#I don't even know what I have other than it's some sort of viral something and I am so tired and everything hurts

[mewrising]

Being sick is. the worst

[lazycats-stuff]

been thinking of a batbro bimbo reader who isn't yet fully aware of his family's identitys but is a vigilante too. Thinking of him getting flirted on and the other's getting protective. Especially the younger siblings (Ex: Damian)

Oh Damian is going to kill them. Blade out and everything. Also, I think you thought about writing a himbo. Also, I don't know which gif to put so enjoy a storm lol.

Summary: (Y/N) is a bit stupid, but very nice. He is oblivious to a lot of stuff and his siblings are protective of him.

Warnings: (Y/N) is stupid and sweet at the same time, adorable (Y/N), protective everybody, especially Damian.

Bruce often wondered how (Y/N) managed to survive for this long. Looks are often deceiving, he knows that very well. He always expected the unexpected and (Y/N) was certainly something of that sort. You know how you expect big people to be cold and just rude over all?

(Y/N) is sweet beyond belief and Bruce wonders how he survived for so long as a vigilante. But there is another problem too. (Y/N) sometimes has problems seeing when he is being flirted with and overall, sometimes slow with catching up.

What kind of scared Bruce was the fact that (Y/N) still didn't... Kind of... Connect the dots with their identities. Bruce often kept an eye out on (Y/N) during patrol or missions. Always. Everyone also kept an eye on their brother.

They all loved (Y/N) and they all just wanted to make sure that he is okay. He is far too adorable and kind for this world. That is a conclusion that everyone has reached. Even Damian. Damian is the one who is the most protective of him.

(Y/N) found a way to channel his kindness. Bruce helped him set up a few organizations to help the youth on the streets, homeless people in general and one for mental health problems.

Well, more (Y/N) and Tim. (Y/N) is the face of those charities and Tim has agreed to help out behind the scenes. He never minded doing it for his brother and it's for a good cause so he didn't mind to help with the financial stuff.

(Y/N) has tried to do it on his own, but he just hated paperwork. Bruce and Tim sympathized with (Y/N), knowing how paperwork could be shit. Tim loved working with (Y/N). More so than with Bruce. But Bruce will never know it.

(Y/N) is often considered by Gotham City as their baby on social media and he is famous because of it. Well, because of his kindness and other moments that social media would say is iconic. Gotham loved him and (Y/N) would often go in his vigilante suit to see little kids all year round in the hospitals in Gotham and sometimes elsewhere.

(Y/N) loved doing it and loved seeing kids smile. Some were just so beaten down that by being in a hospital and seeing them smile so much made (Y/N)'s day.

Damian is often considered as (Y/N)'s bodyguard on galas. Of course, there are many people who consider (Y/N) handsome. Unfortunately, (Y/N) can't see those advances and that's where Damian has stepped in. Always.

If (Y/N) is going to be in a relationship, it's going to be with someone who looks past his looks. Many who tried to woo him did so because of his looks. Not because of him and personality.

Damian often stepped in, making excuses for (Y/N) as to why he couldn't. And then the man would be met with an icy glare.

Now, the public loved (Y/N) even more when they saw how he treated women. How respectful he is... The female population of Gotham City have lost their minds. There was a viral moment where (Y/N) was seen giving his umbrella to a lady after a heavy rain started. He was soaked afterwards, but at least he did something nice.

There is a plethora of responses from men, but once (Y/N) came out as gay, those men weren't afraid of not getting anymore dates. The women of Gotham were sad, but there was nothing that they could do.

Dick and Jason were also protective of (Y/N), but not to the degree where Damian is. Nowhere near. But did they always keep an eye on him? Yes. That's their brother, how could they not. They loved him, but they knew that the couldn't protect him like Damian does.

Damian is on a whole another level.

Galas are often considered the most stress inducing thing that happens a few times a year. Nobody liked to attend galas in the family, not even Bruce, but they had to due to appearances they had to.

(Y/N) didn't mind it. Now, galas are often the time when Damian was vigilant around (Y/N). Bruce didn't say anything to Damian about being protective. In fact, it made Bruce happy, knowing that he didn't have to be constantly vigilant over (Y/N).

Damian is his second in command when it came to (Y/N)'s protection. Damian is often subtle in the way he is vigilant. Often. He never outright stood next to (Y/N), but he was always close enough to step in.

Always.

As of now, (Y/N) was making his way to the bar to get a drink. Damian watched him from the buffet table. He watched everyone else in the room, seeing if anyone was looking at (Y/N). And he did find someone.

He was looking at (Y/N) with something in his eyes that made Damian pissed. He knew that look very well and it wasn't to talk to (Y/N) about his charities. Damian waited for a moment to see if his suspicions are right.

And when was Damian wrong? Never.

He wanted to scoff at the predictability of these guys. They are really predictable. He watched for a moment more, but when he saw how the man smiled at his brother, it was go time. He swiftly put some food on the plate, (Y/N)'s favorite and quickly went to the bar where the two were.

" Hey (Y/N), here is some food that I know you love. " Damian said, bringing (Y/N)'s attention to himself.

" Oh really? Thanks Damian. "

" No problem and Bruce told me he needs to talk to you. " Damian said and quickly glanced at Bruce who nodded subtly.

" Oh? Well, I will talk to you later then. " (Y/N) said as he turned to his 'suitor' and then took the food that Damian brought and then walked off. The moment that (Y/N) couldn't see them, Damian glares at the man.

" I wouldn't try it if I were you. " Damian said as he glared at the man.

" And what is a kid like you going to do? " The man said and Damian had to smirk at the arrogance.

" I know who you are. I know that your father wants to make a deal with my father. And I can always put a word in about you. And let me tell you, father is very protective of (Y/N) and he is not going to like the fact that you are just trying to sleep with him. "

The man tried to defend himself, but deep down he knew that Damian was spot on.

" Now, I wouldn't really try to flirt with him anymore. Not to mention, there are 3 more brothers that will kick your ass in different ways if you try to. " Damian said as he walked off, trying not to smirk once more.

He can't smirk or (Y/N) will see something. Who said that galas could be boring when you can threaten your brother's suitors? Dick and Jason gave him a thumbs up from a far. Tim and Bruce shook their heads quietly. Damian walked up to (Y/N) and gave him a quick hug.

Nobody messes with (Y/N) Wayne. Nobody.

[goldenlikedayl1ght]

fearless - d. wagner

a/n: i know wagner wednesday was yesterday, but fuck it. everyone can leave me alone I AM IN LOVE WITH HIM!!!! notes/warnings: extremely suggestive relationship, no use of y/n, secret relationships, tooth rotting fluff at the end, childhood best friends to lovers, danny being jealous, cursing, like so many allusions to fucking, me writing this late at night, sam, josh and jake being extremely oblivious like just the epitome of "so close! that is a shape! <3" word count: 2.3k summary: daniel has been acting awfully weird lately. luckily, the kiszka brothers are on the case! pairing: danny wagner x gn! reader now playing: fearless (taylor's version) - taylor swift ���run your hands through your hair/absentmindedly making me want you/and i don't know how it gets better than this/you take my hand and drag me head first, fearless"

Samuel Kiszka had met you way back in elementary school, back when you were kind of regarded as a freak. You were playing with a ladybug on the playground during recess, and he came over and asked what you were doing. When you explained, he became fascinated with the ladybug and declared you would be its parents. Then, a stray kickball had flew over, crushing your new baby bug. Some kid laughed at Sam when he started to cry, so you decided to punch that little fucker in the face.

You had been best friends ever since.

A year after that, he came to you and introduced you to a different kid he had met in his new class, the one right beside yours. His name was Daniel.

And since then, it’s always been the three of you, against everything.

You became awfully close with the Wagners and with the Kiszkas, going as far as to call them your family. You grew up in sort of a rough environment, but there was always a place for you on Daniel’s couch or Sammy’s floor.

You smoked your first blunt together, took your first shots together, and cried over breakups that didn’t even matter anymore.

You were a tech kid in high school with a certain knack for equipment and stage managing. Sam and Danny were just starting to get more serious about their music, so there was a time when you didn’t see each other that much. You were busy with whatever production your high school was putting on, and they had formed a band with Sam’s older brothers, Jake and Josh.

You knew it had been Jake’s dream for years, so besides their mother, you consider yourself the first Greta Van Fleet fan.

When their song, Highway Tune, went viral, you just knew it meant huge things for them. You could see it in Jake’s face, hear it in Josh’s voice. This was something bigger than any of you. So, you weren’t really shocked when they came to you and told you that they had a record deal and a few shows booked around the country.

You were only sad that you’d be stuck in Michigan while your best friends toured around the country, maybe even the world.

Then, Sammy told you a stipulation of their contract was that you would get to be on the set team, and with enough experience, you’d lead that team in all the equipment and stage management you could get your hands on.

And you jumped in with them, headfirst, fearless.

That was years ago, and you haven’t looked back since.

But then Sam started to notice something.

Daniel Wagner had been distracted. Never a good thing to be while on tour.

So, he came to you with the problem.

“I’m telling you, there is something up with Daniel!” He practically whined as you packed your bag to go to the next venue.

“Sammy, nothing is up with Daniel. There’s no way.”

“He doesn’t eat, he is always staring off into the distance, he’s always scribbling in his little notebook, he’s acting weird!”

“You guys are on tour, that’s stressful. Maybe he’s just like, at max stress.” You argue, checking that you have your lights and pyro cues for the next stop of the tour.

“Why aren’t you worried about this? You should be worried, he’s your best friend too!”

You stop what you’re doing and turn to face him.

“Maybe he’s fallen madly in love with someone.”

Sam actually laughs out loud at the thought.

“Good one!” He says with a goofy grin on his face. “We would know if he was in love, don’t you think?” He asks.

“Then I just don’t know, Sammy. Go argue with Jake and Josh about this, I have to go meet with the crew about the inventory for the road.” You say, and Sam just drops it to go do exactly that.

His brothers are on the tour bus when he gets there and luckily, Danny is running late. And he is sure to mention that.

“Seems like Daniel is late again... He’s been doing that a lot, huh?” He says, trying not to act too suspiciously.

Josh and Jake share this look, like they’re trying to figure out if Sam has a point or not. But Jake starts to really think about it, and you know what? Shockingly, their younger brother does in fact have a point.

“Now that you mention it, He is acting kind of weird.” He says softly, and Josh nods.

“I had to ask him for my earrings back the other day and when I got to his room, he looked like I caught him doing something he wasn’t supposed to. I thought he was in the middle of jerking off but now that I think about it, he’s been like that a lot. Always acting like a deer in the headlights.”

