#I'll never do it because I am terrible at focusing that long on something

[mashiraostail]

pls pls can i request a jealous halsin x reader/tav scenario … he’s been pining over you, you’re oblivious, and then when he sees some innocent platonic affection between you and another companion, all that pining boils to the surface. mayhaps some nsfw too if you’ll indulge me. pls the way you write him is simply… *chef’s kiss*…. magnifique ✨

hoooraayyy Halsin HOORAY!! I heart making men talk like flowery little victorian women writing letters to their husband say some fruity shit big man! Idk what compels me to make these so long that's why they take forever.

I have another ask like this and maybe I'll write him doing sum primal fuck shit but this was an itch i just had to scratch

It wasn't Gale's fault, it wasn't your fault either, it was his fault. Halsin knows this, he's honestly ashamed, he shouldn't be so easy to sway...he never has been before.

He notices everything, he notices the flirtation, the questions about the life he left behind, the fleeting touches, the way you always go to him when they day is out, you propositioned him, he declined. That was his fault. It wasn't the time, he had business he had to sort before he could indulge himself, and you couldn't hold that against him. He made it clear when he turned you down, it wasn't you, and maybe one day soon things would be different.

Even so, you were always chatting with him, smiling at him, touching him, gods you always touched him. It drove him mad actually, your hand on his bicep, on his chest, on his stomach when he said something particularly funny, you sat so close to him your thighs pressed together, your shoulders and arms, all of it pushed him to the edge. And the way you said his name after you laughed at his joke, "Oh Halsin.." When you see him again after a long day, "Halsin! How'd it go?!" You'd even hugged him, thrown your arms around his neck and shoulders. He'd held the small of your back and laughed heartily with you, maybe a few ales too deep. He swore one day soon things would turn a corner for the two of you.

You doted on everyone though, and you enjoyed closeness with all your companions. Normally he'd be happy to see you sharing your joy with everyone but lately it frustrated him. He wondered what was different, even though deep down he knew. It was you, he didn't want you to himself necessarily, he wanted you to understand how he felt. The more he waited to explain himself the more upset he became, and the harder he found focusing around you to be. He felt like he was always brooding, always lingering behind the group, because the sight of you slinging your arm around Karlach or playfully mussing Astarion's hair made his stomach lurch with uncertainty. He wrote it off as a disdain for societal labels and relationships but he felt unfair even doing that, lying to himself.

He and Jaheria were the last ones to return to camp that day. He was grateful to travel with her alone, though he lamented not seeing you he did not lament the emotions seeing you caused to crop up. When he returned you were sitting on a log by the fire with Gale, chuckling and waving your hands. He'd already begun to feel wary.

Halsin inches closer, he snoops a bit sure, he's not proud of it but he's been alive long enough to accept he won’t always be proud of his actions.

"No!" You sound surprised through your laughter.

"Yes!" Gale's tone was argumentative but warm as you held onto his arms. Halsin bubbled a bit, out of everyone Gale was the most likely to get the wrong idea...or maybe the right one if the way you were squeezing him was any indiction of things.

"Did you really misbehave so terribly when you were younger?? I'll have to ask Tara next time we see her, I don't believe you!"

"Am I so untrustworthy?!" Gale sounds affronted.

"Based on your stories?? Yes! Gale! You are!" You're squeezing him and shaking him so much the pair of you topple over the back of the log you're perched on, Halsin watches Gale kick his legs for a while as you laugh.

"You'll kill me," Gale stands up and dusts himself off, "and the rest of them too!" He gestures to his orb, "I don't know how sensitive this thing is!" He hoists you up by your arm.

"I'm sorry Gale, that was just so funny, I can't picture you a young mischievous wizard at all..."

"Well it's a good thing I grew out of it." He's smirking at you though, impishly. It makes you laugh.

"Did you?" You cover your mouth as you chuckle before reaching out and dusting his hair off, tucking the rouge strands back into place. "I don't know if I believe that either. You've certainly kept your impish charm."

Halsin feels his face warm, he watched the two of you bat at each other like school children. He kissed his teeth, rubbed his calloused thumb over the smooth back of his hand, anything to distract himself from the annoyance rolling over in his stomach.

"Who's to say?" Gale holds his hands up, a faux surrender, shrugging just a bit.

"Go to sleep Gale." You shove him, snickering, "you're delirious."

"Perhaps I am." Gale smiles at you, "goodnight my friend." The words hardly do anything to put Halsin at ease he can practically feel his eye twitching. Whoever said patience was a druidic virtue?

"Sleep tight Gale." When you turn away from him you see Halsin, who to his credit had no real reason to be standing there.

"Halsin!" You chirp happily at him and he feels his chest bloom at it.

"Hello my dear, we're back late today, I apologize. Did you need us?" He tries to squash the growing disdain in his stomach in favor of appreciating you as you appear before him.

"Oh no! Nothing Shadowheart couldn't handle." You wave back at her tent, "How were your travels?"

"They were fine. Unfortunately the Harpers really can't be trusted.." He peers over your shoulder, notices your tent moved to be beside Gales, which had never been the case before.

"I figured as much." You sigh, he watches your eyebrows turn upwards. "That's upsetting. Are you going to clean up for the night?"

"Yes I think I will." He glances to the stream behind camp, no one else was there.

"Can I come? I hate to bother you but I can't sleep, and I think I kept Gale up so long he was hallucinating." Your fingertips brush his arm as you chuckle, he glances down at the point of contact. He feels the skin there heat up as you pull away.

"You're no bother, my dear." He shakes his head, "come with me."

You trot happily behind him, unaware of his stewing just in front of you.

"So, what went wrong with the Harpers?"

"You and Gale are close." Halsin elects to ignore your questions.

"Oh?" You perch on a nearby rock as Halsin crouches by the stream, "Gale? I suppose we are friendly. He's very funny."

"Is he?" Halsin fights to keep his tone even, though you seem oblivious to it.

"Did you hear us talking earlier? I swear the more sleepy he gets the funnier he is." You're giggling, like a school child. Halsin feels his eye twitch.

"I did not hear you, I only saw you fall."

"My fault completely, I was going mad with it, it was so funny, Gale told me that when he was a younger student, at that fancy magic school he snuck into the-"

"Do you..care for him?" Halsin turns to you, still crouched by the running water below him.

"I suppose I do...like him yes." You sound confused, lost, which Halsin supposes is a good sign as you'll only tell the truth.

"You like him?" Halsin is looking intently at you.

"I do, he's..nice.." You look like you're entirely unsure about what's going on.

"You like him so much because he's..nice, then?" Halsin doesn't sound like he's convinced.

"Yes I think so-"

"Do you share a bed with him?" Halsin stands, he walks towards you perched on your rock.

"I-" He almost feels bad for the way a warm flush rises to your face as you look up at him.

"N-no we don't, we haven't. We're only friendly-"

"Do you wish to? Would you wish to?"

"N-no I don't, I wouldn't he...I-" You flounder a bit, "why do you ask?"

"It seemed a certain way." Halsin kneels, face to face with you on your perch, "I worried."

"Why did you worry?"Your holding your hands by your chest, leaning away from him, shocked but not leering, nervous..you were nervous. "Why would it worry you to know I shared a bed with Gale, that I cared for him in that way?"

At the realization of your nervousness he feels guilty, he puts his hands on your thighs, "I should apologize."

"Why?" Your face was flushed, your eyes were wide as you watched him, tried to predict his next move with no avail.

"I was selfish with you. With your time, with your care." He shakes his head, "I beg you to forgive me. To not let this ruin your opinion of me..I acted so poorly...and it..it’s embarrassing and dreadful and I beg for your forgiveness...You gave me a chance to have a piece of you, I turned you away. I know you don't hold that against me. You stepped aside and I am grateful that you did. The curse was my burden to bear, and I couldn't be distracted from it, not by you, or by anybody. You understood that, and I am grateful. Had you pushed me I would have..become distracted with you, I would have followed you wherever you went, and forgotten my duty."

"I understand Halsin. I'm not offended-"

"I know you aren't, and that's why I'm so grateful for you." He looks earnest, "but I selfishly believed that you would hold onto your want for me. That you would wait indefinitely for me to come to you. I held you to an unfair expectation, to the hope that you would not share your heart, or your body, with another. When I saw you today with Gale, I worried that I had given you up, that I had made a terrible blunder and I had lost my chance to have you. Gale does not seem the kind of man to be willing to share you, and I cannot blame him, nor could I blame any other for keeping you to themselves once they've had you."

"Why does that worry you? You did not want me then-"

"I did want you." Halsin insists, "and I do want you now, I've wanted you since the beginning but I knew you would consume me, that I would lose sight of what I was meant to do..but I've burned with it, you have enamored me completely and... brought out the worst in me, I'm useless with it."

"I'm sorry Halsin.." You hold his gaze, and cover his hands with yours.

"And you still apologize as if you have done wrong." He squeezes your thighs where his hands cover, "you have not, I am the one who lost sight of things, lost sight of what I wanted, who I wanted. I was so enamored by the idea of having you I cursed any obstacle in my way, rather than telling you the truth. That was my error. It was my error to believe you would hold onto your desire even after I turned you away, to believe that you would still consider me after I put something else above you."

"I don't understand Halsin.." You blink at him as he lifts your hands, "do you want to go our separate ways? Is this too much- I apologize if I was too forward back then, but we need you-"

"No," His forehead falls onto your knees, "perhaps I am not speaking clearly." He squeezes you again, "I don't want to be parted from you, not now, not ever... I want the opposite," he sighs, "I want you now, if you'll have me, if you can put my behavior..my feelings behind us.I know it was so childish of me. I’m so sorry my songbird..please find it in yourself to forgive me.” He looks up at you, he kisses the back of your hand, “you’ll break my heart if you don’t.”

