Scrapbook #12: JACK! (Click For Full-size Image.)

Boone - Preview for Scrapbook #16

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"That's the last,

and you're in with the fire.

Out of the shattering finality,

the last moment,

awake or asleep;

disbelieving, incredulous.

...

Old.

He raised a hand, half-hidden.

Then he mumbled, staring,

"Mother of God."

...

Tears coursing his cheeks,

he kissed his neighbor awake.

...

In the gloom,

my eyes

and you."

Yuuri Katsuki is Demisexual

First off a real quick definition of Demisexual for those who may not know about it:

Demisexuals are characterized by a lack of sexual attraction toward any person unless they become deeply emotionally or romantically connected with a specific person or persons. The level of connection it takes for sexual desire to form is dependent on how close the relationship is rather than initial attraction.

Reasons why I think Yuuri is Demisexual:

-The entire show is advertised and described partly as ‘a sexual awakening ‘ for Yuuri

- at 23 years old  he has not dated or had sex or really put much thought into actively having sex appeal

- when presented with a sexy routine , he doesnt know how to define sexual attraction

- laments and repeats the definition of sexual attraction over and over again to the point he associates ‘losing all senses of reasoning’ with the gluttony of eating his favourite food dish

- honestly tries to equate craving food with craving sex because thats how far out there sexual desire is for him (which from all of the rampant ace cake jokes in the asexual community this is a pretty common expierence)

- privately scolds himself thats hes a man and 23 and should be able to have sex appeal ….if he only wanted to (which screams toxic masculinity and societal expectations of everyone being interested in sex , something of course the show explores and rectifies at least in the aspect of gender roles via Yuuri’s genderfluid eros outfit and mindset towards performing in a feminine way not masculine because hes more comfortable in that role )

- eventually figures out how to channel sexual desire into his routine by imagining seducing a playboy (a.k.a Victor who he is romantically attracted to)

- blatantly states that he wants Victor to watch him perform this routine , in a way that makes it clear hes thinking only of him/ only cares about his response

- Victor specifically helps Yuuri perfect this routine by stating things like ‘skate like youre trying to seduce me’

- as he gets more comfortable with Victor he becomes more receptive to Victors affectionate advances as well as his suggestive ones like look at episode 2 compared to episode 8:

- which is really important because a lot of the early part of their relationship is spent with Yuuri rejecting Victor , which confused a lot of fans because they are obviously romantically interested in each other

-but when you look at the specific scenes scenes Victor is rejected there is always a sexual element involved (Wanting to sleep in the same bed together , The offer to be whatever role Yuuri needs him to be , specifically be his boyfriend : in the context of power dynamics of coach and student its pretty easy to allude he means he’ll sleep with Yuuri to motivate him. ) versus the advances Yuuri accepts is more comfortable with and grows to repricate (hugs , affection touching , holding hands)

- the more time passes , and the more evident it is that Yuuri is falling in love with Victor , the more natural his Eros routine gets for him (and more intricate we go from flirty eye contact to licking his lips to blowing a kiss as his opener) :

- Yuuri establishes with words and gestures before every Eros performance that he specifically is performing and thinking about Victor.   and this evolves as he gets more in his element of his sexuality , not for the audiences consumption , but for Victors

- Its obvious even looking at how Yuuri interacts with Victor before he performs the Eros routine at different points of time in the show , sexual awakening indeed:

- last thing that really clinches the idea of Demisexual Yuuri is the Eros routine itself compared to other ‘sexual’ routines ( Specifically Seung Gil-Lee and Christophe Giacometti’s.  )

- Chris’s routine is overtly sexual in the body language that its clear he is sexually interested in anyone who will provide him sexual gratification , the routine is very ‘come hither ye who dare’

- Seung Gil-Lee on the other hand is much more so a focus on being a conduit of peoples sexual desires , but having no agenda himself in his performance except to win presentation points (his body language and face tell very different stories , and he establishes the audiences reaction means nothing to him)

- Yuuri on the other hand no matter what he uses as a story bases for his routine , ultimately thinks of Victor , of seducing him and only him , and the audience just happens to get to watch that seduction. This is visually established with the opening of the routine where Yuuri turns and looks at Victor and only Victor before dancing

In conclusion : Yuuri is Demisexual , have a nice day.

sunderlorn replied to your post “YOU! ONCE YOU GET THIS, YOU HAVE TO SAY FIVE NICE THINGS ABOUT YOURSELF AND SEND IT TO TEN OF YOUR FAVOURITE FOLLOWERS”

I challenge your ability to eat more than me. In the best possible way. If ever you're in London, I'm taking you on a review, and we are pigging out to an unspeakable degree. (If that sounds agreeable.)