So, the whole situation perplexes them, but before they can say anything else on the matter, Danny strolls onto the tour bus.

“Good morning, boys! How are we today?” Now that they had all discussed it, any behavior from him would be suspicious.

“Fine. Why are you late, Dan?” Danny was immediately alarmed by this, since Sam never called him Dan. It was always Danny or Daniel.

“Uh, I just lost my shoes in the room, and they were under my bed. Sorry, I didn’t realize I was keeping you guys waiting.”

Josh, the only one able to play anything cool, just nods, “It’s alright, we weren’t waiting for long. We should probably discuss the setlist for tonight.” Jake hums but he can’t help but notice that Danny has these large black stud earrings in. And he’s sure he’s seen them before, but he can’t quite put his finger on were.

For now, he lets it go. But he keeps it in the back of his mind for later.

They stop at a rest stop that afternoon, along with most of the tech crew who travel in their own bus. You go to check in on your boys and buy Sam a snack as a peace offering for not believing him this morning.

But instead, you run into Josh, who decides to find the others with you. You get to talking but you feel him staring at your face, and you blush.

“What, do I have something on my face?” You ask bashfully.

“No,” he hums softly, tilting his head. “You just— Where’d you get that necklace?” He swears he’s seen it before but can’t put his finger on it.

Your hand goes up to fiddle with the necklace, almost nervously.

“It’s a gift from my sister, I wore it when we graduated, remember?” Josh does not remember.

For now, he lets it go. But he keeps it in the back of his mind for later.

“Oh, yeah. Sorry, Toots, Guess I forgot.” He links arms with you, “Let’s go find the guys, huh?” He smiles. Happy to drop the subject, you go with him willingly.

Sammy, Danny, and Jake are getting their snacks when something catches Danny’s eye, and he won’t stop staring, so Sam looks to see what he could be so bothered by. And all he sees is his older brother, linking arms with you.

He smacks Danny’s arm, whose head snaps to look at him.

“Just Josh, Dude. At Ease, Soldier.” He teases. But he can’t shake this feeling that Danny was bothered by it. But why would he be?

Nothing else weird happens throughout the day, and the show that night goes well. So well, in fact that they invite you to a local bar where they can grab a few drinks and decompress from the day. And that goes really well too, except when Sam sees you the next morning and hickeys cover your neck.

“Dude! What the fuck!?” He asks, investigating your neck further. You blush and shove him off gently.

“Relax, Sammy, I just—I hooked up with someone last night that I met at the bar, and they were kind of rough. No big deal, I’ll never see them again.” You say, with a casual shrug.

Something is off about your tone. But he says nothing.

For now, he lets it go. But he keeps it in the back of his mind for later.

And then, he notices these earrings you have in.

Large black diamond studs.

“Nice Earrings.” He comments casually. He swears he’s seen them before, but like, recently! It perplexes him a bit and it must show on his face, because you are quick to clear up any confusion.

“Oh, thanks! I wore them last night for the bar and I just forgot to take them out. They aren’t too casual, so I don’t wear them too often.”

And it makes enough sense. Why would you lie to him about something as stupid as that?

Then, when he sees Danny that night, he’s covered in hickeys.

And Sam thinks he might still be drunk or high, or both. Because what the fuck is going on?! You both were acting strange, and he’s noticing these little things, so he decides to confide in Josh and Jake again, who relay their findings, and they decide they must confront Danny together.

Danny is not too shocked when he goes to get undressed and get his makeup removed only to find the boys waiting for him there. It took him a while to get back to the dressing room.

“Oh, hey guys! Sorry, I didn’t realize you were waiting for me. I got caught up talking to one of the security guards and then I got lost, this venue is so damn confusing.” And then Sam knows he’s lying because if HE could figure out how to return to the dressing room, then Danny, who has an amazing sense of direction, definitely could!

“What’s going on with you, Man?” he asks as he begins to wipe the makeup off his face.

“What? Nothing is going on with me, dude, I told you I just got lost.”

“Bullshit,” Josh calls. “You’re distracted, always late, and have suspiciously good jewelry taste as of late!”

“Yeah! And it’s affecting other people too,” Jake recalls, “Even the tech crew has noticed it! Our stage manager, our best friend, is acting weird too, and I have a feeling it’s because of your shady actions!”

And that’s when it hits Sam.

The earrings.

The hickeys.

The necklace.

The lateness.

The god damn hickeys.

“Just be real with us, Danny—” Josh starts, before Sam stands up.

“MOTHERFUCKER!” He gasps.

And that stops everyone in their tracks. He says your name to Danny, and it immediately catches his attention.

“What about them?” He asks.

“Are you sleeping with them?” Sam asks.

“What?! Sammy, c’mon—”

“Daniel Wagner, are you fucking our stage manager?!”

There’s a pause.

“Sammy. You’re acting—”

“Answer the question.”

“No!” He sighs. “I think they are lovely, and I would love to, and I want to take them on dates and woo them, but I am not fucking our stage manager, Sam. You guys are being paranoid. And if you don’t mind I’d prefer they don’t know about the fact that I like them, okay?”

All the other boys nod. Of course, It makes perfect sense! You and Danny both like each other but you aren’t able to tell each other that because of your long-standing friendship, but you’re sharing jewelry as a way of subtly telling each other. And that explains why he was staring at you and Josh the other day! And the hickeys were from other people because you couldn’t have each other! Duh! Maybe he really did get lost going back to the dressing room.

The conversation quickly shifts and moves on from Danny’s confession, and everything is normal. They could help you realize that the feelings were reciprocated.

When Danny eventually makes it out of there, he makes his way back to his hotel room. But on his way up, he quickly checks to see if any of the boys are following him, before making a stop on the way.

The knock on your door doesn’t startle you, in fact, you were kind of ready for it. You had gotten back a little while ago and turned on the shower to let it heat up. When you answer it, you grin up at him and grab his arm, pulling him inside. He shuts the door behind himself, before his arms are around your waist, leaning in for a long kiss.

It’s full of this gentleness that he grants you because, well, he always greets you with one sweet, truly loving kiss.

When he pulls away, he grins back at you.

“Hi, sweets.” He hums.

“Hey, handsome.” You respond, “Did you put the boys to bed like I asked?” He laughs at your phrasing, leaning down to kiss your jaw. And then your neck. Again. And again. And one more time for good measure.

“Mhm. They asked me if we were together though.” He keeps kissing your neck.

“I figured as much; they’ve been acting weird.”

“They might think I have a crush on you, now.” He says between kisses.

“And what would give them that idea?” You ask.

“…The fact that I told them I had a crush on you.”

“Well, do you?”

“Mm... I dunno. Might have to kiss you a few more times before I decide for certain.” You grin.

“Yeah?”

“Yeah... Maybe a little more than kissing too...”

“Well, don’t let me stand in the way of your methods, Danny.”

He grins, and kisses you again, this time, deeper, with none of the gentleness of the initial kiss. But there’s a new feeling you get from him now. Hunger.

And you kiss back, as if you have something deeper than hunger. Starvation, maybe.

And you don’t think either of you will ever be satiated.

By the end of the night, he decides he most definitely has a crush on you.

[thebrightestwitchofherage]

December 19th, 73 days since October 7th

TLDR- I am sick of seeing Hamas propaganda here. People here are posting literal blood libels and mistranslated quotes.

After taking a break from social media for the rest of Chanuka, your favorite Zionist is back. Don't worry though, once again, people who never had any interest in this tiny piece of land, continue to tell me, a Jewish Israeli, that I have got my history and facts wrong, while they know better than I do. To that, I have 2 answers: 1. I am just a student who wants to live in peace. I am not a "zionist demon" or a "genocidal killer".

When I call myself a Zionist, all it means is that I'm a Jewish woman who would like to live peacefully in her homeland. I don't inherently support war or death from any side because I am a Zionist. 2. I actually live here, born and raised, and so were my grandparents. How delusional and condescending can you be to suggest that you, a Western person who only found out about this conflict a while ago on Tiktok, know better than an Israeli??? More on double standards Sometimes I wonder why most of you didn’t have such a strong reaction to any other war & civil war going on right now: in Ukraine/ Yemen/Congo and Syria**, etc. Considering the amount of antisemitic hate anons I've received I have a feeling why...

**Which directly affected the lives of most Palestinians.

As I've said in previous posts- It’s easy to throw around big words you don’t understand. There is no apartheid as all Israeli citizens have the same rights. - Gaza is not occupied by Israel- it’s been returned multiple times in history ( just to name a few: 1956,1987,2006...).

*Even when it was under Israel’s control, all it meant was that there were approximately 10 Jewish settlements in Gaza*. The Israeli military presence was to protect those people& prevent terror attacks.

Blood Libels

In addition to the lies and the poor mistranslations from Hebrew, I have also received \ seen an alarming amount of Nazi Propaganda. -you say that you’re anti-Zionist and not anti-Semitic, yet you use antisemitic rhetoric…

Comparisons between Israelis and Nazis -Comparing Israelis to Nazis is wrong on so many levels.

In case you aren't aware, the holocaust was a premeditated and carefully planned genocide, that lasted 6 years. 6 MILLION Jews were killed and all of their possessions were stolen. It followed hundreds of years of persecution, violence, and discriminatory laws. They were also starved and enslaved in different sorts of manual labor, in addition to being experimented on. They were held in Ghettos and concentration camps. In the aftermath of the war, Jews were completely driven out of their land and face prosecution across the world to this day. The existence of Israel allows Jews to live free of that. The Israel-Hamas war following October 7th is a war against a terrorist organization that invaded Israel and massacred its civilians. Unfortunately, due to Hamas' tactics, there are a lot of Palestinian civilian casualties. While they are wrong- the treatment of Palestinians and the bombing of Gaza are nothing like what the Nazis did.

Debunking some misconceptions I've seen on Viral posts here: -No, we Jews do not control the media and global banks. At least invent something new, this is giving Medivel blood libels used by the church lol. -We do not go around killing innocent Palestinian babies for fun. We have laws and a moral compass (Shocking I know). We do not go and kidnap people or rape women for fun either. Do you know who does that? Hamas, the terrorist organization. -We're not all white, this conflict does not revolve around race: There are many Jewish Israelis from the same countries that Palestinians originated from (i.e: Egyptian & Jordanian Jews ). -Israelis perceive Palestinians as lesser human'- This claim is usually supported by mistranslation of Hewbew and out-of-context Interviews. The phrase חיות אדם (Chayot Adam, savages, acting like animals) was obviously often used to describe Hamas terrorists who took part in the October 7th masssacre. We do not call or treat Palestinians as "animals" or savages. All of the referenced instances were about those Hamas terrorists.