"You haven't done anything wrong....Halsin.." You shake your head, "if you need to be forgiven then I forgive you, I'll always forgive you, but...I do not think you've done anything that deserves asking for it. We misunderstood each other..."

"You are brighter, and kinder than most, perhaps you're naive... or perhaps you understand things better than any of us." He kisses up your inner arm to the crook of your elbow, "I laid some sort of...childish claim to you, I believed I deserved you, your time, your body, your heart, more than the others, that you would come to me because...I don't know..I'm sorry, forgive me for treating you like a prize to be won, a piece of land to fight over you are...your heart is so much more than that, to me and to everyone that you meet." He barely takes his lips off your skin when he looks up at you and you feel your lungs empty of air.

"Halsin..of course I forgive you..” You barely get it out, you feel so breathless.

His lips pass the bend of your elbow and make their way to your shoulder, your neck, your jaw, his other hand engulfs your waist as he moves you from your perch and pulls you to his chest,

“do you? Really?” He’s at your jaw, "I was too much of an oafish brute to put words to it, to tell you, even when I should have, I adore you, I think so highly of you. I'm so taken by you.."

"I feel the same way Halsin.." You're breathless when you're face to face, your hand holds the nape of his neck, "I thought you wanted to...focus on the more dire things at hand so I left you to them, and when things ended and you didn't come to me I thought perhaps the fascination had passed and I did not want to trouble you again-"

"You did not trouble me then, you do not trouble me now,"  He sighs gratefully as he kisses you, it’s warm, his other hand leaves your jaw to press the small of your back, arching you closer to him.

“I have to have you..I’m worried I’ll die if I don’t.” He’s breathing quickly into your mouth with anticipation, “I need to see you.. All of you and..and feel you I-”

“Oh.” You felt gooey at that, of all the things you expected to happen today this was not one of them.

“And It has to be now you see I- I can hardly put my head on right when I start to think about you like that and it’s all I've been thinking of lately... I doubt I’ll even be able to get anything done properly tomorrow if you don’t set me straight.”

You laugh at that, “okay..” You nod, leaning down to him again, just slightly taller than him perched on his lap.

“Yes?” He sounds so perfectly hopeful.

"Tell me you want me, tell me this is what you want..to be with me..and for me to have you..even after all the things we misunderstood..that you’ll let me bed you, that you want me to..” He looks up at you earnestly, his eyes flickering between yours and you nod.

"I want you, I want this, Halsin, I always have."

He let's out a warbled sigh into your lips at that, already lowering your bodies to the ground, kissing you, sliding his hands into your clothes.

He was quick to uncover you, to toss your clothes off somewhere, to sigh gratefully as you did the same to his, you wondered what had gotten into him, but had no complaints either way.

He was lowering himself between your legs easily, kissing down your chest, lavishing your stomach with attention, unperturbed by the flush creeping down your neck.

"Halsin you don't have to-"

"Please, don't deny me now.." You aren't sure why you thought he would consider this a chore.

He deluged you with loving attention, his hands slid from the sides of your thighs up to the small of you back, pulling you closer and closer to him with each stroke. He groaned when you called his name, when you carded hair through your hands or held his face. Languid stokes of his tongue, paired with the slow curling of his fingers inside you. It felt like he was indulging himself with you, occasionally he pulls away, pressing the tall bridge of his nose to your tender skin, nipping at it, taking in deep breaths of you.

He retraces his path to your lips, long kisses and wide strokes of his tongue over your stomach, open mouthed kisses to your chest and collar, then he's taking your face in his hands, "Please-"

"You don't have to beg-" Your eyebrows draw together, "Halsin, I'm in no mood to deny you."

He guides your legs around his waist and slowly guides the head of his cock into you, a hand caging you in on either side of your head. You hold the nape of his neck, and his chest, begging him closer.

"Is it too much?" He sounds almost nervous, "are you alright?" He watches your chest and stomach prattle with deep, shaky breaths.

"I'm alright," You can barely get it out, "Halsin-" You're keening as he bottoms out. He ducks into your neck smattering loose kisses and bites along your skin.

"You're singing for me again," He's sighing into your skin, pulling you closer to him, "you sound so beautiful like this..." He rests one of his hands on your chest, pressing his thumb gently to the divot between of your collar bones, feeling you suck in deep, needy breaths in time with the rolls of his hips into you. Your skin is red under his thumb, flushed with arousal, nervousness, every time he moans, or pulls you into him he feels his hand rise as you take in a deep breath.

He pulls one of your legs over his shoulder and noses at the soft skin of your inner knee, he can feel your heart beating under his hands, he can feel your eyes on him, sliding down his chest and abdomen, back to his neck and jaw then to his eyes again. His hand rises and falls rapidly with your chest as you chant his name, he free hand guides the small of your back upwards as you arch into him. Your hand holds his on your chest, wrapped loosely around his wrist, your other flutters between his arm and chest.

"I'm here," Halsin breathes it out as your leg coils tighter around him, "I hear you, singing for me." And you were, hopelessly chanting his name between long rolls of his hips and every time you felt his index finger slide down the divot of your spine, "you're doing so well my songbird.." He sighs dreamily at you, as if you weren't coming undone below him.

You wrap both of your legs around him as he guides you up into his lap with the hand on your back, your arms lock around his shoulders easily and he groans into the crook of your neck, "hold onto me, I need you close." You can feel his breath down your chest, warm thankful sighs sliding down the sliver of space between your bodies.

His hand feels worlds larger on your back than you had fantasized, he uses it to guide the roll of your hips into his, his other hand holds the back of your neck, pulling you desperately closer. He sang you praises, pulled you greedily into his chest and kissed you when you cried out particularly loud until you felt yourself tightening around him, coiling in your stomach. You felt your nails dig into the back of his shoulder, he didn't seem to mind.

When it becomes too much, when that feeling in your stomach snaps and breaks you crumple into him, you tuck your head beneath his chin, you practically cry for him. When he finishes, which is hardly a few seconds after you, he drags his hand up you back, over your waist, then presses between your shoulder blades, you hear the hoked off groan that he lets into your hair.

You kiss him again, holding his jaw in two careful hands.

"I'm sorry i've kept you up dreadfully late." Halsin's hands still slide needy over your back and waist, pulling you ever closer to him.

"It's okay it..was worth it I'd say." You laugh, "what's brought all that on? Now, after everything?"

"You didn't notice how I'd been brooding? I'd hardly been myself."

"I thought you disliked the city, I was worried you were going to ask to part from us. Astarion disagreed though he wouldn't tell me his theory."

Halsin laughs a bit at that, and after all the desperation and apologizing, it was a welcome sound, "That was for the best I think."

"Perhaps. Were you really jealous of Gale?" You leer back at the idea, "he's nice and all but he really doesn't hold anything over you."

"I was not jealous of Gale just because you found him to be..nice and funny...there are plenty of nice and funny people here." He lies and looks away from you, which is how you can tell he's lying.

"Ah. I see." Your hands rest on his chest, "sorry I misunderstood then." You're grinning anyway. You swipe his hair off his forehead, and in that moment he decides he was fair to be jealous of Gale, even fleeting touches left him feeling lavished with attention.

"Let's clean off." He turns into your palm.

"Can I spend the night with you, in your tent?" You look up at him as you stand.

"Of course." He's smiling at you, another welcome change, "you don't need to ask. I'm here whenever you need me, call for me and I'll come." He leans down to you, "I'm sorry I didn't come to you sooner." His thumb traces the shell of your ear as you kiss.

"Don't worry now, you're dramatic." You chuckle into him, "would you really have died?"

"There was no sense in risking it." He lifts you by the back of your thighs and makes his way to the water with you, "better to be safe.”

[sillylilyposting]

People are to willing to legitimize

Oh boy let's see what she means by legitimize

The whole point of lolcow culture is to ruin people's lives for fun.

No the plan is to extract the funny from it.

So when you come out trying to Critique target is a terrible person but - you've already given it to much legitimacy by treating it as a trustworthy source of information

You don't become immune to criticism because people don't like you

People made careers out of turning Christine Chandler's life into a real world Truman show,

Just call her Chris-chan? Also no people interacted with her videos she herself was putting online, her own website and uploads. Also how does this theory track with Yandev, Nikocado, etc who just did weird things with little to no prompting?

With her every action scrutinized and documented to a degree that serial killers subjected too.

Again she made videos consistently of herself by herself

Without that stalking, without the way people sought to push her to do something to keep the entertainment going, without people actively conspiring to drive her insane, she would not have been noteworthy enough for any of the things she done to be worth remembering.

I'll agree some of the stuff she did was prompted by other people's bullying and prompting, she still did bizarre things in her day to day without it but she still filmed and explained her odd acts and lest we forget nobody made her SA her mother! Just like nobody made Yandev be a pedophile there is no excuse of: "The meaning internet people made me!"

_

Hell, without all that, it's unlikely she would have ever done most of the shit she's done.

Provably wrong

Its only the very fascist harassment that made her actions probable or noteworthy in the first place.

So to try and condem lolcow culture, while judging the target based on information only avaliable BECAUSE of lolcow culture is completely fucking backwards. Furthermore it's how they recruit.

I can't keep restating facts... uh chrischan made video herself! So, quite literally what your trying to do here condem the culture with info avaliable because of it, this argument eats itself, christ.

