#but my interest in it has gone down a lot with people leaving the fandom

[deathbecomesthem]

Three's Company +18 ONLY minors DNI

Part 2 - Ready, Steddie, Go

*This is a reupload from my old blog. If you think it sounds familiar, it's because it probably is.

Pairings: Steve Harrington x Eddie Munson x Fem!Reader Everyone is about age 30 in this one, think mid to late 90s.

Summary: You and Steve share a live in boyfriend, but you're ready to consider a different dynamic. | 3.8K

Contains: Poly relationship dynamics, smut (oral, anal, vaginal), and lots of feelings. It's so soft guys.

A/N: I came into the fandom through the Steddie pipeline, but this is the first time I've tried to write a Steddie x reader. Take it or leave it, this is what I have to offer. I wrote this today, so it's a quick and dirty writing.

---

Months have passed together. You and Eddie. The move into his place was seamless. The room at the end of the hall has been vacant since they first moved in, a three bedroom apartment without a third. It wasn’t Eddie’s idea to add you to the lease, but he was overjoyed when the proposal was made. How could he not be? The love he had for you was something he thought was impossible, and yet - here you are. At the end of the hall.

Family dinner twice a week, Mondays and Thursdays. It was designed to bring the three of you together, and it worked. Those nights are filled with heartfelt discussions and deep laughter that bubbles up from the true places inside of the three of you. On those nights, the hesitation is gone, and Eddie sees his lovers reach across the table and connect in ways he had been dreaming about. A real friendship, a foundation that will last.

Eddie has too much love. With each touch, it folds over and over inside him, growing exponentially. It’s too much for just one person, too much for two. It’s something that Eddie has heard his entire life - he’s too much. Everything about him is too big. But you’ve never made him feel that way, and neither has he. You both take his love, and give what you have in return. Too much love? There’s no such thing. When it overflows, you step aside and let him take the excess. He does the same. The simplicity of it all sent your head reeling those first few weeks, but not now. No, you see it clearly. Each one made for the other, a perfect balance of love and connection.

“I know how it sounds. I get it, I’m not your type,” you smile at the man across the booth slyly, “but I just want you to think about it. I promise, I won’t talk to Eddie unless you and I have an understanding.”

A deep sigh is exhaled from the chiseled jaw of your man’s lover. He shakes his head and widens his hazel eyes before he brings them to meet yours, “Oh, my type? I don’t even know what that is. Eddie’s my type. And so are you.” He offers you a crooked smile, eyes twinkling with the charm that so many people had fallen victim to over the years of his reign as King, “I get it. I see it in you, why he loves you so much.”

And that’s how it goes, toes dipping into the lukewarm waters of possibility that afternoon in the coffee shop down the street from your shared apartment. Open and frank conversation, guilt free about excluding your mutual interest - Eddie. Let him save the heartbreak if the feelings fall too short of something that would work. That’s something you share - you could never hurt him, never be responsible for any of his pain if it can be avoided.

The two of you continue the conversation over the following weeks. Likes. Dislikes. Hard boundaries. Soft boundaries and how to maneuver them. You search your heart and mind, meditating on the idea of the thing. How it will change things, if the things that change will make your lives fuller, or if it will lead to the slow march of relationship death. 

You push away the negative thoughts, they’re fueled by insecurity and the unknown. You won’t be ruled by that. This life is the one you have, and you share it with Eddie, the love of your life. Steve though, can he be more than a third roommate? You’ve been letting yourself look at the lines of his face and neck. You’ve let yourself imagine what your fingers would feel like when they slip through his sweat soaked hair. The smell of him lingers in every corner of this home, his smile is safe and kind. 

—

It took longer to convince you than it did Steve, even though the idea had sprung up from inside your own mind. You took a month to let the trepidation and nervousness reign before allowing the warmth of possibilities to gain the advantage. Once they won out, you were ready to give the go ahead and talk to Eddie. Let him see the offer, openly given with no hesitation, a gift for him - the love at the center of yours and Steve’s worlds. 

“Eddie, my love,” you whisper to him in the darkness of your bedroom. You can feel the brush of his eyelashes against the bare skin of your chest, fluttering at the sound of his name. He hums, the vibrations are an acknowledgement that he’s listening to what you have to say. It’s stupid to want to talk about this now, but Steve has left the ball in your court - he sees the way you’ve wrestled with your own mind over the idea, and it’s in your own bed with the reassuring warmth of Eddie where you feel the safest. Cared for, protected, and less insecure about where you fit into this unlikely familial unit.

You waited until your lover crooked his neck to make eye contact with you in the thick darkness of the midnight hour that softens the overwhelming thoughts that you need to share with him. You push away the shadow of a curl that hides the fullness of his visage before saying the words that have been sitting at the back of your throat for weeks. “Do you remember that conversation we had a few months back, about me, you, and Steve?”

Eddie remembers, it was a night a lot like this one. In the dark he had whispered his secret to you, a precious and fragile thing that you’ve held in your heart, careful not to crush it. He’d wiped the tears from your eyes when you told him you weren’t ready for something like that, fearing he might lose his love for you. That night had reinforced things for Eddie, he knew he could tell you things, he knew you could be honest with him. The love never faded, instead it grew roots that threaded the love he felt for Steve also. A forest canopy where the three of you find shelter.

“I remember,” Eddie’s calloused fingers run down your cheek and under your eyes, a wordless question answered when they leave dry, “but we don’t have to talk about that, Baby. We’re so good.” He kisses at the skin of your chest, warm and soft breathing out the rest, “I love you.”

“I love you, Ed. But I want you to know, Steve and I have talked about it -” Eddie sits up straight in the bed, wide eyes shining by the sliver of moonlight sneaking between the drawn shades of the room.

“You and Steve have been talking?” Eddie repeats. You wait to see if he says more before you give him the rest. “You two talked about the three of us being together?”

“Yes.” You reach your fingers out to gently play with the curls at the side of his face to calm the sudden anxiety that’s building between you. “I didn’t want to talk to you until I knew that Steve and I were on the same page. I didn’t want to disappoint you.” You surprise yourself when the last sentence is choked out on a quiet sob. “I’m sorry, I don’t know why I’m crying about this.”

Eddie pushes aside the anxiety and wipes away the tear that has escaped from the corner of your eye, “what did Steve say? I haven’t talked to him about adding a third since I met you. I know how he felt about it after he met you, but you two have your own friendship and stuff now.” 

You breathe out a relieved sigh. Steve had told you that he had initially hoped the three of you could have something shared, but a part of you hadn’t fully believed it. Hearing Eddie confirm it rouses the butterflies deep in your gut. “Steve’s on board. I’ve spent the last few weeks thinking about everything, and I want it too. I trust you both so much.”

“It’s ok if you need more time, or if you change your mind -” you cut Eddie off with a kiss. Lips brushing lips. You finally tell him the thing you’ve barely been able to admit to yourself.

“I want it. My two beautiful boys.”

—

Saturday mornings are for coffee and cigarettes on the balcony with Steve and Eddie. This morning is much the same, but with sidelong glances between you and two sets of eyes watching as you lazily blow smoke from between your lips. You heard the boys whisper to each other in the kitchen before they came out to join you. The sexual tension is so ridiculous, it makes you bark a laugh when you see Steve lick his lips.

“Jesus Christ, Steve, you’re drooling. See something you like?” You wiggle your shoulders under your oversized pajama shirt that leaves everything to the imagination. He’s seen you in it a million times before, only this time it’s different. He’s thinking about what’s underneath knowing he’ll get to see the curves and angles of you soon. It’s been a long time since he’s been with a woman, and he can’t stop thinking about how soft your skin will feel under his hands.

“Sorry.” He’s sheepish, the tips of his exposed ear immediately turning red at your teasing. It sends a rush of desire through you to see him flush under your gaze. He clears his throat, “I’m sorry, ok. I can’t help it.”

Eddie’s giggle fit is the catalyst for your own. The tension releases in a flurry of gasping laughs and an indelicate snort from your lips. You feel like a teenager with a crush. A first date with the cute boy for which you’ve been harboring a secret crush for months. But it’s just Steve. He buys your Tampax and cleans the bathroom when you and Eddie forget. He’s smiling shyly behind his acrylic frames, and you wonder how you’ve missed it for so long. You push back the regret, because this is how it’s happening. Better now than never.

“Don’t be sorry, Stevie. I like it when you look at me like that.” You drop your voice. You let yourself feel sexy despite the coffee breath and last night’s makeup smeared beneath your eyes. 

“Jesus Christ, you two are fucking killing me.” Eddie shakes his head and drains the last dregs from his mug before he kisses your cheek to head inside for a shower. “You guys need this more than I do.”

Steve follows Eddie into the apartment a couple seconds later, leaving a soft kiss on your cheek as he passes. A thing he does often, but he feels warmer today. You notice the honey highlights of his hair under the early morning sun and sigh. It feels right, seeing him like this. It feels good having him look at you.

It’s the farmers market first where you get fresh bread, cheese, and loads of veggies. Eddie’s making dinner for the three of you, roasted vegetables with tempeh and rice. The bread and cheese is for a quick snack lunch down by the river, sitting between the two warm bodied men, their hands meeting behind you in an embrace. The river hypnotizes you, the quiet rush of the water insistent. You leave them on the river bank and shed your sandals. With your jeans rolled up, you step into the shallow water, smooth pebbles under your toes. You can feel eyes on you, and let them watch you watch the water move downstream. Steve and Eddie watch you wet your toes, never saying a word. 

The whole day is quiet. Even Eddie finds words unnecessary, a rarity. The shy flirtation between you and Steve has an effect on him. It’s killing him, every moment of the day the tension builds more and more. He’s been half hard since he saw you teasing Steve under the early morning sun. He wishes he could have hauled you both into the bedroom at that moment, hands and mouths mapping undiscovered territory - but this is what you all want. A day together, a reminder of what’s real before you all get lost in the fog of lust. But, it’s killing him. 

By the time you all finally make it back to the apartment, the sun is low in the sky, light fading. Three heartbeats in a steady rhythm, nervous giggles escaping lips while shoes are thrown in the corner of the living room. Steve doesn’t even care that not a single one made it to its assigned spot, he can only see you and Eddie. You hold out your hands to him and to Eddie, both happily oblige. The wine from dinner gives you a pleasant buzz, the anxiety is gone completely with your fingers tangled in theirs while you lead them to Eddie’s room. 

The door between yours and Steve’s is your shared boyfriend’s. A bed rarely slept in, his time split between his lovers’, but tonight it will be full. The symbolism is not lost on any of you, neutral ground for the newest chapter in your story. All day you’ve wondered if you’d be able to follow the steps. There’s been a prickling anxiety that it might feel unnatural, but it doesn’t. All you feel now is heat in your belly when you see that Eddie and Steve are hard in their jeans. A pulse begins to pound where you want to be touched, and he’s on you as if he can feel it himself.

Eddie’s kissing you hard, his hands immediately find the curve of your ass and you wonder how you could have ever doubted this. Steve is still gripping your left hand, his large thumb runs across your knuckles as Eddie’s tongue breaches your lips to taste you. You squeeze back, the sweat of your palm mixing with Steve’s while Eddie moans deep. 

“Can I watch you two?” Steve’s voice is hoarse and full of want. “You’re both so pretty.”

