#I have no friends in this fandom so I can post as obnoxiously as I want anyway lol

[skinnypaleangryperson]

I don't know if it's just me, but are they gradually dumbing down Rick's character for the sake of keeping the show popular?

I got extreme Peter Griffin vibes from this episode, and I feel like in general he's a lot less sharp and cool gritty and witty and "unconventional" the way that he was the first couple of seasons. He wasn't an easy character to "swallow" in a lot of ways so to speak, and I feel like he's gradually getting dumber, more cloudy around the edges, less sharp and more conventional and shallow with a lot of the things that he says. He feels extremely typical sometimes this season-like more of the character that people would watch because the character doesn't challenge their headspace in any kind of way, and is someone that encourages their complacent drunk dead personality.

The character used to say things that was really unpopular, or at the very least would occasionally say things that would make people uncomfortable (just things like "if you know how you're going to die because of how boring your life is then you're not even alive" and just things that challenged at the boring drunk complacent status quo that most American sitcom characters are), was an extreme breath of fresh air in terms of how sharp he was and how he wasn't afraid to challenge everything even if it was just in a TV show character kind of way, and it's one of the things that stuck out about me about him the most, especially as someone who is mentally ill and feels detached from most of American culture.

I might just be in a bad mood, but I genuinely feel like Rick feels less sharp and "unconventional"and is starting to feel increasingly more dumb, dopey and easy to swallow as a character.

I still love him and I always will, and sometimes I find it endearing, but this episode in particular felt like he was just being a dumb genuine and boring drunk (really just in terms of the scene with Beth, but considering that the episodes are only about 22 minutes, there isn't a lot of elbow room to work with, especially considering most of this episode was summer screen time).

The only reason why I care so much is because of Rick is one of the very few characters I've ever been genuinely connected with, so I'm just worried that Rick as a character is going down to gradual slippery slope of just becoming an American extremely overly dumbed it down product. The show was so gritty and real and raw and a lot of ways for the first three to four seasons and kept that touch up to season 6, but this season just feels like they're gradually going into "American Dad" type feeling territory, and I'm vaguely worried a little bit about my connection to the show. Especially as someone that does not connect to things easily or ever at all really. And partially because everything is so dumbed down and doesn't seem to have any and genuine philosophy behind it except of being another brainless thing for people to consume to pass the time.

[sitp-recs]

re - your last post, as a writer i find that to be an absurd take. people who write exclusively for validation probably shouldn't. if discovering your work is enjoyed and loved - just privately - is a dealbreaker for you, i think there are probably bigger issues that need to be worked through. the idea that we write fic for free and yet this discussion about "payment" through kudos/comments persists is so backwards and obnoxious.

sorry to tag you on this, obv you have nothing to do with op, but i just wanted to say - as a writer recs are a HUGE deal. to know that you liked something enough to share it with others is the biggest compliment for me personally. thanks for doing what you do.

I’m happy you reached out because this is a really interesting perspective. I definitely see increased messaging around comments = payment that pressures readers into thinking they are required to leave comments, and I agree that there are many layers to this convo that point out to a not-so-healthy relationship with fandom.

I find it hard to join this discussion not being an author myself, because I only have the privileged perspective. I understand how important feedback can be to boost newcomers and those who don’t feel part of the community. We all deal with insecurity in different ways and it’s hard to navigate a big fandom when you don’t have a group of friends to rely on. In the end the fandom experience is about a sense of belonging and it saddens me to realize that I might be part of the problem since my recs can only reach Tumblr and my ao3 comments are far and few in between.

It’s funny because my blog has always targeted other readers: at the beginning I didn’t even tag authors and did not expect them to find or engage with my posts. Over the years the recs became more and more personal, until I realized I was writing them for myself. Sure, they are love letters to the fic and might help more people find them, but at the end of the day this is my little therapy corner where I can let go and babble around to my heart’s content 🙏🏼 I’ve always been proud of this blog and seeing that post gave me mixed feelings about it for the first time, so thank you for your message!

Again, I think this discussion has many layers and I’m a bit wary to get involved being a reader, but I’d be curious to see how others feel about it…

[alastorsfluffydeertail]

Max Goof was getting on Bradley's last nerve.

Not only was the freshman loud and obnoxious during class, but now he'd taken to following Bradley outside of class.

"You going to that party tonight, Brad?" Max asked, following Bradley on his skateboard.

Bradley scowled, "I told you not to call me that!" He snapped, then turned forward, lifting his nose and pulling is shoulders back. "And no, I'm not going. I have to study for finales."

"Aw," Max whined, moving so he was skating directly in front of Bradley. "C'mon! You can study later! Come have fun!!"

Bradley was mildly surprised. The two had barely started being friends, and Max was upset he wasn't going to some party?

"I'm busy Goof," Bradley said, trying to keep a neutral look on his face.

Max's teasing smile fell for a moment before a 'oh well' look appeared on his face. Bradley felt bad for a moment before jolting, shocked by his own emotions.

"I've got to go," Bradley said hurriedly, heading quickly in front of Max and up to the Gamma House. "Have fun at the party, Goof."

"Yeah, sure," Max said Softley, "see ya."

Bradley rushed inside, leaning back against the door. He shouldn't be feeling bad about hurting that Freshman's feelings! SO why did it hurt when he saw the younger man frown?

Bradley leaned up to look through the peep hole in the door, watching max skate away down the narrow path. Bradley turned, resting his head back against the door and closing his eyes. God he couldn't wait to graduate.

I know this fandom isn't on my List, but these two have been popping up everywhere for me and I'm actually love them. Sorry for not posting in a while! Love y'all!!

[olderthannetfic]

Obvious Disclaimer that this is not about any specific anon in particular, not about OTNF themself, but that my following rant might *slightly* punch down on people who ARE, well, older than net fics are.

But my honest opinion is that I really don’t like it when us old heads tend to sorta…talk down to? “Adultsplain”, if that’s even a thing? To The Gen Zs, by being like “damn kids! back in my day we never used our real name or posted selfies or posted about our personal life at all!” Don’t get me wrong, I’m one of those people who never posted the real me — but not because I was anonymous and cared about online safety, because I was a liar 😂 That being said, there ARE older people who definitely over-shared or “doxxed” themselves and still do, and there’s younger people who don’t!

I also feel like being “ha, these stupid KIDS who post about their FANDOM LIFE on TIK TOCK under their REAL NAME AND FACE where IRLS CAN SEE THEM, how STUPID” is not doing anyone any favors. Is that, technically, a smart thing for kids to do? No. Has it become normalized? Yes. And does that suck for people who might be bullied or outed or whatever cuz they genuinely are dumb and don’t know better and then someone they don’t like sees their stuff? Yes.

We all talk about how there’s no more kids spaces on the internet and how that’s a shame, but then five seconds later we’ll reblog that one “At any time I’m at risk of seeing a 14 year olds opinion and that’s why I hate it here” post. There’s really so few kid spaces on the net now, that’s true. We should extend empathy and let the teens be obnoxious and pretentious in peace, rather than making it a point to “ratio” or “roast them.” Idk personally I’d be completely unbothered if some 14 year old insulted my fic or my ship or whatever. I’d just block and move on, no need to try to argue with them.

And also, not all kids are even pretentious or obnoxious! I’m not saying we all need to take the kids under our wings, but we should be careful about not hating them just for being in their teens years, you know?

Also… telling a teenager to not post PII or not get into discourse or not have social media or whatever will NOT work the way you want it to 😭 kids are by default a little bit oppositionally defiant so telling some rando teen to Get Off Your Lawn (blog) rather than just blocking them, will encourage said teen to Stay On Your Lawn.

I just hate how it’s become normal for adults to talk down to teens online. I was harassed by adults online as a kid, then years and years and years later i went through my own “Older Than You™️”phase where I myself was a shit to teenagers, and I truly regret that so much. To this day I still need to make an effort to be careful. I saw on Twitter where an adult posted a DM from a 13 year old, mocking them. The DM said “I’m 14 next year, can I follow you? Please don’t groom me.” And the adult OP was laughing at how stupid the dm was. A few years ago, I would’ve been one of the people retweeting that and rolling my eyes at the child. Now im disgusted by the people who WERE laughing at them.

And again I’m obviously not saying we should be “nice” to the teenagers who mock us for our ships or who virtue signal too hard. But we also don’t need to make fun of their CARRDS or call them Puri-teens or rag on them just for being 17 or younger, yk?

--

Teens aren't 'puriteens' just for being young, dude. They have to also be puritanical bullies.

I find the stuff about real names hilarious because, actually, if you're really Internet Old™, then you probably did use your real name... it was right there in your university e-mail address! Or your random early ISP address if your stepdad got it for you and thought the university format was the default. Thanks, stepdad.

