#I'm not a fan of vague posting but I'm so annoyed and I need to rant

[dangerousdan-dan]

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[torunarigha]

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[nachosncheezies]

In defense of late-canon x files (including the revivals)

I was thinking about this poll after I commented on it, and I kinda want to be brave and say more.

Short answer to the poll's question before I go any further: If you're a new fan and a sensitive sort who thinks you'll struggle with your blorbos Really Going Through It and you really need a happy ending, I suggest you stop at the end of season 8. Do not pass go, do not look at spoilers. Disregard this post entirely, close the internet, and go look at something that makes you happy. (Also fuck every part of society that characterizes sensitivity as inherently weak and bad and some kind of personal failing, you are valid.)

That said, "quality" as a concept is entirely subjective, and the question of whether or not there's a decline in quality for any story is wholly subjective, too. In the case of x files? I'm not convinced there is a decline. I am going to be upfront that I haven't yet watched past season 8, though I am almost completely spoiled on events after that - and the reason I haven't watched yet is not because of how I know events are going to unfold, but simply because I don't want it to end!!! Ohh, the tension between "I CAN'T WAIT!!!" and "Nooo don't be over D:"

When I first came to txf fandom on tumblr and gradually became spoiled about what happens in late canon though, I was often left uncomfortable and tbh kinda queasy about it. As I said in my comment on the poll, the hate for especially the revival and IWTB, or to a lesser extent even seasons 8 & 9, is very well documented. But! There are other takes to be found here on tumblr if you figure out where to look, and my feelings have changed!

The thing is, I have yet to find myself in any fandom where there isn't a vocal subset of fans who dislike the story after a certain point. I am not joking when I say that no one hates the things they love as passionately as sci-fi and fantasy fans. In my experience, it often hinges on the extent to which a viewer has strong notions on where they would like the characters to end up. In particular with series where shipping is a dominant component for the bulk of a fandom, I have almost universally found that there comes some turning point in the story where "let them be happy you cowards" is the dominant view, and things that compromise the attainment of a degree of romantic stability and/or domesticity are, to many fans, annoying at best and despicable at worst. But! As one tagset on the linked poll said:

and I think for any fandom, that last tag especially is so so so important. (I think that's harder for people watching a weekly series live, bc you have so much time to analyze and speculate and dream before the next breadcrumb drops, but I digress.)

So why am I saying this and how do I apply it to x files? Well, I eventually found that there are also a subset of fans who find redeeming things right up to the very end and actually quite like the whole thing! The things that I had seen people rage and ventpost so much about honestly never quite sounded to me as "out of character" or "untrue to the story" etc as those same ventposts made them sound. And I've discovered I'm not the only one who felt that way. Do I love that the spooky squad had to go through all of those things? No, those poor guys D: Life is hard and they have been through so much trauma. But do those events and their choices make sense to me in light of everything that came before? Yes! And I honestly can't wait to see them fight to overcome those things, breaking, healing, always learning, always growing, always getting better.

So if you're wondering "where does it go wrong"... well, I'm a completionist, as many people who've answered that post are, but also my personal opinion is that I don't think it does go wrong. If you're new and interested in exploring why I've gone from "vaguely queasy" to "excited" about the whole thing, or want to maybe balance out the impressions you're getting about the later seasons before deciding whether or not you want to see the whole thing, I'll put a few blog names in the comments.

Final admission: even once I started feeling a little more confident in the possibility that "actually ok maybe I'm not crazy, maybe this all kind of is in character and does make sense", there was one big plot point that I was NOT looking forward to and I thought I would never be comfortable about. In hindsight, I think my discomfort came from the negative responses being SO seemingly universal that I hadn't stopped to let myself truly consider other possible interpretations on that point. (I mean my initial instinct when I first read about it was, why are we mad about this?? CSM is literally the most unreliable narrator in history???? it's obviously fake news?????? this must be either a fever dream someone's having or it's a misdirection ploy against whatever shadowy forces might still be lurking?????????????? but for whatever reason I guess I had halfway written that off.) Happily, just last month there's a new post-s11 novel out, and although reviews for the book as a whole are mixed, it seems to have laid the groundwork for resolving that plot issue in a way I think most fans would be broadly happy with. If you're interested in being spoiled about that and seeing how, I recommend searching #perihelion on @agent-troi who liveblogged reading it with receipts, scroll back chronological-style to the first post on the subject and see how it unfolded. (And never forget that Dana Katherine Scully is the queen of denial as a coping mechanism lol)

Everyone's mileage will vary. Each person can feel however they want! But for anyone new, I wanted you to know that the very many ventposts you might be seeing are not all there is to this show or its fandom. Some of us love it despite - or even because of - all the things that went "wrong". I think we just don't talk about it as much.

[anogete]

Hi. Update of random shit in case anyone cares.

The scary test I was stressed over in the fall when I was posting my last fic? It was the CFP (Certified Financial Planner) exam. Yes, I passed it. The designation requires a bachelor's degree, so I had to go back to school to finish my last 10 classes. Then I had to take 7 more classes that are pre-reqs for the exam. Then I spent probably 700 hours attempting to cram everything you could think of related to personal finance (my god, there is a metric shit ton) into my head. The designation also requires 5,000 hours of experience in the planning field (which I thankfully already had). By the time I passed the test, I was no longer proud of the accomplishment, just relieved to have it behind me.

Work was intensely busy in November and December. I got little reading and no writing done.

I have a WIP featuring the Darcy/Rumlow pairing that has been languishing on my computer since 2020. To be honest, I've mosty forgotten what the conflict driving the plot was going to be. I think I was trying to tie it into the events of Wandavision. Took place after the show and had Monica Rambeau and Darcy kinda sorta working together and trying to figure out what, if anything, crossing the barrier that Wanda had thrown up did to them. Of course, Rumlow is alive and scarred and back with the good guys. And also really annoyed that his recent gunshot wound stuck him on desk duty watching the nerds complete their physicals as part of employee onboarding. Darcy doesn't want to have gym class with Rumlow, and Rumlow doesn't want to be there either but he's also kinda into the sassy brunette who tried to sweet talk him into passing her without making her run a mile. In the chapter or two I did write, the banter between Darcy and Rumlow was so fun, so I'd love to go back to it and try to move it along.

I got sucked into reading Draco/Hermione fanfic recently. Blame those damn Snow edits from the latest Hunger Games movie. Guys, I have never read those books or seen the movies, but blonde Tom Blyth is looking like the fanfic Draco of my dreams. How dare. This rabbit hole led to me deciding I needed to write a Dramione piece. It's maybe 6 pages and has gone nowhere even though I have a vague idea of the plot. My muse is struggling.

I found my old folder of all the fic I wrote in the past 20 years. There are still a couple hockey fics I haven't posted to AO3. There are also Anita Blake fics (I was a hardcore Anita/Edward girlie) and Harry Potter fics (don't cancel me but I used to write Snape/Hermione; NO student/teacher stuff though). I think I have an old Doctor Who fic featuring Nine/Rose (yes, I'm a Nine girlie). And a very old Forgotten Realms fic that paired Catti-Brie up with Jarlaxle. Look, I don't know. It was ages ago. With the exception of the hockey fics, I do not think any of these are of the same quality I've posted on AO3, but I've been toying with the idea of trying to clean them up and posting them so more of my work is archived together instead of spread over various fan sites. Does anyone have any interest at all in reading this shit? Like, at all?

I decided 2024 is going to be my book binding era. I bound isthisselfcare's Draco Malfoy and the Mortifying Ordeal of Being in Love a couple weeks ago. I did all the typesetting with the help of some macros. Printed it, folded the signatures (the booklets that comprise the book), sewed them together with waxed linen thread, glued the text block together with some mull, and used chip board and book cloth to make the case. It feels and looks like a book, y'all! I could do a better job with lining the signatures up when punching the holes for sewing and with the measurements on the case, but overall I am pretty proud of it. If anyone is interested, I can link a nice tutorial series on TT and/or post progress pictures I took during my book binding experiment. I have to say, it's exciting to have the ability to put my fav fanfics on my physical bookshelf.

[lemotmo]

Not to balance out the ask or anything, but there's something I picked up on during the season. For the record I'm a buddie shipper but I'm not blind to the fandom's fault.

There's a leaker in twitter who posted vague stuffs during the season that turned out to be true; implying that Buck will kiss a man who isn't Eddie, Marisol being a former nun, karaoke scene being cut et cetera. I can't remember exactly when but it's most likely during the heights of Buddies being mad that the karaoke scene was cut (I don't think it's queerbaiting since the show already went past that since season 1 but I understand people being upset) the leaker posted something about "Guys please be nice" or something to tone down the backlash, despite he himself encouraging the fandom to be louder for the karaoke scene, go figure and then shortly after Tim made that post about the karaoke scene on his FB. I then assumed that he got wind of Tim getting fed up with people asking for the karaoke scene despite he himself volunteering to post that disregarding the song license stuff.

While I've seen how crazy some of the Bummys have been lately, I'm not ruling out the possibility that Tim's also getting fed up with us Buddies especially since he's been exposed longer to Buddies than Bucktommys; it's just he perceived the toxicity to be twofolds since it comes from two queer ships. The fact that Buddies on twitter, his primary social media source of gauging fandom reaction before he decided to call it quits, has new people who uses similar modus operandi as some Tevans operate to farm engagement and content, makes the possibility of the toxicity among Buddie fandoms raising there to be higher.

