#and i know it's a fictional character and all that

[sleep-king-ao3]

Okay, real answer

First of all, that's not what proship means. Proship is the left wing belief that you can like whatever fiction you like and that it doesn't mean anything about what you support irl, it also means being against censorship and against harassment, and being sex-positive and pro-kink.

Proship isn't a kind of ship, proshippers don't all like those themes, some proshippers are more vanilla and wholesome than antis, they just follow fandom etiquette such as "ship and let ship" and just don't harass people for liking something they don't.

What you're describing are darkshippers.

Obviously, as everyone explained already and as you definitely already know and just pretend not to, liking those subjects in FICTION doesn't mean you support them or want to do it irl. For exemple, I am aroace, I'm not attracted to anyone irl and I don't want to have sex, and yet I am attracted to fictional characters and like fictional porn: because reality and fiction are completely separate.

Why would someone like fiction about rape/pedophilia/incest? Depends on the person. A lot of darkshippers are survivors of this type of abuse and use shipping as art therapy, a healthy coping mechanism where you explore your trauma in a safe environment (fiction) where you are actually in control. Some people just like the taboo. Loli/shotacons are often attracted to exaggerated cuteness, not age, etc.

If I take myself as an exemple again, I like fiction about those theme because I love whump and hurt/comfort. They're not things I find "hot" or attractive at all (tho I don't harass those who do in fiction), but I like really angsty stories about characters having terrible trauma and then slowly healing, and I tend to give them sexual trauma. It's cathartic for me as I am terrified of SA.

Rape and incest fantasies are VERY common especially amongst women, it comes from wanting to loose control during a sexual situation... While obviously not wanting to actually get raped, that's why ships and CNC exist, both being playing pretend. Age gap fantasies are probably an extension of that. As for incest, it's just for the taboo of it.

Here's a very interesting thread on the subject, with academic sources:

Anyway here's my hobbies!

I write fanfiction, I draw, I cross stitch, I play Minecraft, the Sims, and Deltarune, I collect and translate Osomatsu san doujinshis (english to french), I collect bones and bugs, I play with my cat, I record shitpost with my roommate, I edit AMVs, I sew t-shirt designs, I make dragon puppets, I thrift, I play harpsichord, I make music on my computer, I collect enamel pins, I roleplay A LOT (both fandom roleplay and DnD, no ai shit), I make scrapbooks...

real question,

why do proshippers love rape so much? do you guys want to rape someone irl?

why do you guys love pedophilia/grooming so much? have you ever had thoughts about doing those actions or irl minors?

why do you guys love incest so much? is this just a way for you to vent your frustration cause your sibling(s) /step sibling(s) rejected you for your literal illegal behavior?

why do you guys love all these crimes so much? why do you love it when someone calls sexual and predatory abuse attractive as if it hasn't traumatized billions of people word wide?

this is like a genuine question I'm being deadass

EDIT REAL QUICK LMAO

for the proshippers whining and bitching in my comments abt me getting a hobby just letting you know that I,

play guitar, play volleyball, I read books, write OC lore and my indie show lore (cause I wanna make showns n shit), I thrift, I collect physical media like dvds, vhs, ect, I regularly go to flea/farmers market, I draw regularly, I collect plushies, I make pins and sell them to kids at my school, and as of recently I've been thinking abt making loom bracelets and kandi again!

so how about you hoes find a better comeback and get some hobbies of ur own? thanks 😊🖕

[rkiveinmarvel]

plums and peaches* - bucky barnes des. pissing bucky off is one thing, making him fall is the same thing. notes. this is highkey inspired because of this: INSPO. fluffy! bucky barnes being emotionally constipated person he is, steve and sam knowing there's more depth, avengers living together

hello! i have risen, baby girl! this is just a fluffy story since thunderbolts* is around the corner and i finished my second semester with flying colors, i did not proofread on this one, i'm sorry but hey! it fun writing for my favorite congressman bucky barnes. also, the music opinion that characters made here is purely out of fiction! (don't hate me please, i listen to those artists too) this is for you, @vibraniumqueen, you saw the vision!

w.c: 1.5k

When James Buchanan Barnes moved into the Avengers compound, his adjustments didn’t come easy—From Tony Stark still wary of his presence, Peter Parker still doesn’t shut up about his metal arm, Sam being an ass to him, and then, there’s you. Something James doesn’t want to get close with, hold with, and even be a part with. He truly believes that he will just keep things casual, because everything you do pisses him off. 

