#touchmycape

BIRTHDAY!!! THANK YOU!!!! 😊😊😊💖💖💖 I am having a delightful time, my mom sent me a fancy teacup set, fancy tea, and fancy biscotti, so I haven't even gotten to my actual celebration plans yet and birthday breakfast has been lovely.

The botanical spoils of today's outing with @touchmycoat, to help decorate my newly-cleaned-out living space! The left is a splash plant that is a seriously delightful pink color, and the right is a bit of string of pearls succulent that I'm going to do my best to propagate.

Okay so I’m just going to word vomit about this if that’s okay with you? I know i said drabble but like. I have work like every day this week, so in lieu of something more formal I’m just going to kind of go and see what comes out. This might not be what you were expecting or hoping for, but it’s what’s in my brain right now, so. Yep.

So Yoongi and Namjoon went to the same university in Seoul, obviously, which is how they stayed friends after they graduated high school (news flash: Yoongi? Not that great at keeping in touch). Yoongi took his first gender and women’s studies class as a gen ed, because Namjoon begged him (he’s a philosophy and secondary ed double major if anyone is wondering) (that’s how they meet Seokjin, who’s an early childhood ed major). Namjoon begged him because, quote, “we won’t have any bro time if we don’t have a class together.” So they take the class (Women, Gender Identity and Ethnicity). All is well and good, except one night they get tipsy and Yoongi is like, “Okay, but like, the Patriarchy, right?” and Namjoon just like, nods sagely at him and then they both fall asleep and after that Yoongi becomes quietly obsessed with GWS but he never talks in class bc he’s ~nervous and also he doesn’t want to talk over the amazing, opinionated women in his class. and he, like, orders bitch magazine or whatever the Korean equivalent is (is there a Korean equivalent?) and then when the class ends he goes online and adds it as a minor without telling anyone because he doesn’t want to be ‘that dude.’ basically he becomes a little tiny quiet feminist/progressive because namjoon wanted to have “bro time.” Typical.

Mmm what else. Platonic sugamon? Hoo boy.

These two. These. Two. I love both of these nerds, listen. Namjoon is so much like me it’s insane. So, like, Namjoon’s our resident philosophical, constantly in an existential crisis INFJ and like. His brain does not switch off, like, ever, and he does this stupid thing where he actually considers the size of the universe and his own size in relation to it, and it makes him feel really small. But like, despite that, instead of being a gross cynic, he has this crazy drive to find meaning and purpose and beauty anyway?? And he has an incredibly gentle, kind soul???? and he’s not always hopeful about the world and society and life, but he works hard anyway to give life meaning, and I just really love Kim Namjoon.

This was supposed to be about Sugamon but it became meta about actual Namjoon? Well, anyway, this is how I understand actual Namjoon, which in turn is what informs my characterizations of him, so.

So, back to Namjoon’s stupid brain. It doesn’t shut off, and (possibly because we’re so similar) I very much characterize Namjoon as a super verbal processor. What I mean by that is Namjoon has to actually verbalize his thoughts out loud in order to get them out of his head. This is where his friendship with Yoongi comes in–Yoongi’s the exact opposite, he resolves everything internally and is in general pretty reticent. He’s a quiet guy, which makes him a good listener, which is great for someone like Namjoon, who can and will have conversations with himself until he loses it. So Yoongi’s quiet and shy, but secretly needs to be close to another person a lot of the time, even if he’s not really interacting with them very much; Namjoon needs someone to “mm-hmm” and “uhuh” to his weird existential thoughts (and occasionally disagree with them), and to kind of slap him around when he gets too deep; thus, Sugamon’s friendship is kind of ideal.

YO YO YO, SAME. I'm ace too with much of the same manifestation as your Xan, lmao. I think it's so cool that you give these specific ethnic and orientation headcanons; they matter so much, in general and to me personally.