I guess my takeaway is just for us to quietly ship harder on Buddie without engaging in the same kind of toxicity Kinleys are doing. Just focus on the good things on Buddie (and Bucktommy if you multiship), don't drag down actors/actresses or love interests they play to the same extent *they* did (in general, if you think your ship is THAT good finding every small detail to discredit other love interests is not needed because your own foundation should be enough) as your anon said, Tim can feel hurt from criticism so as long as the grievances were expressed in a more civil manner it should be good for us.

Yes Nonny. I agree.

The karaoke scene debacle is certainly a really good example of where the Buddie fandom went too far. I get the disappointment. I was disappointed too, but I ranted about it to the mutuals, took a deep breath and moved on.

I know that some people on Twitter (and even here on Tumblr) most definitely overreacted to that scene being cut. I don't know if I remember it right, but a few of the most crazy Buddie stans even sent him nasty messages. The fact that Tim had to publicly react wasn't very flattering for our fandom.

To me it's the way he reacted that stands out here. From his tone (which is always hard to gauge in a written message) he seemed calm but annoyed with the fans who kept on asking for that scene. He even admitted to liking Buddie and wanting to give this to the fans.

After that, most Buddie fans got the message and stopped demanding to release the scene, with the few exceptions of course. 🤷‍♀️ Whenever the karaoke scene comes up these days, it's mostly people asking nicely.

This last Tim interview felt very different. It was a direct call out to the BT people who had bullied and threatened some of the 911 cast and crew, to the point that some of them had to be blocked. These people kept on running to Tim's Facebook DMs to then post them on Twitter to 'bludgeon another part of fandom'. That's a direct call out, which is on a whole other level than the karaoke debacle.

But ultimately I completely agree with your conclusion. It is very important to keep the positivity and civility while shipping Buddie (and BT if you multi-ship). In that regard Tumblr is very different from Twitter. Although there are definitely a lot of great Buddie fans on Twitter who aren't afraid to call out toxic behaviour within our own fandom, which is a good buffer to keep out the worst of the toxicity.

Fandoms are fandoms. A certain level of toxicity will never be able to be avoided. All we can do is, like you said, quietly keep on shipping Buddie and keep it all respectful towards others.

Hope you have a great day Nonny!

[broodwolf221]

my message to new/returning fans

as da4 approaches and the fandom changes, gaining both new and returning users, i want to state very clearly:

share your thoughts! it doesn't have to be "original" to be valuable! no more than it needs to conform to current fanon! you don't need to read everyone else's theories in order to state your own

I'm familiar with that pressure and how much it can dampen the urge to share, to actually engage with the broader fandom. even though i was there at the start of dai's fandom, i fell out of it for years and came back recently, and there was a definite undercurrent of pressure to a) conform to the theories already stated, especially by big name fans, and b) to only ever post a truly original theory

the former inherently limits fandom and treats it more like an academic field that one needs to be familiar with before stating anything; the latter is fundamentally ridiculous, since we're all engaging with the same source material and have the ability to perceive foreshadowing and explore what it means. the first person to perceive and write about a bit of foreshadowing has no more fundamental "right" to that perspective than the hundredth

it can also be hard to wade through the tags of a fandom that's been out for a decade+, especially if you like a character or ship that gets a lot of hate. that's exhausting and no one is obligated to do that research

you're not too late to the fandom to have theories, to post meta, or to express your feelings. those of us currently in the fandom would do well to remember that new people will be joining us and they likely won't even know the bloggers who have already posted meta, so seeing someone ask if xyz has ever been considered should be treated as a valid question. seeing someone say they've never seen ppl talking about xyz should be viewed as an invitation to (gently!) point to some people who have talked about it. "oh, if you're into this idea, you might like [username's] meta"

i think it's valuable to draw attention to the fact that a long-established fandom has been getting new blood throughout the whole time it's been here, and will be getting considerably more new blood soon, and that it might be worth adapting to that early. because regardless of any established fan's preferences, we are going to be getting new fans unfamiliar with established theories/fanon. and no one should be beholden to fanon anyway

but all this is to also say - new fandom members? i see you. I'm here for you. if you want to know what's been said, you can ask me and i will direct you as best i can; if you want to come up with stuff on your own, i support that. i will never come onto your posts to "disprove" your theory or to claim it's unoriginal

also, know that when you see vent posts where people are feeling annoyed about fans or complaining about them, they are almost certainly talking about fans who are engaging in discourse, are argumentative, or are otherwise being kinda shitty. i know - from personal experience! - how easy it is to take a vague vent post personally, especially when the kind of behavior they're actually annoyed by isn't clarified, but it's unlikely to be directed at fans who are engaging with curiosity and excitement. being new to a fandom is intimidating and as someone who's trying to be respectful, it can be so easy to internalize messages from people's venting, but fr, it's rarely about new fans and their conclusions. that said, if those posts bother you… unfollow! or block! blocking is not a mean or cruel action

find your niche, curate your experience, and you will definitely find people who support you. I've really enjoyed my time here and met many people i care about and respect, but it was a bit of an uphill struggle early on and i know a message like this from an established voice in fandom would have helped ease my own concerns coming into this space

[aflo]

Not me being fandom hatecrimed and passive aggressively dog piled on THE fandumb website tumblr dot com by a dumb bitch with a cowboy url and an even dumber bitchass OP with Gigi Studio Ghibli Icon and even stupider tacky shitass tungle.hel pride badge that this self proclaimed "cunt" OP of a shitty tumblruniversitycore shit post willingly put on her blog to match and you two wanna act like you're the ones who better than me for daring to vague about Hazbin Hotel on tumblr dot com on a post that was already about some dumb fandumb discourse about a tungle.hell demon show and feeling safe enough to just tag what I was talking about because I thought that I could trust an even more basic bitch than anyone, not to try to be a fucked up little snobby bitch acting like they hold some kind of higher fandumb ground than anyone else on a post where that bitch OP with a fuckass anime icon is whining about apparently dragging her musty, crusty, ugly, greasy, McMemeShitPoster skinny Leah Michelle Gleeky (since you fave poor taste enough to actually like Supernatural That Much) Funny Tumblr Girly ass to a musty crusty Supernatural Convention that was probs just dashcon (because you know you be suckin' tumblrs whole blue veiny dick when you willingly put a tumblr badge on your blog cause you're that basic), to get willingly hatecrimed by your favorite Live Action Tumblr Blorbo TM, Mr. Jensen Fucking Under House Arrest Stubbed His Toe on Rusty Nail and Died Trying to Remove His Ankle Bracelets or Whatever...

Gurl I could never have taste that mediocre I'm sorry you ether don't eat, or don't eat anything but McDonald's cause you thought that meme was so funny.

And to think I wasn't gonna put this shit on my blog or try to add anything I just knew I was gonna get some nasty, hypocritical, passive aggressive tag typing, shitty memed up response to my addition because originally my only knee jerk response in my head when I saw this was "... Not the #Supernatural Discourse, though...Be kind to yourself.... Don't even lower yourself Sweetie ... Don't look, don't even look at them ... You know Hazbin already has a much sweeter, saner, queerer, kinder, safer fandom environment than the Death by Rusty Nail CW Show.... Just don't!"

But I did... And now I guess I can say for certain that Supernatural Fans TM are just as Mean Spirited and Crusty as their Infamous Shows ending! But It was probably like your entire personality for a while there so what more could I expect? :D

Like I'm sorry your own fandumb etiquette needs an oil can and you're obvi limegreen jelly because vivziepop fans have the power of Mara Wilson, Jinkxx Monsoon, Kesha Rose, John Waters, and probz soon Lady Gaga on our side and all you have is your anime cat icon from an overrated studio and that tacky ass tumblr badge while you forgot what it was like to have your fandom be everyone else's punching bag for a hot minute and you're feeling insecure and treating me like you must've been treated, just for adding to your post about an obnoxious experience with an actor in a tumblr fandom, sharing my own obnoxious experience with an actor in a tumblr fandom. which ultimately was a harmless thing for me to share on a post on the fandumb website that means nothing ...

But it turns out having a much happier fandom experience than yours is what I get when my shows have an actually queer show runner and a bunch of queer icons doing actual queer representation, and admittedly annoying and well meaning alleys that show actual passion about their projects like I'm sorry that your taste is so poor you actually wanted to fuck Dean Wince Emotionless or were queer baited by him or whatever but I'm different, and apparently, the only Actual Cunt on this post right now is me, being brave enough to have The Nerve.