I've done every single dumb thing from going to meet my internet pen pal at an Alice Cooper concert to flying to Ireland from Japan to stay with a fandom friend I'd never met without telling anyone where I was going and without a credit card or enough cash to flee if I had to. I remember sitting on the plane thinking "Man, this is such a CSI episode topic".

The really funny part was that despite what she'd said before I visited, we ran into each of her parents at different times and ended up going to a play courtesy of her uncle, and all of them were like "So how do you know each other?" and "But you'd met before, right? RIGHT?!"

The level of panopticon is horrifying now. Teens have my sympathy. That part really is worse, and I think it's driving an entire generation nuts and we're going to see even more shit about people wanting to run away and live in a cabin in the woods with no internet. But in general, I don't think we're so different.

[oscconfessions]

people should stop portraying book as some little shy girl who "made some mistakes in the past but is ok now" or whatever because that's so booooring and just barely scraping the surface of her character. she should be allowed to be mean to people and have negative emotions and be wrong sometimes, actually.

canon book in tpot also kinda has this problem where she's just portrayed in the most boring way possible that's not like. ooc but just like the super watered down version of her from bfdia. modern bfdia gets like a pass for this because yeah she's supposed to be portrayed as a pushover on that team. but keeping her that way is so weird because it just goes back on the "development" (using that term VERY lightly because the show is kind of weird about her character during the time) in BFB that literally shows she doesn't want to be a pushover anymore and wants to start actually standing up for herself and her friends (her not joining back with pencil for iance and her calling out taco for abandoning the team).

i think bfb portraying her at a negative extreme is good because it manages to be reasonable within her character (it's not really written WELL but that doesn't mean it's ooc some of you just think of it as ooc because you expect book to be some nice little polite girl all the time even when bfdia has shown her being incredibly petty at times and not, in fact, nice all the time) while still going out and doing something unique w/ her and giving her more glaringly obvious flaws. i wish these flaws were shown more post-bfb because Hey, book can be a better person and not at that extreme negative and still have flaws. that's how you make her actually interesting instead of generic nice all the time character who has no issues #57. tpot really wants to show that she's changing from her past and improving on these flaws without actually /giving/ her the flaws that she's supposed to be improving on so she doesn't get any of the development that the show wants her to get/acts like she's getting.

anyways where was i this was suppsoed to be about fanon book. i like that people acknowledge her nerdiness but i dont think people get how annoying she is about it like she literally said (in front of lollipop) that lollipop was being "so out of character" and she literally has snarky definitions of the other contestants written inside of her that's so fucking obnoxious of her and i love it. and like these are still there in bfb (like her saying black hole sucks as a person because he's a pushover) so like i think it's reasonable to carry this over to tpot. maybe lessen it a bit because y'know she is actively trying to make friends but you can make her a bit of an awkward ass to people because it's funny

basically just...... make her worse. no more "cute awkward girlfail" book that's been done time and time again i want to see her suck and i want to see her be lame in a non-endearing way. tpot 10's "redemption" (FOR LACK OF BETTER TERM I DON'T THINK IT'S A REDEMPTION) scene with her and price tag talking is too happy and wholesome i want to see her have to face the ugly truth of her actions after trying to avoid her past for so long and i want her to have negative feelings towards people from her past even if unjustified and i want her to be selfish and i want her to feel bad about her own feelings (this is all said lovingly) so that when she finally moves on from it there's an actual impact on her character. you can't just treat it like she's "turning over a new leaf" with just not if you're gonna have her be the Usual Book throughout tpot. as i said earlier she doesn't get any character development like how the show says she does because there's nothing to change about her

oops again this was supposed to be about fanon. well i just really hate(?) tpot book and her impact on the way the fandom portrays book. give her back her charcter flaws and problems pretty please stop woobifying her!!! i don't think she was some awful person in bfb (i think she was. somewhat right in bfb but that's not what this is about) but i don't think her actions back then should just be brushed off because "oh that's the past and she's clearly changed!" WE DON'T EVEN GET TO SEE HER CHANGE THAT WOULD'VE BEEN INTERESTING TO SEE HER ARC IS SO SLOPPILY RESOLVED GRHGHRGJHGGHJH sorry folks i really hate #that scene in tpot 10

Also she's a butch lesbian that's not related to any of this but she came to my house personally and told me this

.

[am-i-the-asshole-official]

AITA for taking part in testing a stranger a few years ago?

Sounds worse than it is but I just want to ask. Long story bear with me. Fake names, all of us were 19-21 when it happened.

I'm in a very close friend group where we all share multiple fandoms, went through all kinds of discourse hell and fandom drama together for years. We're closeknit and we only get closer with time. One of the pillars of this group is Pearl who I deeply admire. Pearl is popular because she has good meta analysis and she's a vocal progressive just like everyone else in the group. All of us are popular to some degree but she's the most eloquent among us.

A few years ago we were hosting a group chat session to discuss a new show, Pearl was the host and she posted the invite for anyone to join. A new account named Ruby who was following some members of our group for a while, joined the chat along with a some other unknown people and a few mutuals. The chat had about 20 people, don't remember the exact number. So it was Pearl, her friends including me, some mutuals, some new people- all from Sauce fandom.

We were really happy to see so many Sauce fans like the new show. We were having fun until Pearl brought up shipwar from Sauce fandom for the sake of a mutual who was out of the loop. It was a mayo/ketchup vs ketchup/mustard drama and we were fans of mayo/ketchup. We were all shitting on the delulu ketchup/mustard shippers when Ruby said she was one of them. Pearl immediately showed her shitty takes from mustard fans, screenshots of anon hate Pearl got and some other things I can't remember. She asked for Ruby's opinion on those.

I admit Pearl was a little bit condescending, but at that time I was too busy agreeing with her and laughing about mustard/ketchup shippers' idiocy. I was giving more examples to support Pearl in case Ruby decided to counter. Ruby on the other hand laughed and said she also thought those anons were obnoxious and said she was only a casual fan. Pearl said she was relieved because these days you can't trust mustard/ketchup shippers to be normal. We went back to the original topic.

That was over, but I kept an eye on Ruby and I remember she unfollowed Pearl after a few days. I brought it up later a couple times when new members of our group became mutuals with Ruby. And one of them was outright making fun of her for being a little simpleton but we grew up and had other things to talk about.

Then I saw Ruby left Sauce fandom for Fruits fandom where she became a little more popular for meta discussions. She's still friends with a couple people from my group who are casual fans of Fruits. She sometimes shows up on my dash for general fiction takes I agree with. All good. But yesterday I saw her talking to her friends about something friendship and virtue signalling related, she said it was weird how many times she's been "tested" by fellow fans including people who she knew for years, and she thought maybe it was because she came off as dumb and oblivious. She implied She never needed to test anyone.

Now I don't know about other times Ruby was tested but I remembered the story from above when I was one of the strangers testing her and I'm wondering if it was a bad thing to do? I can see why she thought it was maybe rude. But it is true that many shippers happen to have dumb takes and I'd rather not waste my time, rival shipper or not. It's not even a big deal.

So Was I the asshole?

PS thank you for reading the full story and sorry I will not say the real names of Sauce fandom or its ships, none of us go there anymore.

What are these acronyms?

[eisforeidolon]

Hi! Sorry if i'm bothering you but i needed someone to talk. About what happened recently with Destiel and Misha and the fans that believed in the things he said. I am new to Supernatural fandom, but i loved the story in an instant, thanks to Sam and Dean and their unique relationship. Then i became interested in Jared and Jensen too and i think that if Sam and and Dean are the heart of Supernatural then Jared and Jensen are the soul of the show because to me no other actor could have played Sam and Dean like they did. Now, returning to what i wanted to say i am really TIRED about Destiel, some Destiel shippers and especially Misha. I know he said some stupid thing about how CW is homophobic and how Destiel would be canon if they weren't homophobic. I don't ship Destiel because sincerely i don't see romantic love between Dean and Castiel, but this doesn't make me an homophobic person. His words are said with malicious intent. He also said some thing about how Jensen is attracted to him. I find this disgusting because he says this things only for his Destiel fan, knowing that his words are lies. Also Jensen not being there can't reply to his lies. Like i sad i'm new to Supernatural but some Destiel are making the experience in the fandom a constant war. They say that if you don't ship Destiel you are homophobic , that if you don't ship Destiel you are not a true Supernatural fan and the most stupid one... They say that Supernatural is about Dean and Castiel and their love. This make me really angry because Supernatural is about Sam And Dean, how they care for each other,how they save the world again and again and how they hunt monster and ghost and other things. But to me Supernatural is the unique love story of two brother and how they did everything to protect each other. I ship Wincest, but When i say love story i mean that Sam and Dean are Platonic Soulmates in Supernatural and even the show always remind us of that. I don't understant how Misha can say this thing without facing consequences because his words feed some Destiel fan that became hateful like him and whose mission is hating people who don't think think like them. Sorry for the long post and for the horrible english but it's not my first language. Sorry if i bothered you but i needed someone to talk to because sometimes i feel like leaving the fandom because Destiel hate and their war against everyone. I hope you will always have love and kindness in your life.