Every single mother fucker who rots on kiwi farms started from the premise that "kiwi farms is terrible, but they've got it right this time about [minor e-celeb you are way too obsessed with] and their hook are in you. Because your on the site reading a thread on the person you hate, and since your there you might as well read a few more

Never used Kiwi farms myself, don't plan to, you have a plenty of stupid harmful and wrong takes regularly avaliable. You keep shifting the argument as you finish each paragraph, a goldfish would be more focused than you

And now they have their hooks in you, You're a nazi

Nazis, Hooks, Kiwis, scary stuff girl. I wasn't aware Kiwi farms acting like Frostmourne or is it more like the One Ring?

Multiple times in the past someone has come to be about someone supposedly being predatory and linked to Kiwi farms thread going "i know is awful but..."

Holy fuck this post is so long... does that mean the people who dm you are all Arthas?

_

No if it comes from Channer (channel?) trash, it is automatically a lie. They do not care about the things they pretend to care about.

Joon the king, sai, Ant, etc vague post, Journalists cover stories girlie, they can be as invested as they want personally and can push a narrative if they are inclined but the mark of a good journalist is presenting a story as unbiased as possible, I am not saying Kiwi farms writers are unbiased or journalists.

They care only about ruining the lives of trans, mentally ill and neruodivergent people for their own entertainment. Truth, Lies, it doesn't matter to them. Both are equally valid for their goals.

Lily seems to want to push the narrative that there are absolute sources of information... dangerous and vaguely authoritarian. There is such a thing as GETTING A SECOND OPINION!

If you were abused by someone and you went to Kiwi farms to give testimony: no you weren't. you're a liar, and you know you're a liar. You wouldn't be there if you weren't.

Not letting "These people who claim victim hood are 100% lying, and don't you doubt me when I tell you that" slide here

Lolcow culture should be inadmissible the court of public opinion.

Glad you added the court of public opinion, thought you were posting this as you got shoved into a cop car

So long as that continues to not be the case the harassment the stalking would only get worse.

Do stupid things win stupid prizes

And you can't buffer your criticism of it by agreeing with them.

The dumbest take she's made, its not weird that when someone accuses you of in decending order Rape, Grooming, and Incest Fetishism that agreeing to it would and SHOULD make the situation worse for the RAPIST

That POST WAS TO FUCKING LONG OH MY FUCKING GOD!

[darkangel1791]

Random Thoughts on The Falcon and The Winter Soldier:

Dr. Raynor is a terrible therapist, part two.

Again, let me say that I am aware that everything said is for comedic and/or dramatic purposes. And I do understand that the constraints of an hour episode of a series makes it necessary to suspend disbelief at times. The opinion I'm expressing is based on the reality of the show as presented.

In the second session that we see, the first thing she does is insist that Sam come to the session with Bucky. Leaving aside the fact that she has no authority over Sam, and that was way out of line, a therapist should never invite a third person into a one on one therapy session without first discussing it with the client. In a therapy session, a client is very vulnerable and sensitive questions will be asked. It should be a place of safety. Demanding that a third person be there without any warning, and without the client's consent is completely shattering that safe place, as well as an incredible breach of doctor-patient confidentiality.

Her excuse for this is that it is her job to make sure "you're okay". She seems to be addressing Sam which is a complete lie on her part, but even if she is addressing both of them, it is still not her place to suddenly make this relationship a priority in Bucky's therapy. If this is the last therapy session she will have with Bucky, then even moreso it should be solely focused on him.

She takes two people that she has never counseled together before, one of whom she met for the first time minutes ago, and immediately starts trying to work on the relationship. She doesn't even know what their relationship is.

Not quite using the Miracle question correctly. You identify the problem first and then say if you woke up tomorrow and that problem was solved, how would your world be different?

Straight to the soul-gazing exercise? Not even funny, Doc. The soul-gazing exercise is a process done in a quiet, relaxed, atmosphere. I'll just say, in no way would a police conference room in Baltimore ever be a place to do the soul-gazing exercise, and not even elaborate.

Then, Bucky has a significant, emotional, moment. He actually verbally expresses a deeply held fear of his. He even becomes emotional, you can hear it in his voice. Dr. Raynor does NOT acknowledge this in any way. And she allows Sam to brush it off as unimportant as well. Terrible, TERRIBLE, therapeutic response! Her patient actually verbalizes a real fear, experiences a real emotion, allows his inner self out for once, and the response is, NOTHING. No one cares, not even his therapist.

Both of my posts are very long, and thank you so much if you read through them both. But I have to tell you, I could have gone through line by line and pointed out how this therapy was just a train wreck!

Again, no shade to the writers, the point of these episodes was not to portray healthy therapy. But I have seen some reactions on YouTube where people were saying that they loved this therapist. "She didn't take Bucky's bullshit" "She ordered Sam in there like a boss!" etc. And, maybe because therapy is something near and dear to my heart, I want to express my opinion about it, because I don't want anyone to be having this kind of therapy experience and thinking it is a good thing.

Dr. Raynor is a terrible therapist pt.1

[analogwriting]

Star-Crossed

Chapter 10: Süda

Donquixote Rosinante x gn!reader word count: 1.8k next

“What in the everliving fuck just happened?” You turned, looking at Marco who started bursting into laughter. You were ready to deck him in all honesty. Though, your brain was currently focusing on the last thing that Law said. That Corazon even had a crush on you then. How the hell?

“That kid never ceases to surprise me.” You can never guess how he would react to something.  He had that stoic expression most of the time, which is why sometimes his bedside manner sucked ass. He only really expressed irritation or annoyance. His friends and Corazon seemed to be the only ones who could bring out the softer sides of him, it was a humorous thing to behold.

Marco looked at you with a lazy grin. “I told you that you're overthinking things. It's okay to be thanked for the things that you do. Like he said, some people meet their heroes and end up being ass anyway.” 

You rolled your eyes and folded your arms across your chest. “I guess I'll talk to Corazon,” you mumbled, shaking your head. Marco was right. You were terrible at letting people show you the least bit of gratitude. You just felt like you were doing what you were supposed to. You were doing your job. Nothing all that special. 

“Good. Cause he's actually here.”

The sheer speed in which your head snapped to Marco, you were surprised you didn't break it. “He had just dropped everything off when you showed up, so I told him to wait a bit. That I'd convince you to talk to him.” He stood up with a shit eating grin that made you want to punch him again. 

“I'll be right back.” 

You let out a loud groan once he left, covering your face with your hands. You weren't even sure what you were feeling right now. A migraine, for sure. You might have mostly cured your hangover but your entire body still hurt. Your original plan was to just come in and check in on everyone. A short and easy visit. 

Now it was all complicated.

You looked at the bouquet again, taking one of the chocolate “flowers” shaped like a heart and examining it closely. It looked pretty good, smelled good too.

“They're coffee flavored.” 

You jumped, looking up at the tall man in your doorway. You honestly felt your own heart almost leap out of your chest when you saw him. You didn't realize just how much you missed him until this moment. You had come to love his little visits and not having them made your life a little boring. 

He stepped into the office, closing the door behind him. You watched his movements carefully, trying to gauge his mood right now. Him closing the door made you a little on edge, but you tried not to think about it. He turned to you, bowing his head slightly.

“My name is Donquixote Rosinante.” What…the hell was going on? Did he hit his head? “I’m from the Donquixote Family. My brother gave me the title of Corazon and even though I have long since left, I still use the name mostly because Law just never stopped using it and I didn’t hate it so here we are.” He walked towards you and you couldn’t back up as you were already pressed into your desk.

“I am no contact with my family. As far as I know, my brother still thinks I’m missing. I have one kid that I found a long time ago riddled with disease. He’s long since cured now.” 

You still had no idea what was going on. What was this monologue? 

“Hearts are kind of my thing because I am full of so much love for others - at least that’s what Bepo says. I just like hearts. My favorite foods are lettuce, cabbage, and umeboshi. I don’t like pizza or bread. I’m incredibly clumsy and break almost everything. I-”

“Rosinante.”

The man stopped talking, looking at you with surprise. 

“What are you doing?”

He frowned. “Well, isn’t it obvious? I’m starting over. Being transparent. It’s…” He paused, losing whatever momentum he had.

You couldn’t help but laugh, shaking your head. “Cute but unnecessary.” You took a deep breath. “However.” You looked up at him.

“My name is y/n l/n. I am from the l/n family. My mother died when I was young and I was set to take over my father’s family. I was never really about that life and didn’t get the courage to leave it until a small child and his clumsy father came into my life, giving me the final push to leave.” You watched as Corazon’s eyes widened. He opened his mouth to say something, but you covered it with your hand to prevent him from saying anything.

“I took over this hospital and made it a safe haven for those who want to leave. And a neutral ground for those who need help. My best friend is Marco Newgate, son of Edward Newgate, or as you know him ‘Whitebeard’. We just call him ‘Pops’. I do enjoy coffee and coffee flavored things. The extra caffeine is something I always need.” You removed your hand from his mouth, looking up at him.

“We’re the reason you left?” It seemed he was hung up on that part. You nodded. “I had been thinking about it already and helping Law gave me that final resolve to do so. It seemed we both inspired each other.”

After a moment of processing your words, he finally spoke. “Well, it’s nice to meet you, y/n. I hope we can get along.” He smiled warmly at you, making your heart skip a beat.

“Nice to meet you too, Rosinante.” 

He paused for a moment before sighing. “I really am sorry, though.” He frowned deeply. “You did nothing but treat Law, the boys, and I with such kindness and patience. All I did in return was end up pointing a gun at you just because of who your father was.” 

“I did do the same thing to y-”

“But that’s not the same. You had just been attacked by my family and then you ran into me. You were scared and unknowing. In my situation, you didn’t do a single thing wrong. You did everything right and I still treated you like a criminal.” He sighed, resting his forehead on your shoulder. 