So OP, the next time you feel so holier than thou to make fun of a person on tumblr dot com talking about their experience with a show about demons, while you're also talking about your experience with a show about demons, please consider closing out the Cringe Fandumb Website we're both using right now, touch your feet to the grass, and while you're on that grass, please touch your feet to the same exact rusty nail your Precious Ankle Fuckboy did and die. :D

And if you're too lazy to do that much, at least get your little cowgirl over yonder in the tags who mumbled at me for demon fandom discoursing on your post about demon fandom discourse, to have her little Striker Helluva Boss Moment and try and track me down and assassinate me for you by feeding me cookies with rusty nails in them. Since you'd apparently like me to disappear so badly. ;)

Because I think that's the only way to get me Shut The Fuck Up Hazbin Hotel Fan TM. Us Hazbin Hotel Fans aren't gonna be shutting fuck the up anytime soon. Not sorry. ;)

Also not sorry to break it to you OP, honey.... But you know being a Supernatural fan making fun of a Hazbin Hotel fan is like you're Toby McGuire Spider-Man and I'm Tom Hardy Venom over here, right?

Same Thing. Same Concept. Almost cut from the same cloth. Only my cloth is a little bit more high quality, a little more flashy, a little more fashionable, certainly more explicitly queer fashion, and again, just a little more comfortable to be in because it's made by people who actually have a heart, soul and passion to put into their work. Too bad the people cutting your cloth didn't have a heart and neither do you or your friends now . ;) ♥ X.O

😨

[ca-suffit]

i'm sorry your blog has turned into a forum to discuss lestat's queerness lol ppl could at least try to keep it on topic, this blog is about racism. the point is that louis gets treated differently by fandom because ppl are centering white queerness, idk if this is the right space to try to qualify how that white queerness is presented, or if it's even worth it to try and determine if the way lestat is presented is queer enough. let's bring the conversation back to louis and claduia pls!! one anon said that the show does not try to set a line for what is or isn't queer enough and that's so true and such a fucking fantastic thing, but then most conversations about queerness (whether positive or negative) are about lestat or fucking santiago of all characters! and i'm already getting annoyed at the amount of posts i see about nicki. luckily i have somehow managed to curate my tumblr and twitter so i see stuff about louis and claudia too but content like that is hard to find

there's a new topic every day tbh so it's fine lol. I'm trying to clear my inbox today and there's like 6 diff topics. it p much always ties back to racism tho, no matter what it is, ppl just need help connecting the dots. I find it rly interesting watching the things ppl pick up from each anon and the topics ppl come to talk about here in the first place.

tbh all of these conversations have had me thinking about claudia and her queerness but I don't have full notes yet. I keep thinking of her interest in emily dickinson, someone who was isolated a lot in her life and also known thru her writing after death. I feel like claudia is talked about the least of all in these conversations and has the most to explore tbh?? she got to see queerness "growing up" but not exactly always in a healthy way or a way she'd relate to for various reasons. her line to louis in S2 "tell me what a woman is, I'll tell u what a woman is." she's influenced by both louis and lestat, succeeds where they fail, then is killed bcuz she's never allowed to be her own person outside of them anyway. and it's insane how everyone was literally saying "happy pride" cos lestat shouted down the homophobe when claudia and madeleine later died. the audience disconnect in some ppl jfc.

there's also been some talk of gabrielle and claudia meeting (in fan theories, not like it does happen or will happen). I think that's interesting to explore too bcuz gabrielle also has vaguely canon queer vibes at times but is also uncomfortable with what "woman" means, however ppl wanna interpret that. claudia has to create a version of "woman" for herself and defend it constantly. they're both trapped in their bodies in ways and I think a lot could be said in many ways surrounding queerness, gender, and privilege between an older white woman and a young black girl, especially from the same family. I don't think they'd rly get along but I do wonder what claudia would think about seeing a version of lestat as a woman instead. I also think putting lestat in a room with both of them would make him want to kill himself lol.

[just-a-carrot]

Rabbit Jerry appearing in OC means only one thing: Jerry has become a popufur (popular furry) and has started selling merch. He gets tons of parasocial fans trying to meet him at Midwest Furfest (a midwest furry convention). At least one person always tries to follow him into the headless lounge (where fursuiters take off their heads and try to cool off since the suits are suffocatingly hot). He's also more popular than Orlam is on social media, which secretly* annoys him to no end. Jerry probably only posts for Fursuit Fridays and then spends his time retweeting furry rabbit art including an absurd number of commissions he gets. Surprisingly one of the very few popufurs without drama. *Not secretly, he vague posts about it every other day on his Tumblr Now in my Expert Opinion, the next likely to be a furry is Cecil, and no one knows he is one. Emo gay furry is like an entire genre of furry. His truesona (the sona that most represents you) would be a cat and his fursona (basically whatever you want it to be) would be a dragon. Iggy isn't a furry but he fits so perfectly into the stereotype of one and honestly, I think being a furry would make his life better. He could go to conventions in a matching rabbit fursuit to Jerry's and Jerry could help him navigate around and take him to the headless lounge when he needs a break. He's probably way too confused by all the terminology and if there's a 'place to start' to ever become one, but I believe in him. ANYWAYS there's the most detailed headcanons for an audience of... uh... well, I'm only aware of one other furry Our Wonderland fan. So two! (Shoutout to her if he's reading this.)

THIS IS SO INTENSE????

I'll be real that I know nothing furries or conventions so I will take your word for it regarding all of this 🤣

I've always seen Iggy as more of a potential closet super intense cosplayer that spends years on a cosplay. he normally hates pictures of himself but somehow while cosplaying it doesn't feel like himself anymore and he actually likes it

the Jerry stuff is indeed interesting... I'll be real that I never fully thought through the implications of the Jerry poster on the wall before 🤣 it was just supposed to be silly and random dhfhfg now I'm having visions of Orlam wondering what it is Jerry gets up to all the time when he says he's too busy to come out for drinks so he starts following him around secretly and discovering all of his antics 🤣

[arthurtaylorlester]

whispers into your inbox "jmart was the worst thing that could have happened in tma; it wrecked Jon's character and is the most transparent 'how do we not have our mc become suicidal?' I have ever seen. TMA then falls into the hole of the only important or good enough relationships being romantic, discarding previous character development to throw everything into romance solves all ~ ♡ I hate it and I hate how much Jon is woobified and infantilized in the fandom to drool over Martin and I hate how everyone acts like their relationship is good, when I think either of them with 5 years of a normal life would realize how awful the relationship was for both of them." Anyway lol I expect no response or post of this I am just being spicey on anon

oh anon you thought i was gonna see a take like this and not post it?

i need you to out yourself to me because goddamn this is an interesting take!

look, i love jmart, but even with 5 seasons of development they still somehow managed to feel rushed?

i disagree in that their relationship being unhealthy is a bad thing for them, because like the appeal of podcasts for me is the fucked up relationships. fucked up characters = fucked up relationships, yknow? like john and arthur from malevolent, normally, they'd hate each other without much of a second thought, but that's not the point, they love each other despite that, and that kind of extends to jmart for me.

i also totally agree with the fandom criticism, woobifying jon is like the only tma content i see on twt and it is soooooo annoying.

my personal qualms with tma however is in part the lore decisions and how the fandom treats the lore (and also the whole podcast).

s1 is easily the best season, mostly because you have no fucking idea what's going on, but after s2 things really start feeling like they're being drawn out, at least to me? like i think season 3-4 couldve been one thing, and um. season 5 is fun if you like jmart and the eye ig. i know most of this is a gross oversimplification (not forgetting yall basira&daisy fans) but after the core cast of season 1-2 i could not really get the other characters being fundamental in the story (not georgie. i love georgie)

don't get me wrong, the not-sasha arc was amazing! but after tim died, and martin fucked off for most of a season being sad, i was a bit bored. the buried isnt interesting to me sorry.

and also they under-utilize basically every fear, including the eye, and the one that upsets me the most is the stranger. oh what is it? circus and clowns ig. LIKE OPEN UP YOUR EYES THE WORLD IS OPEN TO YOU THE UNCANNY VALLEY AS SO MANY NICHES PLEASE

and by the end of the show, it just feels like they keep rotating the same 3 fears, and the others just kind fade into the bg

and then there's the fandom. i'm sorry but some of you guys act like tma is the end-all-be-all of fiction horror podcasts. when it's just not. sorry, but the magnus archives, after s1, just isnt scary. you know what's going on, the fears! which are neatly tied into these categories of oddities!

and the show explicitly states that the 14 fears categorization is arbitrary and that they all bleed into one another, but the fandom just. ignores that? like i've heard so many people go to other podcasts and say ''oh x is so eye avatar-coded!!'' and then x just has some vague eye symbolism that isnt even the point (this is about arthur lester)

and like i don't understand how tma manages to be the most mainstream fiction podcast nowadays, when welcome to night vale is right there ! and yes, i am implying that wtnv is objectively better than tma, because wtnv despite running for 12 goddamn years has never bored me with an episode, and it has roughly the same amounts of episodes! they both have similar formats that could repetitive quick (radio show vs statements) and even though i'd say statements have more creative freedom, wtnv still manages to not be boring. this might also just be a fact of better and more varied authors but hey, this is just my opinion

i want it to be clear that i'm not trying to start discourse, i still like tma! the fanartists are some of the most talented artists i've seen, and the fics are just aughhhhhhhhhhhh /pos

[teecupangel]

Hi, I don't know if you know call of duty : modern warfare 1 and 2 but this been brainrotting me cos just imagine Desmond ending up enlisted in the millitary by some weird chance (like an undercovered mission after surviving from the Temple) and gets promoted really quick and somehow got to be got selected to be in task force 141 (they're SAS) and Desmond is like how the fuck I got selected? And everyone is like newbies doesn't take down very muscular soldiers four times their size easily and can walk silently on their feet. I also see him like some hot twink in the millitary because of Ezio charisma from his bleeds or maybe in an intimidating mysterious character because of the scar. I hope I didn't annoy you with this and btw I love your assassin's creed Ao3 works and would reread Yew Branches series and The White Aster of Masyaf 🥰❤

Hi nonny!