You were arrogant, cocky, and proud. Everything that the 40s people don't have, so, him meeting you was everything he didn’t wish to do. However, along the line of working in missions and tasks, he finds you useful: You may be arrogant but insightful, cocky but you have something to boast about, and you might be proud because you do have something to be smart about—and that pissed him off more. Yeah, sure, Sam is an ass to him but you take the cake.

And yet cakes are sweet too.

His hate started a year ago, a year where Tony and Steve almost had the Avengers break-up. He saw you, ignoring every word that comes out in everyone’s mouth and just sketching on the table. At first, he thought maybe you were some kind of a secretary, taking tabs of everyone’s opinion. To which surprised Bucky when Steve asked for your opinion on the decision to keep him in the team, ah, so, you’re an Avenger as well.

James was welcomed softy by Wanda and Steve, guess they bond over the HYDRA’s footprints—next was Clint, Natasha, Sam, and so on, everybody was being kind and patient with him, well, except Stark which he understands—but what he doesn’t get was you.

“Buck. Stop glaring.” He couldn’t stop, no, he can, he just doesn’t want to. You, Sam, Steve, Bucky, and Maria are currently debating who got the best music of all times. It was a harmless teasing and debate. But Bucky, being a man of 40s, stands tough on his music taste.

Well, that same goes for you.

He was defending As The Time Goes By by Dooley Wilson—while you defend The Smiths, though yours is more on the joking side, the poor former Winter Soldier did not take it likely. As you catch his glares, you can’t help but tease him more.

“I’m just saying, look, whatever you guys have in the 40s that ain’t me.” You laughed. “Besides, the Smiths are much better than Dooley.” It was a joke, really. Steve chuckled and Bucky looked like someone stole his cookie. “Stop glaring, Barnes. I might think you like me if you don’t stop.” You smiled at him, at last he looked away. 

As he finally has one reason why you piss him off.

Another was when during a mission, you set off another course and ignored the protocols which pissed him and the team. Despite the other courses, the mission went well, so the team didn’t mind, well except Bucky. Once you, Bucky, Natasha, and Clint enter quinjet, he snapped.

“What were you thinking?” He grunted a little deep. He knew he was barely adjusting to the team but what you did almost jeopardized everything. “What?” You had asked, as you knew he’s getting fired up again. “What were you thinking breaking inside the control room alone, we have protocol. Clint was in the control room and you’re supposed to be with Natasha while I handle the information room.” Clint and Natasha just shared a glance as you nodded at Bucky’s words. Oh, damn, he hates your cocky attitude.

“What’s bothering your cyborg ass, it’s done. We got the thing, no one got hurt, boom and bam.” As you shrugged him off. “Also, next time you wanna say you like and care about me, take me to dinner first, I’ll appreciate it more.”

Clint and Natasha sniffle a laugh as you threw the capri-sun to Clint, Natasha, and Bucky—and yes, you intended to give him the Wild Cherry. 

This is like only the nth reason why you piss him off.

A month from now it’ll be a mission that requires engaging an intel in a ball. Well as far everyone is concerned, there would be a fake couple act—it was Bucky and Natasha with Sam and you. “Why do we need to go as a couple, we can just ask Wanda to hypnotise them and we’re done.” You said in the meeting room as Wanda nodded with the suggestion. “We need Wanda in South Korea with me and Dr. Cho.” said Vision, to which Wanda replied: “Yeah, me and Vis will explore Seoul too.”

“Buy me an album, please.” You chuckled. “Well, there’s that, we should have matching rings, Wilson. We got a month to prepare, so, please can I go?” You stood up.

