#well gender man 2.0

[collaredkittyboy]

Well it's come up multiple times today so I'll make a post about it.

I think the popularization of the word "twink" has ultimately been really bad for people in general.

I know it's hard to track the positive and negative effects of language but I don't think it's hard to see how creating a word for a group of people wherein the most consistent qualifying trait is "being skinny" is healthy for people's self image. Obviously people have lots of ideas about what it means to be a twink- gay, lacking body hair, feminine, beautiful, young, white- but the most consistent descriptor I've seen is "skinny." Hell, it's even a body type on Grindr; the size below "average."

So it kind of functions as a code word in the gay community: anyone can say that they're only interested in twinks and they don't have to look shallow by saying they only like skinny guys. It's such an accepted attitude that no one really bats an eye when they hear it.

I'm not even going to get into how it's become part of the larger issue of people turning "top" and "bottom" into gender roles 2.0, but that is closely related, because people with any internalized homophobia can look at a skinny, feminine man and turn off their fag alarms by viewing him as a woman or not a "real" man, and it makes twinks more acceptable to society at large.

No, ignoring all of that, one of the biggest issues is that gay men are taught by society that they are only attractive while they are skinny. Just having the label "twink" reminds a boy that people are looking at his body and judging it. There were countless times when I was growing up that people would tell me, "You're such a twink," or argue about whether or not I qualified as a twink because I had body hair. People around you, unpromted, judge your body and give you a label based on it, and that label has a large influence on whether or not you're seen as objectively attractive. I know many other gay people who say they wish they were a twink so they could be more attractive to guys.

So think, you have all these kids growing up being told whether or not they qualify as a twink, and then we have the gay community as a whole where it's completely acceptable to say you're only attracted to twinks. I think its because of all of this pressure to be a twink (in other words, to have a below average weight) that many of the gay people that I interact with struggle with a negative body image or eating disorders.

I mean, people talk about "twink death" like it's an actual event that makes a gay man much less attractive, and no one thinks that, maybe, it's harmful to tell a guy that the very day he stops being young and thin and pretty, he will stop being attractive and celebrated?

I'm not qualified to speak on fatphobia in physical queer spaces because I don't have the ability to frequent them where I live, but I can't imagine that these aren't issues at social gatherings as well. I also can't speak on my own experiences with weight discrimination because so far in my life I have had a naturally thin body, but I have experienced a lot of outside pressure to be thin that have caused me to pick up unhealthy eating habits to reduce my weight in fear that I could become fat later on. Thankfully that is something that I've mostly been able to work past. I'm not an expert, but idk, I just wanted to rant on my silly tumblr blog.

Obviously it's impossible for a word to be inherently bad. I'm not trying to imply that saying "twink" is a magic word with evil powers. Obviously the real issues at play here are fatphobia and harmful beauty standards and body shaming. But in my opinion, the popular use of the word twink has made it much easier and acceptable to express fatphobia, etc, in the gay community by turning "skinny person" into a "type of guy that you should try to be so you can be attractive."

#i know i sound annoying and woke but this is my blog and i can post whatever i want :3 #theres so much more to say but this is long enough as it is #no ones gonna read this anyway #gay #queer issues #fatphobia #cw ed mention

[riddle-me-ri]

a/n: I totally didn’t forget the result of my poll…a..couple months back, lmao. I’ve actually always been thinking about it but never had a chance to sit down and get them done lol. Starting off strong with the riddle bois! Not sure who's up next, but no worries, all the rogues I write for will have a chance to shine!

Also not entirely back to fully uploading like I used to but may upload like once in a blue moon especially when the inspiration strikes me or if I need a small break from drawing lol

Content Warning: mentions of non-gender specific nudity and some allusions to sexual activity but nothing explicit.

The Riddlers React to Reader Going to Bed Naked

Arkhamverse Riddler:

- Well, first things first he’s got to be willing to go to bed.

- You figured you could have an interesting surprise waiting for him when he finally gives into the sweet call of slumber.

- Edward doesn't notice at first–basically running on fumes as he gets under the covers.

- It isn't until he tries to get comfortable he notices.

- And he is extremely shocked.

- How–what–what's the logic behind this? This is ridiculous!

- He almost has half a mind to wake you up and demand you put and demand you put something on.

- Yet he somehow even feels too tired to even do that.

- Ed will deny it in the morning, but you cannot deny that he did enjoy nestling into your side and into your skin.

Reevesverse/Dano Riddler:

- Oh..uhh…oh wow…umm…is that really comfortable?

- Gotham can be unbearingly cold at night and his apartment doesn't have the best heater.

- Edward is still very new to this level of intimacy–

- His brain will go into overdrive, trying to figure out if you're trying to tell him something.

- Are-are you trying to initiate…what he thinks you are?

- As his head spins, his face is flushed red.

- Edward will try to work up the courage to ask what this is about.

- You will have to explain to him if you were teasing him or just trying a new sensation.

- Either way, he will understand or try to, just give him a heads up next time…you almost gave him a heart attack.

Gotham Riddler:

- Is that really comfortable? 2.0

- His whole pale face is as red as a ripe tomato.

- Eddie will likely assume you aren't feeling well…that…that's the only explanation.

- Are you getting chills? Are you overheating? Do you feel nauseous? Here let him take your temperature.

- You really can't help but laugh and find his concern incredibly endearing.

- Ed is relieved to hear you're fine, but is now back to surprise when he realizes you were just teasing him.

- What…what should he do? For once he kinda leans into his confident alter ego for guidance.

- Once you two get closer and he gets to feel the softness of your skin, he's immediately hooked.

- Eddie can't just have his hands touching you, he wants all of his skin touching your own.

BTAS Riddler:

- Man's face is as red as his hair.

- Well, well, well…this is um…quite the surprise.

- Where in the world did you get this idea?

- Eddie will try to keep a confident and collected aura about him.

- But he's absolutely quivering on the inside, his heart about to beat out of his chest.

- His eyes rake over your body, appreciatively, until you tore the covers from his hand and snuggle into the mattress as you tuck the comforter back underneath you.

- You tease him and say he can't see or touch until he joins you also naked.

- Well, who's he to turn down a deal like that?

- Eddie snatches the covers and hops into bed, quick to wrap you in his arms and kiss youwhich muffled your laughs.

Zero Year/Capullo Riddler:

- Oh my God fucking FINALLY

- As much as he does enjoy the occasional strip tease…

- Having you already naked makes it a gazillion times easier to get to the main event.

- I imagine this Ed only sleeps in his boxers (briefs)...(and question mark socks)

- So when he sees you naked he's very quick to discard his underwear.

- If you weren't trying to have sex by sleeping nude then…good luck trying to convince him otherwise.

- Or trying to get his hands off of you…like at all.

- But come on, were you really expecting anything less?

Telltale Riddler:

- Quirks an eyebrow.

- He's not sure if he's amused, confused, or annoyed.

- And you can't quite tell either at first.

- Of course not one to give in to your antics..

- He asks you plainly what you're doing and what you were expecting out of this “surprise”

- You shrug, maybe you wanted to catch him off guard, maybe you've been getting too hot cause he won't let you turn the ac on (cause if it's hitting anything below 80°F he claims to be freezing)

- Ed will either call your bluff and actually get into bed with you and not give you any attention…you will have to work for that.

- Or he'll tell you to put some clothes on or he won't share a bed with you.

- OR if you catch him on a particularly trying night he may just pounce immediately.

Young Justice Riddler:

- *blue screen of death*

- *dial up internet sounds*

- Most likely to genuinely have his nose slowly bleed.

- He's confused on what to do or how to respond.

- Like not that he doesn't…err…appreciate you letting him see you but…why?

- Also like Gotham Riddler and wonders if maybe you're overheating or not feeling well.

- When you tell him you just wanted to tease him, he's practically melting.

- Oh well, yeah you…you did very successfully.

- You'll likely have to drag him to bed with you and proceed to take off his clothes for him so he can join you properly.

#ri writes #arkhamverse riddler x reader #dano riddler x reader #reevesverse riddler x reader #gotham riddler x reader #btas riddler x reader #batman the animated series riddler x reader #zero year riddler x reader #capullo riddler x reader #telltale riddler x reader #yj riddler x reader #young justice riddler x reader

[echo-goes-mmm]

Silas and Wren 2.0 #1

Masterpost

Next

Warnings: implied past non-con, blood

Silas strolled through the markets. He didn’t venture out into human areas often, except to hunt, and these streets were largely unfamiliar to him.

The market was flooded with smells and scents foreign to him. There was all sorts of human food stalls, and some of them intrigued him. But there was no point in wasting money on things he could only taste and would make him nauseous later. Besides, that wasn’t what he was here for.

Silas went deeper into the crowds, breathing in deep. The scent of human despair grew strong with every step, and at the end of the trail would be his goal.

Vampires did not keep slaves. It was a point of pride that they hunted every night; a valued skill to be able to rule the streets and feed a nest without a single death.

But Silas lived by himself, and in the shadow of a much bigger nest of vampires, ever since his father had exiled him.

His territory was tiny, as to not offend their generosity, and he was tired of being so utterly alone. A companion that could talk and think would be welcome; almost like he had a home den again.

Regular meals would also be nice. A single human could supply him easily without putting him in the sights of the ruling nest.

And he’d be rescuing the human from slavery, treating them well like their masters didn’t. Surely that would be a handsome enough reward for their blood. Merciful, even.

Three birds, one stone.

He pinpointed the slavehouse by scent before he saw it. Despair and dread filtered towards him, as strong as any rancid perfume. It was a disturbing smell, one that made his stomach flip with anxiety.

The building was large, and sounded busy. Chatter and the sound of iron against stone reached his ears. 

A salesperson met him at the door, smiling at first, and then his face fell when he saw Silas’s eyes.

No human had slit pupils.

“Hello, sir! What can I help you with today?” Silas smiled at him, as was polite, and the salesman shifted uncomfortably.

“I’m looking for a companion,” he said quietly, trying to make up for frightening him.

“Certainly, any gender preferences?” Silas hadn’t thought of that. In all his research about caring for a human, he didn’t consider gender. Maybe he’d relate more to a man?

“A man, please.”

“Right this way, sir.” The salesman led him through the warehouse, passing by rows of chained slaves. They seemed organized by category of work, then sex. Interesting.

“Forgive me,” said the man, “but I wasn’t aware vampires had slaves. I don’t mean to imply anything untoward of course.”

“We don’t.”