(Thank you! I'm so happy that the Yew Branches series and the White Aster of Masyaf so good that you would reread them and I would never be annoyed. I love getting asks of any kind and asks that makes me write plot are so fun to do ^w^)

So... My father and I play the campaign modes of all the COD games I can get my hands on for cheap XD (I have a soft spot for Advanced Warfare because the controls reminds me of Titantall 2 which is my favorite fps... next to Metro Last Light)

Unfortunately, this means that I haven’t played the reboot MW yet as I’m still waiting for them to go really cheap. :(

The OG MW Trilogy is my favorite COD campaign story though and I’ve seen some scenes so I have a vague idea of the plot of the reboot.

Anyway, let’s talk about how we can make this COD:MW x AC crossover work!

Of course, it will be set in Modern Day but that includes having all those advanced securities and other techs. Not to mention that military-grade tech is usually years ahead of the tech available to the public so it would be very risky for Desmond to falsify his records even if this was a joint Assassin-Erudito mission. Not just because of the army itself but also because Abstergo has got to have an ally or a plant there somewhere.

There is also that little thing with Abstergo posting his photos everywhere and going “have you seen this man?” but we’ll get back to that later.

I did briefly consider the idea of making this about Desmond joining the US army instead of becoming a bartender (maybe even going by the name 'Johnson' hmmmm?) but that wouldn't work since all those medical checkups would have flagged him immediately.

However…

A lot of military personnel having missions on foreign soil usually have a translator with them. Not only that, these translators are usually locals and, depending on the urgency and priority of the mission, background checks of translators could be spotty at times.

Enter Desmond using the fake id of one Eddie Richtofen (who is voiced by Nolan North in COD).

Now, in this setup, the mission has to be somewhere his Bleeds could help. This means a mission that needs a translator fluent in Italian, Arabic, or French. He’ll join as a translator for a ‘run in the mill’ job being conducted by the US Army, specifically by the US Army Rangers, 1st Battalion, 75th Regiment, Hunter 2-1 with Sergeant Foley and Private Ramirez.

They’re a special task force but this was meant to be one of the easy ones. Just a search and retrieve operation. Unfortunately, intel is too barebone so they have Desmond act as their translator when they need to talk to locals. Desmond was just there to confirm if there have been local Templar activities in the area and tagged along to make it easier to do recon.

Shit goes straight to the fan almost immediately because Desmond realizes all the locals they’re talking to are red. He and Ramirez have a kind of budding friendship going on because Desmond feels a kindred spirit for the quiet Ramirez who keeps getting ordered to do shit so he talks to Ramirez about it. Not about the Eagle Vision itself but about how something is just off with these locals. Something’s not right and all Desmond has is his guts.

Ramirez believes him because Desmond hasn’t lied to them and he gets Foley and the rest to be cautious.

That saves them when they get ambushed and the locals turn out to be an extremist group.

Things turned into a fucking shitstorm when the target they were sent to retrieve turns out to be a POE that is now hooked into this metal chamber and is emitting off the chart energy reading.

They have to retreat without retrieving the target because the extremists got reinforcement and Ramirez and Desmond get caught in a blast that sends them flying. Just as five men are about to shoot them, all five men dropped to the ground.

Desmond tries to get up but stops because he’s pretty sure he just broke a rib (or three) and sees three men quickly getting to their position. One of them knelt just ahead of them, semiautomatic aimed in front of them while the other two knelt next to Desmond and Ramirez.

The man next to Desmond wearing a tactical vest over a short sleeved black shirt informed calmly into the small radio strapped to his vest, “Bravo 7-1 to Bravo 0-6. We found two of the Americans.”

“Good work, Soap. Bring them in.”

“Roger that.”

And that’s when Desmond blacks out.

.

.

When Desmond wakes up, he’s now on a military base and he and Ramirez get debriefed about what just happened.

Long story short, Task Force 141 received more information about the POE (codename ‘Soma’) and they believe it’s being transported to Makarov who is their main target.

They still have no idea what ‘Soma’ is meant to do but those energy readings they had retrieved from Ramirez had given them an idea that it could be used to power something.

Or, worse, be used to cause a country-ending explosion.

Whatever Soma is meant to do, they must find it and intercept it before it could get to Makarov.

Of course, because there were American casualties, this has now become a joint mission between the US Army and SAS.

Taskforce 141 will be leading the operations and Ramirez gets drafted to join them as part of the whole ‘joint mission’ thing. Desmond gets roped in because they saw how he managed to take out many of the extremists with freaking knife throws and how everyone had a hard time seeing him as he stealth his way to taking out the extremists.

Of course, Desmond’s whole situation as part of the mission is iffy even when they received orders to take him in from the higher ups but someone Captain Price trusts vouches for him.

Captain MacMillan who may or may not be an Assassin who knows Bill Miles or may just be an ally of the Assassins. All Desmond knows is that MacMillan vouched for him with a “He’s my friend’s estranged son. Good man, terrible father. Kid went world-hopping to get away from his bastard of a father when he was sixteen.”

Not only that, this whole joint mission was scrambled together in a hurry and it was not helped by the fact that they need to find and retrieve Soma before it reaches Makarov so the Assassins were able to cobble together Desmond’s cover story and they had helped from the higher-ups in the US to make it all legit.

So Desmond Miles is now a military kid with a retired father who have all his missions classified. He’s now using his real name because the Assassins weren’t exactly that smart and they were on a time crunch too.

His world-hopping turned to him joining a secret task force (which may or may not have been implied to be the CIA) and the whole ‘terrorist thing’ was a way to get him some ‘street-cred’ so he could go undercover and infiltrate a secret terrorist group.

“Wait, if you were undercover since 2012, why are you now pretending to be a translator?” Soap asked with a slight frown.

“Mission was done.” Desmond shrugged, “Got a new mission. My handlers told me this translator job would be a good way to ease me back into the field.”

“And now you’re part of a joint task force under stressful time pressure. Wow, mate. Your luck sucks.”

“Yeah… it’s like the world hates me.”

.

.

.

Unorganized Notes:

Soap, Ramirez, and Desmond are usually called the three stooges and they get roped into doing tasks together a lot during missions.

Desmond’s Haytham Bleed once slips and he starts speaking in his posh British accent when he gets into an argument with a member of Shadow Company, after that Gaz starts teasing him and calling him ‘milord’ much to his chagrin.

141 starts making bets on what is Desmond’s actual nationality. Haytham’s Bleed has Gaz firmly believe that Desmond is from old money (like all boys boarding school trust fund baby type) and is a British pretending to be an American. Soap thinks he’s European, probably Italian or French. Ghost didn’t want to join in but Soap is persistent so fuck it. He picks Middle Eastern because he once heard Desmond speak Arabic and Ghost just knows that accent is Syrian. (“How do you know his accent is Syrian?” “I just know.” “That’s not an answer, LT.”)

They meet up with Alejandro and Rudy later on because they believe Soma is traveling to Mexico and all of 141 loses it when they learn Desmond speaks Spanish (thanks to Ezio traveling to Spain for a bit)

Because of Desmond’s secretive past, his ability to turn anything into a weapon (even a freaking spoon), being a polygot, being very quick on his feet but staying quiet even when he’s holding a grenade launcher of all things, everyone is pretty sure he’s CIA.

Desmond’s unofficial nickname is ‘Spooks’ because they believe he’s CIA and he has a habit of making people jump whenever he’s suddenly next to them and they didn’t even hear him.

I don’t like how they made Shepherd into a typical corrupt military commander in the reboot so we’re sticking with OG Shepherd’s personality in this idea…………… this does mean that he has a more drastic plan for the future though

Speaking of Shepherd, Shepherd is an Assassin in this one. To be more precise, he’s the Bellec type of Assassin.

Captain Price has an idea of what the Assassins and Templars are but he’s not fully in the know. However, he does know Berg because he once had a mission with him back when Berg was part of the Finnish Special Forces (and Berg’s name was part of the shortlist for 141 members, he was removed when Price learned of his Abstergo affiliations)

Speaking of: Kate Laswell has been secretly looking into Abstergo but she’s been hitting brick walls and she’s sure it’s because someone in Abstergo is on to her. Since she’s CIA, she doesn’t mind getting her hands dirty and she’s been secretly colluding with Erudito to gain more intel on Abstergo. She doesn’t know about the Assassins yet but she’s sure that this little favor of helping Desmond be a CIA operative (with possible deniability of course) means that Desmond is part of Erudito and that Soma is connected to Abstergo.

Both Kate and Shepherd prepared different backstories for Desmond and both of them didn’t know about the other’s plans until Desmond was already noted to be a military kid turned CIA operative with missions filled with so many black lines it would have been easier to just leave full black papers on his files instead. That was… an awkward conversation to have.