“Ah, Buck, didn’t you say you’re going to the city—Think you can give Buck a ride?” Steve turned to you, Bucky considered leaving Steve in the line. But you shrugged it off and nodded: “Let’s go, pretty boy.” As you left the meeting room, Sam smirked as Bucky replied: “Not a fucking word.” Steve smiled and chuckled. “You two are acting like cat and mouse for a year now, might wanna try hanging out.” Bucky sighed and stood up as Natasha continued—”You two argue a lot, you two might be the next Pepper and Tony.” That left a chuckle in the team, as he just left the room.

In your car, he sat in the passenger seat as you drove in silence. 

For 1 Minute.

“Can we change the music?” He asked. 

“What do you mean, it’s The Smiths.”

“I know, that’s why I  want you to change it. I’m  not a fan.”

You scoffed and looked at him for a split second. “Excuse you, you’re in my car, Optimus Prime.”

“Such hospitality.”

“I know right, I might get an award.” Oh, you do know, how to piss him off.

At the city, Bucky got dropped off in a library-opening but before you could drive away, you asked what time he could be picked up. “I’ll be here until 1900, what time should I pick you up?” He hesitated; didn’t speak.

“Look, I’m tryna be nice here, because Steve said we fight too much and the upcoming mission needs you, Nat, me, and Sam workin’ together so, come on, cyborg.” You said truthfully, as he just nodded. “8PM? But can you sto—nevermind, I’ll wait for you here, 8PM.” 

“Okay, don’t drown in books.” You said as you drove away.

At exactly 8PM—he was there in the parking lot, as he entered the car, he just sighed. “Had fun reading, kiddo?” You had asked, chuckling, as he just grunted and looked away. “Shut it.” Truthfully, he did have a great time, but usually when he reads during times where Steve or Sam drives him—Steve buys him plums for memory and sometimes he does that himself. 

After beating the record of 1 minute silence—it stretched into 10 minutes until you finally spoke. “Can you reach me the bag from the back seat? The brown one?” As he got the bag and was about to hand it to you, you simply replied. “It’s yours.”

He side-eyed you as you spoke. “I know I’m an asshole but…I observe, Barnes.” As you turn the car, he opens the paper bag and there inside are his plums. “They help with memories, right?” You said casually and still eyes on the road but Bucky felt so warm in his cheeks, not that he admits it but the softness in his voice didn’t go unnoticed. 

“Thanks.” You glance at him with a soft smile as you return your eyes to the road. “Careful with the soft voice. You don’t want to fall in love with me.” You joked as you and him finally shared a soft laugh, but it was there. “Don’t worry. That won’t be a problem.”

The time for the mission finally came along and you and Sam are currently trying to act as a couple when in reality you and Sam are close knit. Your laughs and cringes are visible and heard in the safehouse. As the party is about to get close, you catch Bucky having a hard time doing his necktie. 

“Mr. Augustine, need some help?” You had asked in his made-up name to which he just chuckled. You got close and fixed his tie. “You okay?” He asked. You nodded as you smiled. “Yeah, it’s just weird–I mean, why do we have to pretend, we’re the Avengers–it’s a stupid get up, we could act like party helpers and keep it casual, and here we are���matching rings and wearing fancy clothes.” You smiled at him as you finished tying his tie.

In the brief moment, you two stared at each other. “I best get going, I don’t want Mr. Benson is waiting for me.” You chuckled also using Sam’s made-up name. “I’ll see you around.” He replied.

“Didn’t take you to bite back but…I’ll see you around, Mr. Augustine.” As you left, his phone rang—he answered it as Steve asked for updates and current situations, Bucky listened and heard everything but before the two hung up, another conversation would be present some other time.

“Got any more updates? Or you and The Smiths lover are arguing again?”

A chuckle left Bucky’s lips towards Steve’s question as he replies: “Actually, Steve…I have a problem.”

Yep, definitely, you take the cake.

⚘ masterlist 1 | 2 | 3 ₊˚⊹♡ taglist: @yesiamthatwierd, @bitchimasnake-sss, @cjand10, @reemoony, @vibraniumqueen

[sokkastyles]

Just saw a post where someone took someone else's post and said that they were "projecting" onto Katara because the OP said that if they were in Katara's position when they were kissed by Aang in EIP after making it clear that she didn't want to be kissed, they wouldn't forgive Aang.

