#I think the reason we don’t see it much in this fandom is bc most people here are really mature enough and truly INVESTED in the characters

[formerprincewille]

News flash: queer stories are not just all cute moments and kissing scenes. To act like that’s how it should be otherwise you’re being cheated does a HUGE disservice to the complexity of these characters and their storylines.

[sexiestpodcastcharacter]

Sexiest Podcast Character — Unscripted Bracket — Round 4

Propaganda

Glenn Close (Dungeons & Daddies):

#Propaganda for Glenn Close: one of the other PCs mentions multiple times how hot he is #Actually several characters point it out but especially Henry #Also the only person in a podcast that has to put a disclaimer about not being a BDSM podcast to have had sex during the course of the show

We didn’t do hot Glenn summer for him to LOSE. Spoilers for his story but MORE PROPAGANDA FOR YOU:

Young hot rocker dilf

Loyal to his dead wife <3

Does in fact smoke weed

BARD!! HES A BARD. HE WAS LEAD GUITAR IN HIS BAND (that he was kicked out of)

His band was a Christmas cover band btw.

Literally the fandom had hot Glenn summer which consisted of drawing him being incredibly hot and sexy

Anti government (ofc)

Kind of cringefail (Disney adult) (was on dilfs of disneyland)

Young and sexy not your style? Then how about HIM AFTER YEARS LOCKED IN A TIME PRISON WITH A DAMN HANNIBAL MASK ??

Lost an eye and wears a fucking eyepatch

One incredibly buff arm

Has a pet rat named after his son <3

Immeasurable amounts of trauma in this man- becomes progressively more unhinged

OH OLD HUMAN BARD ISNT CUTTING IT? FINE

HE BECOMES A FUCKING DEMON

A COOL HOT ONE-EYED DEMON WHO WANTS TO KILL HIS DAD (also sexy)

HE CANONICALLY ENDS CHRISTIAN HELL VIA CHRISTMAS

IS ALSO WAY OVERLEVELED

Becomes a demon hunter for the rest of his existence

Also nonwhite !!! We are done with cringefail whiteboys !!!!!!!!!

I can’t put into words ok just know he is the best plz love him.

Listen, I don't know this other character but I've seem some good arguments for her However Consider Glenn Close winning through no effort of his own in a bullshit way despite being a dick is the most in character thing ever. He leveled up three times and got a crab mech, we GOT to give him this win, it's fitting

I don’t regulate if minors follow me or not bc I’m a pretty chill space but I hope the world is aware that’s the only reason I haven’t been downright nasty about Glenn close. I’m down bad. I’m NOT in the boat of ‘Glenn isn’t sexy but I want him to win bc it’s my fandom’. I would estimate I have 200+ drawings of Glenn on my phone that AREN’T safe for work. Way more that are. Where did they come from? That’s MY business. But I tell you this fact to assure you- Glenn IS sexy. I’m not voting to represent my fandom I’m voting out of TRUTH AND LOVE. IF YOU DON’T GET IT YOU DON’T GET IT!!! I just think my level of feral over this man is more powerful than y’all realize. If you don’t get his sex appeal that’s okay, but don’t doubt that this is my truth.

Okay but Glenn made a minivan cum by talking to her so

HE HAS A BOOK THAT HE MARKS X’S AND CHECKS FOR EVERY DAY TO SEE IF THAT DAY WAS A SUCCESS OR NOT. TO SEE IF HE DID GOOD THAT DAY. ITS ALMOST ENTIRELY X’S. HE WAS CUCKED OUT OF A SON. AND A DEAD WIFE. HE DIDN’T EVEN GET TO KILL HIS DAD IN REVENGE. There’s absolutely nothing going for him except his sex appeal in his life. Nobody he loved remembers him. He lost his eye. All he has is a pet rat and friends who admit they don’t really like him that much. He was kicked out of his own band. The band was named after him. He was kicked out of the Glenn Close trio. All he could do was deez nuts the big bad and be sexy. If nothing else, then pity him. Look in his eyes. Look at his heart and soul. Do you think pickman needs this to feel good about herself? Can she not accept a loss for the sake of a pathetic father? Can she shake hands with the minivan fucker and his human gun and just take the L on this one? He did not do the BDSM episode for this I’ll tell you what. Do this for my his sake. Do it for Nick Jr, who needs the prize money to pay for his rat snacks. Do it for his son. For Morgan. Ganbatte.

Mod Note: While I will still take "bad dads are sexy" propaganda and "bad dads aren't sexy" anti-propaganda, I kindly request no more discussion on whether or not he was a bad father. This is a sexypoll, not a parentingpoll. If you see a post you strongly disagree with, you can just not reblog it.

Mod Note 2: This tournament is about fictional podcast characters. Please do not vote for the real actress Glenn Close.

Lup (The Adventure Zone: Balance):

Is somehow the hot twin between her and Taako

Lup Bluejeans (née... Taaco? Tacco? Taco? Tako? who tf knows this is why I'm going with her husband's last name. doylistly she gets her last name from her brother whose last name is given as "Taako again but spelled differently"): Hot, funny, smart and undead. Is there anything else you could want in a woman?? Well, in case there is: she's also canonically trans

LUP IS THE HOTTEST. VOTE LUP.

[foundfamilynonsense]

I don’t think some people realize why the gray jedi thing pisses some of us off so badly.

Imagine you like lord of the rings and you decide to look around the fandom.

And it turns out that 10+ or something years ago someone wrote a piece of fanfiction where they rewrote the rules for the ring. So instead of it only having one master and corrupting everyone else that tried to use it, it sometimes chooses to take a new master if it feels the person is worthy of it. And therefore this author’s self-insert OC can now use the one ring in all its glory without getting turned crazy.

This fanfic gets published (as some fanfics do) and most of the fandom has read it and loves it.

Now, when you (someone who has only dealt with canon works written by Tolkien) see this fic you go… huh. That’s nice, but it goes against the very point of the books and the lore tolkien created. So while it’s a good fic I’m not going to interact with it.

But then people keep harassing you for taking about/ writing the one ring the way tolkien wrote it to begin with.

And they SWEAR that this is the Actual lore of the one ring, and that YOU are wrong. Which is completely insane to you, because FRODE TOOK IT TO MORDOR FOR A REASON. There is only one lord of the ring!! That’s literally the name of the series that’s what it’s about!! If what the fandom was insisting about was possible, there would be no plot. In the original books.

This is why we are so upset over gray jedi!! Bc if it was possible to use the dark side but still be a good guy then wtf is wrong with Anakin? Why the fuck did Darth Vader fall to the dark side? Why did Luke struggle so much? If you can have your cake and eat it too why are the movies so fuckin long?? Why did Luke fail against Vader in Empire? what lesson did he learn in Return? Why would the movie be called Return of the Jedi if Luke had not learned the Jedi ways????

You can write OC’s as gray jedi all you want but when you start forcing it into canon it literally ruins the movies!

[dykesynthezoid]

I say this with 100% awareness that sometimes fandom likes to run with things based off of minimal subtext but I rlly truly don’t get. The majority of the arguments for why we wouldn’t get devil’s minion in the past? Lmao

Like the one (1) reason I can actually see us not getting it is just there not being enough screentime to go around. That’s not unthinkable to me at all; there’s a lot to potentially cover next season. But like, I literally can’t think of any other good reason for them to not do it.

And I think it’s worth saying that I wouldn’t be doing this kind of theorizing with any other show. It’s specifically bc this show likes to drop easter eggs and clues, likes to sew in little details, and also is not afraid of going all out, that I feel like I can take the things I pick up on seriously. Cause yeah, if this were another show, it might genuinely mean nothing, bc a lot of other shows just aren’t written with that enthusiasm or attention to detail or courage to Go Places.

And I also think it should be noted that like. While the show is certainly plenty different from the book(s), their modus operandi when it comes to adaptation is much more to add than to take away. They added old Daniel, added Loumand still being together, added a shit ton of extra small bits to Claudia’s arc. Their method of adaptation is not one of subtraction. They’re not taking away whole character beats and plot events. They’re adding, adding new situations, new settings, new contexts.

And that “adding” extends to character relationships as well. They built that danlou best friends/sexual tension out of the almost-nothing in the source material. Armand and Santiago (apparently) slept together. They’re not taking away interesting side dynamics that existed in the books, they’re literally adding more.

Like why wouldn’t they add past devils minion?? It only makes Armand and Daniel’s present relationship that much more complicated and insane, which is the exact thing this show loves to do.