“I see. Well, here is our lovely collection of bedfellows. I’m sure one will be to your taste- er, preference.” 

Silas’s stomach turned icy. He hadn’t meant sexual companionship. He scanned the row of slaves, all of them chained to the floor by the ankle. They looked miserable. The smell of fear was at its peak here in this awful section.

Now that he thought about it, maybe this was for the best. One less person stuck in sexual slavery. 

Now who would he buy?

Slowly, he made his way down the line of men. They all had different appearances, clearly meant to “appeal” to different people. But it didn’t matter how they looked, Silas was interested in the scent of their blood. It was only fair, he couldn’t buy all of them. 

Even if he still had access to his father’s money, he couldn’t afford it.

___________________

This buyer looked different. Strange. He couldn’t place it until he saw the flash of the man’s fangs. A vampire. 

He’d never heard of a vampire owning anybody. It was usually catch-and-release, right?

The vampire wasn’t looking at them quite like a regular buyer. It was a good moment before he realized the vampire was smelling them.

He shuddered, and the vampire’s gaze turned on him.

___________________

None of them smelled particularly appealing, until he came to the end of the row. This one was small and looked tired. 

Poor thing.

But he smelled delightful, and Silas was interested. However, there was only one way to be sure he tasted as good as he smelled.

He bent down and murmured to the slave. “Just relax. This won’t hurt, I promise.”

The slave looked up at him, his honey-brown eyes wide.

“Would you mind if I took a sample?” The salesperson looked nervous at the request. “Just a taste,” he reassured him. “Not even an ounce.”

The salesman nodded, too terrified to refuse.

___________________

Oh god. The vampire was going to drink from him. 

Please don’t let it hurt. Please, god. 

The vampire cupped his cheek and gently but firmly tilted his head to expose his neck. He screwed his eyes shut.

“Relax,” said the vampire, and he tried his best to obey him. The vampire kissed his neck, a mere brush of his soft lips, and he felt a strange tingling sensation on the little patch of skin. Venom, probably.

He felt the vampire’s cool breath, and then a slight scrape of what was surely the tips of his fangs.

But instead of a stabbing pain, he only felt a mild pressure. A slight tug and some trickling warmth told him he had, in fact, been bitten. 

He gasped as the blood left him, his heart pounding as the vampire swallowed it down.

The vampire pulled away after a moment, licking his lips, and he tried not to flinch at the sight of red on the man’s mouth.

___________________

His blood was even better than Silas could have guessed. Deep and rich, with a hint of sweetness. Utterly delicious.

And if this was how good he was mistreated, how amazing would he be healthy?

He wiped away the excess drops from the slave’s neck, licking them off his thumb. He stood.

“I’ll take this one.”

taglist: @just-a-whumping-racoon-with-wifi @secretwhumplair @freefallingup13 @mylovelyme @whumpzone @paintedpigeon1 @haro-whumps @whumpthisway @fanastyfinder @extemporary-whump @susiequaz12 @keepingwhumpwiththekardashians @the-cyrulik @morning-star-whump @writereleaserepeat @annablogsposts @tobiaslut

#first chapter of 2.0! #woohoo! #if you dont want to be tagged let me know #my writing #whump #slavery whump #silas and wren #vampire whump

[nonasemporium]

John and Colorism

John is Māori. He is a man of color, and he is coming from a society where he was racialized. Specifically, at least as a general consensus, his "faceclaim" in a sense is Taika Waititi.

Anyway, without getting into every facet of how I think the series and fandom engages with and addresses men of color, because that scope starts getting out of this specific topic and into a different one, I want to state that I think the relationship John has to both Alecto and to G1deon actually further represents themes of colorism.

John makes himself God. He makes himself god and to him that becomes some strange performance of western civilization roman empire 2.0 space imperialism planet consumption speedrun mixed w New Catholocism or whatever, but where there's a PERFORMANCE of equality where there actually isn't. Just like I argue John not ONLY makes new classes with necromancers and cavaliers (I'm not even getting into everything else with this), but ALSO he did not in fact shatter gender oppression, he just shifted it and patted himself on the ass for it.

YES it is queernormative and as a queer man himself, it makes sense this would be important to him, just like it makes sense for it to be important to him that race manifest very differently (go pretty unacknowledged really*) across his New Roman Empire in Space. But he has his own limits and biases and I would argue both colorism and misogyny are present for him.

He chose to make Alecto the way he did. And he had all of his own reasons for it, but surely it can also be noted how linked those reasons can be to both colorism and misogyny as well. I know he made her a specific barbie that had specific history to him, but does this barbie and his choice in her also highlight his priorities, just as blatantly as his choice of empire?

I need Alecto to come out so I can finalize some of these concepts, but it is still colorism for a man of color, especially one wounded by rejection (as we see in Nona) to see power in dominating a white woman. To see a SUBVERSION in the act of it. I think John sees a lot of things as subversion without seriously considering the levels he's actually engaging in. I think John is shallow.

Which brings me also to G1deon and Pyrrha. I think John had some concepts around their dynamics, their relationship, in their interactions that was in these same lines. I think John saw G1deon a specific way, I think he passively compared himself (including how he discusses it in Nona, again), I think the way he engaged with G1deon did not show solidarity or equality (G1deon was also an engineer!) but showed presumed superiority on John's end. Also he made G1deon how he did before he crafted his 10,000 year old weird empire. If I could put it into words more eloquently, I would, but I feel like John saw triumph in G1deon being Pyrrha's necromancer and I also think he then delegated him to "attack dog" for himself (as we see in Harrow the Ninth especially!!!)

I genuinely think 100% that regardless of if G1deon is racialized as black (I think he is personally), he is meant to be darker and racialized more than John was. And I think John subconsciously compares that! I think it is instead further evidence towards a narrative on colorism, including the way he's separate from Mercymorn and Augustine through HtN.

This is without getting into Pyrrha as a cop.

*I actually don't know if I should say "unacknowledged" here, because the cavs being almost always darker than their necromancers seems really notable.

#colorism in tlt #discussion on colorism #g1deon #gideon the first #john gaius #I have already said all of this but I wanted this one to be specifically focused on this segment #I never went back and got into Pyrrha as a cop but I just don't have the energy currently

[oliveroctavius]

Thoughts on Lily Hollister?

Oh man, I've been thinking about her a lot recently. She's from a period of ASM that I do not always like or understand but she fascinates me as a character.

I remember my first impression of her and Carlie being a cynical "Okay, MJ and Gwen 2.0". I still think she was introduced as part of a "back to basics" push to assemble a neo-CBG, but I have no hard feelings there. Parallel civilian drama is always a plus in a Spidey comic and they are quite cute.

But—as a big HarryMJ fan—this isn't really a rehash. (And not just because Harry is now also meant to be a ditzy glamorous party guy.) MJ was just a teenager dicking around while Lily's non-party goals are political and focused. Note that this "love triangle" kicks off when she realizes Peter is an insider at a paper that opposes her dad. I wasn't reading the letters, but—surely someone guessed Menace's identity the moment "he" turned out to be backing Hollister, right?

She's definitely pulling Harry's strings on the politics side, but isn't emotionally avoidant and spends a lot of private time with him. (If we believe her later, worry about his well-being triggered her origin story.) It seems fair to say she appreciates familial devotion.

ASM #586 is my favorite flavor of Spidey Reveal. The villain is someone we knew and almost trusted, and when we look back the seeds of motivation are there, paralleling our protagonist for dramatic tension! Your dad whose reputation you're curating loves your roommate more than you, you say? He always wanted a son, you say?

There's a deliciously Lady Macbeth flavor to this whole speech.

That which hath made them drunk hath made me bold. What hath quenched them hath given me fire. My hands are of your color, but I shame To wear a heart so white.

Come, you spirits That tend on mortal thoughts, unsex me here And fill me from the crown to the toe top-full Of direst cruelty!

"Okay, you won't be jealous?" she asks seemingly genuinely, in a voice so deep and a body so muscular that everyone has he/him-ed it up until now. The ongoing goblin theme of violence = power = masculinity is blinking neon here. Obvious jokes about Harry's taste in women aside: what kind of philosophy does a woman have to have to be attracted to what the Osborns represent, thinking she's special enough to not be chewed up and spit out?

And she does say she still loves him! You could read that as a manipulative lie, but to me it's more interesting if she does like Harry in her condescending way.

After all, she seems to love her dad similarly, going behind his back to "support" him in ways he'd never want.

It's too bad that this super-intense characterization of Lily is mostly only retrospective. ASM #588 and the jig is up.

Hie thee hither, That I may pour my spirits in thine ear And chastise with the valor of my tongue All that impedes thee from the golden round, Which fate and metaphysical aid doth seem To have thee crowned withal.

It's very possible that the gender element is writers being weird about a black woman as a love interest. (I have a whole thesis on how Black side characters are compared/contrasted to the Osborns somewhere.) But I believe that just a little weirdness can add flavor. It seems significant that Menace, as Lily's fantasy of power denied to her, reads as a nonblack male, as though she hopes that becoming an Osborn will grant her whiteness, too...

Unfortunately, I don't think anything has lived up to that reveal. It kind of feels like nothing has even tried.

[sighs extremely deeply] American Son. Throwing out her whole villain speech to have her bear a super-soldier goblin son for Norman to use as the next Real Osborn.

Macbeth once says to Lady Macbeth:

Bring forth men-children only, For thy undaunted mettle should compose Nothing but males.

But that's right after Lady Macbeth says she'd murder her own baby with her bare hands if it was personally politically advantageous. Why is Lily "if you want something done right, steal your man's role and do it yourself" Hollister now an obedient heir-producing accessory? And that to a guy she beat the crap out of in ASM #571 for being a waste of rich white dude advantages?

We have gone all the way to the other side of Weird. Where did her jealousy and personal ambition and all the weight behind it go? Where's her guilt for ruining her relationship with her father for good? Why is she calling Norman "babe"?

Origin Of The Species (ASM #642-6) makes some attempt to reconnect to the original character threads with the whole friend group banding together to deal with the fallout of Lily's decisions.

But she still feels mostly like a plot device, and her guilt is more wet blanket than "out, damned spot" levels of satisfying. (She jumped to murder to bolster the name of someone who would never have wanted that! Are we ever going to come back to that part!)

Protecting her child from Norman should redefine her allegiances, but she just... got dragged back to bit-part appearances as an accessory to whichever goblin is the biggest deal at the moment. And got memory wiped for a while and became a black cat ripoff.