And the thing is, that first of all, projecting isn't a dirty word, it's a normal way to relate to fictional narratives. Second, we actually don't see Katara forgive Aang or even address the kiss in any way other than after she looks upset and angry and then runs out of the room. Audiences can ONLY project onto Katara because we don't actually get to see the resolution to that event from Katara's perspective. We assume she forgave him because she gets together with him in the end, but we aren't actually shown it and we know that they would be endgame whether or not the kiss had happened. Katara's forgiveness of Aang doesn't feel organic because she doesn't actually get the chance to forgive him, so of course audiences are going to question it.

Third, it's actually quite common now for writers and producers to consult audience members, especially those who fit the demographic of a character, on whether that character's actions seem plausible. This is especially true if the writers themselves aren't representatives of that demographic. Katara's actions were written by male writers, so it's not up to them to give the final word on what a teenage girl would do upon being kissed without consent, it is up to female fans to decide whether that rings true. The fact that the writers didn't even bother to show us Katara's perspective further highlights the lack of a female perspective being considered here.

The post in question also said that what Aang did didn't actually hurt Katara, and that she was just "annoyed and angry," but not hurt. And I feel like people who argue this in favor of Katara and Aang's relationship are actually downplaying the relationship quite a bit. Because if Katara loves Aang, she'd feel a whole lot more than annoyed upon being kissed by him after expressing that she was confused and felt that it wasn't the right time. She'd feel incredibly betrayed, she'd feel like he didn't listen to her. She might even question her relationship with him further and start to back away from the feelings of love that she was already hesitant to express, because what Aang is showing her is that he doesn't actually care about how she feels and isn't going to be careful with her feelings if she were to truly give her heart to him. The EIP kiss actually does A LOT of damage to Katara and Aang's relationship, and the fact that it's never actually addressed does even more damage.

I mean, if Katara didn't really care about Aang kissing her without her consent, I'm not sure why I should care about their relationship at all.

The post also brought up that Zuko has done worse to Katara but she forgave him. The thing is that we actually SAW Zuko earn Katara's forgiveness. This is a relationship I can get behind because the show cares about it. The show cares that Zuko hurt Katara and cares about whether or not he gets her forgiveness. Zuko and Katara would not have had a relationship at all without that conflict and its resolution. The show tells me that these two characters care about each other, and it does it without any sort of romantic drama AND without having the guy sexually assault her.

[kaylaacutiepie]

vi. a heart left in the shadows (sung jin-woo × reader) genre: angst, hurt, heartbreak

Disclaimer: This is a work of fan fiction based onSolo Leveling. The characters Sung Jin-Woo and Chae Hae-In belong to their original creators. This story is purely fictional and created for entertainment purposes only. Any similarities to real persons, living or dead, are purely coincidental. The events, dialogue, and interpretations of characters are the author's imagination and are not part of the official Solo Leveling canon. Please do not repost, copy, or translate without permission.

The Monarch of Destruction had fallen.

The world was saved.

And Sung Jin-Woo stood amidst the ruins, victorious, yet hollow inside.

Because somewhere deep in his soul, even as the cheers of humanity roared around him, something was missing. Someone was missing.

Someone whose face he could barely remember anymore, like a dream slipping through his fingers.

Y/N.

The name echoed inside him like a prayer he couldn’t forget.

When he had taken the power of the Shadow Monarch and turned back time, sacrificing his past life to give humanity another chance, he thought maybe… just maybe… he could fix everything.

He thought he could find you. Hold you. Never let you slip away again.

But no matter where he searched in this rewound world, you were gone.

You were nowhere.

He walked the streets you used to love. He called out your name into the empty nights.

No one knew you. No one had ever heard of you.

It was as if you had been erased from existence itself.

One evening, after days of searching that bled into months, he sat alone on a bench in a quiet park, the same place you once waited for him after missions.

He buried his face into his hands, the weight of his failure pressing down on him.

"Where are you, Y/N?" he whispered.