Not to mention DM is only one chapter, by which I mean; if the argument against past devils minion is just screentime, like I personally think it is, we should also remember that. It’s only one chapter. It’s not that much additional material. And about a fourth of it is Daniel’s turning and the lead up to that, which we know would instead be in the modern day, not in flashback; and another several pages are Armand keeping Daniel trapped in a cellar, which 2x05 has already done. So like. It’s not that much material they’d have to cover to do past devils minion. Like, half an episode altogether at most, frankly, and they could easily spread that all out as they pleased. And this is after season 2 spent an entire episode just on the events during and immediately post 1973 interview. Which they did not have to do. It was a choice to add that material.

Idk sometimes ppl act like it’s soooo crazy for people to be theorizing DM happened in the past and I’m like I literally don’t think it is? And trust me I get that sometimes people get shipping goggles on, and it’s annoying when people make everything about a ship, etc, (but also that’s literally just how fandom is in general? idk what you expect), but. Idk man it doesn’t seem that wild to me in comparison to some of the places the show has been willing to go? And meanwhile like half of you keep insisting Raglan James is Marius. Some of you even thought Sam might be Santino. Theorizing about past DM does not seem that weird to me. Like I am literally just watching the show and Noticing Details and coming up with a possible outcome. It’s whatever

[unknownteapot]

2 Truths 1 Lie : SMOSHBLR EDITION 

y’all ive been thinking about this one for a while lol- after the ‘smoshblr assumptions’ game was received so well i was like we haaaave to do another one- it brings the fandom so much closer and is honestly such a good way to get to know moots better <3

SO. without further ado- I present to you SMOSHBLR’s 2 Truths 1 Lie organised by yours truly with some help from kind friends @xxsuicidalravenxx & @babychosen <3 

Here’s how you play:

Rb this post with ‘#i’m in’ so i can keep track of who’s playing

Between the hours of 9:00 am EST - 12:00 (noon) EST on Wed. June 5th (check what time that would be in your area) post a 1-day poll to your blog with 3 facts about yourself (the reason it’s a specific time is so we don’t miss any/have polls end at different times and make the game an endless loop )

Self-explanatory here, 1 of the facts should be completely false and the other two should be true.

IMPORTANT: PLEASE. please. do NOT give away personal information/intimate life details that could identify you. despite how awesome smoshblr is, the internet is still a scary place.

You can tag the poll whatever you’d like but please include #smoshblrtwotruths somewhere in the tags so i can rb it ;)

After your poll is up- you now have 24h to go on the #smoshblrtwotruths tag and have fun speculating on other’s facts in the replies of their posts and

VOTE FOR THE OPTION YOU THINK THEIR 1 LIE IS!!

You can ask others questions about their facts to help verify their stories via asks or replies on their polls, but keep in mind, just like in smosh’s real game version, they could be lying ;)

Be silly, be goofy, be kind.

After the polls end (sometime on Thursday the 6th), rb your poll explaining what the truths and lies actually were so we can see if we were right!!

At the end (Friday 7th) i’ll make a masterlist of all the truths & lies so we can clearly see who the winners were <3

AWARDS:

🎩 The Lesbian Wonkas 🍭 (The Winners)- people whose lie does NOT get found by collecting the most votes on the poll- will get a personalised playlist based on the vibes their tumblr gives off straight from my chaotic ass spotify <3 

🐦‍⬛ The Birds of The Amazönê 🚬 (The Losers)- the losers will get sprayed with water a.k.a an influx of asks with nothing but 💦🔫💦🔫💦🔫💦🔫 in them (by participating in the game, you consent to this so don’t be annoyed at me. get sprayed, bestie)

okay. that’s it. please reply or send asks if the rules are unclear!! i’d suggest scheduling ur 2 Truths 1 Lie poll as soon as you have your facts so it can go up during the mentioned time with all the other polls and you don’t have to worry about posting it 🫶🏻

i’m tagging some moots so they know this is happening and just bc they’re awesome @lilac-hecox @sage-lights @japhan2024 @baflegacy @shesmore-shoebill feel free to tag your friends too <3

Let’s get truthing and lying, smoshblr!!!

[momentov1vere]

Assigning PJO/ HoO characters to Knights Radiant orders (+ my reasoning)

I put too much thought into this not to share it somewhere so here’s a sort-of character analysis that is much longer than it needs to be (bc I was bored and stuck in a car for 10 hours) :)

Not sure how much of a crossover there is between the PJO and Stormlight Archive fandoms but this was mostly for fun (and I want to see what happens lol)

Here we go!

——————————————————————————

🔱 Percy Jackson : Stoneward

The powers don’t rly fit (Cohesion- manipulating objects at a molecular level- & Tension- changing the stiffness of something) but none of the Radiants have water powers so 🤷‍♀️

Loyalty is pretty much the #1 belief of the Stonewards (“Though sometimes gregarious, they are never flighty. If a Stoneward is your friend, they will be there for you”) and Percy’s fatal flaw is literally loyalty so that’s that

Percy is said to be one of the best fighters seen like anywhere in a long time and Stonewards are the order that is viewed as the best soldiers of the Radiants

They like a challenge and will often take on more than they can handle (like Percy choosing to take on the Great Prophecy)

Stonewards are also good at being able to find a solution to a difficult situation with only few resources and Percy often comes up with things on the fly/ improvises

I struggled SO MUCH picking one for Percy oh my god he had similarities to like half of them (I almost made him a Bondsmith or a Windrunner but they didn’t seem right)

🦉 Annabeth Chase : Elsecaller

Powers : Transformation (changing an object into something else- aka ‘Soulcasting’) and Transportation (looking/moving between realms); Annabeth likes creating new things (architecture) so there’s a bit of a connection to the Transformation power even tho she doesn’t really have powers

Elsecallers are always trying to reach their full potential, like how Annabeth is always be seen trying to learn new things and become the best version of herself

They are regarded as the ‘wisest’ Radiant order (just like Annabeth/ the Athena cabin are viewed as the ‘wisest’ demigods)

Annabeth always has her goals in mind but also always trying to lead and encourage others (like Damasen) which is common amongst Elsecallers

🐐 Grover Underwood : Edgedancer

Powers: Abrasion (altering the friction between surfaces) & Progression (quickly growing organic objects faster than normal- including plants, skin, body tissue, etc.)

He’s able to make plants grow faster using his magic reed pipe so that would translate into Progression

Abrasion would kind of fit for him too, bc of the goat legs (he’s able to navigate more difficult terrain than humans)

Edgedancers care about the ordinary/ overlooked people of the world and spend most of their time making sure those people are protected. Grover cares deeply about nature/ animals and always tries to protect them bc humans often deem nature unimportant (nature = ordinary people in this scenario)

☠️ Nico di Angelo : Dustbringer

Powers: Division (control over destruction/ decay) and Abrasion

I don’t know if Nico has anything that really fits the Abrasion power- except for maybe the fact that his shadow travel helps him get places quickly- but Division is definitely similar to his power over death/ earthy materials

Dustbringers typically don’t get along with others (including people in their own order) because of personality differences and stereotypes about their powers like how Nico is often ostracized at first bc he scares people

☀️ Will Solace : Edgedancer

Powers: Abrasion & Progression

Will is a healer so Progression would be a good power for him to have; while he doesn’t have any powers similar to Abrasion I think it would be useful for him to have to get to injured people faster

Will cares about everyone and will do his best to heal anyone because he doesn’t want anyone to suffer, and he doesn’t just focus on the powerful demigods- he makes sure to lend his power anywhere it’s needed

Fighting is not the the Edgedancers’ main concern, preferring to protect/help the injured (especially people who aren’t necessarily warriors) and Will also is more like a wartime medic than a fighter (though he- and the Edgedancers- can fight if necessary)

They want to see and understand both sides of something, even their enemies, rather than seeing everything in black and white. Will struggled with this in TSATS but eventually realized that places like the Underworld aren’t necessarily just about death/decay, but are also about life

🌩️ Jason Grace : Windrunner

Well first of all the man flies and that’s basically what the Windrunners do lol

Their powers: Adhesion (temporarily sticking two objects together) and Gravitation (changing the direction/ strength of something’s gravitational pull)

He cares a lot about protecting innocents/ the defenseless and keeping his friends safe which is a main idea of the Windrunners

Windrunners are very militaristic in general and Jason was raised by the wolves and the Romans to be that way as well

Tempest would be his windspren & prefer a horse form cus they can do that (I think)

⚡️ Thalia Grace : Windrunner

I know she hates flying but I don’t think it’s really a requirement of the Windrunners to ‘fly’; they mostly just change the direction/amount of gravity that’s pulling on them so she could find creative ways to use Gravitation (walking on walls/ceilings which then appear to be the floor to her, etc)

The Hunters of Artemis are pretty militaristic as well (they have a specific leader & ways of doing things, similar to the Romans)

Thalia cares about innocent people/creatures and is very protective over the people she cares about (Annabeth, the Hunters, etc)

Windrunners tend to attract “big-sibling types” and Thalia is definitely a big sibling type lol

🏹 Frank Zhang : Stoneward

Powers don’t rly fit him either but personality-wise I think it’s right

Frank is really loyal to his friends (sometimes to the point of attacking/fighting people more powerful than him to save them) and will always be there for them both in battle and for personal issues

He’s pretty good at improvising and his shapeshifting allows him to come up with creative solutions (turning into an iguana to get out of the Chinese handcuffs lol)

He’s also pretty quick to come up with creative solutions without many resources (using his firewood to free Thanatos when there was no other heat source, etc.)