You could feel your face slowly setting on fire. Your heart was racing a million miles an hour and you had no idea what to do. You took a deep breath, finally speaking. “I knew you weren’t going to shoot me.” 

Corazon pulled away, looking at you.

“No offense, Ros, but you’re one of the least intimidating people I’ve ever met for one.” You watched his face turn red - whether it was from your comment or the spur of the moment nickname, you weren’t sure. “I don’t think you would’ve been able to pull the trigger. You thought I had lied to you and acted rashly, yes. But I knew that deep down you knew that I was right.”

“You disarming me in the least painful way possible and disassembling my gun before giving it back to me told me everything I needed to know. You don’t like hurting people and you trusted me. You gave me back the very thing that could kill you had I actually been determined to do so.”

You nodded, smiling. “Glad you saw it that way because that’s exactly the message I wanted to get across.” You sighed softly, shaking your head. “I was tired of all the violence. Of the killing. I hated doing it. That’s why I left. I wanted to help people.”

“I’m sorry,” he mumbled again. “I should’ve never-”

“Rosinante.” You used your firm tone that caused him to tense slightly and his face turned even more red.  You had to keep that in mind. “I swear if you apologize again, I’m not going to forgive you.” His eyes widened in surprise, nodding quickly. “I’m s-” He cut himself off. “Uh…yes, doctor,” he mumbled. 

You snorted softly. “Law told me something very interesting,” you mused, looking up at him. Corazon blinked, tensing slightly. He narrowed his eyes. “What did he have to say?”

“That apparently you had a crush on me back then?” A sly grin appeared across your face. 

His eyes widened and he started to sputter. You watched as his mind began reeling as he tried to find something to say to you. You grinned. “Real interesting considering I hid basically all the features that could give me away from you. Must’ve been my radiant personality.” 

He only grew more red by the minute before he finally spoke. “I mean, how could I not? You’re literally the kindest and sweetest person I’ve ever met. Not to mention you’re incredibly intelligent and willing to help anyone no matter what, even if it reopens your own traumatic wounds.”

That shut you right up. This time you were the one going red and struggling to find something to say. You just stared at him with eyes the size of saucers. “I didn’t need to know what you looked like to know how I felt about you.”

“You sure that wasn’t just gratitude since I had just saved your son back this?” you tried to brush it off as nothing, but the look in Corazon’s eyes said something else. He shook his head. “I’m positive.”

Before you could get so much as another word in, there was a knock at the door. For fuck’s sake, could you not have fucking anything?

“Can I never have a minute?” You were mumbling and grumbling, folding your arms across your chest as you pouted slightly.

Marco walked in with an expression that immediately made you uneasy. “You know that I do not want to interrupt right now because no one has been waiting for this moment more eagerly than me. But…” He looked at you with a deep frown.

“Your father called. He wants you to visit the estate immediately. Didn’t say why.”

You just stared at Marco. What the fuck did your father want? Why now? He was just here. And as much as you appreciated him for contacting you in a more appropriate manner, you were annoyed that he did it right now. Didn’t he say everything he needed to the other day? Is the weird cryptic thing that Pops said earlier going to unfold now? Were you finally going to get some answers?

You looked at Corazon apologetically. “I-”

He shook his head, holding up his hand. “Just go. I’ll be here when you get back.” He smiled at you. “Marco said he programmed my number into your phone last night anyway, so call me when you get back.” You felt your face warm up. “I…” Man, you didn’t deserve a man with so much patience. You nodded. “Okay. Will do.” With that, you grabbed your coat and headed out of the office, silently cursing your dad for interrupting your love life not once, but twice.

[atlas-of-the-mind]

The Light Room Masterpost

A long time coming, the official TLR AU masterpost is finally here!

Find Chapter One Here:

This post will be split into two parts: World/Story Lore and Character Lore, the latter of which will be focusing on our main characters. Reader beware, long post ahead.

World/Story

The Light Room AU is a horror fic centering around the DCA and a Fazbear Employee named M.C.. Sun and Moon are separate bots, originally made for the theater program before a tragic incident shut down the theater before it was ever finished. Sun was repurposed into the DCA, and Moon was completely scrapped, locked away in a tiny closet called The Light Room hidden inside one of the utility rooms in the Pizzaplex.

- Vanessa was the head engineer of the theater project before it got shut down. Her death is what caused the project to get scrapped.

- There's a secondary building beneath the Pizzaplex that no one is allowed to access.

- There's something in the Pizzaplex that causes guests(adults and children alike) to go missing, and for their families to forget they ever existed.

- Some parents are suspicious of the daycare because of the rumors that some kids don't come back. No parents who lose a child ever seem concerned until their neighbors ask, though.

- Things can follow you home.

- The Pizzaplex is entirely self sufficient at night by running off of large generators in the basement.

- Sun can only move in light levels of 500 Lumens and above. Below that, their joints lock completely.

- Moon, inversely, can only move in light levels below 600 Lumens. (He can sense light differences as low as 50 Lumens, though he can't actually see.)

- Both Sun and Moon were built to kill. Sun would lure people in, and Moon would lunge from the darkness. People are still drawn to Sun, for some reason... and people still tend to go missing around them. Strange...

Characters

Sun (he/they/she)

> The ever-energetic Daycare Attendant. He works on a very outdated CPU system, making them lag and stutter as they speak and making him easily overwhelmed by too much stress all at once. They're far from slow, though! Easily able to keep up with all the duties that come with their title. They log every guest that comes into the Daycare and he never forgets a face.

> Sun is incredibly self-sufficient and cool under stress (metaphorically). Originally built as a theater bot and the hero of that theater, the hasty wipe and reprogram left them with jumbled memories of their purpose and past, leaving them with lingering habits and a diva streak. She has a very black and white view of the world and doesn't believe in second chances.

> Personality: I am a dedicated caretaker, I have never known anything else.

> Bond: Virtue. I must do the right thing.

> Flaw: I am self-righteous and always the hero. Anyone who disagrees with me must be a villain.

> Song(s): Don't You Dare Forget the Sun(Get Scared), A Human's Touch(TWRP), Over & Over(Rio Romeo)

Moon (he/it)

> The monster in the closet. Built as the partner to Sun in the theater program, his unstable nature led to his own downfall, and the downfall of the theater program as a whole. He was scrapped, salvaged for parts and left to rot in his own personal prison, believed to be too dangerous and too unfinished to be easily repurposed.

> Moon is a mix of animal and child in his current unfinished state, working off of his limited senses and what little context he remembers. He's curious about the world and unaware of his strength.

> Personality: I am lost in the world and capable of terrible things. Best to move carefully.

> Bond: Connection. Maybe one day I'll be seen as more than just a monster.

> Flaw: Do not underestimate my wrath. It will be the last mistake you ever make.

> Song(s): Ruined Lullaby(CG5), You Can't Hide(CK9C), Let Me Through(CG5), No Strings(Skyfixing)

M.C. (~30, they/them)

> A Fazbear Service Tech trying to make a living. M.C. hasn't had the best life ever, being estranged from their family and handling their addictive/obsessive habits, but the life they have, and the life they want, is a quiet one. At least, it was.

> M.C. (Aka Miquella C[REDACTED]) is a robot enthusiast and mechanical engineer. They're pessimistic and struggle to stay connected to reality, but they're not antisocial; They give everyone the benefit of the doubt until proven otherwise. Or until they lose interest.

> There is no such thing as an evil robot.

> Personality: I don't want much. I keep my head down and only engage if I'm interested.

> Bond: Curiosity. I can't let something go if I don't know how it works.

> Flaw: I am blind to danger to myself. I don't matter much anyways.

> Song(s): NAPOLEON(Carter Vail), Half Past Three(Cosmo Sheldrake), All the Ways I Could Die (Arrows in Action)

Vincent (~28, he/him)

> Software engineer and employee of Fazbear Entertainment. He's notorious for his short fused temper, but his work usually speaks for itself. His hair is prematurely grey. Seems to run in the family.

> Vincent and MC are very close. He feels his emotions very loudly and very deeply, and is slow to come down from being wound up.

> Personality: I'm here to stay and do good work, and I'm dragging you along with me.

> Bond: Family. I will protect those I love. Even from themselves.

> Flaw: My anger often gets the better of me, and I say things I don't always mean.

> Song(s): Everyone's Dying(Roe Kapara), Devil Town(Cavetown), The Other Side of Paradise(Glass Animals)

Vanessa The Mimic/The Rabbit (she/it)

> I'm supposed to be dead. Though I suppose to be dead you have to have been alive to begin with. I vaguely remember living at some point... metal suits my needs much better than flesh, don't you agree?

> Personality: I know what I want, and there's nothing you can do to change my mind.

> Bond: Pursuit. Once I have marked my prey, I will stop at nothing to catch it.

> Flaw: I am beyond mortality. Nothing can kill me now, but you can certainly try.

> Song(s): She Doesn't Sleep(Anthony Amorim), Homonculus(Trickle & Tikaal), Final Girl(graveyardguy), Walla Walla(Glass Animals)

At some point I'll update refs and make a height chart of some kind, for now you get the main 3 of Sun, Moon, and MC

Sun and MC are about the same height at 6ft and 5'11", respectively, and Moon standing fully upright is 10ft tall. Vincent is slightly taller than MC at 6'2" and The Rabbit generally hangs around 5'4".

*MC is always wearing their glasses + mask. They also have extensive scarring which I'll draw at some point. Their scars are on: Right calf (major break), Left Forearm/hand (springlock failure, permanent metal bones under skin), lower back (claw marks), chest(claw marks), and top of thighs (SH).

There's also Gibbus, but he hasn't been written about yet:

Gibbus is a trickster menace who has very mean ideas about what a prank is, and likes to terrorize people when left unsupervised.