Thank you ^ ^ I’m glad that the race/orientation HCs are important to you--they are to me too. I hope people will agree that the characters being brought to the fore in my comics are pretty diverse, despite the heavily-white main cast from canon. A large goal of this AU is to give screen time to the much more diverse background characters of especially the prequels. Regarding characters who have no official rl face claim, meaning they’re EU characters, I will state this: unless there is a very specific reason why they have to be white, none of them will be white. Some characters are influenced by a specific face claim, others because I feel that ethnic group should be represented more. I’ll be more explicit about some characters more than others, especially if they stand for something I think canon really should have included but didn’t, such as Xan’s Japanese FC, and the ethnic diversity among the upcoming handmaidens of Padme.

That being said, while I will try to be as diverse and inclusive as possible, I recognize that it will be impossible to represent every single minority, be it racial, sexual/romantic/gender identity, disability/mental illness, or anything else, nor do I personally have the knowledge to respectfully portray all of these accurately. While I recognize the importance of having defined identities for people to relate to, and I will do this often, I also recognize the importance of being comfortable with fluidity and lack of definition. On top of that, given my general/platonic-centric short vignette format of my comics, specific identities may not ever be directly addressed. People are certainly welcome to ask me if I have a HC for certain characters, but I also hope people will understand and respect that some characters will not have defined identities, perhaps because I want to leave it open to interpretation for my readers who don’t have other characters who fit what they want, but also perhaps because the character doesn’t care/prefers not to have a label and that’s legitimate too. Some, like Xan, are very self-aware and like having a label they can shout out (or grind in the Council’s faces), and that’s fitting for his character, but that’s not going to be true of everyone ^ ^;

In addition, I’m coming at this AU from the angle that the SW Universe, especially during the Republic era, was necessarily extraordinarily diverse. Sure, certain isolated worlds without many species may have more limited understanding, but those heavily involved in inter-galactic relations such as Senators or Jedi would be incredibly open. Their standards are different from our limited Earthian ideas, and they would not only be more flexible with the identity terms that we know, but they would have tons that would not be possible on Earth. And if one can understand a concept as it applies to other species, it only makes sense to me that open minded individuals would apply those terms to widen identity understanding within their own cultures. 

congratulations!!

;;;;;;;;;;A;;;;;;;;;;; THANK YOU SO MUCH. It’s definitely supposed to be more manga than comic (which is partially why it’s all vertical...when there are two panels next to each other I don’t know which direction I want people to read from, so it’s just easier to forget about it all together and have it only up and down ^ ^;).

Thank you so much for giving me such specific comments! ;A; Comic #07 was definitely the one I put the most effort into so far, although I had to rush the craptastic lighting >.<;;; I was trying to be ooooooh dramaaaatic OTL which doesn’t fit all too well with the simple coloring of the rest of the series, but ah well...

wait are you gay????

Thank youuuuuu :D

2. If the sorting hat was on you and it said you'd be great in a house you didn't consider before, will you follow his advice or choose what house you want?

It would depend which house. Ravenclaw would sort of make sense I guess? So I think I could follow that advice. Gryffindor I think it would be harder for me to go with. I know daring and bravery and everything are important, but there are things I view more highly.

8. Will you be part of any organisation?

Probably! I’ve always been active in clubs and stuff throughout my life, so I see no reason for that to change. Given my track record, I’d probably get involved with different things throughout my time. Muggle quidditch is wonderful, but I don’t think I’d try Quidditch at Hogwarts - too dangerous and like, heights. Iffy. I’d be in the group of people just having a chuck around with a quaffle at low heights. I dunno. Yeah, I’d be in some organisation, but I don’t know which one.

19 I’ve answered on another ask. Basically all of them...

21. Will you read Hogwarts: A History?

Hell yes! Okay well. I’d at least skim it. I hope. History isn’t normally my thing, but I’d want to have some knowledge. I would at least read the wizarding equivalent of its wikipedia page. Plus I have a thing about reading books that I’m expected not to read...

28. Will you be curious enough to try and explore the whole castle, even if you know you can get in trouble for visiting some parts of it?

I tend to worry about getting into trouble, so I’d probably try to avoid that. But I would like to adventure. I think it would take a while for me to get confident enough to, but it’s the type of thing I would do to pass an afternoon with a friend or two. Also that would be hella procrastination I would totally go for that.

44.If you are of age, will you try to enter the triwizard tournament if they ever host one again?