I feel like this wouldn't have fallen so flat if Bill Hollister hadn't vanished right after her reveal. Did he ever know about his grandson? A severely underrated element of the classic CBG is how many of their parents/mentors knew each other independently of the kids. The larger web of political + financial + circumstantial connections meant that interpersonal family shockwaves stuck around after the first arc, doubled back, mirrored each other in interesting ways. These should've! This should've.

God this post got long. TLDR crazy first arc that nothing else has even remotely lived up to in my mind yet; it would have to follow up on her bonkers family relationships and deeply jealous personal philosophy (or whatever's left of it).

#lily hollister #harry osborn #comics #axis hobgoblin was fun! but lily :( #I support women's wrongs etc etc #long post #thank you for the ask I have been thinking about this a lot

[markantonys]

Conversation on Twitter on how book Moiraine and Rand's antagonism and distrust despite needing each other is what keeps them from just being Gandalf and Frodo 2.0 and because the show made Moiraine the viewpoint character in s1 they just made Rand and Moiraine's relationship like Gandalf and Frodo's but like... They are antagonistic towards each other in s1. In s2 they argue too. And s3 it very likely could take a nose dive again. I do think the show toned down the antagonism a bit but the main difference is that I think show Rand respects her but I don't think he trusts her

has anyone in the world ever watched wotshow and thought to themselves "wow, moiraine and rand remind me so much of gandalf and frodo"????? in the early episodes of s1 MAYBE (in the exact same way that somebody reading EOTW might think so) but by the end of s2 the whole vibe of the characters & of the dynamic as well as the things moiraine is mentoring rand on and the goals they're trying to accomplish, all of that is so vastly different from gandalf and frodo - in large part BECAUSE they made moiraine a viewpoint character and fleshed her out as more than just the mysterious wizard mentor figure. and even the simple fact of the mentor being a woman (and a gay woman at that) and the mentee being a man is enough of a twist on standard same-gender mentor-mentee fantasy dynamics that you honestly barely even need to change anything else to make it feel fresh (tho ofc the books & show do change plenty of other stuff as well). i've seen a number of show-onlys list "wise wizard mentor being a woman instead of a man" as an initial unique selling point that got them to tune into the show, so clearly they aren't feeling that this mentorship dynamic is trite and tired and same-y.

ostensibly, an argument like this is concerned about show-onlys; readers already know what rand & moiraine's dynamic is like, so if a reader is arguing that the show made it too similar to gandalf & frodo, that means their concern, ostensibly, is that someone who does NOT already know anything about the dynamic wouldn't find it engaging. of course, this subset of readers doesn't actually give a shit about show-onlys' opinions or about the show catering to them and being accessible and enjoyable to them, but ostensibly, this take is worried about the dynamic being able to engage viewers who don't have any book context or knowledge and know only what the show has shown them.

in which case, i'm gonna need readers to actually bother talking to show-onlys and finding out what they think about stuff before making arguments like this, because i highly doubt any show-only is out there thinking that moiraine & rand's dynamic is boring because it's too similar to gandalf & frodo. genuinely, so many bad reader show-takes would be solved if they actually engaged with show-onlys (and show-onlys of a broader spectrum than just "wlw twitter who would jump in a lake if moiraine told them to") and took their input as indicative of how the show is doing at portraying xyz, because so many of the things they complain about the show not conveying properly are things that do, in fact, come across perfectly well to show-onlys. but this take feels less like "i'm genuinely concerned that the moiraine-rand dynamic in the show is not engaging to those who have no prior knowledge of what their dynamic is like" and more like "i've been mad about moiraine being bumped up to primary character level for 3 years and am making up new reasons to explain why it's bad because everybody else has stopped listening to me shouting about the original reasons"

#anonymous #answered #wot book spoilers

[lexicals]

System collapse notes made as I read:

(Spoilers, obvs, mostly out of context)

Amazing opening page as usual. This feels like coming home I'm so happy

Side note, "one of you" - like, is this being delivered to an actual audience, or does mb just like to pretend it is? I know it's just an in-universe excuse for the conceit but either option is so good

ART canon tax fraud?? ART canon embezzlement???

ART @ BE ship: "people die in car crashes all the time. I just thought that was interesting :)"

The note about iris having grown up alongside ART is so funny. And the note about her being ART's ratthi is so sweet from both sides of that comparison

I adore Three so much. The fucking baby deer comparison killed me this poor construct

I could be misremembering but it feels like secunit's narration has more colloquialisms than before, which is fun if I'm right

Love than mb and mensah have the exact same reaction to the extra settlement lmao. Handshake meme

ARGUCUSSION

SECUNIT YOUR BOUNDARIES. YOUR NEEDS. PLEASE STOP TELLING PEOPLE YOU'RE FINE

"Fun stuff like space battles and rescuing people and space monsters and throwing asteroids at planets" this bot loves its cheesy tv so much I'm gonna cry

WHY DO YOU KEEP REDACTING THINGS SECUNIT PLS THIS IS STRESSFUL. I can't tell if this is it editing out trauma discussion or something else

Mb casually using ART as a dictionary lmao

Oh god is it hurting over 2.0 specifically. Oh man of course it is. God this poor bot I'm so 😭

Mb and ART working as a team so fluidly.... best friends......

Ratthi can tell secunit is busy thinking/working just by glancing at it.... FRIENDS.....

"SENTIENCE SUCKS" LMAO. YEAH OKAY WE'VE ALL FELT THAT

MB JUST HAS THE VIDEO FILE OF RATTHI ALMOST GETTING EATEN BY A WORM ON HAND. AMAZING

Mb and pin-lee bonding over watching scifi car crash videos. Incredible

SECUNIT THE SELF-DESTRUCTIVE TENDENCIES. LITERALLY TRYING TO JUMP OUT OF A PLANE WITHOUT A PARACHUTE. PLEASE

I'm gonna cry pls mb stop beating yourself up for being traumatised. This is exactly what you were giving mensah shit about!!!!!

"It was always my job to get hurt" I Am Going To Fucking Cry

CITING ITS SOURCE ON THE PRE CR HISTORY LESSON LMAO

God I feel like this poor bot spent six books building up its confidence and it's all just been shattered after the thing with 2.0. Like it's so palpable in the narration that it thinks it's broken in some way and is forcing itself to carry on regardless but with no regard for its own survival, which has always been of pretty high priority for it even in ASR!! It's let itself get beaten up in the other books but it's never been reckless like this. Mb please stop punishing yourself.....

Ohh tarik and mb shared corpo trauma..... can we talk about that maybe

Ratthi correcting iris about the ex-secunit thing.... ouuououugghghh

"Under normal circumstances that would be kind of hilarious" mb honey as a reader. That IS hilarious

Mb "so is this guy your..... ex-security..... not that I'm feeling jealous or insecure rn....."

HEY GUYS YOU EVER HAVE A PTSD FLASHBACK SO BAD YOU PASS OUT. GUYS

HEY GUYS HAVE YOU EVER HAD YOUR BRAIN-CRASHING PTSD FLASHBACK ANALYSED IN DETAIL BY A BUNCH OF PEOPLE YOU WANT TO RESPECT YOU

Mb once again having the worst time of its life but being offered a media archive by a friendly bot: oh fuck yes hello there

Ooooh pre-corpo media no less......

THE ART THERAPY-SPEAK..... "that’s for humans" "this affects the part of you that is human" I'm going to yell and yell and yell

"No, it doesn't read my mind, it just knows me really well" 🥺

I feel like MW has gotten more up to date on current gender/pronoun usage since the earlier books which is nice to see. We've had neopronouns before but having pronouns attached to feed/character intros is new and appreciated

Mb: "aw fuck am I being tall and intimidating again"

Local secunit physically repelled by power phrase "sexual discussion" like a fucking skyrim shout

VISUAL EQUIVALENT OF A WET BLANKET..... SECUNIT......

OHH...... OHHHHH!!!!! OHH MY GOD THE. IS THIS THE. WHEN I TALKED ABOUT THE CONCEIT EARLIER.........

Oh okay no BUT MURDERBOT NEW CREATIVE DIRECTOR POSITION BABEY!!!!!

And ratthi is so supportive. God I'm so. AAAAUGH

Just patch out the anxiety lmao. New mental illness fix dropped please restart your OS to apply

Telling your bestie to fuck off IS a kind of love language and I'm glad that ART appreciates it 😌

LITERALLY "(INTERNAL SCREAMING)". LMAO

Mb literally in a life or death situ rn: I could just burn part of this person's brain out to save us..... that seems mean though :/

"I lack a sense of proportional response" LMAO ART. At least it's self-aware

"I didn't come here to make friends" says the secunit who literally cannot go anywhere without forming some kind of allyship with someone

The delayed-hack though, that's fun. Wonder whether this file is gonna slowly make its way from CR secunit to CR secunit as mb gradually becomes some kind of mythic figure, lmao

"Be safe" 🥺

FINAL GIRL IS OUT. FINAL DRONE IS IN

ART: "Oooh you guys care about me ^^ lol"

LMAO ART YOUNGER SIBLING BEHAVIOUR

ALSO YES SET THREE UP WITH THE OTHER CRAZY SMART AI THEY CAN ALL GET A SECUNIT BESTIE!!!!

Murderbot trauma acknowledgement 😌 You go working through your feelings mb you're doing so well ily

WHERE ARE WE GOING NEXXXTTTT THAT IS INDEED THE QUESTION!!!

Summary thoughts: this was really good and I like that MW has taken the time to address the NE fallout before moving on to whatever is coming next, I'm mostly just excited for that whatever-comes-next now. I didn't expect this story to still be focused on the same planet, but it's cool that it was! And now we're moving on with more machine intelligences and rogue secunits in play!! And they mentioned the comfortunit from artificial condition so hopefully that'll come back into play soon as well! I feel like something is building up wrt construct rights in the setting and I'm very excited to see that, but in the meantime I loved getting this familiar romp through MB having a very bad day and working through its emotions while also trying not to die. And it was fun having the twist on the usual formula with things being so isolated and it having to handle everything while being off its game, it felt a lot more tense than some of the other entries just by virtue of the fact that MB's narration was so much less confident than usual, and it made it really nice to hear the fire come back to its voice once we hit that point in the story. 11/10 as usual I love this bot so goddamn much

#wastepaper basket #I think I had a tag for murderbot liveblogging at one point but idr what it was lmao #Just be advised there's spoilers below the cut I guess! #But my spoiler-free review is thst it's amazing as usual and I love this bot so so so so so much #Oh wait I remember the tag #murderbot lb #I think some of these got eaten when I saved the draft at some point or else they'd be even longer lmao.....