You break away from Eddie, mouth opening, closing, opening again. No sound coming out, too lost already. Eddie helps, his head resting on your forehead and turns to see Steve before answering, “Stevie wants to watch, Baby. He can join in when he wants, though, right?” You nod, keeping your eyes on Eddie, already overwhelmed. 

It’s enough for both of them, and clothes are sloughed off onto the carpeted floor until you’re bared completely for Eddie. For Steve. You know this dance, even with an audience of one. Eddie and Steve both sink to their knees. Eddie pulls your legs apart wide while Steve rests his head on the mattress next to you. A perfect viewpoint to watch Eddie’s tongue and fingers work. 

“This is the best part, Steve. She makes the prettiest sounds when you do this.” Eddie spreads your legs apart, wider than normal so the view is completely unobscured before he flattens his tongue and runs it hard along your slit. Once, twice, three times. With laser focused precision, he zeroes in on your clit and begins to rub it between his upper lip and tongue while two fingers breach your hole to move inside of you. 

It’s all faster than usual, urgent and desperate, but your body reacts in kind. It meets Eddie’s need, and you can hear yourself crying out without any conscious decision to do so. A hand finds yours, threading between your fingers with digits longer and thinner than Eddie’s. Steve’s hand in yours while you climb the mountain of pleasure. He’s keeping you firmly on the ground. 

It’s Steve that talks you through the white hot lighting that spreads across your vision. “Oh wow. You’re doing so well. You’re so perfect, taking what you need from Eddie. God, I can smell you from here, you smell amazing Baby.” It’s Steve’s firm hand that rests on your hip when you start to pull away. He holds you there to ride through your high while Eddie drinks you up.

When you open your eyes you see them kissing, tongues sloppily dancing. Steve whining at the taste of you on Eddie’s lips. The hand that held you down now threading through the curls at the nape of Eddie’s neck, drawing him closer and closer. You’re still pulsing, and the sight makes you ache for them both. 

“Fuuuuucccckkkk. Oh my god.” Your panting voice breaks their kiss, and you regret it immediately. Pink cheeks and hooded eyes take in your naked form in front of them, and pupils dilate. “Please. Please. I need you.” 

I need you. You don’t know if you’re talking to Eddie or Steve or both of them. It doesn’t matter, because they answer by smiling at each other, Steve’s fingers undoing Eddie’s belt, and then Eddie’s hands pulling Steve’s shirt over his head. On and on and until they’re both on display in front of you. Works of art for you to admire. You burn it into your mind’s eye, hard cocks lazily held in hands while they eat you up with their eyes.

You know what comes next because it’s something you’ve all agreed you want to try. Eddie’s cock stretches you open in a familiar way that feels like home. A whimper leaves his lips when he sinks all the way into you. His eyebrows knit together, concentrating on the feeling of you surrounding him, swallowing him up. Your eyes seek out Steve and see him holding his heavy cock firmly in his grip. He’s matching Eddie’s rhythm, he’s trying to feel what Eddie feels. 

Your second orgasm crashing down on you under Steve’s weighty gaze, it’s impossible to hold back. Eddie never falters, if anything he picks up his pace trying to reach you while you soar high above the bed. He’s so deep, Your hands are tugging at your nipples, desperate for anything to latch onto. You realize that Steve isn’t by your side anymore, he’s behind Eddie now. 

With Eddie still deep inside, the head of Steve’s cock begins to play at Eddie’s hole. Eddie stills at the feeling. He keens, a sound you’ve never heard him make before, and you pulse around him. You can feel Steve push into Eddie, his cock reaches deeper inside of you. And again. Eddie’s hips are moving only through the force of Steve’s. It’s so beautiful to see this sight in front of you. Eddie’s gone at the feeling of Steve’s cock buried deep inside of him. Steve’s hand is in Eddie’s hair, pulling his head back to give you a full view of your boyfriend’s lovely neck. Every thrust of Steve’s hips is met with a small cry from Eddie. The cock inside of you slips out, and you decide it’s time to make a quick change. 

You reach up to cup Eddie’s cheek in your hand and say, “turn around, Baby. Let me hold you.” Eddie’s too gone already, you and Steve turn him around. You pull Eddie back against your chest to hold him, and Steve spreads his legs open wide. From this vantage point Steve is so beautiful it makes you ache. His pretty cock leaking arousal. And then it disappears again, deep inside Eddie. 

Steve’s eyes are fixated on your face, and you're fixated on his. One of your hands is in Eddie’s sweaty hair, soothing him while Steve sets a bruising pace. You reach down and grip your fist around Eddie’s leaking length. It’s bouncing against his stomach, so hard and desperate to be touched. You push the hair away from Eddie’s ear and begin to speak. Your eyes never leave Steve’s.

“You’re doing so well, Eddie, taking that fat cock in your tight little ass.” Steve falters for a second, his jaw is clenching at your words. He’s trying to hold on until Eddie cums at least. “Your boyfriend is so pretty, Ed. How’d I get so lucky, hm? The two prettiest dicks I’ve ever seen, all for me.” Steve's hips move faster, he’s close now. So is Eddie. Wordless whines at the back of his throat and reverberates through your chest. 

There’s a sort of power you had not expected in this position. Both men under your spell. And you decide - mercy. You know exactly how to push them both over the edge, break this fever. They both sit painfully on the edge of oblivion, Steve’s eyes still on yours, lost in chasing the rhythm of his hips.

“He’s good, isn’t he, Steve?” His eyes widen, it’s the first time you’ve directly addressed him in this bedroom. You can feel Eddie begin to pulse in your hand, stomach muscles tensing, and you shoot to kill - “I’m good too. Do you want to feel how my asshole feels while Eddie fucks my pussy, Stevie?”

Eddie lets out a strangled cry, cum shoots up his stomach and over your fingers, while Steve slumps down on top of Eddie. Shallow and deep thrusts accompanying his moans. You reach out, finally able to touch Steve, and run your fingers through his sweaty mane. You run a finger along the line of his jaw while he and Eddie find their breath. 

“Your girlfriend is evil.” Steve huffs out the words into the skin of Eddie’s chest while you all still lay in a pile of sweat and cum.

“Mmm, I know she is. But I think maybe she’s your girlfriend too, Stevie. She doesn’t invite just anyone into her ass.” Eddie can’t even fully deliver the line before he’s laughing. A joyful sound that feels like relief. “God, we’re a fucking mess.”

“Everyone needs to get off of me right now, I can’t breathe.” You feel weak under the weight of both men, pushing on Eddie’s shoulders with little effect. Steve rolls off Eddie, pulling him off of you at the same time. 

You look at the clock. 9:30. You laugh, and groan. “I’m taking a shower and getting the butter pecan from the freezer. You two do what you want.” 

You leave the room, not bothering with your clothes, and hear the boys groaning. You know they can’t resist ice cream. You think that it might be a good idea to do some bed shopping tomorrow. The queen won’t do it, not for the three of you.

#eddie munson fanfic #eddie munson smut #steve harrington smut #eddie munson x steve harrington #steddie x reader #steddie x reader smut #steddie x you #eddie munson #eddie munson x you #eddie munson x reader

[ofstarsandvibranium]

My Sweetheart: Part 4

Fandom: Marvel

Pairing: Bucky Barnes x F!Reader

Summary: You purchase a vintage sweetheart bracelet from an antique store and with it, comes the spirit of the woman who owned it. Through her, you go on an interesting journey to find out what happened to her old lover.

Part 1 Part 2 Part 3

Dot shakes her head in disappointment. It's clear Bucky has gone through a lot, but that doesn't mean he shouldn't be happy. He deserves to be happy. She sighs, watching as you run a hand down your face. Though she's been around you for a few days, she knows you're a sweet, kind, and caring person. Bucky seems like he could use someone like you in his life.

____________________

Bucky's in the kitchen downing another beer. Kamala cautiously approaches the man, "Sooo...how'd it go? Did you, uh, help your old girlfriend move on?"

Bucky gulps his beer down and lets out a loud sigh, "Nope. She doesn't want to cross over anymore."

Kamala's brows furrow, "What? Why?"

He shrugs, "She wants to stay to make sure I'm happy."

"Are you happy?" the young Avenger asks.

"I'm content, but that's not good enough for Dot."

"So what're you gonna do?"

"Not my problem. Y/N has to deal with Dot. Not me," he tosses the empty bottles into the recycling.

Kamala frowns, "Isn't the point of being an Avenger supposed to be helping people?"

Bucky snorts, "I'd rather fight another one of Thanos' alien dogs than deal with the ghost of my girlfriend from the 40s." With that, he leaves Kamala in the kitchen.

"Hm..."

_________________

After the day you've ha, you needed a tall glass of wine and a nice bubble bath. So that's exactly what you did.

The bath was hot and ready, you poured yourself a glass, and you played some soft music in the background. As the bathroom filled with steam, Dot wrote on the mirror: Help Bucky.

You snort into your wine glass, "Dot, you heard him, he doesn't want my help. The guy's a dick."

Help. Bucky.

You sigh, sitting up in the bath, "Dot, really, I get you're concerned for him or whatever, but he doesn't want our help. The guy is a lost cause! You just need to accept it and move on!"

Dot huffs, taking your toothbrush and throwing it onto the floor. You don't know, but she walks out.

She looks around the apartment and suddenly wants to get away. She moves to your bedroom window, looking outside. She takes a deep breath and transports herself outside of your apartment.

"Yes!" she cheers and takes a few steps forward but then freezes. Despite her best efforts, she couldn't go any farther. She turns around and sees a string pulling her back. She's then transported back to your apartment and she's glaring at her bracelet.

"Dammit," she murmurs and sits at your desk in discouragement.

_______________

After your bath, you ordered takeout since you weren't in the mood to cook. When you heard the knock at the door, you open it to see-

"You're not my takeout."

Kamala Khan, Ms. Marvel, was standing at your door. She gives you a sheepish look, "I mean, technically, I have it here," she holds up the bag, "But I came to help you," she hands you your takeout and enters your apartment.

"Help me?" you close the door behind her and look at her confusedly.

"Yeah! With Bucky and helping his old girlfriend to move on!" she looks at you excitedly.

"Uuuhhh okay?" your brows furrow in confusion, "How come you want to help?"

Kamala shrugs, "It's what Avengers do, besides, I do think that Bucky needs some happiness in his life. All he does is work, ride his motorcycle, and be grumpy."

You snort as you open your takeout and start digging in, "He seems like he's eternally grumpy."

Something falls off your coffee table, startling Kamala, "What was that?"

"Dot, Bucky's old girlfriend. She tends to move things when she wants my attention." You walk over to the table to see your notepad with a new note from her: LET HER HELP.

You hum, "Dot thinks you can help."

"Great!" Kamala claps her hands together, "So we should definitely plan things out. What if," she pauses and gasps, "we can get him a pet!"

"Is he capable of taking care of an animal?" you genuinely ask her.

She shrugs, "Not sure, but he likes to feed any stray cats that are around the Compound. So maybe we should get him a cat!"

"Okay but what if he doesn't want the cat? You guys are left with a cat."

Kamala shrugs again, "I don't mind. I love cats. As long as I don't bring it home to my parents, we should be fine."

You shake your head, "I'm sorry, kid-"

"Kamala."

"Kamala. I get that you're trying to help you're, uh, fellow Avenger, but it doesn't seem like he wants help. Also, as someone who works at an animal shelter, I don't like the idea of giving someone a pet without knowing whether they want one or can care for one."