💎 Hazel Levesque : Lightweaver

Powers : Illumination (illusions) and Transformation

Hazel learned how to manipulate the mist from Hecate, essentially giving her illusion powers, & she can change the shape of earthly materials (can’t change the material but it’s close enough to Transformation); this is one case where I almost made her a Stoneward but Lightweaver just fit better for everything else I think

Lightweavers are the ‘artistic’ order and attract people who love art/ creativity (Hazel is an artist)

They tend to not follow rules the way other orders do, instead choosing to reach their goals by their own means (ex. Hazel choosing to go her own way and make her own choices rather than taking one of the paths Hecate gave her in HoH)

🔥 Leo Valdez : Dustbringer

Same as Nico; both of them being Dustbringers would be an example of contrasting/ clashing personalities within the order

Fire is definitely a destructive ability similar to Division (they can burn things) and without a level of control (which Dustbringers need to learn before they can advance their powers) things could get bad (and have- rip Esperanza Valdez)

Leo hasn’t really been ostracized for his personality like Dustbringers could be but his powers originally made people scared (they didn’t know he had them at the time but his cabinmates did say a that having that power was dangerous and they hoped no one would ever have it again so he took that a little personally)

🗡️ Reyna Ramirez-Arellano : Bondsmith

She’d be bonded to the Stormfather (1 of 3 beings who can gift Bondsmith abilities), allowing her to generate Stormlight and infuse other Radiants with it; this is incredibly draining and similar to Reyna’s ability to share her strength

Bondsmiths’ main focus is unity/ bringing people together and Reyna definitely spends a lot of time attempting to unite the Roman and Greek camp (after all, she did spend an entire book helping Nico and Coach Hedge get the Athena Parthenos back to CHB as a peace offering)

Bondsmith powers aren’t typically used for fighting but rather for assisting other Radiants and keep them fighting; Reyna is skilled with weapons but doesn’t use her powers to fight, only to help others keep up their strength/ motivation

🕊️ Piper McLean : Lightweaver

Piper had some personal things that she had to work out (lying to her friends in TLH, etc) before she fully embraced her power, & Lightweavers have to come to terms with truths about themselves before they can progress as people & as Radiants

There aren’t really any Radiant orders that work with manipulation magic so it’s hard to bring the Charmspeak in but the illusion magic Lightweavers have does allow them to change their appearance, so I’d imagine her using it to make herself super beautiful for espionage purposes or smth (maybe using it to transform into someone’s loved one?)

Transformation would allowed her to turn something into something else (etc. mud to food) which kind of relates to her cornucopia & how it makes food out of nothing

——————————————————————————

Hooray we made it to the end!! Sorry that this was so long, I had a looong time to think about this and wanted to get all my thoughts down

I mostly used coppermind.net and the descriptions of the Radiant orders on Sanderson’s website so some of this info may be a little inaccurate but this was just for fun lol

[autisticlancemcclain]

What’s your most hated fandom characterization for each of the main 7?

hoo boy am i glad you asked. although i’m gonna be real, my issue is less with fandom characterization, because you do you i don’t give a shit, and more with how people go batty if you personally are not a fan of fanon characterizations.

like, lemme be obvious and talk about my biggest example. i am a brown eyed lance truther. we know this. the amount of weirdo comments, weirdo DMs, and weirdo asks i get is atrocious. i post a lot of them bc they’re so stupid they’re funny but the amount of people per week that tell me to kill myself is lowkey wild. the amount of people that love to say some variation of “i liked your fic but you ruined it by making lances eyes brown! his eyes are blue!” and i’ve checked other brown eyed truther’s fics — either they delete their comments better than me, or they do not get the same thing. idk what the deal is lol.

i will concede to the point that i’m a contrarian and annoying about it, but a list of the following non-fanon headcanons/characterizations i hold that have been commented on in some derisive way:

- bitchy hunk (lol)

- non “cinnamon roll too pure and baby and good for this world” hunk*

- allura is a good character (🤡)**

- allura is a sweetheart

- allura is not a drill sergeant

- kuron was a good iteration of shiro

- red paladin lance/black paladin keith/blue paladin allura

- retired shiro

- pidge is not cruel

- pidge is not an infant and can handle things a regular 14-15 year old can handle

- small details are irrelevant (think lances family, exact prekerb details, etc)

- keith gyeong and lance sanchez

- fucking brown eyed lance. i’m saying it again

- tall keith

- non omega keith***

- readmores

- autistic lance

- adhd keith

- non asshole/cruel keith

- comphetting gay lance****

- shallura

- bi shiro, demi keith, essentially any sexuality headcanon that isn’t mainstream

- hunk who isn’t food obsessed

- that’s about it

*stop infantilising hunk

**the allura hate is ridiculous and largely rooted in anti-Blackness. it should not be a fight to say that she had a reason to feel betrayed by keith’s heritage, that she did not “get in the way” of klance, that her death was stupid and ridiculous, that she is often pushed over in favour of klance (not as in she’s less popular, but that her/her death are used as a plot device to further klance), and that she is as interesting, nuanced, and multifaceted as the rest of them.

***people, inevitably, feminize characters in fandoms (largely because many people in fandom are young women, i know i feminize characters simply bc i’m making them like me and i’m feminine lol), and my issue is that people (in the general sense, not everybody) love to feminize keith and then get really mad if anyone else is feminized. this is not about fem or trans woman keith btw. this is about people omega-ifying him and then losing their MINDS if i don’t share that headcanon.

****i literally only wrote this once and then never again because people lost their minds. but as much as i love bi lance, i think it’s interesting that usually, when we see “boy crazy” or “girl crazy” characters, especially if they have a lot of chemistry or homoerotic tension with a same-gender character, people are like oh ya that’s comphetting. that character is desperately trying to outrun the gay thoughts. but with lance, who was definitely girl crazy and cared more about having a girlfriend than actually dating and falling in love (think “mrs blue lion” — he didn’t give a fuck about who he was marrying, so long that it was a girl), calling him gay will have people saying you’re erasing bisexuality. as if he was not fucking straight in the show. so.

sorry this is so bitter and ranty lol. been in a mood

[crismakesstuff]

im so excited for invincible s2b now that it has an official release date… and that release date is march 14th

Let me talk about why that has me worried for the future of the show

‼️also no hate to any other shows mentioned‼️

I want to start with these two images :

invincible compared to the boys and now hazbin hotel has BARELY gotten any offical advertising on this level. The boys also got ads in times square for the promotion of s3 and the spin-off gen v im pretty sure but I could be wrong.

Don’t get me wrong I am rly happy to see an animated show get promotion at that level and I think more streaming services should do the same but why is it that invincible, a show on its SECOND SEASON gets nothing? The official invincible accounts have to do most of the heavy lifting themselves with generating hype on their twt,insta and tiktok. People complain that the accounts often make “an announcement for the announcement” but they have too! They literally have no other option! It sucks to see invincible show signs of a show thats clearly being tampered with by executive fuckery that has led so many other animated shows to an early grave.

Also I NEED people to realize that invincible’s release schedule NOT THE FAULT OF THE CREW

I see people regularly being rude and borderline aggressive to crew members online (which ive seen happen in other fandoms too) but the amount of people that were bitching and whining about the hiatus saying things like “this is why we shouldn’t let animators have good working conditions” and people agreeing with those takes were INSANE. The crew have no control over when the show drops or not, that is a decision left up to executives.

Now why could this delay be happening ?

a little bit ago amazon made this announcement to its customers:

this very well lines up with what many people began to speculate online as to why invincible had such a weird release schedule for season 2. They release the first half and get people hooked on the first 4 episodes ending on a massive cliffhanger and then release the second half after ads are introduced in hopes of making more money bc ppl don’t want ads in the middle of their shows.

Even then many people (myself included) think that it would’ve ultimately been better for the sake of the shows own hype to just wait to release them in March back to back all 8 episodes. Because the midseason break just kneecapped the hype the show had built up so hard and now many people are reasonably frustrated.