You really don't need to apologize for anything.❤️ You aren't bothering me and your English is fine - maybe not perfect, but hell, neither is mine some days! Thank you for the lovely sentiment, and I wish you the same - and that you do what is best for you in regards to this sometimes dumpster fire of a fandom.

If it helps, you're absolutely not alone. I've been in this fandom for years now, and some days it's sheer stubbornness against hellers obvious attempts to browbeat and drive everyone else out that keeps me here. They didn't get to take over the show through being loud and obnoxious and they don't get to monopolize the fandom by doing the same - and they can be butthurt forever over it.

I actually didn't mind Dean and Castiel as a ship at first. I'm always interested in what people take from a canon and then create entirely outside of it, and I read quite a lot of fanfic. Even then I was baffled by shippers insisting it was a thing in the canon, though. There was a brief period where I wondered if I'd somehow missed it, because I'm not generally really looking for romance stories and there were so many posts that were so insistent? So I actually did a rewatch focused just on Dean and Castiel's interactions - and came away with the impression they weren't actually even as good of friends as I'd originally thought, let alone anything like interested in each other romantically. The more I thought about it and the more meta I ran across and actually considered the details of? The more obviously baseless it was. I mean, some of it really is just genuinely so stupid it's hilarious. Cake. Bacon. Negative space. Widower arc. Bisexual lighting and/or plaid. But even the theorizing which wasn't absurd on its face? Always looked silly in comparison to how much more obviously and easily it had meaning in relation to the main story that plainly actually existed instead.

Meanwhile, I kept seeing more and more of those posts you mention insisting anyone who didn't ship it was a homophobe and they really pissed me off. Even if Dean and Castiel were a canon couple who spent half of each episode doing couple things and saying I love you back and forth instead of the entire show revolving around Sam and Dean's crazy tangled up lives with Castiel occasionally wandering in and out of the background with some angel nonsense or whatever? Not shipping it would not make someone a homophobe. Shipping is very subjective and any individual pairing can not appeal to any particular fan for a million and one reasons that have sweet fuckall to do with how they generally feel about LGBT+ relationships. Attempting to bully people into supporting a single very specific fictional relationship by trying to make them afraid of being branded a bigot if they don't is ridiculous as hell, regardless of how canon or not it is. How absolutely fucking disrespectful to all the people who have to deal with actual homophobia versus just being butthurt they can't force two particular fictional characters to kiss. It's so goddamn juvenile I can't even.

The longer I was in fandom, the more brain dead and divorced from the show the meta claiming Dean and Castiel were going to hook up any minute got. The more annoyed I became at all the absurd stereotypes about masculinity and sexuality they would parrot as gospel truth if it could "prove" Dean was into dudes and eventually the angel. The more obviously transparent their every cry of ~*homophobia*~ was when they tried to turn every real life LGBT+ issue and every canon LGBT+ character primarily into proof and/or justification regarding D/C. They're a bunch of entitled shitheads who not only feel like they should get to dictate what SPN is despite hating basically everything it actually was, but who are perfectly fine with co-opting serious real world issues to try and do it. I have no beef with normal D/C shippers who aren't assholes to everyone and mad at the show for not bringing their fanfic to life, but I can't stand the pairing at all even in a fandom sense anymore.

The evolution of my feelings on Misha followed a similar path. I liked Castiel well enough as a supporting character and I didn't actively dislike Misha, though after I'd seen a couple of panels where his answers were flippantly irreverent or unnecessarily raunchy, I wasn't really much interested in him. Then, over time, at the same time Castiel's character was more and more blatantly just eating up screen time to give J2 time off, he started getting worse and worse about ship-baiting. He'd act like everyone behind the scenes was talking about D/C - but then they (Jensen and Bob Singer most notably) would say that was untrue. He'd slyly hint about upcoming scenes in a vague way to imply D/C and then it would be something else entirely. He'd tell shippers about things that had been pointedly removed because they could seem leading and that was not the authorial intent, but without pointing out that was exactly why they were excised. His stories would change when he got a bad reaction - he went from saying he shipped wincest to pretending he'd never heard of it, he went from claiming Jimmy was going to appear in the original Roadhouse finale to it being Castiel, etc. Then there was framing horsing around with Jared as if he was a victim and not a participant and the incredibly inappropriate objectifying sexual comments about Jensen and Dean. All of which caused the fans falling for it to loudly and angrily attack everyone but him while they kept buying his ops/books/cameos/whatever. No matter how blatantly he queerbaits them and how upset they get over it and take it out on everyone else, he does not stop. He's an ungrateful creepy narcissist who will throw literally anyone or anything under the bus if he can get a buck out of it. Who also will proclaim he doesn't want to co-opt LGBT+ causes when he's desperately trying to keep his career on life support doing exactly that in the most skeevy, backstabby way possible.

Jared and Jensen put their hearts and years of their lives into this show bringing Sam and Dean to life, episode after episode, week after week, season after season. Telling an important story about platonic and familial love that you really won't find anywhere else.

Misha and the hellers have spent years trying to co-opt that to their own ends out of gross entitlement. They deserve each other, but the show and its actual fans don't deserve to have to put up with either of them. Unfortunately, we have the fandom we have, not the one we deserve.

[tj-dragonblade]

[Connect 4 FIC] Weekend Arts and Crafts

Fandom: The Sandman Pairing: Dreamling Rated: G Word Count: 1615 Tags: human AU, fluff, arts and crafts, crossover

Notes: For the @sandman-connect4 prompt Weave which is not the final space I needed but shh, I'll work on that next. This is in the Umbrella Boys universe, somewhere post-first-kiss but still early-ish in their relationship, and guest stars Gale from BG3. If you haven't read the rest of the Umbrella Boys, this can be read as stand-alone; all you need to know is that sharing an umbrella is their dating tradition, whether or not it's even raining.

Summary: Hob and Dream go on a date; Dream gets to meet one of Hob's friends

On AO3

"This class is taught by a colleague of yours?"

"Colleague and a friend, yeah." Hob scratches his chin, tilting the phone away so the sound of his nails through his stubble doesn't carry directly into the speaker. "He teaches astronomy here on campus, but he does some artsy classes at the community center. They're having an observer in to evaluate if the program is worth continued funding, and he'd like the class as full as possible to help with appearances." He spins his chair around, leaning back. "Thought it might make a nice date?"

"Will we be doing pottery? Painting?" Dream's voice comes through the phone, cautious but interested.

"Basket weaving, actually."

"Oh?" There's a little more interest, now, if Hob's not mistaken. Excellent. "I have never tried basket weaving, but I believe I might like to."

Silently, unseen, Hob pumps his fist. "Great! It's Saturday at one-thirty; we could meet up for lunch first if you like?"

"That sounds perfect." He can hear the little smile Dream is wearing. "Text me the details later; I know your next class begins shortly so I will not keep you."

"Thanks, dove. Talk to you later?"

"Of course."

Hob thumbs the 'end call' button, grinning happily. They've been properly dating for a little while now but every time he comes up with something new they can do that catches Dream's interest, it always makes him just a little giddy.

~

It's barely raining when they leave the cafe on Saturday; it's the sort of rain most Londoners wouldn't bother about an umbrella for, but they have a tradition to uphold. Dream tucks up close against Hob's side and Hob's umbrella covers them both as they stroll leisurely along the streets. Dream is uncertain where precisely the community center might be, and has no qualms in letting Hob lead.

"Your friend is a professor of astronomy, you said?"

"Gale? Yep. Been at UCL near as long as I have."

"How did he come to be teaching art and craft courses?"

Hob chuckles. "Ah, that's a question you'll have to ask him, and I'm sure he'll tell you if you do. Loves to share a good story, he does."

"A storyteller also?" Dream is hopeful that he will get on with this Gale; he would like to mesh well with Hob's friends.

"Oh yes. Especially if they're stories about himself."

Dream's optimism deflates a little. Something of it must transfer through his body language where he's pressed to Hob's side, because Hob laughs lightly. "Don't worry, he's not as obnoxious as I make him sound. A character, without a doubt, but a good bloke. I'm sure you'll like him and if you don't, we can always make an early escape."

"I trust your judgment." And he does; every date he's had with Hob so far has been a net positive and he is certain this will be the same.

They arrive at the community center precisely on time and Hob folds the umbrella away, shaking the dampness out of it first. There are several people there already, once they go inside and find the correct room; Dream is pleased to see that there are still open spaces available so he and Hob need not necessarily be squeezed in close to strangers.