The young Avenger's eyes widen, "You work at an animal shelter?! Can I visit your work?!"

You can't help but chuckle at the teen's enthusiasm, "I mean, we're always looking for volunteers. If you or any of your Avenger friends want to come by and help, that'd be great.

Kamala is furiously nodding, "I know a bunch who would love to help! Are you working tomorrow?"

You shake your head, "Nope. The day after though. You can swing by and pick up volunteer papers for you and your friends to fill out."

She salutes you, "Sounds like a plan!" she sees herself out with a wave and you're hoping that this will be the end of her wanting to help you to help Bucky to help Dot.

#bucky x reader #bucky barnes x reader #bucky imagine #bucky barnes imagine

[guavajaws]

I saw a very interesting post earlier talking about purple haze feedback and Fugio and honestly, I enjoy talking about these characters that I love so why the hell not?

I forgot who the poster was but in it they made a very valid point, if your takeaway from phf is ‘omg fugio’ real! Then you completely misunderstand the point. As someone who is a longtime Fugio shipper I completely agree but I wanted to put my takes on the story and what seems to make the ship so appealing for some people

Regardless no matter what way the wind blows, phf’s main task is to help peer into the mindset of Fugo who has been left to scramble and pick up the pieces of his feelings after his friends went to risk themselves against Passione. Through the entire story he wrestles with the very grief of loosing him and attempts to grasp and understand Narancia’s decision to leave and fight for Trish.

Ive seen that the jjba fandom tends disregards a lot of the highly traumatic situations that unfold in most of the protags lives and with that disregard the characters are reduced from three dimensional human characters struggling with their pain to two dimensional characters who’s suffering is pushed aside for the very core personality traits presented above the surface.

Fugo is ‘the angry one’, ‘the smart one’

All traits that do certainly apply to him but if you simply leave it at that, Fugo remains as what ive said, a two dimensional character.

What makes Purple Haze Feedback so great is that we see a character who has suffered and has been brutally beaten down by the world that has kept him from living any semblance of a normal happy life, find a way to accept his grief and to accept his pain by means of accepting and understanding his own anger. In the case of Pannacotta Fugo, anger is also a means of protecting people. Fugo bit the capsule and lived, even Murolo mentions out-loud that stands do not change unless the user has gone through change as well. He evolved and now PH is no longer the symbol of festering rage that it used to be.

After all of that id find it odd if someone’s only takeaway from the story is ‘fugio real!!’ However I do understand the appeal

People so often seem to forget the Fugo and Giorno’s stories are very very similar and they’re both victims of abuse. Giorno adapted to reading people and their emotions while Fugo would let his emotions out more often.

But I think the sweet part of Fugio is to be able to imagine two victims of their similar traumas being able to find so much to love about eachother and be able to heal together. Fugo being able to love Giorno on his own accord and Giorno not having a need for putting up walls around Fugo would allow for them to just BE, to exist in eachother’s company and honestly its a comforting thought.

#fugio #pannacotta fugo #giorno giovanna #purple haze feedback #golden wind #jjba part 5

[talknerdytome18]

Seeing all the shit regarding people's opinions on Seb after S4 that went down on Twitter just made me feel frustrated. Since I don't post on Twitter since I only use my personal account, I will just come on here instead.

You can dislike a character all you want. That's fine; I dislike many characters. Nobody is saying that you have to like a certain character; it's FINE to not like certain characters.

However, it is NOT okay to attack others who may like that character. It is NOT okay to erase the impact that character, especially with a character like Seb who is a part of the first openly gay couple in the HSM franchise. You can dislike Seb all you want; THAT IS FINE, but you DO NOT attack others who actually like his character. Stop calling Seblos stans losers all because you don't like Seb/think Carlos deserves better; we all know damn well that you never cared about Carlos until s4. I've seen your opinions about him TWITTER 🙄

Fandom is meant to bring people with the same interest together. People who may feel excluded may find comfort in fandom. By actively bullying others who have different opinions than you, that makes you a bully. You can go off and say "IT'S JUST A JOKE HAHAHA STOP GETTING UPSET", THAT MAKES YOU A FUCKING ASSHOLE. PEOPLE COME INTO FANDOMS BECAUSE OF THEIR COMMON INTEREST; THEY DON'T COME INTO FANDOMS TO GET HARASSED FOR THEIR DIFFERING OPINIONS. STOP WITH THE EXCUSES; I'M FUCKING SICK OF IT.

Seblos especially means a lot to many members in the fandom. To many, they have made many feel seen especially in a time where queer shows are being cancelled. Seblos was the first ship I had ever felt connected to and it makes me feel disgusted whenever I see people discrediting their impact all because of s4.

If you constantly make excuses as to why you're bullying others in the fandom, then you're just an awful person. You people are nothing but bark and no bite; you guys can dish it out all online, but are too scared to dish it out in person. This especially goes for a certain fanbase for a ship that, while is a beautiful ship, has the worst fanbase I've ever seen. I will not group all members as being bad as I've met some lovely shippers who have been kind and respectful. Why can't that be the same for Twitter?

All in all, this type of behaviour is fucking embarrassing. HSMTMTS is over and yet people are still arguing like children all because of Seblos being endgame. You can whinge all you about it, but you're not going to change it - they're endgame and that's that. You don't have a say and your non-existent spinoff will not change that.

You can be upset with the cheating storyline. Many Seblos stans are upset with it too, but it is not an excuse to harass us for still liking the ship.

You can dislike Seb. That is FINE, but it is NEVER an excuse to harass people who like Seb. This goes for anyone who likes a certain character (unless it's someone who is completely unredeemable).

This behaviour has gone on too long and was partially the reason why I deleted my fandom Twitter in the first place. Bullying others will never get you anywhere in life; stop excusing this behaviour all because it's a "joke" to you. It may be a joke to you, but it hurts for the person affected.

And if I, someone who has been trying to move on from HSMTMTS to AGGGTM, have to come here and say this, then you know that I'm pissed. I'm sick of seeing people feeling pressured to leave the HSMTMTS fandom all because some certain members with holier than thou attitudes think it's okay to harass others.

To anyone who has been bullied in this fandom/any fandom space for a silly reason, I am sorry that happened to you. You deserve much better. This blog sees your worth ❤️

Do better HSMTMTS fandom. - Em

#hsmtmts #seb matthew smith #seb x carlos #carlos rodriguez #seblos

[kishimotomasashi]

A symptom of having been in the online Naruto fandom for a few years now and having Sasuke as my favourite character means that I’ve been incessantly exposed (at the very least, on Tumblr) to arguments about Sasuke not receiving his due justice, being condemned by the narrative for expressing anger at the crimes committed against him and his family, and how the ending of the Naruto manga completely dropped the ball regarding any and all of its political plot threads, leaving the status quo intact, and the only change regarding Sasuke in particular is that he is now complacent with it.

These are arguments that I entirely agree with! And I don’t think there’s anything wrong with their frequent discussion, seeing as Naruto is a very popular manga and new fans will take the place of the old ones. It doesn’t surprise me that the discourse hasn’t slowed down, because new people are discovering it and will want to chime in. This is fine and natural.

But for me, from the perspective of someone who’s been here a while and has seen talk of this happen over, and over and over and over and over again, it understandably gets a little... exhausting. Especially since, as far as I’ve seen, the discourse rarely goes outside of “here is how Sasuke was wronged, here is how the shinobi military industrial complex is fucked up”, and so it feels like I’m seeing less interesting conversations regarding it and more parroting the same universally agreed upon ideas over and over.

It’s just... boring. Because even when the discussion goes outside of “this is why it’s wrong” and enters “here’s how it should have gone” territory, I rarely see it go anywhere beyond “Sasuke should’ve remained angry” “Sasuke should’ve never gone back” “Sasuke should have rejected—“ etc, etc. Sasuke and the Revolution discourse rarely goes beyond Sasuke’s personal vindication regarding Konoha. And to me, it’s just... is that really as far as our imagination extends? Is Sasuke’s anger really the most important thing to focus on? Should anger be the main driving force behind changing a world that is undoubtedly unjust?

My answer to all of those questions is, obviously, no. And I’m writing this to explain why, to propose an alternative to the vindication tunnel vision there happens to be regarding Sasuke vs Konoha/Shinobi System discourse, that I believe even the ending of Naruto (barring chapter 700 and onward to Boruto) provides a solid basis for.

First let’s talk about chapter 699, and Sasuke’s decision not to stay in Konoha but to journey around the world instead.

Now when people talk about Sasuke’s journey, they mostly focus on the part where he calls it a “journey of redemption” and so a lot of discussions concerning whether or not he should have stayed in Konoha revolve around that line and its reasoning. It’s all “he doesn’t NEED redemption” or “oh please journey of redemption is bullshit, stay in Konoha to heal with your friends”.

Which is a damn shame because what he says in the panels above? Before the “you have nothing to do with my sins” thing? Is significantly more interesting. In fact, I consider it a monumental statement for him to make, indicative of his development; it’s the culmination of all he’s been through to get him to this point.

This line is Sasuke recognizing his own limitations related to the volatile emotional state he was nearly constantly in beforehand; Sasuke’s view of the world was incredibly selfish. It was selfish in the sense that his own goals mattered before anything else, that anything slowing him down in his hurry to reach them was an obstacle; it was an incredibly unhealthy view of the world, one that ended up making him hurt himself and others. That his goals are sympathetic and understandable doesn’t really change the reality that he did put himself in danger and was a danger to those closest to him. When we meet him for the first time in Shippuden, at Orochimaru’s hideout, he says word-for-word:

“I don’t care what happens to me or to the rest of the world, so long as I can get my revenge. Nothing else matters.”

And even when the truth about Itachi is revealed to him, this doesn’t exactly change. It’s only his range of targets that expand, and what he did to get to those targets in the 5 Kage Summit arc are unarguably his lowest points in the entire series. While there is a double-standard regarding how Sasuke’s anger and hatred are treated in the narrative, it’s not incorrect to say that his laser focus on them were ultimately harmful in the end, and that to grow he could not continue to rely on them indefinitely.

In fact, Sasuke is always shown to be at his best when he’s not so angry his view of the world is only concentrated on what he alone can see. Sasuke when observant of others is kind, has compassion and understanding and a willingness to prioritize others’ safety: we see this when he protects Team 7 all throughout part 1, and when he protects Team Taka in the Killer B fight. When he’s not clouded by his own rage, Sasuke also has a better willingness to learn: when Itachi left him after their fight against Kabuto, he went out of his way to learn more about the village he’d come to justifiably despise, to understand Itachi’s own point of view, and to learn the point of view of those that had built it. Sasuke in general is someone who doesn’t accept things so readily and is constantly questioning things even when he’s set his mind to them, and he is also someone who does have a clear idea of justice: needless human suffering on a large scale is something he’s disgusted by (see how he reacts to Itachi before he learned the truth and to Orochimaru). When he’s truly of the mind to sit down and listen, that potential is increased tenfold. He came out from under the Nakano Shrine after speaking with Hashirama and the other Hokage seeing the shinobi system as something that causes needless human suffering on a large scale, and though he’s not quite at the ideal point yet, the idea to do something about it (to dismantle that system) is there.

