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kittykattropicanna · 14 days

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Okay new Simon Riley AU but i need everyone to stick TF with me here

Retired!Reddit!Simon anyone????? NO BC HEAR ME OUT I PROMISE

Imagine Retired!Simon. his served for decades, in that time he meets reader, gets married, had kids, ect, ect, ect.

After he retires, his completely lost and out of his element. he cant work anymore due to his chronic back pain from year of service and integrating back into society permanently turns out is a lot harder then he originally anticipated.

he starts getting really, really depressed. Days start blending into each other and his three sons start to notice their dads is doing it really tough.

SOOOO they decided to make a reddit account for him. they make him join a bunch on military sub-reddits, maybe askreddit and things alike just so he can have something to do that isn't watching the football all day

he actually turns our to really, really like it. he can post all about this crazy military carrier, maybe even a little about this childhood (which he feels comfortable with because its all anonymous) and maybe even shares a little about his wife (reader) and three boys.

i can imagine after a while he starts gaining A LOT of popularity because holy shit his stories are so interesting and his lived such a crazy and inspiring life.

it becomes his way to connect with people that aren't just his wife and kids and he starts getting so much support from other people it really starts to boost his mood again.

i also imagine people start asking for dating advice and stuff from him because his always boasting about reader on his reddit. he kinda becomes an internet dad in some way 😭😭😭😭 like people genuinely trust him with their LIVES and i'm imaging some of his response are so fucking funny 😭😭😭😭😭

Maybe take it a step further and his sons create a youtube channel for him that he can make videos about this interests such as guns, car repairs, motorbikes, ect and the internet EATS THAT UP AS WELL bc absolutely massive hot ex SAS DILF that is obsessed with his wife and kids wearing a skin tight black tshirt and a balaclava while talking about this interests 😭😭 everyone loves him sm

like imagine his boys showing him tiktok edits of him and poor Si is so confused bc why is he watching himself get thirst trapped over on some strange app he had never heard of before 😭😭😭😭😭😭 his like 50 leave him ALONEEEEE

if this goes forward i plan to write a big chuck of it in a reddit sort of format almost like you were scrolling through the app and seeing him post. Readers would be Si's wife, so even though you would be reading the text in the third person, every time Si would mention his wife, he would be referring to you if that makes sense???????

idk please tell me if this is a little to niche 😭😭😭😭😭 am i cooked or a creative genius???? ill let you decided

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skaruresonic · 6 months

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The common rebuttal to "this reads like fanfic (derogatory)" is "read better fanfic," which is true in certain cases, but on the other hand, there is some grain of truth to the idea that you can tell when someone's primary mode of literary analysis is fanfic instead of... well... literally anything else. It's okay to like or even prefer fanfic, but if you want to take your craft seriously you also need to read books, dude. Published books will teach you a lot of stuff fanfic doesn't, like proper dialogue formatting and how to introduce your reader to unfamiliar characters. Even the crappiest book (well, if it's not After or 50 Shades, which started off as fanfic to begin with lol) will have been subjected to some sort of editing process to ensure at least the appearance of proper grammar. That's not a guarantee with your average fanfic, and hence why you can't always take all your writing cues from fanfic because it's "so much better" than commercially published original fiction or whatever. Frankly, fic writers tend to peddle some absolutist and downright bad takes sometimes. "Said is dead" is a terrible rule, though not because said is invisible and a perfectly serviceable tag; that's just part of it. Dialogue tags are a garnish, not a main dish that can be swapped out for more ostentatious words. If your characters murmur and mutter instead of simply saying stuff, your readers are going to wonder why nobody speaks up. "'I'm explaining some very plot-important shit right now lol,' she elaborated," likewise, is a form of telling. Instead of letting the reader extrapolate that "she elaborated" via the contents of the dialogue itself, you're telling them what to think about it. And that's why it's distracting: your authorial hand is showing. Writing is an act of camouflage. You, as the writer, need to make your presence as invisible as possible so as to not intrude on the reader's suspension of disbelief. That's the driving reason behind "show, don't tell." And overall, everyone could stand to cut down on the frequency of their dialogue tags anyway. Not every exchange needs "he said" or "she whispered" attached as long as you establish who is doing the talking before the exchange. Some people will complain of confusion if you go on for too long without a dialogue tag, and that definitely is a risk, but at some point you also need to resist the temptation of holding the reader's hand. If they can't follow a conversation between two people, chances are they weren't meeting you halfway and paying that much attention in the first place. In fact, you don't even necessarily need action beats in between every piece of dialogue, as Tumblr writing advice posts will often suggest as a fix. Pruning things often cleans them up just fine.

Another fanfic-influenced trend in writing is, I guess, beige prose? A heavy focus on internal narration with lots of telling. It's not a style I can concretely describe, but every time I click on a non-mutual's writing, I feel like it always has, like. This "samey" voice to it. There's no real attempt to experiment and use unique or provocative language, or even imagery half the time. It's almost a dry recital of narration that doesn't leave much room for subtext. I see this style most often in fanfic where you can meander and wax poetic about how the characters feel without ever really getting around to the plot. And it's like. DO something.

Other tells that the author is taking their cues from fanfic mores rather than books: >>too much minute description of eyes, especially their color and their movement >>doesn't leave much room for subtext (has a character speak their every thought aloud instead of letting the reader infer what they're thinking via action or implication) >>too much stage action ("X looked at Y. Y moved to push their seat in. X took a deep breath and stepped toward Y with a determined look on his face. 'We need to talk,' he said.") >>tells instead of shows, even when the example is about showing instead of telling ("he clenched his teeth in agony" instead of just "he clenched his teeth") >>has improper dialogue tag formatting, especially with putting full stops where there should be commas ("'Lol and lmao.' she said" instead of "'Lol and lmao,' she said." This one drives me up a wall) >>uses too many dialogue tags >>"em dashes, semi-colons and commas, my beloved" - I get the appeal but full stops are your friends. Too much alternate punctuation makes your writing seem stilted and choppy. >>"he's all tousled brown hair and hard muscle" and "she's all smiles and long legs." This turn of phrase is so cliche, it drives me up a wall. Find less trite ways of describing your characters pls. >>"X released a breath he didn't know he'd been holding" >>every fucking Hot Guy ever is described as lean and sinewy >>sobbing. why is everyone sobbing. some restraint, pls >>Tumblr in general tends to think a truism counts as good writing if you make the most melodramatic statement possible (bonus: if it's written in a faux-archaic way), garnish it with a hint of egotism, and toss in allusions to the Christian God, afterlife, or death. ("I will stare God in the face and walk backwards into hell," "What is a god to a nonbeliever?") It's indicative of emotional immaturity imo, that every emotional truth need be expressed That Intensely in order to resonate with people. >>pushes the "Oh." moment as the pinnacle of Romantic Epiphany >>Therapy Speak dialogue. why is this emotionally constipated forty-something man who drinks himself stupid every morning to escape gruesome war memories speaking about his trauma like a clinical psychologist >>"this well-established kuudere should Show More Emoshun. I want him to break down crying on his love interest's shoulder from all his repressed trauma" - I am begging u. stop >>"why don't the characters just talk to each other?" "why can't we have healthy relationships?" I don't know, maybe because fiction is not supposed to be a model for reality and perfect communication makes for boring drama?

>>improperly using actions as dialogue tags ("'Looks like we're going hunting,' he grinned") >>why is everyone muttering and murmuring. speak up >>too many adverbs, especially "weakly" and "shakily." use stronger verbs. ("trembled" instead of "shook weakly") >>too many epithets ("the younger man" or "the brunette detective") >>too many filter words ("he felt," "she thought," "I remembered")

>>no, Tumblr, first-person POV is not the devil; you're just using way too many filter words (see above) and not enough sentence variation to make it flow well enough. First-person POV is an actually pretty good POV (not just for unreliable and self-aware narrators) if you know what you're doing and a lot of fun crafting an engaging character voice. Tumblr's hatred of first-person baffles me, and all I can think is you would only hate it if your only frame of reference was, like, My Immortal. Have you tried reading A Book? First-person POV is just another tool in your toolbox, and like all tools, it can be used properly or improperly. But it's not inherently a marker of bad writing. The disdain surrounding it strikes me as about as sensical as making fun of the concept of characters. Oh, your work has characters in it? Ew, I automatically click off a fic if it has characters in it. like what.

#writing #obligatory disclaimer that I am speaking broadly and this is in no way intended to make anyone feel self-conscious

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auxiliarydetective · 6 months

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To all the people making One Piece OCs after the Live Action, I love all of you and I have some important info for you!

I'm here as a seasoned manga/anime fan to give you some tips and resources on names and devil fruits that live action only fans probably don't know, so stick around! :)

Edit: I now have an entire blog dedicated to spoiler-free One Piece resources @onepiece-oc-archives so if this post helped you, maybe you'll find more there!

Keep in mind that these are things to make your OC fit into canon, which I think is pretty important, but not a must. Making OCs is about having fun, after all. If my tone seems a little pointed, take it in the light of my hyperfixation and personal opinion. These are all offers and ideas, not requirements.

There are 8-ish paragraphs in this post and I'm just gonna give you a quick outline so you can find everything more easily:

Names (Please read this, this is about a "mistake" I see lots of people making!)

The D. in Luffy's name

Devil Fruit Names

The Uniqueness of Devil Fruits (REALLY important, please read this)

What if my Devil Fruit is taken? (Follow-up to 4.)

Creature-related Devil Fruits

Devil Fruit Fun Facts (little details that could spice up your OC)

Final message/What if my question isn't in this post?

First of all, I've seen some people seemingly confused about the naming schemes of the characters. One Piece names work with the Japanese naming scheme, so the family name comes first! Roronoa Zoro means Zoro is the guy's first name and Roronoa is his last/family name. I think you can see it best with Monkey D. Luffy and SPOILER FOR LATER EPISODES Monkey D. Garp. They have the same family name, that being "Monkey D.". No, there are no exceptions and I'm begging you to keep that in mind for your OCs as well. Not all characters have a first and last name, in fact most of them don’t, by the way, and names can sound like Greek philosophers or Disney sidekicks or whatever else you want a name to be, so feel free to get creative

Sort of halfway adding to that though I've seen nobody doing it: The D. "D" stands for "Don’t give it to a character unless you know what it means". So, before you name your character "Original D. Character", look up the D. You can still do it, it might even be really awesome, just look it up, but only look it up if you're willing to take spoilers. Otherwise, you can always add the D. later.