Because there was no clarity on when the show would be back. Most people assumed it would be a month long break for the holidays which shows have done for a long time. And then fake leaks came out that the show would come back in early January, and then the invincible accounts were virtually silent, and people were saying the break was intentional for fans to (recover) for ep 4. It was all over the place

What should fans do going forward?

Best thing you can do is stream the show legally if you can! TALK about invincible, don’t let the hype die out. Get this shit on trending ! Boost any official posts online showing that there is still a demand for this show! If you can, buy merch! Read the comics legally ! LET AMAZON KNOW WE STILL CARE ABOUT THIS SHOW!

again no hate to the other shows here bc ive watched all of them! I just want invincible to get some of that love too because this show is so amazing and you can tell how much love the crew has put into it <3

[heartsouls]

no plz tell me all your thoughts about the gregory hate so I can reblog it💀

OHHH boy this is gonna be a long one buckle up

Ever since Gregory was first announced I believe most of the fandom have interpreted him as this frail child who was always on the verge of tears and needed G.Freddy’s protection (think C.C 2.0), but once the game came out most ppl were shocked to see this kid actually has a lot of bite to him and kicked ass (ppl’s first reactions to him destroying the animatronics still make me laugh).

This was MY first introduction to him, so I wasn’t completely taken aback but still pleasantly surprised. Most if not all his actions made sense or at least made sense for a 10yr boy to think/act. Giant robots coming after me with the intention to kill (and insulting me for no damn reason)? Yeah I’d probably add an extra kick in there for good measure. Then came the first repair scene, when Vanessa revealed the high possibility of Gregory being an homeless orphan everything just clicked into place for me.

OF COURSE that’s why Gregory was so aggressive, he had to learn how to fight on his own to survive he’d probably had to face even worse than this! He wasn’t going to let that all go to waste bc some weird murderous rabbit lady wanted to drag him into her plans. It explains why he brushed off G.Freddy’s worries about him bc he’s used to have to just keep moving and bare thru pain, especially in an environment where that’s really the ONLY thing you can do. It’s why he’s so blunt and can come off as rude bc he was most likely never taught how to behave “correctly” bc really who has the time?

He was just using all the knowledge he learned on how to survive from a cruel and harsh environment for another. But this time he has an ally for once, an adult (father) figure who actually cares about his wellbeing, it’s no wonder why he became so attached (but struggles to show it bc he’s not used to it). And through all that easily irritable aggression, there are moments to remind us he’s still a kid.

A useless fridge magnet? Yeah that is pretty lame man.

Now imagine my shock when I see others hating on him and calling him a villain. “How could he KILL the poor animatronics? He was so mean, he’s the true monster!” Wh- DID WE WATCH THE SAME GAME? You mean the same animatronics that says he doesn’t have anyone to care about him? Yeah real sweethearts they are. Gregory isn’t a damn monster, he’s a survivor! He’s doing what he only knows best, IT’S TO SURVIVE!

“How could he be so mean to G.Freddy??? Those are his friends! He made Freddy feel bad!” Trust me when I say that Gregory cares about G.Freddy ALOT, did you see his reactions whenever G.Freddy got hurt??? That’s his father thank you very much!

“How could he have killed Vanny in that one ending?! He’s the real villain!” …Do I even need to explain this one?

And ohhhhhh don’t get me started on the awful “bratty gremlin devil” Gregory HCs. Now this isn’t to say that Gregory can’t be a gremlin or whatever. He can be, he is a bit cheeky, but then some started to intensify it and made it his entire personality. No, Gregory wasn’t just itching to rip Roxy’s eyes out or do the next batshit insane thing, he noticed the other upgrades and put two and two together (It gets more weird and slightly disrespectful when they add in the homeless thing as if that automatically makes someone act “feral”….tiktok.)

And then we have the complete opposite where some portray him as what I mentioned in the first paragraph. The poor helpless child who cant handle anything by himself…even though that’s complete bullshit (he’s also usually portrayed to be obnoxiously sweet for some reason). I don’t think many ppl realize how often were not in G.Freddy during SB, and Gregory is described to be quick on his feet and wits (plus his tools) and he doing damn well by himself! [Obviously this isnt to say that he didnt need G.Freddy’s help and protection, ofc he did, he just didnt need to RELY on it like some ppl make it seem he did].

(I know we went a bit off-topic for the last two paragraphs, trust me it connects)

All of this comes down to simply that some just can’t accept the fact that Gregory isn’t their perfect victim. He doesn’t crumble to the floor and beg for G.Freddy to help him up like they want him too. He’s not shy and sheepishly asking for help like they think he’s supposed to. And when they realize that part they try to push him into the other far end where he’s crazy, cold, and cruel. But he’s not. He cares, and he cares deeply. He’s still a little boy, he cried and tried to cover his face when he saw Vanny die. He should be leaping in victory, he killed his killer after all right? But he didn’t, bc despite everything she was still a human being, and he was so scared.

He has complex trauma (duh), he’s not this way or that way, and I get it. It’s hard to write or draw that kind of trauma for Gregory, especially when SB didn’t really give us much. But the way ppl act as if that’s what he actually is is soooooo frustrating. In my opinion the fact that his trauma is so complex and the fact he’s not your typical written victim is what makes him so interesting! And I feel like a lot ppl were slowly getting around to it…

Until GGY and Ruin happened and the hate came back so much worse, Welcome to the real Freddy Hell.

[sitp-recs]

I wanted to ask a question... idk if you're straight, bi.... but I consider myself a lesbian and since I read HP books in the pandemic I became obsessed with them, then wolfstar then drarry. I love pansmione, ginsy and linny as well but they didnt hit the same (besides some specific fics) like drarry to me bc I love draco's background story so much. I love how they complete each other (two sides of the same coin / being used as pawns / relatable traumas etc). anyway I was thinking what do you think about lesbians reading mlm/gay men fiction? specially if some of them are explicit. I love them and fic got me through the pandemic as well but I feel guilty :( I read other types of books too (a lot of sapphic ones) but yeah I always come back to drarry. help.

Hi anon! I’m sorry to hear that you’ve been feeling this way about preferring mlm over femslash. You are not the first person I see mentioning this and I think your experience is 100% valid and probably more common than you imagine. Following that logic, I should only read stories featuring bisexual women but you see, I’m not always interested in fics reflecting my own reality and issues. Most of the time I’m not even in the mood to read wlw or straight sex, no matter (or maybe exactly because of) how familiar it feels. I read it occasionally, but I normally use fic as an outlet to escape and read the stories that interest and intrigue me the most, and sometimes they couldn’t be farther away from my own experiences.

Be it because of the writing itself, or because I care more about Harry and Draco than I’ve ever cared about Ginny and Luna, Drarry just attracts me more than Linny. Hell, Ron/Ginny attracts me more than Linny. There’s no rationale behind what I ship, no objective way of knowing what will hit the right note for me, and so I gave up on tying to rationalize it a long time ago. Additionally, as a queer person I noticed that I often feel attracted to queerness in general, so I think it makes a lot of sense to connect to a gay character or mlm story even if you’re a woman (and vice-versa).

We all get different things out of fandom/fic and your reasons for enjoying this and not that work are entirely your own. I believe that our fandom experience should be all about self-indulgence and prioritizing joy and healing over anything else so from my perspective, I don’t think you have anything to feel guilty/ashamed of. That’s my two cents on it, just keep reading what you love and what brings you joy! ❤️

[eddiediazismyhusband]

I totally get you with the bait vibes and I am apprehensive about buddie/its timing this season. My only thing is that Oliver has spoken so much in the past over worrying about baiting people with buddie and Ryan has spoken with so much care about these characters together that I just can't see either of them suddenly going all in on baiting with buddie without knowing that there are good things coming for them. Not saying they'll go canon in episode 2 or anything but they likely know the general arc/storyline for the season and knowing how much we and they care about buddie, I don't see Ryan or Oliver toying with the fans for fun and being careless or meanspirited about it unless they felt assured about where things might be going this season

this is why the fact that it’s on the official 911 account worries me. because it’s not just ryan and oliver posting, it’s olvier filming a video he was told to for the official account that ryan was also in, and the conscious decision for that video to be posted was made by someone who knows all the attention buddie brings in. if it was for olvier’s personal instagram then maybe id be a little less concerned about it, but the simple fact that it was for a video on the official 911 account doesn’t give me good vibes

i think often times in fandom we view the actors as having a lot more say in things than they actually do… obviously i don’t know what rules and regulations regarding social media involvement the cast have to follow, but i think the fandom automatically assumes that ryan and oliver get veto rights on things just bc of how involved in the show they are, when that’s often not the case— most of the time in show business, actors have to get things approved before they post them to keep from accidentally spoiling things.

that video wasn’t just ryan and oliver goofing off on set (i mean it was); it was intentionally chosen by someone on the 911 team and approved for the official account. it was chosen and approved bc ryan and oliver together means fandom interaction. it’s the same reason we had so many ryan and oliver interviews before s7 with all this pr talk of “they get closer than ever” and “they have such a strong bond” just for buddie to have very few actual meaningful moments onscreen. it’s textbook baiting, and tim has shown he’s not afraid of that.

i know oliver and ryan both feel strongly about buddie and both want to be careful about not baiting, but they’re not the issue here; the issue is that they are both employed by this production, and that means that sometimes they aren’t allowed to say “no” to how something is promoted.