Only the wind answered.

Memories flickered behind his eyes, your smiles, your laughter, the way you used to look at him like he was more than just a hunter, more than just a weapon.

And then, something surfaced from the depths of his mind.

A memory.

A conversation he hadn’t thought much about at the time.

"Jin-Woo," you had said one evening, your voice low and hesitant, "what if I told you… I already know how everything will end?"

He had laughed, brushing it off. "You sound like you're telling a prophecy."

You had smiled sadly, a heartbreaking smile he hadn't understood then. "Maybe I am."

"Don't joke about that." "I'm serious," you whispered. "One day, you’ll become the strongest. You’ll save the world. But…"

"But?" he asked.

You had turned away, hiding your face.

"But I won’t be there to see it."

At the time, he thought you were just being dramatic. He hadn’t known.

He hadn’t listened.

Now, sitting in the aftermath of a war only he remembered, Sung Jin-Woo realized the terrible truth.

You had known. You had always known.

Because you were never meant to stay.

You were not from this world.

You had come from somewhere else, another reality, another time, just to walk by his side for a while. To help him survive. To love him when no one else would.

And then… you had vanished, because the world you had known was rewritten, and there was no place for you in this second chance.

He pressed a trembling hand to his chest, where an invisible scar pulsed with every beat of his heart.

A wound no healing magic could touch.

Days later, Jin-Woo stood by the Han River, where the city lights shimmered against the dark waters.

He held the small pendant you had once given him, the only proof you had ever existed. Somehow, it had remained even after the timeline reset, tucked away in his storage, untouched by time.

He closed his eyes and spoke into the empty night:

"I was too late, wasn’t I?"

The pendant glinted softly in his palm, like a tear frozen in silver.

"I should’ve seen you," he whispered. "I should've known."

The wind swept past him, carrying the faintest whisper, so soft he almost thought he imagined it.

"I’m proud of you, Jin-Woo."

His heart broke all over again.

Tears slid down his cheeks, silent, unrelenting.

He fell to his knees by the riverbank, clutching the pendant against his heart, and for the first time in years, Sung Jin-Woo, the strongest hunter, the savior of humanity, wept like a boy who had lost his whole world.

Because he had.

You had been his world.

And now, you were only a ghost in his memories, a love story that the universe itself refused to remember.

Somewhere, in the spaces between worlds, you smiled softly, even as your own form faded.

"Thank you for living, Jin-Woo." "Even if I was never meant to stay."

And the stars above wept with you both.

[halogenwarrior]

I know this poll finished a while ago, but now that I feel more confident about my ability to write analyses of these things I wanted to have a go at breaking down how the series treats female characters arc by arc - I think it would be interesting if they had arc specific polls for these because it is so long-running that the reblog didn't really have the analysis of individual characters that you get for shorter fiction. Individual characters' treatment didn't really get mentioned here just because there is so many of them, the way you see in media with just a few women that comes up here. I wish I would have felt confident enough to do this while the poll is still running but at least I can see what people who follow me for Warriors think. So:

The whole series: There are quite a few misogynistic patterns all the arcs fall into when taken as a whole. The creation of a society that is intended to have gender equality but winds up having women (she-cats) typically fall and be pressured into roles and expectations of women in the author's society anyway, leading to things like Clan leaders being only 1/4 female for no real in-universe reason; this comes off as a lot more sexist than if the society was written as flawed in this manner on purpose because it shows the authors think women just inherently are like that. And then creating the Sisters as an "obvious bad example" of "look here is a real intentionally sexist society the narrative acknowledges and it's men they discriminate against, our society isn't that bad then see?" The coding of "dainty beautiful woman" and "tough muscular man" on nearly all the characters (lots of male characters described as small but nary a big female character to be seen except the most prominent female villain and aforementioned straw misandry faction). This goes down even to the names, where despite the unisex warrior society, "pretty" suffixes like flower are female only and ones like "claw" are almost male-only. Villains being disproportionately male and when a rare female one appears, they are motivated by stereotypical woman things like love for a man and children. And how they handle the she-cats having or not having children (with the exception of Twigbranch who still was open for maybe having children in the future, every female character who expresses wanting to not have children ends up mentally breaking down (Hollyleaf, Bluestar), making things worse with the power they choose instead of children and being somewhat of a villain (Leopardstar) or straight-up being a straw evil stereotype (Lizardstripe), while characters who say women's purpose is to have children and they have to be happy about it are portrayed by the narrative as right and paragons of virtue). And tendency (except for Berryheart) for abusive mothers to be one-dimensional while abusive fathers are forgiven and made excuses for by the narrative. Also the tendency to, while the overall death tolls are about the same for male and female characters, fridge female love interests way more often than male ones, and killing a female member of the main cast almost every arc while the male deaths are all supporting characters.