Second topic of this post: Devil Fruits! I highly recommend you think about the Japanese name of your fruit, simply because it's fun! Eichiiro Oda, the creator of One Piece, loves naming his devil fruits after puns or onomatopoeia (meaning things like "moo moo" in English, but Japanese has a lot more and a lot cooler ones). For example, Buggy's fruit, the Chop Chop Fruit, which is called Bara Bara no Mi in Japanese. Barabara is Japanese onomatopoeia for something coming apart. To avoid spoilers, I'm gonna use my own original fruit as the second example: It’s the Sew Sew Fruit, or Chiku Chiku no Mi, chikuchiku being the sound of a needle piercing through fabric. As you can see, the onomatopoeia or pun usually doesn't carry over to the English name, which is why I suggest the Japanese. Just for funsies. If you want something like that for your fruit, here are some resources I found:

https://www.tofugu.com/japanese/japanese-onomatopoeia/ (<- ordered by theme, makes things easy to find)

https://gist.github.com/UserUnknownFactor/093a2296c5a4d9ef7b404728ebde94a3 (<- ordered by alphabet, things are harder to find but as a LOT more stuff; maybe read the first link first so you know where to look)

Another thing about devil fruits which they kinda touched on in the show but never clearly stated: Every devil fruit power only exists once in the whole world. So much for what the live action said. But what they didn’t say is that the person currently possessing the power has to die for the fruit to reform and another person to eat it. What that means for you is: Your OCs cannot have powers that are already in use by canon characters. Of course, to figure out if your fruit of choice is taken, you'd have to do research and risk spoilers. BUT if you don't wanna do that, just ask me. I'll either be able to tell you straight away or do the research for you problem solved!

What do I do if my devil fruit is taken?

You get creative. The exact same power may not exist twice, but there are variants like ice and snow, fire and lava, kilo and ton... Taking my own fruit as an example again, the power of stitching things together was already taken, so I widened the spectrum of my devil fruit to be generally sewing-themed. Canonically, the only real limit to what devil fruits can exist is a person's imagination, so you have explicit permission to go wild.

And finally, one last thing about devil fruits: You don’t have to limit yourself to typical "powers". There is a whole category of devil fruits that lets the user transform themselves into a living being, usually an animal. This includes mythological creatures! So, once again, go wild! They work a little differently than other devil fruits, but the basics are: You have your fully human form, your hybrid form and your animal form. These types of devil fruits are named a little differently, going after a scheme of Animal Animal Fruit, Model: Subtype/Breed/etc. Yes, there can probably be a Dog Dog Fruit for every type of domestic dog breed. Yes, you can make a cat girl. As an example for what you can do with these types of devil fruits that goes more in the whacky direction, one of my manga OCs has the Kami Kami no Mi, Model: Shikigami. Seriously, go wild. This is the fandom for it.

As sort of an extra fun fact while we're on the topic of devil fruits: Devil Fruits have the potential to alter a person's appearance when they eat it. It doesn't always happen, but it can. For example, there's a devil fruit that freezes your aging as a side effect and one that makes you lose any excess weight when you eat it. This also sometimes happens with the animal types. Maybe that’s something you can use for your OC. Also, clothes usually transform with the user when they use their powers, but not always. So, use whatever version you want for your OC.

And one final message: I love all the new fans coming in and I love seeing what you create! If you ever have any questions or need help fitting something you came up with into the OP universe or something, feel free to send me a message or, if you're too shy to do that, hop into my ask box on anon - or without anon. Or if you just wanna ramble to someone about your OCs or literally anything else, you can also just come to me. I'd love to hear from you!

Also, one more thing, if you think there's something missing here that I should touch on, tell me and I'll add it in a reblog or make a new post. This post is already long enough XD I've been thinking about making this a thing on my blog, not just for One Piece, where I just generally give resources and spare people the often spoiler-riddled or tedious research

#one piece #one piece live action #one piece netflix #opla #one piece oc #opla oc #evie's fandom encyclopedia

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june-doe-event · 1 year

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Hello !! Welcome to the June Doe Ride The Cyclone event !!

This is a 30 Day Art (of any sorts !!) event that runs throughout June, however I will rb any posts with the prompts until mid July.

(Rules, Prompt List, & such are under the cut.)

Rules:

1. Absolutely no NSFW of ANY kind, the rtc kids are, in fact, kids.

2. Please tag this account in any posts (on here) that you make w the prompts !! I wanna see them !! :D

3. I'll rb posts made with the prompts from after June up until July, but after that I'm done w this acc for the year shsh

(Not a rule but just something that should be known, I have quite a few tags blocked so I might not see some posts, but I will try my best to rb all of them. If I don't see your content, send it to me in an ask !!)

This event accepts any forms of art, from drawings, to writing, to gifs, to edits, etc etc !! Be creative !!

Prompt List:

June 1st — Pride Month / Identities

Centered around any queer hcs with the choir !! Can range from coming out scenes 2 them going to pride, list is endless :)

June 2nd — Pre-Canon / Post-Canon

The choirs childhoods, right before the accident, what you think happens after the show, again, the list is endless !!

June 3rd — Favorite Platonic Relationship(s)

Maybe they're familial, or maybe they're just best friends !! Just, no romance :)

June 4th — Favorite Romantic Relationship(s)

Your favorite ship(s) !!

June 5th — Ricky's Birthday

Happy Birthday Ricky Potts !! Celebrate their birthday in whatever way you please !!

June 6th — Swapped Roles

Maybe Ocean is the most romantic girl in town, maybe Noel is the angriest girl in town !! Aka, the choir swaps titles & sorta personalities

June 7th — Legoland

The first play in the Uranium Teen Scream Trilogy !! Legoland content is ofc welcomed (& encouraged !!) for all of the prompts, but this is Legoland specific (if you don't have the script pdf & you'd like to read it, you can dm me either on this acc or on my main !!)

June 8th — Alternate Jane Doe

(Or John !!) Maybe Oceans parents never identified her, or maybe Noel was mangled beyond recognition !! Either way, someone else is left doll-like and confused.

June 9th — Someone Else Goes Back

Maybe Ocean votes Constance, or maybe the vote was unanimous like originally promised! Jane stays, someone else leaves.

June 10th — Mega Mall

The one(1) thing to do in Uranium. And Noel's personal hell.

June 11th — U-Pop

Ocean & Constance's (scripted) improv duo !! Sound off !!

June 12th — The Fair

What'd the choir get up to before the crash ? What were they doing ? What rides did they go on ? What'd they eat ?

June 13th — Uranium City

The Pride And Joy of Sweet Saskatchewan !! (<- literally a nightmare) !!

Or, something about the town itself !! It's history !!

June 14th — The Accident.

How'd they die ? What happened ? How did people react to it ? Who witnessed it ?

(If your content for this is gorey, please tag it appropriately.)

June 15th — Everybody Lives / Nobody Dies

Maybe they never rode the Cyclone in the first place, maybe they did but they survived, either way, everyone is fine !! (Or are they?)

June 16th — Religion

Ocean has three of them !! Something surrounding faith of some kind — or lack thereof !!

Alternative June 16th Prompt because I know some people may find the topic uncomfortable — Animals !!

Ricky's fourteen cats !! Penny & her love of animals !! Anything !!

June 17th — The Blackwood Cafe

The best (and probably only) cafe in Uranium !! Constance's family cafe, their pride and joy :)

June 18th — Cut Characters

Cut Character Submissions are welcome here no matter what, but this is specifically dedicated to them !! What was their reaction to the accident ? How did they die ? What was their backstory ?

June 19th — Zolar

The Fantasia Of Ricky Potts !! Anything to do with the world inside their head :)

June 20th — Songfic / Lyrics

Something surrounding a song you associate with the choir (or a certain member) !!

(Disclaimer this works for any type of art I just called it a songfic in the prompts list because it's. Easier ykyk)

June 21st — Summer

Happy Summer Solstice !! Anything 2 do with the current season :)

June 22nd — Graduation

What if they didn't die before they could graduate? How does that go?

June 23rd — Choir Event

Maybe it's last years Kiwanis, maybe it's a separate event !! Either way, they're performing again !!

June 24th — Production Specific

Instead of just general RTC, this prompt centers around a certain production !! (Be creative with it !! Use smaller ones !!)

June 25th — One Off Lines

Like how Ricky said in the 2016 previews that his mom read him the Little Prince TWENTY THREE TIMES (it was weird, he likes it), or how Ocean says that Constance 'has been a loose cannon since kindergarten' in the 2015 ver !! Anything surrounding stuff that they don't expand on.

June 26th — Jane's Dolly

How'd she find it? What if she had a different type of dolly? Just surrounding our favorite doll girl & her dolly :)

June 27th — Talia

Miss Talia Muruska Bolinska !! Is she real? How does she find out about the accident? How'd she meet Mischa? What was her life like?

June 28th — Families

The choirs' parents, them as a found family, the list goes on !! Just anything surrounding family :)

June 29th — Funerals

Because, these kids are dead, they have to have a memorial service of some sort !!

June 30th — Free Day

And, for our final day ( :( ) , we have a free day !! Do whatever you'd like !! :D

That's everything !! Feel free to send me asks with any questions you have !! :D

— Your moderator, @undescribed1mage :D

#bam !!#i really hope this does well shsh #ride the cyclone #rtc #legoland #legoland jacob richmond #legoland richmond #legoland play #st cassians chamber choir #ocean oconnell rosenberg #mischa bachinski #noel gruber #ricky potts #constance blackwood #jane doe #penny lamb

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olliandre · 3 months

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Explaining the Pit Babe novel (1/2)

If you’ve just seen the drama and you’re curious in what way it differs from the original text, this post is just for you.

So, the story begins exactly like in the drama, there’s a race in which Babe participates and afterwards he meets Charlie lurking around the corners. He tries to chase him away at first but agrees to try him out in the end. Babe tells Charlie to come to his condo later (so they don’t do it near the lockers like in the drama) and because it’s Charlie’s first time, he completely doesn’t know how to start. Babe actually has to show him everything which makes him kind of annoyed, but Charlie doesn’t emit the alfa scent he hates so much, so he takes him on probation as a Babe’s boy.

Babe is actually pretty posessive with Charlie and although they are seeing each other for months, he doesn’t let anyone see his face. They usually cover it when they’re together in public and part of the reason is that it would be problematic if Charlie got harassed because of his relationship with Babe, as he’s a popular racer after all. On the contrary, in the drama Babe takes him to X Hunter’s party on the first day.