-There isn't a 'Gaza Ministry of Health', it's all Hamas. The number of Palestinian casualties and other claims they make are not to be trusted. Most of the casualties are terrorists.

So what is my point?

It is important to note that am not ignoring any of the Palestinian deaths. I’m not saying they should die either. Please stop assuming I do!!

All I’m saying is that Israeli victims matter as well. For some reason, some people cannot comprehend that Israeli civilians do not deserve to die just because of where they live.

You wouldn’t call for the death of all Americans/ Europeans/ South Africans etc… while they committed actual genocide & apartheid.

[foone]

My current problem with mastodon is that it's full of nerds. Well, let me rephrase that, because everywhere is full of nerds: it's full of the most annoying kind of nerds. I'll explain under the readmore, because it got long.

Every time I've posted something on mastodon, I've gotten a bunch of replies that seem to be trying to explain things to me. And it's not like I'm posting "hey how do I install Ubuntu on a Samsung tablet?", I'm mainly going "here's some electronics I'm tearing down" or "I'm hacking this game and wow it does the font in a weird way!"

Neither of these is really an invitation to explain at me. And sure, when I did this on Twitter, I'd get these occasionally. There's always one person who thinks they know more than you and is like "I have to explain at this person!"

But on mastodon it's CONSTANT. I post a quick note about how someday I want to find ask the game developers why they encoded the font like this, and in like 12 hours I've gotten like 14 replies all trying to fontsplain at me.

And it would only be half as annoying if they were right! Cause that's the thing, too: THEY'RE NOT. Tons of people are assuming I am hacking a Pokémon game because I mentioned Game Freak, but nope! It's Drill Dozer. And others are explaining how the GameBoy hardware works when this is a GBA game... Jesus.

It's just... Some weird social thing. Maybe because mastodon co-existed with Twitter for so long as the open source Libre-Twitter, it attracted the kind of nerds who only use open source software, and they built networks of similar people. The kind of people that think they are and have to be the smartest guy in the room. And even now with a massive migration from Twitter to Mastodon, their early-adoption of this platform is influencing the culture of it. Maybe mastodon is just the kind of place where you explain tech at people.

Or maybe it's a cultural thing where it's more like 4chan's anonymous culture, where you don't assume or know things about people. There are no reputations, just interchangeable anonymous/pseudoanonymous people. Reddit often has that sort of thing going too, where if you are a Known Person, it's never a good thing. (just ask The Cylinder Guy).

Or maybe... It's just me. I wasn't the most well known weirdo on Twitter but I had a good number of followers. Maybe on Twitter it was more likely that people knew that I was "Foone, hacker of fonts and tearer downer of electronics!", but on mastodon I'm getting a lot of followers that haven't gotten to know me yet, and... Just assume I blundered into hacking a GBA game without knowing anything about how the GBA hardware and font encodings work?

Cause like, I've got about 20k followers on mastodon and I kinda assume those are just a subset of my Twitter followers who migrated over but maybe I have a bunch of new followers who were mastodon-only until now, and they're like "oh I've heard of that foone punk. Nothing specific but supposedly they're a big deal on Twitter, so now that they've joined mastodon I should follow them!"

Or maybe it is mostly a subset but only the most annoying explainy 20k of Twitter followers followed me over to mastodon? I don't know.

And it's the kind of thing where this happening occasionally would be fine. You get used to annoying replies when you have enough followers, no matter what social network you're on.

And God forbid you have something go viral! Fun fact: even if only one person in a thousand is a massive dick, if you have a post get seen by a million people, that's a lot of dicks.

I don't want to sound like "foone complains because they/their shit is popular", that's not really the problem. I've got a bunch of followers on here as well, but ya'll aren't coming into every post I make and trying to explain them at me.

Which is honestly odder? I would have thought it would be the other way around. Like, all my mastodon posts are like "I am hacking this video game: I am a reverse engineer" or "I am taking apart this electronic device: I'm a reverse engineer" or "I'm building this electronic device/software: I'm a forward engineer". So you'd think people would assume Mastodon!foone is the kind of person who Knows Things, as they're clearly highly technical in what they're doing.

But over here on Tumblr, while I may mention those kinds of things from time to time, I'm mostly doing shitposts, writing, fandom stuff, making jokes, being queer. You'd think it'd be much easier to assume Tumblr!foone doesn't know a huge amount about technical subjects and is therefore a great target for explaining at.

But it is a cultural thing, I guess. Mastodon is full of people who assume you don't really understand what you're talking about, and will explain at you. And Tumblr isn't.

Well, at least for technical stuff. You will get plenty of argumentative replies and reblogs, but less on a post about how GBA games encoding Latin text, and more on things like fandom and politics and queer identities. Although even then I would argue they're doing it on a different way, most of the time: they're not assuming you don't understand and explaining at you, they're more going "(I assume you understand), but I disagree" or "I explicitly think you don't understand: here is where you are wrong", vs the mastodon reply of "I'm assuming you don't understand, so let me explain at you what you're talking about".

I dunno. I don't really have a good solution here and this isn't going to be the reason I leave mastodon or anything, but it's odd, and annoying.

I'm not posting on mastodon as much as I posted on Twitter, and while part of that is that I split my online presence between Tumblr and mastodon instead of keeping it all mixed together on my Twitter, a big chunk of it is that mastodon is simply not as fun to post on as Twitter was, even accounting for my smaller follower count.

Because I'm not just getting a proportionally smaller number of interactions (which makes sense given how I have fewer mastodon followers than I had Twitter followers), I'm getting a larger proportion of really annoying interactions.

And I think what annoys me most is the assumption that I don't know what I'm talking about. Like, tearing stuff down and hacking games for their fonts? I am a professional! This is my job (mainly because I'm unemployed at the moment and my Patreon is my only source of cash), and it's not one I picked up recently. I have been hacking the fonts out of games for FIVE YEARS and as for tearing down electronics? I've been documenting that shit on Twitter/mastodon/etc for like eight years but I've been doing it since i was old enough to hold a screwdriver.

And yes, sure, explain things to me if I don't understand: those things will be clearly signposted. I'll be like "I'm not sure what this chip is, these silkscreens don't match anything on Google" and it's always useful if someone can pop in and go "oh that's a SMX8363 Network Biciever!" because they have some knowledge I don't, and I made it clear I don't know what it is.

But it's a whole different thing for me to post a picture of a PCB and day "okay here's the inside of the case", because I'm about to follow it up with closeups and details, and 5 people reply "chip U1 is a SMX8363, that transformates the network bananadines" because HEY I'M ABOUT TO POST THAT.

or worse, I already have, you just didn't scroll down enough to see it.

Anyway the reason I'm ranting about this here in Tumblr is because I'm not exactly trying to call these people out and get them to change their ways. At least one of the people on the most recent post is someone I've known for years and respect, and she has a lot of Pokémon knowledge, and was applying her specific technical background to help explain it. She's cool... But she just happened to reply along with a mob of random people I don't know, and she applied her highly specific Pokémon Knowledge onto a post that was never about Pokémon.

I'm just saying this here, because I'm musing about the differences I've experienced in different social networks. I can't really tell if it's about the networks themselves or just my particular bubble of followers and followed peoples. It could be either. Especially since Tumblr has some hugely different sub-communities (which is why Blaze can be so hilariously odd: it doesn't pay attention to those communities, and just randomly hits people across the site), and mastodon isn't even a single social network, it's a metanetwork of social networks which many (intentionally) broken links between subsets. (I had to move servers a few times because the first couple I picked had problems, like getting shut down, blocked by most of the western world, or getting put on a "probably bad to interact with" greylist)

I dunno. I'm slowly starting to lean towards posting more technical stuff here instead of mastodon, simply because I can post a neat old TV here and only get replies that are positive, whereas the same sort of thing on mastodon would get many more replies but most of them are trying to explain a TV at me.

Look, all I'm asking is that people don't assume my wonder at the complexities and weirdness of the world as ignorance and a request for education.

Because that's a big part of my social media persona! I don't know how "fake" it is (I'm autistic. I've been wearing masks so long I'm not sure there's anything under them), but it's a good way to interact with the world in my experience: the world is full of hidden wonders and it makes me happy to share them, and apparently people like learning about them when I'm talking about them in that way. It's like I'm putting on a Bill Nye mask so I can be amazed at everything, to some degree. It keeps me from getting bored and taking things for granted, it lets me discover hidden beauty, and people seem to enjoy that kind of attitude, especially on social networks increasingly full of negativity. I can be excited about this weird old computer, and hopefully I can talk about it in such a way that helps you share in some of that excited, and the world is a little brighter.

And it's just disheartening when you try to share in your excitement about the weird and the complex and unusual and get people going "um actually this is just a common design for systems that use the 430TX chipset, as it's a budget model that didn't implement AGP fully and instead used a PCI bridge chip to implement..." and it's like LET ME HAVE FUN AND SHARE THAT FUN EVEN IF YOU CAN'T.

It's not even that I'm getting less "wow that's cool!" replies, it's that I'm getting mostly "that's just some boring thing that makes sense if you've done five years of electrical engineering like I have" and I'm so tired of that kind of attitude. It just goes double when they're wrong and assumed something was boring because they understand it and I don't, when in reality I do understand it, and they missed the interesting bit because they came into the conversation already looking to rain on my parade and/or educate the fool that they assumed I was.

And don't get me wrong: I am very a fool. But I'm not every kind of fool. I know some things. And I'm not a fan of getting explained at as if I don't understand those things.

Terrible thought, that's probably not true: I got most of my Twitter followers before I was out as trans. I've been trans on mastodon since day one. Are these fuckers assuming I'm a woman and mansplaining at me? Like, they're not transphobic, they respect my identity (even if they have it wrong), but they're still sexist and by assuming I'm a woman, they also assume I don't know what I'm talking about?

God. I hope not.

Anyway. Tumblr and mastodon, won't you?