"Greetings!" The man who speaks from the front of the room is remarkably attractive, longish hair half-gathered in a partial up-do, well-trimmed beard, warm smile and sparkling eyes, a dangling silver earring; he wears a deep purple button-down open well past his throat and tucked into tight jeans, a brown leather waistcoat unfastened over it. His shirtsleeves are rolled back to expose hairy forearms that are more toned than one might expect of an academic. His entire physique fills out his clothing in a way that suggests he does not spend any more time behind a desk than absolutely necessary, and Dream is already cataloguing every detail, suggestions of possible characters for future stories taking shape in his head.

The man's smile is broad and brilliant as he addresses the room. "I'm delighted to see so many new faces this afternoon! I? Am Professor Dekarios, of UCL—in my day job, at least. But this is not my day job, and you can call me Gale." He finishes his grandiose introduction with a flourish, face animated as he speaks. "Today, I shall be teaching all of you the wonderful and mysterious secrets of The Weave." He gestures broadly with his hands as he says it, enunciating such that the capitalization is unmistakable, and Dream wonders if perhaps his true passion was theatre before either astronomy or basketry.

He keeps wondering as Gale launches into explanation of the materials they'll be using and the basic components and terminology of this particular style of basket weaving. The man has a gift for speaking, animated in his instructional approach and extremely personable. He's dropped at least one cleverly-terrible pun so far and Dream can see, easily, why this man and Hob get on so well. He can imagine, as he follows instructions and sees a basket beginning to take shape beneath his hands, how charismatic Gale must be in the lecture hall with a captive audience.

They are halfway through the scheduled time, he and Hob chatting amiably over their growing baskets (Dream's is growing faster than Hob's), when Gale stops by in his rounds to see their progress.

"Hob, my friend! You made it!" His eyes turn to Dream, bright with interest. "And you have brought a companion!" He sweeps his gaze down Dream's body and back up, quick but unmistakable.

"'Course I made it, and yeah I thought it'd be a fun date." Hob puts the slightest emphasis on 'date' and Dream watches understanding flicker in Gale's face, flirtatious interest turning to ordinary charm in half a second. It's a fascinating shift. "Gale, this is Dream."

"Ahh, this is Dream!" A different sort of interest lights Gale's eyes, and his smile grows somehow warmer. "Hob has told me a great deal about you. It is a pleasure to meet you." Hob is fidgeting a little awkwardly but Gale pays him no heed, clasping Dream's offered hand and half-bowing over it in a courtly fashion. Dream is charmed despite himself.

"Likewise."

Gale smiles, broad and disarming. "And a pleasure to have you here today; thank you for coming! I can see you're already showing great talent with The Weave." He's released Dream's hand, turned his attention to the half-woven creation in front of Dream.

"It's very intuitive," Dream allows, picking up his in-progress basket to continue. "I am enjoying the process, and I believe I might like to do this again. Its almost meditative, and surely more practice will yield finer results."

"Ahh, indeed, for once you have tasted the magic of The Weave, you must return again and again in the attempt to master it."

Gale says this with the gravity and conviction of the wise old magician in a b-grade film, complete with a single wagging finger, and Dream feels his eyebrows lifting in bemusement. "I'm curious; why do you refer to basket weaving in that way?"

Gale chuckles, a little sheepishly. "I like to lend the craft an air of wonder and mysticism," he says, and Dream gets the sense that he's suddenly seeing a more straightforward glimpse of the man. "This is far from the most popular class on offer, after all. It's my hope that I can make the experience both fun and memorable for those who do sign up. Then, perhaps, they will recommend the class to others—or even return themselves."

"Well you're doing a marvelous job, in my opinion," Hob offers. "This is a lot of fun actually, and you've made it entertaining and easy to follow."

Gale glances between Hob's basket-in-progress and Dream's, which looks far closer to being a basket than Hob's does, and lifts an eyebrow with a smirk. "Easier for some of us than for others, perhaps."

"Hey now," Hob objects half-heartedly, while Dream ducks his head to hide his smile. "Some of us have talents that lie in different directions, is all."

"So long as you are enjoying the experience," Gale says with a grin, turning to move along to the next batch of students.

"Very much, yes," Hob replies, and Dream nods assent.

"I'm delighted to have you both here." Gale pats their table approvingly as he departs.

Dream ultimately finishes his basket before Hob, and spends the remainder of the class time assisting Hob with his—once Hob has admitted that the help would be appreciated, of course. When the allotted hours are up, they pack away their finished projects to survive the trip home and bid Gale farewell before heading out into drizzly late-afternoon London, Hob's umbrella keeping the worst of it off them both.

"It was lovely to meet your friend," Dream says, and means it.

Hob chuckles. "I'm glad."

"And to learn that you speak of me at length to your colleagues."

"I. Well." Hob shrugs a little awkwardly. "I do tend to be a bit chatty, and I've had a lot of fun on our dates so naturally you come up in conversation at work. I'm glad you don't mind."

"It's flattering, truly."

Hob shifts his grip on the umbrella. "I hope Gale wasn't too much?"

"Not at all." Dream snuggles closer against Hob's arm. "A character, as you said, but ultimately a charming one. In fact, I am definitely putting him in my next book."

Hob laughs, long and loud, and Dream smiles softly as they stroll on through the misty rain toward the bus stop that will see them home.

= Started: 11/10/24 Drafted: 11/18/24 Posted: 11/21/24

This is where I admit that I have never played BG3 or any DnD and all my knowledge is via friends and dashboard osmosis. But if you know even less than me and the joke didn't land: Gale is a wizard in his own canon and The Weave is the main magical force he manipulates in spell casting. This was the first thing that came to mind for the prompt and it insisted on being written. Hopefully it is at least worth a chuckle.

[urlocalfaggot]

Hi! Can i request a platonic saiki k x reader? Like the reader is a transfer student who kinda acts the same as him, like their very quiet,seems emotionless most of the time and doesn’t smile often but their really sweet and is probably the one who nags him the least (and buys him jelly coffe :3) idk just some cute shit i thought of, you don’t have to do it if you don’t want to!

ive never written a platonic kind of thing but im all up for a challenge! :)

Fandom: The Disastrous Life of Saiki K

Character: Kusuo Saiki

platonic

Just Like Me

Today was (M/n)'s first day at PK Academy. Any normal person would be scared or even excited but (M/n)? He was neutral. Didn't hate it but didn't love it either. And now here he was walking into the gates of his new school. In class, there were a bunch of people talking about yet another new transfer student. The teacher walked in, silencing the chatter. "Alright class, we have a transfer student. I expect you to treat them with respect. You may come in." The (h/c) haired male walked in. "Hello, im (M/n) (L/n)." He then walked straight to an empty seat, Not even waiting for the teacher to tell him where to sit. 'He seems.. normal' a certain pink haired male thought.

It has now been some time after the (h/c) haired male transferred to PK Academy and needless to say, Saiki wasn't annoyed by this new student. The other ones... well that's different. But so was (M/n). He wasn't loud or obnoxious or anything. He was calm, normal, and quiet. Although, because of this some people describe him as boring or even at times, emotionless. But not with Saiki. When (M/n) is with Saiki he is something different. A sweet, kind, fun person. Someone who can be fun without having to yell. Him and Saiki are usually seen together at cafes or even sweet shops. The first time they went Saiki ordered some coffee jelly. (M/n), not having heard of or seen coffee in jelly form, was curious as to what it is. "Hey Saiki, what does coffee jelly taste like? I've never had it." The pink haired male looked up at the (h/c) colored male then back to his coffee jelly. He slid one cup of coffee jelly towards the boy, "Try it. It's good." (M/n) took a bite and enjoyed the jelly treat. He bought Saiki some more as a thanks. As they were walking home (M/n) said something, "Hey Saiki, aren't you glad you finally have a normal friend? Haha" This made the pink haired boy stop for a second. 'He thinks we're friends.. I'm.. glad' "Mhm".

AA FINALLY I GOT ONE OUT. I DIDN'T KNOW THERE WAS A WORD LIMIT I WAS TRYING TO POST THIS FOR LIKE 2 DAYS 😭. anyway hope you like it!!! sorry if it wasn't what u wanted 😵‍💫

[foxyyaoguai]

The antis have been all over my posts in the last few days, so I wanted to share my experiences and write a guide on how to deal with them. 

First off: Our ships and character preferences are valid, no matter how hard some people try to demonize them. We are part of fandom and allowed to post about the things we enjoy, just like everyone else. Our fanfics, fanart, video edits, photo edits, etc. are all works of love and they deserve to exist and be explored by others. 

✨ Strategies for dealing with antis ✨

Don’t engage. I have checked the bios of all the antis that left comments under my posts, and the majority of them are minors. You don’t want to talk to minors in fandom spaces!! And a conversation based on logic or reason won’t be possible either. 

Delete their comments. Tumblr, Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube allow you to delete comments, DO IT!! You created something with love and hateful comments have no place underneath it. Even if the comment just makes you uncomfortable and isn’t outright hateful, it is perfectly reasonable to delete it for your own sanity.

Block generously. Not only the people who target you specifically but also anyone who engages in character- or ship-bashing. People who do that for one ship will do it for other ships too and it’s extremely bad fandom etiquette. When you see a character or ship-bashing post, block everyone who liked it and then the poster.

Report people for harassment. The rules vary by site, but especially threats of violence should be reported. Also, if someone follows you to another social media site after you’ve blocked them, that is called block evading and you should report that too. 

When you see other people getting hateful comments underneath their posts, leave a nice comment to offset some of the negativity. Your being supportive can make the difference between this person never posting again and them being motivated to keep going. People are always welcome to send me links to a post that is getting targeted by antis and I’ll like it and leave a nice comment. 🥰

Don’t let the bad comments outshine the positive ones! Every time my post gets enough traction for antis to find it, it also gets lots of lovely reactions. Many people have told me that my content and recommendations made them ship my OTP, and that is the single thing that makes me happier than anything else. Take a screenshot and look at these kinds of comments when you feel down. This is the real reason you should keep posting. 

Most hate comments are exceptionally uncreative. It helps to laugh about it, preferably with a friend. ✨ Remember, you used your energy to create something and you should be proud of it!

When you see a creator you like, but they also display obnoxious behavior towards people who like other ships, characters, or dynamics, at the very least don’t give them a platform by sharing their posts. 

Stay safe. Don’t post personal information online. 

It’s completely valid to step away from social media for some time. Private your accounts, turn off notifications, do a canon reread, read some fanfics in peace. Whatever it takes to remind you why you love the things you love. 

Bonus Tip: Watch videos of cute animals to destress. Bunnies nose-booping each other can (and will) cure anti-induced anxiety. :)

✨ Platforms sorted by least to most toxic and my advice for using them ✨

1. Discord 

Discord is great because you can join servers specifically for your favorite characters and ships. If a server doesn’t already exist, consider setting one up! Pro tip: only invite people that have positively interacted with you in the past. A small server consisting of nice people is a lot more fun than a large server consisting of members that can’t get along or are only marginally interested in the topic. 

Fandom Discord servers have clear guidelines on what you can post. As long as you follow the rules, people have no grounds for calling you out. In my experience, moderators are quick to respond to harassment.  

When you join a server and you see they heavily restrict certain types of content, it is a red flag. Proceed with caution, even if you plan to only talk about “safe” characters and ships. 

2. Tumblr

I have rarely gotten hateful comments on Tumblr, and the few times I did they were easy to delete.  

A lot of the older fandom generations use Tumblr and they are more mature and accepting of all kinds of content.

3. Twitter

Twitter makes it easy to curate your own fandom experience. You can mute words you don’t like to see on your timeline, mute and block users, and most people have their ship preferences in their bio.

4. Instagram

My Instagram posts about Jadecest get a lot of positive interaction, even more than on Twitter. There are unpleasant comments once in a while, but they are easy to delete. 

Blocking a user will delete all their comments from your posts. 

5. YouTube

People who don’t like your ship will downvote your videos and downvotes lead to the algorithm not recommending your videos. 

I have gotten a few negative comments, but they are easy to delete. 

6. Reddit 

When you post in a fandom subreddit, everyone will see the post, independent of their ship preferences. 

There are a lot of minors on Reddit. 

You can’t delete comments.

Most fandom subreddits are poorly moderated. 

7. TikTok

I have gotten the most hate comments on TikTok. They can be filtered or deleted, but antis interacting with your video by leaving hate comments will lead to the algorithm recommending your content to even more antis. It can get very ugly. 

If you post on TikTok consider turning off comments, stitches, and video replies. You can also mark your content as 18+, so it won’t get recommended to minors. (Again, antis tend to be underage.)

Platforms are more toxic the more they show your content to people outside your bubble. Discord, Tumblr, and Twitter keep your content relatively well contained to your circle of friends. Reddit, TikTok, YouTube, and Instagram heavily promote your content outside your bubble, which is good, because more people are going to see it, but also bad, because it reaches more antis. 

~~~

Antis are loud and obnoxious, but it’s important to remember that they are a minority. Ship and let ship still exists, especially among the people who have been in fandom spaces for more than just a few years. Don’t be afraid to post your content and express your love for your favorite characters and ships! I, for one, would love to see your creations, and many other people would love to see them too. 

What are your experiences and strategies for dealing with antis?

[lanterns-and-lightmares]

Meet us!

Well, first, have an extremely WIP pronouns.cc page.

Next, my account for the Pro-endo court where you can share your system stories!

The Scribe’s House Before you ask me for donations, please read this post.

Our AO3:

Heyo! We’re a mixed origins system of, uh… (checks notes) 32 including the host/“original”!

DNI: Anti-endo, racist, homophobic, Pedo/MAP, Zoophile, TransID EXCEPT GOOD-FAITH IDENTITIES, transphobic, enby or acephobic, anti-good faith identities, pro-Trump, or pro-zionism.

I am RQ neutral unless you support the “big 3” paraphilias, in which case DNI. I don’t think I know enough about RQ to form an opinion.

PLEASE DO NOT ASK ME FOR DONATIONS. I do not have a payment app, nor a credit card, so I cannot help you. I will reblog what I see, but I have asked multiple times so please stop asking.

Here are our members:

Cait (She/Her)

The heck do I put here? Hi, you can call me Cait, I’m the host of this chaotic little bundle!

Doppo Kunikida (He/Him) 📓

Hello, my name is Doppo Kunikida. I do not like Gen A slang or general obnoxiousness. It’s nice to meet you.

Lullaby (She/her) 😴

Hi, I’m Lullaby, a brain-made willogenic headmate! I really like snow, sleeping, plushies, things like those. I don’t front a lot.

Kenji Miyazawa (He/him) 🐮

Hi! I’m Kenji from BSD, I like animals and farming and music and theater and stuff like that!

Alastor (He/Him) 😁

Greetings! My name is Alastor and I’m from some old Hazbin Hotel roleplay on Fandom (as in, from before the show even aired)! It’s very nice to meet you!

Kazuo (He/Him) 🐱

Hi!!! I’m Kazuo! I’m an OC, I’m also Kenji’s best friend! It’s nice to meet you! I really like cats, the big city, music, theater, stuff like that!

Joker (He/him) ☮️

Joker is from a story I (host) used to be a part of. He doesn’t front a lot, but he’s a really sweet guy.

Mikado (He/him) 🔌

Oh, hello. I’m Mikado Sannoji. Please don’t judge me by my actions in source. I’m from an incomplete comic host was making called Danganronpa: Infinite Encore.

Engel (He/him) 📝

Hey, I’m Engel! My source is Fundamental Paper Education. It’s nice to meet you.

Winnie (He/him) ❄️

Heyyy, I’m Winnie from Cold Front! I really like music and general happiness.

Augustine (He/him) 🔥

Hey, I’m from Cold Front. Winnie and I are best friends. It’s nice to meet you.

Light (He/they) 💡

Heyyy, I’m a super canon-divergent Omori fictive!

Harrison Finn Tailor (He/him) 🎧

I bet nobody knows my source… haha, anyway! You can call me Harry. I’m from essentially how my host would have written Inescapable: No rules no rescue. It’s a pleasure!

Orion (She/her) 💜

Hello, I’m Orion. I am Brainmade. I do not talk a lot. Not a lot of us do.

Rambley (He/him) 🦝

Hiiiii! I’m Rambley from Indigo Park! I love making new friends! I have no idea what else to put here!

Nicole (She/her) 🧩

Sup I’m from class of 09 and I’m our resident “evil alter”, I like ruining my headmate’s lives in Oregon Trail and teasing them about shit.

Mori 🎆

Hello! My name is Ougai Mori. My pronouns are he/him. I enjoy interacting with others, especially sourcemates. My best friend is Yukichi, also from the Falling Stars. I can be a bit of a jittery mess. I do want to be a good parent figure, although I’m not sure how good I actually am. :)

Fukuzawa (He/him) 🐈

Hello, I’m Yukichi Fukuzawa. I don’t know what to put here, but, er, I like cats. Ougai and I are actually not from canon Bungo Stray Dogs, but since our source does not technically exist, canon BSD will work for sourcemates.

Fedya 🪄

AUtive from the fanfic “Damned Angels”, or at least the plans for it. Also known as Fyodor. He/him. Middle (15 years old). Please feel free to talk to me about my source. Nonvox, but I can write.

Kolya (he/him) ♠️

Hiiii, I’m Kolya! I share a source with Fedya. I really like Quidditch and flying in general! I have a pet owl named Three-Of-Hearts. What else should I put here?

Soren (he/him) 🦡

Hello, pleasure to meet you. I’m Soren, the host’s Hogwarts Legacy protagonist. I’m a Hufflepuff. I really enjoy exploring the world around me.

Gold (he/it) 🪙

Hey there, I’m a gold watcher! I don’t know what else to put here! But it’s nice to meet you!

Niko (he/him) 🖲️

👋 I’m Niko! My source is Nanbaka! I don’t know what else to put here!

Vanitas (he/him) 📖

Hey there, my name is Vanitas. I’m a vampire doctor, I guess? I don’t know what to put here. But it’s good to be here, even though I sometimes wanna go home.

Phineas “Finny” Thatch (he/him) 🛡️

Hey there, I’m Phineas Thatch, former member of the trust. Nice to meet you.

Rui Kamishiro (he/him) 🎵

Hello there, my name is Rui, my source is PJSK! It’s a pleasure to meet you!

Giorgio (He/him) 🔎

Hey, I’m Giorgio! I’m from Ace Romanc— Just kidding! My source is The Art Of Murder!

Seishi Yokomizo (He/him) 📚

Hey, I’m Yokomizo! I’m from a BSD-crossover fanfic thing host is writing!

Mushitaro Oguri (He/him) 🔑

Hi. I’m Mushitaro. I share a source with Yokomizo.

Ranpo Edogawa (He/him) 🕵️

Heyyy, I’m Ranpo, I share a source with the two idiots (/aff) above me!

Edgar Allan Poe (He/him) 🐦‍⬛

Hello, I’m Poe, I share a source with Mushitaro, Ranpo, and Yokomizo.

Noé Archiviste (He/him)

Hey! I’m Noé, nice to meet you! I hope we’ll get along! I’m from VNC, by the way.

(RP Blogs under the cut)

RP BLOGS

@no-longer-crabfries - Osamu Dazai (BSD)

@fuck-it-go-my-fyodor-rp-blog and @the-archangel-rat - Alternate Fyodor Dostoyevsky(s) (BSD)

@port-mafias-attack-dog - Ryuunosuke Akutagawa (BSD)

@notag0vagent - Ango Sakaguchi (BSD)

@karma-port-mafia - Karma (BSD)

@egg-with-shell - Tecchou Suehiro (BSD)

@hermit-hacker - Katai Tayama (BSD)

@twains-digital-adventure-diary - Mark Twain (BSD)

[solradguy]

They b calling Sol Badguy a lesbian again. I gotta point aggressively at like Millia. I-No. The curios and such. You’re familiar

I feel like I'm starting to be an obnoxious asshole about the lesbian Sol Badguy thing so I'm going to explain why I don't care for it in greater depth than I have elsewhere so far and then put something brief about it in my pinned. Not exactly a "DNI" because, ultimately, I think those do more harm to the person sharing it than it does to help them (it's an itemized list of things guaranteed to upset the author), but more of a "I'm very tired, please don't" list.

After I post this, I'm done talking about butch/lesbian Sol Badguy.

My elaboration on this might come across as a little mean so if you're a lesbian Sol enjoyer and don't want to read all that, my feelings can be briefly summarized with: I don't like it and people keep making me see it in places blacklists don't work in.

In essence, I don't really care what people headcanon characters as because, in the end, it's just harmless fun. But the reason I don't care is because I generally have control (via blacklisting, unfollowing, etc) over what I do and don't see. I don't like this headcanon for Sol and people keep making me see it; I can't blacklist what shows up in tags or reblog comments in my notifications tab and it feels really mean blocking every single person that does it.

The lesbian/butch Sol thing came from an innocent one-off kinda jokey comment over on Twitter and people ran with it like it was the best thing ever. I think it's annoying, and I just don't like it. That's the surface level basics of my feelings about this.

The deeper part is that fandoms will pick a cis male character to put femme or lesbian identities/labels on over one of the cis female characters—or even one of the canon trans women, if the IP has it, and GG does have a canon trans woman—in almost every case. I have yet to see as many people call any of the women of Guilty Gear butch or lesbian with the same energy people have for Sol.

There are characters in Guilty Gear that would take far less effort and would have so much more to explore with a butch/lesbian identity than Sol does. There are already characters with very, very, solid evidence suggesting they're lesbian or bisexual women. I-No, Millia, and Elphelt are just 3 of them. Arguments could be made for Baiken, Giovanna, May, Bridget, and Jam too. Personality-wise, Baiken or I-No would probably be the closest to Sol if Sol's pricky-outside-but-softer-inside dynamic is appealing.

Jack-O' is also kind of a blank slate in regards to her interests post-Strive. She's resolved her difficulties with being a vessel for Aria and is now open and excited to explore what the world has to offer her and what things in it she might come to love. If one of the pillars of the lesbian Sol headcanon is his relationship with Jack-O', I don't think it would be hard at all shipping Jack-O' with one of the women with the same level of intimacy she's capable of with Sol.

Her and Sol aren't married, you wouldn't have to divorce them to make it work like a post-Overture era relationship with Ky or Dizzy. Maybe Sol is too clingy and it's suffocating to Jack-O' so they separated, or maybe Sol expected Jack-O' to perfectly fill the void Aria had left (maybe he even eventually slips and calls her Aria?) and it just ended up being too weird so he was the one to break it off. There are even a few points throughout Xrd and Strive where Sol straight up just was not very nice to her and maybe she's thought on it and it bothers her. You could even just say (or not say why at all) that they split with no bad feelings and they're just platonic friends now. There is a lot to work with here.

To summarize: I think this headcanon is very surface level, a disservice to Guilty Gear's female cast, and that it would be more interesting and more fun for people if they explored these dynamics with one of the women instead of doing it with one of the men.

Don't let this post and my feelings on lesbian Sol stop you from enjoying it if it is fun for you and brings any sort of fulfillment, but know that I just don't like it and I don't want to have to keep seeing it. I have blacklists and things set up to not see it when I go into tags, this is almost purely localized in my notifications tab. Don't stop posting it in tags or sharing it just because of me. However, I will see it if you tag it or comment it on an original post I made or a post reblogged directly from my blog.

Thank you for reading. Sorry for being kind of a bummer about this headcanon.

[atopvisenyashill]

Feed my delulu bestie… Sansa & Theon book canon??? Your posts give me hope when I shouldn’t have it lol.

there's so much canon evidence dammit! i always get a lil put out when people say it’s a show only thing. certainly the show made it more popular but you can say that about like 90% of the ships in the fandom! and there’s a lot here already without the obnoxious sansa bolton show arc!

For one thing, theon straight up dreams about marrying sansa-

Sansa was the pretty one. He remembered a time when he had thought that Lord Eddard Stark might marry him to Sansa and claim him for a son, but that had only been a child's fancy.

I think this is very similar to Sansa’s fantasies about Willas Tyrell-

She pictured the two of them sitting together in a garden with puppies in their laps, or listening to a singer strum upon a lute while they floated down the Mander on a pleasure barge. If I give him sons, he may come to love me. She would name them Eddard and Brandon and Rickon, and raise them all to be as valiant as Ser Loras. And to hate Lannisters, too. In Sansa's dreams, her children looked just like the brothers she had lost. Sometimes there was even a girl who looked like Arya.

For both of them, they dream of a marriage that signifies a return to the safety and welcoming of childhood, of home. Notice the focus for both of them on Stark Identity - Theon wants to be accepted as true kin by the family that raised him in an attempt to cope with his status as a hostage while Sansa focuses on the idea of having children named for her lost family members in an attempt to cope with her continued instability also as a hostage.

Which brings me to their shared status as child hostages! While not a unique social status in the world of Terros, they are unique in being our only two PoVs that really dig into the harm of being a hostage. From Theon’s longing to be a Stark and the way it's held against him by Balon to Sansa’s longing to be Joffrey's queen turning to resentment over being “made a Lannister”, both of them go from a sort of rose colored happy go lucky outlook to an extreme drop into brutal reality as Theon reckons with his trauma while sacking Winterfell and Sansa is shoved head first into the danger of politics and intrigue.

As their time as child hostages morphs into a status that is more murky but considerably more dangerous - who knows what the fuck Littlefinger is planning, and whatever Ramsay has cooking it's obviously nothing good - both of them take on another identity in Alayne Stone and Reek. They are both forced into this identity by the person in control of them, becoming subsumed into this new identity. Here is, imo, a very interesting aspect of both their characters as they exhibit a sort of...mental break of a sort when they change identities. They "kill" their old identities and truly become this new person; they act different, they speak different, they actively reject reminders of their former identity, with their chapter names even changing from "Theon" and "Sansa" to their new names. And yet that former identity is a key part of who they are and it cannot stay buried for long-

I am not your daughter, she thought. I am Sansa Stark, Lord Eddard's daughter and Lady Catelyn's, the blood of Winterfell. She did not say it, though.

The old gods, he thought. They know me. They know my name. I was Theon of House Greyjoy. I was a ward of Eddard Stark, a friend and brother to his children. "Please." He fell to his knees. "A sword, that's all I ask. Let me die as Theon, not as Reek."

Again, both Theon and Sansa focus on their connection to House Stark - Sansa as the blood of Winterfell, Theon as a ward of Ned. For Sansa, it’s about going to the home she took for granted, the home Theon years for; a place she felt safe, a family that loves her, a space she can reflect on her memories and grief with peace and understanding. For Theon, that home never existed at all! It was something he made up in his head, cobbled together from half remembered feelings of love from his mother, a dream of what it might have been like to be an older brother and beloved son. Ultimately, Winterfell and the North represents to both of them the concept of reconciling reality with the dream & delusions they’ve built up in their minds, taking a step forward and growing into adulthood.

Now….the thing about adulthood is it typically involves marriage and that is something I think a lot of people don’t take seriously when it comes to Theonsa - oh theon is too gross or whatever. But the thing is that Theon experiences this kind of sexual violence and helplessness that he himself visited upon others and enabled and I think it puts him in this interesting and unique place of finally understanding a) how gross he actually is and b) connecting to Sansa through a shared sexual helplessness. Now I’m not saying like, ~theon being reek’ed was narrative setup and punishment for theonsa~ but i AM saying this is a natural stepping point (imo) of Theon’s arc.

Think about like. Theon looking the other way while his men rape the women he’s captured, uncomfortable but feeling like this is what is necessary to be seen as A Man (and pay no mind to what they means To Be A Woman). Bedding down with the miller’s wife just to enable the very brutal murder of her sons. Taking his frustration and powerlessness out on Kya sexually. And Kya still tries to escape with him (who else could have possibly helped her?), and he dwells on the ways in which he helped lead her to her death. Dwells on the boys whose bodies he hung on the walls. Dwells on the similarities between his own falling apart body and Jeyne’s bite marks and injuries from Ramsay. For me the next step is - Theon forced to see his own helplessness as a hostage of the Starks and then a captive of Ramsay’s when he confronts Sansa, who was a hostage of the Lannisters and [wild gesture] like the kept pet of Littlefinger’s. I think seeing his own suffering so acutely reflected in the girl he projected his idealistic fantasy of happiness and home onto would be fascinating!

And equally fascinating is Sansa’s perspective - I’m sure she WILL initially see his torture as some sort of cosmic retribution for betraying Robb! But the same as she ultimately only saw another child suffering when Joffrey died in front of her, I think she will see that whatever Theon deserves for what he’s done, being flayed and tortured by Ramsay is not retribution, it’s just more suffering. And once she starts to see past her anger, Sansa too I think will be quite disarmed by the similarities between them. To have been a hostage, to have been some sort of captive under an identity forced on you, to have that captor use his power to force sexual situations you are not asking for onto you, I think it would make Sansa wrestle more with her own place In The System - similar to how being a hostage makes her realize how fucked up her conception of knights and chivalry and court is when compared to the reality, seeing the effect she herself helped have as A Good Hostage Taker will make her reflect. Theon realizing Sansa is her own person with her own inner life and Sansa realizing the same about Theon!

Once again, its about what I talked about re: Sansa and Arya being the only Starks left in Winterfell or Sansa and Jon meeting first! To grow up and embrace adulthood by growing to appreciate the reality in front of you and not the fantasy you conjured up as a child. For Theon to love Sansa for who she is and wrestle with the REALITY of what marriage would be like - both in a sense that he’s physically traumatized & no longer “handsome” but also like, having lived through the concept of “They will make a STARK out of me” and thinking about what it means in the context of sex and relationships. For Sansa to love Theon for who he is and wrestle with the reality of, like, herself in the Lannister shoes in this position, and what being an heiress and marrying actually means for her going forward. Two people who are defined by their identities being eclipsed and overlooked, wrestling with whether they’re repeating that pattern on each other or actually healing and grieving and figuring out how to define themselves on their own and not against someone else.

[the-s1lly-corner]

Hello how are you :3? I was wondering if you could write E.J., Hoodie, and Masky with a s/o that has a lot of scars? (Toby too but platonic for him) I’m not sure how many people we can request so if it’s too many just Hoodie? I’m sorry if this makes you uncomfortable and thank you!

Various!Creepypastas w/ a scarred!reader

waaaah im so sorry for not seeing this sooner! i didnt recieve a notification for this ask!! really theres no limit to how many characters you can send in! i think my personal max varies from prompt to prompt!! mix of how they approach the concept of a scarred lover (friend in tobys case) with some hints of fluff! cause of scars will be vague as admittedly i didnt know if you meant general scars or SH! side note i hope this posts right! im writing this on my computer, im used to mobile!! + apologies for any weird wording or typos, im listening to music and im getting hyped!! not proof read we die like my spiderverse brainrot

Includes: Eyeless Jack, Hoodie, Masky and Platonic!Toby!

CWs: touch and go talk of potential past trauma, body image issues, vague mentions of SH(?) in EJs part + Toby's parts

admittedly admin doesnt know if its technically SH due to the nature and motiv but personally id still count it as such and tag it as such

Eyeless Jack;

he gets it, he really does. the basic run down of my hc/take on ej is that he wasnt always some flesh eating monster; just some dude who got caught up in some bad stuff

so naturally, he doesnt... really vibe well with the concept of eating human flesh, which can lead to a few... instances. from intentionally to accidentally harming himself while hes lost in his instincts

so hes no stranger to being a little roughed up around the edges

but hes a stranger to comforting; he'll likely approach it from a logical side before trying anything else. "you've been hurt," before going on a small tangent about the formation of scars. hes not the most... emotionally... good... available... person

so youre going to need to lay out the general basis for what you need for basic comfort, on days where your scars become an issue; be is needing comfort or a distraction. it may take him a while, but hell eventually start to pick up on cues and hints as your relationship develops

otherwise hes very neutral about them, again approaching them with a blunt view; seeing it as neither good nor bad. he doesnt draw attention to them, but he doesnt act like theyre gross

really just. vibing with it, doesnt make a huge deal of it since he feels he doesnt have any place to judge, nor does he feel its his business to pry for information

solid 6/10 imo, hell comfort you if you express that you need it but hell likely not go out of his way to do it

Hoodie;

Soft touches, he almost does it before he has your permission to touch you

naturally he has his own fair share of scars from various.. activities

really im still all jumbled up with how i wanna write him and masky; not sure if i want to make them like how they are in their MH source or lean into the proxy thing that was prominent in the early days of the fandom... lowkey leaning into the proxy thing for this post because im more... versed..? in that, but anyhow

hes more upfront and compassionate than eyeless jack, in fact hes probably the most caring out of the four in todays post... maybe thats because i read one (1) fic years back that changed my entire approach to his character but! yeah

subconsciously trails his hands on them when the two of you are holding one another; something gentle and intimate, not too obnoxious to make you self conscious, but not careful enough to go unnoticed

i view hoodie, and by extension brian if i end up considering him and tim fully seperate from their 'proxy' parts, as a very tactile person

true to the popular fanon interpretation, hoodie doesnt speak much. but that only makes him a better listener, so on days where things get hard, hell let you talk his ears off with anything thats bothering you. very rarely, hell speak up and offer some words of advice, most times hell inch closer to grasp you. though it does get awkward since most the time hes just. blankly staring at you silently without emoting or saying a word

overall? personally hes a 7/10 for me, i would rank him higher if he were more verbal, but thats just because admin has an easier time venting if its a two way convo; but overall hell make sure that your scars dont effect your worth

Masky;

very similarly to hoodie, masky also has his own set of scars for the same reasons

he probably starts pointing out his own scars to you and mumbles about where they came from if he knows their origins

this doesnt mean "oh hes invalidating your experiences and hes trying to make it about himself," but more so "hes showing that he really does get it and he doesnt mean to talk over you"

much like EJ he approaches scars with a very blunt and upfront mindset, but to a lesser extent. he admits that whatever led up to the tissue forming, it hurt. emotionally and physically, and hes not going to deny that simple fact. hell listen to you, have a conversation with you about it, and try to help you through whatever you may be currently going through regardless of if youre injury is relevant.

or at least, thats what hes trying to do.

hes still has his own personal issues regarding going about his own problems in a healthy manner but hey thats something for another post; maybe, if i remember

honestly this post doesnt have enough fluff imo, and i can kinda see masky doing this, but imagine he boops his mask against your scars in a mockery of a kiss (doesnt take off his mask often, in fact youll probably never ever see him without it on), i can see jack doing this too tbh

thoughts? 8/10, gets the bonus points for being less awkward to rant to imo, plus i think asides ej, i think i have a bias for masky for the simple fact i had the fattest crush on him when i was in middle school

Toby;

okay! this one is going to be interesting for one main reason! i actually havent touched tobys character in YEARS! so hes probably going to have the shorter list... obligatory i havent built any solid hcs for him past what was going on in the fandom in the 2010s, before toby briefly became a mild discomfort... but we're back in business baby!! (^^ dont feel bad for requesting for toby btw! hes no longer a discomfort, and if i didnt want to write for him i wouldnt be including him right here!!)

obviously we cant talk about his part without talking about his cheek. and other, similar hcs. while i dont think most of the self inflicted marks on his body were from a place of.. for lack of better words, darkness; it doesnt change the fact he still has them. i think a lot of them are from the fact he cant feel anything; accidental burns, gnawing through his cheek, digging his fingers deep into himself. really i could go into detail, but due to the aforementioned fact that my take on him isnt as developed as other characters + i really dont think its appropriate for this post (or really, anywhere on this account,), ill stop there

while he cant relate to the physical pain of what caused your scars, he can sympathize through your feelings. do you feel sorrow, or anger to whoever hurt you? hell be getting worked up right with you, because to him youre one of his closest friends

i feel like he doesnt talk much about his past, regarding his family. but hed tell you, and you can sure as hell bet that hell do his absolute damndest to grant you the same feeling of security.

hell probably touch and prod without truly meaning any harm, but thats because he can have problems with boundaries, but hell listen if you sit him down and tell him it makes you uncomfortable if it does

more so emotional than outwardly... supportive? idk the words, but hes very empathetic with you and tries to relate to you through emotion rather than feeling what you felt. honestly? kinda based for that, but maybe thats because i dont see feelings about this topic being touched on, usually its straight up about how the scar makes the person look or the physical trauma they had gone through, but idk, maybe thats just a me thing

he can be an asshole at times but hell usually backtrack and cool off somewhere else if you call him out on it imo

not sure if its because as im LITERALLY investigating his characteristics and interpretations as we speak, but i think im starting to relate to him so ER-OH!

anyways, i wish i could make his segment more... in tune with the characters above but its probably going to take me a while until im comfortable with how i portray this dude, which sucks because as a kid he was probably one of my favorites

i dont think im going to give toby a rating like the others; since i dont think i can accurate rate him due to the lack of proper concrete ideas outside of him being empathetic to your emotional pain since he cant relate on how much it hurt

im gonna end this here since im starting to sound like a broken record on tobys part so!

i hope you enjoyed this! characterization may be a little off but i blame that mostly on the fact that i kinda fell out of the loop in regards for writing for these guys (that damn spider movie! the brainrot threw me off my creepypasta grind!/j) but its good to be back writing for this fandom! it was a fun little brain exercise trying to figure out each character goes about this kind of thing without making them all the same!! with that being said, im going to go listen to an audio reading of tobys story so i can regrounded in his character and hopefully do him some justice in the future!

[velvetvexations]

can I be honest I feel like people in the fandoms (and to an extent the IH) treatment of KLCK compared to Fabian is a clear case of misogyny

our rich privileged soft boy vs their rich privileged annoying bitch

our boy who makes race insensitive remarks sometimes but it's not his fault vs their bitch whose mental issues make her make bad remarks in private

our self centered but adorable cute boy vs their self centered narcissistic bitch

idk if I'm onto anything honestly I'm very tired and have my brain on npd mode and if I posted anything about KLCK's mental issues on the subreddit I'd be ridiculed so I need to scream at someone who gets it. hope you've been doing okay! fbdnfnds

Brennan really honeypotted all the NPD members of the D20 fandom with her, huh?

But I think you're half-right. The immediate and insane reaction to KLCK having an annoying tone of voice and going hogwild on her to the extent that the fandom did, especially the infinite repetition of calling her bitch and cunt, definitely smacks of misogyny. There are other factors, though, chiefly the parasocial relationship making the fandom not only reflect but greatly amplify the opinions of the Intrepid Heroes. Like, if Brennan said he didn't like mustard this fandom would riot in the streets until mustard was removed from store shelves. With Siobhan and Ally going as hard as they did on despising KLCK, the urge to partake in the activity with your fake internet celebrity best friends did what it does.

The fact that Kipperlilly's parents were in the housing market in particular did not do her any favors. Like, the fans call Brennan a decolonial philosopher. Like I've said a few times before because it's the perfect metaphor, the fandom loves to LARP the Cultural Revolution - and that's barely even a metaphor as opposed to just literally what they're actually doing. The political aspect combines with the parasocial one, too, because now you're saving the world with your fake internet celebrity best friends. The moment, I mean the exact moment I started getting into KLCK, because up until then I was right there with everyone else going wHaT aRe YoU FoUr DiFfErEnT DoGs, was when I noticed fans on Reddit calling her a nepo baby. I started a thread about it trying to just, like, educate these children on what that term actually means and the replies drove me completely out of my mind.

So it's like, Fabian mainly gets a pass because he's a PC, because the fandom is wrapped around the cock of every PC and stubbornly refuses to accept them as anything less than perfect baby angels. Like I said, though, you are for sure correct in identifying that misogynistic element of how fans pounced on KLCK and identified her as a bitchy cunt bitch whore because her energy is very slightly grating. Or really, not even grating, honestly? Like she's clearly supposed to come off as obnoxious, but she's nothing but polite and mildly cheerful all the way up until "I want you to go fuck yourself", and even THAT was in response to the Bad Kids picking a fight.

[au-mashup-party]

Hey I have an announcement I would like to make, I know it’s not what you’re normally expecting, but I just wanna get this off my chest. Lately I’ve been dealing with a lot of mental health issues in and out of Tumblr, some too personal to talk about, so I’ll leave it with how I been feeling about Tumblr.

I always found drawing as a great stress reliever. Whenever I’d post a drawing and it will receive up 50 likes at the most, it would always put the biggest smile on my face. My art style improved by a mile, yet it still feels like I’m falling behind my mutual peers.

I learned the hard way while using Tumblr that if you’re not considered ‘popular’ from the get-go, you’re much out of luck. Art takes time, years even, and I’ve been drawing for 15 of em so I would know that sometimes you gotta work with what you got—even if it’s not a lot.

I’ve known some people who’s gotten famous within a day or two, I always found it impressive as heck and wondered if it was possible for me. However, lately I’ve been questioning myself about a few things:

“Is my art style the problem?”

“Should I start posting more on this blog?”

“Are my friends and fans, losing interest?”

“Have I’ve been gone too long?”

“Should I just quit?”

“Should I bring Micro back?”

“Am I too underrated for this fandom?”

And these questions stuck with me for a few months, I’ve noticed things haven’t been the most exciting on my blog since I stopped drawing Microtale content, which to be honest was the only reason I got noticed in the first place. The truth was I slowly lost interest in Microtale after getting spammed over and over and over again while wanting to take a break from drawing him.

Sadly, there’s still one person in my asks that just can’t accept that i’ve moved on from Micro. Now don’t get me wrong, I will always appreciate how far Micro has gotten me these past 3 years and I won’t forget him. I still have plans for Microtale’s third year anniversary, but anything revolving the AU I just won’t be working on anymore

Where it all began.

When I first created Micro, I didn’t think I was gonna get very far, in my eyes he was just your typical lazy run of the mill ‘Sans OC’. I made the blog for fun at first because I figured “Hey, at least if this doesn’t blow up, I can have my underrated artist use him for their stories as long as they credited!”

Little did I know, that was only the beginning. I got noticed by a popular artist at the time, and I was overjoyed to find out that someone far superior than me in drawing liked my silly old drawing. It made me realize that not all popular artist are drama baiting, narcissistic human beings. It opened my eyes more meeting even more humble artists.

The more I made, the more my audience grew. When I reached 1000 followers last year, it was the best day of my life. I finally reached my goal and everything was good. After I stopped drawing him I got spammed constantly by an unknown person (forgot their name) asking if their character can meet Micro or if Micro could come back sooner than later.

Anyone who’s known me long enough knows I hate being spammed, it’s not gonna get your point across, point blank period. It’s my blog and I’m allowed to draw whoever I want, it’s not up to you to decide what content I make unless I decide we vote by poll. But after deleting the spamming one day, eventually things cooled down so I moved on too.

You’re allowed to like my AU’s, just please don’t shove your obnoxious opinions down my throat. I already have a lot going on and I don’t need anyone adding more pressure to the plate.

But let’s take a quick moment to appreciate underrated artists, they are the future of the art community and don’t get enough appreciation for their work. I myself am still somewhat underrated, and I’m okay with that now. You win some you lose some, but you have to draw another day.

Thank you for coming to my TED talk, have a good day/night.

-Crayon