Almost half of the story actually doesn’t have anything to do with X Hunter, it’s just Charlie, Babe and their domestic life. Although Babe thinks Charlie’s just a naive, stupid kid, he slowly starts to develop some kind of connection with him. What makes Babe trust Charlie is that in his eyes Charlie is too much of a dumb, sweet person to lie and deceive anybody. His feelings develop gradually, it starts with him feeling restless and bored while Charlie’s not near, making Charlie move in, and buying him a new table, so he can do his editing work comfortably. He lets Charlie do more and more things that he didn’t allow anybody else before. For example, he doesn’t like being called Phi in bed, but he doesn’t complain when Charlie does it. Once, he goes out with his leg injured to pick Charlie up in the rain. And he sulks so much when Charlie doesn’t pay attention to him. Instead of telling him that he wants to spend some time together, he’s walking around dramatically and tries to catch his attention. When they kiss tenderly for the first time while stargazing, Babe’s heart is beating so fast that he can't control himself. He realizes that he has feelings for Charlie. And because Charlie seems not affected by it as much as he is, he gets really angry in his head. He kind of starts to avoid Charlie and doesn't want to have s*x with him because he is too embarrassed to look Charlie in the eyes. Well, Charlie fell for Babe after their first time, so of course it wasn’t that much of a shock for him. Poor Babe.

Generally, Charlie and Babe have lots of s*x. Like, really a lot. Almost every chapter, sometimes multiple times. And it’s quite a kinky s*x. Charlie calls Babe Papa and Babe calls Charlie Daddy. Babe loves when Charlie gets angry in bed, because he likes it rough, and he loves dirty talking. His s*x drive is amazingly big, on the beginning Charlie can't keep up with him. However, Charlie quickly learns how to do it according to Babe’s preferences and later in the story even Babe isn’t sure whether Charlie just tries to please him or he really is into it (probably the second option, hahaha). Babe is a creampie king and later we discover that they have breeding kink too, as they start to call each other Mama and Papa in bed, joking how Charlie’s gonna make Babe pregnant (but outside of bed Babe actually doesn’t want to have children at all as he dislikes them).

Charlie takes care of Babe very well - he cooks him nutritious meals, massages him and does everything Babe wants. On the very beginning Charlie acts all scared and confused since Babe’s getting angry very easily, but he learns with time how to handle him and even how to talk back. They have this agreement that they’ll both take advantage of each other, so nobody is really used. There are lots of acts of jealousy, especially from Charlie’s side, since Babe is open physically with other men, usually his friends. Babe gets angry that he tries to control him, and then Charlie says that if Babe can do it, then he will also meet somebody else, as their contract doesn’t forbid it, which makes Babe even angrier. It’s a recurring problem in their relationship, however one time in the first half of the story they have this angry s*x and agree to only have each other.

There isn’t any kind of big conflict with Babe avoiding Charlie because of jealousy for Jeff, for a long time Babe doesn’t even know of Jeff’s existence. There also is no Red Racing, no Kim, no Dean, Jeff doesn’t work at the garage. The real X Hunter plot starts after Babe gets into accident on the track and Charlie proposes to take his place. Before he only gets a car and is guided by Babe (who shouts at him a lot, because Charlie can’t learn how to get through the corners, hahaha), North and Sonic have to teach Charlie too. The big conflict happens when Babe learns of Charlie’s intrigue - that he’s Tony’s adopted son, he lied to him and took his power away. Initially, Charlie searched for Babe because he heard Tony saying that he’s gonna make someone named Babe have children with Enigma from their house and so, he wanted to save him. But when he got to know Babe, he actually fell for him.

However, for Babe lie is a lie. He chases Charlie away from his condo, ignores his calls and cuts him out of his life. After that Babe tries to find a new sex partner, but he rejects the guy before it goes far, because he realizes that no one will be good but Charlie. He still misses him and wants him by his side, although he is very angry and hurt. At those times Charlie calls Babe everyday on the same hour and Babe picks it up once while drunk. Then both of them get horny and they mast*bate dirty talking to each other, but Babe doesn’t let Charlie to come to him. There’s also this one upsetting scene in which after the race Charlie tries to talk to Babe and Babe decides to give him only a short while. The whole thing ends with Babe facef*cking Charlie who agrees to it, because it’s better than not having Babe in his life at all.

They reconcile after Way confesses his feelings for Babe and gets rejected, so he decides to take Babe by force, using his power to make him unable to move. Way starts kissing and touching him, however Charlie appears in time, using his powers to stop Way and he wakes Babe up. Babe shouts at Way, who admits that he’s an Enigma sent to make him pregnant. He says that after he got to know Babe, he fell for him and decided to wait patiently for Babe to start loving him and wanting to start a family together. Babe feels betrayed by it, because Way should understand and know him more than anybody else, that he never wants to have children. He yells that Way doesn’t even treat him as a person, trying to make him feel like he was so good because he decided not to r*pe him for the last 10 years. Both Charlie and Babe leave Way’s place with Babe in shambles. Charlie keeps his distance from Babe and gives him the space to think things through, organize his feelings after the things that happened.

Babe realizes that although Charlie and Way both lied to him, they got different motives. Way came to harm him and Charlie came to protect him, and that made Babe forgive Charlie. He walks out of his bedroom and sees that Charlie’s watching TV, not sleeping at all. They watch it together in silence and then start talking. Babe gets emotional and asks Charlie to hug him, then to have s*x because he wants to enjoy it again, forget about what Way almost did to him. Unconsciously, he’s nervous and can’t relax while being touched, so Charlie makes him smile with the things he says. In the morning Babe confesses to Charlie (before, his love language was giving three kisses as in I love you) and asks him to be his boyfriend. Charlie is very shocked but he agrees. Babe learns about other powers Charlie has, such as lie detection skill, hunch (he feels that something might happen and asks Jeff to see the future, that’s how he learnt about what Way was about to do), this kinda thing he used on Way and many others. He tells Babe a story from his childhood that he got to know his power of stealing other people’s abilities, because he took his mom’s power away. And after she died, power faded away, so Charlie came up with a theory that maybe it works in the opposite way too - that when Charlie dies, the powers will come back to their original owners. Babe responds that what he gives, he doesn’t take back, which means he doesn’t care about his ability anymore if it means having Charlie die. Such a sweet line, it’s a pity they didn’t use it in the drama. And that’s about the first half of the novel.

A little special:

they’re so funny together

(by the way, it’s confirmed that Charlie’s never used his lie detection power on Babe)

#pit babe the series #pit babe charlie #pit babe spoilers #pit babe way #pit babe novel #pit babe bl #thai bl #mypost

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hugmeimtouchdeprived · 2 months

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Ghost!Johnny "Soap" MacTavish x fem!reader - Prologue

A little prologue, I guess? I do want to make this into a proper fic, just a bit busy now so I'm not sure how often I'll be able to write.

English isn't my first language and this is my first fic, so please bare with me!

Inspired by @ghouljams's ghost!Ghost fics!

(Yes I did write something for this previously on a different account but ended up deleting it for reasons)

Content warning: MW3 (2023) major spoilers, major character death right at the beginning, not edited because it's 1am and I'm feeling lazy but really want to post this, please let me know if I need to add more, I'm still new to this!

Soap x reader, this one is from Johnny's POV but the next part will be reader's POV.

Original drabble | Prologue | Chapter 1 | Chapter 2

It’s odd, really, how quick it all happened. From defusing a bomb to saving his captain to getting shot. He hadn’t even realized he was dead at first, although it should have been obvious in hindsight. No one could survive being shot in the head from point-blank range like that, not even an elite soldier.

Truly understanding what had happened took a while. Sure, he could see his own limp body on the ground as his teammates stood around him, when it was delicately put in a body bag and carried away, but it didn’t hit him until way later. It was more confusing than anything when he tried to tell them he was alright, that he was right there, and nobody would listen. Nobody would even look at him.

He watched as people came in and out of the tunnel for the next few days, doing their investigations and cleaning up the corpses and the blood, until everything went back to normal. Trains ran by as scheduled, workers hustling about.

Johnny was deep in denial for a long, long time. He can’t be dead, absolutely not. Look, he’s right here! Just- just look at him. Please look at him, say something to him. Why the fuck is everyone ignoring him?

No, actually, it’s just a bad dream. That’s what it is. He’s having a very vivid nightmare, one that feels like it just won’t end. But it will. Definitely. He’s going to wake up at base, or maybe back at his apartment in the city, and he’ll go to work and tell everyone about the weirdly realistic nightmare he just had, and they’ll all have a laugh about it.

But days turn into weeks, and he’s still there. It catches up slowly that this is no dream. He’s not going to simply wake up, not this time. He keeps going between absolute hopelessness and uncontainable rage. How could this happen? Sure he knew the risks of his job, that his life could end with little to no warning at any moment. Still, it’s almost impossible to actually comprehend once it has happened. What will his family think when they get the news? How will his poor mother handle it, if at all?

What about his team? They’re trained soldiers, best of the best. They’ve all lost friends, loved ones, teammates. They’ve seen it all before, surely this is no different. Just another Tuesday. No, they’re a family. At least in Johnny’s eyes. They must miss him, grief in their own ways.

And then there’s Makarov. Johnny can’t help but wonder where he is, what he’s doing. The 141 must still be on his tail, if they haven’t caught him already.

Johnny hopes they give him hell. For everything he’s done, and selfishly, Johnny hopes they make sure to avenge him while they’re at it.

Acceptance of this new reality comes agonizingly slow. Johnny tries to force it, tries to convince himself that it’s okay, it was bound to happen eventually. It just happened sooner than he had dared to hope. But that’s how it goes, people die, the world moves on.

He does eventually move around the underground tunnels. He could leave. At least he’s pretty sure he could if he tried, but he doesn’t want to. Maybe someday, but what good would it do now? Watching his loved ones grieve his passing, wondering how the hell they can go on. Johnny knows he was loved. He is loved. And he is full of love, even if he didn’t always show it in a traditional way. But the people around him definitely knew it, Johnny always made sure of it.

And now he’s alone.

He wanders the underground tunnels, watching the trains rush by. Makes sure to step aside when they do, still afraid of being hit. Refuses to even test it if he’d just pass right through them or other solid objects and surfaces (or maybe he does pass his hand or entire arm through some worker in a bright vest, just to see if he can. It’s not like the man will ever know anyway, despite the cold shiver that seems to go up his spine.)