[agentravensong]

hello, fellow hatchetfield fans! here are my stray nerdy prudes must die thoughts, which i'm going to try to keep brief (she said, before spending an hour writing this)

the production level of the show as a whole really blew me away. the lighting; demon!max's costume and makeup; even the way it was shot and edited felt even more electric than past shows

this is the only one of the full-length hatchetfield musicals to have one consistent antagonist throughout (black friday has linda but half the leads don't know about her at all until the climax, plus there's wilbur and wiggly). and i gotta say, max's actor really killed it. hilarious, terrifying, and even with moments of nuance. he repeatedly stole the show.

some of the songs are already stuck in my head. off the top of my head i can't think of any that stood out in a bad/unmemorable way (though i could just be forgetting them, lol). ruth's song in particular i think is gonna really stick with me once i listen to it a few more times.

and i love the way the "i'm not a loser" motif gets used throughout the show. the closest any of the songs got me to having the visceral reaction i have to "did you know that i wanted to live with you" in "not your seed" and the bridge + ending of "let it out" ("i've never been happy...") was when richie sings that line right before... well.

speaking of richie: as a paul stan, what this show proved to me more than anything is that when jon matteson plays a sympathetic lead (or side character - hi daniel/stopwatch), he will always break my heart. he's just. really good.

thinking about how in the last of the originally planned 3 hatchetfield shows, initially conceptualized as the first, jon's character is the first one to sing, whereas in the first of those shows, conceptualized as the last, the whole crux of the musical is him refusing to sing, the audience essentially waiting for the moment he breaks and does it. thinking about how the opening of npmd tells us richie is going to die, already dying, already dead, while the opening number of tgwdlm tells us paul is the target, the Doomed Hero, the "star of the show" "destined to go viral" [read: get infected], whose story is going to be told, already written.

thinking about how singing dooms paul, and how richie singing "i'm not a loser", reigniting max's ire, is the final nail in his coffin.

...i'm normal.

there's a lot of meta jokes and nods of that sort throughout the show. maybe a few too many? like, at a certain point, as a fan, i do feel like i'm being pandered to a bit.

i liked the lords in black's scene, it was a lot of fun! it's always great to see jon get to let loose with crazy characters, and the others were great too. but i do wonder how it plays for people who haven't been following nightmare time stuff. like, i get that in one world this was our introduction to these characters, but even in that world, i wonder if including all five of them with their specific names and allusions to their individual deals is a bit too much for what the plot of this show needs. there's something to be said for not showing all your cards right away.

on the other hand, i feel like the paulkins coffee scene actually fully earned its inclusion: because when pete comes in asking for his hot chocolate, it reads differently when we're coming at it from having followed his perspective up to this point versus having been following paul in tgwdlm, in a way that strengthens both scenes. it's a nice reminder that emma and paul can be... rude, i guess. assholes, even (she really didn't need to spit in it). that idea of perspectives affecting how we categorize people arguably even plays into the themes of this show! how about that.

ah, yes, Themes. there are Themes to be drawn out of this show about the experience of high school, especially in an intertextual comparison to how tom and becky talk about their time in high school in black friday. something about how the two of them see it as this idealistic time they want to go back to, whereas the teens (the nerds/outcasts) in npmd sing that they'll "still despise it when [they're] gone". something about how in ruth's solo number, the fantasy future she imagines for herself (even in the context of it being a performance for an audience of no one) is of a standard, arguably dreary, middle-aged existence. there's definitely stuff there to be dissected.

and also there's arguably a theme of continuing cycles of cruelty, brought into focus by the ending, but also implied with the way the adults failed the kids (see max referencing his dad belittling him).

...but also, i feel like they could have done more with that.

that's my one big thing with this show, and it could very easily just be that the genre of this show isn't as much my jam, but i'll say it anyway: i wanted more from the characters, and more emotional weight in regards to certain things.

like, between this and tgwdlm, i think tgwdlm is still the better written show. there's just, a subtly to the characters there, a grounded human-ness, that i didn't quite get from all of the teens here.

as much as i clearly have a soft spot for richie, that's mostly on jon; as written, there really isn't much there, beyond "anime nerd" and "generally nice kid who wants to be liked". the scene right before he dies is comedic in how obvious it's setting things up, but its obvious-ness also makes it feel kind of cheap in terms of pulling on the heartstrings. similarly, ruth is initially just a gimmick (though hers at least ties into a deeper insecurity) and only gets her real moment of depth right before she dies. neither of them feel like they have much affect / haunting presence on the surviving teens once they're dead, past the initial shock of the reveals of their deaths.

and steph and pete are good, but... idk. i wanted a bit more from each of them. if they got to have a talk like paul and emma before "join us and die" - not even for the sake of the romance, but just for the sake of giving us more on each of them outside of their basic stereotypes and the romance - that would've helped, i think.

grace was great, though, no qualms. initially there was a part of me that was disappointed that the stereotype max was pushing on her about her being secretly repressed and horny was in fact true, but the way it gets used makes up for it, and in between max's death and when that specific thing comes up again in the climax, she gets to do a lot with the two conflicting sides of her personality, wanting to be good but having a capacity and arguable instinct for scheming and ruthlessness.

(also, as i mentioned earlier, max has a surprising amount going on, especially once you get into the Implications)

it could just be that i see those depths in the tgwdlm cast because i've had more time to chew on that cast, and that in time i'll see these teens in the same light. but i don't think it's just that.

i think part of it is how there are so many jokes about the teens being nerdy prudes (really, mostly just nerds). and like, that's part of the point, obviously, that they were being forced into those boxes and that they were still people with the potential to be more. but... i don't know if the show does enough to really make that point. again, richie doesn't really get to be more (and it's not for lack of time - there's a good amount of show before max comes back as the demon and kills for the first time).

in tgwdlm, the mains are all arguably based on stock characters, but they have more depth through their relationships. look at ted, the stock asshole sleazeball, who's shown to feel genuine remorse when he loses people he loves, in a way that contextualizes his bitterness. and there's a lot less highlighting of the stockness of them in their show than there is of the teens in npmd.

and the thing is, i think the cast of npmd at their foundations are more likable than the cast of tgwdlm (see the earlier point about emma and paul being assholes at times). they had a lot of potential. but i don't think enough of it is realized for the majority of them. the edges the tgwdlm cast has are part of what makes them compelling, and it's something the teens (minus grace) are largely missing.

the thing is, i know the fandom is going to see that potential and run with it. i know that they're gonna develop the teens' characterizations and relationships. i know they'll get into the trauma and the implications from everything that happened to them in the show. i know they'll get into... pete's survivor's guilt, and steph losing her dad(!!!), and what richie and ruth could have been, and all that. i know that they'll fill in the gaps. because that's what fans do. i guess i just wish there weren't so many gaps to fill. or, that the gaps wouldn't take so much effort from them to fill.

again, i acknowledge, maybe i'm expecting too much from the genre of show this is. it doesn't need to have A Point, i guess, it can just be fun, a comedic horror slasher in musical form. and it is fun, a lot of fun! ...but, tgwdlm was also a lot of fun. not as bombastic, for sure, but i'd say just as humorous. and it was also incredibly tightly written, and satisfying, with strong character arcs for multiple leads. it had commentary on musicals, on what makes a protagonist and what it means to be one, on conformity and institutions of authority, on romance even (you could do a very interesting aromantic reading of this show, trust me). and with a show that's titled nerdy prudes must die, that is About high school, there's, similarly, a lot you can do. and there's a fair amount of seeds planted there. but i don't think it all quite coheres. and it could've, if they really wanted it to.

...i did not keep that brief. ah well. i might disagree with half of this by the time i wake up tomorrow, i just needed to get it out of me. tl;dr, in my opinion, this show is stronger than black friday, but tgwdlm is still my favorite. all the cast and crew put a lot of love into this production and it really shows. i had a great time! :D but i'm always going to overanalyze things i care about as much as i care about the hatchetfield universe, and hence, here we are.

[darennkeller]

My solo indie game reached 10000 wishlists! I never thought it would be possible without a proper marketing team, budget or following.

How did I get those 10000 wishlists? Time to share what worked for me!

Disclaimer: I did sign with a publisher two months ago, and while they are already working on marketing stuff, nothing has been published yet. Those numbers are 100% from my own "marketing" efforts. There are people way better at this than me! I'm just sharing my experience here and I'll let you judge if it's helpful. Some things that did not work with me might work with others (and vice versa)!

(you can also read this and more in this free patreon article)

Let's sort what worked out the best for me.

Steam Events > Influencers > Reddit > Twitter > Devlogs

It might sound obvious, but take the time to check your wishlists regularly, especially whenever you're trying to give visibility to the game with a post/video/announcement/mail. It will allow you to know what works and doesn't. I usually check out youtube and twitch for gameplay videos or press articles whenever there's a bump while I'm not in an event or did not post anything.

Keep posting stuff on social networks. I know it takes time for a small reward, but it's good to have those regular wishlists and connect with other game devs/influencers. It also shows development is alive and you never know when it will reach an influencer or press. When I stopped sharing my stuff for a while, wishlists completely dropped, I was even loosing some everyday! However, do not post stuff EVERY day and do not spend too much time on this. My best results were with a few key posts on reddit (Reddit is harsh, but very rewarding), same thing on twitter. Sharing something interesting every 1-2 weeks instead of small things everyday seems to work better for me. Of course if you like to share your day to day progress regardless of the result, that's good and that's what social networks are for originally! Don't forget people go there to connect with others, not to be spammed by people promoting their stuff.

I publish devlogs on my youtube channel. I got ~200 wishlist from more than 100k views that took me weeks of work. I don't think publishing devlogs is an efficient way to promote your game, unless you go viral or that your videos also target players by being more accessible without too much technical stuff (mine are definitely targeting game devs for now). I'm only speculating here, but I think game developers are mostly interested in learning from your journey than actually wishlisting/playing your game compared to players which results in less wishlists. So do it only if it makes you happy and you want to share your journey (and be careful not to overwork while doing it)!

Influencers are great for 3 reasons:

1. They give your game visibility.

2. They give you feedback to make your game better.

3. They are usually keen to do it for free to help small indie devs.

Build yourself a press list: a list of press and influencer that might be interested in playing your game. I made a list of games that I think have the same target as mine and search on youtube/twitch for influencers that played those games. They usually have their business mail in the about section or on one of their social accounts. When you have something very interesting to show them (a new demo, event or announce) send them all a mail (but don not spam them)!

Here are two accounts you should follow to get tips about how to properly reach to influencers (and other game marketing in general): Clemmy and Wanderbot (subscribe to their newsletters!)

Events are huge for wishlists. It's easy and it does not take time to submit and they are usually free. But there are two big issues with events:

1. You have to find them.

The best free place to find most events is on the HTMAG discord created by Chris Zukowski (@AdventureMtn).

There's also this amazing calendar with all the events (thanks to @mreliptik for sharing this with me)!