(small addendum)

in regards to the “general storyline of the season” thing you mentioned (and i do not meant this to come across bitchy or rude at ALL) but tim has also stated that he doesn’t plan out seasons. he may bring up storylines he has ideas for and have an idea of where he might go, but he himself has said he doesn’t plan out full seasons (which is….. kinda what his whole job is supposed to be but i digress) and on top of that, we saw in s7 how quickly he made the decision to completely scrap his original ideas for 7b, scrapping a storyline w abuela that was mentioned, as well as bringing e*y and l*u back for more episodes than they were originally supposed to appear in, and creating that god awful “vertigo” mess…

im sure ryan and oliver are told “oh yeah we’re aiming for buddie canon this season” just like the show tries to do to us with the interviews and bts content, only to change their minds a few episodes in because they intentionally convolute/switch up the plot and say “ohhhh it just didn’t go there naturally :/“ (which is complete bullshit for reasons i shouldn’t have to explain to anyone)

overall i think fandom is too disconnected from how the show works/has worked in the past, and that we often ignore things that have been said in favor of the shiny buddie bait from the production (which is the whole point of the bait to begin with) and all that does is sets us up for disappointment in the long run because we convince ourselves that buddie is happening based on oliver and ryan talking about it, when oliver snd ryan most likely are also being strung along, and don’t have any veto power in that.

[nalyra-dreaming]

Hello, please don't take it bad because, through the question maybe the tone can be a bit weird also I know you talked about it hundred of times.

But as a Loumand enjoyer and someone who take them for what they were,creepy,toxic, unbalanced but also beautiful because i like good chemistry and no one can deny their good chemistry right? Jacob and Assad were beautiful together.

What i don't understand is why,i keep seeing from most of the fandom the reasons they don't like them is because they were toxic/weird dynamic, aren't all the relationships in the VC romantic or not,toxic/weird?

I promise i didn't make a fanfic in my head,i knew from the start we were watching a divorce but they still had some on-screen good moments?

They will still be important for each other lives in the future right?

I feel like most of the vitriol i see for them (not from you) is because Loumand feels like a ''threat'' (I can't find a better word) to the existence of the two main pairings.

I don't think they were because of the dungeon scene is a proof they were never meant to be but still I'm sure some people felt threatened.There no other reason i can see.

In the future they will be other weird dynamic between other characters and i can see them receiving such a treatment.

Also I know some Loumand enjoyers are the reason we are seen as the annoying part of the fandom including myself.

All good :) (your tone is fine^^)

Tbh I haven’t seen much of what you refer to (I barely make it out of my inbox and DMs right now 🤪) but I think what you witness now is the backlash after almost two years of “Lestat is an abusive racist and we cannot wait to see Louis in a healthy, wholesome romance with a POC character and nothing of Lestat anymore“.

Like, don’t misunderstand me, I‘m not saying you did this. But this definitely happened. The show never promised Loumand to be wholesome, but since it was commented on as healthy and wholesome on the podcast many took that as fact. Pointing out book canon things were met with “anti accusations“ (even by some I would have never expected it from). Suggesting that the “tale“ might not be correct was taken as racist, and abuse apology bc the black man was “made to be a liar“. No matter the cast and writers and crew comments on this. (But I‘ve been over this in my rant, it’s linked in my bio if you want to read it, not rehashing it all now).

And that for over 1,5 years. There’s comments on my fics you wouldn’t believe. And no pointing out discrepancies, nor book canon facts made any dent into these accusations. It was always argued that the show is its own thing - and that is true - and yet they have now circled back MUCH closer to the book canon than I had actually anticipated.

So.

I get that it’s hard right now? I have said before that I see Loumand as totally valid - but for me it is mostly later on, when it’s on equal level. I think it is totally valid to enjoy them now, too, while being aware of the manipulative layers and the fucked-up dynamics:))

Ultimately… there’s not much for you to do except curate your dash. Go and block haters freely, leave those voices that you like or that disagree with you on a respectful level.

Especially for future (also rather toxic) pairings that WILL come up this will be MO. :) Fortunately tumblr has some practical tools there. ^^

[solarwynd]

i come with a hot take that i dont expect to be well received by others but here goes:

i think pjms really need to cut out the “thailand streaming farm” narrative, for several reasons.

streaming culture has been popularized by armys throughout the years. as far as i can remember, there has been a lot of discourse among chart-oriented armys for years (since the english trilogy era) about both vietnam’s and thailand’s streaming practices. they were the first ones’ to push the account-switching techniques that a lot of streamers use today. back then, it was deemed unsustainable and risky by most chartmys bc it led to large drops when people got tired of doing that. now, its the mainstream streaming practice in the fandom and other countries have managed to make it a more sustainable effort (i.e., LC’s longetivity in the US). the US is the most praised sector of pjms (and deservedly so, they work their asses off) while still using that technique so why are overall pjms much harsher with how they express themselves about thai armys/pjms vs us pjms? honestly sometimes it feels mildy xenophobic to me when is see those kinds of tweets/posts.

while i definitely get that their lack of consistency amd favoritism towards some members has been annoying in the past i don’t think we can say the same anymore. sgmb got more streams day one than nlg and every single jk song released last year (every.single.one and more than double for some of them).

i also cant believe i had to find this information out by a random jjk that popped up on my search this morning when i was looking up today’s sp update (you can imagine my horror when i confirmed those numbers).

jjks frequently and stupidly use the bot narrative for usa pjms, and in all honesty, pjms look just as dumb using the streaming farm narrative for thai armys/solos. its giving that meme of spidermens pointing at each other bc in reality were ALL “bots” were ALL “streaming farms”. we are all a somewhat small group of people (within the market) putting in an extreme effort for our artists. let’s not fool ourselves into cultish them vs us mentalities when (for some things) we are not that different.

Thailand streams get called out because the numbers they pull are not proportionate to the number of users that they have in their country. Look at SK for example. Their lowest entry right now is 4.3k. Top 50 12.8k Top 20 23k Top 10 37k Top 5 60k With top spot being LC with 118k. Proportionate. Brazil, a chart range somewhat similar to the US. Lowest entry is 182k. Top 50 381k Top 20 612k Top 10 882k Top 5 1.06M and Top spot 1.14M.

The lowest entry for Thai charts right now is 28k. Then you get to top 50, that’s 68k. Top 20 (which is Espresso by Sabrina) 98k Top 10 167k. From there is gets sus because to make a jump from that to the top 3 current spots which are 524k, 1.13M, 1.8M. (Down from 6/29 where Rockstar & SGMB had 2.5M and 2.2M respectively and the lowest entry was 26k.) Then you look at the #3 spot from that same day and it was 484k. The gap between #3 and #2 was around 1.7M. Like you cannot tell me that’s normal cause it isn’t. You don’t see those kinds of gaps on any other country chart. So It doesn’t have anything to do with xenophobia (or being upset about the fact that that country is TK majority) because there are other Asian countries and countries outside the US that don’t get called out since they do have streams proportionate to their population and have reasonable ranges.

Bringing up US fans streaming in comparison to Thai fans is also odd to do because it’s not the same. The lowest entry on the US chart is 340k Top 50 starts at 600k, Top 20 841k Top 10 1M with top 5 being 2.1M. That’s also a very proportional chart. Jimin’s numbers in America have always sat in the 200k-to 1M range without significant jumps coming out of nowhere.

Him going from a 465k debut with LC to 2.2M with SGMB from Thailand is not just the 20x cap per account method, that’s something else being employed there. And it’s not that they got “stronger” either.

I’ve expressed my discontent with a large chunk of SGMB’s streams coming from Thailand on multiple occasions. I’ve wanted it far away from Jimin for this exact reason. I’m not denying that there isn’t a concentrated effort to get better numbers in general. And I don’t think any pjm is “fooling themselves” into thinking that how they stream is entirely organic. It’s not, but I still won’t put it on the level of what some Thai fans are doing.