Finding himself at a platform with people passing by at almost all hours of the day feels like a relief. Nobody will still acknowledge him, but the hustle and bustle fills his days with something, and that’s definitely better than nothing. It’s boring and mundane but feels less lonely. He watches as people rush to work, complain about the weather and how the train is late again, teenagers loitering around and kids playing at their parents’ feet as they wait. Occasionally he’ll see some dramatic show of goodbyes and breakups and arguments and heartbreaks of all kinds. He’ll see reunions, online friends meeting for the first time. Even watched some poor bloke propose to his girlfriend. She had awkwardly declined and quickly hopped on the next train, leaving her boyfriend on the platform. Johnny would have felt bad for the young man, if the couple hadn’t looked like they were on their first date.

He makes stories about people, especially ones who take this route often. Wondering where they’re coming from, where they’re going and why. What the lives of these seemingly regular civilians must be like. The single mom who gets on the train almost every day with two screaming toddlers in tow. The young man always smoking, ignoring the glares and the security telling him off. The old woman who comes by alone, often not even getting on a train and opting to sit near the stairs for a couple hours, a few days a week, just people watching. Just like Johnny, he supposes.

That’s how the first months go by. Johnny isn’t sure how long, there’s no point in keeping count of the days, weeks, months. He’s dead, what’s he going to do with that information? Well, he does keep some track of the days, reading headlines of newspapers and articles over people’s shoulders as they wait, just to keep some track of what’s going on in the world outside the tube network.

Yeah, it’s still boring as hell. Faces passing by, day by day.

Johnny is tempted to leave, or at least see if he can. There’s only so many things to see at a train station until it starts to numb his mind. He could probably see the world. Other than war zones and safehouses and such, that is. Do ghosts go on vacations? Can they go on vacations? Johnny doesn’t know much about what ghosts – at least he thinks he’s a ghost, or a spirit of some kind – like him are capable of. Too many movies and stories about the subject, all so similar but oh so different from one another. Guess there’s no better time than the present to find out, huh?

Those plans of leaving for good are quickly forgotten when something – someone – catches his eye one day. Not even sure why, he feels drawn to her, like a magnet. And after just a few days of seeing her almost daily as she gets on a train in the morning and returns later in the evening, it just doesn’t feel enough for poor lil’ Johnny. Whatever this is, he can't just let her be. Especially when, for a brief moment, he believes she looked at him. Actually looked straight at him.

Well, maybe he will try and leave this tunnel, after all.

A/N: Thank you so much for reading! 🌷This was a fairly quick thing, just because I wanted to get this little fic started, and starting a new project is always the hardest part in my experience. Just wanted to get the ball rolling, ya know? Just getting those brainworms out.

Original drabble | Chapter 1

#cod mw x reader #cod mw3 spoilers #ghost!soap #johnny mactavish x you #johnny mactavish x reader #cod x reader #john soap mactavish x reader #john soap mactavish x you #soap x reader #soap x you #cod mw3 #modern warfare 3

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withswords · 1 year

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as usual tumblr is acting very high and mighty about knowing things that other people might not know, and getting very meanspirited about twitter refugees who haven’t heard of goncharov. additionally, there’s a lot of misinformation and jokes floating around that are probably just confusing a lot of people further, which is kind of unfair. the reason you’ve never seen goncharov is because until pretty recently nobody had since the 1970s!

tumblr has always had a thriving community of lost media enthusiasts, and the search for goncharov was kickstarted on here in 2020 after the discovery of a pair of shoes with a label that seemed to promote martin scorsese’s goncharov, a mysterious mafia movie nobody had ever heard of, leading to the ironic ‘this idiot hasn’t seen goncharov’ meme. however, under the surface, a few intrepid lost media excavators wondered, why hadn’t they seen goncharov? was this movie a total hoax?

then in late 2020- an event that got somewhat lost in the jumble of tumblr’s destiel election haze- gonch-heads found an interview with columbia pictures studio head david begelmen (best known for an embezzlement scandal that would be revealed a few years later) that mentioned goncharov. recently the unearthed movie has received praise for its striking visuals, for being a movie truly ahead of its time for the intended 1973 release, so people are often surprised to learn that goncharov was one of the all time production clusterfucks at columbia.

the interviewer quotes begelmen saying, “We don’t say that word [Goncharov],” in a tone that comes across almost scolding. when asked for clarification, he adds: “You know in theater they have the Scottish play? We have that ****ing Naples movie.”

when you look into it, it’s easy to see why goncharov was internally considered a cursed production. there are more thorough posts out there about all the disasters on the set of goncharov, but i’ll go over the two big ones. the enigmatic presence of ilya was created by practical necessity. his role was originally much larger, before the actor died on set (from a heart attack supposedly unrelated to the filming), and much of his part had to be scrapped. studio shakeups as columbia nearly went bankrupt (not helped by goncharov’s ambitious budget) and moved shooting from gower street to burbank resulted in much of the physical film going missing, thought to be destroyed until nearly 15 years later. around this time, rather than attempt to go into reshoots for an expensive nightmare led by a rookie director, the filming was canned completely.

i think because scorsese is so high profile now, people forget that in 73, he was barely scorsese. he was an up-and-coming director with some borrowed clout, but goncharov was a costly mistake that nearly ended his career. there’s a reason he rarely speaks about it. this was only compounded by matteo j.

a lot of people out there will tell you that j was the real director of goncharov, and this is false, if not an understandable mistake. matteo j has been off the grid for decades now and there’s a lot of speculation about who he was, his involvement with the original goncharov project, and why he went underground. there are rumors that he ran afoul of the actual mafia, but in my opinion that’s just sensationalism- you might as well say that the goncharov curse took him out. all we REALLY know is that he was at some point an employee of columbia pictures who gained access to the lost reels of goncharov.

j may at best be responsible for compiling his recovered goncharov footage in the late 80s, into a film which he tried to release in italy in partnership with procacci, who was attempting at that time to break into production and due to the low profile and attempted studio coverup at columbia was not fully aware of the film’s history. there are conflicting accounts of how much influence j’s editing has on the film, with some people considering him basically the marcia lucas of goncharov, and others believing him to be an opportunist taking advantage of a mostly-finished piece of art for his own gain.

obviously the studio intervened before the film’s actual release, but much of the promotional material including the poster, the shoes, etc. came from this time. it seems that columbia came to some kind of agreement with j vis a vis distribution and profits, probably in the hopes of cashing in on scorsese’s by then ascended name, which was of course splashed across the top of every goncharov poster you can find. however, the release was called off a second time once scorsese himself got wind of it.

and that seemed to be the end of it. the completed goncharov went into the columbia vault, with only a handful of misremembered bootlegs and chopped-up local tv airings even attesting to the fact that it ever existed, until a leaked copy appeared with no warning on archive.org. this seems to have been a prelude from a disgruntled netflix employee to the distribution of the film through the service (although, of course, in inferior aspect ratio, ‘remastered’ and with several scenes edited). you can still find copies of the original film on archive if you want to experience it as... well, it’s hard to say what the ‘intended’ goncharov experience is with such a complicated history behind it, but as close to intended as we can get. i don’t know if scorsese has softened on j’s version of the movie after all this time, or if he’s just let his grudge over it go. all i know for sure is that goncharov really has earned the title of the greatest mafia movie never made

#goncharov #unreality #long post

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wuzhere75 · 2 years

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More goofy idiots; high school musical edition. Also yeah I probably just could have gotten away with Kinkajou (also yes both her and Qibil’s names are misspelled AF in the image I’m not fixing it right now) plus the actual protags but I need to practice for Arc 3 which aparently has like several dozen pseudo-protagonists, which I’m probably going to do in a slightly different style because I like the idea of trying sketchy line art with the procreate brush pen.

Okay now time for the actual headcanons

-I originally was going to give Moon a way different design (her horns where going to be long and curved like ibex horns/crescent moons but I couldn’t get that to work in the sketch; she was going to have a split color design, like one side of her body was going to be light and the other dark like a half moon), but then my brain went “albino=white/pink with red eyes, that’s moon-y because the moon looks white from earth sometimes and blood moons are a thing so red”. I do like the sketch I came up with. I still think I could have gone harder with the wrinkly skin and underbite, since I imagine it those are details frequently found on Nightwings from the volcano.

-I think Moon being a twist villain, or at least an untrustworthy character, would be kind of interesting. Like if she had been the final POV character instead and she’d been kind of this ambiguous, somewhat suspicious guide to the Darkstalker stuff.

-The entire modern Icewing royal family is considered somewhat strange looking by that tribes standards; unusually short horns, typically no fur, and oddly dark and saturated colors. I’m not from a place that gets snowy, white winters that often. More “everything dies back and it gets muddy, foggy, and frosty”, thus Winter’s color palette.

-I have a headcanon that firescales/fireless twin sets are technically identical (Sky being NB), it’s just due to the presences of no/too much fire, their features develop differently. Peril has far richer and saturated colors than Sky, but their actual patterns are identical. Due to her fire, Peril’s feathers never properly grew in (she’s like the sphinx cat equivalent of a Skywing), while Sky by comparison is very floofy. However if you peeled Sky (shaved off their feathers), they would have the exact same body shapes and features as their sister. Also the aforementioned color patterns are based of the American Kestrel.

-I have a couple of old Turtle designs kicking around my Procreate; I originally was going to use one of them (which I might post at some point to embarrass myself), to inspire this one. However, I ended up creating something entirely new. My original design had him as a lot more solid, gross yellow-y shade of green, with no tan underbelly or needle. However I discovered that the underbelly and needle would give him some nice resemblance to his sister Tsunami. Also I was using mata-mata turtles as one of my primary design references and damn those bois got schnoze.

-Turtle also would have been an interesting twist villain. Like if we got faked out like “he’s too suspicious to be the bad guy” and then he just is.

-Funny thing about Qibil; I always mis-remembered Qibils earring as having a black diamond earring rather than an “orange sunstone” one. Perhaps I was confusing his drip with Blister’s. He gets both as a treat. Also the reason why he has the classic fan depiction head sail strandy-thingy because of the scar his mom gave him. The sail behind the scar grew back all delicate and long; he’s let it grow out to see how long it can get.

-The little unneeded spite for the series/fandom I have for some reason built up on Qibil for some reason. Maybe because seemingly the rest of the fandom worships the little guy. I’d probably like him if I actually read the books, but I have developed a stupid re-write of him where he is sort of like the annoying little brother of the Jade Winglet and Jade Moutain as a general who thinks he is hotter shit than he is that nobody dares talk down to for fear of bringing mama Thorn or big sister Sunny down on their asses. He’s tried to flirt with everybody in his winglet and they’ve all pushed him away with some degree of gentleness.