Desmond is on his own because it's too risky to stay in contact with Shaun and Rebecca. However, Shaun and Rebecca leave messages that Desmond could only find if he uses his Eagle Vision in the army bases they're sure Desmond would stop by (thanks to Kate's intel). One of them leads to a box that has Desmond's hidden blade.

Captain Price may or may not have Eagle Vision. Desmond isn't sure yet.

[robinswise]

okayyyy unpopular opinion that will more then likely turn into a rant!

EDDIE 'THE FREAK' MUNSON IS THE BANE OF MY EXISTENCE

AAAAAA

ok.

I. Do. Not. Like. Eddie. Munson.

Just to get this out of the way, I don't hate Joseph Quinn at all, he's a great actor, but I hate Eddie.

OKAY I NEED TO ACTUALLY GET TO THE POINT-

Eddie is an asshole

Why couldn't he push the dnd campaign to a different day? Is there a reason? I don't think there was, I don't remember there being one and when I googled it, sure enough, there doesn't seem to be a reason.

Really couldn't his role have been given to pretty much any of the characters?

Mike.

Lucas.

Dustin.

Jonathan would've made the most sense (to me) if he wasn't in Cali (in season 1 we know some people thought Jonathan might've k!lled Will, so they could've thought he did the same to Chrissy)

Even Steve.

Honestly, even Max could've been given the role

Also, I don't dislike most people who like Eddie, alot of them are just really obsessed (like a scary level of obsession)

ALSO STEDDIE-

I posted about them positively one time a while ago but no I do not ship them.

The context for that post was that I didn't hate Steddie - at the time I even vaguely liked them (or more specifically, I liked the way that certain people wrote them) but I didn't ship them, they just made the most sense for that specific idea and I didn't hate them at the time.

I was reading something that was part of a longer series of posts and the person had hinted that Stonathan would be in it but then suddenly Eddie appeared and Steddie was heavily implied - which normally wouldn't be an issue but they didn't tag it with Eddie or Steddie.

Anyways, Argyle is in my opinion the better character added in season 4.

Another thing, it didn't bother me initially but Eddie stans acting like Eddie and Dustin's friendship is so unique is really annoying to me-

Because- no- like sure, he's close with Eddie, but the friendship is not unique whatsoever, in terms of older brother like friends he had Steve, in terms of outcast nerds who like dnd he had the party, and in terms of friends with attitude problems he had Mike and Max

Also, was his death really all that shocking? It fit the st formula perfectly! Introduce a new character just to k!ll them off

Benny

Barb

Bob

Billy

Even in search 4 we got Chrissy Fred and Patrick

About his crazy fans - not all are like this, I've met some genuinely nice Eddie fans who've written genuinely good Steddie ficlets - but was sending death threats necessary? Because I just don't get why that whole thing happened.

I think Eddie coming back in any form other then a flashback or Vecna vision would just maks me upset tbh, like actually, what would be the point? They already pulled "look he's actually alive!" Trick with Hopper (and to an extent, Will) so doing it a third time (even for such a fan favorite) would just feel lazy to me

Also, in my opinion, Will would dislike Eddie, so many people say that Will would love him but to me, I feel like it would be very out of character for him to like Eddie (knowing that Will doesn't like extra attention - at least not from people who might judge and/or ridicule him - and Eddie actively draws it)

I feel like the fact we only got a reaction to Eddie's death from Dustin and Wayne is really telling as to how little importance he actually had, because even Mike who was friends with Eddie didn't know about his death - or at least his reaction wasn't important enough to show.

I found Eddie's guitar solo to be very pointless and even rather boring.

Also, there are people who ship Eddie with Billy?? Ew.

Even as someone who does not like Eddie at all I can confidently say that he deserves better and would probably not fall for that walking piece of dog shit (once again, I don't hate Dacre Montgomery I just hate Billy)

Anyways, in short, I don't mind Joseph Quinn or Eddie's fans, I know there's definitely worse characters in the show, and at the end of the day I'm just a nerd on the internet who's been fixated on the same subject for probably way to long so it's fine to have a different opinion then me

[ladyluscinia]

Ok one last dip into "the Izcourse" before I take my own advice and pivot to rewatching S1 in prep and posting about what I love!

We get a lot of trolls, and harassers, and staunch antis looking to pick a fight with the "bad fans" who either drop bait or jump on people's posts to be annoying. That's the flame war part of all this mess. But we also get a fair number of posts from "neutral" people that I want to gripe about for a moment because at least the antis are misrepresenting "what Izzy fans believe / discuss" because they are actively against my take on the show for whatever reason. But it's more annoying to me personally when it's just... a lack of effort.

(And I've mentioned this before)

Like... a "neutral" observer weighing in on "The Izcourse" is a member of the general fandom who doesn't care enough about Izzy to really be an anti. Their perspective on the matter is coming from directly or indirectly following people in the antis' main meta circle. We know this, because just about every neutral person who was not from this background got classified as an Izzy apologist / problematic Edward thoughtcrimer and they are counted as in "the Canyon" now. We watched it happen a lot over the past year and a half. So the observer is not neutral, not really, but they probably aren't heavily blocking / blocked if they don't care and don't talk about Izzy.

Which makes it so frustrating when they feel the need to bring up "concerning" trends among Izzy fans and their interpretations and then they don't know what those interpretations are.

Like - in the most patient tone I can possibly manage - scrolling a bit of the Izzy Hands tag and taking fans squeeing about their blorbo as evidence there is no nuance in meta and too much babygirlifying here is dumb as fuck. Hell, even isolating a recent meta post and going "well I don't agree with this because XYZ" is still very much a "so what?" situation because that one person is not representing all Izzy fans? And also you still have a huge blind spot.

Because meta is - at its core - a collaborative structure.

You can't experience a particular branch of meta primarily through people vaguing or screenshotting and dunking on whatever looks the worst, then skim a little bit of a tag and be able to confidently call out what the "problematic trends" are. You can't even understand where the random meta you singled out is coming from, because you don't know which posts they've been looking at for over a year. And this is all really highlighted by the fact when you go to dissect that post you disagree with, you'll do it by just saying things that you understand to be established, well-defended facts from your own circle of meta and not back them up at all. Because in your mind you don't need to! And yet the post you're disagreeing with won't make sense because they are just assuming things and talking about this fanon version of Izzy you don't recognize. 🤷‍♀️

(This is why my typical meta post is linking to three separate discussions, lol. I'm building off of things said before like basically every meta writer, but I want those things referenced.)

If you aren't going to actually put in the effort to identify which blogs are the "major players" and then go back through tags or their popular posts or whatever to get an actual idea of what the meta structure Izzy Canyon has spent over a year discussing contains, then at least don't disparagingly comment on those people and discussions while lumping them into one "problematic" hive mind??? You don't know what you're talking about because you didn't care, and that's whatever. Just please stop confidently conflating random blog #7's generally happy post about how "i can't wait for my fave little guy to have friends 💕" with a concerning lack of discussions on Izzy's relationship with the crew.

My "#ofmd meta" tag - among others - is full of almost exclusively Izzy Canyon blogs writing complex posts about all sorts of things from romcom genre conventions to POC fans' takes on Edward's cptsd, and it's beyond annoying to see them repeatedly insinuated to have the depth of a puddle because the antis prefer to pile on a headcanon about Izzy reading and turn it into an insult to Edward's intelligence, and all the "neutral" blogs take it as gospel.

[puffin-smoke]

Two days ago y'all saw Duarte at their lowest. Duarte trying to fix a mistake they had made years ago and being met with a brick wall. So let's see what got them here. Let's talk about:

Natalie Rollins and the Worst Mistake Duarte Ever Made

please ignore my theatrical ass, i'm very excited :DD

Duarte first met Natalie a month into their hunting career. They were bright eyed and bushy tailed, earning the nickname Lightningbug at every turn. She'd only done a few successful hunts, and for half-bloods that had bounties worth as much as dirt, but she was trying to claw her way to notoriety nonetheless. And for that she needed one big job.

She strolled into the inn where notices and bounties were posted one evening. She knew there'd be a notice up for a newly spotted electric eel half-blood, who had supposedly been electrocuting any hunters who got close. Perfect for Duarte. But when she got up to the notice board there was no poster in sight. She looked over to the barkeep, who was in charge of putting up the posters each day.

"Where the hell's that new eel poster? You not put it up yet?"

"Already taken, kid." They didn't look up from the glass they were polishing. They gestured vaguely towards a table on the far side of the room. "You still want it, take it up with her. She snagged it the moment I put it up."

Duarte followed his hand towards the table. That was where Natalie was sitting. Duarte swore and a few patrons gave her the stink eye.

Natalie was a well established hunter. She'd been in this game since she was eighteen and had built up a rapport with the other hunters over the years. So naturally she wasn't the biggest fan of Duarte. She tended to have that effect on people.

Undeterred, or maybe just a bit stupid, Duarte walked up to her and took a seat, grinning. She propped her boots up on the table. Just play it cool.

Natalie gave her one annoyed look over her drink and that was it. No other acknowledgement that she was there.

"So, Nat! How's your evening been?"

"Firstly, don't call me that. Second, just cut to the chase, I know why your here." She sighed and pushed Duarte's feet off the table. "And the answer is no. This is my bounty, fair and square."