[thottybrucewayne]

The "lesbians liking men" shit is coming up again. and I am...very, very tired. Like, tbh, unless you are a multigender lesbian yourself, ion wanna hear that shit coming out your mouth. Because nonlesbians outside of our spaces who don't know jack nor shit about the inner workings of our community will just start saying shit that is very dangerous for us if it ever falls on cishet ears! I know lesbians who are in relationships with men or have sex with men. Some of them went to my church. Some of them are sex workers. Alot of them have a family that would literally kill them if they came out.

I myself used to use sex with cishet men as a form of self-harm to force myself to be "normal." Does that make me a lesbian who secretly loves men, too? Yes, a lesbian can have sex or a relationship with a man. You got me. But, there's a myriad of reasons why that is, and out of the billions there are, liking men most likely is not one of them.

Yall up here saying, "Lesbians fuck men all the time! Lesbians love dating and having sex with men; that's a known fact!" But, a lot of the lesbians I know who get involved with men are either doing it to punish themselves for being a lesbian in the first place, or they're deep in the closet because they don't have a choice. Also, a lot of yall running around here saying, "Lesbians like men! I know a lesbian who loves men!" But you really mean, "I know a lesbian who stayed with their partner after he realized he's a trans man." or "I know a lesbian who hooks up with trans men and thinks of them as butch 2.0" Neither of these "prove that lesbians secretly love men." Btw. One is an instance of two people continuing the relationship they had while navigating orientation and gender on their own terms. And the other is just a predatory transphobe and an example of antitransmasculinity in lesbian spaces. So again, I don't believe that either of these instances can be a firm example of Lesbians "liking" men. But that doesn't really matter because all y'all really want to do is tell lesbians we're wrong for being lesbians. You want to call lesbian a "restrictive and archaic label that should be done away with and replaced with sapphic" or whatever. It's crazy watching yall spout lesbophobic rhetoric day in and day out that is indistinguishable from the shit my family says to me every time they see me. Yall and my aunt who keeps telling me that I can still marry a man and have babies even though I'm a lesbian, are the exact same in my eyes. Yall don't care about how we feel when we're forced into saying that we don't like men all day, every day, just for someone to pull out, "Well, I know a lesbian who got married to a man and had 7 kids with him" as a gotcha... 9 times out of 10, if a lesbian is with a man, esp a cis man, it's not because she loves or even likes him. But that's too nuanced for you, so you point to the lesbian locked in a loveless marriage or comphet hell relationship or being actively predatory towards trans men or doing survival sex work and say, "So lesbians love men actually?" like, is that not crazy????

#thotty speaks #thotty rants #im so upset over this because it reminds me that people don't respect me or who I am #this and the 'butch lesbians are misogynistic' shit is getting on my nerves just shut the fuck up!

[rayisalive]

Im gonna bully everyone just for the fact i can, LOVINGLY! /hj

Im abt to make a buncha simps angry /j

**I DO MEAN THIS ALL AS A JOKE-**

Riddle: yknow i would say “hows the ground” but im shorter than him sooooo- ngl him in his dorm uniform be looking like a semi-used tampon-nhe could commit a murder though and u cant see the blood bc of the red though lol. Hes got the boots, the cape, why bot just become a superhero or add some sparkles and become a drag queen idfk

Tr*y: ew. Broccoli head deku ripoff walmart dude with nike ass eyebrows, how ur dad gonna look better than u??? Evil smirk of death, id rather kiss gargamel

Cater: hes addicted to magicam and thats a problem he gonna become a clout chaser instagram bitch (/j) carrot face, should i feed him to judy hopps???

Ace: ✨ nope ✨

Deuce: i dont wanna- uhhhh- dummy but he has an excuse and i respect that- honestly how do i bully him- cant make fun of the chicken egg thing bc i learned it with him-

Leona: lazy? Ew. Furry? Double ew. Smug bitch? Triple ew. Works ruggie to the brim? Quadruple ew. Those shoes? Quintuple ew. That hair? Sextuple ew. Ur bed? Love it but ew probably sweat on it and he too lazy to clean it and u dont wanna make ruggie do it so u can lay on tbe bed nasty bitch.

Ruggie: furry whos addicted to donuts, and probably robbing people. He should be on dr. phil, “Hyena addicted to robbing people” or a dhar mann show “hyena loves robbing people, lives to regret it”

Jack: this is him mid-transformation

Smh /j

Azul: ur a monsterfucker if hes ur fave, arent ya?(unless ur asexual then same hh-) need more corruption, need more businessman, need more capitalism. Also need more purple hair dye for yall to be calling his hair purple in fanfics its moreso periwinkle, specifically periwinkle silver(/j no need to be specific idrc lol)

Jade: his mushrooms taste bad, 2/10 for easy acess aka breaking his door down and forcibly taking them (/j) fr though who cut u and ur brothers hair like what????

Floyd: eh- same as jade tbh except instead of mushrooms im taking ur snacks

Also please clean ur room before shit grows and well- yeah- pretty self-explanatory, ur overtaken by it and become a mindless monster with one job, kill jade /j

Kalim: too naive, eat snake in front of jamil (/j) he reminds me of emma from tpn

Jamil: dance dance?? Dont have an opinion oh him so snake hair, UMA FROM DESCENDANTS- /j

Vil: done and done

Epel: bbygirl five words only, please dont gender dance moves-

Rook: french dora. Stalker. Berries and cream man haircut.

Idia: and i quote myself, “THE SHUT IN INTROVERT SMELLY GOOFY NERDY GEEKY VIDEO GAME OBSESSED ANIME LOVER BLUE HAIRED AZULAS BLUE FIRE IDIA SHROUD?”

Ortho: baymax 2.0 except not better- u want me to bully a kid whos not a kid????

Malleus: horny boy (this stems from a joke abt his dragon horns for the love of the sevens please no more sex jokes-) how much do u think he has to pay in damages for them breaking dorways as he walks??

Lilia: peepaw. Grampy. Old. Boomer. Mega boomer. Scene kid wannabe. Emo girl wannabe. Emo boy wannabe.

Silver: slep

Sebek: loud, uptight, gReEn, hair??? Ugly, very ugly.

You thought i was gonna leave out the staff and rsa? No.

Crowley: lazy ass bitch who wont do his own work im not afraid to take him to the nearest kfc to be cooked chicken

Trein: old.

Crewel: crewel sounds like cool. What not cool? His pet kink (/j)

Vargas: no- just- no-

Neige: hair needs some fixing- please-

Che’nya: shes better. She slays. She queen. Ur nothing compared to her (/j) her mom cool too

#twisted wonderland #riddle rosehearts #ace trappola #deuce spade #trey clover #cater diamond #leona kingscholar #ruggie bucchi #jack howl #azul ashengrotto #jade leech #floyd leech #kalim al asim #jamil viper #vil schoenheit #epel felmier #rook hunt #idia shroud #ortho shroud #malleus draconia #lilia vanrouge #sebek zigvolt #silver twst #dire crowley #divus crewel #ashton vargas #neige leblanche #che’nya

[stargazeraldroth]

Dark Choco Cookie Headcanons

 ... But they’re all very specific to how I interpret his character and includes self-projection, because I am due for a reality check and God has not been vibing with my rancid maladaptive daydreaming.

(PS: I won’t be doing any headcanons regarding the Strawberry Jam Sword because all of my headcanons are tied to one of my OCs, so yeah)

TW (CW?) for mentions of suicidal ideation and eating disorders (there’s nothing too in-depth or detailed, but they do get mentioned). If there’s anything I missed you can add them in the tags

- He’s demiromantic asexual

- The “Young Prince” costume/stage of his character represents his teenage years. I’m thinking from about... maybe 14-18? When do people in South Korea get officially recognized as adults? (since, y’know, Dark Cacao Kingdom is based on Korea)

- He was an absolute menace during his teenage years. I’m talking an absolute GREMLIN. Absolutely feral. If there’s a way to get into trouble, he’s doing it. Dark Cacao Cookie had to get a child leash for his TEENAGER

- This man cannot cook for shit. If any of you play Genshin Impact, think of the Raiden Shogun and how you literally cannot use her to cook, except its worse. You guys know those jokes about people cooking and some unknown substance comes out, but it’s actually alive? THAT’S WHAT HAPPENS. You let this man make ANYTHING, be prepared to deal with the Living Abyss 2.0 because he’s recreating the Licorice Sea in that pot

- With that being said, there’s even a sign in the Black Citadel and COD’s lair that reads “Dark Choco Cookie, NO”. Bro isn’t even allowed to step foot into a kitchen anymore (the Cookies of Darkness learned the hard way)

Poison Mushroom Cookie: Do you remember... the Shroomies incident?

Pomegranate Cookie: We agreed to never speak of the Shroomies incident ever again.

- Similar to how I headcanon Dark Cacao Cookie, Dark Choco Cookie is actually fully resistant/immune to the cold. If anything, it just makes him stronger. On the contrary, he doesn’t do well with hotter temperatures and will literally get sick is exposed to heat for too long

- He is... gender~ (when I picture him in my head, I do not picture a man nor a woman. I picture gender)

- When he was younger, he had a music box that he treasured a lot. It would help him fall asleep as a child and the nostalgic value carried into his teenage years. It’s still in his old bedroom, collecting dust, and playing it will only give a sad, broken version of the once lovely melody

- He knows how to dox (is it spelled dox or doxx) people, but he’s never done it because he doesn’t have a reason to (just you wait Pomegranate Cookie)

- Bro probably has insomnia and an eating disorder, or had them at some point in the past

- He has a weird obsession with lemon-scented cleaning products. If it doesn’t smell like lemons, or at least like some kind of citrus, he’s not using it

- He has/had a habit of running his hand through his hair, playing with his hair, chewing his hair, and just... holding it in his mouth. After his hair got cut short, he would instinctively reach back to grab his hair, only to grab nothing

- He has severe ADHD and autism (if I have to suffer them so does he)

- He has a math-related disability. The numbers just don’t compute, the logic doesn’t work. He can do basic math and that’s it (same as above)

- He plays Skyrim and somehow always ends up as a stealth archer thief

- He watches ASMR compilations to fall asleep and never ends up falling asleep

- He gets the crispy chicken sandwich from McDonald’s

- His favorite sodas are Dr. Pepper and the cherry Pepsi and Coke

- He listens to a combo of Melanie Martinez, Vocaloid, Billie Eilish, Twenty One Pilots, you get the idea

- When he was younger, he was very curious about the Licorice Sea, almost to a concerning degree. There were many times where he would try to sneak away to the shore to get closer to it, in some cases being caught trying to go into the sea. During the COD’s mission, even though he was able to keep himself from wandering off, they noticed how he seemed to absentmindedly stare into the horizon of the ocean. To this day, no one knows why he was kept in such a trance by the cursed waters

- When he was younger, like teenage years, he struggled with intense pyromaniac tendencies. He could not be left alone with matches, lighters, explosives, anything

- While he’s not actively suicidal, he is passively suicidal

- He has maladaptive daydreaming (bro imagine how boring and empty his childhood was)

#cookie run #cookie run kingdom #dark choco cookie #dark choco cookie headcanons #dark choco cookie headcanon #cookie run headcanons #cookie run kingdom headcanons #this is such a weird list #he is my skrunkly #my little blorbo #try and guess which ones are self-projection #this is a mix of angst funny stuff and random crap

[stardust-selfships]

Welcome to my SELF SHIPPING blog!