2. You have to be accepted.

You need a demo, quality marketing assets to share and a good steam page. Again, Chris has some awesome tutorials (free and paid) to get a great steam page up. Consider supporting him if his tutorials helped you!

WARNING Do not submit your game to the steam next fest too soon like I did. You want to submit as late as possible, ideally just before your release. Each game gets one shot at the steam next fest, and the more wishlists you have going in, the more wishlists you'll get. I made that mistake because I thought I would release the game 2 months later (lol).

On a side note, you will have tons of wishlist deletions. Don't worry about it, that's perfectly normal (I won't lie, the first 1000 deletions still hit me hard though).

I think the best time to create your steam page is as soon you have a small trailer, screenshots and interesting description that do not look like a prototype full of placeholders. The sooner you have it, the sooner you start collecting wishlists! With the steam page also comes the whole steam community package, which is a plus to keep in touch with people who like your game. I don't really see any disadvantage in having a steam page early, but you might want to plan the communication around the page release to maximize visibility right away. Do not release it without telling anyone! When you demo is out, you can update your page and announce it everywhere too (try to give the exclusivity to a big showcase if you can!).

Things that did not work for me: devlogs, replying to influencers asking for games on twitter, using those spammy hashtags to promote your game (#wishlistwednesday etc...), posting uninteresting stuff about the game developement EVERY day, reposting the same content, posting on the popular subreddits, sharing my game on those "share your work" channel on discord servers, paid ads and plenty of other little "tricks" I wasted my time on. I think some things did not work out because of my game specifically. For example, some games definitely look better than others on socials. I don't think mine is, and it might explain why posting on socials is not as efficient as for other games (or maybe I'm wrong and I just did not find the right way to make it look interesting on socials!).

I hope this was was a nice read! Thanks again for your support and don't hesitate if you have questions!

[atopvisenyashill]

What if Corlys had married Dallas?

NOW WE’RE COOKING

FIRST THE DAELLA/CORLYS MARRIAGE

I think Corlys is a smart man who can read what other people need from him well. Which is a nice way of saying that I think he would take the kind of approach to her that Daemon takes to Rhaenyra in HOTD but without that level of psychosexual obsession - he wants her to open up, ~be herself~ and be free, but of course, the definition of be free includes a freedom that would benefit him in some way.

If Corlys marries Daella, it's because Jaehaerys or Alysanne suggested him as a potential match and Daella picked him out. I don't know that Corlys would be particularly gung ho about it initially the way he is with Rhaenys - after all, Rhaenys was a dragon rider and heir presumptive while Daella is not only wayyy down the line of succession, she's "simple" aka likely autistic or developmentally disabled in some way which means she's going to need care taking in a way Rhaenys doesn't. I do think that may lead to some sort of resentment especially during times of great political stress.

BUT. I think there's a non zero chance he encourages her to get close to/claim a dragon - even if its one she doesn't regularly ride - and that might give her some confidence. I mean, just because someone has a disability doesn't mean that with the right environment, they can't be capable of a whole lot! And for Daella, you have that concept that is talked about in that viral video going around with the girl with down's - if you assume she can't, then she won't, and Jaehaerys and Alysanne have assumed Daella can't for a long time, so she doesn't. But if Corlys believes she can - well, maybe she will! The biggest thing here is Corlys has to be careful about her pregnancies. I think he would wait to get her pregnant largely because Alysanne is clearly feeling Some Type Of Way about Daella marrying, but even if he doesn't, the thing about Corlys is he's a Nice Guy. Yeah he'll cheat on his wife, yeah he'll marry a 16 year old but he doesn't physically or emotionally abuse them (...besides the grooming). If Daella is six months pregnant and tells him she's terrified and wants her mother, I think Corlys would just write to Alysanne and ask her to visit (assuming he even left the capital, and I don't think he would anyway) instead of berate Daella or call on his relatives to berate her. I think she's likely to get better care with Corlys looking over her because he needs an heir and wants dragon riding Velaryons and he can't get that if she dies.

Not only that, but Corlys wants to be involved in politics - and I think it's noteworthy that neither Rodrik nor his heir seemed particularly welcome at King's Landing after this incident and it took Daemon making a mess of his marriage with Rhea for the Iron Throne to go "alright let's call it even" before the Arryns really come back onto the political scene. Corlys is not stupid enough to risk something like that which means even IF Daella dies - and I'm not confident in saying she would. I know she's young but 16 year olds do often live through birth, the issue is the baby not living because it's a preemie, and again, proper care and cleanliness fixes a lot of the issues associated with birth - you can guarantee her death is going to be when she's a few years older, like Alyssa, and therefore not something Alysanne can directly attribute to him.

It does ripple out to mean the First Quarrel might not last as long but the trauma of losing Alyssa and Viserra as well as the constant comments about Saera being a whore is more than enough to piss Alysanne off, and once Rhaenys is cut out, Alysanne is definitely leaving Jae's ass again.

THE RHAENYS MARRIAGE

So who does Rhaenys marry in this scenario, if not Corlys? Well.......oof.

For one thing, even with Aemma out of the picture, it doesn't guarantee Viserys/Rhaenys because, well, Corlys may still have a daughter he can marry back into the royal family! If Corlys has a son with Daella, he probably tries to marry him to Rhaenys, and if he has a daughter, he goes for Viserys. Yes, that's right, I do think it's not unlikely Rhaenys marries Corlys' son lmaooooo. If he doesn't have a son, Rhaenys (and Alysanne, and probably Jocelyn, maybe Aemon as well) will still want her to make a big, important match that will help with her claim. So if Corlys doesn't have a son, and Viserys isn't available, she might go for her cousin Borros. Corlys does also have Vaemond and the Velaryon cousins - Daemion, Daeron, a bunch of others - that could also be helpful here (though not nearly as much because they're cousins and not the main line). Without a clear match - if Borros or Viserys doesn't work out, or Corlys doesn't have a son - I think Alysanne might look to the North. The Manderly match fell through and we know the Manderlys were real shitty about that, and that there's a plethora of Starks and Manderlys hopping around right now. Or maybe Alysanne decides she doesn't need to win the North for Rhaenys (she already has the North for Rhaenys, they sided with Rhaenys in the original) so maybe she tries for a match to support her - like a Tyrell or Hightower. Wouldn't it be hysterical if she married like, Otto?

Anyways so I think the marriages for Rhaenys are probably

Corlys' Son (hahahahahaha)

Borros

Viserys

A Manderly

Otto Hightower (hahahahahahahahaha)

A Stark

A Velaryon Cousin

Literally anyone else

A Celitgar

[lotus-tower]

covid has really made me realize that most people don't have very good risk assessment or sense of scope, especially when it comes to statistics. part of it is definitely a knee-jerk aggressive response to the word even being said, but a lot of the arguments i hear seem predicated on some kind of belief that Low Percentage equals safe, because that's how people talk about things generally.

putting aside for one moment that the percentages are most likely a lot higher than they think, and that the risk of long-term complications after catching the virus is cumulative--i think people have sort of lost sight of how unprecedented covid actually is, because it's so easy to go back to normal life. covid is the first pandemic in the age of super fast and easy plane travel. covid is the first pandemic in the age of humanity's numbers being over 8 billion.

no one is claiming that your risk of catching covid after going out unmasked just once is high (with the exception of peak season during the holidays). in periods where transmission is low, that risk could in fact be negligible. but you aren't rolling that dice once. you're rolling it several times a day, every day. have you ever played a gacha game where the odds of pulling a SSR were 0.5%? did you ever pull one, or did you know anyone who did? how surprised would you be if you were able to pull one after pulling for 10 hours a day nonstop every day? would you really be particularly surprised?

despite all this, you may not catch covid more than once a year, or maybe even every two years. if you're looking at a time-frame of 5 years, that's pretty good, isn't it? the odds of developing severe, permanent complications from one or two covid infections isn't That high. except... why would we look at time-frames of 5 years? we're in the fifth year of the pandemic and this virus has evolved fast, so the research is obviously laser-focused on year to year changes and working with the timeline that it's got. but i don't know about you guys, i anticipate living about 60 more years. do you think, knowing what we know about cumulative damage, that catching covid 60 times will be completely fine for our bodies? hell, what do you think catching influenza 60 times would do? post-viral syndromes have existed long before covid.

vaccines will never be able to catch up to the rate of the virus' mutations if they keep being tailored to specific variants, and it complicates things for developing effective treatments too. this is because this is a virus that circulates every day among essentially 8 billion people. statistically, it's inevitable that a random mutation somewhere will be successful and then begin to circulate. the fact is that 0.5% (a completely arbitrary number) of the global population is a massive number of people. it's 40 million people, more than the population of many countries. but it can be that amount again and again, because there's nothing preventing continuous reinfection.

no other statistics deals with this kind of situation. you can't use that ordinary benchmark or logic to think about covid. because this is in fact an unprecedented situation. and when new situations arise, people have to adapt and change their behaviour. but that's something that humans really hate doing, unfortunately

[olderthannetfic]

Been thinking about daring to try to get into vidding (but I have zero knowledge about video editing lol) and wondered if there are ship manifestos that are in fanvid-form, so to say. Am shocked that there are only six on AO3. Though I guess it may have to do with videos being taken down because of copyright stuff?

(One of them was by you by the way if I'm not mistaken, ha! And now I want to watch Veritas: The Quest. Your video got me interested.^^)

--

Haha. I was going to say!

Veritas is a fun dumb time. It makes me sad that they never released properly. (And yes, my love of baaaaaad "archaeology" canons full of magical woo and tomb raiding goes way back. Also my love of fake death and fake betrayal plots.)

AO3 is only moderately popular for fanvids, and mostly in a very specific community of people who send vids to the small-scale fancons—the sorts of people who founded OTW and who were vidding on Livejournal. (It won't be because of takedowns. The AO3 work would still be there, just with a dead embed.) That lack of popularity overall is part of why you don't see so many video manifestos, but I think it's more a terminology thing:

I think it's rare for vidders to call their vids "manifestos". I don't think of that one video as a vid that is a manifesto: I think of it as a vid I made to include in a manifesto. Instead, we tend to call them "pimp vids", but you don't tag with that because it's presumptuous. It's something you say retroactively about other people's vids or that you tell a vid beta you're aiming for. You don't get to decide if your vid successfully pimps people in any more than you get a say in whether you go viral, you know?

--

There's a weekly vidders' zoom run by DC Slash (one of the tiny slash cons), and we just had a week where we brought in vids that got us into fandoms. A lot of other people's were ancient, blurry VCR transfers because they've been at this a lot longer than I have, but I can show you some of the vids that have gotten me into fandoms:

Killa's Haven vid Soldier annoyed me so much. What is that one brief flash of a scene? Did that dude die? It's not that sad a vid though? What the hell? So I had to watch just to find out. (Yes, he died. But he got better. Because Haven.)