And now here we are, chapter 699: Sasuke’s anger is no longer his main driving force, and he is learning to accept love back in his life, and what does he say? That he’s going to look at the world, now, with new eyes. That he’s going to take advantage of this new healing state of his, to properly observe the world because his perception of it isn’t obstructed by his unhealthy vengeance fixation anymore. Sasuke, who already has the capacity for compassion, who already has a sense of justice, who knows how to listen and observe, is now going to take the time to use these foundations to build himself a more expansive perception of the world. He’s showing willingness to look outside of himself!

Now before I talk about the point I really want to get to, I want to talk about anger. I know anger is often portrayed as something awful in many stories (including this one), as something that is a personal failing next to those who can just endure what is thrown at them with little complaint, and that it’s a narrow view of it. Anger is a very useful emotion, and sometimes a necessary one: anger helps you perceive injustice done to yourself or others, anger can help you prevent people walking all over you and help you to recognize that you’re not getting something that you deserve. I’ll never condemn anger.

And I don’t condemn Sasuke’s anger! I am very firmly in the “Sasuke was right” camp; I don’t think he has to kiss up to a government so cowardly it wiped his people from the face of the Earth in the dead of night, I think a system that can justify a crime that outrageous while it continues to perpetuate itself needs to be entirely dismantled. And I believe that though there are limits to how seriously you should take this shounen animanga, the fact that these plotlines were introduced in the first place as well as every other time shinobi militaristic violence was clearly shown as being evil but were given shitty resolutions means that it is both normal and in fact encouraged to point out that these introduced plotlines were given really, really shitty resolutions.

Though while anger and pointing out how wrong things are are incredibly useful, when you really want to start talking about revolutionary action, incentive to change the world, I think that anger alone is insufficient.

Specifically in Sasuke’s case, as I’ve said above, Sasuke’s anger is ultimately selfish. He sees how he himself was wronged, and that’s great, but like... he’s also not the only one who suffers under the shinobi system. He’s not the only one it’s brought incredible wrong toward. Even when he demonstrated growth during the 4th War and was willing to expand his own knowledge to better understand why Konoha exists as it is, he wasn’t sharing what he’d learned with others, he wasn’t reaching out to build connections, to build solidarity— he was working on his plan entirely alone.

(And yes, we can talk about how the narrative purposefully makes the villain characters seem more unreasonable though they have justified feelings on why the system cannot continue as is, but again, as I’ve said at the start, we’ve had those conversations at length already.)

I believe genuine change, the desire to see a better world, has to fundamentally come from the desire to see people in a better place, not from vengeance. I think to get there, you need to see how other people live aside from yourself, you need to work at helping them see their lives becoming better as well. “No one’s free until we’re all free”, etc. I think your outrage at injustice has to extend to everyone outside of yourself, and your fight against the injustice be also a fight for them.

As I’ve demonstrated, Sasuke in chapter 699 in the space where he can actually work at doing that, to work at doing direct, radical action. Travelling as he wants to do will introduce him to more people, to more perspectives, to more ideas on how to meaningfully combat the injustices of the shinobi system and to directly help people to escape suffering the worst of it.

Recently I watched the Sasuke Shinden anime, and though it was still incredibly imperfect in its politics, it introduced the idea of Sasuke doing the closest thing to everything I am saying right now: it introduces shinobi being forced to fight in a human trafficking coliseum, and Sasuke being told by one of the characters, Chino, that being an inactive third party to injustice makes you just as guilty to it, which leads Sasuke in the end to free all shinobi forced to fight in the coliseum.

It also introduced the idea (and I was genuinely surprised that anything Naruto-related was actually willing to go there) of the Uchiha Clan, and by extension Sasuke, being victims but also being perpetrators of the same system that got them killed. In Shinden, they were hired by a feudal lord to deport another oppressed kekkei genkai clan called the Chinoike (that Chino is apart of) to a land unsuitable for any human to live in, and rather than help the Chinoike escape this fate, they simply carried out the mission order, which caused suffering for the clan. While I don’t think that that plotline was handled as well as it could’ve been, it really hammers in the point of it being important to learn about the position and suffering of others and to do something about it, because despite your own suffering, your participation in the system that perpetuates it still makes you complicit. And Sasuke accepts this! When he learns about the Uchiha and the Chinoike, he relates it to when Chino told him about being an audience to injustice making you just as bad if you don’t do anything about it. I think Sasuke Shinden is a good, if imperfect, snapshot into the very potential I’m talking about.

In fact, all of this is why I really believe it to be important that Sasuke travels and works outside of Konoha rather than within it; because as we’ve seen with Nagato and Amegakure, being apart of the Hidden Villages themselves, fighting in their wars and participating in their ranks, makes you complicit in the crimes they commit against the other smaller nations. Everyone we’ve seen fight in the wars, the Sannin, Kakashi, everyone in allegiance with Konoha and yes, including the Uchiha Clan, share responsibility in the crimes the village commits, even if they’ve personally suffered at its hands as well. Nagato, Konan and Yahiko are certainly justified if they don’t care that your war buddy died in front of you since you both had a hand in the destruction of their village for your military village’s interests.

This is also why on my blog, I am constantly advocating for the potential Team Taka represented. They were all shinobi working outside of the framework of the Hidden Villages, with little allegiance to them, and given that Sasuke in the ending is open to apologizing for his behaviour and accepting bonds again, they could’ve easily travelled together again in the ending and done just exactly everything that I’ve been talking about in this post. And they could’ve become closer than ever!

I think it’s telling, in a way, that what finally got to Sasuke in the end was genuine empathy; acceptance to realize there are other people around like him, that might share what he feels, and this is done through Naruto, someone who saw his own loneliness in him but that Sasuke rejected because he felt (understandably) defensive that anyone should get how he felt at all. Sasuke healing in learning that he can understand people other than himself, safely, is a big step into learning to properly observe and accept others, and then that’s another step that could lead into genuine revolutionary consciousness.

My conclusion here isn’t that any of this was something Kishimoto was actually going for. It’s that despite everything, there are already interesting building blocks in Sasuke’s canon characterization in place where you could create a meaningful story about resisting oppression and fighting for change, one that doesn’t surround a myopic, vengeful idea of it. I dont think of that as an interesting path for Sasuke’s character, especially since he already spends most of the series with nothing but vengeance in mind. I think he has the potential to do better, and we have the potential to write fix-it stories in which he does better than that.

#send post #the ground is soft and I'm ready to dig #really wrote 2k words of Sasuke in 2023... well. #I genuinely think this is the only proper Naruto ''essay'' I've ever written lol #edit: no I am not calling Sasuke Shinden canon #no I am not calling Sasuke Shinden canon #I am calling it an EXAMPLE for POTENTIAL that the anime+novelists provided #that I actually kind of like

[hazellvsq]

frank/hazel/leo most popular pjo ot3? an analysis

okay so the love triangle poll had me thinking. i knew frank/hazel/leo had ship content on ao3, and i was curious to see if other love triangles or popular trios got the same treatment.

(this is very long and rambling)

this is the amount of ao3 content frank/hazel/leo has:

these are the other trios i was looking at:

last one is crazy lol. anyway, other potential trios like jason/reyna/piper or different combos of percy/annabeth/piper/jason all had less than 20 fics each. its possible i missed one but i'm pretty sure i tried of all of them.

for context, the general state of pjo character and ship content looks like this:

the vast majority of tagged fandom content with frank and hazel has them as background characters. finding content that centers them takes digging. aside from calypso/leo, they have the least popular canon ship, and the only other character that either has any substantial fan content with is leo. the pjo fandom has shipped leo with literally any character he was in proximity with, and hazel was a canon love interest of his. in addition, the pjo fandom has incredibly popular mlm ships and has gone through the time-honored tradition of finding ways to sideline, if not villainize, the canon female love interests. which makes these next stats so interesting to me:

a decent portion of works in both of these tags are frank/hazel/leo fics that got crosstagged. obviously, frank/hazel have more fics than frank/hazel/leo:

however, its impossible to figure out how many of these fics actually center frank/hazel, as opposed to them just being background characters. so i did a test and filtered out all of the more popular ships in their tag:

this isn't a perfect representation, because there are definitely frank/hazel centric-fics that had other ships in the background, and frank/hazel/leo aren't the main couple of every fic they get tagged in. still, though. that's less than the frank/hazel/leo fics.

the other thing about hazel and frank content is that they are the two characters who are most frequently headcanoned as straight. it's died down some in recent years but it used to be CONSTANT (it happened to leo too, but not as much). most fans thought they were the two most "traditional" characters, value-wise. so i was thinking, if frank and hazel got this much content for a poly ship, then the characters that this fandom actually thinks are gay have to have more:

and then i was like, hmmm well okay i'm very surprised there's not more for those three. but there's so many people who ship some combo of nico/percy/jason/will. i've seen so many big 3 edits that leave out the girls. there's no way frank/hazel/leo is beating out the white slash ship industrial complex.

frank/hazel/leo beat out the white slash ship industrial complex (big threesome is a very funny ship name tho).

my biggest guess would be that there was some sort of beef between the percy/nico and jason/nico crowds that has led to this lack of ot3 content. i wouldn't know. i'm wondering if they're going to catch up; its not far off right now. as far as i can tell will solace has no popular ot3's that broke more than 20 fics and is pretty much only shipped with nico.

other potential ot3's like jason/piper/leo...i have a theory that a lot of jason/piper shippers only really shipped it in conjunction with percy/annabeth because they were were a good secondary couple for percabeth-centric fics, and didn't care about leo as much (which could explain why there's more overall content for jason and piper than for leo). also, i think historically a lot of leo fans thought jason and piper were bad friends, although these days there's a lot more renewed appreciation for their trio. piper has also been commonly written as a ship obstacle since the inception of her character, when people thought she was homewrecking jason and reyna (the jason/nico crowd uses this trope too), which might be why she's not commonly put in ot3's despite having chemistry with most of the cast. on the other hand, the "ship wars" between hazel/frank and hazel/leo shippers in the mark of athena era were pretty mild, because most readers liked all three characters and didn't have strong enough feelings about either pairing to fight about it, whereas other ot3's don't get written because fans have a very strong preference for their other ships.

i know frank/hazel/leo has its origins on ff.net, but it was mostly one author and mostly just kink. there's a much bigger variety on ao3. i'm wondering why people liked it enough to make it a side pairing for other fics, and at what point the bulk of content for it was written. i'm wondering what people get out of combining the three of them that you don't get from just two. is it because all 3 dynamics are so clearly defined in canon? some of them also are based on kinks like mpreg that historically exclude women, so why do these authors include one? this is also interesting because the rest of the fanbase, including both fans who ship frank/hazel and fans who think that shipping hazel with anybody is problematic, refuse to write about hazel or frank having sex to the point where it was a fandom meme for a while. except in frank/hazel/leo fics, where a large percentage have explicit content. i'm wondering which of the nico/jason/percy or frank/hazel/leo tags has more mpreg, but i'm okay not knowing.

if you made it this far, there's not a real point to this post, except pointing out that for characters who barely get shipping content, frank/hazel/leo is unexpectedly popular considering how much content exists about them otherwise, and also goes against popular fandom perception of the characters in interesting ways.