Duarte drops the smile. "Oh come on, this is a big job- you can't handle this! "

Bad move. Duarte knew that. Natalie scoffed. "And you can?"

"Course I can!" She replies, entirely earnest. She was a damn good hunter, who just needed some good luck. She slowly leans towards Natalie,trying to inconspicuously snatch the poster and make a run for it. Natalie moves it away, unimpressed.

"Go find something else, Lightningbug."

"You know I hate being called that."

"Then leave."

And so she did, grumbling and swearing the whole time. But she'd be back. Duarte knew that Natalie liked to plan out her hunts in detail, and thus she'd be back on that table to flesh out her plan. Duarte still had a chance.

It'd be simple. Turn up the charm, befriend the hunter and snag the case. Easy. She could be charming. Probably. Maybe she could just bug her into handing it over.

So she shows up the next day, finding Natalie at that same table, nose deep in a book with sea creatures etched into the cover. Duarte pushes the book down so she can meet her eyes, and grins. Natalie looks back at her, unimpressed.

"You're back. Why am I not suprised?"

"I'm here to see if you've thought anymore about my offer?"

Natalie nearly laughs. "Your "offer" was you insulting me and trying to order me about. Not very convincing."

The conversation doesn't go anywhere from there and eventually Duarte leaves.

The next day is alot of the same. Natalie had a new book that was somehow thicker than the last volume, and Duarte once trying her hand at either annoying or persuading the hunter.

"...so, if you're so intent on doing this job, then why haven't you already?"

"I'm not about to get myself fried by going in half-cocked." She gestures to a diagram in her book. A detailed map of all of an electric eels organs and what they do, how the electricity is discharged, with several handwritten notes peppered around it. "Everything has a weakness. "

Duarte cocks her head, still not entirely sees the point. "Couldn't you figure out that by actually going to fight the damn thing?"

"I could also die. Not intent on doing that any time soon."

"Hm. Not what I would do."

"I'm sure."

After a few days of this, Duarte shows up early, and takes a seat before Natalie can get the chance. Natalie arrives a half hour later, her arms filled with parchment and a new book, this one a very uniform teal. She surveys Duarte critically.

"You're in my spot."

"There's room next to me, if you'd like."

Natalie for a moment looks as though she's assessing if she could throw a book hard enough to kill Duarte. Seeming to decide that would be too messy, she dumps her books on the table and takes a seat. "Fine. Don't touch my stuff."

Duarte nods and grins. Natalie spreads her papers across the table, each one of them with more detailed diagrams that Duarte didn't understand. Might as well find out. "What's all this for? Find the weakness yet?"

She'd meant it mildly mockingly, but Natalie didn't seem to take it that way. Or maybe she just ignored it. She ignored alot of things Duarte said. "It's the electricity that's tripping me up... it'll make it harder for me to grab them, and knives are out of the question."

Their mind whirrs. "What about blunt force? One knock to the back of the head, they'll be out like a light."

Natalie nods, as though conceding a point to her. "Could work. It's getting close that's the problem; this thing releases electrical impulses, so the half-blood'll probably do something similar."

"Hm. So what's the plan?"

For the first time, Natalie looked confused, but quickly set her features back, that stern, unreachable expression. "Well, I'm going to have to find some kind of insulator." Her eyes go back to scanning the parchment, the book. "It can't be wood- that's too clunky, this guy'll probably be slippery. I need to be fast."

Duarte noticed the emphasis on certain words. It was fine. It was a reminder. She was getting to mixed up in the fast pace of the conversation. It had been nice, a break from the hostility she treated most hunters with. Duarte swallows and snipes. "That'll be a first for you then. Sure you can handle it?"

"Oh fuck off." Natalie bats them in the chest, playfully yet spiteful. "If I couldn't handle it I would've given the job over to you, Lightningbug."

Duarte was half tempted to hit her back, but lowered her hand. "There's still time for that."

The hunter laughs. It's short, restrained, but tunic. "Still no."

Duarte sinks down into their seat, defeated. "Fine." A thought crosses her mind. A solution maybe. "Would leather work?"

Its a throwaway thought. Just her thinking out loud, fully prepared to be shot down. But Natalie doesn't. Her face, at times, is easy to read and this is one of them. Her eyes widen for a split second, the corner of her lips cinch. She's fascinated. Suprised. "Shit."

"Shit?"

The hunter stands. Thoughts flicker behind her eyes, a mile a minute. Duarte can't help but watch them. Natalie begins to collect her things, dumping them into her bag at random. "No- shit- that could work. That might work- how the hell didn't I think of that?"

Duarte smirked and set their hands behind her head, lounging as much as her chair would allow her. "That's just what happens when you work with the-"

She stopped mid sentence when she realised that Natalie was already gone. "Oh." She sits there for the next twenty minutes, feeling too embarrassed for her liking, shame colouring her cheeks. She was gone, off to plan and read diagrams that Duarte didn't understand. Duarte didn't want to look into why she felt so annoyed with herself.

The next night Duarte sat alone at the bar. She'd checked the notice board a dozen times by now, searching for something to peak her interest. Nothing. So she sat alone, barely touching her drink, planning her next move.

That was when she felt a tap on her back. "You gonna sit there moping all night? We've got a job to do."

Natalie?

Duarte spun in her seat, whirling around to face her, almost falling off her seat in the process. She scrambled to regain her composure, but nothing could hide the surprise in her eyes. "The hell are you doing here?"

The hunter squints at her as though it were obvious. "Getting you." She throws what initially looks like a rag to Duarte. But she looks a little closer and it's anything but. It's essentially leather overalls, stitched together roughly, as though done with shaking hands. There's a mask and matching gloves in the pockets. "Now come on, this is a two person job."

Duarte shouldn't be sitting there slack-jawed but she is. Natalie, mildly concerned now, pokes her. "You suddenly not want this? I can always go to someone else-"

That gets her to stand up. "No!" She yells a little too loud. She cringes at herself. "I mean, no. We're splitting the reward right?"

"There you are, Lightningbug." The hunter laughs again, once more tight and short. The note of a song cut short. She sighs. "And no need to get ahead of yourself."

And with that she leads Duarte out of the tavern, and the hunt is on.

The pair throw the majority of their weapons into a bush: Duarte's harpoon, Natalie's crossbow, the combined sum of their knives. Anything that had metal. Their only weaponry was a finely carved wooden stake and a thick wooden club. They donned the outfits and began to stalk through the swamp. The plan, which Natalie explained in unsparing detail, was for Duarte to come at the half-blood from the front and Natalie from behind. Easy.

It didn't take long for them to find the half-blood, perched at the edge of a brook. Gills flexed and twitched as the half-blood drunk, webbed fingers let them catch more water in hand. Scales ran across their skin, dark and glittering. Duarte took one deep breath. She looked to Natalie, who nodded and continued onwards.

With that, Duarte smiled underneath the mask. This was going to be fun.

To summarise, the hunt went off without a hitch. Duarte had been annoyed that she had to be bait at first, but it had only taken a moment for her to fully sink into the role. While she came at the half-blood from the front, Natalie snuck up from behind. One hit from the bat and the half-blood was out like a light.

Duarte would eventually look back on this night and want to vomit. But that's neither here nor there.

For a moment the pair of hunters stood in silence, the quiet only interrupted by laboured breathing. Duarte was the first to speak. She grinned.

"Told you that you needed me."

Natalie rolls her eyes. "Don't get cocky." She nods towards the unconscious body. "Now, grab their legs. Let's get 'em to the arena."

And they do. The half-blood is disposed of, the reward is split. This was when Duarte had planned to leave. To go back to ignoring Natalie, to their own self imposed isolation. This was exactly what she needed, the big job. A big enough notch on her belt to give her the notoriety she deserved. She could go back to normal.

But she doesn't. She finds Natalie at that table the next day. And the next. It was a game to Duarte. Life was always a game to her.

"What's the point of this again? I'm pretty sure we could take this bozo on in our sleep."

"Mhm, and I don't want that sleep to last forever. So shut up, I'm tryna read."

Trading snipes and taunts came easy to Duarte, and even easier with Natalie. It was comforting. Exhilarating. But above all it was fascinating to learn more about her hunter. She'd previously seemed so untouchable, so above it all. A personality hidden behind intelligent blue eyes. Slowly that gruffness was stripped away, and Duarte could finally see what was underneath. The sparkle in her eyes when she has an idea. The way her jaw sets when she's frustrated. The way her laugh is like a silver bell.

"Fucking hell- someday I'm not gonna be around to save you, y'know that?."

"Oh, thank the divines, I can die in peace."

It was all a game to Duarte. A wonderful, fascinating game.

The first time she kissed Natalie was a game as well. And it had been fun. She'd thought about it for so long. Looking into her eyes from up close. Losing herself in them. Running her hands through her hair.

A game. Only a game.

It was a cold day in December. The windows were coated with a thin layer of frost, painting the outside world blurry and cold. But it was warm inside, it was safe. Duarte was staying with Natalie, who was renting out a room in town from some kind old lady. The two had just caught wind of a particularly interesting bounty; a hawk half-blood who'd recently escaped the arena. Some idiot had upped it's dose of Malesycthe and it had gotten loose. Right now they were running wild through the swamps, lost, confused, deranged.