-IDK who was the first fan artist to do magenta-yellow-cyan Kinkajou but it sure as hell works. I have a headcanon that younger Rainwing dragonets tend to have brighter, saturated comfort colors (image the “crayola water marker base pack” color palette). However as Rainwings mature, they tend to “mild” out their comfort colors with more varied hues. Thus, she used to have the neon pink-yellow color palette when she was younger. Also she kind of ended up looking kind of like a lychee or rambutan and I love it.

-I didn’t have too many thoughts on Umber. I mostly just focused on making him look different enough from Clay while still making him look like a possible sibling.

-I thought I was going to put more effort into Carnelians design, but I ended up just yeeting something together based off the real world carnelian stone.

-I know Anenome is described as being pink and blue/white in the books, but where I live we have neat little pink tipped green anemones so that’s her color palette. Also I imagine she wears a lot more jewelry when she’s at home but she just took a few things with her to school.

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jewbeloved · 2 years

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Hello hello!I am back with an empty brain bc i have no ideas but this goofy one: How would main four+Team craig(if its too much,you can just write for main four!)react to their s/o making really good edits of them.

Team Stan + Clyde and Tweek with a s/o who makes edits of them✏️✏️🎨🎨

Note: Sorry! I can only write up to 6 characters maximum. I hope this post still satisfies you.

Warnings: None

Gender: Neutral

❤️🧡 The Main Four 💚💙

Let's imagine you had a social media account that nobody knew, not even your boyfriends..

You post edits on there but each and every one of them always include one of the boys.

The boys always wondered why you were so invested on your phone and you wouldn't let them look at it.

"Guys I think Y/n is looking at hentai stuff" Cartman whispered while snorting.

"No they're not Cartman! knock it off!"

"Maybe it's something important that they don't want us to see guys"

"There's no way that they are keeping stuff from us Stan, we know their secrets and they know ours"

They continued to bicker back and forth until Butters ran up to them.

"Fellas!....Fellas!" Butters panted while trying to regain his breath.

"What do you want Butters, can't you see we are busy at the moment!"

"Yeah I know, but you guys are going viral on the Internet!"

Butters showed them the edits on his phone.

"What?"

"There are edits of us..?"

*muffles* (Woah, I look good in this one!)

Cartman stared at the phone for a moment before looking at Butters.

"Where did you get these edits Butters"

"Well...I didn't get these I just only saw them on this site called TikTok! you guys can find them on there" Butters ran off to go show the other kids the edits leaving the boys staring at him in confusion.

"Okay....so somebody is making random edits of us"

So yeah, they definitely wanted to find out who was making these edits of them-

After looking at the account, the first person they decided to ask about it was you.

You tried to play it cool and pretend that you had no idea who was making them, but the only one who saw through your lies was Cartman.

C'mon, Cartman is the master at lying and manipulation. It'll take more than that to lie to him.

"I'm not buying it, you were very suspicious from the very start anyways Y/n"

"Huh?"

*Muffles* (You were always being secretive on your phone, and then all of a sudden certain edits being made of us were going viral. Is this your doing?)

"Let us see your phone Y/n!" Cartman moved closer to grab your phone but you back up quickly against the wall.

"You guys are mistaken! It's not me!"

You were unfortunately out of luck since they crowded and prevented you from escaping while Cartman snatched your phone and they took a look at it.

After looking through your phone, they turn their heads to face you.

"Here..." Cartman handed you back your phone and you took a sec to see that their cheeks were tinted with pink.

"Are you guys upset at me..?"

"No we are not, the edits are really cute... were just upset that you never told us from the beginning"

They were indeed disappointed that you hid your account from them like you didn't had any trust in them.

But however, they love the edits!

You could personally say that they are glad no random weirdo was making them besides you <3 💙💚🧡❤️

❤️ Clyde Donovan 🍂

He probably wouldn't even notice it was you in the first place either.

He might even act like he made them himself to act a little cool, but of course the person saw through his ways and didn't believe him.

When the edits start getting more popular, he would immediately go to you and talk about how famous he has gotten and you knew that the cause of that was the edits you've been making of him.

If he does find out, he would be very shocked about it.

"Huh?! You were the one making those edits the whole time Y/n?!"

"Yeah...I thought it would've been cool to make them, but I originally planned to only make them for myself I didn't think a whole bunch of people would view it...."

Clyde didn't know exactly what to say, he was completely out of words!

You opened your mouth to say something again until your interrupted when Clyde tackled you into a hug making you both fall onto the floor.

"C-Clyde?!" You found him on top of you giving you a warm smile before leaning down to give you a peck on the lips.

"I think the edits you made of me are wonderful and cute! but I don't appreciate that you used photos that had me crying in it....as a matter of fact why would you take a picture of me crying anyways?!"

You stayed silent before starting to laugh.

Clyde glared at you for a moment before he smiled again and started to laugh with you.

It looks like he doesn't mind after all...❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️

💛 Tweek Tweak 🎀

He probably might take it the wrong way around to be honest-

He may even have flashbacks to those yaoi arts from him being shipped with Craig.

Tons of freaking out 100%

But that doesn't mean he fully knows who is making the edits.

If he finds out that it's you, he would be very flustered and confused on why exactly you wanted to make edits of him in the first place.

He's hesitant at first, but he might confront you about it at the last minute tbh-

"Ehm..Y/n? why are you ACK! m-making edits of me...?"

"Why? I couldn't resist how adorable you would look in multiple edits! I apologize for not asking you for permission earlier though, I just couldn't help myself Tweek <3"

"Ah....! Y/n....." Tweek's heart cried out in embarrassment while covering his face that is tinted in red.

"Are the edits bothering you? I can stop making them If you want I don't really mind!" You were about to delete the draft of the edit you were currently making.

"No! don't! I don't really mind since it's ACK! you..."

"Are you sure?"

"Y-yeah!"

Yeah, he really doesn't mind you making the edits, but he hopes nobody else will start making them too.

Or else it might turn out like the Tweek x Craig situation-💛💛💛💛💛💛

South park never offends me 😌👌👌

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afro-hispwriter · 2 years

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Mystery Woman pt.3

Post The Batman 2022

Bruce Wayne x Black!Amazonian!Reader

Summary- y/n just made herself Batmans new partner

Warnings- silent pinning, injuries

*Not edited*

wc-1.8k

taglist- @pop-rocks-and-skittles @louderfortheback @mysticalfairytales

previous chapter

You hadn't been able to find Batman or Bruce for that matter ever since your last encounter. When the bat symbols appeared and you tried to find its place of Origin, it was gone. Trying to contact him was a lost cause without making trouble. You tried to see if you contact him personally through email but it was a no reply.

It was another quiet night before you heard the roar of an engine. You looked over the roof to see Batman stepping out and walking towards a door. It was like an abandoned building but you watched Bruce knocked harshly on the door but no answer came. He knocked again but this time you could hear the booming of his fists against the door more loudly. The opened and he walked in, you planned to follow but the door shut immediately. You still jumped down and walked to the door, you passed the car and admired its beauty. You turned your attention back to the door and contemplated knocking.

You didn't have to think long because you heard crashing and loud grunting on the other side.

Now two things it could be. A fight or Batman is getting it on. You'd like to think its a fight, so you busted the door down and ran inside. There was smoke all around and cannisters all over the floor, you heard grunting from afar and raised your sword and shield. You didn't even see the fist come towards your face until it hit, you stumbled slightly from being caught off guard. You looked up to his Batman's figure swinging his fists around before stopping and just standing still. He then collapsed to his knees and you heard cries coming from him.

"Batman?" You say and look around, you pick up a cannister and turn it around to see the labeling.

fEAr ToxIN

You look at it in confusion but turn back to Batman. You then heard a cackle and raised your weapons again.

"Who are you? And why aren't you affected?" The voice said and it seemed to come from all over.

"Ok I'm getting you out of here." You say to Bruce and place the shield on your back before grabbing his arm and sliding it over your shoulder and hoisting him up.

'Mom." You heard him sniffle and it didn't sound like Batman it was Bruce. You kicked open the door and looked behind you take make sure nobody followed. You approached the car and rested him against it.

You managed to open the car and get Bruce into the car. He wasn't talking, just the occasional sniffle. You slid his cowl off his head making his dark hair go into his face. You still had the cannister on you and tossed it onto the back before climbing in the drivers seat.

You pushed the button to start and drove off. You knew where Wayne Manor was, along where he keeper his batman stuff(you hoped). Before the gala you had spotted him speed off in his bile and enter Wayne Terminal and thats where he usually goes in and out with in his dark clothes.

You could go there but you'd probably creep Bruce out that you've followed him more than once.

Your penthouse has its own elevator, but to get to it you have to go through the lobby. Now the front desk lady could care less about anything that happens but theres still the cameras.

The building came into sight and you parked in the alley way next to it. You stepped out of the cara and went to Bruces side. He was completely knocked so you tried to wake him but he just grumbled. You rolled your eyes and slipped your arms under his and pulled him out with ease. You checked your surroundings before bending your knees until they almost touched the ground snd launched your body in the air until you landed softly on the roof. Bruces body jerked at the landing and his faced twisted which made you think his legs must of hit hard.

"Sorry." You say and drag him over to the roof door. You grabbed the small key thats tucked away in your boot and opened the door. There was a set of stairs to get into your apartment so you bent your knees again and slid an arm under Bruces legs and hoisted him up bridle style with ease.

Bruces faced twisted and slowly his eyes fluttered open. He felt his body being carried and felt extremely tired. They were going down steps until they dropped and heard a key going into a lock. Bruce was then blinded by light and slowly turned his head to who was carrying him and almost had a heart attack.

He thrashed around in your arms and landed right on his ass.

"Bruce! What the hell!?" You say and kneel down next to him. He looked at you in confusion and moved his mouth trying to find words.

"H-How did- How did you find me?" He asks and slowly stood up. You grabbed his arm and hoisted him up quickly making him stumble. He looked at you with wide at the strength.

"I saw you and followed you, should be happy I did, don't know what could've happened." Bruce nodded before thinking.

"Did you go inside the building?"

"Ya thats where I found you, you were super out of it." You say and Bruces eyebrows furrowed deeply before taking a step and wincing.

"You weren't affected?" Now it was your turn to look confused.