[cafeinthemoon]

It's a Fire - Chapter III

Chapter 3

Wordcount 3,9k

Title Family Portrait

Fandom Kimetsu no Yaiba / Demon Slayer

Previous chapters

1 . 2

Symbols ⭕ ➕ 🖤

Warnings:  Attempt to agression toward a minor; agressive, abusive behavior; mentions of alcoholism, grief and loss

Tagging ? (If you want to be tagged in any of my stories, just leave a comment on this chapter or send an ask or a message)

N. A.: So, finally I'm having a break from work! I was on vacation and had plenty opportunities to rest and forget about the same, stressful and boring routine, and now I'm back to my writings at last <3 This chapter has the very scene that made me write this whole story, and I'm so proud of it! I'm really happy to share it with you! Also, the end of this chapter had me struggling a bit, mainly bc of the amount of information I should include in it or leave to the next one, but I think I found a reasonable midterm. There was also the question involving the photographs, for I couldn't remember if photography was a technology present in Demon Slayer or not (I had to do a research about photography in Japan to confirm lol)

I really hope you enjoy this chapter as much as I enjoyed writing it :)

The omnipresent tension in each step you took in the Rengoku’s house right in your first day followed you in the next ones, whether you were alone in your room or with others, and in different places, but nothing compared to the few times you’ve met your husband: it was like he was always avoiding you, so whenever you saw him, it seemed to be by chance, as if he failed in keeping his distance. Sometimes, he wouldn’t say anything, but would acknowledge your presence by a direct look or a move of his head, to which you’d reply politely, and the few occasions when he exchanged words with you, the conversation, limited to basic inquiring about practical, daily subjects, would never go beyond one minute or two.

The closest you’ve come to discuss your situation was when one day, after receiving monosyllabic responses, he addressed your discontentment in the most direct way he could, catching you in surprise.

– Listen. I can see this is not what you planned for yourself, but let me tell that I’ve never planned to bring another woman to this house as well. Yet our families had an alliance in the past, and we must honor it.

You bit your lip at those words.

And honor the lots of money my father sent to you.

Instead of spitting your bitter thoughts, however, you responded him with a simple question.

– May I ask you something, Rengoku-sama?

– What is it? – he frowned.

– If honoring this alliance is something we both must do, why do you sound like you’re lecturing me?

It didn’t go unnoticed by you the spite he tried to restrain in the way he clenched his lips. For a moment, you thought you just made a big mistake in speaking like that, and moved one feet back.

But nothing more than a few composed words came from him in response.

– Let’s just say that your father and I had a conversation in which he pointed out that, despite your many talents, fulfilling duties like this can be a sensitive, not to say difficult, subject to you. I myself have issues towards it too, still I don’t want it to become an obstacle for us.

You measured those words. Finally, something you both agreed, you thought. But you decided to follow through a different path, directing the pressure to your father’s account.

– Rengoku-sama, I don’t know when was the last time you’ve saw y/ln-sama before the wedding arrangements, but I suppose it happened long ago, so that I need to bring some things to your attention. My father is a stern man, too attached to his traditions and too busy to take time in learning about what lies beyond them. These traits only increased since my mother passed away, and he has been spending more and more time by himself, barely talking to anyone but the servants. So, it might be just my opinion, but if we really want to make this work, seeing your new wife through such man’s eyes is not going to help you, nor her.

He spent a moment in silence, pondering your words. You had no doubts that if you were a boy and younger, he would’ve already showed an inflamed reaction, but having a young woman using all her dignity was enough to make him hold himself in place.

– I will take this as a sign of compliance.

Before you could say anything, he turned his back and headed to his room with no additional comments.

Never he asked how you were feeling in that new environment, if your room was of your like or if the servants have answered your needs, neither before or after this episode. Yes, after seeing you burning your father’s letter with no hesitation, he might have supposed that your feelings towards the situation weren’t the best, but even so you’d consider it a matter of gentleness, after all you were a couple. But gentleness didn’t seem to be a known concept by Shinjuro, and you wouldn’t take too long to see examples of that.

One of the first things that brought you uneasiness concerning your husband was the fact that, whatever the period of the day or the occasion, he was always accompanied by a bottle of sake; you’ve never seen him using a cup, however, and even in times he wasn’t drinking, a moment standing next to him was enough for one to notice the subtle smell of alcohol.

There was a morning when you just opened your room’s door and put your feet on the corridor, and a sequence of angry yells came to your ears. You stopped immediately and, glancing around, you saw a young servant kneeling in front of Shinjuro’s door and trying to speak to him, maybe about an issue concerning the house. You couldn’t understand what was being said, but apparently the man has delivered unpleasant news and asked for an answer, which infuriated his lord.

You kept listening to the unnerving communication between the two, and had to suppress a scream with your hand over your mouth when your husband screamed and threw a bottle full of liquid at the young man, who flinched, protecting his head under his hands; this measure wouldn’t work if the bottle has crashed on him, but fortunately it hit the wall behind after passing over his head. The sharp pieces of the bottle spread with a crash on the floor, now soaked with the sake, then there was silence. The young man excused himself and left before something worse took place. You bit your lip.

What could be so irritating that got him acting that way? My goodness…

You were standing in the doorway, still observing, when the sight of Shinjuro’s shadow on the wall hit by the bottle woke you up and made you go back inside your room, closing your door quickly (and quietly) as possible. You returned to the middle of the room and waited, afraid that he decided to take your room’s direction, but to your relief, none of this happened, so you sat back on your bed to catch your breath.

So, this is what I’ll have to live with under this roof. I’ll be sharing this place with a beast.

You walked around the house with a blade hidden in your sleeve and slept with your sword beside you every night after that.

***

In the following days, you’ve saw similar episodes, all of them giving you enough reasons to stay on guard in his presence. This was even more important when Senjuro was around. The boy, you noticed, was used to this behavior, though he was never able to completely disguise his discomfort towards it; it was clear that he had memories of a time when things were different, for what other reason he had for not letting his conscience go numb in front of the things he saw everyday? You considered this a fortunate trait, and reinforced to yourself the task of protecting the goodness your stepson had in him.

There was a day when you faced the need of transforming this determination in action.

It’s been a full month since your wedding day, and you created the habit of taking walks in the garden behind the house after an occasion when your husband saw you heading to the kitchen. You passed by him and, before you could carry on your way, he called you.

– Rengoku-sama?

– I’ve heard you’ve been bored these days. I’d feel like that if I was in your place too – and, pointing at what he supposed to be the garden’s direction, – From the porch of these rooms, you can find a narrow path that leads to an old garden at the south wing. Go take a walk there from time to time. It might help you with the paleness in your face.

You nodded and murmured a “Thank you” to that strange favor, but he didn’t finish yet.

– But make sure to avoid it at evenings, though. We never know what might appear at this period of the day.

You didn’t reply. You just stood there, watching as he distanced himself through the corridor. You started using the garden, but obeyed his instruction and never lingered there when the evening approached.

The garden, indeed, had the appearance of a place that hasn’t been used for a long time. The path that crossed the area, connecting all its zones, was covered in grass and weeds, its stones invisible under them in some spots; the trees were overgrown, with fallen branches suspended by the ones still connected to the trunks, and thick layers of dead leaves surrounding the trees and their roots; there were bushes full of dry leaves as well, and some were taken over by cascades of wild flowers. Everything smelled like abandonment and melancholy.

One morning, you were just walking like the previous occasions, but you looked ahead and found Senjuro there, wielding a training sword. You smiled and approached.

– I hope I’m not interrupting anything?

He startled, but smiled when he recognized you.

– Good morning, y/n. I haven’t trained regularly the last months, but now I’m trying to regain the wasted time.

– That’s good to hear! – you crossed your arms – Speaking about this, I haven’t trained since I left my father’s house. Would you mind training with me?

Senjuro opened a content smile at this.

– It’s okay for me. It’s good to have company while training.

He decided to go back to the house and find another wood sword for you.

You’ve spent the entire morning having fun with your swords clashing. In fact, Senjuro knew all the basic moves your mother taught you, so that there was little you could teach him in this sense, but you noticed he struggled a bit with changing his position quickly enough to defend himself from surprise attacks, as if his body couldn’t follow his eyes; still, he was fast with his feet, and you thought you could help him work on this. On the other hand, you struggled with physically strong strikes, and since he was already stronger than you despite his age, you found yourself using your feet more to stand in place than to explore the space around you.

You even managed to have conversations about your progresses and goals concerning the art of the sword.

– I know I have little chance to surpass my brother, at least in developing the family’s Breath Style – Senjuro told you once – But I still can serve as a security worker or follow other paths. I want to dedicate my life to an honorable career, even if it means not wielding a sword at all. Still, I really like training.