Thus the two had gone to work immediately, books and files all spread across their bed with both hunter's perched on either side, looking for an insight. A weakness.

The two had been joking around, shooting the shit as they always did. It was normal. Duarte called Natalie a bookworm, Natalie called her a regular one. They did this everyday.

"oh my god- shit, I could get used to this."

That wasn't. That wasn't normal, that scared Duarte.

Duarte laughed. "The hell do you mean?"

There was a smile on Natalie's lips. "Just... this. You and me."

Duarte knew what came next. Those next three words. She could hear them.

And for some reason it fucking terrified her. The warmth suddenly felt choking, the safety like an iron grip. She couldn't do this. Natalie kept talking, kept smiling. It was beautiful but it was unknown.

"I just... I think this is the best it's ever gonna get for me. I-"

Duarte stood. "I- I've got to go."

Natalie's face fell. Some of that steeliness returned to her eyes, as though to fight off the shock that invaded them. "What? Why, did something-"

Duarte couldn't let her finish the sentence. "No. I mean yes. I can't do this- I have to go."

With that she turned on her heel and ran, sprinted. She didn't look back. She exploded down the stairs, almost tripping over her own feet. Where was she going? She didn't know. Just away.

It just made it all feel so real, so vivid. This was just supposed to be a game, a way to have fun and unwind, to propel her career forwards. It was just a game.

She still has the wanted poster in her hands. She must have grabbed it on her way out. She examines the crude drawing of the half-blood, the feathered skin, the beady eyes. She shrugs. "Might as well."

So she heads out later that night, harpoon in hand. She stalks through the woods, mildly lost, until she hears it. The shriek of a hawk, shrill and grating. It echoes through the night, silencing the chirping crickets and the whispering trees. The noise gets closer and closer, a scream, a war cry.

Duarte is knocked to the ground, talons raking across her skin. Her head hits the ground with a crack, and blood begins to run down her neck. She clambers to her feet, her vision for a moment blurry, gripping the harpoon in her hands.

The figure standing before her is bigger than anything the poster could have depicted. Feathers are draped from its arms, dirt and blood ridden. Talons like knives, gleaming in the moonlight, shimmering in the darkness. Long and slender. Its eyes were wild, bloodshot, its pupils pinpricks.

Staring right at Duarte.

Crap.

For a moment the two circled each other, a stalemate. The half-blood's mouth was foaming, drool hanging from it's jagged teeth. It's fists clench, it shifts onto it's back legs, rearing up to pounce. To lunge. A voice cuts through the tension.

"Oh shit- Duarte, you fucking idiot-"

Natalie. She runs in from the woods, crossbow in hand. With shaking hands she loads a bolt into the bow, movements somehow still precise and sharp. She-

The half-blood turns from Duarte to Natalie and lunges. It throws her to the ground, knocking her crossbow across the grass, out of arms reach. She desperately tries to throw the beast off of her, kicking, slapping, biting, screaming. It's no use. It's frenzied eyes have no mercy in them.

A bloodcurdling scream rings out across the swamps. Blood is splattered across the grass, dying it a deep crimson. Blood flows from the wound in Natalie's throat like water. A choking noise replaces the scream.

All Duarte can do is stand there. Frozen. Watching.

The half-blood looks up from its meal and turns to Duarte for a split second. It's eyes a threat. A promise.

Duarte doesn't know much but she knows she doesn't want to be next. So she runs. She runs and runs until she's back in town and can regret it.

But her mind hides regret and shame with a blanket of embarrassment and fear. A mound of what ifs. Justifications for what happened, for what she did. Her mind was good at that, always doubling down and convincing her she was in the right.

Natalie survives the attack; she managed to grab one of her knives from her boot and force the half-blood off that way. She ran home, hand plastered against her neck, desperately trying to staunch the bleeding. By the time she got back to town, all she could do was collapse onto pavement into a pool of her own blood. Someone was kind enough to help her, and smart enough to know healing magic. So Natalie survived. She couldn't speak for six months, couldn't hunt for eight, but she survived.

Still Duarte never spoke to her again.

Something within her didn't see the point; everything had worked out in the end. Natalie was alive, the half-blood was dead, and Duarte was back to doing what they were good at. Rushing into hunts the moment she could. It was efficiency. She never got a chance to speak to Natalie, and it seemed she didn't want to be spoken to. Every time the pair's eyes met, Natalie looked away, something sad washing through her eyes. Maybe some of the embarrassment Duarte herself held.

Eventually she quit hunting for good and moved away. Duarte never saw her eyes again but dreamt of them constantly, an anchor in the wave of reasoning in her mind. A true north.

But it was just a game to Duarte Cardoza. One she would never change her strategy for.

-----

And that's it! That's why Natalie hates Duarte, and slapped her in the face. Same girl, same.

Here's the letter Duarte sent her, the one that she mentioned in the scenario post.

Dear To Natalie Rollins

I know this letter will probably come as a shock to you, and maybe an annoyance. But I need to talk to you.

I know I don't have the right to ask anything of you after how things ended and how I acted, but could we please talk? I need to know if you could ever forgive me for what I let happen. Please

From, Duarte Cardoza

She rewrote that letter twenty times.

[uselessheretic]

weighing in on the "should you interact with anti izzy posts or not" because i love to talk to myself:

i don't think it's a black and white thing tbh. more than anything, i think people should seriously examine their motivations for responding to hateful posts in that at times it can be a bit self harming. especially if you find yourself seeking out conflict, or are spending more time in fandom responding to negativity rather than doing things that make you happy.

one thing i think izzy fans do well is maintain a balance of ensuring their fandom experience is predominantly focused on things that spark joy. which happens to mostly be sexualizing that old man. for a lot of izzy stans, if you scroll through their twitter/tumblr, it'll be more about liking him as a character than generic izcourse. when it comes to izzy discourse, it kinda has flashes across izzy side of fandom where people respond in short bursts before largely just moving on. can't say the same about izzy haters.

when it comes to responding to things, i largely think there's not a point in direct interaction, however, i wouldn't say it's completely without merit. sometimes i'll respond to long "meta" in the izzy tag literally just because if i have to see your bullshit take then you have to deal with mine as well. that's the tradeoff for being obnoxious in the izzy tag.

i think there can be value in correcting misinformation or refusing to allow the narrative to be controlled completely by izzy haters. "here's why izzy is racist" is annoying and i don't think the main people perpetuating this will ever admit they're wrong. Still, at the same time a lot of these posts are full of misinformation. this misinfo gets parroted throughout fandom and that's bad. "donkey is a slur against polynesians" is a good example. it's not. that was made up on tumblr. every polynesian person i've ever seen comment on this has all said that they have never encountered this as a slur irl. find me a single source outside of tumblr that says "donkey is a slur against polynesians" for fucking real.

the issue with this though is what constitutes as harassment. disagreement doesn't equate to harassment. responding to someone's meta isn't harassment. izzy haters purposefully position disagreement against them as harassment and instances of bigoted behavior. i remember someone once listing an example of how izzy stans are racist as "made fun of a post about how izzy is homophobic." the poster was white. the person who made fun of it was me, a black fan. this isn't racism. at most this is me being a bitch.

i don't think that necessarily means that you should never interact, disagree, vague, or screencap random bullshit. i do think you need to be intentional as well as firm. it will only harm you more if you concede to allowing people to describe your actions as abusive when you know for a fact that they are not. words like harassment, racism, homophobia, stalking, abuse, etc all have meaning. they have definitions and while there can be gray areas when it comes to certain things, the limitations for what constitutes as abusive does not change just because you've arbitrarily decided that you are the good guy in this interaction.

overall, i think there can be times when having conversation, even ones of disagreement, has value. i don't think everybody with a shitty opinion is a malicious actor who needs to be discarded immediately. that said, there are groups in fandom who have demonstrated time and time again to have zero ability to self reflect and are overall narcissistic, self obsessed, navel gazing folks deadset on defending their ignorance to the death. there isn't any use in direct engagement. all it does is feed a perpetual victim mentality and gives them the attention they so desperately crave.

also? while we're here? keep receipts. i'm not even joking. screencap shit when you do have a direct confrontation. if you criticize someone's meta make sure you have their exact words. when someone insults you keep that on hand. people straight up lie on here and when they do shit like say "izzy bought ed as a slave" or "you can go send izzy stans hate for all i care" or "i'm not being passive aggressive, i'm being aggressive" hold them to that. if not for any other reason other than the fact that it's kinda funny watching them lie on their mother that they never actually said this and clearly this was a misinterpretation that only occurred because they are 12 years old and super sleepy when they wrote this and didn't actually mean it like that :((

[golbrocklovely]

What's you opinion on the colby and mlp drama? I see some fans are mad at him for "breaking her heart", cause the poor girl was waiting around for 8 years in the hopes of him finally making her his girlfriend and he has the audacity to date another girl. For all we know they're never been in a committed relationship.Her fans should be encouraging her to finally getting over him and move on.

i've gotten an ask about this before, a week or so back. i was against commenting on it just bc i don't want to give mlp the time of day. but as things have slowly played out, via her and her fans… i don't really feel the need to stay silent on it.