I'm mod 🏁 and I write imagines and self shipping stuff! Please read this entire post to know what's up, and what I can and cannot do!

This blog is space, arcade, and nostalgia themed!

DNI / Don'ts:

Pretty basic, the normal DNI criteria

No pr*shipping please

Do not ask for ships of two characters from the same source, this blog is for self shipping/self inserts only!

No NSFT, I am still a minor (17)! This may update in the future if I feel comfortable doing it

Please ask if I write for a character that isn't on the list, do not assume I will write for them

Do's:

Imagines, small write ups/fan fictions, x readers

AFAB/AMAB readers (Please specify!)

All body types, nationalities, disabilities, etc. Everyone is welcome here!

Slightly suggestive imagines (NOT NSFT, just slight suggestive content)

Interracial/species ships (mobian x human, etc) (you guys are super valid!!!)

Poly ships involving more than one character

Sexuality/gender headcanons

Hurt/comfort, horror, romantic, any love trope (enemies to lovers, etc)

Vent/heavy topic write-ups (like SH comfort head canons and things like that)

FANDOMS:

Sonic the hedgehog

Sonic the hedgehog (all versions!) (This includes movie sonic and ugly sonic as well! Love those guys)

Shadow the hedgehog

Silver the hedgehog

Amy rose

Dr. Eggman (movie, boomverse, games canon)

Scourge (anti sonic or scourge)

Knuckles the echidna

Boom!tails (no NSFT)

Miles "tails" prower (platonic only)

Fleetway super sonic

Toy story

Sheriff Woody pride

Buzz Lightyear (toy version only, sorry!)

Andy Davis (teen/adult only)

Child's play

Chucky/Charles Lee ray (human, doll, or Nica!Chucky)

Tiffany Valentine (human or doll)

Glen/da (doll only, and platonic only!)

Andy Barclay (adult only)

Steven Universe

Steven Universe (teen/young adult Steven ONLY)

Spinel (reset or normal)

Peridot

Pearl (pink, CG pearl)

Pink diamond

White diamond

Rose quartz

Rainbow quartz (1.0/2.0)

Jasper

Lapis lazuli

Invader ZIM

Invader ZIM

GIR (PLATONIC ONLY)

Dib membrane

Professor membrane

(TAK is a huge maybe, idk if I'll write for her or not)

Super mario

Super "jump man" Mario (main games version)

Bowser (main games version)

My little pony

Pinkie pie

Twilight sparkle

Rarity

King sombra

Queen chrysalis

Trixie lulamoon

Sunset shimmer

Starlight glimmer

Rainbow dash

Sonic.exe

Sonic.exe (2011)

Xenophanes

Lord X

Tails doll (platonic)

FATAL ERROR

Needlem0use VHS

Sarah Henderson (human, spirit, or sonic body)

Luther artwright (human (young adult or adult), spirit, or tails body)

Friday night funkin' and alike fandoms

Senpai

Boyfriend

Girlfriend

Pico

Lemon monster

Tankman/captain

Sarvante

Ruv

Selever (no NSFT)

Skid and pump (spacefatcat's adult versions, the kid versions are platonic ONLY!)

Roy (from spooky month, no NSFT)

I will probably add more to the list but yeah!

Have fun!

#»DNI list #»Introductory #toy story x reader #sonic x reader #childs play x reader #sonic.exe x reader #steven Universe x reader #invader zim x reader #selfshipping #self shipping #self shipping community #self shipping positivity #x reader #imagines #imagine

[thebookofm]

Recommended Reading

Here is a list of books, both prose and graphic, that I think are worth checking out. All of these books are speculative fiction (science fiction, fantasy, alternate reality, et cetera), since that’s essentially the only genre I read. Entries followed by a ♥ are my extra-special favorites. The ones marked with an H won at least one Hugo Award. Those marked with a ▽ contain prominent LGBTQ+ characters or issues.

Lighter Science Fiction

Douglas Adams: The Hitchhicker's Guide to the Galaxy and its first two sequels, The Restaurant at the End of the Universe, and Life, the Universe and Everything. The Hitchhiker’s Guide is a landmark work in SF comedy and is a must-read. If you are an audio listener, then I suggest starting with the 1978 BBC radio play, which was the original version of this story. (If you like THHGTTG, then check out Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency and its sequel.) ♥

John Scalzi: Any of his SF, especially the Old Man's War series and the Interdependency series (The Collapsing Empire and its sequels). Scalzi’s work, with few exceptions, is not only very funny, but also includes some good science-fiction-y “big ideas.” If you are a fan of Star Trek, then his novel Redshirts, which won a Hugo, will be of particular interest. Interestingly in some of Scalzi’s recent work, such as Kaiju Preservation Society and the Lock In series, he never revels the gender of the main character. Almost all of Scalzi’s audiobooks are read by Wil Wheaton. Wheaton does a great job, but his voice does tend to make the listener imagine the main character as a man, even when there’s no textual evidence to support that imagining. ♥H

Martha Wells: The Murderbot Diaries (All Systems Red and sequels), winner of the 2021 Hugo Award for best series. Despite the name, this series of five novellas and one novel follows a human-bot hybrid (not a robot) security unit (SecUnit) as it struggles to protect its stupid humans while coping with social anxiety and finding time to watch soap operas. Plus, it doesn’t really murder all that often. The series is very funny, but it is also a surprisingly serious and insightful examination of sentience, autonomy, and living with neuroses. Wells, who identifies as neurodivergent, will write three more Muderbot books, beginning in November 2023, as part of her six-volume deal with Tor. I particularly enjoy Kevin R. Free’s narration of the audiobooks. I’m counting these books for LGBTQ+ representation because Murderbot is nonbinary and asexual, but since it isn’t human (and doesn’t want to be), nonbinary and/or ace readers (whom I assume to be human) may not find themselves reflected in Murderbot’s experience. ♥H▽

Scott Meyer: The Authorities series (The Authorities and Destructive Reasoning), Master of Formalities, and Grand Theft Astro. Meyer’s books are all hilarious, fun adventures. The Authorities books follow a privately funded taskforce created to investigate crimes that the police cannot solve. Megan Sloan is one of my favorite detectives in fiction. Master of Formalities follows a protocol expert in a far-future monarchy. My favorite gag in this book occurs when someone becomes his own uncle. Grand Theft Astro is a heist story with Meyer’s trademark humor. If you enjoy these books, check out his Magic 2.0 series, which is described in the Lighter Fantasy/SF Mashups section. Luke Daniels, who narrates all of Meyer’s audiobooks, does an excellent job with these stories. ♥

Ernest Cline: Ready Player One. This book is great fun, especially for those that remember the ‘80s or enjoy the popular culture of that era. The audiobook is narrated, very appropriately, by nerd icon Wil Wheaton.

Andy Weir: The Martian and Project Hail Mary. The Martian is the basis of the very faithful film adaption (which I also recommend), and it is super-realistic science fiction with a lot of jokes. Project Hail Mary feels much like The Martian (though far more speculative) at first, but a third of the way in, a major plot development shakes up the story for the better. ♥

Dennis E. Taylor: We are Legion (We are Bob) and sequels (the Bobiverse series). This series begins with the dark premise of the protagonist being uploaded into a von Neumann probe and launched into deep space, but it’s actually very funny. Ray Porter does a great job narrating the audiobooks.

More Serious Science Fiction

David Brin: Startide Rising and The Uplift War. In this universe, sentient species modify or “uplift” presentients to help them bridge the gap to sentence, after which the “client” species is indentured to its “patron” for 100,000 years. Humans, once discovered by the Five Galaxies civilization, only escape indenture because they have already uplifted chimpanzees and dolphins, making humans the lowest-ranking and most hated patron species in the known universe. These books have great worldbuilding and aliens that are very well developed in terms of both biology and culture. The other Uplift books are also good, but these two, which each won a Hugo, are my favorites. ♥H

David Brin: Glory Season. This novel is an amazing extrapolation of an agrarian society built on parthenogenesis. The main character is a rare “variant,” a person who wasn’t cloned but was instead conceived sexually via one of the tiny number of men on the planet. She and her twin must find roles in society without the benefit of membership in a clan of genetically identical women occupying an established niche. Plus, there are fun puzzles and Conway’s Game of Life. ♥

Vernor Venge: A Fire Upon the Deep and A Deepness in the Sky. In this universe, the laws of physics vary with the average density in the galactic “neighborhood.” Thus, while the Earth lies at a point where only sublight speeds and human-level intelligence are possible, farther out in the plane of the galaxy and especially off the plane, superluminal speeds and superhuman intelligence can be achieved. Also, on one planet in the “Slow Zone,” there is a race of wolf-like beings who are not individually sentient but who achieve sentience (via ultrasonic communication) in groups of four to six. These books have spectacular worldbuilding, well conceived aliens, and some very compelling science-fictional “big ideas.” Can be read in either order, but publishing order (as listed above) is likely best. Each novel won a Hugo. ♥H

Vernor Venge: Across Realtime. This volume is a compilation of the novels The Peace War and Marooned in Realtime as well as the novella The Ungoverned. These stories revolve around an interesting technology for altering how time passes.