Arc 1: Definitely suffers from "male defaultism" where just about every character is male unless there is a reason for them to be female, so not a huge focus on women. The main love interest character Sandstorm gets to be generically cool and sassy but doesn't really have much going for her, her arc is all about her romance and coming to see beyond her prejudices that her love interest is a good guy while the male equivalents who have arcs about breaking free from Clan racist (Dustpelt and Longtail) have more to those arcs than just being driven by a love interest, what with Dustpelt's relationship with his mentor and epic call-out of Tigerstar or Longtail and his apprentice Swiftpaw. So I'd hardly call her good representation. To its credit, it does have two female mentor figures, Bluestar and Yellowfang, who are given complexity and compelling stories (Bluestar's breakdown doesn't ever feel like a "women shouldn't be given power" but written in the same way as tragic male leaders despite the aspect about her children). But when you compare these two to the background characters it shows a nasty pattern - male characters can be fathers and also respected, honorable warriors to look up to, a female character who's a mother is just "mom" and nothing else. Goldenflower gets completely neglected even in her son's POV because she's just a vessel to have Tigerstar's kid, Speckletail is treated as hysterical for believing in her son and gets punished by him dying. The two mentor figures, meanwhile, are only allowed that position of respect due to giving up their children, and that forms the core of why their arcs are so tragic. So the message seems to be "be a mother and you are a faceless nothing, don't and you get to be important but it's not worth it because it will make your life miserable, while men get to have it all".

The New Prophecy: Mostly fixes the male default thing with about an evenly gender split main cast, but then the female characters mostly fall into being oh so wise and dainty and put together compared to the male ones, while snarking at nonsensical toms. This leads to them getting less interesting arcs, like Brambleclaw struggling with his heritage while his sister Tawnypelt has it all put together so she has less focus and no arc. The one who doesn't fit that mold and is immature and messy, Squirrelflight, gets treated by the narrative (or by Brambleclaw, but the narrative never calls him out for it) much more harshly than male equivalents like Crowfeather because men are expected to be tormented and flawed while it's unusual and thus annoying for a woman. Of the POV characters, the two female ones' arcs are largely about romance while the male one is about his heritage and ambition and insecurities. To be fair, Mothwing is actually a well-written and not misogynistic character who has struggles that while they do relate to her relationship with her brother are also about her outsider identity and relationship with religion, she gets written as one-note in later arcs but not in a sexist way - though definitely in an anti-atheist way. This arc also introduces regular main characters Squirrelstar and Leafpool. A lot of people have said the narrative hates them in a sexist way, and I feel that's not quite true - the narrative quite likes them (or at least Squirrelstar, Leafpool gets shafted in SqH) and is interested in their struggles and moments of strength, but it likes then in the way you like deeply flawed, tragic antiheroes and it's misogyny that makes it see them that way when they objectively haven't done that much wrong, while letting morally worse equivalents like Crowfeather suffer less in their tragic anti-hero redemption arc.