– My choices are even smaller than yours when it comes to using a sword – you replied – But I want to do honorable works too. When my mother was alive, I thought my biggest dream was to develop my own Breath Style and work by her side in the Demon Slayer Corps. But now that she’s no longer here, I’m not so sure about this. I’d prefer to think that I’ll wield my sword to protect myself and the ones I care about, whether against a demon or another being.

You didn’t know, but your words would become prophetic a few days later, when what should have been just another morning training turned into a disturbing episode involving your stepson and your husband.

The thing was that, sometimes, Shinjuro demanded his son to go to the town’s market and buy sake for him instead of going by himself. This was revealed to you by Senjuro when you asked where he was going so early in the morning one day, and other times you saw him being sent by his father in other periods of the day with no right to question. You wanted to interfere, of course, but without a good plan of action and judging by how Shinjuro dealt with the servants who displeased him, you could tell you wouldn’t be treated less harshy.

You were in the middle of the training: Senjuro was experimenting a new technique and you were instructing him, when a sudden noise behind you made you stop and turn. Both of you held your breath when you saw Shinjuro approaching with impatient steps, but unlike your stepson, you didn’t let your sword down, waiting to see what he had for you that time.

He was the first to speak, directly to his son.

– So this is where you’ve been hiding the last mornings? Are you really avoiding your tasks by playing with fake swords with your stepmother? – he inquired; and, before the boy could say anything, – I need you to go to town and buy me sake now.

Senjuro made a shy attempt to argue:

– But, father, I’ve already bought you some yesterday…

– I gave you an order! – the other cut off – You’ve never been great with swords anyway. And now aren’t you even able to obey your father?

The boy gave up replying, but still hesitated, the sword in hands. You clenched your own hand around yours, gritting your teeth behind your closed lips.

That’s not fair. This kid’s been left alone with this man for a long time. It’s my turn to stand up for him.

– He can’t leave the house at the moment, Rengoku-sama – your voice came out loud and clear in the tense silence established between the two males; you positioned yourself ahead, in a way that would protect Senjuro from his father’s reach, yet not separating the them from each other – He has a training session to finish. A servant can go in his place.

Shinjuro’s eyes, flaming at the slightest touch of the sunlight, had nothing to you but resentment for your intrusion. Who the hell you think you were to stand between him and his son when this latter needed correction?

– Someone as grown as you should know where to stop playing, y/n – his tone was rough, and you didn’t know if it was sarcasm or just rage what you sensed in it – There are many things inside the house to which you could dedicate your time to.

You swallowed.

He’s really telling me to abandon the sword and start playing his wife?

Senjuro apparently feared that something worse was about to happen, and tried to calm down the situation again.

– Father, what if I finish here and immediately go to the market…

Shinjuro turned to him.

– You’re still trying to argue?! You brat!

Ignoring your presence, the man raised his hand toward the boy, perhaps too blind by his own anger to notice that he would never reach his victim and to underestimate your choice of putting yourself between them, for his punch never completed its route: coming from underneath, your sword slapped his hand away with a harsh strike, full of your impatience and indignation; you stood in front of your husband, completely hiding his son, and pointed the wood tip at his face.

– Senjuro-san, here’s a lesson for you – you say, without taking his eyes off his father –When a reckless individual approaches a swordsman, you must make sure he understands he’s making a terrible mistake.

Maybe your strike wasn’t as strong as you intended it to be, or your husband had an abnormally high pain tolerance, for his response, after a brief shake of his beaten hand, was to grab the length of your sword and hold it so tight that you couldn’t move it away. Your eyes widened at the wood cracking around his grip.

– Senjuro-san, two lessons for you – mimicking your attitude, he spoke to his son, but his eyes were glued on you – First, always remember to hold your sword the right way. Second, never start an assault without measuring your adversary’s strength.

He let go of the sword at last, turned his back on you and left.

When all the signs of his presence disappeared, you let your sword down and turned to Senjuro. Swallowing every bit of shame or disappointment, you opened a smile. The gesture confused him, but soon you clarified it.

– Your father is right. In a battle, prudence is everything – and, wielding your sword again, – Let’s try again.

***

Days have passed.

During all this time, you haven’t seen Shinjuro except for one time or two, and only at distance. No conversation happened between you, not even through the servants. Not that you were sad or ashamed by it, of course: you did what you had to do to defend Senjuro, and you were always trying to be reasonable and polite despite the unfavorable circumstances; unlike your husband, you had nothing to regret about. The only thing you felt was an increase in the tension that already existed inside the house, which put you in an even deeper state of alert. On the other hand, no interruptions happened during your next training sessions, and Senjuro seemed more at ease whenever you were around: he has been fulfilling his tasks with more diligence, and didn’t hesitate in calling for help when necessary. You were happy to see that a slight chance of him reaching a healthy, mature state still existed despite what he has seen and might still see there.

But not even this proof of your right decision to take care of him could erase the uneasiness in your perception concerning his father: you couldn’t help wondering why, and how, he became the person you were seeing now. Your parents, each one in their own manner, assured you that he was a good, honored person, someone who dedicated his life and energy to protect people from literal demons – so what kind of thing could provoke such transformation, that is, if he was really how your parents pictured him?

This mystery has been eating your mind up, and you had no courage to ask Senjuro about this; you didn’t want to be intrusive, neither you intended to bring back unpleasant memories he might have had. At the same time, you didn’t see ways to figure it out by yourself, or at least no one that didn’t involve invading spaces that weren’t meant for you, including parts of the house which access was forbidden, such as the living room. With all the things that happened since you went to live in that house, as well as the fact that you were too concentrated on your own feelings, you hadn’t the time to feed any curiosity about these places, but this started to change since the argument at the garden. What if the answers were all inside them?

Part of you was convinced of this, yet was against an intrusion: you weren’t even expected to be there a few months ago, and now you wouldn’t be able to follow a simple rule? What kind of adult you were? Other part, however, was just waiting for an opportunity.

And it came one day, when Shinjuro decided to go after his sake by himself.

You were passing by an inner corridor from where you could see the front door when you noticed it was left open. At first, you supposed that Senjuro forgot to close it and went there to do it, but one step toward it and you saw Shinjuro walking away, passing under the portal and heading to the street that led to the town. He was dressed properly and wearing sandals, so you understood he was going to spend some time away from home and was probably see a significant amount of people; besides, he had empty hands, implying that his bottles were all empty as well. You’ve already suspected that, after the beef in the garden, he learned to buy his own drink without bothering his son, and now you were relieved to confirm it. You quietly closed the door and followed through the corridor.

Guilty clenched a hand around your heart while you approached the door and pushed it to the side, but that wouldn’t make you give up. You took a deep breath and stepped into the living room…

And found it completely tied up, as if someone cleaned it yesterday.

The floor was glowing with a new wax layer, the furniture and decoration had no signs of dust over it, and so did the paintings on the walls; there was a slight scent of perfume in the air, confirming your supposition about the cleaning. You observed the space and thought it could be a living room as any other, if it wasn’t for a detail.

The photographs.

They spread everywhere you looked, from the tables to the walls, silent guardians of the house’s memory, of a time when that family had a different, correct, happier structure, where every member had their natural, special place reserved among their loved ones, each one united with the other by the strongest bond.

A time that this family will never see again.

There you observed a younger version of your husband, whether in common, traditional clothing or in his uniform as a member of the Demon Slayer Corps, and understood that your parents were referring to this Shinjuro whenever they spoke about him, the healthy and tied up responsible head of his house, the hard worker you’d never guess that existed if it wasn’t for your parents’ word and those images. A man who was no longer there, though he continued to live.

And beside this man you found the ones he lost, people who also ceased to exist, but in a literal, painful sense.

First, a young man who resembled him in each trait, and who chose to follow his steps judging by his solo portraits in the Corps clothing. On his face, always a content, vivid expression that made you smile before you could stop yourself. You imagined how loved and cherished he might have been in that house… and how much of that very house’s light was gone when they found out he would never step into it again.

Second, sometimes with her free, delicate hands on sight, sometimes with them occupied holding a baby who became your stepson, a woman with light clothes and brown hair falling over her shoulders, maybe younger than you by the time those photos were taken, always by the side of the man who was now married to you, but the happier version of him, surely being like this because of her. A woman with a quiet, peaceful smile and a pair of ruby gems as eyes, staring at the camera with a gaze that would trespass the lens and the time to reach you, making you unravel the mystery that has been haunting your mind those days.

This was the woman he loved, then. This was the reason why he couldn’t stand you.

You sensed a hole forming inside your chest and tears starting to blur your sight, making the family disappear before you, but it wasn’t jealousy you had of them, not even of the woman. It was pure sadness.