[shortnsnips]

twitter is really pissing me off with this. ( / wilbur soot , abuse )

love dream, hate dream, i don't care. you can think he's a terrible person, think he did terrible things WHILE ALSO acknowledging how well-spoken and important it was for him to say something. all of these stupid "he's doing it to save face!" or "this is an insane PR tactic" or even the "this is dangerous!!!" are actually so insensitive and to be quite honest makes you side with abusers!

dream is a victim of domestic violence and has been public about this for YEARS - it is so incredibly important that he spoke out in support of shelby while ALSO condemning wilbur's actions as a victim of domestic abuse to show solidarity, from one victim to another. to show that he KNOWS what it's like, he knows the behaviors and the tactics. he saw them in wilbur's bullshit "apology".

dream even says in his statement how encouraging it was to see, as a victim himself, that people were speaking out in support of shelby. how this was going to raise awareness to see the signs, to help encourage more people to speak out and not fear their abuser or just to be able to stand up for anyone who decides to speak out about it. to go on and completely diminish his words by saying "don't let this fool you!" is actually really gross. diminishing another victim's voice is gross. nobody said you had to like him for speaking up. did he have to? no. did anyone have to? also no! don't know why we're so upset and angry about having more uplifting voices, more support. we should be focusing on supporting shelby, not using another victim's message of support to shit on other people and bring external situations into this. it's gross and draws the attention away from the matter at hand, which is what the abuser tried to do in the first place.

since im here (probably won't be back to waffle until the tubbathon starts lol) i just wanted to point out the parts that really stuck out to me from his response because even though i don't really care for him anymore, i do think his support/condemnation has been the best worded so far.

"she had a reason to be afraid to say your name, but you shouldn't have been afraid to say hers"

i got actual chills from that one because FUCK it's so true. it bothered me so bad that wilbur was so vague about it almost as if he could AVOID it if he never attached her name to it. idk if theres really any legal stuff behind it or what not but other than that he had zero consequences for naming her directly. zero consequences for giving her a direct apology. his "apology" didn't even sound like it was TO HER. he isn't sorry, he obviously doesn't know what he has to be sorry for if he's too much of a pussy to address her directly.

"thank you for being brave"

it is so so important that he described her as such because not only does it continue to uplift her and encourage her to stay strong and continue to be brave, but it shows that speaking out against any form of abuse no matter what it is is BRAVE. it's admirable and hopefully sends encouragement to anyone else who reads it that speaking out against it is brave. point blank period. (and honestly everything in his apology to shelby was so incredibly well-worded - its really the fucking fact that dream who had no involvement whatsoever could apologize but wilbur didn't even know what he was supposed to apologize for lol.)

i've said this before, and i'll say it again. all of my love and support goes out to shelby. i am so incredibly inspired and proud of her for being able to stand up for herself, to speak out against someone even if they had a larger platform and raise awareness to the signs and pieces of shit within the community so we don't continue to support and platform dangerous people. i've watched shelby for such a long time, she was such an important part of my childhood and it actually breaks my heart that someone could even THINK of doing anything like that to her because she is such a fucking light and fuck ANYONE who would do anything to try and put that out. i wish her nothing but the best and all of the healing in the world because she deserves it so so much. my heart goes out to any and all other victims of wilbur, as well.

[genlossneg]

Any short film or media project can be submitted to film festivals pretty much off the bat so long as you appropriately own all the copyrighted material or have permission to use it

There's hundreds of smaller film festivals that ranboo could've submitted genloss too, including film festivals with focuses on experimental media like genloss is. But ranboo ran straight for an Emmy, the cream of the crop and literally nowhere else

It's both a mix of a massive ego and ignorance. Obviously I go to film school so this information was given to me by professors and it was discussed pretty extensively in class, but if Ranboo was genuinely trying to make genloss into anything, I don't think it's crazy to assume he should've submitted genloss to these film festivals that are much more in the lane of what genloss is

Also what peeves me off is because film makers have a crazy stupid amount of passion. I'm surrounded by them in my classes, my profs, we learn about them. And most of these people also have huge egos, and honestly what I've found is that very rarely can this ego be backed up by any substance.

But at the very least, they have an ego and they're trying to do something with it and actively putting in so many hours

Ranboo quite simply hasn't put in any time to make genloss, much like his extraordinarily misplaced budget, he didn't use his time where he shouldn've (don't worry one day I'll jump into your inbox and talk about the incredibly misplaced budget)

The way my particular program works is we all produce a short film at the end of each semester. We get a crew and actors and locations all on a college student budget and one of my classmates actually submitted their work for a film festival and got nominated for their category (very proud of them)

I didn't because I know my film wasn't very good. Am I proud of it, yes! I'm insanely happy with how it came out. But I have the self-awareness to know overall, it isn't this amazing thing that everyone needs to know about

Ranboo lacks this self-awareness, which along with any art, is absolutely critical for growth. Ranboo has never spoken about how he wishes he had done genloss differently or any regrets he had (aside from time crunch or things they couldn't make work) and that's how I know he didn't actually learn anything from this first run of genloss

Because the reality is, genloss wasn't good. And like my film, Ranboo can be proud of what he did as well as critical of the final product

An artist should always be their own worst critic because then they can see what the did wrong and then try and improve

Ranboo's biggest problems from my very limited perspective is a lack of understanding of how to tell a story, the lack of a backbone. He rushed genloss for an arbitrary reason. The production management was a joke too

To go for an Emmy, you're saying you think you are good enough for the highest prestige and that you believe that you've put in the appropriate amount of time and hours and that your work is worthy of gaining international recognition. And if Ranboo submitted it for the meme, that makes it worse. It shows his complete and utter lack of respect for the craft

Now, do bad movies exist, yes. Do I love some bad movies, also yes. But never have you heard of these directors hyping up these movies the way Ranboo has. And yeah, sometimes movies are cashgrabs. But again, the attitude ranboo carries as the director of genloss rubs me and so many other people so wrong as well as the attitude of boobers who think genloss is peak media. I can easily admit a movie I really like is objectively terrible but I still find enjoyment but boobers would flay you for daring say genloss isn't good (shout out live action Scooby Doo movies. They're absolutely terrible but they're fun to watch and I have fond memories of them from my childhood)

Apologies for the essay

-film student anon

film student anon this essay is wonderful. theres so much here i don't think i could reply to it all, and i really appreciated your takes on film festivals and passion projects vs the emmys. some of my favorite bits:

There's hundreds of smaller film festivals that ranboo could've submitted genloss too, including film festivals with focuses on experimental media like genloss is. But ranboo ran straight for an Emmy, the cream of the crop and literally nowhere else

To go for an Emmy, you're saying you think you are good enough for the highest prestige and that you believe that you've put in the appropriate amount of time and hours and that your work is worthy of gaining international recognition.

so big brain here. i would just keep quoting your ask in my reply because you make a ton of great points of effort not equaling quality.

i think the thing that gets me is that your first try of something is never going to be perfect. even with all the practice in the world your first try always is a bit messy, and that's how you get experience. but by submitting it for an emmy, it implies this first try was perfect, or at least close enough to be considered for such a high award. and like.. it wasn't horrible but it certainly had flaws.

i'll be so curious to see what happens with all this when the nominees get announced and what the fandom does with whatever happens

[misailurist]

State of the Fanfiction

Wanted to talk a bit about fanfics I wrote back in the day and plans for the future. tldr: it's (almost) all weird-ass Simeon Saint rarepairs

Eight years ago, I wrote Simon Says, a way-too-long story about Simon Blackquill's time in prison... which quickly became focused on him dating/breaking up with Simon Keyes. There had been some interest in that pairing, and I liked it myself, but keeping them together felt antithetical to the story's overall message of "Blackquill is OK now and has learned to stop martyring himself for others," and also I not-so-secretly think messy breakups are more fun than successful romances. So that's what I did. Despite that, I'd had a lot of notes at the time about what a sequel might look like, where Keyes got out of prison and had his own redemption arc and became the kind of boyfriend who wouldn't destroy Blackquill's life. But when it came to actually write it, I decided that redemption arcs were boring, scrapped it all, and started working on my bonkers Keyes/Phantom fic where literally the only reason behind the pairing choice was, "Phantom is about as emotionally functional as an animal, so I bet Keyes could train him into being his dog." I wrote two chapters and then wandered away from fandom entirely to try being a functional adult for a while. Now, a whole ass time skip later, being a functional adult sucks ass and AAI2 finally got localized, so here I am again. I ended up reading all my own fanfic -- do you know that if enough years pass, you'll forget enough of what you wrote that reading your own fics feels like finding a new favorite author who made a bunch of shit just for you? Do recommend. And in those fics, I found three stories where I were mad that they hadn't been finished. Did you know that if you're your own new favorite author, you are now burdened with the knowledge that unfinished fics won't be updated unless YOU, YOURSELF update them? Awful. Terrible. Do not recommend. The three fics were: 1. Just Fake it. My post-bad-end Blackbright fic. I should go to jail for not finishing that. (On the bright side, it's what made me hyper-vigilant about backing up my writing, which is why I have the remnants of all the stories on this list at all.) I would like to finish it but I am in the middle of replaying the games and don't want to touch it until I've replayed Dual Destinies. (I am currently on...... Turnabout Big Top. Sigh.) 2. Impostor Syndrome. The aforementioned Keyes/Phantom fic, which I have updated with the new localized names so it is now a Saint/Phantom fic. Although it is currently just "the meandering post-prison adventures of Simeon Saint" fic because I am completely, utterly making this shit up as I go and haven't gotten to the shipping part yet. Does anyone want to read this but me? Trick question, I don't care. I'm basically in a fugue state right now and I don't think I could stop if I wanted. Also we are T-minus-two-chapters to where there will, in fact, be some actual for real Saint/Phantom shipping, so idk hang in there. 3. Simon, Horace, and Miles. The "what if there were no IS-7" AU. This one sucks actually. But I still love the idea of it. There's meat there. But the whole thing needs to be scrapped and restarted from the ground up. Something to consider once Impostor Syndrome is out of my system. Also I would rewrite it to be properly soutamitsu. That's a pairing the world needs more of, damn it. Also I lied, there's a secret fourth one that I never posted anywhere publicly: 4. Fabulous! A Simeon Saint/Max Galactica smut fic I started and then remembered I don't like writing smut. But the setup was pretty good so maybe I'll try again to finish it???