there's a lot i'm probably gonna say, so this will most likely be a very long post lol

and to those of you that hate-read the shit i post - especially since you like mlp so much - i ask you kindly to read completely thru. i know that's a lot, but please consider doing it, especially before you send in an ask calling me a "dick rider" for colby just bc i don't immediately say he's a slut and a douchebag for breaking her heart :)

i'm gonna give the briefest of rundowns for those that don't know.

first off, if you want to know how i feel about mlp, here is an ask i answered a while ago detailing most (if not all) of the shit she has done over the years.

secondly tbh, i never understood her relationship with colby. sure, they were always weirdly flirty, seemingly in a will-they-won't-they type of thing. but her livestreams have painted an ENTIRELY different picture. one that paints her as a bit…. unhinged, imo. he doesn't look great either, but i'll get into it.

now, what has been happening recently: i pop in occasionally to her streams but for the most part i steer clear bc she annoys me too much. i have friends that tell me everything, plus you guys. but i have witnessed some stuff with my own two eyes. when she first started streaming, she was NONSTOP talking about colby. answered any and all questions about him, how they were super close, talked about adventure buddies, said all the good poems in her book are about him, even saying she was gonna have him on at some point soon. and she was gonna have him in videos soon as well.

as you have pointed out, anon, her fans are mad that he "broke her heart" but how that became "reality", so to speak, stems from this: her sister asked her what she was doing for nye, and mlp said she had no plans bc "no one asked her yet" to do anything. fast forward to after colby's bday, aka around the time the pics of him and m leaked, and suddenly mlp is not streaming.

the stream she did a couple days after colby's bday is a new level of crazy i haven't seen from her bc she just aired it ALL out. and even if she didn't do that, her fans with their big ass mouths on twitter, insta, and tiktok, have been doing it for her.

she explained to her chat that she just went thru a breakup, basically. that it was an eight/nine year long situationship that was on and off again…. interestingly, her and colby have been friends since 2015. which would be…. eight/nine years.

very clearly, she is talking about colby, without saying his name.

now, there was someone in chat that said something about situationships, someone else asked what a situationship is, and the person replied with "a sexual relationship but with no commitment" or something vaguely like that. mlp immediately said "oh that's not what i had."

………so, you're telling me that whatever went on between the two of them….. wasn't sexual…. at all??? maybe i don't understand what a situationship is then, bc i was under the impression that the SEX PART was kinda the whole point. otherwise…. you just kinda have a friendship. an emotional situationship is just not a thing lol

even tho she kept telling her chat "i can't talk about this", she just kept going. she said that la changes ppl, that she thought they were on the same page for years and then all of sudden things took a turn. she thought she knew him well bc she was so close to him for so long. she can't talk about it publicly bc it's "too obvious" and she has to stay offline bc it's all on social media (which really just… seals the deal that it's about colby lol). she said she cried in his face and he said nothing. she also, verbatim, said "it's like one week you're their everything and then the next they want to go party and be with crazy girls and i'm not crazy" which…. cmon girl. you might as well have said m's name atp.

now, with all of this out of the way… how do i personally feel about this, since my opinion is so valid lol jk

for years, mlp has made it her mission to plant the seeds thru out the fandom that her and colby were secretly dating behind the scenes. that they had something going on but "oh guys, i can't talk about it ;)", playing coy and never outright shutting down the rumors. i have literal ss from her fan accounts saying "you guys don't know the truth. of course colby would never tell the full story" and shit like that. these are fans that fully were in GROUP CHATS with her for years, listening to her every word. so it's very clear to me she was telling them directly what was going on.

or at least the good parts - that her and colby were a thing.

but colby CONSISTENTLY has said time and time again that he is single, that he is not looking for a gf, that he hasn't had one since 2016, that he hasn't met someone he wants to spend the rest of his life with. he has said all of that to us for YEARS. now, unless bts he was saying to mlp "oh baby, you know i'm just lying to the fans" that is the ONLY WAY he would be completely in the wrong here. regardless, colby has been seen publicly with girls so. many. times. mlp has been called out for liking edits making fun of said girls! she's also been rumored to be his guard dog, to loom over him, that he needs to "keep his bitch on a lease" - and the ppl who said this were the girls that were fucking with him. so she isn't in the dark that he is with other ppl.

and again, a situationship is NONCOMMITTAL. that means they aren't dedicated to each other. she herself has been with other guys, she admitted that. so why is it colby is the asshole here?

her fans are claiming that he flaked on her, that he chose m over her….. babes, that's not how this works. first off, again - noncommittal. these are the terms and conditions they BOTH agreed to. they have been playing this cat and mouse game since like 2016. nothing about their relationship has changed since then, let's be honest here. secondly, she literally said out loud "no one has asked me" aka COLBY DIDN'T MAKE PLANS WITH HER. so, he can't flake on someone he didn't make plans with. and this is no shade to mlp - but she doesn't drink, she doesn't party. colby for years has always been a partier. what exactly was he supposed to do with her on nye???? i'm not saying that to be mean. i say this as someone who is a wallflower, a stick in the mud, a prude, a straight-edge, ect ect. i haven't partied since i was in my early 20s. i get the lifestyle she has. i'm just saying realistically, of course he's not gonna want to hang out with her on one of the biggest nights to party.

now, all of this is not to say that she is the only one that did wrong in this situationship. colby should have said something long before now. but he liked that she emotionally supported him, he liked he could rely on her for his emotional needs to be fulfilled. he should have realized how deeply into him she was. he should have cut the chord long before things got to what they are today. but to bring it back to mlp, since this is about her mostly - she is 30. THIRTY. she has been playing this game since her early 20s. she knew what she signed up for. they haven't even had sex. with all that deep emotional bond shit they had going on - they never got intimate in that way. and clearly, she never had a problem with it. until now.

i think for the entirety of their relationship, mlp knew at the drop of a hat colby would come running to her - and vice versa. i think this is the ONE TIME he chose someone else over her. that, tied with the fact that she was making all these promises of him being in her content - videos, her documentary, streams - she NEEDED colby to say yes to all of this. and maybe he said yes, but then changed his mind. maybe he said he was too busy, and when she found out what he was busy with (hanging out with m on nye), it finally clicked that he was not into her like she was into him. even tho as a fan that has been obvious for years now.

and while i don't like mlp, i don't wish her harm. i don't wish her to be heart broken or sad. i know exactly what she is going thru. all of my dating experience has been unrequited love. i get it. trust me. however, you can't play innocent and naive. you knew what colby was doing all this time. and sure, he's a dick for not stopping this sooner. but you clearly knew what was up - YOU COULD HAVE LEFT. you had years, eight years in fact, to leave at any point. but you accepted what you could get, and you milked it for all it was worth. not to mention, but how did you expect him to want to be with you when you are in gcs with his minor fans talking about him constantly??? that man likes to keep things private, and you were basically shouting it from the rooftops.

not only that, but you played the fun game of shitting on any girl he was friends with or hooking up with. and only apologized when you got called out for it. and then tried to play the whole "i'm all for women supporting women" bs. let's be real honest, cards on the table - you only support women when you deem them as nonthreatening. the moment a woman is competition to you, especially in regards to getting attention from colby, you shit on them. bc you're scared. you're scared he will choose them over you.

also this doesn't even take into the fact that why would you want him to date you at this point when he has made it clear he doesn't like you like that? you want him to lie and pretend to be into you?

all of this being said, while i do have some sympathy for her, i also really don't. and the reason for it is bc she LIES. she egregiously lies, and has done it multiple times in her live streams (and obviously for years now).

here's two main ones, off the top of my head: one, she said she doesn't who corey scherer is…… besides the fact that apparently she has been in colby's life since basically corey was there, i find it hard to believe she doesn't know who he is. one reason is bc she used to go over to the old trap house. she 100% met him. and you know why i know this? reason number two, SHE IS IN THE BACKGROUND OF ONE OF COREY'S VIDEOS. she is there, sitting next colby. watching corey do something goofy for his vlog. why she would lie about this, idk.

two, and this is a bit of a weird one, she said she doesn't like zoos. she said bc she's vegan, zoos make her upset and cry and that she wants animals to be free or whatever. okay, hey, that's valid. and you might be like "how is this a lie?" well, back in september, when snc were in hot topic. she went with colby to said store. you know what they did after that (maybe even before)? THEY WENT TO A ZOO. i got the video clips of her giggling with colby over a capybara. the last time she seemingly hung out with him publicly was THEM GOING TO A ZOO. when she answered this question on stream, i was confused. bc she literally was just at a zoo with colby. so why lie??

she doesn't even benefit from lying about this shit. so what is the point?

and the reason why a lot of this deeply pisses me off is bc of how two faced these fans of hers (and colby's) are. in chat, she will have ppl kissing her ass, saying colby is a shitty guy. he's emo trash, he's a douche, they want beat the shit out of him from breaking her heart. he's a slut, and they even trash m. all that. but then, weirdly, on twitter and on xplrclub these same exact fans are begging, PLEADING, for colby to give them a crumb of attention. making edits of him, buying the merch, tagging him relentlessly. so… which is it? is he a dickhead, or is he this swell guy you want to have say your name in chat? pick a fucking lane.

okay. i'm done now :) lol