James S. A. Corey: The Expanse series (Leviathan's Wake, eight sequel novels and several shorter works). Fairly hard science fiction based on a politically strained three-way balance of power in a solar system that is confronted with terrifying alien technology. This series is the basis for The Expanse TV/web series, which I also recommend. The Expanse won the 2020 Hugo for best series. ♥H

Ann Leckie: Ancillary Justice and sequels (The Imperial Radch series). A far-future story in which a sentient ship formerly controlling and inhabiting many human bodies is now confined to a single human body (and with its ship self destroyed). These books attracted a lot of attention because the Radchaai language only uses female pronouns, and thus the gender of many of the characters is never revealed, but there's a lot more to this story than that. Ancillary Justice won basically all the awards offered in 2013. Leckie’s novel Provenance and her upcoming Translation State take place in the same universe but follow new characters. ♥H▽

Arkady Martine: A Memory Called Empire and A Desolation Called Peace. A new ambassador (with the old ambassador’s memories shoved into her brain) is appointed to represent a “barbarian” space station to the “civilized” Teixcalaanli Empire, where she becomes embroiled in a succession crisis and meets people with names like Three Seagrass (my favorite character) and Eight Antidote. Eventually, she must also negotiate first contact with sentient aliens. These books are an interesting examination of imperialism and language. Both novels won the Hugo Award. H▽

Becky Chambers: The Wayfarers series (The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet and sequels). This anthology series explores different cultures and locations in a well developed galactic civilization. Wayfarers won the 2019 Hugo Award for best series. H▽

Lighter Fantasy/SF Mashups

Scott Meyer: Off to Be the Wizard and its sequels (the Magic 2.0 series). These books are science fiction disguised as fantasy. An amateur hacker discovers a computer file that can be edited to change the real world. Within 24 hours, everything goes wrong, and he flees from the FBI to medieval England, planning to set himself up as a wizard using his new capabilities. That plan doesn’t go well, either. These books are laugh-out-loud funny and may be of particular interest to computer scientists. The audiobooks’ narrator, Luke Daniels hilariously brings the text to life. ♥

More Serious Fantasy/SF Mashups

Tamsyn Muir: The Locked Tomb series (Gideon the Ninth, Harrow the Ninth, Nona the Ninth, and Alecto the Ninth [not yet published]). Charles Stross described the first novel as “Lesbian necromancers explore a haunted gothic palace in space!” Honestly, I’m not sure whether to put this series under the “Lighter” or “More Serious” heading. There is a lot of humor, especially in the first book, but there is also quite a lot of horror and sadness. The second novel will absolutely gaslight you, forcing you to question your own sanity, but you’ll be glad you trusted Muir before you reach the end of the book. I can’t imagine anyone other than the excellent Moira Quirk narrating these books. ♥▽

John Scalzi: The God Engines. This novella, in which humans use enslaved gods (defeated enemies of their own god) to power their starships, is almost the only Scalzi work without a large dose of humor. It’s very good, though.

Anne McCaffrey: The first six Dragonriders of Pern books. (I've only read the first six.) These are science fiction disguised as fantasy and are classics in the genre. Far in the future, on an agrarian planet that has forgotten its history, humans ride sentient, telepathic dragons into battle against deadly spores that fall from the sky when another planet in an extremely eccentric orbit comes close.

Lighter Fantasy

Nicholas Eames: The Band series (Kings of the Wyld, Bloody Rose, and Outlaw Empire [not yet published]). Mercenary bands are the rock stars of the fantasy world in which these novels take place, attracting rabid fans and touring huge arenas. These books certainly have strong elements of humor, much of which is focused on the central conceit, but there is also a lot of action and pathos to be had. Both published books a great fun to read, and I’m looking forward to reading the third.

Tamsyn Muir: Princess Floralinda and the Forty Flight Tower. This novella subverts fairytale tropes and comments on gender roles while delivering an outsized dose of Muir’s trademark dry humor. Moira Quirk is hilarious as the audiobook narrator. I’m counting this book for LGBTQ+ because one of the characters doesn’t identify with any gender and because the story examines gender roles. ♥▽

Travis Baldree: Legends and Lattes. A female orc warrior retires from adventuring to open a coffee shop. "What's coffee?" everyone asks. This novel is well crafted, full of interesting characters, and very cute. My friend @novelconcepts aptly described it as “a beautiful warm hug of a book.” There's even a tiny touch of WLW romance, if you’re into that. Baldree is writing a prequel. ▽

More Serious Fantasy

Brandon Sanderson: All of the series and standalone books that are set in the Cosmere (rather than on some alternate Earth). Mistborn: The Final Empire is probably a good place to start. The Stormlight Archive (The Way of Kings and sequels) is my favorite series of Sanderson’s, but each of those books is >1300 pages or >45 hours in audio form, so it may not be the best place to start. Era 2 of the Mistborn series (set 300 years after the Era 1) is probably the most fun. Sanderson also has many books not set in the Cosmere that are more than worth reading. His method of taking a break from writing is to write on a different series, so, every year, he puts out ~400,000 words worth of material (3-4 normal novels or a single Stormlight book). If you listen to the audiobooks of the Stormlight Archive, I recommend getting the hardcopy as well, since the art included really helps bring the world of Roshar to life. ♥

Scott Lynch: The Lies of Locke Lamora and sequels (The Gentleman Bastard series). Great worldbuilding of an original fantasy world with dark humor. Lynch finally completed his first draft of Book 4 (of 7 planned) in May 2019 after a 4-year delay, so I’m hoping it will be available eventually. I’m starting to give up hope, though.

China Miéville: Perdido Street Station. Very rich worldbuilding. Very, very dark. Don’t read this book if you aren’t interested in depressing storylines. Miéville’s other work is just as inventive and, in his word, “weird” as this one.

N. K. Jemison: The Broken Earth trilogy (The Fifth Season and its sequels). These books have an intriguing premise, extensive worldbuilding, and an interesting writing style. These novels won the best-novel Hugo for three consecutive years, which no author had done before. H▽

Alternate Reality (Including Alternate History and Steampunk)

Elizabeth Bear: Karen Memory. This novel follows a lesbian prostitute as she teams up with a lawman in a steampunk version of a Seattle-like city in the Pacific Northwest. I also enjoyed Bear’s space opera series, White Space (Night and Machine). ▽

Cherie Priest: Boneshaker and its sequels (The Clockwork Century series). Steampunk + zombies = fun. This story begins with a plague of zombification erupting out of Seattle, and it finally provides a reason for Steampunks to wear goggles. ♥

Ian Tregillis: The Mechanical and its sequels (The Alchemy Wars series). Alchemy + steampunk robots + a little philosophy.

China Miéville: The City and the City. See the Detective Stories section of this document. ♥

Felix Gilman: The Half-Made World. Steampunk mixed with fantasy. Also, sentient, demon-possessed firearms.

Mary Robinette Kowal; The Lady Astronaut series (The Calculating Stars and sequels). This universe is an extremely hard-science-fiction alternate history in which a catastrophic event dramatically accelerates the space program. The Lady Astronaut of Mars, a short story, is chronologically last but was written first. There’s also a short story called “We Interrupt this Broadcast” that comes chronologically first but isn’t closely connected to the rest. Kowal’s second job is audiobook narrator—she narrates Seanan McGuire’s October Daye series, for example—and she narrates all these books herself. Interestingly, Kowal’s third job is puppeteer, so she’s pretty busy.

Scott Westerfeld: The Leviathan series, as described in the young-adult section of this list. ♥

Detective Stories in Speculative-Fictional Settings

Scott Meyer: The Authorities and Destructive Reasoning. See the Lighter Science Fiction section. ♥

John Scalzi: Lock In and its sequel, Head On. This series of detective stories takes place in a world where a disease has left millions of people “locked into” paralyzed bodies and forced to use remotely operated mecha to interact with the world. Scalzi never reveals the gender of the main character, leaving it up to the reader’s imagination.

John Scalzi: The Dispatcher series. As of a few years ago, if someone is intentionally killed, they stand a 99.9% chance of recovering with their body reset to a few hours earlier, which makes murder more difficult, but not impossible. Dispatchers are licensed to kill—I mean dispatch—people before they can die from injuries or illnesses, thus giving them a second chance. One such service provider gets caught up in illegal dispatches and a series of mysteries.  

Brandon Sanderson: Snapshot. Two detectives are sent into a snapshot, a detailed simulation of an entire city and its millions of inhabitants on a specific day, to investigate a crime.

China Miéville: The City and the City. This book is amazingly thorough exploration of a ridiculous premise: two cities occupying the same space. This novel is probably my favorite of Miéville’s books. ♥

Richard K. Morgan: Altered Carbon. A murder mystery with an SF “big idea” at its core. The basis for a Netflix series that I haven’t seen.

Superheroes and Supervillains in Prose

Brandon Sanderson: Steelheart and sequels (The Reckoners series). This is a young-adult series in which all super-powered people, called Epics, eventually turn evil.

Seanan McGuire: The Velveteen series. This series is McGuire’s funniest work and is available for free here, but I recommend buying the books to support the author. McGuire also has a number of other fantasy series under her own name as well as some SF/horror series under the pen name Mira Grant.

Comics and Graphic Novels

Brian K. Vaughan, Cliff Chiang, and Matt Wilson: Paper Girls. This 30-issue comic follows four newspaper-delivery girls who get swept up in a temporal war on Hell Day, 1988. They travel to the ancient past and the far future, meet their adult selves, and learn a lot about themselves in the process. The comic was adapted into an excellent Amazon Prime series, which is a bit more character-focused than the plot-driven comic. Both comic and show are recommended. ♥▽

Ryan North: The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl. This comic was my favorite ongoing superhero series until its recent ending. Firstly, it’s hilarious. Secondly, since Doreen Green (Squirrel Girl’s alter ego) is a computer-science student, there are a number of gags about coding and math. Thirdly, the heroine usually solves her problem not by beating up the villains, but by empathizing with them, understanding their problems, and helping them find nonviolent solutions. Since the series ended with Issue 50, it’s quite possible to read it all. ♥

N. D. Stevenson: Nimona. This mash-up of fantasy and science fiction is not only filled with humor but also includes a surprising amount of sweetness. ▽

Various authors: Lumberjanes. This young-adult comic series follows a group of cabin-mates at a summer camp for girls—excuse me, “hard-core lady-types”—as they encounter a surprisingly high frequency of supernatural phenomena over one time-dilated summer. This comic wrapped up its run after 75 issues. ▽

Alan Moore: Watchman. There’s a reason many people point to this graphic novel as an exceptional example of the genre. Honestly the way the story is told is more interesting than the story itself, but the storytelling is well worth the price of admission.