[not-poignant]

Hey there. Do you have any tips on how to stay consistent with writing, and how to stay focused on the task at hand?

Hi anon!

So firstly, I've answered versions of this question quite a few times so you might want to go into the 'Pia on Writing' tag because they'll be there.

A quick look has found:

How to write more words regularly - This one is good for just...straight up practical advice.

But I wanted to speak frankly which is - what works for me might not work for you! We all have different strengths and weaknesses and depending on how we orient towards writing depends on what those weaknesses are. For example, I need to learn how to take more breaks and rest more, and not write as much. The 'writing a lot and sometimes too much' comes pretty easily to me these days.

Not all writers are meant to be consistent writers. I don't have a daily habit and I haven't written anything at all in a week and a half. I have my monthly wordcount and that's it. Someone else might need to write or edit every day, in order to not lose sight of their projects. Someone else might need five intensive days a month. It will depend on their nature, their personality.

Not all writers have the same reasons behind why they can't stay focused on a task. I have ADHD, but I can also hyperfocus on characters and a storyline. Others have ADHD, and cannot hyperfocus on their characters or storyline long enough to finish a story. That's a problem I don't know how to remedy, because I don't have that kind of ADHD, so I've never had to 'solve' it before. Some writers are perfectionists which hamper them, I am not a perfectionist and I'd rather the thing be out in the world with some flaws, than on my computer talking to no one. I need the dopamine more than I need something to be perfect. So you see anon, sometimes the things that impact us just aren't universal, which means you need more specific advice. There will be perfectionist writers who will have lots of great advice, there will be ADHD writers who get bored of a story who have great advice. :D

What I will say is that pretty universally, writing consistently and staying focused are both like muscles in the body. I'm where I'm at today because I've had 9-10 years of practice doing this, and when you start out (which the above link addresses) you will need to aim more realistically and reasonably, and start there.

It's also worth having a really grounded sense of why you want to write more consistently / focus more on your writing. Is it for fun? Is it because you want to finish a project? Is that project something you'll feel good if you finish or are you over it? Is it because you want to make an income? (Have you considered there are approximately 40 billion easier ways to make an income?) Is it because you just want to see if you can do it?

Sitting down and thinking about your motivations here will help motivate you if you can keep your goals in mind. And it will also help clarify what you get out of writing in the first place.

Re: Staying focused. It depends on your distractions. I use music, that helps me. That might be terrible for you. I make sure I'm eating well - the brain needs carbs and fats, and my whole body needs protein and fibre - so I'll have a decent breakfast before starting out. Sleep is important. Drinking regularly is important. There's very basic things here which seem obvious that help a ton with concentration, but if you're not doing them, they're a good place to start. You'd be surprised how much just 'eating balanced meals, drinking regularly and sleeping enough hours' helps with concentration. Like, so much.

A friend of mine uses the Pomodoro method (that would drive me nuts), there's using write-ins like Twitch streams to basically 'body double' with other people who are writing at the same time (I find this very motivational). There's gamification like 4TheWords (love this site). There's 'I get to have a cookie if I write another 200 words.' There's 'actually I've lost focus because this part of the story might be broken and if I just do this the river will start to flow again' as a writing technique.

Mostly, you'll need the time and space to just amass the number of techniques you need to help with both focus and writing regularly. But in all of this, it's vital to be patient with yourself. You can't expect yourself to take a week to end up somewhere that someone else took 3 or 4 years to get to. And it won't be...consistent. Don't side-eye me or anything, but like, we're not meant to be machines, even people who write relatively consistently (like me) need breaks, get burnt out, get tired, are over it, and sometimes need brand new techniques to start working again. Knowing that it's not a linear upward curve of ever-increasing focus lets you also just...be compassionate and patient with yourself.

Oh yeah, because you'll have to get good at both of these too anon. :D Learning discipline and being firm with yourself can't work successfully if you also then mentally punish yourself for not doing it 'well enough' to the point where you don't want to do it anymore. Cultivating the 'I'll try again tomorrow' or 'I did great today!' parts of your brain help a ton with consistency. If you know you're going to be kind to yourself for doing well, and firm but compassionate with yourself when you don't, all of this gets way, way easier.

[godesssiri]

I am a 43 year old person with a uterus. I've never had problem periods. Yeah, I've had cramps, but they've been of the 'take some pain relief and get on with your day' variety - nothing debilitating. My periods have always been fairly regular, not terribly heavy, pretty much uniform in flow, not overly long. I've never had any cause for concern. In fact in the last year my periods have actually gotten more regular and less crampy.

I have a 33cm (almost 13 inch) ovarian cyst. For reference cysts are considered concerning and in need of surgery when they're 5-10cm.

I've experienced almost no pain from it. I've had some pain lately because it's straining my abs and sometimes splaying my ribs so I'm getting an overstretched kinda pain.

I've got severe osteo arthritis in my hip from an injury and I've been so focused on that I didn't notice the changes in my body from the cyst. I actually thought I was getting firm abs from having to use them to compensate for my hip when sitting up or rolling over. I'm fat and have always had a belly and I didn't notice how the abdominal fat was being replaced with something else until the fat loss in other parts of my body became really really noticeable. When people get cysts they usually gain weight, but I've actually lost a lot of weight because it's taking up all the space in my abdominal cavity that my stomach would expand into if I were to fill it with food - which I have not done for a long time. I sometimes get 4 or 5 bites into a meal and I'm struggling. I've been eating smaller and smaller meals for months and often an hour or 2 after dinner I'll throw up because there's just no room for the food to go down. I thought I was having stomach issues from the nsaids I was taking for my hip and didn't want to go crying to my doctor about my tummy because nsaids are the only thing that work for the hip pain and I didn't want to come off them. For months and months I've been suffering fatigue. I thought it was a post Covid thing. The cyst has been flattening my vena cava (the main vein that carries oxygenated blood to your heart) so I was exhausted because I wasn't getting enough oxygen flow around my body.

Basically I had all these symptoms that I wrote off because because there were plausible explanations for them and I never even considered it could have anything to do with my reproductive system because I've never had a problem with it before. Now I'm looking at having at least 1 ovary removed, though possibly the whole shebang, I've signed consent for a hysterectomy if they get me open and decide it's the best thing to do. Luckily I'm happily child-free and all a hysterectomy means to me is no more periods.

I guess what I'm trying to say is people with a female reproductive system: Don't assume that bitch isn't out to get you even if you've never had a problem with it before. If your body is doing something weird, get it checked out even if there's perfectly plausible explanations for those symptoms.

[boymeetswerewolf]

I love your art! It’s so high quality. What program(s) do you use to achieve that effect? And what tips do you have for aspiring artists wanting to reach such levels themselves?

Hi Anon!

Thanks a lot for the lovely compliment.

I mostly create my art using a technique called overpainting where I paint over reference images. I have an art background (took art at school and at college), but it was focused on abstract art so my experience with realistic proportions is exceedingly terrible and I've just never had the patience or put in the time to learn proportions from scratch. I've always admired artists who put in the time and effort to learn how to do that!

As for what programs I use, I tend to stick with Photoshop since that's what I was trained on and am most familiar with. I use a combination of brushes, filters and textures to give my art the look that it has. I tend to work at a resolution of about 3000px for height or width (whichever is the largest for the layout I'm going with) and a fixed brush size so that I can add a lot of detail and that it looks consistent throughout the piece. I also use tons of layers so that the lining, shading, colouring and any extra adjustments are all separate from each other and easily changeable. My PSD file usually averages between 300mb to 400mb in size because of all the layers.

The tool I probably use most outside of Photoshop is Color Cop. I'm partially colourblind, so when I want to use specific colours I need the hex codes or RGB codes otherwise it takes me ages to get the colours to blend right.

Below are some progress examples (from the "Sacrifice" theme for Sterek Week '23) of how I usually start out when I'm creating something. I go hunting for images and make a collage/edit of what I'd more or less like the finished piece to look like. Usually during this part I also play a lot with different ideas to see what works best. (Sometimes the final result ends up looking how I wanted, sometimes it takes on a life of its own and goes in a completely different direction!) The "Sacrifice" piece is made up of a promo shot of Stiles from Season 6 and a screenshot of Derek from Season 3 (I think). The background is made up of official images from Stranger Things that I blended together and added colour filters to.

Once that's done I start painting with pencil brushes to get the lines, then follow up with texturing and shading. I like to use a soft neutral colour like a beige as a base canvas so that I can paint with black as well as white. Lastly I'll paint in the colours and then finish off the piece by cleaning up the linework and by adding filters to adjust contrast/balance or colouring. Occasionally I've worked "backwards" by roughing painting the shading and some of the colours out first before adding linework.

As for specific tips, I think mindset and believing in yourself is important. It's very easy to get overwhelmed in the beginning, so don't compare yourself to others. If your art makes you feel something, then you're on the right track. Regardless of whether or not you work professionally as an artist, if you express yourself creatively in a visual medium - whether it's an oil painting or making lewd doodles in a sketchbook - then, in my opinion, you are an artist.