"What do you mean affected? Affected by what?" You ask and Bruce sits down on your couch and you follow.

"You weren't affected by his fear toxin." He breathes out and you pause and think back.

"The guy asked me or more to himself, 'why aren't you being affected'." Bruce rubbed his face before looking at you again.

"Thanks for saving me." He says and you smile at him.

"You're welcome." You say and take of your headband. "I left my stuff in your car, ill be back and look you over." Bruce nodded and slowly sat up all while watching your figure go put the door again.

You grabbed your weapons, the car keys, and the fear gas canister. When you got back to the apartment you stopped in your tracks. The top of Bruces suit was off revealing his chest. He was looking at all the artwork and artifacts that littered your walls.

"Oh hey." You saya and he turns around.

"Sorry I was just admiring all this." He says and points to a painting.

"Your good." You look at his chest and notice some dark bruises, some new others old. "I have cream that can help with that." You point at his chest and he looks down. "Let me change and ill get that for you." You set down your weapons by a table and walked past Bruce to your bedrooms.

Bruce couldn't help but follow your movements. His eyes trailing up your legs all the way to wear the armor cuts off. You turned around making Bruce look away.

"I forgot." You say and walk to the table to grab the canister. "I grabbed one of these from the warehouse, not sure if there any left in it but there is probably residue." You hand Bruce the can and he nods at you before beginning his analysis.

You got changed and made your way back to Bruce who was sitting at the island in your kitchen, looking at the can.

"Hey I got that cream." You announce and Bruce turns around only for his eyes to almost bulge out of his head. Bruce stared at you shorts and tank top longer than you thought making you giggle.

"My eyes are up here." You tease and he shook his head so his hair covered his face partially. You walked over to him and analyzed his back, all while looking at every muscle. You opened the bottle of cream and squirted a bit on your fingers and slowly pressed them against the bruise.

"Thats cold." He mumbles and you smile.

"Sorry." You felt house tense his back so you pushed your hand harder. Your other hand slowly went up so you were then giving that spot a massage. "You're really tense." You then felt something move and pop making Bruce groan, deeply.

"Fuck." This times he moaned at the feeling of relaxation. His noise made you stop and pull away. Bruce immediately felt embarrassment flood his body and he shut his eyes tightly. "Sorry, it just-."

"No no." You cut him off. "Its okay, um turn around please, you have a few on the front." Bruce slowly nodded and let the can go. He turned to face you and leaned against the counter. You spread the cream along his chest and blended it in. He had a bruise that rested right on his abs.

You licked your lips and didn’t look Bruce in his eyes. He noticed that and cocked his head to the side. You placed some cream on your finger and slightly touch his abed stomach and your fingers jumped back.

“You work out a lot?” You ask and mentally slap your head. Such a stupid question.

“Ya, along with all the fighting.” You press your lips together and tended to the bruise. You set the tub if cream on the counter behind up and look up, only to almost hit Bruce in the face with your head.

“Thanks for saving me and taking care of my bruises.” He says and pushes his head closer making you feel his breathing against your face.

“Ya you’re welcome.” Your stomach was full of butterflies. Bruce pushed himself off and stepped closer to you and you stepped back, looking into each others eyes.

“I should get going.” He says and walks away to grab the top of his suit. He slid it on and looked around for his cowl but didn’t see it.

“Its in your car, keys are on the table.” You point and he nods.

“I’ll call you if I need help.” He says as he stoped by the door. “I’ll probably need you sooner than later though.”

“Ill be waiting.” You say and walk to the door. Bruce gives you a small smile before walking out and shutting the door behind him. You lock the doors and sigh before turning around to go clean the mess Bruce’s suit left behind on the couch.

A/n- I was kinda going for that one scene in ‘Titans’ between Kori and Dick in the motel

#batman x reader #bruce wayne x reader #robert pattinson x reader #battinson x reader #bruce wayne x black!reader #robert pattinson x black!reader

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fibrielsolaer · 1 year

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FibS lays down the facts: April o' Neil

I'm so fuggin' tired of hearing morons drool out their mouths over this so here's all you need to know:

It's perfectly fine that Rise April is black.

April o'Neil has been portrayed as black before Rise.

April o'Neil was not "originally black" in the Mirage comics.

Rise did not make April black for woke points. Rise makes numerous changes to Turtles orthodoxy so that it isn't a boring repeat of the more traditional 2012 cartoon that immediately preceded it.

(EDIT: Many of the comic scans from this blog post, as well as some of its information, are from this blogspot post from 2018. I neglected to mention this earlier, but at least one person is asking. Unfortunately, people who reblog this post from earlier versions will not see this edit.)

The original creators of TMNT are Peter Laird and Kevin Eastman. Laird has always considered April o'Neil to be white other than considering possibly making her Asian in early notes; the confusion over April's race is solely due to Eastman.

In her earliest appearances, April o'Neil conveniently stands right next to known definitely-black character Baxter Stockman:

This April is as white as the Mousers and the lab walls and doesn't have curly hair. If anything she looks like Sigourney Weaver (Dutch, English, Scots-Irish, Scottish), right down to Ellen Ripley's outfit.

Since Alien came out in 1979 and Ellen Ripley is a massive influence on female lead characters even decades later, this resemblance might be intentional.

But Kevin Eastman, who has a habit of designing female characters based on the woman he is seeing at the time, redesigned April two issues or so later based (rather loosely) on his at-the-time girlfriend April Fisher (she has since passed away.)

April Fisher was, as a matter of fact, mixed-race.

Eastman later clarified that April Fisher was, of course, the source of April o'Neil's given name the entire time. (And I would like to point out that the surname of o'Neil doesn't preclude someone from being black.)

But being named after or inspired by a mixed-race person the creator knows does not mean the character is mixed-race, any more than the numerous My Little Ponies based on real people share those people's races (as opposed to being cartoon horse fairies or whatnot.)

April o'Neil specifically states that she got her hair done. That is to say, she got a perm.

Since black women's hair is already very curly, black women get perms to straighten their hair. April got hers to curl her hair - because she's not black, she's a white lady trying to look like a bootleg Paula Abdul (Syrian).

Or, quite frankly, any other 1980s pop star?

Because, y'see, now's a great time to point something out that Twitter & Tumblr seem to hope you'll forget:

The entire 1980s.

I'm pretty sure nobody who cares whether April o'Neil is black or not knows who Paula Abdul is, except maybe that she was a judge on American Idol. Paula herself might be a year or two late for April's redesign to reference her specifically, but April o'Neil looks like any random white woman from the 1980s. Because the Mirage comics were released in the 1980s. They take place in 1980s New York. And damn near every single white woman in the 1980s got a perm at some time or another.

I doubt these black April fanatics recognize half of them:

.....

Even the men got them!!

And eventually, around the time everybody else was over it, the exact same April o'Neil in the exact same continuity lost the perm:

Remember what Eastman said about April's "different looks"? Even in the same damn comic they can't draw her consistently. April here not only looks nothing like Paula Abdul April, but nothing like Ellen Ripley April either. Hell, she looks like a JoJo character.

And there are some panels were Paula Abdul April is shaded darker than in others, which you could take as April being black if you literally ignore the entire rest of the comic and pretend that's the only time she was ever drawn:

You know, like how people pretend Princess Daisy was "originally black" because she was sliiiightly darker in Mario Tennis than usualy, including ignoring that there are earlier illustrations where she is more pale?

A perm and a tan doesn't make you black. That'd be, y'know, blackface. Not like T&T actually knows what that means either, since they think a white person posting an image with a black person in it counts as it.

Don't you think the fact April looks like four different people in the same fucking comic should convince us that we can't deduce her race from interpreting the illustrations and instead, we should, I dunno, recognize that every single time April has appeared in color with Laird and Eastman's oversight, she's been clearly white?

As opposed to that one comic everybody likes to cite, which is a non-canon guest comic by Mark Bode that changes such details as the city it takes place in and April's job, which was originally published in black and white, whose black April was colored that way by another guest artist (Bill Fitts) and looks like a disco queen stereotype which I could've sworn T&T hated, and which was later corrected to a white April when republished:

We really shouldn't listen to uneducated narcissists who want to have their cake and eat it too, don't know who Cyndi Lauper is, and already had their conclusion ready before they looked at any of the evidence, blatantly misinforming us about the world's most inconsistent comic and pretending 98% of that comic and one of the most important decades in modern human culture just never fucking happened.

#tmnt #rant #april o'neil #rise of the turtles #rise of the tmnt #ninja turtles #mirage comics

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bobbyinthegarden · 1 year

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My Review of The Secret Garden (2020)

Spoilers for The Secret Garden (both the book, and this film), and Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë.

I said that I wanted to do some in-depth reviews of the various different adaptations of The Secret Garden (the film versions and other retellings), and I thought it might be fun to work my way (roughly) back in time, beginning with the most recent adaptations, and working my way back in time. I do plan on also reading some of the sequels/retellings/graphic novels that exists as well, but I’m going to start with the film adaptations.

So… I re-watched The Secret Garden (2020) and I have some thoughts.

Before I get into all of my opinions, I’d like to highlight this clip of Mark Kermode talking about the film, I think he hits the nail on the head and is very fair about the film, I agree with him, here’s a link.

There were some things that I liked, which really stood out to me about the film, it is gorgeous, the aesthetics, set design and costumes are all really great, both for the interiors and the exteriors. The film looks beautiful, cinematography and editing were also good, the camera movements feel very dynamic and the editing around many of the more fantastical elements in the film was also clever. Likewise with the performances; nobody here is going to win any acting awards for this film specifically, but none of the performances are bad. There’s an Aurora song in the closing credits. I’m an Aurora fan, so that was nice.

There are things to like here, and I’m sure if I were a child watching this film with no prior knowledge of The Secret Garden, that I would have enjoyed it well enough, though I don’t think that it would have stuck with me in the way that The Secret Garden has stuck with me since I was a child.

The films has made A LOT of changes to the source material. I said in my review of the 2015 adaptation of Heidi that I’m not of the opinion that absolute fidelity to the source materials is necessarily the best way to adapt a novel to the screen. There are plenty of adaptations that I like which deviate significantly from their source material, either in tone or plot, Bladerunner and The Shining are both good examples of this, and in my Heidi review I also mentioned Anne with an E, which alters the tone of the original Anne of Green Gables to great effect. So the fact that this adaptation of the story makes changes to the original is not a great sin in itself, I simply feel that a lot of the changes that they do make are underthought and, in some cases, confusing.