#i have NO idea what to tag this as lol #frank zhang #hazel levesque #leo valdez #frazeleo #i'm still kinda shook that this had more fics then the nico ot3 i did not see that coming #lost hero trio deserves more fics tho tbh like every combination of it has been popular at one point. its time for a merger #also this essay is not an endorsement or criticism of any ships listed idc about any of them #just trying to figure out what makes different ships tick in fandom #if someone ran a ot3 poll rn i do not think frazeleo would win. but if you ran it during the height of the pjo ship wars? #my running theory is that ship wars prevent ot3s. since ppl usually have a strong preference. this is just one of the rare cases where peo

[asgardian--angels]

I love your blog title. I love that when DJenks made his announcement this month, I went into the tags all morose and accepting defeat, and I saw you there still ready to fight, not giving up, ready for a marathon. Truly, that means SO much to me. A little bit of hope is a powerful thing to have, and we need people who are determined to keep that flame burning bright. So happy to have you in this fandom. You really do make a difference. 💕

Aw, thank you! I really appreciate it. And yeah, I'd almost forgotten about my blog title, which I've had for over a decade, and how hope really does embody me and everything I do.

The streaming landscape is in upheaval, things are changing by the week - even since our turbo-cancellation was announced, two other shows (cancelled for much longer) were saved. Like others have been saying, we were all mentally prepared for a marathon and realistically I don't think anyone can just call everything off after just two months when so many shows have to fight for years before getting a movie deal. I respect David - he told us that news so that we'd know that there's nothing more we can accomplish right now by shouting at streamers, and that we did make a difference. There WERE interested parties, we proved we were lucrative. But that does not mean the fight is over, it just means we need to change tactics and pivot to keeping the fandom active and vocal in the long-term, and bide our time until shifts in the industry open new doors for revisiting OFMD (like David Zaslav leaving, or Max going under, or another merger). That might be six months, or it might be six years. What I am certain of is that there's so much love and passion for this show from the cast and crew that everyone would be down to get the gang back together for a season 3 years down the road.

Basically, I have no doubts the fandom will persist - this fandom is composed of very enthusiastic and artistically talented people who have an unending well of inspiration to draw from. What I do think needs to be done though, that I'm seeing wane a bit on Twitter, is to ensure we direct that noise; most people have stopped using OFMD hashtags, which means our posts won't get noticed. Something that has been great is just how vehemently the fandom has gone after Max on pretty much every single promotional post they've made in the past few weeks - check any of them out, and you'll see 95-100% of the comments are OFMD fans using #DontStreamonMax and #FireDavidZaslav , plus the great new tagline 'Sell The Show, Let Us Go'. That is something that I feel is critical we keep up, as I think one of the most powerful means of influence we have right now is to hold this industry responsible for the cancellation of queer content and just quality content overall. That's one direction we can really put our might towards - toppling the WBD empire faster. Other things we can shout for are a physical release, 'The Jenkins Cut' of s2ep8, deleted scenes/bloopers, merchandise, etc. Max is being absolutely idiotic right now in a way that shoots themselves in the foot, because they're holding onto this IP that could have been their lifeline for keeping subscribers and stock prices up, and not only did they cancel it but they're not even maximizing on the rights they refuse to sell by promoting it or making merch of it, anything that could continue to bring in revenue for what they KNOW without a doubt is one of the best performing shows they've ever had on their platform. Them trying to forget OFMD exists is the nail in their own coffin, because it's the only reason a whole lot of people ever did business with Max in the first place.

So, the long and short of it is, I'll never stop having hope for the return of our show! David said we got the attention of this industry, and we've proven our worth. It's just a really unstable landscape right now, so we need to be patient. It's annoying to see these streamers invest in less successful and more expensive shows, but I think they're all panicking to stay afloat even though they're not making decisions that could help them there. The dust needs to settle. If we can show that there's still a loud and passionate fanbase in a year, in three years, then they will revisit us. We need to keep calling out WBD and Max, we need to keep using hashtags to be heard, and just try to settle into a rhythm that we can maintain long-term. We still have a bunch of BTS to see from Samba, and we will have WJW with David at some point. I think it's important that we DON'T request any season 3 info from him, because that's what jeopardizes the possibility of that storyline then ever getting made. I'm seeing some people on Twitter start to burn out or fall into a state of sad acceptance and if you need to do that for your health, that's fine. But I don't want that mindset to spread throughout the fandom. Our outlook, our words, do have the power to become reality - if we sit back and wave the white flag, then that seriously hurts our chances of ever getting the show back. But if we can carry on like it's just a season hiatus, continuing to demand the question 'ok so WHEN *taps watch*' then our insistence can help make season 3 a reality.

#thanks for this i'm glad i can help inspire some folks to keep the fight going #ofmd #our flag means death

[mdhwrites]

How sick are you of the "TOH season 3 was bad because of Disney" argument?

I feel bad that I've been talking about the shortening as much as I have lately and this ask feels like a part of that. XD It's probably the one thing that the troll from a bit ago really got under my skin with and what seemed to piss them off the hardest. The idea that I was 'blatantly ignoring the circumstances' that led to the problems in the show.

But frankly, I just don't hear the argument being used much anymore. That might just partially be because at this point, I feel like I see more Amphibia art than I see Owl House art on my timeline because... Who is really defending this show at this point? It seems like even die hards are glancing back and fidgeting about it, like that person who I reblogged about the glyphs. That was a decently popular post for something that should have been controversial considering how theoretically important the glyphs are to at least the branding of the show.

S3 in general seems to have left a really bad taste in people's mouths and it's not hard to see why. When you had two and a half hours of content to give your story a proper bang of a finish, even if you can't make it all cohere thematically or the like, you should be able to do SOMETHING. That's WAY longer than most movies and TOH didn't have to do the first two act of establishment that most movies need to do. They had their players, they had their villains, they had their stakes and they never have to find an answer on their own to the Collector or Belos so they effectively already had their solution. They were setup to have payoff after payoff after payoff.

But I made an entire blog about how S3 could never have been great... Because what was there to payoff? Beating Belos is about the ONLY thing S2 left for the cast to do, especially once the second special came around and the interesting elements of the Collector were killed. He's just a sad but playful boy, just like Hunter was sad but mad and Amity was sad but smart. We had no other villains that we as an audience were connected to, all the character arcs were done, to the point where they have to make shit up for Willow so they can do SOMETHING with her and even that feels like shipping fodder, and the thematics were left so far down the road that... What can you say about the ending positively besides "I'm happy everyone is alive and seems happy where they are"?

None of these issues only arose in S3 of TOH though and I think that's the real problem for the fandom right now. Literally the longer the show has gone on, the more its inherent flaws in its writing become obvious as well as the fact that these writers simply aren't good enough to improvise off of the flaws in their own writing to make it better. We have no one who is Toriyama during the Cell Arc here where they can change on the fly and actually build off of what has to now be discarded. Or, hell, me, because I don't plan my stories from go but I take GREAT pride in being able to build on surprises I leave for myself on accident. Remember: The Power of Love did not start even with that title or Boscha planned to ever make more than joke appearances. Now it has a lot of people's favorite versions of both Boscha and Amity.

And that story is over a hundred chapters long. I had at least another hundred chapters of plans in mind. But when my brain stopped working for it and I decided I needed to write an ending so readers could be satisfied, I managed to do one in six parts that word count wise was probably at most 15k words. Not that long frankly but I was able to highlight the mended relationship between Amity and Boscha, how far Boscha had come socially as to be able to ignore those who might have gotten under her skin before, her better relationship with Luz, tie up the biggest loose ends and get them all together.

Was it entirely coherent? No. Was it as impactful as it could have been had I done all my plans? Of course not. But it was satisfying and true to the story and none of it wasted my audiences' time while still giving them an ending that was not only poignant to what had come because of how far Boscha had come but also just give the audience what they wanted. I knew what to cut and I knew what was important.

The Owl House never knew what was important to it though. Never met an idea it didn't like. So... How do you end a story that has never had a focus, clear thematics, plot, world or even characters? That throws everything into the kitchen sink and just waves away the elements in the sink that will stop them from adding new elements that will never get past the surface?

In a lot of spectacle that shows you were always a lot more shallow than you claimed and that's gonna leave a lot of people cold. I know it did for me, even well before the finale.

=========

I have a public Discord for any and all who want to join!

I also have an Amazon page for all of my original works in various forms of character focused romances from cute, teenage romance to erotica series of my past. I have an Ao3 for my fanfiction projects as well if that catches your fancy instead, If you want to hang out with me, I stream from time to time and love to chat with chat.

And finally a Twitter you can follow too!

#toh critical #the owl house criticism

[ceescedasticity]

I started trying to clean up my Song of Ice and Fire SBURB/classpects thing for AO3 only to discover that, in fact, I may not have touched it for a year or more but that doesn't mean I'm actually satisfied with the most recent player roster or classpect sorting. Does not help that I haven't even been reading fic in this fandom lately but

What I do have is a beginning I like—

They were peddled as curiosities and toys -- trinkets after the style of Old Valyria! They were like large bronze eggs, about the size of an apple, which opened like lockets to reveal tiny mirrors on one side and some sort of intricate interlocking metal wheels on the other. Somehow it never occurred to anyone to take them apart for their valuable components. The people they were given to were very attached to them, and fascinated by them, and tended to keep them on their persons at all times. After a few weeks they mostly didn't even really notice they were wearing an oddly large pendant. No one else seemed to notice the eggs at all. Even under circumstances where they really should have. Even if they were pointed out, no one else ever tried to take them — they might take everything else, but never the bronze egg — and they forgot quickly. Certainly no one ever thought anything strange was going on. They were just toys, baubles, funny things to amuse children or girls or boys not grown up yet. Nothing of real interest. Any thoughts of how unnatural the lack of attention was just.… slipped away. (Later on the [Samwell classpect] would wonder if maybe they were Valyrian. In a bad way. But no one described the Doom of Valyria as flaming rocks falling out of the sky.) And then the [Daenerys classpect] in a house of Undying tripped a trigger she didn't know was there, and far away in a crypt, the [Bran classpect] awoke to a pendant gone suddenly warm.

—and then thoughts.

Daenerys is pretty solidly Witch of Rage.

Sansa is pretty solidly Maid of Hope.

Arya is the Time player, for associations with death (even though I'm sending her into the Medium before she can leave for Braavos). Class is probably Rogue, though I thought about Thief.

Bran is the Space player. Class might be Seer (for Seeing, plus "relates to other people in the abstract" and "try telling them they're wrong. I dare you.") or Bard (for the lack of boundaries and general WTFery of body-borrowing), or maybe Mage (active understanding).

Jon is probably Prince of Void, though Heir could do.

Robb is the/a Heart player, probably Heir, though I thought about Knight. He'd be Knight if the Game had grabbed him early enough in the plot.

Samwell is the/a Light player, and probably Mage. I've also considered noncanon class Gnome [passive accumulation class, tilts male, with a ''mythological role" similar to Sylph?] Or he could be Sylph, actually…

Theon is either Thief or Bard. (He has the selfishness for Thief but I don't know about the flair. Being kind of a creeper at times fits for Bard, and he can be embarrassing, and there's the general WTFery.) Aspect is either Blood or Breath, because he's desperate for both connections and freedom.

And I think that exhausts the list of 'people I would definitely include'. However, the gender ratio is unbalanced, and Danaerys is definitely the odd one out, and there are lot of other young-ish characters in the books with miserable fates that getting yoinked into a Game session never to return might actually improve…

Jeyne Poole would probably be Page or something noncanon, and maybe Life? Or maybe noncanon Aspect Bone [caution, indecision, taking a supporting role].