The fact that I know and like Killa didn't hurt, but it's not like I loved the vid itself: a lot of it was my sheer annoyance at that one shot.

Of course, then, I made my own Haven vid, Captain Kidd, that was supposed to be an angry deep dive into show lore and how the other sanctimonious, fake-moral but actually pretty useless characters were treating my blorbo. (This is a theme with me, it appears.) It was not even 1% supposed to be a pimp vid...

To date, this is by far my most successful pimp vid, luring a whole bunch of people into the show just in time for it to massively jump the shark. (Damn it.) I've never even seen the ending.

More recently, akiv's Beyond Evil vid I'm a Ruler made me fall hard for Beyond Evil. Imagine my shock when what looked like a relatively normal buddy cop series starts with one of them secretly investigating the other as a serial killer. It was so much more intense and fucked up than I realized! Yessss.

After bouncing hard off of DMBJ, it was this Youtube vid Hei Ye falling for the Thorny Flower that got me intrigued again. The tone is so obvious and the dynamic is so clear, which really helped me get interested in a franchise that's often pretty hard to follow plot-wise.

I admit I never actually watched canon, but this Mr. Queen vid by Mozzaphne made me go look up a plot summary so I could read all of the fic. Lots of youtube vidders overuse show dialogue and mix it horribly over songs, but this one was really well done and adds a lot to your understanding of the character dynamics.

I don't think my foray into Detroit: Become Human was entirely because of a single vid, but Figure 8 by Dirty Mind Gene definitely helped. I knew it was a video game with robots. Nobody fucking told me it was a Caves of Steel ripoff with a jaded cop getting his mojo back via getting to know his robot partner.

I of course then went and made one with all of the zillions of deaths in the game because I love that shit. This apparently also got at least one person into the fandom.

Another vid a different person mentioned pimping them into a fandom was Lola's Sleuth of the Ming Dynasty vid ME!

It's a fabulous vid, and it's a fantastic illustration of how the central (canon) ship is supposed to read. Sadly, my personal opinion of the show is that Tang Fan is a perpetual victim and piece of shit who puts his own shallow grasp of morality and his personal feelings over the greater good, often getting characters killed unnecessarily. (I hear this is largely due to some questionable adaptation choices where they swapped who's the hothead and who's the one cleaning up messes.)

I've noticed that fluffy bunnies who watch the show tend to think Tang Fan is ~nice~ because he spouts modern morality instead of a selfish little bitch because he refuses to face the reality of the setting he's in and find the best real world solution instead of holding out for an ideal he'll never attain and thus making everything ten times worse. It reminds me forcibly of tumblr wank where people see themselves as these great moral leaders but lack all grasp of nuance. Their sensitivity extends only to their own feelings.

Yes, Sleuth left me with a lot of rage...

How dare the writing pretend like Tang Fan is the moral arbiter of anything, when my own personal fave, whom half the cast thinks is a villain, is constantly cleaning up after him, trying to keep the body count low, trying to maintain order as everybody else flies out of control...

And then the show made it all better by tormenting Tang Fan in the iddiest way possible. Ohohoho. It's not just that he gets his face rubbed in his own inadequacy and inability to save people. It's the ridiculously over-the-top flashback to "You're my only friend" right in the middle of the death scene. Way to twist the knife!

I, of course, have made my own vid for this fandom, Tiny, Pretty & Angry, and it is absolutely a manifesto, just not a ship one. It's a manifesto about how Wang Zhi is not only the most competent, but also the actual moral center of everything and fuck all of y'all if you don't agree.

In fact, there's probably another reason we don't call them manifestos:

In the oldschool Media Fandom vidding traditions, most vids are video essays and manifestos, really. That's a lot of the point of the aesthetic: making an argument. Partly due to technological limitations and partly due to vidding being innovated by slashers who were constantly challenged about their ships, the pretty visual spectacle styles so common in AMVs and currently on Youtube were largely absent. Meta argument was everything. That's the default.

Here's another one of mine that's pretty explicitly a fuck you to how most people in Untamed fandom see Wen Ning.

[dewdropdinosaur]

Hihi!! As per usual I ADORED my last fill 💜💜💜 it was absolutely lovely

Currently there's several... Let's just say shitty things (understatement) happening in real life for me, so I thought about batting a few prompts at you because you always make me feel so much better. Of course, I don't expect you to do them all at once, it's just so you work through them in whatever order you prefer (and obviously mine don't all have to come out one after the other when people are sending you more; it'll just be nice to get them over time and I don't want to forget them (I thought of one related to the "Swan" singer alter ego and forgot it TwT my memory's bad lately bc of all the stress). Basically what we discussed in DMs).

All of them are with my usual non-binary Reader and set in the "I Guess I Fall Hard", "Cocoa Not Chanel" and "Kiss A Hundred Boys in Bars" universe 💕

Prompt 1: After getting themselves hired as a part-time model and assistant designer by Velvette, several photos of Reader and Angel Dust in fancy clothes go viral, and Reader uses that to convince Velvette to hire out Angel to do at least one joint photoshoot with them. (They poke at Velv's ego a bit with stuff like "well, if Mr Valentino can be convinced..." because of course she would go "nobody tells me what to do or who to hire, least of all that pissbaby). The photoshoot turns out to be super fun for them, and of course it's one of those where the models are posing doing hot couple-y things. Valentino is PISSED, but gets told off by Velvette. Worse, after the shoot goes out, it sells so well that Velvette wants to do it again, and when Val throws a tantrum, Vox of all people lectures him because he's not going to ruin something making this much money. Reader is basically smiling innocently and cackling on the inside.

Prompt 2: (this one would take place chronologically after 1, but if you wanna write this one first, just add a note at the top). Angel and Reader do a lingerie shoot together and get more than a bit hot and bothered in the process. Their dressing room in Velvette's studio doesn't have cameras, so they end up having sex there.

(Add on: there's one security camera that they knew about, but Vox keeps the recording for himself instead of showing Val because he got off to it and doesn't want to deal with Val getting mad for either of those things. If you add it, then Reader and Angel didn't bother waiting to get home despite the camera because they knew what Vox would do and it adds an extra layer of fun to drive those two apart).

Important here: Reader uses the alias "Noire" as a model, so that's what the Vees call them (they don't even know it's not their name) and the name Angel uses for them while at the job, aside from his usual "babe/doll/toots/etc" stuff.

Prompt 3: Directly after "Kiss A Hundred Boys", Angel can't get the idea of being tied up by Reader out of his mind, so he tells them. There's some careful negotiation and Reader makes sure it's something Angel actually wants, and then they agree to dress him up in something pretty, paint his lips (it's erotic for them both), spank him, tie him up, and top him (bites and such too). Reader insists on being able to see Angel's face, safeword use, and not being called "master" (sir is ok), as well as aftercare, during negotiations. Reader themself wears a pretty bondage-inspired lingerie set and high boots too. After, they rub down all the places where Angel was tied up, check for any bruising, take a bubble bath with him, and feed him snacks while cuddling before falling asleep. Angel can't get over how nice proper aftercare feels.

Prompt 4: Early in the relationship (as in knowing each other, they've kissed and such but aren't dating yet; Reader doesn't know Husk too well yet either), Angel gets badly hurt by Val and doesn't want to go to the hotel because Husk will ask questions, so he goes to Reader's apartment. Reader patches him up (and sort of surprises Angel with the amount of medical supplies they have, despite knowing about their job) but doesn't buy the story Angel tries to tell about the injuries. They go through them while cataloguing how they're most likely to have happened (not super graphically, sentences like "someone twisted your arm" for a torsion fracture) and when Angel asks how they know, they tell him they started learning how to patch up injuries because they survived a man like Val, and to survive they had to learn. Angel doesn't need to lie, because they've been there and they're never going to judge him. Angel ends up telling them the truth (however much detail you're comfortable with) and having a good cry instead of numbing it. They get his permission to call Husk and explain, and then make dinner for them both and cuddle Angel until they fall asleep.