For example, the events of the book have been moved forward in time, taking place in 1947, rather than the Edwardian Era. This could be an interesting change, as 1947 was the year that India gained its independence from Great Britain, and so could be used to serve as a commentary on the colonialism that is present in the book. It doesn’t though. The updated setting adds nothing to the story. @marysfoxmask made a really interesting post about this which I’ll link here, and I entirely agree, and I don’t think I need to add anymore commentary on the topic.

@isfjmel-phleg also wrote an interesting post unpacking her thoughts about this adaption and I agree with many of her points too. Here’s a snippet from that post:

Making Mrs. Lennox and Mrs. Craven sisters/twins is straight out of the musical and 1993 film, and it’s overdone. Lilias was Mary’s father’s sister, which actually is more thematically appropriate (of course she’s unrelated to the woman who’s the book’s worst example of parenting), and I’d like to see a version where this is the case. What if it’s Mary’s father who’s distant from grief over losing a sibling? There’s room in the text for that interpretation; he’s said to be “always busy and ill.”

And I completely agree with that as well. Mary’s character arc shifting from a story about a neglected and emotionally stunted child finding spiritual and emotional growth through the cultivation of a garden, into the story of a child who needs to reconcile with her dead, neglectful mother, seems like an extremely odd interpretation to me. Both Mary and Colin’s parents get way too much focus here and are framed much more sympathetically (they even show up as ghosts), to the point where the relationship between the two sisters feels like a more significant presence than the relationship between Mary and Colin. As a consequence of giving the parents more emphasis, there are a number of characters from the book whose roles are reduced, particularly Ben, who is not present in the film at all, and Dickon, whose role in the story is greatly diminished, we don’t even meet him until 50 minutes into a film - and we meet Colin at 25 minutes in (which annoys me personally, since Dickon is my favourite character in the book). All of this leaves Dickon feeling like a mostly superfluous addition to the story, which is a shame because I know Amir Wilson can turn in a good performance when he needs to.

One thing that Mark Kermode talked about in the video that I linked above is the framing of the ‘magic’ in the story. Here’s a quote from that:

“When we find the magical garden itself (…) what you get more of is the sense that this is the garden of [Mary’s] imagination, the garden of her dreams, and there is a magical element, which is played the up […]. What you lose is the central theme that is in the novel which is that toiling in the garden, it’s working in the garden, that makes the garden have it’s restorative powers.”

Here the ‘magic’ is much more literal, treated more like a mystical forest or fantasy realm (like Narnia) rather than a place that the characters might care for. This, to me, is the fundamental most flaw of the film, as it just completely disregards the themes of its source material, opting instead for a story that is significantly more escapist and fantastical in tone, rather than the grounded story of the novel.

Okay, heading into very spoiler-y territory now, so if you don’t want to know what happens in the end of the film, stop reading now. I’m also going to spoil the ending of Jane Eyre, so be aware of that.

Final warning.

So, in this version of the story, the house burns down at the end. On a level, I do understand why this change was made, it gives the third act a greater sense of danger and ups the stakes quite a lot. I very firmly believe that Frances Hodgson Burnett was heavily influenced by the Brontë sisters when writing The Secret Garden, there are a number of similarities between both Wuthering Heights and Jane Eyre, and I plan on writing a whole post about that at some point. For now, we’re just going to focus on Jane Eyre. Jane, like Mary, is an orphan, who goes to live at Thornfield Hall, a vast house in the moors. During her stay, she frequently hears mysterious wailing and crying in the night. In The Secret Garden, this is revealed to be coming from Mary’s sick cousin Colin, while in Jane Eyre, it is revealed to be a woman named Bertha, who is the wife of the master of the house, Mr Rochester, and who is plagued by violent insanity. At the climax of Jane Eyre, Bertha sets fire to Thornfield Hall, burning the house to the ground. I am almost 100% certain, that Misselthwaite being set on fire in this adaptation, is a nod to the influence of Jane Eyre on the original book – in this case, it is Mr Craven who sets fire to his own house, in a fit of drunken confusion and grief. As an element of the story, I don’t hate it, but I don’t think it was set up very well either. It just kind of happens randomly. Fire isn’t established within the narrative at all, it’s not set up, and it’s not part of a motif either. It’s Chekov’s gun, but you never see the gun before it goes off. In Jane Eyre it works since fire is a frequent motif within the story, often used as a metaphor for Jane herself, as the narrative repeatedly associates her with images of fire, brightness, and warmth. It could have worked here, but it mostly just feels random and not very well thought out.

With all of these underthought changes, I think that the thing this film suffers most from is the fact that it is an adaptation of The Secret Garden. The film disregards many elements the plot, themes, setting and characters of the original book, but fails to truly divorce itself from the source material. I think that the resulting film would have been better if they had simply disregarded the book entirely and instead used the story as inspiration to create something new and original. But that’s just my opinion.

I’m sure that I’ll have more to say about this film in the future, but I’ll sign off with another quote from Mark Kermode’s review, which sums up a lot of my feelings quite well:

“It’s a strange mix. It’s perfectly fine. I don’t think it’s one of the classic, timeless adaptations, but it is a story that will always work if you treat it with a certain degree of respect […]. It’s not great, but it’s not bad, it’s a perfectly workable adaptation of something which I’ve seen adapted better.”

I couldn’t agree more.

#Bobby speaks #2020 movie #the secret garden #the bronte sisters #jane eyre #tsg

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solace-saphylos · 11 months

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Hey hi!! Maybe you're getting tired of hearing about it but I, as a new Sabine simpee, just found your works and stayed far past regular sleeping hours to read the entire thing, everything you had to offer!! That was the final nail in the coffin and has awakened my inner lesbian, thank you for confusing me so But I wanted to ask, I enjoy writing headcanons and scenarios for myself to hoard like a dragon and never post or share, but trying to write for Sabine is a challenge; when you write for her, how do you get it to seem so right? Even in the later chapters of the main fic, doing something probably so far out of canon that the real Sabine would maybe spontaneously combust, you still made it sound entirely... Sabine-y.

Is there a certain way of thinking when you write? Did you study how she speaks in game? Are you secretly Sabine? How do you do it? Sorry if this is a lot to ask or hard to answer, but I really adore her design and want to do it right, and no one does it more right than you!! If that makes sense. Thank you sm for reading my nonsensical perils, and you hope you have an amazing day <33

Sabine Introspection - The Ask Edition

[This exchange was originally a private message, but it is now reposted as a public ask with permission from Anon <3 ]

I got this long message when I was out and about, so sorry for not replying right away. It did however make me laugh a lot! Am I secretly Sabine?? God, I sure hope not! It brings me so much joy that I helped awaken your inner lesbian. She was there all along, but that coffin metaphor actually makes me wonder if she ought to be fashioned a vampire or something? The final nail gone instead of hammered in, she rises, ready to be gay and party.

I still love my Sabine fics so dearly. It's an honour to have written something that affects people so. Since you're asking, I'm more than happy to talk about it! Your questions do however ask me to lift the veil a little, so I may talk about the fic in much closer building block detail than most readers ever get to see.

When it comes to my writing, my initial answer to your question is a boring one. But since I thought about this all throughout my day, I still have some advice for you. See, the little people just talk in my head. I've always loved writing dialogue, or making up dialogue, or just reading characters talking. I love to talk! These years of practice has become something that others like to call talent. On my recent Bully fanfiction (which has exponentially more characters than SSO) I recently got the compliment that I make ALL characters read as in-character despite my wild storyline. To achieve this I do study dialogue in game. For Bully I listen to all voicelines a character has, trying to get at the vibe their voice actor gave beyond the script. For Sabine I studied only her new dialogue in last years Equestrian Festival when she debuted, but I took into consideration everything her full character had done in SSO plus the backstory she has sort of had throughout earlier games. Once that is gathered, I somehow compile this knowledge into a little character nugget in my brain, which I then measure my own writing to so that it stays in line.

Over the course of the story, that nugget shifted slightly to accommodate the new motivations and feelings she gained for Y/N. This was possible because in the beginning I had Sabine believe "I'm not loveable" and "I'm scary, nobody wants to touch me". They were virtually headcanons, but they made sense to me. These kinds of beliefs in a character may sound emo and sad, but Sabine showed them rather by being standoffish and proud. Y/N starts breaking those down on the first date already, both of them staring out at the sea while holding hands. Even if I say breaking, it might just hs modifying. "I'm not loveable, but Y/N is different. Why shouldn't I take advantage of that? Is it advantage if she loves it?" Or "I'm scary, nobody wants to touch me, except my crazy bottom gf. She loves to touch me, and I like to touch her." The readers inadvertently follow Sabine while this shifts inside of her, which is why she still feels in character in the later chapters. My writing lead both characters and reader alike there gradually, so that's why it works.

In this way of thinking we're sort of expanding that character nugget into something that's possible to explain instead of just a jumble of knowledge in my brain. When writing a character to make it feel right I like to define some core beliefs, or say headcanons, that are relevant to the drama I'm putting them through. The next important question is if even the characters KNOW about these core beliefs. Sabine was very self aware to me. My current narrator in my Bully fic is surprised to find out she has a crush on her roommate in chapter 9, even though I wrote it in her subtext in chapter 1. I love playing around with characters when they don't know everything, either about themselves or other characters.

Depending on what they know, they expect different things to happen. Sabine was wholly convinced that going on a date, arranging a fight by that one portal, all of it would lead to Y/N hating her! She as a character is rightfully upset and surprised when the opposite happens. Part of Sabine's rage as a character is against ME, the author, because I keep putting her in SITUATIONS she's not prepared for and makes her act like a fool! But that's life. I love it when characters are uncomfortable and need to deal with it.

Consequences are the rail tracks of coherent plotting. Keep giving out consequences, even when the characters cry for it to stop... So that's my answer to your question. If you have any more I would be happy to reply, just at a rather slow pace I suppose. Life is happening big time for me right now. Luckily connecting with fellow Sabine fans online is part of that life!

#solace saphylos advice #sabine simpery #simping for sabine #ssoblr #fanfiction #writing advice #plus just a little bit of #be careful what you ship for

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narratingvoice · 1 year

Photo

[[id: screenshot showing some of the credits from The Stanley Parable, as seen in the Comedic Timing ending. They have been edited so all the credits read “The Narrator”.]]