Gendry could be Rage or Doom, and maybe Knight? Or I have him as noncanon 'Clerk' in one of my drafts but I'm not sure what that's meant to signify…

Shireen I have down as Sylph, but Page might be better. For aspect I have Doom or noncanon Grief [conflict (vs. peace), struggle (vs. acceptance), chaos (vs. order)]… actually maybe she'd be better with Peace [peace (vs. conflict), order (vs. chaos), acceptance (vs. struggle)]?

Margaery would be the/a Mind player. She could be Sylph. She could also be Bard, or noncanon class Dame [mythological role "the dame walked into my office and I knew she was trouble"].

Jeyne Westerling would probably be Breath player, and either Page or something noncanon.

Quentyn I've considered for Mage, Seer, Knight, and Heir. I'm leaning Knight? I shouldn't be considering him for anything I did not read that book carefully enough. For Aspect, Doom? Or noncanon Stone [permanence, stability, not reactivity or responsiveness]?

Myrcella would probably be a Blood player, or I also have Life down apparently? Class either Maid or something noncanon.

Loras could be Heir or Prince? Or Knight, I suppose, or something noncanon. If we're repeating classes/aspects he's probably Heir of Mind. If not, something of noncanon Aspect Charm.

Arianne would probably be Breath or noncanon Fire [transitoriness, reactivity] or Nerve [Recklessness. Impulse. Decisiveness. Taking control.] Maid works well, but she could carry Thief.

Podrick is another candidate for Life. And another candidate for Page, for that matter. Or some noncanon possibilities.

And I don't even have that much of an idea for Tommen or Gilly but I'm not sure I don't want them included…

ahahaha this is ridiculous.

#crossover classpect #crossover classpects #things i'm not writing #apparently #writing babble

[leqclerc]

Do you have some sebchal recs? I try to look on ao3 but I barely find any, so I imagine most of their fics are more old

Hello! ❤️

Interestingly, I find myself having the opposite problem. I feel like the fandom - and, by extension, the interest in Seb/Charles as a ship - has grown exponentially since 2020. I think there's like forty pages of published works on ao3 right now. Which might not seem like a lot, especially when compared to other juggernaut ships or fandoms, but considering the fact that there were maybe 3 when I first looked up the tag... 😳 Anyway, over time I've kind of figured out what I like and what I don't like in relation to the ship, so these days I tend to be more selective and pick through to find what really speaks to me, what really knocks my socks off, if that makes sense. 😂 We all have different tastes, both as readers and authors, so different people will gravitate toward different things. Not everything scratches the itch, basically. TL;DR: it really depends on what you're looking for and what you like. 👀

That being said, here are some of the fics that made an impression/that I find myself coming back to:

Canon/Canon Adjacent (aka still set somewhere in the realm of F1):

postcards from places that miss you by streetlightsky T | 15,108 words ↳ Seb wanted to leave quietly. That was the one thing he had asked above all else. Or, the one where Seb retires, but Charles refuses to let him disappear. -> I honestly recommend pretty much anything by this author ⭐ immortality on their faces, night at their back by wintrs E | 16,147 words ↳ Sebastian had always wondered about Charles—but maybe he’d known the truth all along, and he’d just never let himself acknowledge it. no flowers, no flashbulbs by superoxide E | 10,736 words ↳ Sebastian frowns, without thinking. They’d both ridiculed the idea of some kind of staged paparazzi friendliness when it had come up. He wonders what has turned Charles around on the idea so suddenly. (Charles has a plan to improve their image; Sebastian is less convinced.) see you falling by redpaint E | 3,653 words ↳ “I can’t— There are no words. No words. I just need to get this out of my head, okay? Before you go.” -> I honestly recommend pretty much anything by this author, especially the 'conflict resolution' series for that 2019 feel⭐ those who miss each other by sionisjaune E | 8,401 words ↳ Charles’s phone is burning a hole in his pocket. This is something he should be filming, but he doesn’t want to. He thinks he shouldn’t, for some reason. He thinks he can keep this encounter for himself. + bonus: (yes I'm sharing my own fic shhhh) been a long year by ssilverarrowss M | 7,123 words ↳ The days stubbornly march forward. Sometimes it feels agonisingly slow, and sometimes it feels like everything is moving too quickly, like Charles is going to blink and all the time he’s spent with Sebastian will be in the rearview, gone forever.

Alternate Universe:

scenes from an american artist by tetrapod M | 9,389 words ↳ Excerpt from an interview with Charles Leclerc. August 1974. Q: How did it all end? CL: The way all relationships end, I suppose. Inevitably. flesh of my flesh by charlotte_stant E | 4,749 words ↳ Sebastian, still smiling, tilts his head and looks at Charles speculatively. “Can I take you for a drive, Father?" he asks. "To continue our conversation. I find myself in need of… spiritual direction.” Charles ought to say no, but he doesn’t even consider it, not really. Sometimes falling is like that: as easy as opening your mouth and saying “Yes.” the language of another world by redpaint G | 2,568 words ↳ Charles is sent down from Oxford (drunkenness, absenteeism, behavior unbecoming of a Balliol man) and becomes the research assistant to a botanist who is doing fieldwork in the Shetland Islands. and VASI to guide you in by anonymous T | 1,375 words ↳ Nobody at the tiny Aeroporto di Maranello Enzo Ferrari can figure out why and how the runway lights manage to stay on through the night—long after curfew and long after the last worker has left the premises, taking the main ops key with them. However, newly promoted Captain Charles Leclerc of floundering charter airline Ferrari Air knows the answer to that question. He just won’t tell it to anyone. Ever. the tools to rebuild by astronomical_light T | 22,645 words ↳ After months of stagnating in his recovery following a high-speed crash, Charles gets referred to a specialist clinic tucked away in the Swiss mountainside that feels as much like a high-end wellness retreat as it does a physical rehabilitation program. He doesn’t have many expectations going into it, but he knows one thing for sure—he definitely wasn’t expecting Sebastian.

Seb/Charles feat. other pairings:

stringe il cuore della stella morente by partywitharichzombie E | 14,634 words ↳ The announcement is almost poetic in its sweet simplicity: a photo of Daniel, aged three, the cavallino rampante a stark contrast against the white of his oversized t-shirt, radiant grin as disarming then as it is now. No caption. None necessary. (Daniel signs with Ferrari for 2021 and beyond. He hopes he and Charles can avoid ending up in a scenario of assured mutual destruction.) high speed weekend survivor by babypapaya T | 18,608 words ↳ Formula Student is a student engineering competition held annually in the UK. Student teams from around the world design, build, test, and race a small-scale formula style racing car. (in) clover by tetrapod T | 5,895 words ↳ “I was thinking we could take the boat out,” Charles said. spacetime invariants by distressedgremlin M | 6,615 words ↳ Lewis arrived midway through the season of dust storms. Sebastian met him on a shabby starport that barely clung to the atmosphere of a frozen-over planet, the only one within forty light-days’ distance that the dust did not reach.

#replies #anonymous #fic rec #sebchal fic rec #hope this helps! <3 i might make a more reblog-friendly standalone version later 🤔 #also bear in mind i've not been super active on ao3 for the past [checks watch] few months for a variety of reasons #so im not 100% up to date on the happenings in the tag esp in relation to the newer stuff #might also make a non-sebchal f1 fic rec list at some point bc im totally open minded re: fics about pairings i dont ship myself #if the writing is so good it makes me bite my fist and yell abt how i wish i could write like that sjdkflghdfk #if it hits the spot it hits yknow #ALSO thank god for the tumblr drafts auto save feature (which is new? i think? idk first time i've experienced it anyway) #bc of course i accidentally hit some combination of keys that close d the draft just as i had written up a whole ass section #the panic was real but it auto saved. well done tumblr i guess 😭😭

[goodluckdetective]

This is a Tim Drake Essay, I guess

Hello and welcome back to my blog. I’ve been recently getting back into comics and as a result, I’ve been kind of chewing on why out of all the Robins, Tim is my favorite.

I think everyone can agree that the new 52 did Tim 0 favors, as it just didn’t know what to do with him. Outside of that generally shared opinion, there’s a lot of general conflict within Tim fans about how Tim should be characterized. You have “super detective” flavors of Tim where he is painted as the “smartest of the Robins” which I don’t hate, but I also think is pretty simplified (Tim is smart, but I don’t think that’s his defining factor and to label him the smartest I think is off base given intelligence is a multitude of different skills). Then you have “woobie Tim” where he’s essentially “a poor little meow meow” which I personally cannot stand for a variety of reasons (but one of the biggest is how it paints Dick and Damian as malicious actors). Now if you like the previous two, I’m not going to come and shut down your party, that isn’t really the intent of this post. My intent here is more to explain to people who don’t understand why people like Tim who are mostly familiar with the fandom depictions above, a different perspective. If my opinion doesn’t sway you, that’s cool, I just wanted to leave my two cents out here.

The character trait Tim has that I generally really enjoy in characters who occupy a “sidekick” role, is this trope of characters whose motivation to participate in heroics not because of some past trauma or destiny, but mostly because it’s the right thing to do. This isn’t to bash characters who have motivations in destiny or trauma; I also love those(and of course they also choose their lives: Dick didn’t have to be Robin either). But I have always found something really fascinating about characters who, for all intents and purposes, could easily leave the danger of the narrative but stay anyway.

I think Frodo and the Hobbits are a good example of this? Yes, Frodo is somewhat forced to set off by Gandalf but by the time he reaches the council, he is given the option to opt out. He’s in fact told multiple times that he can opt out. But he stays instead and while the ring’s grip on him has something to do with that, I think a larger part is because he knows it’s important to do. He wants to make sure the right thing is done.

Frodo isn’t specially trained to be our protagonist and neither is Sam or Pippin or Merry. They aren’t trained fighters. They commit to this dangerous quest because of loyalty to each other and the greater good (also as a WW1 metaphor I know). And I think it’s always really interesting to have characters like this in a narrative who come outside of a life of danger, a life they could still go back to, and yet choose to stay. It asks questions about what makes a hero, is being a hero something for everyone, what is the cost of heroism, and how we place heroes on a pedestal often to their detriment. They can bring the plot back into focus on the people who aren’t heroes, the reason the heroes do what they do, and the impacts on that group.

And that’s why I really like Tim. Tim doesn’t seek Bruce out to become Robin: he wants Dick to take it back. The only reason he puts on the costume in the first place is to save Bruce and Dick. After that, he could have gone home to a wealthy upbringing (with less than ideal parents but that’s a whole other story) and done anything else. But he stays. Because Batman needs a Robin and someone has to do it.

That’s an interesting character motive to dig into! Tim absolutely is a bit naive about the danger ahead but he knows what happened to Jason, and he is, for all intents and purposes, an ordinary kid. What makes him interesting is that he decides to commit to heroism, a decision that is far from ordinary (there are a lot of capes in Gotham but it’s not exactly an every teen hobby without some wild backstory). And it raises super interesting parallels with Bruce. Bruce has chosen this life trying to prevent others from experiencing his interrupted childhood; Tim interrupts his own by choice. Bruce doesn’t often see himself as capable of having an ordinary life; Tim clings to keeping his cape separate from his day to day activity. Bruce’s commitment to the mission causes him to do harm to those he loves; Tim’s commitment to try to have a normal life causes him to harm those he loves. And this dynamic continues once he outgrows Robin: when do you stop being a “normal” person? How do you define yourself when the job you dedicated years towards is filled by someone who needs it more (I love Damian, this is a pro Damian Robin blog). Do you try to go back to being normal or is it too late for that? And even if you could go back, would you even want to?