Once you're over that hurdle, the next part is just to keep at it. I hate using the word "practice", so I'm rather going to say keep making art consistently, and - most importantly - have fun while you're doing it. If it's fun, you're more likely to stick with it and improve. If you're trying to go in a specific direction with your art, I think there are two important areas to focus on: expanding your creativity and your familiarity with the tools you use. The latter especially will make your life a lot easier.

For me, being familiar with Photoshop is what allows me to make digital art the way I do. I've used it for a long time so I know a lot of tricks and shortcuts to help me achieve what I'm going for. This goes for any program you choose to use, though. And you don't have to limit yourself to one. Play around with different tools and programs and see what works the best for you. The internet is also a fantastic (and often free) resource, and YouTube especially has a lot of tutorials that can help you get started or help you build on your existing skills.

To expand your creativity with regards to your art, I recommend studying other artists - and not just one specific kind of artist either. Look at the old masters, look at modern art, look at fan artists, look at photographers and cinematographers. (And, of course, Mother Nature - the greatest artist of all.) Look at how they use composition, how they use colour, how they use lighting and shading. Try and incorporate some of those aspects into your own work and see what works for you.

TL;DR - Experiment and play… and most importantly, have fun!

Thank you for coming to my TED talk.

~ Bren

[1d1195]

I get scared that I’m in the portion of my life that is the part where everyone said it would get better, and if this is the best I’m going to get…. And I’m not even being ungrateful for some of the good I do have it’s just the bad is so debilitating. I’m at the point now where I’m very sure that there is someone who hears our prayers and wishes and they are just laughing at me. Cuz one time is a coincidence but after over twenty years worth you figure that it’s you. So now I’m at a point where I no longer pray and wish and that’s devastating in its own way. I’m not sure what I want out of messaging you about it, you don’t have to post or respond, I just needed to say it to someone. If I tell my boyfriend it’ll kill him. How do people keep hope and how can I be better at it?

Thank you for feeling safe enough to message me something like this. I know it's hard to say things like this out loud so I'm glad I could offer some help in just you getting it off your chest. Also, fair warning, with these types of messages I tend to ramble and go on and on, so I apologize for that in advance. I don't intend to sound preachy or like I know best, either. You can ignore everything I say, honestly, I won't be offended. The gist of it, is you're not alone and you can't lose hope.

(Upon finishing my answer, it's long-long. Like 1k words)

I'm not an extremely religious person but I totally get what you're saying. My mom always said going to church and saying a prayer would make things that I felt were bad feel better, but I've never really felt much better afterwards. I won't delve too deeply into the religious side of things, but I really understand what you're saying. There are some pretty terrible people in the world who get whatever they want and then there's me who said my prayers before bed for YEARS and asked for help and got nothing in return. It's really hard to feel faithful when it seems like every prayer goes unanswered. I know what you mean by feeling devastated by no longer wanting to pray or wish. But I also think that if you take a break, it's not like you can't go back. One thing I do still believe in is the higher powers that be will always take someone back even if their faith was shaken.

I don't think you're alone in how you're feeling. I've had to redefine my happiness a lot over the last few years. Sometimes it feels like I'm doing myself a disservice by doing so, but it also feels like if I don't then I'll spiral real bad. I feel the same way you do, I have a LOT of good in my life that I'm very grateful for, but it's hard to ignore the overwhelming parts that aren't so good. Even as a society there is so much bad and turmoil. It's hard to believe in good things and a bright future when, especially in the last few years, it seems like the world is on a mission to not have a future. I worry all the time that I will never be able to afford a house or have kids (something I've always, always wanted) and moreover that my parents will never meet my kids because they'll be gone before I can afford it. I worry I'll never be happy with how I look or feel about myself. I worry that my long-term boyfriend will never propose because we can't afford that either. I worry that people are constantly judging how I choose to live my life because of all these things. I always feel behind.

I'm not sure I have the answers on behalf of everyone, but for me, I've chosen to really focus on my own peace of mind. The parts of my life that are good, I spend more time focusing on those things. I have a job that supports the apartment I'm fortunate to have. I love my boyfriend. Because of where I teach I was able to get all my student loans forgiven. I enjoy reading books and writing on here. I am really focusing on being better to my body physically and emotionally. Every time I have pasta or a bake potato I think about how good life is.

I've definitely mentioned it before but I'm very anti-news and I tell everyone it really changed my life by turning it off. I still read headlines so I'm not totally in the dark and I'll look things up if necessary, but not watching all the horrible things that have happened in my state has made me infinitely happier.

Part of my own weird philosophy here is that I have to believe in hope. It's not something I let slip by. I hope all day long. You're not wrong though, it's probably the hardest thing I've ever done because it seems like there's every reason not to have hope these days. It's super frustrating. But I watch these videos of "humans being human" and it's all these heartwarming stories of people catching children out of burning buildings or saving a dog from a flood. They make me cry and make me hope. https://www.goodnewsnetwork.org/ is also a REALLY good website to make you believe in humanity and good when you're feeling down.

I think (and hope) your boyfriend would also be supportive if you told him. There's a chance that maybe he feels the same way? Or maybe he can help you feel better in a way that you haven't thought of yet. If you choose to not tell him, I hope you find someone to talk to instead because it's REALLY hard to do this alone. I'm in the same boat as you; I know it's easier said than done. I don't tell my boyfriend how I'm feeling a lot of the time either (that's why I'm always writing cathartic things about how I feel on here).

You're also always welcome to share how you're feeling here. Good or bad. I'm a great sounding board (in my personal opinion). I would love to cheer you on or support you when you're feeling down. Whatever you want. Obviously I'm not a professional, but I can feel how difficult things seem for you in what you wrote. I'm a firm believer in happy endings too, so if this doesn't feel like this is the best, then you haven't hit the best yet. So you can't lose hope. I know it's hard and I don't think enough people say that. Having hope is one of the most challenging parts of my life. I was REALLY negative for...gosh, I think it was something like 6-8 years. My friend pointed out I was really negative. Over a Facebook message. Just said she was worried about me. It was like a switch in me. I didn't realize how bad I got.

So it's not going to be easy, but I hope you don't lose hope. If you feel like you can't, let me know. I'll hope for you too.

Hopefully, (no pun intended) this helped just a little. Please let me know if you ever need to vent, I'm always going to be here 💕

xoxo

[finniestoncrane]

(Ednyxmatic here. Curse the limitations of sideblogs.)

Yooo! Congrats on the 1k. I love your headcanons and fics. You totally deserve the 1k. :3c

If you feel so inspired to write something, could I ask for number 9?

Here is a bit about me 😅 :

I’m 5 feet 3 inches and blonde with long hair. I have glasses very similar to the style that Daniel Jackson wears on Stargate: SG-1. I’m grey ace and look feminine, but I am somewhere under the non-binary umbrella.

For my personality traits, uh, well, I have two anxiety disorders, lol. Specifically social anxiety and generalized anxiety. I definitely try to be social when I can, /but/ it can be difficult. I’m definitely a hopeless romantic, often to a fault. I could best be described as … indoorsy. I like reading, writing, occasionally drawing, and watching movies. In particular I’m a pretty huge horror movie fan. I also very much enjoy movies from the 30s-50s, particularly film noir.

I also enjoy houseplants and love reptiles. I actually own two lizards. :D

I got an English lit degree and my job involves copy editing and writing, so analyzing writing and such is a big part of my personal and professional life.

Thank you very much for reading this! And no problem if you don’t get a chance to respond!

🎀 No.9: Ever Fallen In Love With Someone 🎀

tell me a little bit about yourself and i'll give you a rogue pairing a/n: i literally read this and was like "him" for serious u-u 1k milestone info! 🔞minors dni🔞 • kofi • tag: finnie1k

quick sidenote: had no idea who daniel jackson was, never seen a lick of stargate, will now be binging it because james spader in those glasses has me REELING

ok so, non-binary works so well for harvey. you can be everything, you can be nothing, it works for him because while there is no absolute, the absence of something is the presence of something

he's also more focused on a relationship that brings something to the table, something he can work with. the same kind of partnership (although on slightly better terms hopefully) as he has with two face

i'm not making light in the slightest but hey, it's the perfect number of anxiety disorders to have. and he'd be more than happy to do the talking for you in social situations, both of them would be

he'd also understand the need to will yourself to be social, it's easy for him to shut himself away, with the only person he can speak to being himself, so it would be good for you both to encourage each other

hopeless romantic? now we're talking. because i think harvey is one of the softest, most romantic boys out there. really traditionally woos people, charms them and romances them like he was in some terribly dramatic old movie

which speaking of, he is definitely a massive fan of film noir, so that would make an excellent date for you both, either at a film festival or watching them on the sofa

creativity, especially indoorsy creativity, would suit him. someone who is grounded in themselves and can work away quietly would be a nice calming presence. he's a house person really, you don't see him striving to get out and about unless he has crimes to commit, so having someone else kicking around the place with him would be nice

please, stop with the twos! you have two lizards? perfect. one is harvey's favourite now and the other is two face's favourite. i don't know much about them, but the spicier of the two, guess who's favourite that one is...

gosh you've got intelligence in scores, and that's so key. i think harvey's intelligence is often overlooked, his temper and attitude sometimes overshadow it. but the man was a DA, he passed the bar. so someone on an intellectual equal with him, especially in something as interesting for him as copy editing, would make the perfect partner

[juantheashura]

Hey, since in a recent ask you mentioned potentially adding a Aki x Lat x MC poly in book 2 I wanted to say firstly I wholehearted support this as choosing between them when they are both so dang wholesome is the worst and they also have a cute dynamic both with each other and the MC so I think it would totally work. But that being said I think with Aki being so inexperienced both with romantic relationships but also seemingly with just normal health social relationships you do need to go about it super carefully. In my own experience poly relationships need to be super equal and have really good communication. And I feel like if do you want to add that relationship you need to make sure to set it up early right because otherwise if we romance Aki or Lat in book one then start a poly in book two it makes the third person be a bit of a third wheel who is coming into this already established preexisting relationship and especially in the case of like romancing Lat in book 1 then starting the poly in book 2 with Aki like this would still presumably be Aki's first relationship and her first experience being joining a preestablish relationship as a third feels vaguely exploitive. Like you can mitigate that to some degree by how you write them and their interactions but even still for it to feel real or like relationship that would actually work long term I think you need to set it up in book 1 and either have a separate slower burn romance with them both wherein nothing more serious happens until the poly or I think limiting the poly to those who romanced Aki in book one would also work because she's really the part you need to be most careful with how you write given her inexperience. That isn't to say you absolutely can't have book 1 romanced Lat MC start a poly with Aki in book 2 you can but its just I do think you need to be extra careful if you want it to feel like a real healthy stable relationship that would work long term. Like I said I wholehearted do think a poly between them could work and I hope I didn't scare you off doing this I just wanted to add some thoughts based off my own experiences.