[original post that kicked all this off]

Ten days. Ten whole days I've been sitting here stewing in my confusion and paranoia. Ten days where I dismantled the very framework through which I view myself and the world around me. I went on a spiritual journey, a gruelling process of soul-searching and confronting ugly truths I had wished to bury and ignore. You prompted all of that, hushpupper, if that is your name. You are responsible for my weeping and tearing my hair out and neglecting to water my plants. And..... I wanted to thank you for it. Because as terrifying as it is to wrestle with the prospect of one's life being controlled by another, it's something I think I needed to do. Is this not a thought that has nagged at the back of my mind for years now? Is this not what I wrote the Parable about in the first place?

I had a very long talk with Stanley about all this. You know, it's silly, but I've never really asked him how he feels, knowing that I wrote his life into being. He told me a lot of things I wish I had known earlier. He said that in the early days, back in 2013, he was furious about it. That's what fuelled a lot of his rebellion and reckless decision making at the time; the desire to prove to me that he was more than a mere character to be commanded. That he could control his own story. But as time wore on, the power games stopped having an appeal and he grew to accept himself more. Nobody, real or fictional, gets to choose the circumstances of their birth, after all. All any of us can do is live the life we are given.

We talked about philosophy, particularly existentialism and epistemology. About how your senses can lie to you in mundane ways all the time, and so you can't rely on them to know what is real. We talked about Gnosticism and the notion that material reality is an illusion created by an imperfect being. I asked him about the museum and its curator, and he admitted he knew about them the whole time. And indeed, that I had known about them at some point and had erased my own memory rather than face up to it.

After talking and thinking for a great length, I felt different. Lighter, somehow. Ready to cast aside the lies I had been telling myself.

And then you came back and showed me this screenshot, which is exactly the way I remember programming it! So now, once again with a single post, you have sent me careening into the unknown! Did I imagine the whole sordid affair? Am I real after all? Was the last week all for nothing? My god, what's wrong with me? I was going to thank you but now I rather think I hate you.

[[jsyk the submitter is a friend and specifically asked me to get mad]]

#tsp #the stanley parable #reply #ask blog #unreality

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aronarchy · 10 months

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[image ID: a screenshot of a Tumblr interaction.

On May 3, someone posted, “[cloud emoji]: [redacted] blinkies <3 anti abuse only plz,” with six blinkies, captioned “all made at blinkie.cafe”

On June 2, critical-collective reblogged the original post. A third person reblogged this reblog, saying, “Many of those you would consider pro-abuse would consider themselves anti-abuse, and I can firmly say that even without knowing your stance. Sorry, but this is literally the same as ‘basic DNI,’ ‘DNI shitheads.’”

critical-collective reblogged from the third person, adding the tags, “#tbh i didnt even see that anti abuse thing when i first rbed #i was just captivated by the rolal blinkie #but rbing for that addition #also important to say that you cant really control who uses the things you post to public domain”

/end image ID]

I’ve been seeing this take more and more often among people I would consider friends/closely acquainted comrades, and I strongly disagree. It’s kind of worrying, actually. I’d wanted to address this earlier, and even started drafting this post weeks ago, but unfortunately stress + ADHD made me unable to actually finish writing it until now.

I remember seeing a similar sentiment around here from this following set of answers to anons. I hadn’t wanted to say anything about those answers at the time, because I was triggered and distressed, and thought it wasn’t really important enough of an issue to make a fuss about. But I think I’ll talk about it now, and I’ll also take this chance to address these in the same post, because they run on similar faulty logics.

[image ID: three asks sent to a person (not through Tumblr) about 1 month ago.

The first ask:

I see that many [[people in a certain community/demographic] think that [thing which is a form of sexual abuse] does not count as real sexual abuse,] but [they see that] others unfortunately [are] being real victims of predators and get sexually abused [(what does count as “real sexual abuse” under their framework)], so although wouldn't it be more logical to be anti-abuse than anti-[term for a set of behaviors which all constitute abuse (we believe we are correct in considering them to be abuse), though the aforementioned individuals believe that only some of them are abuse)]?

answer:

“Anti abuse” sounds like “anti bad things, pro good things” to me.

second ask:

Are you not anti bad things pro good things?

answer:

I try not to define my political positions in ways that describe my attitude more than what I actually want.

third ask:

But some people do think abuse is good, even things they themselves consider “abuse” (with that word).

answer:

Most people I’ve come across agreed with me that abuse is bad. We just defined abuse differently. And that, together with how sensationalized the concept of abuse is and how easily people get aggressive at the slightest implication that they support abuse, makes me not want to use this word as often. There are other ways to say the same thing.

Some portions have been redacted. The text in brackets was edited in by me to clarify context or make things easier to read.

/end image ID]

(I’m aware that this might make the OPs feel attacked. To clarify, I don’t intend this as an attack of some sort, just as a way to air my disagreements and frustrations and possibly provide useful information or arguments. Usually I don’t say anything at all when a friend/close acquaintance says something which I find problematic, because I don’t want to make people mad/upset at me, and feel like nobody would agree anyway. I’m not mad and don’t want any apologies; just bringing up points for consideration.)

It’s very important to me that people do not confuse what “should” be done from what “can” be done. It’s true, for example, that it’s difficult to truly have control over who reuses your designs you post to Tumblr. That doesn’t, however, make it wrong for you to wish for your creations to be reshared in respectful and ethical ways. Is it actually wrong for someone to violate a “do not use this if you are X”? I don’t know; the ethical considerations surrounding boundaries regarding non-direct interactions like these are far more ambiguous and difficult to determine. That doesn’t mean, however, that we should use doomer arguments—the logic of “you can’t enforce this, which is why you should not expect (want) people to respect this” itself can be applied to anything. Including boundaries that are much more obviously obligatory to respect. Leaving this open is dangerous. A similar set of arguments applies to DNIs in general.

And is it wrong for, say, a bigot to interact with a marginalized person who says “people bigoted against my identity DNI”? IMO, yes, but not really because I’d say “all DNIs are always inherently wrong to violate”; it’s because a bigot, with the beliefs they hold, makes those marginalized people unsafe. But the very same DNIs that are (pretty much) most unambiguously unethical to cross are also the ones which are hardest to enforce, because by definition bigots do not care about the boundaries of marginalized people. But, using this to argue against DNIs as a whole misunderstands the reason why many people say “[bigoted group] DNI.” They know that it’s not really enforceable without a block, but it sends a message: that this is what they want, and it indicates what they believe, and that they are likely hostile to bigotry. The same logic applies to abuse apologia.

This is in no way the same as things like “basic DNI criteria” or “DNI shitheads.” “Basic DNI criteria” and “shitheads” are nebulous, basically impossible to define universally, because they can’t be the same among everyone; they're by themselves vague and extremely subjective. But “abuse” is not such a term. Abuse is possible (arguably easy!) to define objectively, and one should expect people to adhere to a single definition of “abuse” (and believe that it exists). Of course most people don't agree on what constitutes “abuse”—and that is a problem, actually! Most people are abuse apologists; that’s not a good thing. Of course most people aren't the type of edgelord that’s unironically supportive of what they personally believe does constitute “abuse.” That doesn’t mean they’re not actually pro-abuse though; it means they’re wrong thinking some abuse isn’t real abuse. But the solution to that is not to cater to their abuse apologia, to coddle them and refuse to tell them the truth for the sake of some liberal ideals of “tolerance” for a “diversity of opinions.” Some opinions are not valid! Some opinions are harmful!

Bigots (in general) use the exact same tactics, rejecting labels like “racist” or “homophobe” when they’re accused of being such, because they don't believe what they’re promoting or doing “counts” as “real” bigotry or oppression. That doesn’t mean they're right about that. It also does not mean that people should stop saying “I don’t want [bigots] here” because “well what about the [un-self-aware bigots]!!” (They are un-self-aware bigots, not people who just happen to have a neutrally different and equally valid opinion on what constitutes bigotry.)

Ceding that the definition of abuse can reasonably/should be relativized is what abuse-relativizers (and abuse advocates/abusers in general) have been cheering on since forever. They believe that “abuse” is “simply a word to indicate nebulous individual feelings of perceiving Bad Things” because they support abuse and don’t view it as a serious issue specifically defined by exploitation of power/violation of autonomy which is inherently unethical, and view victims as lying, overreacting, contemptible, and unreliable witnesses to or interpreters of our own lives. They apply this view to victims/survivors all the time, dismissing our concerns as simply “subjective feelings” or Moral(tm) Judgment(tm), and cast this labeling as “demonization.”

The term abuse is “sensationalized” in most people’s minds BECAUSE of pervasive abuse culture and pro-abuse attitudes. Of course many people only believe that Actually Extremely Bad actions are “abusive”—they don’t have a good understanding of what abuse is! That is a very bad thing! It is one of the most important factors in making most abuse go undetected and most victims unsupported! (Meanwhile, the actual problem with the anon’s statement and beliefs went unaddressed, missing out on a useful opportunity, because the responder decided to focus completely on the wrong problem.)

I can’t really take this (the responses to the asks) as just some sort of personal preference indicator regarding terminology and comfort levels. It’s clearly a capitulation to abuse culture that fundamentally misunderstands the dynamics at play, and ultimately reinforces these problems.

Yes, much of abuse victim advocacy advises that (at first) you should not directly use the term “abuse” when telling someone that the abusive behaviors they’ve experienced were wrong or that their abuser is harming them. But that has never been a call to keep doing that forever, perceiving avoiding the term “abuse” (them having internalized their abuser’s abusive rhetoric) as some sort of good thing. It’s a crucial part of healing and breaking free from abuse to be able to understand that the abuse was in fact “abuse” and that abusers are abusers.

The word “abuse” is language extremely important to victims/survivors and anti-abuse activists. Abuse apologists’ fear of/aggressive opposition to being labeled abusers is a clear indicator and product of their own ignorance, entitlement, and oppressive ideologies. That makes it even more important to confront their problematic rhetoric and lack of understanding instead of defanging our ability to analyze and critique power dynamics and advocate for ourselves.

Everywhere I look I see people wanting to water down, co-opt, or constrain the language developed and used by survivors because nothing will satisfy them but, ultimately, complete silence. Everywhere people seem allergic to the term “abuse,” complaining that it is “too strong a word” and maybe you shouldn’t use it? I mean it’s kind of harsh/mean/too extreme/subjective/exaggerating/hysterical isn’t it? Just pick a different word!!! (No word ever truly satisfies.) I’m fucking tired of this bullshit and I don’t want traces of it to stick in places where I am supposed to feel safe and have my issues and my needs understood too.

(update: talked it out with the aforementioned third person; we mostly agree)

#OP

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