Short Stories in Speculative-Fiction Settings

Various authors: Metatropolis and its sequels. This series of anthologies is a near-future look at how cities (and green spaces) might evolve.

John Scalzi: Shadow War of the Night Dragons, Book One: The Dead City: Prologue. Trust me, read this hilarious fantasy parody for free here.

John Scalzi: Miniatures. A collection of very short science-fiction stories.

Young-Adult Speculative Fiction

Brandon Sanderson: The Rithmatist. In an alternate United States (so not in the Cosmere), geometric drawings are used to defend the world against an onslaught of 2D creatures. If you listen to the audiobook, I strongly suggest buying the hardcopy as well, since the drawings included play such as strong role in the story. I also suggest the Reckoners series, listed above, but The Rithmatist is my favorite non-adult story from Sanderson. ♥

Scott Westerfeld: Leviathan, Behemoth, and Goliath. This series takes place in an alternate-history WWI, where one side uses steampunk mecha, and the other relies on genetically engineered animals. There’s a bonus epilogue online, for those how can’t get enough. The hardcopy contains some very nice illustrations. The companion Manual of Aeronautics provides much additional (full-color) artwork, though the character descriptions in the last few pages contain major spoilers. ♥

Mark Lawrence: The Book of the Ancestor trilogy (Red Sister, Grey Sister, and Holy Sister). On a world being buried under ice, an orphan with magical powers joins others like her training to become warrior nuns. ▽

Myke Cole: The Sacred Throne series (The Armored Saint and sequels). In a land ruled by a religious tyrant who claims to have defeated devils from another plane, a teenage girl must fight to protect those she loves when the emperor’s vicious zealots arrive at her tiny village. Plus, there’s a steampunk mecha suit. The age of the protagonist points toward a young-adult audience, but this book has far more violence than is typical of YA novels. ▽

T. Kingfisher: A Wizard’s Guide to Defensive Baking. “T. Kingfisher” is a pseudonym used by Ursula Vernon for young-adult and adult titles. This book follows a very minor wizard whose magic only works on dough. The story is full of humor and heart, and there’s more than a little (bread-based) action as well.

Anne McCaffrey: The Harper Hall Trilogy: Dragonsong, Dragonsinger, and Dragondrums. These books are a subset of McCaffrey’s Dragonriders of Pern series, which is discussed eleshere.

Suzanne Collins: The Hunger Games series. These books are the basis for the kids-killing-kids battle royale film series.

Children’s and Middle-Grade Speculative Fiction

Lemony Snicket: A Series of Unfortunate Events. Very well done, but also very dark. The Netflix series based on the books is also quite good.

Ursula Vernon: Castle Hangnail. This adorable story follows a would-be wicked witch who applies to fill a vacancy at the titular castle.

Brandon Sanderson: The Alcatraz series (beginning with Alcatraz vs. The Evil Librarians). These books take place on an alternate Earth (thus not in the Cosmere) where most of the world is run by a cabal of evil librarians. There’s a ton of fun adventure and silly humor, which my son loved when I read them to him as an 8- to 9-year-old. Be sure to get the later printings with art by Hayley Lazo; her work is great.

Kazu Kibuishi: The Amulet series (beginning with The Stonekeeper). A portal-fantasy graphic novel with beautiful art and an interesting, magical setting.

#unsolicited opinions #bibliophilia #science fiction #fantasy #speculative fiction #alternate reality #alternate history #detective story #mystery #recommendation #books

[txemrn]

Is there a trait Baby Ramsey share with their parents, that makes people say “yeap, that’s you right there”?

Hey, Anon! This was such a cute Ask. Thank you so much for sending it my direction! I'm sure my answer is very similar to what others have shared, but ever since I pictured this baby, he/she has this trait (and you might be able to guess it just from knowing his/her parents. Here's a small little fic. I hope you enjoy! 💜

Pairing: Ethan Ramsey x f!OC (Tatum Erikson)

Synopsis: While celebrating his/her first birthday, a few colleagues make note that Baby Ramsey looks and acts just like Tatum. Well, for the most part.

Word Count: ~1180

Warning/Rating: mature; language; brief mention of possible sexual misconduct

A/N: Some of these characters belong to our friends at Pixelberry; Julian Santiago is an ENT that went to med school with Ethan and Tobias; Bryce is married to Erin Winters (a beautiful OC of @kat-tia801); also, if you are new, I have not released the name or gender of baby Ramsey on purpose--I want it to be revealed in his or her own story. Also, this is not preread! Please forgive my errors!

~🖤~

"Dr. Santiago!"

The tall, broad-shouldered man turns towards the lax voice, chirping his name. And he smiles.

"Ah, Bryce Lahela," he chuckles, giving the young surgeon a firm handshake. "Good to see you, and please, just Julian." The men raise their cups of punch in salutations before they survey the brightly decorated room. “Where’s your wife?”

“Probably with your wife,” Bryce suggests as he continues to nod hello to other people in the room. As if on a cue, a group of women squeal exuberantly from across the room. Bryce winces before offering a crooked smile at the sudden, ear-piercing screams. “Oh yeah–”

“Yep," Julian jovially gives an approving nod, "there they are.” He takes a sip of his drink, but is accidentally bumped into by another party-goer. "God,” he scoots out of their way, “can you believe this place?"

Bryce raises his eyebrows, observing the overly crowded room of joyful smiles. "Who's watching the patients?" He snickers. "I swear at least half of Edenbrook is here."

"No doubt," Julian grins. "The guest list was clearly Tate's doing. If it were up to Ethan, there probably wouldn't even be a party. Hell, he doesn't even tolerate this many people." They fall into knowing titters, taking another pull of their drinks. Suddenly, another man sneaks up between them, slapping their backs, causing each man to nearly spill their beverages.

"Fuck,” Julian mutters, instantly recognizing the obnoxious intruder. "They really did invite everyone– more like anyone..."

Bryce hides his curling lips. "Hi, Dr. Carrick–"

Tobias throws his arms around his colleagues' necks, pulling them conspiratorially close. "Please tell me there are booze at this thing."

"Dude, it’s 11:30 AM… on a Sunday… at a one-year-old's birthday party," Bryce enunciates as he raises an eyebrow.

"Clearly you've never been in the same room as two women you've slept with–"

“Pssh, because you’re the only man in the world that has game? Please,” Julian rolls his eyes.

Tobias clears his throat. “To clarify: two women… Same night." He shifts his guilty gray eyes to both men. "Last night.”

“Ha!" Julian snorts, "Oh yeah, there he is. There’s our angel Tobias,” Julian snickers, shaking his head. "You're fucked, bruh–"

"--in more ways than one," Bryce interjects, causing him and Julian to fall into belly laughs.

“Ha ha, laugh it up, fuckers–”

"It sounds like some of our favorite uncles are having a good time," Tatum giggles, twirling around with three chilled bottles of beer in her hand with a chunky blond twelve-month-old on her hip.  She hands the three men a beverage as she switches the baby to her other side. “Tobe–” she lowers her voice, “--we don’t say words like that here,” she snickers, the other men laughing along with her.

"Hey, sweetheart," Julian places a friendly peck on Tatum's forehead. "Shit, I can't believe Ramsey 2.0 is already a year old," Julian gently cups his hand around the baby's soft head.

Tatum playfully stares deadpan at her good friend. "You're telling me," she turns to look at her first born who is holding out their hand to an expressive Bryce.

“Time for another one,” Bryce sing-songs.

“And turn out like you and Erin? Three for the price of two pregnancies?” She covers her child’s ears again as she whispers, “Hell. No.”

"My God, Tate," Bryce starts, all three men clearly thinking the same thing as they admire the toddler. "This little one is like your mini-me. Same eyes, hair, nose," Bryce kindly smiles as tiny fingers grip tightly around his finger.  Tatum beams with joy as she takes in the moment.

“This is Ethan’s baby, right?” Tobias jokes as Tatum slaps his shoulder.

“Asshole,” Tatum sardonically grimaces. Tobias’s face grows serious as he quietly holds up a finger to his lips and points to the baby, causing the group of doctors to fall into quiet laughter.  “Anyway, we really appreciate you guys coming,” she kindly grins. “And seriously, help yourselves to anything.”  As the men give chaste kisses to Tatum’s cheek, they each wave goodbye to the little one who eagerly returns the sentiments by blowing slobbery kisses.

“Such a social butterfly,” Bryce mentions.

“Just like Tate,” Julian appreciatively nods his head before taking a sip of his beer.  “Thank fuck, can you imagine a baby like Ramsey?” He shudders.  Tobias titters, clinking the neck of his beer with his old colleague before taking a swig.

“Ethan’s not that bad,” Bryce defends.

Tobias nearly chokes on his beer as Julian wipes away his smile. “Look, Lahela. You know… Tatum’ed Ethan. We?” He motions his hand in between his body and Tobias. “We know the prick that is Ethan Ramsey–”

“Hey, I dealt with his wrath when I was an intern–”

“No, no. He was worse before he ever met Tatum.”

“Ah hell, really?” Bryce takes a sip of his beer. “He was that much worse?”

“Shit, this one time–”

“If I can have everyone’s attention please!” Tatum calls out in a booming, cheerful voice.  The three men along with the other guests turn towards her to listen.  She takes a moment to graciously and tearfully thank everyone for celebrating the special day with them, baby Ramsey cheesing in her arms the entire time.

“I think someone is ready for some cake,” she chuckles. “Rams?”

As if on cue, Ethan walks out with a small, single tier cake with a candle that matches the larger cake next to the snacks on the refreshment table. Tatum gently tucks her little one into the decorated high chair while Ethan lights the wick.  The little one’s blue eyes grow wide at the flame, eliciting a few awes and giggles from the gathered crowd. 

“Are we ready?” Tatum smiles as Ethan snakes an arm around her waist. “On the count of the three, we’ll all start singing ‘Happy Birthday’.” Her watery eyes find her husband’s icy blues as he gives her a reassuring squeeze.  She takes a deep breath as she looks back to her one-year-old baby. “One, two… three!”

All at once, everyone starts proudly singing ‘Happy Birthday’.

Except for Julian and Tobias.

Both men have their hands over their mouths, stifling their obnoxious laughs.  Bryce continues to sing, but glares at his colleagues.