Challenge accepted. *slaps glow-in-the-dark fingerless skeleton gloves onto the table* (What? They were on sale.) And nothing could sound more agreeable, thank you! If I ever do get up to London, looks like one of us will be eating our words that day - among other things.

any sort of sex positivity message that refers to its readers as “dearest perverts” is invariably going to alienate ppl who are uncomfortable with sex and sexuality, and they’re the ones who need it most. “embrace how disgusting you are” rhetoric is not going to benefit people who struggle to convince themselves that they aren’t actually disgusting

Well. This just helped me identify certain feelings I've been repressing for aaaaages. *cough*bottommiddle*cough*

RAW GIVEAWAY

Hi guys! I have 9 contributor’s copies of @rawfanzine to give away, along with most of the art and stickers and bookplates and one of the pins. (One of the books will be sans bookplate and art. That book gets the pin.)

If you want one, please: 

be a legal adult; I don’t want to get in trouble with anyone’s parents

reblog and tag urself as US or International - I’m only going to send two or three of these international because I can’t afford to do more than that

make sure your asks are open / messaging is on so I have some way to contact you 

If you can buy one from someone who’s selling them, please do. I’d prefer these go to people who couldn’t afford them otherwise. Thanks! <3 

I’ll contact the winners by September 13th. 

Gather around, baby aces, and I shall tell you a tale of ye olde days of 2011

Keep reading

(source)

Parvati Holcomb: The Unaccountably Happy Face of the Unreliable

The Outer Worlds, the new space RPG courtesy of Obsidian, helpfully provides your player character with exactly the sort of ragtag gang of misfits which you are probably expecting in such a game. Today, we’re going to talk about the most important of them. 

Parvati Holcomb, likely the first companion you meet and definitely the first companion you can recruit, is a well-written female-character. Her talents for engineering and her incredibly positive and cheerful outlook quickly draw comparison with the character of Kaylee from Firefly (allegedly one of the main inspirations for the character), but there is one very clear difference between the two. 

Parvati Holcomb is an asexual character. 

While the term “asexual” is never actually used in the game, Parvati’s experiences and worries were so obviously born form the real-life experiences of asexual people that I was not the least bit surprised that she had been written by an asexual woman: 

I was, however, properly delighted that Parvati had always been intended to be an asexual character, even before an asexual woman took over as Parvati’s writer; Chris L’Etoile, the original writer, explicitly made the decision to create a warm and loving character, someone who could see the beauty and hope in a failing colony, who could express all the wonder they wanted their players to feel, and then he decided to make her asexual as well. 

The stereotypical ‘link’’ between asexuality and ‘coldness’ is even explicitly referenced by Parvati herself, when she explains her fears about starting a new relationship: “I’m not much interested in… physical stuff. Never have been. Leastways not like other folk seem to be. It’s not that I can’t. I just don’t care for it. It’s been a problem, in the past. The folk who wanted to be with me, back in the Vale? They didn’t - They said I was cold.”

The first response offered to players? “You’re about the warmest person I ever met. To hell with them.” 

Indeed, The Outer Worlds is a game which, over and over again, tells us that Parvati is not cold or unfeeling. This is a young woman who names a robot the moment she fixes it, who worries if the Captain calls the ship’s computer “it”, who checks in with crew members and, in a game with a reputation system (rather than a Mass Effect style morality system), acts as the world’s most adorable conscience. 

And, while Parvati does find her relationship with Junlei complicated, those complications have very little to do with her sexuality and far more to do with her being a young woman, away from home for the first time, and experiencing possibly the first great love of her life. There are miscommunications, a night of drowning sorrows, endless over-analysing of each other’s words and actions, and the need to go to four different worlds just to plan a date. As the player character can say: 

PC: “If you two marry, you’ll be saying, ‘Haha, just kidding. Unless you’re not.’” Parvati: “I resent you saying such, on account of it being uncomfortably likely.”

But once Parvati has worked up the courage to tell Junlei who she is, the relationship works well. Well enough for Parvati to find a new home with Junlei once the fight is over: 

Now, I always expect an Obsidian game to have some awareness of the wider spectrum of human sexuality - Fallout New Vegas included some same-sex relationships, and the player character could be played as straight, gay or bisexual, depending on which perks you picked. But I wasn’t expecting the only great romance subplot in an entire game to include an asexual woman actively pursuing another woman. Were this just one relationship among many, it would still be beautiful, but for it to take centre-stage and not have to share that space with anything else? It’s phenomenal. 

And, just when I think that The Outer Worlds couldn’t get any more lovely, it did this: 

Yep, that’s the option to identify your character explicitly as asexual. There’s even the option just afterwards to clarify your character as aromantic as well, which Parvati takes perfectly in her stride with a nice little nod to the player’s strong relationships with their friends. Either revelation is meant with the same response from Parvati: 

“So we’re… we’re kin-like. That makes me, well - unaccountably happy, Captain. It’s a lonely thing, being different like this.” 

Judging from that reaction, the Captain is likely the first fellow asexual who Parvati has met, and the relief in her voice was such a punch to the gut. Because Parvati’s right - the loneliness of feeling “other” sinks in fast and there’s nothing quite like the relief when you finally feel like maybe you’re not alone after all. 

And the idea that this game and this character might give that moment of relief to someone out there, well, that just makes me unaccountably happy as well.