Prompt 5: Early in the relationship, Reader is worried that Angel would prefer a more masc partner and not someone femme like Angel himself, and that Husk only doesn't mind because he also likes women. After talking about it and reassuring them that Husk doesn't think they're a girl just because they're pretty, and Angel likes both masc and femme men (or men-adjacent nb people like Reader), Angel decides words aren't enough and takes them shopping as a surprise (with Husk as a "pack mule" pretending to complain) and deliberately picks femme stuff that Reader would look gorgeous in. Somewhere in there, "pretty boy" gets added to the nickname roster.

~~~

Like I said, I don't mean for you to juggle all of these at once, just have them in the queue for when you feel like writing them. The numbers are just to differentiate them, too, not the order they have to be written in. I really really look forward to whenever one of them pops up in my notifs 💜💜 and I can DM you outfit inspo if you want (in fact I'd love to). Thanks for letting me do this, for all you do, and for being such a lovely person in general 💕 🥰

Hello! I am sorry to hear that some stuff is happening but after looking over your suggestions, I will add it to my queue! As always, expect a two to three-week return rate. Have a wonderful day my lovely! Love, Dewdrop/Dewy

[stanleyl]

Not to be a menist or whatever (lol) but I actually can't stand when fanbases of female celebrities think trashing their fav boyfriend is so fun and girlbossy. I'm talking about Tom here but it also applies to every relationship (Ariana and Ethan, or even Sabrina and Barry comes to mind). Like they feel the need to downplay their fav bf just to make their fav look good and superior, like it's straight up being mean for being mean, it doesn't bring anything to the table.

I mean it's different when the guy is an asshole, sure whack him if he deserves it but from what we know, Tom, Ethan and Barry are decent partners. They don't do anything negative or embarrassing. I'm not saying you need to be a fan of everyone but I think it's so quirky and ridiculous to go out of your way to hate the guy instead of ignoring his existence. And it's also hypocritical because they will be the first one to get irritated because their names are associated and get mad when he's being brought up but THEY are doing the same everytime they talk about him. I don't care if it's to trash him, in their heads they're doing her a favor because it's elevating her, but the truth is: his name and image still attached to hers with them doing that.

Also It became so easy to "value" celebs just based on their physical appearance, and so easy to call other people hideous thanks to the anonymity of the Internet. And those people will argue that celebs don't see what's happening online but I'm sure they do, to a certain point. Can you imagine being told everyday that you're not good enough for your partner? It's nasty and I'm sure that deep down it can affect you

True & they act like the men don't have a career or aren't successful on their own. It happens the other way around too, but it's way more common and prevalent among female celebrities’ fans. With Tom, it’s different because he’s also a very famous actor, so the press is going to be 10 times more invested in the relationship. I’ve also seen some of her fans throwing shade at him, implying he’s using her ‘fame’ to promote himself. The obvious insecurity and bitterness, given that he doesn’t need to do that cuz he already had a famous name before this rlsp, is very obvious, but they keep pushing it like it makes sense. When in reality, Tom doesn’t even use his own fame like he should. I’m starting to think this whole mentality that he has to be inferior comes from a lot of insecurity more than them not liking his face. It’s like they deep down see him as some sort of competition, so there’s a constant need to downplay his career to uplift hers, which makes no sense to me 💀. Why do you think they’re always so happy whenever something negative about his projects goes viral? oof.

[rollercoasterwords]

I’m so here for all this book hate, and I’m just laying in bed kicking my feet besides you listening to all these people rant. And I so agree with the ‘this book is gay’ thing. Like ESPECIALLY now during pride month everyone is like read these 5 queer books and the only thing it says is oh this mc is bi, oh it has a trans character, oh the main ship is sapphic. I’m like okay, cool, what more? Is that it?

I had this with ‘the priory of the orange tree’ which I loved, but the only thing I was told is ‘there’s a sapphic ship’ and ‘it’s high fantasy’ which yeah it is to both. But that’s not even what the book is about and you could’ve just told me what it was about and told these other things. just imagine if they would do that with other big fantasy books ‘yeah it’s fantasy and straight, enjoy’

Same thing with they both die at the end. Fun book, not revolutionary, I agree what the person said, the mcs are the most boring in the book. But it’s gay so it’s amazing… sure

lol yeah i love a good hater sesh <3 and YEAH like. i understand people compiling lists of books w certain types of representation etc bc obviously there are lots of people who want to seek out books that reflect certain experiences etc, but. if the rec begins and ends with just 'it's [x type of queer] and [x genre]!" then i'm like....ok. anything else or....

and i do think it happens particularly often with queer books but also i don't think it's entirely devoid from straight books either lol it's just that instead of going "it's straight and fantasy!" they'll go "dark love interest and fantasy" or some equally surface level label lol. same with the lists that are like "dark academia books" etc i think...i mean i don't necessarily know that this is a new phenomenon but maybe it's just become more visible/common 2 me bc of the shifting landscape of social media that prioritizes shortform algorithmic content but it feels like this widespread practice of packaging books as aesthetic products more than like. literature. if that makes sense...idk still parsing through my thoughts on this but. yeah just feels like a very surface level way to engage w books--and the thing is it seems like it's a growing way that writers/publishers are marketing their books as well. like i don't really fault the authors for this bc ik in this day and age they have to do a ton of legwork to market their own shit to get it like picked up by publishers or whatever and so they kinda have to play the game (<- try desperately to go viral on tiktok) but every time i see a video that's like a writer going "would you read THIS??" and then it's like. a list of their protagonist's identities and then just a general/vague nod to some subgenre that sounds like a pinterest board title i throw up in my mouth a little ngl. and it's not like i think literature is some sort of Higher Art Form that must always be Venerated it's more that consumerism feels so fucking inescapable and every art form has to be boiled down into something that will go viral on tiktok these days and it makes me want 2 scream!!

anyway this turned into a little rant of my own lol but. agree w u ty 4 partaking in this hater experience w me <3

[green-socks]

Looking For You

Pairing: vampire!Benny Miller x gn!reader

Summary: You search for supernatural things with your friends for fun. What happens when you run into one of the beings you're supposed to be hunting for?

Words: 2.5k

Warnings: Benny and reader have sex and though it's not described there's mentions of it. They move really fast but they just have the hots for each other, who am I to stop that? This is all very silly tbh.

Notes: OKAY SO. I wrote this piece in October of last year based on two prompts from @lorecraft (it's literally been a year but here you go I guess!), and I had grandiose plans to make it a series and that's why I never posted, but that just never happened. So then I promised myself in May that I'd just post this on Halloween this year as it is and be done with it. A big thank you to @a-reader-and-a-writer for braving this old mess with your supportive betaing. I don't deserve you <3

MASTERLIST | BENNY MASTERLIST

This sexy edit that started it all is by @madrefiero

Some years ago, your friends got the idea to start making YouTube videos exploring supposedly haunted places to try and record evidence of any supernatural existence. They hoped to catch signs of ghosts, ghouls, demons, vampires, werewolves, anything. That was why you often ended up following them to places like abandoned houses, creepy industrial areas, graveyards, dark forests, eerie cabins.. you name it, they’re on it.

So far the team’s endeavors haven’t produced any significant results, but it’s mostly just about having fun anyway. Sometimes you grumble about the weather conditions on your trips, not really enjoying the rain and wind in your face while searching for who-knows-what signs. One time your expedition crew had been crossing a muddy field, and you and your friend had sunken in the mud all the way to your thighs. Your left Wellington boot had gotten stuck so bad you had to leave it there and walk home with only one boot and an extremely soggy sock. Your colorful cursing had amused the viewers, and it became the most watched video on the whole channel. It had sort of gone viral. Hooray.

You don’t outright deny the existence of all these creatures, but you also don’t completely believe in them. You feel like you’ll believe it if/when you see some proof. You’re curious about your friends’ interest of course, and you aren’t that spooked by the dark or the mystery. Which is why you agree to tag along with them and provide your commentary – with the occasional comic relief moment – since they claim you add entertainment value. And who would turn down an adventure with friends?

-

One of your friends had gotten a tip from a regular viewer of the show about a group of vampires living a couple hours’ drive away from your town. Your friends usually follow pretty much all tips from viewers, because even if they don’t lead to any big discoveries, the experience is still worth filming.

You must admit, this particular gig does sound pretty interesting – four unnaturally handsome (according to the tip) bachelors living in a big, secluded mansion together? Not exactly an everyday occurrence, in your opinion. It will be worth the visit just for the filming material, even if they turn out to be just a gothy rock band or something. You don’t know much about vampires, and you doubt you’d even recognize one from up close, but you’re always there along for the ride. You have even booked rooms at a local motel in case the investigations take longer than a few hours. It’s promising to be a fun Friday night trip with friends, no matter how you look at it.

After stopping for quick burgers on the way, your group decides to try and find the mansion. You drive close to the approximate location, but then leave the car a short distance away and make the rest of the trek on foot, not wanting to alert any possibly murderous vampires or whatever. Your group of five silently makes their way through the woods toward the big house. The manor itself isn’t very hard to find, even if Google Maps hasn’t covered the area super well. There’s light coming from some of the windows, there are a couple of cars in the front yard, and everything seems mostly normal. Nothing out of the ordinary sticks out to your eye, nor the camera’s. You don’t dare get too close to the property, not wanting the cops called on your asses if you turn out to be spying on some harmless dudes trying to live in peace and quiet.

But at least it was confirmed that there is indeed a mansion and that people do seem to live there. The group decides to head to the bar for the rest of the evening, hoping to maybe chat up some locals on their views on vampires – as discreetly as possible, of course.

-

You’re at the counter, ordering a new drink for yourself when a tall man slides to the stool next to you.

“Hey, are you from those YouTube videos, the ones where you hunt for monsters and stuff? You’re the one who lost a boot in the mud, right? You cursed like a sailor. I was impressed,” the man says, grinning broadly.

“Oh. Yeah.” You blink, not used to getting recognized at all. “Well, I am here to entertain and amuse,” you say dryly, giving a little bow, and the man laughs.

“I’m a big fan of the channel! Great fun. What’re you doing in town? Are you shootin’ here?” he asks, eyes wide. “I’m Benny, by the way,” he introduces himself, offering his hand.

You tell him your name and reveal that you might indeed be shooting here. It’s not like it’s a top-secret project. You can totally tell a fan about what you are doing in town, right? You end up telling Benny a lot more about your escapades with the crew. He’s really fun to talk to – a great listener, laughs easily, asks questions. Plus he offers some very amusing stories of his own friends in return.

He’s a very good-looking guy, with intense blue eyes and such a dazzling smile you feel a little dizzy looking straight at him. He’s also definitely being flirty with you, and before you know it, you’re making out with him right there at the bar, not caring who sees – you’re a tourist, so it’s not like anyone even knows who you are anyway.

“Damn, sweetheart, you make my cold, dead heart feel like it’s beatin’ again,” he says with a charming grin.

“Your cold, dead heart, you say? I doubt there’s anything cold or dead about you. You seem like a human puppy,” you say, raising your eyebrows in disbelief.

Benny throws his head back and laughs, “I’ve been told that before.”

Soon enough you’re thanking your lucky stars for not having to share a room with anyone this time, as you drag Benny up to the motel to have your wicked way with him.

-

The next morning you wake up to see Benny lounging on the bed next to you, comfortably naked, reading the book you had on your nightstand. You’re honestly a little surprised that he’s still there, your usual hotel room hookups leaving way before dawn.

“Good morning,” you croak.

“Mornin’, Sunshine,” he greets you, putting the book away and turning to face you.

You scowl at him for the nickname, feeling very un-sunshine-y at the moment. He was the sunshine one here.

“Why didn’t you wake me? How long have you been up?”

