Life Is The Art Of Drawing Without An Eraser

Neil being demisexual is literally perfect for Andrew. When they first meet, Neil "not swinging" gives Andrew assurance that Neil won't be sexually interested, which allows Andrew to feel safe enough to eventually become close to Neil. I think that Andrew's fear of being the object of sexual attention is partly why he exclusively spends time with people who won't develop sexual desire towards him (the monsters: his relatives + a straight dude; and Renee, from whom he extracts the reassurance that "I don't kiss heathens").

Then, once Andrew gets close to Neil and starts developing feelings for him, Andrew ALSO gets the reassurance that Neil actually does swing. For him, specifically. And Neil's swinging is nothing to do with the physical features of Andrew's body or with Andrew being available and willing. Instead, Neil values and loves the parts of him that Andrew himself has already offered Neil. This couldn't be more perfect for Andrew! Neil is a pipedream. A man for whom loving and respecting Andrew as a person is a precondition for even wanting to touch; a man who won't ever push Andrew to cross a boundary, because his own desires are completely enmeshed with his love for Andrew. Andrew has won the lottery of life.

And for Neil, too, his demisexuality is overwhelmingly a positive thing. It means that Neil doesn't have his head turned when it would have been dangerous for him. Instead he falls for a man who makes him feel safe and cared for. In fact, Neil himself acknowledges this when he first decides to kiss Andrew, reasoning that "the idea of Andrew was so intertwined with the idea of Neil's safety that this too was a means of self-preservation". Also, once Neil recognises what he feels for Andrew, he never has reason to doubt it. Neil doesn't get casual crushes, so he knows that what he feels is The Real Deal.

It can also be found on Google Drive here and on Bluesky here.

Love the soft, curious moments of them sharing about their own cultures, biology, etc. I do think Rocky would have a field day when Grace explains skin as a very sensitive and permeable organ with lots of stuff packed tight on the surface. Since goosebumps are very tactile, I thought Rocky would enjoy hearing those.

Also, bonus.

Lol. Lmao. You think Rocky is going to LET Grace die?? Fuck no. Broski has a team of Eridians cooking up some science as we speak. Throw Simon into that equation with his weird post blood ocean mutations that probably let him live longer and those chances get even lower. Grace I hope you're ready to wake up one morning and realize that for a 100 year old man you don't look all that much past 47.

👉 Just sayin' 👀

I haven't seen anyone talking about this and just wanted to make a quick post on here.

Akihiro Miwa recently passed away peacefully june 20th, and was not only a drag queen and a queer icon, but also the japanese voice of Arceus in the movie Arceus and the jewel of life, as well as the witch from Howl's moving castle and Moro from Princess Mononke.

The first published study about climate change (that I am aware of-- feel free to point out if there's an older one) is an 1896 paper by Svante Arrhenius. He pointed out the link between the greenhouse effect and changes in atmospheric CO2.

Plate tectonics, which the geoscience community now recognizes as near indisputable, was a fringe theory until about the 1960s.

After almost a decade on this site, I found another Tumblr user in the wild. I stopped to tie my shoe with rainbow laces this morning outside the silversmith at Colonial Williamsburg, and I heard it.

“I like your shoelaces.”

Oh. Oh no.

I responded the only way I could. “Thanks.” And then I reluctantly added, “I stole them from the president…and if that makes sense to you, I’m very sorry.”

The poor man, in full Colonial dress, stared at me for a long moment. And then burst into laughter. And said, “I haven’t thought about that in YEARS and this has never happened to me before.”

Yeah. Me neither. Not until today.

But if by any chance this post reaches anyone who hasn’t read this marvelous, delightful book, let me tell you what you’re sleeping on:

A perfect example of how to write the most oblivious protagonist while still making things clear to the reader what’s going on

A competent protagonist who still has relatable self-esteem issues

Oblivious p I n I n g she wants Howl so bad and is in SUCH jealous denial

Misunderstandings related to that obliviousness

The most ridiculous Drama King to ever slime his own house

But who also is head over heels for that adorably oblivious protagonist

Like he dotes on her and she just thinks the whole time he doesn’t like her

Okay it’s not exactly enemies to lovers, but like, Sophie has such an impression of Howl’s reputation due to his own efforts to blacken his own name that Howl has a lot of work to do to correct her impression of him

and besides which, he really is a slitherer-outer so you can hardly blame Sophie’s frustration with him

and besides which Sophie does meddle an awful lot so you can hardly blame his own frustrations with her

I mean she basically just barges into his home and insists on staying an indeterminate time, like just tonight or you know, forever?

On that note, it’s not fake dating but these two are essentially living in a domestic relationship before they even kiss

File under: how to write a romance without needing the protagonists to kiss!

When Sophie insists on cleaning all the time Howl is just like “??? why??? do you want to clean when you are so awesome and powerful and could do so much better??? i keep telling you there’s a spell for that and you do not have to clean???? but if it’s what you want to do I guess?????”

like for real he’s just disappointed that she seems to only think she’s good for serving and doing chores and wants her to want more for herself

you can reread the book and try to pinpoint when Howl starts loving Sophie but then you cannot and for sure it just must be a case of ‘he was already in the middle before he knew he begun’

like he cures her aches and pains and he buys her nice clothes clearly trying to cater to her taste and

when he has to redo his whole HOME he asks her what kind of shop she wants to run and he buys her old home like as if they’re already married and they’re building a new home together

and Howl tries multiple times to break her curse, but in the end only SHE can really break it bc like I said this story is brilliant

and the WHOLE TIME, the whole time ALL OF THIS doting and pining is going on, Sophie looks like a 90-year-old woman and Howl is just head over heels for her 

I mean with tropes like these???? what are you waiting for?