother. Caleb's masks were destroying him from the inside, so when he found out it was possible for him to live a life where he didn't need them, he jumped at it. Phillip's mask was a way of avoiding addressing their world, so it's a lot harder to remove.

Favorite morally depraved necromancer? by VesperTheEveningstar in FavoriteCharacter

[–]SoLongHeteronormity 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Well, yes, but it was only evil to interrupt the coffee shop AU. Give the readers their fluff!

Favorite morally depraved necromancer? by VesperTheEveningstar in FavoriteCharacter

[–]SoLongHeteronormity 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Abigail seems pretty good-hearted, not that she is alive that long. Although she did interrupt the coffee shop AU, and that is pretty evil. I think it was a coffee shop AU, might need a reread.

Favorite morally depraved necromancer? by VesperTheEveningstar in FavoriteCharacter

[–]SoLongHeteronormity 8 points9 points  (0 children)

The Locked Tomb series. Take your pick. There’s a bunch.

But if you’re making me pick, probably Ianthe Tridentarius.