Power of Three: Does have the typical 2 boys 1 girl structure but Hollyleaf, while she could have easily fallen into the "boring straight woman above it all" archetype, actually is given complexity and love by the narrative and it quickly becomes clear that she is the type A straight man only in the sense of the messy tragic hero who is just as prideful and sometimes ridiculous as her male counterparts, and ultimately ends up falling apart in a way that fits with her character rather than being because she is a she-cat (though as mentioned it still falls into patterns of how women who don't want children are treated, and she falls into the pattern of female main who gets killed off). However, the supporting cast... we have Nightcloud (one-dimensional "other woman" stereotype until CT who's demonized for getting in the way even though she hasn't really done much wrong), Heathertail who only exists as a love interest to further Lionblaze and later Breezepelt's arcs and gets dropped when she's not needed for that, Cinderheart whose arc is nonsensical and ableist but I guess isn't anything offensive from a sexism perspective...

Omen of the Stars: Has two female leads, but then their plot line is a rather cliche thing to do with female characters (sibling jealousy and fighting over who's more special). Dovewing does fall into the trope of female protagonist who is in the plot for what she innately is (her powers and the prophecy) rather than what she does, but does get some rather interesting characterization around what she feels about her sensory experience of the world and the pressure put on her. But the way the authors talk about her in things like the ultimate guide make this all feel unintentional, with her real purpose to be a satellite love interest for Tigerstar II whose arc revolves around him even though she's the one who's an arc protagonist. Ivypool does get an arc after getting past the jealousy stuff which isn't particularly sexist, but she also doesn't get to have any positive effect on the plot as a spy for fear of breaking the narrative. And points off for the authors having the memory of a goldfish and thus dropping the bit about her husband being the primary caretaker of her children.

Dawn of the Clans: Ok leaving this out because I haven't read it, but I've heard it's the worst of the lot...

A Vision of Shadows: Actually the only one that, if it was put alone, I would vote yes on, but with some reservations. It is driven by the female protagonists Violetshine and Twigbranch with Alderheart fading mostly into the background, as well as Needletail despite her not having a POV. Violetshine is a "strong character", a little bland for me but not in a sexist way, but Twigbranch and Needletail in particular are allowed to be "human" and break typical warriors gender stereotypes. Needletail could have easily been from the first book the "rebellious manic pixie dream girl who teaches the awkward relatable male protagonist to live but doesn't have interiority", but seeing her through Violetshine's perspective later instead allows her to become more than that, and be a flawed and complex character who doesn't get hated by the narrative for it, as well as having a complicated relationship with her young charge that doesn't just get boiled down into "one dimensional bad mother figure". Of course it's filtered through the general conservative boomer tendencies of the narrative towards rebellious youth, but that isn't gendered. Likewise Twigbranch (although not my favorite character personally) is definitely given a personality and arc that isn't about men, allowed to drive the SkyClan plot, and is allowed to be a bad caretaker figure as mentor and stand her ground about not wanting to have children without being demonized for it, and even without fitting into the stereotypical "stoic ambitious career woman one of the guys" archetype that is usually the only way the authors can imagine a woman who doesn't want children. Instead she's hardworking but doesn't always fit into the ambitions of the Clan career trap and passionately emotional, and she also at least for now doesn't want children. As for the misgivings... well there's Sleekwhisker not being given much development for her villainy besides stereotypical "girl motives" like love for her male boss and jealousy towards other women, and of course Sparkpelt, which is the most remembered part of the arc by fans in terms of treating women and why you often hear it said that the new author arcs are worse. The way she's punished for being successful and outgoing, combined with the much better treatment of the other woman, does give the sense that this arc really likes women who are rebels and misfits, but despises the idea of a woman who does fit in and is traditionally successful, seeing them as inherently taking a rightful place away from men.

And I haven't actually read TBC or ASC so I will leave them here, just wanted to say my thoughts.

warrior cats (yes i know its about cats but trust me on this one)

Warriors (AKA Warrior Cats) (Novel Series, 2003)

Explain your reasoning in the tags!

[interstellarsystem]

I just had a realisation. For clarity, this whole thing is from a lens of within the alterhuman community, excluding outsiders sentiments.

So, you know how fictionfolk often get upset by things posted in fandom spaces about their source, and they're essentially given a "you have to acknowledge it's not about you the person it's about the character so you need to get over it" as a response? And that's the general community sentiment. It's only seen as ok to be upset at all if someone's being an ass to your face directly about you, and if not then you have to separate from your source to "get over it because it's not about you". