#I realized that ship tag kept showing up in the actual ship tag

[emotsper]

Hi!!!!!!!!

You’re like the szai person on tumblr, and even tho I’ve been playing proseka for like two years, I still don’t read a lot of the stories………

So as the certified szai tumblr person, since you kinda own the tag, would you like to explain to me why szai is such a popular ship? I really didn’t read much of anything…

Have fun!!

let me be brief (1/350) (no bc its actually gonna be a long ramble. apolocheese.) (also sorry if formatting is awful im a mobile user and I literally just type whatever)

FOR REAL THOUGH. PLEASE JUST DO ME A FAVOR AND READ MMJ MAINSTORY...... not only its a good source of szai cocaina you get to experience the entire mmj mainstory. i was normal before mmj mainstory and i was less normaler after mmj mainstory.

it simply went even more downhill when i read tenshi no clover. genuinely the one event story that first made me cry (second one was ice drop event but thats a bit biased)

okay now lets get to the main meat of it. szai.

admittedly i was kind of normaler early on but one of my tipping point was Chasing the radiance event especially chapter 7. please read/watch it. please. this specific chapter sent me into my trip of insanity when it comes to szai. it also opened my eye to specific scenes in their side stories/mmj mainsto that i skimmed early on especially bc im a jp only player so fan tls may not be super accurate back then 💔

to start off, airi was a girl that was often made fun of for being tomboyish, and seeing idols for the first time made her feel a glimmer of hope that maybe she can also bring hope to other people. she finally manages to reach her goal and became an idol after several of failed auditions (very deserved especially after her hard work) while shizuku became an idol purely out of luck from the idol grand prix context her friends convinced her to join 😭😭 From the start their relationship feels a little bit doomed with how jealousy is kind of unavoidable from airis side. but against all odds, you get to see airi go to shizuku and cheering her up by giving shizuku her towel and telling her to wipe those tears especially with such a pretty face like hers (MACHINE CLANG CLANG RACK SFX) they are so crazy for this. especially when you realize that shizuku kept the towel until now. (the towel is her area upgrade item)

from this point, airi thought nothing much of shizuku yet other than her being her new rival (and that shes rly pretty) but shizuku sees airi as her main reason to keep going in this idol stuff at that time, and that was enough.

(okay purely for this next part im forgetting a bit so do remember it may not be fully accurate 🙏)

after training minori for awhile, szai went thru a mini divorce arc where airi was telling minori that being an idol isnt all fun and games and that minori should consider quitting, continuing on with how she flopped in the industry bc she was more popular as a reality show figure. but shizuku disagreed and kept saying how airi was an idol through and through and that she shouldn't have quit, but that just tipped airi off and she shouted at shizuku, unloading all her pent up jealousy that she had for awhile now. iconic as hell scene in the most angsty way possible.

u can easily tell this wasn't received well by shizuku. at all. airi you done fucked up. shizuku left her idol group the next day.

(addendum i forgot to add. shizuku truly believed that airi was the first and if not, the only person who sees shizuku as shizuku hinomori herself, without all the idol filter that people plastered on her. so when airi admitted that she was jealous w shizuku getting everything good in the industry, that basically broke shizuku. (color of myself is a nice one to read when it comes to this 🙏 also the i am we are event is a crazy good conclusion to shizukus current arc))

at this point airi realizes just how much shizuku was influenced by her past actions without her fully knowing about it. girl you done fucked up.

this scene is still one of the biggest and strongest kryptonite for szai fans. especially with what happens after.

after confronting shizuku about her choice knowing full well its airis fault, airi, angry at herself, goes immediately to cheerful*days training place (she knows the place since theyve kinda shared the spot iirc) while the rest of mmj follows. she started threatening arisa and almost threw punches but she held back and told the rest of cheerful*days that shizuku is more of an idol than everyone in the room (i may be hallucinating this one. do lmk)

they finally leave the place, and both apologies to each other. at the same time, they both admitted that they were each others idol

and then shizuku goes to tackle hug airi. what the queer

that only concludes the mainstory section btw. upon realizing it may be too much of a recap instead of actual explanation ill be brief w the rest of it (keep in mind i dont read EVERY szai story, just ones i was made aware of bc im playing on jp and story content is a bit harder to see/consume)

Main szai crazies for szai fans

1. chasing the radiance ch7. airi yet talks again about how shizukus hands are slender and elegant while hers are short and chubby (she compared her hands to a manju) and shizuku was mad at her about this and went on a long tangent about how airis gentle hands were the ones who pushes minori and shizuku forward when they think they couldn't.

this is probably the fifth time ive read this story and it still gets me. i hate these fruitsssss. please read the full chapter ive linked it near the start this chapter is so special to me.

2. my ideal idol (airi 5, jp only event for now)

Bro i Dont Even Know What Else To Say. Just Look At This Card

but if we're being serious . lets talk about this one specific card and the story shall we.

this card was a blast to the past; pre-mmj szai again.

we start off with present mmj getting ready for their turn in the joint performance with a new junior idol group that they were paired with. airi was a bit nervous and shizuku noticed it. so she offered to do something that would hopefully lessen the nervousness for both of them. shizuku softly puts her head on airis back and whispered several word of encouragements. shizuku reminisces to the past.

pre-mmj szai. shizuku was very nervous as she was waiting for her first performance ever as an idol. airi was also there, and it was going to be her first too. airi shows up to say hi to shizuku but she noticed that shizuku was really nervous and at the verge of crying. airi knew she had to do something and told shizuku to turn around, shizuku did. shizuku lets out a little surprised yelp as she feels airis hands and head pressing against her back. she could hear airi muttering some encouragement but we never get to hear what the words were, only that shizuku thought about how warm airis hands were. (i need to be euthanized)

back to the present, shizuku says that she hopes that this gesture can somehow "repay" for what airi did to her back then. i think im losing it. sorry

OKAY IM DONE IM DONE ITS ALMOST 1 AM MY BRAIN IS NOT GOING TO WORK ANYMORE IF I KEEP TYPING..... my brain can handle so little. anyways i hope this wall of text ramble can convince u to read mmj mainsto and consume more mmj stories........ i admit its not perfect or whatsoever bc i haven't read the mmj mainstory for awhile and i have a wee memory issue thats paired with my deafness so. yeah. enjoy. haha.

[bookshelfdreams]

Hiii I hope this isn't too forward, but your tags re: Ed's evolving reactions to abuse and Izzy as abuse-survivor-wish-fulfillment are incredible and it would lovely as its own post, if you felt comfortable doing so!

Aww thank you! The post in question

Also, tbf, I'm just obsessed with the rule of 3, whenever there's the slightest chance of seeing a pattern like this I'll pound on it with a sledgehammer until it fits.

Anyway. Ed has 3 abusive white men in his life; his father, Hornigold, and Izzy. And all 3 he deals with, to escalating effect.

His father is the one who exerts the most power over him. Ed clearly comes from a violent household, and as a child, he is obviously completely at his fathers non-existent mercy. He beats Ed's mother, throws dishware against the wall, and there was a deleted scene where he yelled at Ed's mother for "turning my son soft" (oh how I wish they'd kept that in. I can understand why they thought this was expendable, but it would have made the connection between Ed's father and Izzy so much more obvious).

Ed cannot protect himself, or his mother, against this violence - up until the moment that he can. The moment he realizes he is no longer weak and helpless, he retaliates in the only way that he has ever seen conflicts be resolved. He knows that he can't intimidate his father into better behaviour, if he wants to end the abuse it has to be permanent. So he just fucking kills the bastard.

This is, of course, Not Ideal. Even 30odd years later, he feels monstrous and unlovable because of this moment. The violence scars him. Not because he was wrong in killing his father, necessarily; the show doesn't judge him for it. But Ed destroyed the life he could have had when he did it, and he wounded himself.

Violent solution? Possible, but he deserved better.

Next up, Hornigold, who is also a mean, abusive bastard. He represents the avoidance solution: Leave and never look back. We do not know what became of Hornigold after Ed left his ship, but 02x03 implies that Ed expects him to still be alive somewhere. Ed clearly suffered horrific abuse at his hands, both physical and emotional, and even though that is years in the past, he clearly never dealt with any of it. Gravybasket!Hornigold tells him "Sorry doesn't rebuild an abdominal wall. You gotta move on.": Don't expect an apology, don't try to make amends, just ignore what happened. Apologies are pointless, you can never expect your abuser to change his behaviour. So just try to get away from him and ignore him.

This also doesn't really work. In the gravy basket, Ed is clearly still desperate for Hornigold's approval - and is refused, as he probably was often when he sailed with him. "You're never good enough" is one of the core mantras of abusers. Hornigold is still living in Ed's head, and heart, and soul; the poison he fed him is still alive and well within him. Ed even tries a violent solution this time, but obviously that can't work.

Still, avoidance is better than violence. Hornigold is left behind, standing on that cliff, while Ed goes back into the light. Ed doesn't have to take him with him. He cannot make Hornigold regret what he did, but he can remove himself from his clutches.

And then there's Izzy. With Izzy, Ed obviously has the most ambivalent relationship. He seems to truly like Izzy, to some extend (why is that would be another post, but as briefly as possible: I think Izzy provides an interpersonal dynamic that is familiar, and therefore, a twisted kind of safe for Ed. Chronic mistreatment will embed in you the idea that there's something wrong with you, and that's something Izzy is all too willing to point out to Ed. Crucially though, Izzy is someone who's approval is actually attainable. Ed keeps around someone who will tear him down, yes, but who it is also possible to impress, and over who he has authority. He's going back to the previous relationships, only now he is in a position of power, and that may feel like he can fix them. Obviously this isn't exactly a healthy dynamic. Izzy, for his part, clearly gets a kick out of the power and status being Blackbeard's first mate gives him, and manipulating Ed into doing what he wants. Just watch how pissed he gets when his control over Ed starts to slip.).

And there's another, crucial difference: Izzy wants to come around. Izzy is the fantasy of the toxic person who realizes how shitty his behaviour is, and who deep down, cares enough to want to fix it. Who recognizes the pain he caused, and who tells Ed the things he most needs to hear: I hurt you, and I'm sorry. You didn't deserve this. I was wrong; you're fine.

And then - and this is also an important part of the wish fullfilment fantasy! - he dies. Ed doesn't have to deal with him anymore. We remove the possibility that he goes back on his apology, or tries to use that as a wedge to carve out a space for himself in Ed's life, or goes back to manipulating Ed. No. The apology has to be the final note this relationship ends on.

And this fixes it. Ed can look back on Izzy fondly.

He was a fucking nightmare. What a guy.

[buffyfan145]

The s2 "Rings of Power" finale was great!!! 😀 A lot happened that I expected, and actually was leaked again, but still had some surprises too. Overall, I really enjoyed the season and what we got, including for Haladriel. All the spoilery things behind a cut, but also we're getting great interviews with the cast/writers now too with more insight, especially from Charlie, and about s3 and I'm so excited for that even if we likely have to wait 2 years again. LOL But so much to talk about.

Have to start with Haladriel and honestly I'm totally fine with what we got. I know wanted more but again I had low expectations for the season and we got so much more than I expected. This finale did confirm to me that Sauron does love her, but it's now twisted like a lot of other enemies to lovers ships. They had him tell her back in Halbrand form that again he didn't lie about everything and that what he felt and they had was real. He also again told her about how they do have things in common and she felt it too. Then about how he was going to have her as queen and that he was going to serve her had she said yes. Also being happy to see Nenya and how beautiful it was, even though like an angry ex-fiance/husband he wanted it back. LOL Seems to confirm that in the show he and Celebrimbor designed it for her. Then even though he stabbed her with the crown it was in the shoulder and he even told her he didn't want to kill her. I'm also certain he helped slow her fall (which was part of a now true leak a few days ago about Galadriel jumping and Gil Galad & Elrond healing her) as he was shocked she jumped off the cliff and a fall from that height would've killed her instantly. They showed mostly her falling and didn't show him after he first reached for her, so that seems intentional.

Plus, I agree with others that she likely isn't fully healed from Morgoth's crown stab wound either and that it'll connect her further to Sauron. I noticed she kept touching it and was still weak and recovering. And we got to see Sauron talking with her telepathically now too. Charlie also in interviews this morning brought up how there will be more with Sauron and Galadriel too and that he never wanted her dead. We all knows this fits with the books too and he never stops trying to contact her and see her till the One Ring is destroyed by Frodo, so we're going to get more and show that this is one of the big dynamics of shows.

Also loved seeing Morfydd and Charlie hug and laugh in that bts video after the episode aired too. Those scenes had to have been hard to film, and with Charles Edwards too.

Still so sad about Celebrimbor even though I knew it was coming from the books. Loved though that he foresaw about Frodo too and the One Ring being Sauron's downfall, including that he would never go to Valinor again and being a prisoner in Middle Earth as that is exactly what happened as he's supposedly still stuck as a formless spirit to this day for those that think Middle Earth turned into our world. Really hope at least both the Charlies get Emmy awards as they deserve it.

Very happy they finally confirmed that The Stranger is Gandalf!!! 😀 I figured he was this whole time and now it's finally out there. Curious what will happen for him next and for Nori, as I saw the writers say she'll be on her own journey in s3 too. They writers also confirmed now The Dark Wizard is not Saruman, so he's likely the first Blue Wizard that went evil. So likely Saruman, Radagast, and the 2nd Blue will show up too.

Then happy Arondir is still alive, Elrond realized the rings are good, and the elves founded Imladris/Rivendell and are starting the war on Sauron. Also loved Isildur and Estrid kissed, and that was the most passionate kiss I've ever seen on the show so far. Was hoping Elendil and Miriel would kiss too but loved she gave him Narsil, and he's on his way to find his other son Anarion, who I still wonder if Tom Taylor is playing as his agency is still tagging him on posts and maybe the show cut his scenes till s3. Adar's death was so well done too and I'm glad Nenya healed him too and he was able to reconcile with Galadriel before that. Loved Durin III realized the rings were bad too and went after the balrog to save the others. Now Durin IV is king and his brother is coming to dispute it, which might be another reason they hired a writer from "The Crown" for s3.

I can't wait for s3 and already have seen Charlie teasing that him giving out the 9 is the main storyline for him. I still think he'll switch back to Halbrand or a more regal form of him to recruit the 9 men to his side. He also teased about making the One Ring but isn't sure yet when that happens and if it happens before Sauron goes to Numenor or after. And we know Numenor will be a huge part now that Isildur is going back and Elendil & Anarion will lead the Faithful. Hoping too Galadriel gets more screentime too and Morfydd's schedule is clear so her other projects don't interfere like this time, and since there is a gap in her storyline in the books that the show could add to. And I've got some fics ideas and I'm sure we'll get a lot of fan content till it's finally back.

[oncewhenalongtimeago]

Sorry, but I Think I Lost Your Plot pt 18

Pairing: Onesided!Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III x Modern!Fem!Reader

Words: 5041

The two of you are irresponsible. Things end up fine, anyways.

Tags: Time Travel, Reader into Movieverse, Dragons: Defenders of Berk, Race To Fireworm Island, unedited, part one

<Previous - Next>

“Yak dung, if ye brew’t ri’gh, yae can-”

You stared out at sea, legs stood apart, fur boots planted firmly against the wooden deck, fists on your hips and smelt the sea, which was a lot less fishy and foul than it had been by the docks, where stall owners tended to drop their fish guts.

Listening to the other two sailors talk was kind of boring. Apparently Yaks weren’t native to this part of the world. They were a far off import from a long time ago, which explained why Gobber and the other Vikings treated them like they were the ultimate cure-all.

“Aye, how abou’ we talk about something besides yak dung, you old frigate? I ‘prom I can’ ‘nit bear one more momen’ of- of-” The younger man spoke, voice tinged with a bit of roboticism and a definite note of disinterest. 

The last you checked, he was quite gruffly doing his best to untangle the knotted fronts of an old, frayed net, probably rife with holes.

Everyone was a warrior, few got to be nothing besides that.

Berk’s close knit community kept anyone from really falling into poverty unless they sucked or were new, but the few fishermen here on Berk that were unlucky enough to end up poor tended to have heavier accents than everyone else, spending most of their pay on their dying ships, in contrast to some of the other boats, with hardy shiphands and large decorated, painted sides.

This one, the one you were on, was old and small but incredibly hardy, though it felt like it might sink down in still waters. As you heard, it did surprisingly well during a storm.

Family boats died hard, it seemed. And he was very insistent that that boat ran in his family.

It took a while for you to ascertain the knowledge that here, you were actually supposed to poop on a poop deck, not that you wanted to. It was more like you’d been shown how they did it which was very similar to just leaning their butt over the side railing and roughing it in front of everyone.

You did not enjoy that show.

You didn’t think anyone here was there for that boat trip. You found that very good.

You were at sea with two other sailors, an old man, large but frail as his boat, and a younger middle aged man who had very little interest in anything but the nets.

The sea was oddly still though still windy as you felt through your very casual tunic and trousers. You figured it would be a waste to wear more.

A thick pouch attached to your hip bounced against your waist as the ship rocked. 

Today, you were a fisherman’s hired helping hand. It was a while since you’d helped on a ship. It was usually the poorer ones who couldn’t afford anyone hardier who pulled you up.

You were slightly pleased with it, though, as you raked across the sky with your eyes. Lunch was cheaper when you were part of the team catching it.

In the sky, you spotted the few birds brave enough to squeak and squeal and flip with dragons lurking around the clouds.

With a burst of enthusiasm, you waved up at them as they dotted the sky.

There were a few groups, not all clear enough for you to make out any more than a dot. And a little further back… There were what looked like the Riders.

You could make out the bright blur form of Stormfly and Astrid’s blonde head of hair on top. Behind her is who you thought were the twins.

You wondered where they were off to.

You eep-ed as a dot separated from the flock.

As the dot grew larger on the horizon, as you recognized the dark, swooping wings of the Night Fury and as it came closer, you realized, of course, that it was Hiccup and Toothless.

“Alr’gh, lass, You grab one end of the net and I’ll-” The old fisherman grumbled from behind, before cutting himself off, “By jove, what’s he want from ‘ere?”

His long, gray beard and ponytail shifted with the wind, and bald spot, which you presumed was caused prematurely a long time ago, half marred by a barely noticeable burn scar, slightly reflected the glare of the sun.

“Speak not of the Romans here, ol’ man,” The younger fisherman grumbled as you glanced back, his unevenly chopped, short brown hair blowing wildly as he limped and dragging his feet up behind him.

The old fishermen’s thin, threadbare brown fur tunic bollywood in the wind. It was patchy, something most Vikings on Berk could relate to but none would be bothered by besides the poorer, without the coin or resources to procure a new bit of fabric to replace.

Your own clothes were thin and not enough during the best of times.

You turned back up to the sky, nearly startled to see how far both Hiccup and Toothless had traveled in such little time, then backed up as they got nearer and nearer, quickly moving to compensate as they pul;led right up to the side.

The ship rocked dangerously as Toothless landed against the side, this fishing boat being a bit smaller than was typical, also positioned dangerously close to a set of rocks just barely peeking out of the water.

“Oi!” The old fisherman shouted angrily, as a spray of water rained down on them from above, just barely missing you, “Watch it, you-!”

“You watch i’, yae old man,” The brown haired fisherman said abruptly, scowling and fixing his accent and twisting his torso, sort of lanky but not nearly enough to be ousted from viking hood, dropping his net and coming over to cover the old man’s mouth, “Tha’s the Chief’s son.”

You winced, imagining his fishy breath over your own fingers, holding some pity for him though he didn’t look like he wanted or needed it.

Hiccup laughed awkwardly and winced, peering back at the rocks as Toothless sniffed around disinterestedly. 

“We go’ no fish for ye, beast!” The old man yowled raspily, throwing off the younger man’s hand and shaking his fist.

Hiccup looked at the fisherman with a slight grimace though he didn’t say anything.

You blew a puff of air out into the ether, looking to the side and inhaling a new, fresh breath and feeling the lungs in your chest expand as you did.

These kinds of spats were not something you had a particular interest in.

Hiccup neither, it seemed.

“Hi?” He asked awkwardly, turning his attention away from them and looking down at you from where he was seated on Toothless, whose claws were digging into the railing, which you were sure was going to give the old fisherman an ulcer later.

“Hello,” You responded. You supposed that by now you should be feeling at least a little bit of Deja Vu but you really did not at all, “Where are you off to?”

“So, ah, how’s…?” Hiccup asked awkwardly, “Is now a bad time?”

You both stared back at the older fisherman who was now squabbling with the brown haired guy, who was busy holding him back, his arms hooked under the back of the old fisherman’s.

“It’s been… fine,” You said, “He’s kind of crazy, I think. Don’t mind it much.”

“Right…”

You heard a loud sniff as what must’ve been Toothless knocked over a small barrel on the other end of the ship, causing some weird-smelling liquid to spill over onto the deck.

“Shouldn’t they be doing better, with all the dragons nearby? You know…” Hiccup gentured down towards the head of his dragon, sniffing at a few closed baskets by the side of the boat, “...Fish?”

“No, ah,” You hummed, nodding to the dingy floorboards and the frayed everything; this vessel wasn’t even painted, a great deal smaller than the other ships, “There’s more fish now because of the dragons doing less hunting, which means an easier catch, food has to cost less in order to feed more and to sell and because most people can probably catch their own fish, and also this boat is kind of…” 

You cleared your throat, shaking off the remnants of the fisherman’s accent, lingering along the edges of your voice.

You didn’t pick up on the whole thing until very, very recently but on the regular, you spoke in a way that was more formal than the rest of Berk.Of course, you knew you had an accent, but often you found that as you spent more time with the villagers, in an effort to be more polite, you tried to adapt the accents of the people you were speaking to in order to mask your own foreign one.

  It helped, some.

“Right,” Hiccup said again, “We’re- we’re looking for Fireworms. The others and I. I should probably…”

“For Snotlout?” You asked.

You looked back and then up towards Hiccup again. They usually managed just fine without you, and it was an awfully calm day.

Would you leave them behind? 

To be fair, if you stayed, you were sure to get an earful. So you didn’t feel bad about it at all.

“How did you know?” Hiccup asked. 

You squinted. 

Hiccup was positioned just so that the sun glared down from around him, which was a bit painful to your eyes.

“Well…” You started.

There wasn’t much the Riders did that had anything to do with the Jorgensons when Snotlout wasn’t involved and the ‘Louts had been particularly grabby recently. What wasn’t for them?

They took the island very seriously and themselves even more so as the ‘protectors of the island.’

From your interactions with the rest of the Jorgenson house and, more importantly, the head, you knew Spitelout was very rough on Snotlout.  

Depending on the Jorgenson, they were either sort of wasteful or wasteless to an unreasonable degree, throwing things out before they could be fixed and using old, broken tools even after it became incredibly dangerous to do so, but they were also very rich compared to some of the other families on Berk so it didn’t really matter. 

They had to have the best of everything in people and things, or something like that. Which usually left only crumbs for the rest of everybody.

You’d heard some of the women by the square complaining as you scoured over their crumbs and dry pickings.

You didn’t mind it. Berk was pretty first-come first-serve, anyways.

Until it came to dragons.

Everyone on Berk stuck to the typical types of dragons whenever they were forced to find a mount, not because they preferred it that way, though it wasn’t something you found to cause any dissent in particular. 

“Gut feeling,” You shrugged, going with the easy explanation, “Do you need any help?”

It was difficult to find any type outside of a Dragon Training course, of course, those being a roster of the most common native dragons. The other kinds were a bit harder to stumble across. Any of the ‘exotic’ types of dragon mounts were something to be proud of, and proud of them they were, the few Vikings who had the time and resources to expend. 

There were a few squabbles about it but nothing too major. Most Vikings were still a little dragon shy anyhow. The whole argument was kind of silly.

Having a dragon was about more than the type of dragon, anyways.

 It didn’t matter much to you, a person without a dragon. 

There was a fisherman who was quite proud of his exotic dragon- a Scauldron. He’d picked it up a little bit after the incident with the purple flowers.

It helped a lot with fishing.

“Well… Are you busy?” Hiccup asked, albeit a tad unsurely.

“Not particularly,” You said, staring back at the old fisherman, also a bit unsure. 

Adventuring with Hiccup would make it easier to avoid the old fisherman, who, now that you thought about it, was a bit off and who you imagined was very close to blowing his top.

“Really?” Hiccup asked, looking a little guilty, eyes darting back towards the fishermen behind you.

He pointed a shaking hand towards you, spluttering messily as the brown haired Viking guy scrambled for some of the ropes along one of the poles along the back end of the ship, still not letting go of his arm.

“Yeah,” You said, beaming as Hiccup scooted forward, urging Toothless to turn around with his foot, causing the boat to rock a bit and you to back up, adjusting to the dragon as he swung wide.

Hiccup made a sheepish smile and offered you the space behind him on his saddle, though he kept his eyes on the fisherman behind.

You pretended you saw nothing. You thought the scene they were making resembled something out of the world’s blandest comedy show, or an old cartoon. 

He paid pennies, anyway.

“Someone should be by with a Scauldron in case you need help,” You called back, “I heard the rainbow big ship was out today.”

“Not tha’ barrel! The other! Can’t you see the difference?” The old fisherman made a rude gesture and shouted as Toothless took the initiative to do a bit more exploring.

He shook free enough to grab something thick, dark and viscous from a wooden tankard to the side and throw it towards Toothless.

Hiccup shifted awkwardly as he responded, “I don't see the difference…?” 

You yelped and jumped back and scrambled up on Toothless behind him as the glob landed right by your feet. 

Looked like your refreshing day out at sea was over. You could always go fishing another day.

You tossed the fisherman back his coin, holding it between your fingers and flipping it to him with your thumb before he could say anything, shooting off a quick, “I’m sorry!”

He jumped down and grabbed for it, though the brown haired fisherman caught it with some minor exhaustion.

You turned away and lightly nudged Hiccup’s arm, hurting before the old fisherman could do something more crass. Like his bare bottom over the railing. Sure, you may have had to know the sight once, but it was still irritating. And gross.

Hiccup kicked Toothless quickly off and up into the sky. You could feel the wind bursting past your face, much more biting now that you were once again without your coat.

You rotated your shoulder slightly after you slipped into the saddle behind Hiccup, arms sore from all the rowing you did earlier, which was difficult considered your arms were clenched around his waist.

“Fireworm island?” You asked, “Which ones are Fireworms, again?”

“They’re the small orange glowy ones,” Hiccup spoke past the rushing wind, though it didn’t seem like he was particularly rushed, bumping your shoulder with his as he glanced back.

“I don’t think I’ve seen those yet,” You said as you locked your arms around his waist, Toothless moving at rocketing speeds.

“We’re heading back towards Berk?” You asked. 

“Yeah. We were just- Well-” Hiccup struggled, “Recouping. Navigating. Splitting ground.”

“Splitting? What’s your-? You know.”

“I’m not- I left too early,” Hiccup said, embarrassedly at nearly a shout, “I was hoping you might know- Ah– But the- I know some of the fishermen used to use Fireworms as bait.”

He cut off then, but you got the gist of it.

“Why don’t we try a different island?” You asked, fighting against the wind as Hiccup and Toothless reoriented them all, nearly flipping over.

You imagined what Fishlegs would say; ‘There’s an island for that!’

It seemed like there was an island for everything. Was there one for Fireworms?

You wondered what Berk was the island for.

You didn’t need to be close friends to know for sure. 

It was bare. 

You pushed through another set of ferns, following quickly behind Hiccup as the two of you trudged through a thick set of trees.

You really hoped you hadn’t messed up and someone ended up dead, or something.

People would riot. Chase you off for sure.

You heard people talking about moving more into the forests where there were more resources and privacy, the only thing having kept them in the village being the dragons.

You’d have to take refuge.

Another dock would be nice, you thought.

You wondered if the volcano on Dragon island was still active. That would make for a good second island, if the dragons didn’t mind a few human visitors. Roommates. Exile-ees.

You figured they’d probably rather they be left alone, though.

“Would using Gel from another Nightmare work? Or is it like blood transfusions?” You asked as you ducked under another low-hanging branch. 

You stepped over the gnarled roots of this tree quickly afterwards, the soles of your boots making an odd wet noise as it hit the damp undergrowth. 

The two of you had just hit a pretty soggy spot in the undergrowth and you knew Hiccup was worried it might turn into peat. 

You were close to suggesting that you head back and try another direction in the forest.

Said Hiccup looked at you oddly, brows cinched and raised as he tried to repeat your foreign modern words, “Blood transfusions?”

You puzzled over it for a moment, “Blood… exchange? Blood giving?”

“That…” Hiccup cringed, but he had the shadows of his idea face ghosting the corners of his expression. He was, also, probably wondering if it was just as unsanitary as it seemed, as a normally adjusted person should.

“It’s not as gross as it sounds, I promise.”

“Really?”

“I mean, everyone has different blood types, and you- Shouldn’t try it. Please don’t try it,” You said a bit quickly.

He didn’t have the medical equipment, at least not for blood.

It probably wasn’t safe anyways.

You hadn’t talked since before his Dad started asking you questions you didn’t want to think about. You refused to let it get awkward. Still, you hoped to find some Fireworms soon.

Toothless had run off earlier, chasing the likeness of a work into the trees. Hope was nearly lost.

Catching the worms was sort of difficult and the Fireworms had been sparse. You’d been out for what, thirty minutes? An hour?

You winced.

It was like trying to catch frogs with tweezers. How you imagined it, anyways.

You wondered if there were frogs here and if that was something Vikings did. You thought you saw a kid with a frog once. You wondered if Hiccup wanted to go catch frogs, and if he was the type of kid to have tried to do that. 

Maybe with friends? You weren’t sure.

He seemed a little solitary before the Red Death, though not by choice or any sort of personality quirk, at least nothing you would clock from the modern day.

You were afraid, though, that his only friend was Gobber which wasn’t necessarily a bad thing, in and of itself.

“Toothless!” Hiccup tried then, calling again, cupping his hands around his mouth. 

You glanced down at his leg, which you noticed just then had sunk a bit deep into the mud. It was going to get caked later.

“No dice?” You asked, pulling yourself up a step.

“No dice,” Hiccup shook his head. He tried to hide it, but he was looking kind of glum. Which was understandable.

You squinted ahead as the way forward got lighter, blinking placidly into the treeline. 

Maybe you wouldn't have to turn back after all. 

You kept moving forwards. 

Hiccup had a sort of stormy, contemplative expression on his face a for a while, and so you’d given him the space to think.

You weren’t particularly pressed to speak yourself, in a mood that made you just as happy with silence as exercising your vocal cords.

“Spitelout… Snotlout hadn’t said anything but I’m sure he wants him to- …” Hiccup spoke, after a while.

“Kill Hookfang?” You asked.

You likened it -the idea- to euthanasia for older animals or animals that were too sick to function anymore. But you had the inkling that that’s not exactly the type of person Spitelout was. 

It was still unreasonable, though. You hadn’t exhausted half your resources yet, you thought. If there was still a chance you’d be able to save Snotlout’s dragon…

You felt sort of bad for Hiccup.

Dragons were his thing, after all. “I should have told the others where I was going,” Hiccup sighed, gesturing with his hands as he stopped suddenly, then letting them fall until they slapped soundlessly against his legs, “I can’t believe I messed up this bad.”

You moved up beside him to see his face, lips pursed into a thin line as he looked exhaustively up into the thin pin-ey canopy above, “It’s not that bad.”

He looked at you guiltily then, though you had the feeling he wasn’t looking at you with guilt any more than you being the cause of it. Did he regret stopping by to pick you up? Coming to another island?

“It’s fine,” You tried, before adding hopefully, comforting yourself a little bit, “We don’t know if it’s a mistake, yet. These things happen, and you never know.”

“My Dad is going to kick me out and I’m going to have to spend every night from now on until I die eating alone.” Hiccup spoke dryly.

“I’ll be here,” You suggested helpfully, “And if you get kicked off I promise I’ll visit with things. So you don’t drop. Like fresh water and probably beads, maybe.”

“Well, thanks, I bet they’ll taste great mixed up with a plate of loneliness and self-loathing,” Hiccup said sarcastically, waving his hands at his sides, before pausing, as if remembering who he was talking to. 

You snorted, a little bit surprised.

He’d not spent so much time being any more sarcastic than awkward whenever you were together. 

You thought it was a little bit funny and a little bit worrying. If things went wrong it was probably your fault, anyways. For messing with the plot. 

Had you really, though? The thought came unbidden. What had you done besides just existing? That was a guiltless action. 

Had that been all you had been doing?

You internally shook, brushing thoughts of those things away.

You didn’t want to do any pondering.

“You’d be fine, minus the indigestion, probably. You have a lot of things going for you,” You nodded.

“My sharp intellect and dashing charm,” Hiccup said, keeping his elbows close to his sides and gesturing to himself emphatically in a way that was incredibly sarcastic and slightly gawky.

“Yes,” You said firmly as you nodded besides, your side brushing fully past another fern as you went, “I mean, you’re a good inventor. I can’t name another one on the island- really, I’m sure I heard your Dad talking about it the other day-  ‘I could leave that boy alone for a week and he’d have me a city built on a whole other island by the time I got back.’”

You didn’t talk to many people so you mostly kept that bit to yourself.

“Wow, that’s…”

“A bit crazy?” You hummed, lifting your boot and jumping back slightly as you stepped into a particularly wet, boggy patch of grass.

“A lot of pressure,” Hiccup gestured aimlessly with his hands again, the glass beads threaded into the twine around his wrists twinkling slightly as he rotated them.

He seemed kind of crushed, suddenly. 

“I’m really not that good at… Prioritizing, I guess. Anything. All of this.” 

They were yellow today. Yellow and light green. You hadn’t noticed, too focused on staying atop Toothless in the sky earlier and on the fauna after you’d landed.

You looked down as you stepped up onto a short dry patch, kicking aside a few pebbles with your muddied boot toes and grabbing a hold of a thin branch, sticking up out of a log as you pulled yourself over.

“I hope he didn’t mean it literally,” You said, shrugging. But then you immediately felt guilty for it, glancing up from your feet back to Hiccup, “It’s- I mean, things happen-And- You don’t have to be good at it. I mean, you’re doing it. Who else is going to?”

You stopped for a moment and took that time to let out a large exhale.

You felt like you fumbled the conversation before you even moved your mouth again. 

“Right,” Hiccup looked at you unsurely before peering around the underbrush, “I guess. But everyone expects me to. I shouldn’t be saying this, but I don’t- …know how.”

Hiccup grimaced, looking like he had a heavy set of weights on his shoulders. Which, he might’ve.

You hadn’t had any in a while besides the need for food and board.

It made you wonder. Did you expect anything from Hiccup?

“Can you…? Gods, do you even know what I’m talking about?” Hiccup continued, burying his face in his hands, throwing his head up exaggeratedly as he rubbed his face, one hand lingering longer than the other.

He glanced at you from the corner of his eye as he did, “I didn’t mean-...”

He sighed heavily, defeated.

You looked at him for a moment, halted.

You ignored how your feet were sore and your back was starting to hurt from spending the whole day on your feet. This was no place to sit and rest, however, not even for a minute. You wouldn’t stop for more than a minute. 

Unless you wanted to be wet, that was. And froggy.

Way back on Berk, you were expected to take on responsibility a lot earlier than you were expected to in modern times so you guessed, in a way, you got it. And you wanted to tell him so.

You felt kind of odd about it all. 

Any direction you had you’d surely misplaced. Any path you knew was probably derailed- even this conversation you were sure wasn’t supposed to have happened. 

“I kind of know?” You said, “I get it, I mean. I haven’t been here for everything, but, you know, I’ve seen a lot. I don’t really have any good advice for you, though.”

You watched Hiccup slump slightly, grimacing as you spoke, feeling as if you’d failed some sort of test.

Who were you to ask for anything, really?

There was one thing you could give him, though. But similar to your own sleeves and patchy boots, which you liked a lot, you weren’t sure if it would count for much. 

“-And I’m sorry,” You said, before shrugging, not giving Hiccup a moment to think before you spoke again, “But I don’t expect anything you don’t want to give. Maybe, it would be hypocritical of me to ask for anything more than you are- I mean, I’m a delivery girl. I guess you know all that already, though, right? That you’re nice all on your own?”

You ended in a question, watching Hiccup as he watched you, searching for any more reaction. His reaction. Had you missed the mark? Was there even a mark to miss?

You hoped not. 

“Am I?” Hiccup asked, looking at you incredulously.

He gave you a wide-eyed look, some emotion you couldn’t name plastered all across his face.

You weren’t exactly an authority on the subject. You had been here, in the Archipelago, for a long while, but there were still many, many things you weren’t privy to.

“I think you are?” You took the lead by a few feet, urging Hiccup to subconsciously follow you forwards, hurrying the both of you up, “I don’t know what-I mean… Are you? I can’t really say. I’m not- the judge of- I think, honestly, the only one who can say what you are is- well. You? And you’d know better than me what you can handle. I don’t mind it, whatever it is you can or can’t do, I guess.”

You gestured back towards him as you glanced and turned away without actually looking, face heating up with an extra amount of embarrassment. 

You didn’t want to consider the idea that maybe you’d messed up, so you opted to ignore all of it. The idea that the whole conversation had happened in the first place.

Really, he was the main character. Why wouldn’t he know?

“I- ah, ph-what? I mean… Yeah?” Hiccup sputtered, following you as you through the forest around you, trying not to flinch as the water seeped through the bottom of your boots.

You shrug-nodded awkwardly, still staring ahead.

Thankfully, the damp earth began to grow firmer and the ferns grew thicker as you spoke until just by what you assumed to be the end of the treeline, where the sun shone brightest.

You pointed ahead, “I think there’s an opening up there.”

As you got closer, hurriedly trudging along though not too fast for Hiccup to keep up, you felt the beginnings and wisps of sea in the air.

You felt the beginnings of a rumble in your stomach as your anticipation grew.

So you had a little bit of an ulterior motive too, for rushing the two of you along. You were a little bit hungry, and you also had had no breakfast at all. A break would do Hiccup well too, you were sure.

You kept moving, the two of you in silence, until, finally, stepping past a particularly large front, framed by light that was almost glaring, considerably brighter than the kind you’d been subjected to in the smoggy underbrush-

The two of you had just broken out of the forest into a clear cliffside.

It was probably not too far away from where you’d initially landed. Geometric rock columns lined the cliffs’ edge, making the ground look almost like tiles, though some bits were slightly elevated over others. 

You opened your mouth to speak, but he beat you to it.

“Look, how about we take a break? I have to… I have to figure out how we’re going to get back,” Hiccup looked back, in a way you imagined was exhaustive, into the trees, most likely thinking of Toothless. Yeah, that was a problem.

You were glad he said it first. 

[angelshizuka]

I have no idea why the hatewatchers have to constantly try to spoil the fun for actual HB fans. Like we get it, the only characters you enjoy are your woobified idealistic versions of Stella and Striker. We get it. You wanted Striker to "rescue Blitzø" from the meanie Stolas (lol). We get it. You’re a whiny douchebag who pisses in other people's coffee. Get over it.

No one's forcing them to watch the show. Why do they post in our tags? Jesus christ on a stick, I remember the leaks. It's so stupid.

It's honestly kinda funny to me (in a sad way) they claim Viv and us fans are "woobifying" Stolas while that is what THEY are doing to Stella and Striker.

At least Stolas has an entire arc going on about realizing the mistakes he's made and trying to make up for it (even if he's not always perfect at it, but making a character perfect is boring af, anyway). Meanwhile Stella and Striker are aware of what they're doing, take pride/joy in it and don't show any signs of wanting to stop (any time soon).

And for people who claim they want Blitz to be "saved" by Striker, they sure don't give a flying fuck that Striker attacked and harmed Moxxie and Millie, two people Blitz cares about A LOT, and only kept them alive as leverage for their "rodeo clown of a boss". People who ship Blitz/Striker have literally no ground to stand on when it comes to "healthy ships".

Especially some hatewatchers I've seen are obsessed to an unhealthy degree. I came across one that posts about the merch drops the literal moment they happen and considering how unnannounced those usually are to the point even fans don't always catch them at first, that's like next level obsessive hatewatching.

I have some thoughts about the "critiques" I've seen them make about the leaks, but I'll keep those to myself for now, because I don't wanna accidentally spoil anything. Let's just say it's just as stupid as the usual "critiques" they make.

[rise-my-angel]

I can understand the anti jonsa/jonrya/jongritte but I'm wondering about the jon/daenerys thing and if you don't mind I'd like to know why (asking as someone who only watched the show & wasn't bought by their dynamic)

It actually starts with the exact same problem as Ygritte's dynamic with him. Jon arrives at a place and is taken prisoner, his weapons are taken from him, he cannot leave of his own accord and has no way home alone, and he has no choice but to try and convince the people or person keeping him hostage that they should trust him. Only for the other person to develop an attraction, and whose dynamic can only be developed as long as Jon still is not allowed to leave or fight back. Only for it to go apparently romantic, when really, his situation has not changed if he resists.

If he is with Ygritte, and he shows signs of resistence or being against her cause, she and the others will kill him, and he knows it.

If he is with Dany, and he shows signs of resistence or being against her cause, she and her dragons will kill him, and he knows it.

Remember, when he goes beyond the Wall (gods protect me thinking about that episode), he literally has to leave by force because she still refused to give him "permission" to leave the island she's kept him trapped on for weeks. Their reunion is not romantic, and neither is them getting together. Up until a day ago, he was her prisoner and he still is at the mercy of her dragons.

If at any moment Jon truly resists her, she will kill him. There is not a single moment of their relationship where she didn't consider Jons life forefit if he didn't meet her exact expectations of total loyalty. Just like Ygritte did.

What it comes off to me, is that Jon has no interest in her whatsoever nor does he want to be with her, but he knows he is still her prisoner and even worse, she has dragons that could destroy his family and kingdom if she so chooses, if he stood against her. I think Jon realized Dany was interested in him, and realized that he was in a situation just like Ygritte. Trapped, and forced to play along much to the determent of his own mental health.

Jon is never not at Dany's total mercy if he displeases her.

Any time they get together it is clearly Dany summoning Jon, and one time it's very bad. Jon is extremely drunk to the point he can barley stand on two feet, and she is stone cold sober. She tries to get him to have sex with her, he resists and she still tries and it only ends because it turns into an argument about another topic all together.

If Jon was trying to convince a drunk girl telling him no, to have sex with him, we all know what we'd call that. What we'd call him. I do not consider Jon being a man, and Dany being a woman, to change that dynamic. Dany also has all the power of him as a Queen who forced him to bend the knee, and she has two dragons in his home that will kill him and anyone else she chooses whenver she wants.

Jon is literally unable to consent to this relationship at any point and the literal only way out he had, was to unironically kill her.

If you look through my anti jonerys tag you can find other posts I've made going into the details about why I think they do not work fundementally as characters in general, but I stand firmly against the show relationship for these reasons.

It's the same prisoner/abuse/rape situation as with Ygritte, but even worse, because Dany can and would use her dragons on him, his family, and his people if she decided Jon wasn't loyal enough anymore.

I don't think Jon ever wanted to be with her, in any way shape or form. But was forced to pretend to because he was her prisoner from the moment he stepped onto Dragonstone until the moment he killed her.

I think as for the books, they just do not work as a couple in even a functional manner and there is no hint that they ever even would become a couple in the first place and that shipping them in the books is pure jonsa style wish fufillment fanon.

Again, my anti jonerys tag has many posts about this topic since I've tackled it at many angles over the past few months if you're interested further in what I think!

[isagrimorie]

Agatha All Along - 9

Vidarkness - 5, 6 and 15.

Alice Wu Gulliver - 2

For the fandom ask game:

Show: Agatha All Along

9. which characters I think should have interacted more in canon.

I wish more characters interacted with Rio. I wanted to see how Jen would react more to Rio as she vacillated in the Hot/Crazy scale. Rio and Alice interacting more would make the scene in episode 8 more poignant.

Rio hinting Lilia that she knows her and used to be friendly would also be so much fun.

Talking more with Alice and Agatha would also be good since, post-episode 4 and with the context of the Ballad, I feel Agatha would, against her better judgment, feel something for Alice. It would make what happened with Alice feel sharper for Agatha.

Ship: Vidarkness

5. the three most perfect OTP tags that I can come up with for them.

I think: Vidarkness is really cool tag for them because Vida (Life) + Darkness sums up both ship and who Rio is and who Rio and Agatha are to each other.

"It's Black and Beats for You." - Death is a hopeless romantic.

"My Scar." - Seriously, Death has a way with words.

6. what kind of AU fics I'm obsessed with reading about them (or would be if I could find one).

I am very into the Agnes of Westview AU. I could have gone on for 2 more episodes of Agnes finding out something weird about the very normal town she's living in.

Not an AU but I would love some historical swashbuckling romance between Death and Agatha. I know their relationship broke up but it seemed like they kept in contact until Agatha took the Darkhold (which might have been during the 90s).

Modern Divorce AU, where Agatha is a Sophie Deveraux-style con artist, and Rio gets Nicky in the divorce.

15. how I wish their story would go/would have gone.

I'm actually happy with how it's gone, I do wish we got to see more of their happy times before their break-up. And I would also want to see Rio's expression when she realized rather than crossover Agatha figured out how to be a ghost.

Character: Alice Wu Gulliver

2. how I would have chosen to change their story from canon.

While I do respect they really wanted the themes of death and its weight...

I WOULD HAVE CHOSEN FOR ALICE TO LIVE.

That's the only change, Rio will appear to Alice, and tell her: "It's not your time. But I'll be seeing you, Alice. "

And she's ejected out of the Road where Jen, who is climbing out of the Road finds Alice.

The end!

[so-long-soldier-writes]

drabble #5 - stupid, sad movie

kai parker x reader

summary: since kai missed out on over a decade of movies, you now spend your nights watching the best ones. tonight's movie: titanic.

tags: fluff, soft!kai

word count: 550

A few seconds after the screen fades to black, the credits start to roll. You look over to Kai, realizing he’s been quiet for a while. For most of the movie, he kept up a constant commentary, but as the intensity increased, his chatter decreased. You turn to him, expecting something like, “why didn’t she just make room?!” but there’s nothing. In fact, he won’t make eye contact with you. 

“Kai?”

“Hm?”

“You okay?”

“Yep.” His answer is short. Suspicious.

You watch him for a second longer. Kai swallows hard, then wipes something from the corner of his eye with his finger. 

“Are you crying?” A smirk creeps onto your face at the realization. 

“No,” he tries to lie. But then he turns to face you and gives himself away. “A little.”

Your smirk immediately fades at the sight of him. Redness tints his eyes and his cheeks are pink and puffy. His throat bobs like he’s holding back a sob. 

“Oh, baby, what’s wrong?” You open your arms out to him. “Come here.”

Tentatively, he scoots along the couch until his back is against yours. His whole body relaxes the moment you wrap your arms around his own. Once he’s feeling secure, more tears escape his eyes. 

“Why’d you show me that movie?”

“It’s a classic, you had to see it.”

“That’s stupid.”

A chuckle leaves your lips at his reaction; you couldn’t hold it back.

“Great, now you’re making fun of me.”

“No making fun, baby, I promise.” You kiss his head. “You’re just so cute.”

At that, he mumbles something you can’t catch. 

“What was that?”

“I’m just reiterating that the movie was stupid.”

“Mhm, okay.”

“Like, why didn’t she make room for him on the stupid board?! They both could’ve fit!”

There it is. You knew he’d ask. 

“I don’t know, angel. That’s the question everyone wants to know.”

“Stupid.”

You kiss him again. “Did you like it aside from that?”

“No.”

“Kai! Not even a little?”

“Fine, I guess. It was good. But I didn’t like the ship sinking. What if that happens to you?”

“What? What are you talking about?”

“What if you get stuck on a sinking ship and I can’t save you?”

“Oh, don’t you worry about that. Actually, thanks to this movie, I’m too afraid to go on cruise ships. Besides, there’s much more preparation for emergencies nowadays to avoid stuff like this. Remember, these events took place in 1912.”

“Hm.” He wipes away another tear. 

“Face me, baby.” When he shuffles around in your lap, you wipe his tears for him. “We’re not getting on any boats anytime soon. And I’m sorry I showed you a sad movie. I didn’t think you’d get upset.”

“I didn’t think I would, either.”

You grin. “Just makes you ten times cuter!” You give him a big, unexpected kiss to the cheek. Though as you try to pull away, he grabs your face and kisses your lips. 

“I love you, Y/N,” he says once you break apart.

“I love you, too, Kai.”

He moves so that his back is pressed up to your chest again, then snuggles closely into you. “What are we watching next? And nothing sad, please.”

“Okay, angel. Just a moment, I’ve got the perfect one to make you feel better.”

[eisforeidolon]

I feel fans should be able to interpret shows and characters any way they want but it really bothers me that shippers die on the hill of Dean is such a closeted bi sexual and Sam is the biggest heterosexual out there. I love these characters because they are extremely toxic and codependent on each other. The story would not be the same with out that. Why would anyone look to Supernatural to be their all time gay representation love story when it most obviously is not. it just blows my mind how out there Destiel shippers are and how much they truly hate this show and hate Dean without even realizing it. I need someone to figure out how we can get rid of them from this fandom...LOL

Yeah, IDGI either. Fandom is supposed to be about just having fun however you want with the building blocks from the canon + your imagination. It's not even the main point that they're hilariously bad at interpretation, project too hard onto the characters to even see them, can't understand context to save their lives, pointedly ignore a million things that directly contradict their agenda, and too much of their so-called proof is actually gross backwards stereotypes about sexuality and masculinity (neither of which they seem to understand very well at all). If they were just having fun with it, who the fuck cares? Sure, it's annoying, but a lot of fandom is annoying because it is so specifically tailored to things not everyone is gonna like. There are other canons with fans who are fine admitting they just like playing in the canon world but not the canon itself that much.

No, the problem is hellers are not content to just enjoy their non-canon interpretations in fandom. They feel entitled to flood any and every tag associated with the show, trying to demand their interpretations be considered indisputably canon fact because ... reasons ... and anyone who doesn't agree with them is A Bad Person because ... they say so. Their ship is the greatest love story (n)ever told, the best representation evar in media! It's the only important thing about SPN - and if they couldn't change the canon, they can change the fandom narrative! The fact there's actually no there there under their overblown thousands upon thousands of words of inept meta is why the very suggestion it's not canon, that someone doesn't see it as the greatest thing ever, that maybe Dean is actually just a heterosexual instead of putting on an elaborate performance of one or even that Sam might not be the straightest character ever written? Is taken as an attack upon their self-declared status as the real main audience. Which makes sense, because they never were. SPN was anything but subtle as to what its actual focal relationship was.

To some extent I get how they echo-chambered each other into believing their ship was/would be a thing in canon. If you just look at the size of the piles on piles of cherry-picked nonsense they accumulated over the years without actually engaging your brain to see how variously flimsy, out of context, or how many other more sensible interpretations there were for any of them? If you wanted to believe and surrounded yourself with others who did, too, and kept talking each other up, spending way more time doing that than watching the show? It's no wonder some of them ended up with really skewed expectations.

What I don't get is how they're still going this long after the show ended. SPN is over and there's no more 'Well, next season for sure!' to promise themselves. There are increasingly more stories out there now in a variety of media which are centering deliberately, openly LGBT+ characters and relationships they could invest in championing! Hell, just saying screw canon and burying themselves in writing their idea of "better" fanfic is a perfectly reasonable way to deal with disappointment, no matter how self-inflicted. Instead, they're still here making up elaborate conspiracies about how SPN was something other than what it blatantly obviously always was - because admitting they were wrong and the only thing they ever liked about it was their own OOC fanfic very, very loosely based off of it? Well, that's more than a bit embarrassing in light of how long they spent campaigning and how vehement they were about it totally being not just A Thing but The Most Important Thing Ever. So I don't know what would actually get them to move on, they clearly love being miserable and wrong and pretending to be martyrs over it far too much for me to comprehend.

[kenjiyabuki]

so here are some thoughts about DMD Friendship the Reality while we are nearing the end

yeah yeah its not that deep but actually no one caring/talking about a show makes me want to write a LONG ASS POST bc i cant get gratification from going through the tags and reading opinions lmaoooooo so HERE damn okkk i will make the content i want to see in the world i guess dont mind me......😞

im not even the biggest Domundi fan but i was intrigued by the premise of this show. i mean it's a basically fake dating show (like one of their challenge rewards was getting to sleep in a suite together as if they are there to date for real) and the end prize isnt just an acting opportunity as it comes w the big decision of choosing a looooooong time acting partner. so i wanted to see how they would do it. BOC did a similar thing w The Hidden Character which i dropped halfway in bc it was too long and i found the challenges to be irrelevant to the ending goal. this show is the opposite of that and thats why ive been enjoying it.

it is edited to be concise (only 5 eps) and honestly, is quite tranquil. all the challenges were about things they will be required to do in the future as DMD actors/idols and stakes aren't even that high. You could always guess who would win before they even started (((like of course broody model guys won the photoshoot challenge and guy w two series under his belt won the acting one, DUH))) but it was still enjoyable to watch. show's goal isn't to generate tension and competitiveness. it is more of a workshop/chemistry building camp and also a way to introduce the new generation and get the fans warm up/attached to them.

as i spent time in bl fandom sphere, i've come to realize introducing a new gen is tricky. i thought everyone would be ecstatic to see new blood and a lil bit of mix and match but BL fans are reaaaaaaaaaaally attached to their faves and generally see newcomers as threats who will take opportunities from their already neglected (!) precious babies (e.g. just couple weeks ago FortPeat fans were protesting the new lesbian side couple in the upcoming show for stealing screen time from their faves, which is a joke in itself). this kind of show is genius way to get people to warm up to idea of new faces. at the end of the the day, these fans' weakness is two beautiful boys indulging in sweet moments they can be delulu over and considering how ships were already born from the first episode, DMD FTR succeeded in their goal.

LETS TALK ABOUT THE BOYS :-) *this starts playing*

I had to make this during first ep bc they are all dark haired boys w similar builds so I kept confusing them lmaoooooo (Tle not pictured as he joined later)

i will firstly talk about the fan favorite possible "couples";

KengNamping, the quiet visual couple and yes I love em!!!! they were kinda the only "conflict" in this very conflict free competition.

is Keng the CALMEST person I've ever seen? Latte is laid back too but Keng is just seems zen. sometimes (in the face of conflict) he just seemed hard to read but mostly he has such a calming presence. honestly, he should open an ASMR channel if this acting gig doesn't work out.

Namping also comes off very warm and graceful. him being "wow I'm finally in the winner suite" to Keng after finally getting chosen in ep4 made me laugh like DAMN he really was offended by what happened in ep1 and kept letting it slip. Idc, you are so right my prince and don't ever let Keng forget what he did to you...

when it comes to the possibility of them as a couple: i am kinda here for it while also not knowing if i actually believe in their "moments" in the show? Namping definitely set his sights on him from the beginning but Keng seemed nonchalant about it. Keng finally choosing Namping after his win, their sweet moment on the bed etc. seemed to me like classic reality show moment prompted by production to fit a certain narrative WHILE ThomasKong's pseudo-date-night chats seemed very real and spontaneous.

they do visually have chemistry, i'm not gonna act like i wasn't blushing when Keng trying to flirt during dinner or Namping softly touching a sleepy Keng's chin in the bed etc. Or even in ep2, when Namping tries to confront Keng about his pick but they are too timid and just unable to talk about it openly!!! arrghhh it's a hard to watch moment but still, made them more intriguing because they had such a tension between them. it would be a shame if it wasn't explored more. that tension can be channeled into an angsty series, just saying...

So, they def have a long way to go in their bond and arent comfortable like LatteFirst or ThomasKong but still, they are a strong contender and I would be glad to see them as a couple in a show. Namping already got my attention in the acting challenge and wonders can be achieved w a lil bit of workshop. they got the juice already!!!

Now, lets talk about ThomasKong.............

me watching Thomas relentlessly chatting Kong up since THE FIRST EPISODE

so I knew LatteFirst are set be a side couple in upcoming Love Upon a Time but i was confused to see why everyone on Twitter was already going cuckoo over these two random boys until i saw them interacting... Wow, like Thomas really came here w one mission: get Kong and leave.

because Thomas is such a flirt like DAMNNN😳😳😳😳he needs to be jailed for carrying lethal amounts of charm... IT MUST BE SAID: I love his fits w those thin glasses, he should've been wearing those in those office BLs he was in because he has been serving "office siren". Tiktok girlies eat your heart out.

while Kong isn't the best at acting or singing (he is the best KengNamping shipper tho and i LOVE a fudanshi BL actor), he definitely would win Mr. Congeniality if they were giving that title. he naturally and effortlessly has great on screen charisma. he is a certified cutie and the only one who can get real full belly laughs from Thomas!!!

i think what they managed in the acting challenge is the testament to their palpable chemistry. acting wise they weren't perfect (naturally, their uneven acting experience levels were apparent) but they were the only one who managed to tonal shift in their scenes. it's because they were the only ones who played into the romantic subtext of the scene. they also held eye contact for the longest (because they are comfortable w each other and not shy!!!), which elevated their chemistry and made me AND the judges giggle and roll our hair and kick our feet and shit!!!!!!!!!!!!

they are obviously the most likely to win the show and they deserve it too. no matter the result of the show, i want see them carrying a series as mains because they can and should. i also believe DMD won't fumble their bag, so i am not worried about it.

to conclude, I will quote Zee,

then we come to LatteFirst, the kinda established couple: in the ep5 preview, we see First trying to choose between Latte and the newcomer Tle, which seemed random to me and could be a production touch to create conflict in this very smooth sailing show.

i loved seeing Latte being nonchalant about the possibility of First choosing someone else, what a laid back guy. like Mio in THC, every BL reality show needs a half asleep and occasionally funny dude.

now i am thinking; what if First chose Tle, would he also replace Latte in LUAT bc DMD doesn't really fuck w mixing matching their couples. i honestly don't know where did all that come from but i feel like the result wont be too shocking, First and Latte are already really close and comfortable and got The Chemistry. need i remind of Latte punching the air a la Judd Nelson at the end of The Breakfast Club when it was announced they both chose each other for the dinner date? and their sweet and comfortable banter on that said date??? let's put our pens to work and write a friends to lovers rom-com for the boys based on that material please...

i dont think they are likely to win but might be strong contender. i just want to see them as a side couple in LUAT (hopefully this year!!!!) so they can develop themselves and their bond a little bit more before getting to a main couple level. their sweet friendship shouldn't go to waste!!! (is it obvious i am more drawn to BL couples who are besties in real life?)

damn this post is about to be a novella so i will make it short about Gems, TeeTee and Tle, i hope Gems won't be too upset about getting slighted again 😥 like i said, stakes aren't high on this show and results are always obvious: these guys are going back home empty handed, we all know it. they are all charismatic and VERYYY talented but i just felt like none of them really focused on "getting a partner" part of the show, not just the main challenges. even TeeTee who was picked by Thomas and Keng seemed kinda uninterested about partnering up. but you cant really force chemistry and i am sure they will get many more opportunities in the future. they already started their fanbase!!! i cant stand to see Gems so upset, i hope he wont be too sad.

these are my opinions. maybe the ending will do a whole 180 and idk, GemsKeng or TleKong or some other random couple will win, who knows???? cant wait to watch the new overly airbrush filtered, Cheewin directed DMD show up to like 5 episodes and then get bored and drop it and follow the rest from gifs!!! good luck to the boys <3

[aerodumb]

Wade/Nancy is an artist who's been surrounded by negative opinions. She currently works under the username Grisgrisdoll, but she's widely known as the name that haunts her past, Kastoway.

I've seen many, many accusations being thrown online against this artist, but I noticed that for many people spreading them this knowledge is secondhand. I found her Deviantart account some time after she changed her username to Kastoway in the beginning of 2014 due to my hyperfixation on creepypastas at the time. I never actually followed her, but I visited her account every now and then, so if I missed something important, it was because of that and I will be glad if you tell me. In this post, I'll list the incidents in chronological order *with evidence* and then give my own opinion at the end.

One thing to know about Wade is that she has had many different names and usernames throughout her life. In addition, she is comfortable with people using either "she", "he" or "they" to refer to her. I'll be alternating the pronouns and using both her names.

He was 13 when she created Ticci Toby [1]. He posted her first drawing of him on the 19th of November 2012 on DeviantArt [2] and Toby's origin story one year later on the 23rd of May 2013 [3]. Wade changed the personality of Toby to make him less upbeat, more tragic and more scary. One of the first instances where he showed discomfort with how people portrayed Toby that I remember was in a publication she posted on the last day of 2013 [4]. This situation ended up with a small redesign of Toby on 5th of February 2014 [5].

She took a short break from DeviantArt around July [6]. It was this year when her creepypasta blew up out of proportion. Previously, she had expressed her desire for Toby to only be shipped with another creepypasta character called Clockwork. However, many people didn't like Clockwork and didn't respect this wish, leading her to further getting tired of the creepypasta community. By october of the same year, her Deviantart bio said: "Most people know me as the creator of the creepypasta story "Ticci-Toby"-- which yes I am, but I prefer not to be constantly called out for it nor only recognized or appreciated for it. I do not contribute to the creepypasta fandom anymore so please don't ask me about it. Thank you" [7].

One issue that is frequently overlooked when discussing Wade's actions is her problem with impersonators, as she stated on a status in November [8].

On 14th of December 2014 he made a post trying to solve all the turmoil that had formed because of shipping [9]. He stated that he had asked people not to ship Toby with anyone but Clockwork because that was what he was comfortable with, but he realized that decision was pointless and didn't care at this point. The situation had gone out of control and there were people bashing creators who shipped Toby with others or with their own characters. He apologized to the hurt and asked people to stop the white knighting. In addition, he recognized "I wasn't prepared for my character to become popular on the internet. I really wasn't. I never thought it would happen and I'm still not good at dealing with it. In fact I suck at it, it's true". He was 15 at the moment.

In 2015, they got into Marvel, even having a tumblr blog where she drew Deadpool replying the asks of her followers. At the end of their bio, it could be read: "I will not reply to notes or comments regarding Ticci-Toby or anything Creepypasta related, sorry." [10]. This message was deleted months later, so their profile didn't mention Toby or creepypasta anymore. They kept the folder for her creepypasta drawings in their gallery tagged as "old".

In April 2016, he had to warn the general public that Toby wasn't real and that he was his creator [11]. People had been spreading misinformation, saying that Toby was real or was based on a real person. Wade feared that something like the tragedy of Wisconsin could happen again, it was a serious concern.

In May, Nancy made a post saying that people could still ask her about Toby [12], but later in June that year, she decided to step off the internet with the purpose of trying to improve her life, archiving the majority of her work [13]. Later in 2017, she updated her bio to let people know about her new instagram account where she mostly posts original art. It was at this point when I stopped checking her content completely, as this account, called bonejars at the beginning, was private for a while. She hasn't been very active on DeviantArt apart from the times she announced her podcast.

On the porch: Episode 2, 16 April 2020, started a wave of negativity against them. I didn't watch it at the time and it is now private so I can't say much about it, but they did some clarifications on her instagram stories later. Many users took screenshots of them and they can still be read [14]. In them, Nancy says that they came to terms many years ago with the ships, that they left the fandom because all of the drama made them miserable and that they'd wish Toby to no longer be associated with the creepypasta fandom. Despite this, they don't want people to stop doing what makes them happy, they said they're ok with headcanons and people reinterpreting the character, that they like the fanart as long as people don't profit from it. They said "I know what escapism is like and using fiction to cope with life. I would never wanna take that away from anybody". Later, they had to make further clarifications because people accused them of wanting to take Toby away from the fandom.

On 25 abril 2021, Nancy posted a new redesign of Toby on his Instagram account [15]. This version of him was significantly different from the last one. The character is older, wears different clothes and looks more realistic due to Nancy's art style development. With this design, he looks like a character from a slasher.

Many people weren't pleased with the redesign due to thinking the reason for it was to invalidate the previous one. Consequently, they brought to the surface controversies from the past. Nancy was accused of having supported two controversial figures in the creepypasta community: Laughing Jack's creator Steve Aikins (Snuffbomb) and Sally Williams' creator Shilo (la_mishi_mish).

Steve presumably harassed his ex-girlfriend and talked indecently with several young girls back in 2014 [16]. I haven't found evidence of Wade supporting him and I can't remember exactly what she said. If someone has screenshots of it, I would be grateful.

Shilo used to draw NSFW art of Sally [17]. This character is canonically 8, so she usually aged her up in this kind of content. However, she posted a compilation of sketches depicting Sally and Jeff the Killer having sex in 2015, stating it was ok for them to have intercouse because they were both 13. Shilo was 22 at the time. Several sources indicate that she stopped drawing mature content due to social pressure. Nancy and Shilo follow each other on instagram to this day.

There haven't been more references to Toby on Nancy's part since then.

◇ Ok people, get the pitchforks because now I'm gonna give my opinion!

So, what can we accuse Wade of? Of being an idiot and a hypocrite when he was a teenager, of having bad companies and managing fame poorly. I don't think we can blame them for anything else and feel that a big part of the hate they receive is undeserved.

I think she was a hypocrite because she got angry with an interpretation of Toby that she had at the beginning. What's more, Toby's story uses an interpretation of Slenderman that was invented by the fandom, proxies are not canon. It's like a fanfic of a series inspired by just a couple of photos.

Still following Shilo is yikes. However, we don't really know if they're still close and I'm personally gonna give her the benefit of the doubt. Defending Steve was a bad move, but, as some people have pointed out before, he was a teen when that happened, way younger than Steve and she could have been convinced to think he was innocent. Shilo is older too.

Being that young, she wasn't prepared for facing the bad sides of fame. Ignoring stuff, going radio silent and then saying things in the heat of the moment didn't help her a bit, but it was all that occurred to her at the time. She's tried to explain things in more detail in recent years just to go back to saying as little as possible because at this point, people get angry for whatever she says.

People say they're homophobic. Their instagram account refutes it.

People say he was mean and insulted the fandom. I remember reading a couple of statuses on DA that I thought were insensitive, but that was a long time ago. People grow and he's changed his mind a lot as you can read in his instagram stories. If you say these things referring to the post where he told people Toby wasn't real, I'm sorry, but I think he had all the right to be harsh. People said Slenderman was real, it ended up in a tragedy and now the same things were being said about Toby. Can you imagine how it's to feel you're responsible for someone's death? He was trying to protect people.

People say she went after artists that portrayed Toby in a different way than hers, yet every time she's said something that ended up hurting people, she took responsibility and apologized for it. I don't believe this person could go and directly hurt someone. Remember what I said before about her issues with impersonators and people white knighting? That could be what's happening. Even now she has problems with people pretending they know her, so be careful!

People say they have abandoned the character many times. It's true they've said they didn't want to talk about Toby on four different occasions, but I don't think they did it with that intention. Why did they redesign him then? The design we all know is inevitably tied to the creepypasta community and they want to move on from it, that's why they didn't want to talk about him. Now they made a version of the character that isn't tied to that world, so we have two Tobies, one for them and one for us. I think that's cool!

Many don't like that they can't use the old version to earn money, but I want them to understand that this is a really particular situation. Usually, people making commissions of characters that aren't theirs isn't a problem when the creator is getting money on their own (unless you're Disney, Disney has no chill). This isn't Wade's case, she has never been monetary compensated for creating or drawing Toby and she has the right of choosing not to allow the commercial use of her characters. "Give for free what you were given for free" is a rule that makes sense in this case.

I don't expect anyone to stop disliking Wade, you're free to feel whatever you want, but at least I hope that this post helps people to see that all of this is more dimensional than just "kastoway is evil". At the end of the day, she's just a dude that fucked up many times and I think her experiences can help us to not commit the same errors.

◇ Here you have all the evidence

[1] Wade's age (look at the replies)

[2] First art of Toby

[3] Toby's Origin on Kastoway's DA

[4] Post where Wade complains about the difference between fanon and canon Toby

[5] Updated Toby design

[6] Wade's DA on hiatus

[7] Wade saying he doesn't want to be known just for creating Toby

[8] Wade complaining about impersonators

[9, 11] Nancy clarifying the issues with shipping and people saying Toby was real (look at section "Kastoway and his creation")

[10] Nancy saying he won't reply asks about Toby

[12] Nancy apologizing and saying ask about Toby are welcomed

[13] Nancy announcing her departure

[14] Nancy's deleted instagram stories

[15] Toby's new design

[16] About Laughing Jack's creator

[17] About Sally's Creator

[batneko]

Another thread I wrote on twitter a while back.

Wrestling au: Saitama was never formally trained in sport wrestling, but he taught himself from books and videos. Nobody believes he wasn't at least on a high school team because he's just that good.

On the indie entertainment wrestling circuit he made up a pretty generic character. Good guy, friend to children, wrestles for the love of the "sport." But somehow the audiences always turn on him, and he's openly advertised as a heel whenever he doesn't write his own copy.

Mumen has nearly the exact same character but he's universally beloved despite being a jobber. He shows up and gets his ass kicked to show how tough the latest heel is before they're challenged by the local face. Once he and Saitama had a tag-team. It's still circulated online.

Genos actually started off as a heel but he's so damn pretty that it didn't stick. He was a little disgruntled about that - especially since he's disabled and wanted to show he can be a heel without being a stereotype. He's been Saitama's fan for years and wanted to fight him.

Faces CAN fight each other, of course, but it's not the same. He wanted Saitama to really GIVE IT TO HIM. Beat him until he begs to tap out. Mop the ring with him.

Genos has not unpacked these desires.

Once he's revamped as a babyface (it doesn't take much, even his cold perfectionist persona gets to stay) Genos is so popular he doesn't have to travel much. Local shows are built around him. New fish are on waiting lists just to be defeated.

Saitama, on the other hand, travels all the time. His best feature according to the managers is that he doesn't have a dayjob and is always free to fill in. Despite living in the same city, he and Genos rarely cross paths.

Genos's manager (Kuseno) pretty quickly figured out the link between Saitama and shows Genos wants to take part in. He follows Saitama's social media so he can anticipate those requests. Genos honestly thinks it's a coincidence and Kuseno is just looking out for his career.

Saitama and Genos don't fight each other, though. For Away shows Genos is usually scripted to lose against the hometown face in an honorable match. Despite his popularity this doesn't upset the fans, because icy precision losing to firey passion is more satisfying anyway.

Backstage, Genos always introduces himself to Saitama and then follows him around like a duckling during all his downtime. Saitama only actually forgot his name that first time, but Genos doesn't want to take the risk. Saitama doesn't think it's weird. Genos SAID he was a fan.

Saitama is usually scripted to lose, eventually, but good managers always make sure to include a REASON for it. Dirty tricks, threatening the audience or his partner, distractions. Saitama isn't popular, but he's so damn GOOD that seeing him lose can break the fans' immersion.

The first time they fight each other, Saitama is supposed to lose to Genos because a heel wanted to fight Genos in the next round and sabotages Genos's equipment backstage so he will hurt Saitama for "real." It's a good story and would really inspire Genos's character.

But during rehearsal Genos is so excited he can't concentrate. Even after he takes a cold shower (or two) he can barely hide it. And when it comes time to "hurt" Saitama Genos gets so upset he nearly cries. HOW can he hurt his HERO?

The managers are like, "Fine, fuck it, this is the story now" and tweak Genos and Saitama's dialogue to imply they've secretly dated. Saitama doesn't figure it out until he's actually saying the lines. Genos gives the most convincing performance of his life, but never realizes.

The in-character backstory is now Saitama and Genos have A History. What that history IS is kept ambiguous, and the fans that don't like shipping tend to interpret it as Genos training under Saitama.

The managers like it because it gives both of them depth.

When Genos takes part in a show he's not supposed to win, but they haven't booked a popular enough heel or hotheaded enough face to beat him, they just put him up against Saitama in the quarter-finals and down he goes. And Genos showing an emotional side gains him even more fans.

But it gets harder and harder for Genos to fight Saitama. He thought he'd get used to it, but every time is more thrilling than the last. Not even Saitama can stay oblivious when Genos pops a boner in Every. Single. Rehearsal.

They start meeting up outside of work. Saitama originally invited him to go jogging, Genos automatically replied that he does all his training at a gym, and then realizing he'd missed an opportunity invites Saitama to join him THERE.

on the "backyard" wrestling circuit (a misnomer, they usually rent event spaces, often indoors) kayfabe isn't really enforceable. Performers are EXPECTED to have outside lives. But Genos has a lot of fans, and people know he goes to this gym.

Word gets out. PICTURES get out.

Now people are wondering - how much was character and how much was real? Are Genos and Saitama really friends? Really DATING?

And the answer is no, not yet, but the barrage of questions when Saitama rarely gets ANY on his social media is kinda scary.

it's hard enough starting a new relationship without randos asking you personal questions. So... Saitama draws back. He keeps Genos firmly in the Friend category. He ignores the way he looks at him.

Genos, thankfully, didn't even know Saitama HAD been considering dating him.

So time passes. They keep wrestling, keep building their storylines, make friends and alliances and have a good time. If it wasn't for those sad puppydog eyes every time Saitama makes an excuse not to get dinner with Genos, it would be great!

Then a rumor starts going around that a scout from a tv stable is coming to matches. REAL professional wrestling. That, in fact, it's Amai Mask, who used to do the backyard circuit before he was scooped up, and after only a few years he's already started getting acting work.

Everybody brings their A Game, putting more effort into costumes and gimmicks, trying to sell their characters. But it seems pretty obvious that if anyone will get offered a job, it's Genos.

The local indie league's championship is a mess. Everyone is going WAY too hard and coming up with new ideas last minute. They want to put on the best show possible and it's too much all at once.

Nobody gets seriously hurt, at least. And the belt goes to Genos.

Afterward, Amai Mask approaches Genos and Saitama. They were talking together, laughing. Relaxing, for once, after the stress of the day. But Amai is there, and he doesn't just have an offer, he has a CONTRACT.

For Saitama.

Genos and Saitama had talked about the rumors earlier, and Genos said he thought he'd turn an offer down. He's still very young, and indie wrestling is FUN. He likes the freedom and creative control.

Saitama had agreed and said he'd probably turn it down too. But that was then.

The network doesn't NEED another pretty face. What they need is someone solid and dependable, who can take a hit safely, who can play any role a story calls for. Amai encourages Saitama to look at the contract and think it over, then leaves them alone again.

Genos appears to be genuinely excited for him. He knows that Saitama doesn't even have a manager, so he tells Saitama he'll ask Kuseno to represent him. Saitama agrees. But he tells Genos he doesn't want to think about the contract right now. He's got bigger plans for tonight.

The next morning Genos can't think about pretty much anything except how thoroughly his world got rocked, but Saitama does manage to meet up with Kuseno and go over the contract. It's pretty standard, not UNfair, but there's an expectation that Saitama will negotiate for more.

After a couple days of thinking, and a lot more time with Genos, Saitama finally calls the number Amai gave him.

Saitama will accept the contract, as-is, no negotiating, but ONLY IF they also hire Genos.

Honestly it's a bluff. Saitama expects them to say no. What he doesn't know is that Amai has been trying to quit and do movies fulltime, so oops it turns out they DO need another pretty face after all.

(this was probably Amai's plan all along)

It takes some time. Saitama doesn't hear back for a week. And when he does, GENOS'S contract negotiations take at least twice as long. But in the end they've both got offers they're happy with. They've got to move to a new city, but that's not so bad. They can move in together.

And that's the end! More or less. Genos stays in wrestling for the rest of his working life, both in and out of the ring. Saitama is the one who ends up with an acting career, though pretty much always as a goon or mook. He still enjoys it.

They're together. They're happy.

more characters

Sonic is a heel of the Fighting Narcissist/Gorgeous George mode. Since this is 2020 him being androgynous and sexual doesn't make the audience hate him though, they think he's GREAT. His social media has almost as many followers as Genos.

He's popular enough that he could flip to a face, but he never would. He loves dirty tricks and flirting with the refs too much.

He and Genos only fought a couple times but the videos are super popular

King is a manager both in and out of character. He also plays the ref a lot, and sometimes a masked wrestler if they need to fill out a tag team. He's not strong enough to lift any of the other wrestlers so he's not interested in playing one more often.

He actually does the booking for a lot of the local shows, and he knows who will work well together (or not). As a character, he most often plays the manager for Tatsumaki and Fubuki, with a running gag that they fight over his attention. IRL Tatsu does their personal booking.

I've already talked about Mumen - he works hard and has a decent amount of fans but he can't seem to stand out and gets injured whenever he tries a risky stunt. He's often squashed in the first round to show off how tough another wrestler is.

Garou's a heel and he LOVES being a heel, but he's unfortunately gained a reputation as a jerk because his in-character trashtalk is a bit too... accurate. Just because a wrestler relies on a particular move all the time doesn't mean they want it pointed out.

He's good at what he does though, and audiences love him. He's still a newbie but he's picking up fans FAST. So despite opponent objections, he keeps getting booked.

What none of the other wrestlers know is he's also a face. When he puts on the mask he goes FULL method.

As the masked wolf he's calm and cool and heroic. He fills in, saves tag teams, exposes heels who have distracted or bribed refs. Backstage he NEVER removes the mask, and never breaks character.

That's part of why he keeps getting booked. Two characters for one appearance fee!

[lultimagoccia]

Meet the Mun

ᴡʜᴀᴛ ᴍᴀᴅᴇ ʏᴏᴜ ᴘɪᴄᴋ ᴜᴘ ᴛʜᴇ ᴄᴜʀʀᴇɴᴛ ᴍᴜꜱᴇ(ꜱ) ʏᴏᴜ ʜᴀᴠᴇ?

because peppino is so EMBARRASSINGLY my type, he was what got me into " pizza tower ". i remember seeing the gameplay trailer a bit ago and thinking it looked cool, then logging it away into my memory banks. when i started seeing artwork from the game and drawings of pepp, i knew i had to check it out.

i made this blog a while ago, but was too shy to actually start using it until a few months after i'd made it.

ɪꜱ ᴛʜᴇʀᴇ ᴀɴʏᴛʜɪɴɢ ʏᴏᴜ ᴅᴏɴ'ᴛ ʟɪᴋᴇ ᴛᴏ ᴡʀɪᴛᴇ?

anything involving cheating / infidelity makes me uncomfortable. also not fond of writing cruelty towards children. angst with no cathartic pay - off bums me out after a while.

ɪꜱ ᴛʜᴇʀᴇ ᴀɴʏᴛʜɪɴɢ ʏᴏᴜ ʀᴇᴀʟʟʏ ᴇɴᴊᴏʏ ᴡʀɪᴛɪɴɢ?

really emotionally charged scenes, whether it be really good emotions or really negative ones. arguments are a personal favorite, but i also just really love when a character can open their heart and reveal important things about themselves, their traits or their core beliefs. i tend to Realize things about my characters in the midst of writing them in scenes like that, which chip away their outer layers and expose the true heart of their personality.

ʜᴏᴡ ᴅᴏ ʏᴏᴜ ᴄᴏᴍᴇ ᴜᴘ ᴡɪᴛʜ ʜᴇᴀᴅᴄᴀɴᴏɴꜱ?

i start with what's presented in canon, then run through it with a fine - toothed comb to reveal the smaller details, and build my ideas from that. i LOVE taking the little things, the seemingly minor things, and running with them to fully flesh out a character. a lot of what inspires my peppino muse can be narrowed down to a few select moments in the game / concept art / comics that i simply built upon and explored further.

ᴅᴏ ʏᴏᴜ ᴡʀɪᴛᴇ ɪɴ ꜱɪʟᴇɴᴄᴇ ᴏʀ ᴅᴏ ʏᴏᴜ ᴘʟᴀʏ ᴍᴜꜱɪᴄ?

music helps keep me In The Zone, but it HAS to be songs i've heard before or i get distracted.

ᴅᴏ ʏᴏᴜ ᴘʟᴀɴ ʏᴏᴜʀ ʀᴇᴘʟɪᴇꜱ ᴏʀ ᴡɪɴɢ ᴛʜᴇᴍ?

usually i wing them, BUT for some especially impactful scenes, i have a few basic ideas for things i'd like to address in replies.

ᴅᴏ ʏᴏᴜ ᴇɴᴊᴏʏ ꜱʜɪᴘᴘɪɴɢ?

very much so! shipping is just another way to explore a character, through the lens of how another perceives them and which parts of themselves they allow to be seen by another.

ᴡʜᴀᴛ'ꜱ ʏᴏᴜʀ ᴀʟɪᴀꜱ/ɴᴀᴍᴇ?

castoro, cast for short.

ᴀɢᴇ?

31, about to turn 32!

ʙɪʀᴛʜᴅᴀʏ?

april 13th!

ꜰᴀᴠᴏʀɪᴛᴇ ᴄᴏʟᴏʀ(ꜱ)?

piiiiink.

ꜰᴀᴠᴏʀɪᴛᴇ ꜱᴏɴɢ(ꜱ)?

there are Many, but " daisy bell " by tin hat has stuck around as a consistent favorite over the years.

ʟᴀꜱᴛ ᴍᴏᴠɪᴇ ʏᴏᴜ ᴡᴀᴛᴄʜᴇᴅ?

my gf has been showing our kid the og " star wars " trio, so. kinda those?

ʟᴀꜱᴛ ꜱʜᴏᴡ ʏᴏᴜ ᴡᴀᴛᴄʜᴇᴅ?

gravity falls.

ʟᴀꜱᴛ ꜱᴏɴɢ ʏᴏᴜ ʟɪꜱᴛᴇɴᴇᴅ ᴛᴏ?

... " world wide noise ". again.

ꜰᴀᴠᴏʀɪᴛᴇ ꜰᴏᴏᴅ?

chicken tikka masala is soooo goooood.

ꜰᴀᴠᴏʀɪᴛᴇ ꜱᴇᴀꜱᴏɴ?

toss - up between spring and summer!

ᴅᴏ ʏᴏᴜ ʜᴀᴠᴇ ᴀ ᴛᴜᴍʙʟʀ ʙᴇꜱᴛ ꜰʀɪᴇɴᴅ?

@showmethehotpods has been my dear friend for many years now and we met here on the tumblr rpc back in 2019! she's followed me between several blogs and been there for me during many big life events. i'm so grateful for her support over the years and am happy i have someone who's kept up with me all this time.

tagged by NOBODY so now you gotta do it if u see this, too

[tathrin]

not so much a fic writer question from the list, but your reply to #48 got me thinking - have you read Sansukh by @Determanfidd? If yes, what did you think of it?

I have! Probably much more recently than every other person on the planet who likes Legolas and Gimli, but I finally have and I adore it.

It took me a while to get fully invested, in part because I'm not really a fan of the leaning-into-movieverse-and-then-pushing-further thing that people have a tendency to do where they really dial-up the antagonism between Legolas and Gimli, which this fic did do in the beginning so I gave it a little side-eye about that for the first few chapters (but thankfully by then I was already intrigued by the dwarves so I kept reading)...and in a much larger part because—and I realize that I'm about to speak sacrilege in the eyes of many here, yes—I simply do not care about Bilbo and Thorin as a couple. I don't! I actually filtered that tag out when I first started looking through the Legolas/Gimli tag on AO3 because of how completely disinterested I was (hence Sansûkh not even showing-up in the tag for me at first lol).

But I kept seeing references to it on tumblr and in fanart (in particular this one) so one night when I ran out of other stories that I was interested in reading I finally popped it open...and, huh, that's an interesting beginning, okay. So I read a little more. And I found myself quickly getting interested almost in spite of myself in all these dwarves whom, I must confess, I genuinely could not remember which was which in most cases (meaning their depictions in the movie; I couldn't place which name went with which dwarf; I googled a few times I'm not going to lie). So it was interesting also in a more meta-sense, because here was this author taking existing canon characterizations and details and building up a whole society upon them...but to me, they were effectively complete OCs. So it was I'm sure a very different reading experience for me than it was for most readers, because I had no context for over half the canon cast!

(The only reason I sometimes know who the movie dwarves are now when people reference them is because of this fic I am not kidding.)

Although speaking of OCs...oh my stars, the OCs in this story are amazing. I'm glad especially that I already had a Mirkwood Populace of my own conceived before I read this, because Laerophen in particular is just the best and I want to read a dozen more stories with him and it would be very difficult to be trying to come up with Mirkwood OCs now without ending up with pale imitations of Legolas's brothers here if I hadn't already had Rilaerloth and company living in my head.

(I will forever live in hope that the author will someday figure out a way to write an original novel with the general premise of that ending trio's journey to the east because that would be amazing.)

Anyway, Sansûkh very quickly went from "I suppose this is interesting" to "I am so invested in this entire universe holy crap" for me and I've actually read the whole thing through twice now. I actually even gave a crap about Bilbo and Thorin's relationship by the end! I was rooting for them so hard!

Absolutely great fic. Spectacular world building, great character work both for the canon folks and especially for the OCs. Love it, recommend it with enthusiasm...even to folks who potentially don't ship one of the main couples, or think they have no interest in most of the characters XD

Although I maintain that I do still want this fic too.

[padfootagain]

Masterlist - Requests are still open! - The Tag list is open!

Hello everyone! Here is my posting schedule for the coming weeks! We're keeping the same rhythm with a new post every two days.

I've planned out over a longer period than usual because I'll start working again during that time, and I will have less time to write. So, I've written a lot these past two weeks to have more time to write for the next phase of updates!

We have TWO new series coming up! One for the Darkling, and one for Sirius Black... I'm also picking up Pirates! again for Caspian! I'm very excited, and I hope you enjoy these stories!

20/06/2023 - Old Crush

Ben Barnes x reader, angst, hurt/comfort, fluff, one-shot, requested by an anon.

Summary: Ben didn’t know that you were a fan of his already before you started dating, and when he finds out, he doesn’t like it at all. All his insecurities are suddenly brought back to life…

22/06/2023 - Chapter 1 for The Last Ones on Earth

The Darkling x reader, angst, fluff, hurt/comfort, mentions and depiction of warfare and violence, new series

Summary: You and the Darkling are a team, even if no one knows it. Beyond being a team, you are the only one he trusts, and he's the only one you care about, and you're each other's true love. But if you've kept your secrets hidden for a long time, now that the Sun Summoner is fighting against you, it's time to reveal who you are, and what you are capable of...

24/06/2023 - How to Make Sport Fun

Ben Barnes x reader, tooth-rotting fluff, domestic love, lots of teasing, one-shot, requested by @thenerdysimp

Summary: You hate working out. Ben hates working out. Lucky for the two of you, like most things in life, it’s more fun when you do it with someone you love.

26/06/2023 - Chapter 3 for You and the King

Caspian x reader, fluff, angst, Sequel to The King and You, on-going series

Summary: After meeting Caspian in your own world, you decide to follow him to Narnia, your love for him too strong for you to keep your old life. But as you discover the magic of Narnia, you soon realise that this extraordinary world is as dangerous as it is magnificent. Will your love for Caspian be enough to defeat your new enemies?

28/06/2023 - All Too Well

Sirius Black x reader, hurt/comfort, one-shot, written from a prompt by @reg-arcturus-black

Summary: Sirius is going through a rough day, as what he has lived with his parents comes back to haunt him. Luckily, you’re here for him. You always are, despite knowing everything about him.

30/06/2023 - Pride!

Ben Barnes x reader, tooth-rotting fluff, silly but adorable, just to close Pride month in a cute way, one-shot

Summary: You ask Ben to come with you to Pride, and he’s more than happy to show he’s a proud boyfriend.

02/07/2023 - Chapter 9 for Something Good

Ben Barnes x Reader, Professor AU!, angst, fluff, slow-burn, enemies to lovers, on-going series

Summary: Coming out of a divorce and trying to get used to being a single mom, while teaching your classes at University, you thought your life could not get more complicated than it already iss. But when you are asked to take care of the theatre club with the colleague that you really can’t get along with, you realize that everything can still get ten times more complicated in your life. And when you start actually liking Professor Barnes, the troubles only grow exponentially…

04/07/2023 - Chapter 4 for Isle of Dogs

Wolfstar, fluff, angst, slow-burn, modern AU, bookshop owner x tattoo artist AU, on-going series

Summary: Sirius and Remus have been kind of in love for a while, but are both too scared to confess their feelings. However, everything changes when their neighbourhood is threatened by a new real estate project. But if they might fail in their fight against the City, they could also find something sweeter along the way.

06/07/2023 - Chapter 4 for Pirates!

Caspian x Pirate!reader, angst, fluff, adventure, mentions and depiction of violence, on-going series

Summary: As ships disappear across the sea, Caspian is forced to go investigate himself. But to win against the wild uncharted waters he must cross to reach his people, he needs to bargain with pirates. And then, he finds you…

08/07/2023 - Pet Names

Ben Barnes x reader, fluff, domestic fluff, extreme adorableness, one-shot, requested by @thenerdysimp

Summary: You find this popular prank on Tik Tok and decide to try it on Ben. But when you call him by his full name instead of your usual adorable pet names, he panics more than anticipated, and it kind of backfires.

10/07/2023 - Part 1 for Where We Kept Out Magic

Sirius Black x Muggle!Reader, fluff, angst, hurt/comfort, unbearable cuteness, new series

Summary: You and Sirius meet when you’re still young, and yet you fall head-over-heels for each other. But everything gets complicated when you learn that Sirius is a Wizard! Now, your whole world has to be reimagined. - This series is made of many independent snippets taken from Sirius and Muggle!Reader’s lovestory

12/07/2023 - Love on Tape

Ben Barnes x reader, fluff, too much sweetness, a menace for sure, the-one-for-which-I-bothered-you-all-with-the-11:11-release, one-shot, requested by @simpforhotties

Summary: Ben is working on his music video for 11:11, and he asks you to be a part of it. But not simply as a make-up artist, no, he wants to use this opportunity to announce your engagement, in a subtle way.

14/07/2023 - Chapter 5 for Because We Are Made of Dreams

Sirius Black x Original Female Character + Jily, rewriting of my first fic ever (because my English was terrible then and I wasn't very good at telling stories...), Slow Burn, Mature (graphic depiction of violence, mention of child abuse, graphic depiction of torture, mature themes), on-going series

Summary: The Marauders come back to Hogwarts to begin their sixth year there, and many things will change for them during these coming months. Outside the safety of their school, the world is growing darker. Inside the Castle, they’ll find both new friends and enemies.

[sapphicscholar]

20 questions for fic writers

Thanks for the tag, @lilolilyr!

1. How many works do you have on ao3?

135 fics total!

2. What’s your total Ao3 word count?

2,436,430 words (jfc hahah)

3. What fandoms do you write for?

Ever? Listing them in vague order of when I started writing for them: Supergirl, Wynonna Earp, Chilling Adventures of Sabrina, Grace and Frankie, This Way Up, Once Upon a Time, Madre Solo hay Dos (just on Tumblr), Abbott Elementary, Hacks, and Julia

4. What are your top five fics by kudos?

ALL of them are Supergirl from back in the early-ish days of the show when it was a pretty massive (by femslash standards, I suppose) and very active fandom! It's actually so interesting seeing how absolutely nothing I've written in more than half a decade even shows up, since I've largely switched to smaller fandoms since then.

But the top 5 fics by kudos are:

Stronger Together, a collection of one-shots for various Supergirl ships (with a few gen fics mixed in), which has nearly 5k kudos (WILD to me as someone now in a fandom with maybe 25 people total haha)

Welcome to the Gayborhood, my first ever fic, a looong Sanvers and Supercorp professor AU that still keeps the alien/supernatural elements of canon

6,500 miles away...but getting closer, a Sanvers epistolary fic that my wife and I actually co-wrote and posted 1 letter/email per day every day for many months

Noise Complaint, a Sanvers next-door neighbor AU that, hilariously, given its placement in the top 5 here, is what catalyzed a series of events that led to me very much leaving the fandom (and fandom writ large for nearly a year)

Supercat Sanvers 2020, a Sanvers and Supercat political AU that was maybe one of the last long-form works I wrote before moving out of DC!

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

I really try to! Sometimes if it's from a person I know well, I end up responding via DMs, esp if there are questions about what comes next, plotting elements, etc., that I don't necessary want everyone to see while the fic is still being posted, but mostly I try to respond on AO3. I've gotten a bit worse in the past few years just because I'll manage to eke out a bit of time to write, which puts me behind on my work, and then I don't leave myself time to respond, and by the time I DO have time, it feels awkwardly late to do so. But even if I don't respond, I absolutely love/cherish/adore/etc. every single kind comment I've ever been given <3

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

Forgoten, but not Gone - a Sanvers amnesia AU set post-breakup that's heavy on the angst with a rather ambiguous ending. I got talked into writing a part 2 that resolves the angst haha, but taken on it's own it's definitely my angstiest ending!

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

Huh idk! Most of my fics end on fairly happy, if a bit open, endings. I'm not a big fan of having all the loose ends tied up, and I realllyyyy don't do the marriage/2 kids/white picket fence epilogue, so I guess maybe the political AU has to be up there because it actually envisions a world where a queer woman wins the presidency on a progressive platform, and that feels rather utopian 🙃

8. Do you get hate on fic?

Not in a while, though I used to back in the days, like super vitriolic shit (big fandoms with too-big emotions, man... which has really kept me away maybe forever from those kinds of fandoms!)

9. Do you write smut?

Haha very much so. I've written and posted before about why, but I really believe there's so much interesting character work and exploration that can be done by exploring characters' pleasures, their desires (both thwarted and realized), their fantasies, etc. Obviously smut isn't the only way to do this, but fanfic feels like one of the few venues where it's a real possibility!

10. Do you write crossovers?

Nah, not really. I've written a handful of bring characters x and y into the universe of another show fics, but that feels mostly different. Every so often I'll borrow vague character outlines for tertiary characters in other fics just to see if folks recognize them (had Grace Hanson as a grumpy background character in a Sanvers fic set at PT for instance hah)

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Once or twice, but we got them taken down

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

Yeah, one of my SG fics was translated into Russian! I'm not sure if it's still up (tbh I can't recall which one; it's been a long time!) I've also had a couple podfics now made of my fics, one of which I still need to go listen to when I get the time!!

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

Yeah! The long-form Sanvers epistolary fic my wife and I co-wrote together, and a group of Supercat authors got together and did a delightfully chaotic round robin, each writing one sentence, then setting a timer for the next person to write the next sentence, etc., until we had Intergalactic Standard Cuddling

14. What’s your all-time favourite ship?

Oh man, I really don't know that I have a favorite! I really appreciate what various ships can offer me at different times - there are certain themes that make sense to explore with one pairing but not at all with another, or certain AUs that work in one fandom but not really in another. Basically, if a show is giving me multiple female characters who interact in canon in ways that go beyond existing near each other, I'm intrigued, and if these characters actually get depth and complexity, I'm probably in! There are, however, some ships that I might not end up feeling fannish/creative about even though I love them as ships (I talked a lot to @trying-to-get-somewhere-real about this recently, actually!), so it's hard to name a favorite when the metrics get all wonky!

15. What’s a WIP you want to finish but probably won’t?

I don't want to say never, but I have a Cat-centric fic that'll end on Supercat that just has a lot of angst that coincided with a period of unexpected loss and grief in my own life in ways that have made it really hard to get back into even now (it just feels so...enmeshed with that moment, even though the timing was utterly coincidental)

16. What are your writing strengths?

I think I do a good job with dialogue and getting characters' voices down - I'm really into the character side of things (which is also what gets me invested fannishly in shows! I want a show that cares about developing their characters first and foremost vs. a show where plot takes priority)

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

Certain kinds of action scenes haha - also I tire easily of writing things that feel repetitive to things I've done/written before (this was more of an issue when I took prompts)

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

Largely, this isn't something I've had to deal with much outside of maybe a few phrases and sentences from multilingual characters. I've talked before about how it was actually the language/translation barrier that kept me from writing for Madre Solo hay Dos. I don't speak Spanish, and getting a show entirely via the Netflix-provided translations meant 1) I was fairly certain there were some word choice/dialect peculiarities I was missing, and 2) I couldn't catch the rhythms of their speech, the cadence of their voices at least in ways that corresponded to the specific words. For me, voice matters so much, and it really felt like a barrier to not have access to the source language because I felt like I couldn't do these two women justice!

19. First fandom you wrote for?

Supergirl

20. Favourite fic you’ve written?

Oh I've answered this elsewhere with 2-3 works, and tbh I don't think it's changed since then! I'm actually far more interested in others' favorite fics of mine because it's so interesting to think about the question of *what* sticks with a person from yours (it's often so idiosyncratic!!)

I'm getting to this pretty late, so I won't tag anyone, assuming many people already have been, but if ya see this and want to participate, feel free to give me a tag! I always love seeing people talk about their own writing :)