I find Tim interesting because of all of that: the commitment to help other people and to reach out to others who are hurting despite not being obligated to. Because a lot of people who aren’t obligated to help don’t, and even a lot of people who are obligated to help don’t. And that I think is interesting! Especially when packed into a teenager who slacks in school, makes terrible choices sometimes and can sometimes let his ego get ahead of him.

Anyway those are my two cents.

TLDR: Tim is interesting as a character for the fact he chooses the heroic life despite having a relatively normal upbringing.

#tim drake #Iz rambles #I drop comic meta I wait for the tomatoes to hit me in the face #dc comics #Batman comics

[thenexusofsouls]

I’m sorry you’re going through a rough time, Silence. Don’t feel bad if you need to break or downsize muses - this is just a hobby, after all, and you need to do what’s best for you. We’ll all still be waiting when you get back. Bucky and I send our love :)

__________

{i am the caretaker of souls} Okay, but one of the muses I’ve lost inspiration for is Natasha, so you see my problem, heh. I don’t know what happened, she just went so quiet a while back. It’s not anything you did at all, so please don’t think that. Sometimes it just happens that muses leave the building, heh. For anyone who would like to know which muses would be on the chopping block across my blogs, I’ll talk a bit about it below the cut. Because I can. =P

But yeah, as far as Natasha, I’ve been trying to squeeze out some muse here and there and respond to what I can get her motivated for, but a lot of times I reach down into the muse well and it’s just dry. I do kindof look at all my asks each week, though, to see if anything grabs the muse, and if it does, I work on it, because I do feel bad that you’ve sent in so many things that I just haven’t been able to reply to. So I’ll keep trying here and there, and who knows, maybe she’ll come back fully at some point.

Veridian on this blog has gone quiet for a long time now, and I’m sure if I look at my list, there are others who have zero activity that I can cut just to mentally downsize things. It’d be easy to cut Ardeth, Luther, and Vincent, because my activity there is fairly low, but I adore all of the threads I have with @illbringthechaosmagic and a few others, and I’m pretty sure I’m the only person actively writing those three characters on T.umb.lr so I’d like to keep doing so. Kindof a labor of love, you know? So at least right now, they’re not going anywhere.

As far as MCU muses, I think I have the same problem with Natasha, Wanda, Clint, Vision, and Pietro right now… lack of new content. I really get inspired by new content, it helps to revive things for me a bit, so when there isn’t any in years, I feel like my muses get stale. I know I could read comics if I wanted to, but honestly I just don’t have the time right now, or the brain to then sort out the differences between MCU and comic versions and choose what my interpretation will then be.

Pietro was really waning there for a while, but he got saved by the “Speedster of the Galaxy” AU because that to me was like new content, heh. It was just content that me and Mantis-mun and others were creating and contributing to instead of official content, which is fine, it’s great! That��s what we’re here for! Plus I love his ship with @starcchild, and that overlaps with my Tony muse here, which is still going strong. So Pietro is safe for now. XD

Wanda… my muse comes and goes for her but lately it just hasn’t been there. I adored DSMoM, but 99% of people I write with didn’t, and I think the negative backlash from the fandom regarding that movie kindof… tempered my muse a bit. Because I felt like I had to hold back or not talk about it or write about it, when I really wanted to. I was excited and inspired to go in all these new directions with Wanda, only to then still be writing during the same points in her timeline that I had been for a few years already. So that’s what’s been preventing my muse for her from really taking off. Anything that I can really get into or that feels new in an exciting way, I’ll jump on it, but lately I’ve been struggling with her. I do love the threads I have with @illbringthechaosmagic and @multiversalstarlight on Wanda’s blog, though, so that’s helped sustain her for a while.

Clint here on this blog… only has one thread right now, and that’s just fine with me, heh. If not for that one thread, he’d be cut. I still haven’t watched the Hawkeye series, mainly because I lost interest, so that gives you an idea of how long my muse for him has been waning. But the one thread I have with @sadiebrin is very cool and I can manage to squeeze out one thread a week with Clint for that. XD

I would love to bring back Red and White Vision, since they’ve been on hiatus for a few months now due to a lack of muse. I feel like it’s been enough of a break and I could maybe get back into them, but… no time, unfortunately. I’d need to cut some other muses that are taking up a lot of time in order to make time for Vision, and I just don’t see that happening. Maybe if I put Wanda on hiatus for a bit, but Pietro’s activity is really high and they’re all on the same day, so… who knows.

I have been toying with the idea of having an MCU multimuse and putting ALL my MCU muses on there, so that if I didn’t have muse for someone on that day, then I could skip them in favor of working on someone I did, but at this point, they’re so established on their own blogs and here on this one that I just feel like… it’d scatter and mess up where all my shit it stored, heh. I have issues with organization and how I think of things as far as what feels neat and calm and organized to me, heh, and that would drive me crazy to have things split everywhere. But on the other hand, it would really help to lump all my MCU people together on one blog.

Question: If I made another side blog mumu for just MCU people, put them all there, and wrote for them on hmm… probably Mondays, and then removed the MCU muses from this blog and wrote all non-MCU people here… what do you think of that? Would you guys like that, hate that, you don’t care…? I’m not asking you to make the decision for me, I’m just curious. I’m a little worried that a new blog might attract more attention and interaction, though, and I really can’t expand my writing partners too much right now, I’ve got enough on my plate. I guess I could just say something like “closed for new partners” or something, I dunno. Thoughts?

Imma stop rambling now omg. Actually ranting about all this helped release some stress and distract me for a while, so that was good, haha. Anyone who’s read this far, thank you, you’re the best. XD

#{ i am the caretaker of souls } ᵒᵒᶜ

[gentil-minou]

Dang, I didn't realize you stopped writing ML analysis because some dweebs were raining on your parade and making fun of it. You wrote some of the best stuff looking at ML and I'm sorry jerks ruined that for you. Both you and this fandom have been robbed of something great because some people just can't let other enjoy things.

i mean there are a lot of reasons, both personal and fandom related. My work is very demanding, I had some traumatic shit that happened a few months ago I'm still processing, and my interests in fandoms go up and down over time, like right now it's pretty clear to see i'm more active in other fandoms besides ML.

But honestly the awful way the fans have been acting towards this season, not just in the way they rain on everyone's parade but also the way the bible and leaks have spread so far and wide. While that isn't the fandom's fault persay it's still awful. the fun of theorizing is gone when a bunch of people know what's going to happen, so naturally i just kinda stopped (then all the broadcasting bs that always bothers me ugh)

But I think the one thing this fandom hasn't seemed to realize is that it takes a lot of effort to write about this show, especially if you're an adult or a student who has other things going on. It's easy to leave a comment that hates on the analyses they write, and it's also easy for it to feel like a personal attack.

Think of it this way, so many people relate to Adrien and Mari, in so many ways. They can see themselves in them, even their faults and mistakes mean something. It feels incredibly validating for someone to be able to see that.

Take my Adrien has depression posts for example. Because I've had depression since I was younger than him and did a lot of the same masking behaviors he does, it meant so much to me. Here was a character who seemed to be going through what I was at the time and still struggle with today. It was so wonderful to see on screen because it felt like I was finally being seen. Or another example would be Mari's anxiety and ADHD which I also relate to so much, especially when it causes her to make some mistakes or handle things in the wrong way. It's classing anxiety-avoidance cycles, and seeing it on screen made me feel like I wasn't so alone. And I am sure so many other people felt the same way

And then there are people who go and say awful things about these characters on a post where you express those feelings. How Adrien is being a whiney baby or whatever bs they say, how his actions are a sign of him being selfish instead of all of the trauma and neglect he's experienced. Or how Mari's complex thinking patterns and behavior are relegated down to her being a stalker or a mary sue or what have you, once again completely ignoring the core complexity of her character as just a normal girl who was forced essentially to be a superhero. The pressures of which would be tremendous on anyone let alone someone with clear ND traits and traumatic experiences.

And people insult those fictional characters, so quickly and easily, without realizing the very real damage they are doing to the very real people who see themselves in them. I've talked so much about why I love sentiadrien because i can see some of my struggles in that storyline, and then to have people say that no it doesn't matter because my experiences aren't as important? that it's invalid because there's only one right way to experience trauma? that im wrong for finding solace in it? it's awful, and it puts me down.

i shouldnt be feeling invalidated when im watching my comfort show, i shouldn't spend days writing very careful posts only to get them shat on by insensitive comments. as much as i want to ignore them and focus on the good i do and the fun i get from it, it still feels like a stab through the chest every time.

and then there are the people who say i'm an awful therapist because they don't agree with my analyses. that's the worst, and while i won't go into details about why this particular statement brings me so much pain, i just need folks to understand that it's genuinely one of the worst insults i've ever had. and if everytime i write something i have second guess myself, and then second guess if i even have the skill and talent for the field i'm in, it just becomes a horrible spiral. people make these comments like they're the easiest thing in the world to say and it just boggles my mind, because although they may have forgotten their stupid little tag i certainly haven't. i hold them deep in that dark part of my brain where the whispers are loudest and hardest to control.

ultimately, the last few months i wanted to remind myself why i like this show and this website in the first place, and that i'm doing it for me. life is hard enough, if i can't have fun in the one place i can control then what's the point? so i will control my own experiences within this fandom, even if other's want to rain on it

#idk i still might write stuff as the episodes come out and i watch them #but im not going to make it into a second job like i was doing before basically #where i'd go home from work and immediately go back on a comp to do more work #or lose sleep because i was so anxious over things #im having fun right now and while i miss theorizing and analyzing and getting that validation my mental health has been a lot better for it #so yeah #sorry for going on a rant i've just been very blegh lately #the shadowban thing is also no fun but hopefull that gets fixed soon #anyways #ml fandom salt #bushy rambles #asked and answered #sayse

[two-hands-toward-the-sun]

20 Questions For Fic Writers!

Thank you so much for the tag, @honeyteacakes!! I loved reading your responses. This was so much fun to do.

1. How many works do you have on AO3?

35! Some of them are locked to attempt to minimise AI scraping.

2. What’s your total AO3 word count?

44,236 holy shit

3. What fandoms do you write for?

Currently, I’m pretty deeply embedded in the Sandman-verse. But I’ve also written an AC Odyssey fic recently.

4. What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

I’m skipping this one because I embedded so many links in this post and I don’t wanna do it anymore. 😂 And people can just filter by kudos on AO3 if they’re interested.

5. Do you respond to comments? Why or why not?

I respond EXTREMELY slowly, but I make every effort to reply to comments when I have the energy to spare. It means a lot to me when people take the time to tell me what they liked about my stories.

6. What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

Oooh. Good question. It’s either “pour the dirt into our bed” (Ranger’s Apprentice, referencing homophobia faced in a queerplatonic relationship) or “if you want voices in the dark, listen to mine” (Good Omens, after a temptation gone wrong.)