“I can’t,” Tobias finishes his beer, walking away into the kitchen as Julian dabs the tears from his watering eyes.

“What is so funny?” Bryce whispers, grateful that the singing is much louder than their snickers.

“Look," Julian chuckles, "look at that kid right now.”

Bryce cranes his neck between party guests, finally catching a good view of Baby Ramsey. And his face falls while the corners of his mouth turn up. 

Damn, if looks could kill…

There, slumped in a high chair, was the angriest-looking baby anyone had ever seen, complete with deep furrowed brows, a frown, and a deep glare. 

“Holy geeze, that kid is mean-muggin’ everyone–and during ‘Happy Birthday’!” Bryce chokes out before falling into quiet titters.

Julian finally is able to control himself as he finishes his beer. “Oh yeah, there he is. There’s our Ethan.”

~🖤~

Tags (updated 9/26; please contact me if you wish to be added/removed)

PERMA

@21-wishes @alj4890 @ao719 @charlotteg234 @issabees @kat-tia801 @kingliam2019 @mainstreetreader @mom2000aggie @neotericthemis @nikirennie87 @peonierose @socalwriterbee @tessa-liam

ALL OPH

@alyshak92 @annfg8 @bisexualdisasteracd @cariantha @coffeeheartaddict2 @lsvdw-blog @mvalentine @ofmischiefandmedicine @rookiemartin @starrystarrytrouble @youlookappropriate

#open heart #choices open heart #choices oph #play choices #choices stories you play #ethan ramsey #dr. ethan ramsey #ethan ramsey x oc #ethan ramsey x f!oc #ethan ramsey x tatum erikson #ethan x tatum #tatum erikson #baby ramsey #tobias carrick #bryce lahela #julian santiago #choices fanfic #choices fanfiction #oph fanfic #choices oph fanfic

[simplynotcapable]

you've mentioned a few times in s.a.m abt visenya lamenting if she were a man... are there any lives where she was born a man and/or baelon a woman?? i wonder how their respective personalities would manifest if they were a different gender (ie. baelon/baela being another "problem" daughter pfft)

i can definitely see a life where they’re born gender swapped, and i think it would be a really interesting one.

(we’re still going to refer to baelon and visenya as the names and pronouns we know them by, just to keep it from getting twisted up in my head)

honestly i think baelon born as a girl would be a lot like silver and moonstone’s version of visenya. she’s a lot angrier and more intense and more violent than the dragonglass and gold version of herself, and that’s…basically baelon. angry, intense, violent. so much of that kind of gets brushed over when he’s a man because princes kind of just blaze through life with no consequences, but princesses don’t get that same grace.

baelon channels a lot of his emotions into physical stuff—sword play, trying to best the shit out of daemon, etc etc—to work through them. as a woman, there’s just less options for that. it isn’t proper for a princess to be sword fighting or hitting her uncle in the face, so he’s just this ball of furious energy that has nowhere to go.

having to fit into that box of societal expectations for women, having to play nice and be good and stay still…he’d lose his damn mind.

also, considering they’d probably…swap faces, in a way? baelon would be the one who looks like aemma.

baelon, who is so damn angry about his mother’s death and feels all this guilt about it—which would be even worse in this life, because viserys kills aemma in the hopes of getting a second son and is faced with a daughter he has no use for instead—and has so much rage towards viserys because of it. and all he ever hears is how much he looks like his mother??? with none of the ability to be like “i’ll be the best king ever to make her death worth it” like he does in d&g because literally he was useless to viserys as a girl?? he’s going to explode.

i can definitely see him being like Saera Targaryen 2.0, except instead of taking men to bed he’s just like getting into screaming matches with random people and setting things on fire and trying to fistfight god while visenya stands behind him like “therapy hasnt been invented yet just let this happen”

and visenya, well. i’d never describe her as quiet or kind, exactly, but she’s definitely much calmer than baelon is whenever they both exist. she’s very much what anchors him to himself, and he’s what settles her, and that doesn’t change even though they uno reversed each other. largely, she’s the same except for weapons training and a much better grasp of how to run the country.

but as a man, i think visenya has a different relationship with her father. viserys largely ignores her when baelon exists, except to compare her to her mother, and he uses her as a kind of ghost crutch whenever baelon dies, but it’s just kind of different when she’s a boy. he still doesn’t really see her, who she is as a person, but he actually looks at her instead of the dead mother in her face. and visenya doesn’t have the same fixation on their mother that baelon does because, to be blunt, she didnt kill her and she wasnt the reason why she died. she never even knew the lady. it makes everything a lot smoother with viserys than it is when she’s the only surviving twin or when baelon is the son. they’re definitely not close, but visenya’s more…neutral i guess.

they don’t have kids when baelon’s a girl.

visenya as a woman is willing to risk herself and get baelon to face his fears over pregnancy, but visenya as a man is never going to tell baelon he has to risk his life just to give them heirs. baelon says “no thanks, im terrified, hell no” and visenya goes “okay <3” and sends a letter to rhaenyra’s kids telling them to play rock paper scissors for the throne.

when the maester says the twins should separate so heirs can be conceived with someone else, he still dies. visenya gives him a three strike policy though.

it’s difficult to say whether it would be better or worse than the d&g universe, but there’s this: visenya wouldnt have a dragon and so wouldnt be sent to the Stepstones, which means they’re never even separated for war. literally their entire lives just…together. these codependent weirdos have not spent a day apart in their entire lives

#house of the dragon #hotd #ao3 works #dragonglassandgold #silverandmoonstone #hotd fic

[milkytheholy1]

Marvel Masterlist

Wanda Maximoff/Scarlet Witch

Dream, Dream, Dream - Wanda x GN Reader

You're eyes flew open, your back hunched over and your breathing heavy. You continued to pant as you regained your sense of awareness, feeling your chest tighten with every deep inhale.

America was by you in a second, a calming hand placed onto your shoulder and soothing words like "It's ok" and "You're ok now."

Are you happy? - Wanda x Female Reader

Minor spoilers for Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness

Apple pie - Wanda x GN Reader

Wanda Maximoff x GNReader. Set during Wandavision, I hope you get confused!

Peter Maximoff/Quicksilver

Adventures in parenting 101 - Peter x Female Reader

Could we get some peter maximoff x reader being new parents and raising a kid in the mansion?

A typical sitcom - Peter x Female Reader

Hey everyone, so I was really in a debate to post this since it doesn't feature much interaction between Peter and the reader, however, some of you said you still wanted to read it so here we go. This oneshot is set during the 80s era of Wandavision and is mainly just a normal sitcom. And sorry, I know it's not gender-neutral like most of my oneshots but it's very rare now, unless it's a request, where I don't do a gender-neutral reader. Sorry if that cause an inconvenience for anyone, but the gender isn't that much of the story save for a few words. Enjoy!

I want a date - Peter x GN Reader

Howdy! So like everyone I've been obsessed with Wandavision, especially in the last two eps (5, 6). So recently I went back and binged the last few X-Men movies and had to write something for my boy Peter Maximoff, please bear with me this is the first time I've ever written for this character and I'm not that well inversed with the X-Men franchise. I'll most definitely write more of Peter in the future as well as all the TMNT requests that I need to get through. Thanks for your patience though, I promise I'll get through all the requests! Anyway, hope you enjoy!

Yelena Belova

Another failed mission - Yelena X GN Reader

Just a quick little oneshot, all fluff, never written for Yelena before but I've been dying to for a while, hope you enjoy!

Kate Bishop

Lodger on the couch - Kate x Female Reader

There's a lodger in the apartment and it's about time he left, but who will do it? The reader, Kate or the lodger himself?

Peter Parker/Spider-Man

Is this the only reason you dropped by? - Peter x Female Reader

Summary: Spiderman visits his favourite civilian.

Meet the parents - Peter x Female Reader

Summary: A meet the parents dinner gets interrupted.

Loki

Not even if you bribe me - Loki x Female Reader

Set during Avengers 2012 ending battle.

Peter Quill/Starlord

I'm Not In Love - Peter x Female Reader

A song brings up memories for Quill as the reader tries to help him though it.

Infinity - Peter x Female Reader

Based on Avengers Infinity War when the Guardians are introduced.

Bucky Barnes/The Winter Solider

I want to learn more - Bucky x Female Reader

The glint of silver shone brightly through the midnight gloom, the raindrops pattering down onto the metal slowly trailing off and dripping onto the hard concrete beneath him. His gun was placed by his side, his hand hovering over it in case they shot first.

Do you regret it? - Bucky x Female Reader

Short story, Bucky and the reader broke up on mutual terms but sometimes the heart wants what the heart wants the question is does Bucky regret it?

Part 2

Part 3

Part 4

Do you regret it Final

Prom 2.0 - Bucky x Female Reader

The readers prom was a complete disaster so Bucky and the others try to make it up to them.

Part of the beginning is the end - Bucky x Female Reader

Endgame spoilers beware!!!

Date night - Bucky x Female Reader

I don't know where I'm gonna be five years from now, but I pray to god it's somewhere with a beautiful view and beside you.

Last longer - Bucky x Female Reader

Reader takes a shower, Bucky’s at the door and someone loses a bet.

Hurt - Bucky x Female Reader

May I suggest one? When Bucky recently joined the avengers, he starts getting small panic attacks. One day, it’s so bad, (y/n) has to help him out of it before he hurts himself.

Dreams - Bucky x Female Reader

Bucky's mind is plagued with nightmares of his former allies and friends what happens when he isn't alone this time to deal with it all.

#marvel #masterlist

[castielcommunism]

different anon but this is something I’ve been thinking about for awhile and it goes well with your last ask/few asks. i think part of the total lost in the sauceness wrt to comp het is that this fandom (and this website but oooh boy this fandom) has a very meme-y understanding of these concepts and applies them so messily. i think it goes hand in hand with how often people in this fandom will basically make jokes that boil down to “this character or actor is acting gay or bi and therefore they are fundamentally less respectable and less of a man” like it’s hardy surprising that the nuances of comp het and toxic masculinity are lost in a fandom culture that really does think, at least often enough for it to be a constant joke, being attracted to or having sex with other men makes someone less of a man. it’s really been upsetting to see

it is frustrating and like obviously you are allowed to make jokes about the weird contradictory expectations heterosexuality imposes on people but the problem with irony is that some people will hear the joke and not the irony and think that the joke itself is the punchline and reinvent Gender 2.0 by arguing that Dean is a bottom because he’s uncomfortable with being a man

#asks