“Ah, you looked so cute sleepin’, I didn’t wanna disturb you,” Benny says.

“Yeah, no way this looks cute,” you scoff, happy that there aren’t any mirrors in the room to prove you right.

“I’m serious, baby, I could look at you for all eternity,” he grins with a mischievous spark in his eyes, his expression turning hungry.

Your own eyes roam his naked form, feeling a bit hungry yourself. Well. Who said you need food for breakfast?

-

You part with Benny after getting one last taste of each other, him heading home, you suppose, and you meeting with your friends to go over your strategy for the day. The first half hour of that brunch time strategy meeting is spent by them interrogating you about your night with the handsome stranger and wanting to express their complaints about the loss of sleep you two had apparently caused them – “I had earbuds in and it still didn’t help! What are you, animals?”

After they’re done roasting you, the strategy is finalized for the day and you get a move on. It was decided that you’d split up into teams to work more effectively. The first part of the not-so-subtle strategy for your team is to send two of you to the alleged vampires’ mansion doorstep, pretending to sell something, and get them to talk to you. The hope is that this will give you more indication as to whether there is some truth to the rumor or not. It’s also a pretty silly and not at all scientific method of figuring out vampires, but your group has the entertainment value of the videos to think about too. One will stay behind with the camera, in case things get weird and someone needs to get help. You seriously doubt that three tired humans were a match for four bloodthirsty vampires – if they happened to be in that mood, or if they indeed were even vampires – and for your snark, you were chosen to be one of the two sent up to the house.

The cover story is that you’re selling new ovens – one of your friends, the one who is coming with you, is a chef, so she knows about them apparently – and that you’d need to get inside the house to check their current oven and see if your “new oven” would fit there. It’s honestly so flimsy and stupid, but at least it’s not a very serious fraud to commit, and you’re never one to back down from a challenge, no matter how silly. Anything for the fans and all that.

Head held high, you march up the mansion driveway, up to the front door, and knock.

A tall man with long dark blonde hair answers the door with a smile.

“Hi, sweetheart.”

“Benny?!”

“Miss me already?” Benny grins, leaning on the doorframe.

Yes, you think, but that’s beside the point. Also beside the point is how nicely he fills out that door frame.

“Go wait in the car,” you hiss to your friend, “I’ll deal with this.”

Benny watches you with amusement on his face.

“Did you notice I stole your candy bars? Is that why you’re here?”

“You what?”

“Nothing.”

“Benny, you know why I’m here, don’t you,” you say quietly, staring at him seriously.

“…Come in.” He steps aside to let you inside and closes the door behind you.

--------

“This way,” he says, leading you to the kitchen. “We can talk here. Pope’s in his room and Fish is watchin’ TV. My brother’s out on errands.”

Benny knows the guys would have his head if they knew he had slept with a human who hunts for monsters for fun and posts videos of the hunts on YouTube for all the world to see. He knew it was risky, but he just couldn’t resist you.

“So... You really are four grown men living together in a mansion? And are all of you also exceptionally handsome, like the rumor says?” you ask, glancing around at your surroundings a little nervously.

He laughs a little at that but sobers up quickly. “What else do the rumors say?” he tries to ask carefully.

You look at him, chewing your lip. “I think you know what rumor I heard.”

Benny swallows audibly. “Probably. There aren’t that many in this town.”

“But it also doesn’t completely make sense. Like, people see you out in the sunlight and stuff.”

You look like you’re mostly thinking out loud, trying to piece everything together, but Benny can’t help laughing again. You look adorable.

“We can go out in the sunlight, it’s just a little uncomfortable. Like a bad hangover, you know?”

“Yeah, I think I’m having one right now,” you mutter, before gaining new energy. “Can you show me your teeth?”

Benny rolls his eyes but lets himself flash his sharp teeth.

“Cool.”

“Thanks.”

“But if you’re a vampire, why didn’t you just eat me last night?”

“I thought I did.” He can’t resist wiggling his eyebrows.

You don’t even dignify that with a response. “You know what I mean!”

“If I killed you, I couldn’t enjoy your company again, now could I? Besides, we don’t really… do that. Fish especially is very strict about that.”

Frankie was the one who had the most trouble adjusting to their new lifestyle. After the initial shock wore off, Benny actually liked being a vamp. He simply thought it was pretty cool. Sue him. Santi also liked it well enough and Will was pretty much indifferent either way but plowing on like the soldier he was. Only Frankie really resented it. All of them had been turned by their former superior officer Tom while they were still in service as an act of saving them from what would have otherwise been a sure death.None of them had chosen this life, except for Pope who had been able to consent to being changed. But Frankie had lost the most because of it. Sure, he lived, but his fiance had left him, not wanting to share a house with a monster, taking their daughter with her. Benny could understand why Fish was struggling, and it hurt them all to see it. But that’s why they had retreated to a relatively secluded place and avoided killing humans.

Benny shook off his thoughts of the past and tried to focus on solving his current predicament.

“Look, I can promise we are not interested in killing you. However, it might be best if you leave before my brother comes home. I should probably explain to him and the others that I fucked up and tell them about you, and that’s best done if you’re not here when I do.”

You look a little shocked but recover quickly. “Of course, of course. And I’ll make sure they don’t post the video. I’ll come up with an excuse. I don’t actually want to expose you or anything. Sorry for the trouble.”

“Thank you. I should be the one apologizing. I should’ve kept away, but I couldn’t resist.”

With one final awkward smile, you turn to leave. Benny counts it as a win that you don’t flat-out run.

--------

You tell your friends that they can post a vague blooper compilation from the trip, but nothing identifying the manor or the guys, coming up with a story that they’re all government employees and prefer to keep their anonymity. Your friends probably think it’s just because you’re crushing on Benny (which is true of course) but accept graciously and that’s that.

Getting home late that night, you crawl straight to bed, distantly musing that you are surely the worst monster hunter in history to have slept with a vampire without even knowing.

The next morning you wake up to an Instagram DM from Benny. You don’t suppose it was hard for him to find you since you were featured on the channel’s account fairly often.

“Hey. I dunno if you’re even interested given… everything, but I’d really like to take you out on a proper date and see where this could go. I understand if you’d rather I stay away, no hard feelings. I just really enjoyed spending time with you this weekend.

I talked to the guys about you, so there’s no need to worry about that. They were worried you were only interested in getting an interview with the vampire, but I told them you aren’t like that.”

Date a vampire? You have to admit the idea is equally exciting and kind of weird, but you are intrigued. Definitely intrigued. Benny already had like three opportunities to kill you if he had wanted to, so you trust he isn’t after that. At least it would be an experience even if nothing comes of it.

With a grin you’re happy no one is there to see, you start tapping a reply.

-----------------------------------------------

tagsies: @writeforfandoms @ickleronniekinsemotionalrange @fangirl-316 @alexxavicry @marvelousmermaid @sgnjimmy @lorosette @igotmajordaddyissues

[orangewoo]

A bit of a rant incoming but it is what it is. If you're around in NCity, you'll know exactly what prompted this rant, however I won't mention it here so the situation doesn't "escalate". If you really want to know, look around on Twitter and it's everywhere. Sure, you may think I'm turning some jokes into something way too serious but I don't care. This has been pissing me off the whole day and I just have to speak on it.

Some of you people don't deserve to "stan" anyone. You don't see these idols as people, and it is genuinely heartbreaking. You have no right to speculate about a stranger's sexuality, even if it's based on things they've said themselves or so-called "hints" you've inferred. Speculating that someone is "actually gay" is incredibly harmful given not only the industry these people work in but also the country they live in. No, I obviously do not assume that everyone is straight, but I also don't take it upon myself to investigate and scrutinise every word someone says in order to "out them" to a homophobic industry and country. It's one thing to gossip around with friends sure, I can't dictate what you do behind closed doors, but have some decency in public at least if you claim to care about your idol.

Think about how distressing it would be if an actually closeted gay idol had a slip up? Throwing empathy out of the window and for what? For your entertainment and your viral tweets making memes out of someone's life? Must I remind you guys about how Holland has been treated as a gay idol? I'm so disappointed, and even more so when this sort of stuff comes from my fellow LGBTQ+ community members. If anything you guys should relate to that fear the most. But I guess some people are out of touch or rather ignorant (happy for them) to the realities of living in such a conservative country. Don't really know how to end this rant other than saying: do better, people.

[dearweirdme]

so you genuinely believe that if tae wanted a beard he would pick/agree for it to be jennie out of all the idols he could've went with? jennie, whose fandom hates his guts and always the most vile shit about him and his grandma? the jennie whose guts armys hate and are almost always responsible for every viral hate video about her either calling her lazy or making fun of her dancing? i mean armys literally became even more hateful to her after the paris walk and her show.

he could've went with an idol or an actress that armys don't hate to avoid backlash and still had an effective beard.

and if he picked a popular idol with a big fan base so she has loyal ppl defending her from the hate then he failed miserably because armys are bigger than blinks and the hate towards jennie doubled bc of that mess of a show she did. and if the deal was for two-way promo and a beard then where is taehyung's promo? i don't think he needs promo from jennie's fandom at all and it's even disrespectful to think tae would try to use his own antis for promo when he already has armys behind him.

this whole notion of taennie being pr makes no sense bc it literally just seems like they both are dating their fandoms' rivals and didn't want their fans to know, then they were seen by a local, then a hacker leaked their pics and tried to forcibly out them, the matching accessories weren't something they did on purpose to try to signal that they're dating, they just did it. idols get linked by outfits all the time so they figured it's not that big of a deal and isn't an obvious declaration of anything. then they gave up since ppl knew already and walked in paris with no care to be lowkey, but the reactions were outrageous so they went back into hiding, removed the matching stuff etc. their fans' reactions (esp army) are what spooked them (esp tae) but overall it definitely doesn't look like a fake relationship

Hi anon!

Well, this is very star-crossed-lovers-romeo-and-juliet of you.

Two households, both alike in dignity, In fair Seoul, where we lay our scene, From ancient grudge break to new mutiny, Where civil blood makes civil hands unclean.

While I can appreciate a bit of Shakespeare, this is not that, though I bet they love the plot. Tae and Jennie together is a pr manager’s dream. The whole thing basically takes care of itself. It’s cheap, it’s low maintenance, it costs very little actual effort and it will keep people talking for months… years possibly. See, it’s not necessarily about what fandom thinks about it. While it’s probably great they are getting this attention from everywhere, the aim is for both Tae and Jennie to enlarge their fanbases. They want more fans. Putting them together will mean some blinks become Tae fans and vice versa. A pairing of their combined fame though, most certainly also reaches audiences that hadn’t paid much attention to either BTS or BlackPink yet. But a food love story between the prince and princess of Kpop (are they?) will absolutely lure in new fans. And that is how it aids both Tae and Jennie. They have already concurred South Korea, there’s little left for them there.. this is for other audiences. They don’t need pr in Sk, they need it outside of SK. Tae’s album sales will definitely be influenced by this. So many Taennie’s who were only blinks before are going to buy his album, because they will link it to Jennie.

Tae did not choose Jennie for this. Their teams set this up and they only had to agree. Hate is a thing Jennie and Tae always have to deal with. This is just another thing to add. In business emotions don’t play a big part.

What I have been considering since this afternoon though, is that maybe.. maybe… very maybe.. Paris was some sort of test. Maybe they did see the backlash (and the bad critiques from The Idol) and they decided.. nope, not what we wanted out of this. Maybe they did decide against going through with it and that is why things seem.. stagnant?

What would a fake relationship look like according to you though. If you were to plan a fake relationship between two idols, and you had to make it look real.. while also adhering to Sk standards, how would you achieve that? How would you sett up a believable pr stunt. What clues would you leave, and how would you leave them?