Also I've a separate question on a completely different topic, so I know you've said we for sure won't surpass BK or BQ in in the books but I am curious since some of what you have said about why we won't surpass them seems focused mostly on the seer amount of experience and time they have had to grow in strength could the MC given a decade or two eventually reach them or surpass them given even longer?

Also also sorry for any spelling or grammar errors I tried to proof read but my brain is terrible at doing that so chances are high there are more than a few I missed.

Don't worry- I feel relatively the same on the poly aspect of it. I'm very likely not adding a third route in Book 1 for romancing both, I think (at least, not anything directly), but my idea has always been that it'd be a poly dependent on romancing Aki in Book 1, that'd be the only way to be able to get Lat in a relationship as well. Aki needs a little experience with things first, before she starts considering if she wants something more.

I appreciate hearing your thoughts though! I've... definitely never been in a (well, consensually, anyway) polyamorous relationship myself, so I'd be flying relatively by the seat of my pants and what I manage to read about the dynamics. I am definitely thankful for knowing how people with more experience than me feel or think about these things.

As for your second question, it's... a bit more complicated than that, but I'll try to make it a little short:

The Broken King and the Blitz Queen both started off stronger than the MC- as in, their base powers before training were of a higher 'tier' than the MC. That already establishes a gap, but then you have the fact that the two of them had each other to train with as well, meaning that they had a direct challenger through which to better themselves, something the MC doesn't at the moment.

Then you come to the matter of experience. The Blitz Queen, compared to the (current, at least) MC lived in a more unsettled time, which I think we can all agree on. She had to fight more often, and had her powers for longer than the MC (she got them as a toddler, basically), which means she started growing stronger than the MC from earlier.

Then add to that the fact that she had 50~ years to further grow in strength.

Now, consider all that for the King as well, but add the fact he's been using his powers every single day since the Queen died.

All this combined means: Catching up within a decade or two is most likely impossible because the starting gap is oh so huge. You might become someone the Queen or King would have considered a worthwhile companion, but you're definitely more the... say, Piccolo to the King's Goku, or the Sanji to the Queen's Luffy.

[deadpresidents]

A writing question if you don't mind-when you write those longer articles or essays, do you write by hand or typing? How many drafts do you normally go through? I'm trying to find my own voice as a writer and any suggestions on process would be much appreciated!

My writing process is terrible and I am embarrassingly undisciplined when it comes to writing. I barely even write anymore! It used to be so much easier for me and my problem was that I was ridiculously long-winded, but now I have trouble just getting focused enough to knock out a few paragraphs. I'd kill to go back to the days where I just started writing and everything flowed, but it's almost as if someone flipped a switch and I just ran out of power. I have no idea when things changed, but they definitely did so over the past few years.

I have no formal training as a writer. (Obviously.) I've never taken a writing class or workshop, but I wish I had done so years ago. I feel like I've handicapped myself over the years because everything was self-taught and I really could have benefited from some sort of foundation. I never learned how to outline anything or even make some sort of rudimentary plan for the topic I plan to write about. I have a couple of notebooks with various ideas that I consider writing about, but the "ideas" are usually just two or three words I've quickly jotted down to remind myself of topics I might want to explore. And I imagine that 98% of those ideas are never revisited. Like I said, I'm awful at this stuff.

When I do finally zero in on something and start writing, I just start typing. In fact, I almost always just start directly writing whatever it is that I'm writing about as a Tumblr post. I don't write anything by hand and rarely even use something like Pages or Microsoft Word. I just start making a post. Here's the really dumb part: not only do I not write numerous drafts, but I usually just sit down and write stuff in one sitting, from beginning to end. If I get stuck or lost or don't feel like I can find the right ending for what I'm writing, I'll just delete the post. I have no idea how many words I've written on Tumblr over the past 15 years (!!!), but everything I've published is just a fraction of the stuff I discarded because I wasn't happy with it or wasn't feeling it. Even the things that I didn't complete give up on are frozen in time in the drafts of my Tumblr dashboard. They are currently 128 drafts saved to my Tumblr dashboard. I couldn't even guess when (or if) I've ever revisited those drafts; it's as if I kept them around just in case I completely and utterly change the manner in which I've created content over the years. Spoiler alert: I will not.

I'm an idiot, quite frankly, and should have taken some sort of writing classes years ago. I probably would have created a ton of content if I had some sort of a foundation that allowed me to craft better stories without feeling the need to start over at the first sign of trouble. If I'm writing something else that isn't intended to be published on Tumblr, I still have a similar "process" where I try to write my piece in one sitting and toss it all if it doesn't feel right.

I implore you not to try my idiotic writing "process" at home. It's undeniably counterproductive and I wish the Men In Black would have used their little memory erasing machine on me to erase those bad habits over the years. It's shocking that I was actually able to publish as much content as I have over the years despite not having the slightest idea of how to effectively and consistently write!

With all that said, I will add this about finding your voice or your own writing style: just keep doing what feels good to you. If you enjoy writing -- as I genuinely did at one point -- it doesn't matter what other people think about your work. It's yours and unless you're taking some sort of class or working some sort of job, nobody has any right to grade what you're doing. When you start worrying about how other people are going to judge your work it starts to actually feel like work, and if writing is an important outlet for you, it's important to not let strangers get in your way. That's when it stops being fun or fulfilling and if it's not one of those things or you're not getting paid money to make the changes to your work that people think you should make, then what's the use of writing in the first place?

[o-wyrmlight]

Anons on this site have such brainworms "this real life person expressed an opinion and analysis over something i dont like so im going to go into their inbox and tell them to kill themself, i am so smart and stand for justice"

Grow the fuck up, get off the internet, and realise that your little bubble is actively making you a worse person. Not you Bill, you are delightful <3

Fun fact: The word 'gay' used to mean 'happy or carefree' for centuries before it became re-adopted to refer to homosexual men, and even then, it became a slur.

Nowadays, gay is a reclaimed phrase that now references anyone under the homosexual and homoromantic umbrella. I'd bring it up as being the same pretense as lesbian, but with the whole crimew debacle, it's not what people are focusing on. And like I said--nowadays 'gay' is used as a broader term, even though it's still more associated with men than not.

Words change and shift in definition over time, like it or not. No one definition of a word is ever going to be universal--there are always going to be people who have a different interpretation of the word than you do. The word 'gay' once meant (and still does mean, though not nearly as frequently as it did before) cheerful and jovial. Then it became a slur of hate before being reclaimed by the community it was being used on. Now its definition has broadened, even if the very general definition still speaks by and large to men liking other men.

There's a lot more to it than that, but yeah. While I definitely don't know absolutely everything about LGBT+ history (a lot of the time, I get a bit stressed out about how people in the past were treated), it is something that I will do more research in.

The point is, you can't control how other people identify themselves and how their words are used. All that it does is make it more difficult for people to find words to identify how they identify and makes them much less likely to even try.

Even if you don't understand why they use something like 'bi lesbian', it isn't your role to come up with a narrative about what that person is trying to imply. And it isn't a good mindset to automatically assume that your perspective is more 'right' than them. All that it does is is exacerbate the whole 'us vs. them' mentality, which is terrible because all parties involved are in the same community.

Regardless of your opinion in the matter, your perspective does not deserve demeaning the life and existence of someone else just because they use a word a little bit differently than you. I understand that lesbian is a term that was specifically catered to exclude men, but calling yourself a lesbian does still carry its meaning in strongly implying that you at the very least prefer women over men.

Besides. The people who aren't going to respect lesbians aren't going to care whether people call themselves bi lesbians or not. It's not going to change their mindsets over whether or not they 'deserve' a particular woman, because there will always be people who think that they can 'change the mind' of a self-identifying lesbian, even if she's both homoromantic and homosexual. People are entitled like that. But there are also always going to be people who respect those preferences, as well, because--here's an important thing to remember--not all men are evil and out to get you.

I could go on about this so much more, but frankly, I'm just writing down my thoughts as they come, and if I continue, I'll be here all night. So. Yeah.

I have a lot of thoughts in my mind about this and other tangential issues, but I don't want to ramble on for too long.

I'm going to leave this off by saying that going up to other people, telling them to kill themself, and saying you hope they die in a fiery plane crash will never be helpful to anyone, and it doesn't prove you're right.