What a beautiful woman… What a beautiful family… What has my father done?… What am I even doing here?…

You turned to your side, to the door’s direction. Leaving that room the way you found it and forget about what you saw there was the most decent thing you could do after disobeying the rule you’ve been taught. Maybe that was the reason why you should never be allowed there: it wouldn’t do you any good to see what those people were before you entered their lives, and what they’ve lost before they were given you as a poor excuse for a member. But now it was too late to regret this.

As well as it was too late to hide what you did when, standing at the doorway, you found Senjuro staring at you with worried confusion in his eyes.

Chapter 4

[mazzystar24]

Asking this under anon bc i don’t wanna get any backlash in my inbox lmao

but to start this off: i love oliver stark, and i am so appreciative of how important he views this storyline and the representation it provides

however

i am going to be very disappointed in him if we get through the next few episodes, and it becomes clear that they aren’t going to further develop buddie anymore. he has always been so careful and cautious when it comes to implying things in interviews/press stuff, but lately with this resurgence in his response to fandom interest with buddie (liking fanart, reposting it, talking openly about buddie in interviews, confirming things like buck thinking eddie was attractive, etc.) if they don’t go that route, it will honestly severely hurt me.

i have very mixed feelings about what is and isn’t “queerbaiting” (most of my friends would say i tend to not believe that it’s a thing, and to an extent i agree) but there are certain situations in which something does blatantly feel like baiting… to me this is one of those situations.

with both lou and edy still being around, as well as ryan’s sudden stint in pr jail, the fandom’s obsession w lou/tommy, and tim minear’s seeming interest in complying with fan-service… it’s hard to remain optimistic that they will actually give us buddie. the past two weeks have given me whiplash as a buddie fan and i am getting tired of the show using our desperation and love for this ship as a marketing tactic when they have no intention of going there (tim minear himself saying things like “i don’t like to plan endgame relationships” or “there are no plans for buddie at the moment”).

that is why the media’s sudden obsession with asking about buddie, as well as oliver’s willingness to interact with buddie content online combined with the constant flow from the set of things not going in the direction of buddie… it feels very intentional to drag us in. and if oliver is participating in that, then i am going to be very disappointed and hurt by that. he used to care so much about not getting our hopes up, but lately it feels like that isn’t the case anymore, and that getting our hopes up is their way if getting us to continue watching the show because they know that people will stop watching after having to watch years of buildup and (at times admittedly) roment subtext between them just for all of that to be completely retconned and them to say “no-homo, bro” in favor of a character/ship that came out of nowhere and has had no development.

obviously, i don’t blame os for the storyline- he’s not a writer, he doesn’t get to dictate what does or doesn’t happen. But he is the one getting all of the media attention, and using that to shine a spotlight on buddie when (if) he knows that buddie isn’t happening? it feels very icky to me and i really don’t want to have a reason to dislike him.

unfortunately it’s seeming more and more like a possibility each day as we get inundated with bts info that doesn’t bode well for us at all.

I’m afraid I’ll have to disagree with you anon sorry😭🫶

If buddie doesn’t go canon/ they don’t show they’re heading in that direction in the next few episodes, I still would not blame Oliver at ALL for his recent more openness about buddie

(Idk how familiar you are with me and if you are you’ll know this but if you’re not lemme clarify I use bulletpoints a lot but not to be curt or rude I just like breaking things into chunks🫡)

1. He has made sure to constantly clarify that he doesn’t know how things are gonna go and he has no control over things- i mean EVERY time he spoke about buddie

2. He’s also a fan of the show guys, yes yes he’s an actor and it has different implications I agree 100% but also if he’s choosing to ship his character or enjoy fan work that’s his prerogative and sure he can lurk privately like he has in the past but also he probably knows that implications aside fans who make that work will be ecstatic to see him actually liking the stuff

3. The man legit said he deleted social media at one point cos he didn’t wanna like or share stuff that’d accidentally give people false hope for buddie or bi Buck but he has silently agreed for years and he hated not being able to confirm bi buck till now

4. He’s been a HUGE advocate for us both on the buddie front and bi buck front and that deserves recognition

5. As you said there is a LOT of bucktommy love rn which is great and all but may draw focus away from buddie, if Oliver is intentionally trying to get buddie fans to keep going it could genuinely just to show that buddie fans are still aiming for buddie endgame and that they still make up a huge portion of the fandom

6. Writing is CONSTANTLY in progress on 911 so again buddie fans being more vocal and abc and writers seeing such positive responses to him so much as interacting with buddie posts or answering buddie questions give them a gauge of audience’s wants (granted Tim has stated it’s not a HUGE factor for him) and also keep in mind s8 is still in the books so even proposals of storylines may be in the talks rn

7. When he talks he is VERY careful about his words and is very well spoken on the topic like yes there have been more stuff we can read into and be optimistic about but you can tell that he in no way is saying specific things to bait people, when talking about existing buddie things he talks about HIS interpretation and uses lots of maybes and might’ve beens and I see how that could be and when he talks about future buddie he talks about being open to it talks about what he’d want from it and he talks about not having control or knowledge of it happening

So yeah he has done/said things that I absolutely think warrant optimism (I made a whole post about it) but if it doesn’t pan out that optimism should a- still be there b- not turn into blame for him

Okay now Oliver aside- the questions being asked about buddie and all the buddie promotions I would be side eyeing the higher ups for if it’s for nothing because yes all the articles and stuff are stuff being pre-approved by abc and the people higher up than cast members or the journalists but I would also keep in mind that s8 is still in the works so hope is not lost even if s7 isn’t what we hoped for because keep in mind we had only 10 eps to work with too

[ragingadhd]

Will and Alyss are trans here’s my essay

We talk a lot about how funny it is that Flanagan unintentionally wrote the gayest love story between Halt and Crowley in TEY, but holy shit we don’t talk enough about how he also managed to accidentally write the two most trans characters ever.

Alyss and Will being trans is a semi-popular headcanon that’s been in the fandom for ages now, but I haven’t seen many people really dive into why this headcanon is so prevalent. I think that partially has to do with the fact that, like any lgbtq+ identity, it’s pretty difficult to clock someone as trans without relying on trans stereotypes. Really, any character in the RA series could be trans if you chose to believe it since being trans doesn’t look any certain way. That being said, I do think there are some pretty clear qualities and experiences that Will and Alyss have that feel very close to my own experience with being transgender.

Physical appearance is usually the first thing people point out/notice when talking about this headcanon. Will is short, more so than one might expect from a cis man. Alyss is taller than most men and also has a deep voice. I have mixed feelings about people pointing to this as the only reason they think they’re trans. I mean, it makes enough sense for it to be the only reason since one part of being trans is the fact that one’s body doesn’t match their gender identity. What I don’t like about that being the only reason is that there’s so much more to the trans identity and experience than “body don’t match :(“

But that’s the cool thing about Will and Alyss, their physical appearance effects their perception of themselves the same way it does for a trans person (or a cis person really, but it feels much more prevalent in trans people). In the first book, Will is clearly uncomfortable with his height; almost any time it’s brought up, he replies with “I haven’t had my growth spurt yet”, almost defensively. Then, as Will becomes more comfortable with who he is, you can see it bother him less and less. I love this bc it’s exactly what happened with my dysphoria as I transitioned. The more I got to know myself and discover myself, the less my dysphoria bothered me.

As for Alyss, she is so clearly so confident with her appearance. She never tries to hide her height or voice. Although we don’t get to see her journey with those qualities, the way she’s so confident feels like something the earned. It’s something she maybe used to feel insecure about, then decided she gets to decide what femininity means to her. Her height and voice contribute to her elegance and femininity rather than contradict them.

Another thing about Will is his name and how it relates to his identity. I know Flanagan didn’t intend for any of this to be some trans allegory, but goddamn can I relate my trans experience to it. Will grew up without a last name, and you can see how deeply that effects him. It wasn’t just that he was “Will no-name”, he was missing a part of his identity. Hell, he said verbatim “at least you know who you are” to a fucking owl because he felt so confused and unheard (which btw is the most edgy teen thing he ever did).

Though you can see this missing part of his identity bother him less as he gained a support system, it’s still clear that he felt like something was missing. If he didn’t feel like something was missing, he wouldn’t have been so incredibly happy when he became “Will Treaty”. And when he got his last name, you can tell he’s proud, not because he finally has an identity, but because he finally has a name to match the identity he’s spent so long discovering and cultivating. He no longer expresses any sadness or grief that he doesn’t have his father’s last name, because he doesn’t need it to know who he is. He’s Will Treaty, and he’s perfectly happy with being exactly that. This is the most trans-coded naming experience holy shit.

Anyway that’s all I have to say about this (for now at least). Go give your local trans friend a kiss.