7. What’s the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

I write a fair amount of tender stories, so there are a lot of possible answers to this one! Potentially it’s “our place in the sun” (Sandman, Lucienne/Calliope domestic fluff) which is all about coming to rest and settling into love. Another option is “throw down that spade and dig up the garden” (Good Omens, Ineffable Husbands) which is about…pretty much the same thing, now that I think about it. 😂

8. Do you get hate on fics?

Thankfully not. I genuinely can’t understand why people leave hate comments on fics. Sure, there’s a lot of things I take issue with in certain fandoms, but I bitch about that stuff strictly IN MY OWN SPACE, I absolutely do not barge into other people’s spaces to do it. I never will and you can hold me to that.

9. Do you write smut? If so, what kind?

I WANT TO. I’m working on it!! I actually have a smut prompt ask game queued up for next year, when I’ll have fewer writing obligations. As for what kind, I want to write so much femslash smut. There is devastatingly little in the Sandman fandom.

10. Do you write crossovers? What’s the craziest one you’ve written?

OHOHOHO. I have written a Los Simuladores/Good Omens crossover and it is genuinely one of my favorite stories that I’ve ever written. “every morning the same big and little words all spelling out desire” is appropriately zany, hopefully sexy, and seasoned with a dash of angst to balance the flavors.

(Shout out to @jlemonster for writing such a glowing post about it, it makes me happy just remembering it.)

Another crossover I’m working on is Johanna Constantine/Mary Poppins. I PROMISE it will make sense when it’s written. …well, maybe. 😂

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Nope.

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

Yes!!! As part of Fandom Trumps Hate this year I had two fics of mine wonderfully translated into Spanish by @yourneighborhoodneighbor and it was an amazing experience.

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before?

Nope. I don’t know if that would work with my writing habits, tbh. Maybe someday though, if the right idea and right person come along!

14. What’s your all time favorite ship?

Oh GOD. Complicated question!! There are ships I’m currently enamored of, obviously, but who knows if they’ll stand the test of time? I know that Kaz/Inej (Six of Crows) and Irina/Jack (Alias) did something to my adolescent brain that may never be undone, but that’s the closest I can get to an answer to this question.

15. What’s a WIP you want to finish but doubt you ever will?

I’ve got a Good Omens Ineffable Wives AU inspired by Anne of Green Gables that is very dear to me, and has many aspects I’m extremely proud of, but I don’t know if I’ll ever finish it. My interest in Good Omens has flagged of late and unfortunately I don’t know if I’ll complete many of my WIPs for that fandom!

16. What are your writing strengths?

I like to think I have a good grasp on characters’ voices! Also, I think I write tactile and descriptive details well.

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

TRANSITIONS ARE THE BANE OF MY EXISTENCE

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language in fic?

I have done it once!!! For the aforementioned Los Simus fic. It was so much fun, and a good challenge for me. The dialogue was in Spanish (with very valuable help from @thisisnotjuli) and I loved writing how the two characters spoke in somewhat differing dialects.

19. First fandom you wrote for?

Oh, lord. Probably Harry Potter? By hand, in a notebook from the dollar store. I was probably about eight or nine.

20. Favorite fic you’ve written?

They’re my children. My babies. My beloved frogspawn. I can’t give a definite answer, but…two of the stories that I worried my lip over the most for dread of failing to do them justice, the ones I think I put the most heart and consideration and care into, are “it’s an old song (and we’re gonna sing it again)” (Sandman, Calliope & Dream + healing and rediscovery and intimacy and changed but no less important relationships) and “sister dear, bear me away” (Good Omens, a human AU about gender discovery).

No pressure tags: the usual suspects <3 @pyrocephalus-rubinus @fatcatgospel and Juli, as well as @zorawitch @azi-sings-calliope @cosmictapestry, and anyone else who reads this and wants to talk about their creations!!

#sunbreak writes #tag game #i love talking about my writing!!!!!

[livsspecialinterests]

don't really know what I'm writing or why but it's 0350am and I'm sitting in bed unable to get back to sleep having a weird slight panic

idk whether I'm feeling a bit of a writing slump because I know that the dead should stay dead still has quite a way to go and some part of me worries that by the time I've gotten at the very least to the next big plot point a lot of people may very well have lost interest in the fandom

like I know it's silly because there's probably always going to be some sort of fandom around BJTM but this little community means so much to me and has meant so much to me during a really difficult and life altering time, I mean for gods sake I started writing fics to try to figure out my own meltdowns

plus at this point I really have no other strong interests, idk maybe I'll get super into Doctor Who again with the specials and the new series starting but I've really gone hard on the One Interest

I really love the last few chapters of the dead should stay dead but it's felt a bit different writing them. maybe it's because I feel a little guilty spending whole days on chapters when I've got so much that I need to do for work (I know it sounds sad but there's exams, portfolio etc), plus I'd really like to give writing original fiction another go

there's also that gnawing fear that the fandom is going to like... vanish, which again is probably not true in its entirety but once the tour ends I can see some people falling off or finding another thing

also people leaving or drifting away from the fandom is a completely okay thing to do I'm not trying to make anyone feel bad if that's what they want to do

it's also not to say that people are obliged to engage with or comment on my fics or hell even read them, of course no one *has to* do anything in fandom it's a bunch of people just having fun

I know I should just write for my own fun and enrichment but external validation is nice, okay? plus these past few weeks the external validation and thinking 'no, I want to write this for the people who are reading the fic and want to know what happens next' have been big motivators

my main motivator used to be this absolutely unstoppable creative drive and love for the show and it's characters (which is still there, I'm unfortunately going to love this silly show until the day I die I think) but this past week I've found that I'd rather study for my work exams than spend time writing a few paragraphs

if I cool it off a little with the frequency of chapter updates it'll probably be a net good for me, I really need to buckle down and get these exams passed, I need to start actually engaging in planning my career because I think in my head I've been thinking I might get a book published one day and as a result I've been sort of half neglecting the actual really decent career I've got

but also my mental health is so much better, I've mostly healed from a lot of my late diagnosed autistic trauma, plus work is actually quite good right now?

maybe more of my writing for BJTM fics was motivated by being mentally ill than I originally thought, and maybe I don't *need* to write fics anymore but I want to and I want to still love writing fics as much as I did back when I was having that difficult time, where it was a huge personal comfort to be able to write Beej having a hard time in very specific ways and have other people comfort him

I have said to my husband that I'll probably cool it with the fics once I've finished the dead should stay dead and am going to focus my creative energy on something original to see where that goes but there's still so much to go on the dead should stay dead..

that silly little fic has become like my baby, I want to write it all, flesh out the characters before the next Big Thing happens, I want to do my ideas justice but I also want to make sure there are people still in the fandom to read it once I get to that point

again I'm super tired it's the middle of the night and I'm rambling, I don't want to imply that anyone reading this should carry on reading something they don't enjoy, and I don't even think the number of people reading the fic has even gone down, I've just woken up this morning full of dread for the fandom changing because, fandom and interests wise, BJTM is kind of all I've got right now.

I didn't really belong to a fandom for years after BBC Sherlock ended and I realised while watching the 4th series that it wasn't that good there was just a very passionate fan base and that's what I likes (I know, I know), BJTM was the first thing I got really into for ages and the first thing I got really into while figuring out what it was that I got *really into* stuff (autism)

obviously no one has to stick around in a fandom for the benefit of a silly autistic fanfic author whos terrified of change, and please, please don't think that's what I'm implying or what I want

ughh idk what I'm even writing, I should probably just reach out more to people but doing that is scary without the buffer of a fic

I should also probably invest more time in doing stuff irl but I know that no hobby gives me the joy that writing gives me, like when I'm really vibing with something there really are few better things for me than being safe at home and writing

also maybe I should try to get into some other stuff but I don't really want to but equally I know the BJTM fandom isn't going to last forever I just.... 🙃

the silly musical and the silly community that has sprung up around it and making art and writing fics for it has saved me in so many ways I'm just scaaarrreedddd (and also tired and typing this at 4am so I might be being dramatic for nothing, plus I know I struggle with assuming any fleeting emotion is going to last forever, maybe I'll feel different in a weeks time idk)

anyway I'm going to try to get a little bit more sleep because I've got to be up for work at 6 for my actual grownup job that I should probably pay more attention to

(this is also totally not some way to subtly say I'm not going to finish the dead should stay dead BTW, I love that fic and I'm proud of what it is and what I've got planned for it, so to the people who are still reading please don't worry 💜)

#beetlejuice #personal #I'm genuinely not trying to be passive aggressive at anyone or whining to make people interact with me #Like really genuinely people need to do what they want and what makes them happy #I'm just scared of falling out of the fandom #and Im equally scared of sticking around and being the only one left because I was too stubborn to find other interests #beetlejuice broadway #beetlejuice the musical

[davekat-sucks]

Sorry for yet another long post but I think someone was yelling at you? I'm unsure, the post was written as if it was incoherent screaming to me. All I know is that they called you racist and to learn to read a map. Learning that Benin is the birthplace of voodoo isn't going to change anything. It doesn't matter how educated or uneducated one is, we can all call a spade a spade. We know English speaking fandom has gone to the dogs. Every three blogs you click you're going to see a DNI list and people will tell you to kys for being too visible.

Did that anon go off on you for assuming that Japanese fandom spaces are different than western ones? They are. South Koreans and Japanese fandoms have changed in recent era, but not the way that American spaces have in the past twenty years. American fandoms need to see ALL fiction be the representation of the real world that they personally want to see. You're not allowed to make nsfw art for Jade Harley because she was introduced as a 13 year old so she will always be a 13 year old! But if you wanted to you can make porn of Roxy because HE is trans. Homestuck might have these dark themes and explore them but you can't! But now they decided that you can, but only if you're talking about gender issues. Japanese fandom doesn't really think the same way Americans do about fiction. They do have futanari porn and what American fandom calls "cuntboys," but from what I've seen the art comes off less as a political statement or an exploration of gender issues, and more of pornography the artists make because it's interesting and erotic. It is a completely different tone. Sex positivity in western fandoms has eroded so much people need to make excuses to showcase their fetishes. Japanese people... don't really need to. BUT they have changed to be more "progressive" though. That I can tell. Japanese people depict different races in their art more often now. Still at times I think Japanese people make characters with dark skin because they think it's stylish, they aren't really depicting black people. Koreans care more about feminism now too. You see it in the splatoon fandom a lot. That's just my observation. I don't understand the Korean language so someone else might know better. But I do understand Japanese enough to know the vibe is worlds apart from American fandom. I mostly hang around fandoms that are female dominated though, you know, the parts with BL? Female dominated fandom is different than the male dominated parts. I don't really care to know what the manly-man side of Japanese fandoms are doing, I assume it's similar to Americans. Where men make pornography of any character and they hardly get a slap on the wrist for it. You'll see one people in the comments point out that misty was underage in the show, but then people will jump in to defend the art saying "she was 18 in the games." It seems like most the male artists making the porn they want to get more and more support. Ever noticed it's mostly women policing other women behavior in western fandom?

We're also leaving out something crucial. The Russian/Slavic side of the fandom is fun as hell. People literally can do anything they want. If you see a fanartist is from Russia, you know you're going to see some wild m/m parings.

Anywhere that's not North America or parts of Europe (mostly United Kingdom), just enjoy the things they like and not bother others for stupid things like accusing if one person is racist for making a lighting on a dark skin character. And yeah, it's women policing other women. So much for feminism empowerment if said girls also put down other females for just doing what they like. But then again, most of feminism has been about being only one kind of girl that is accepted and girls acting something else is a sin. It ain't better than the shit before women's rights ideal of what a lady should act like.

#fandom #fandoms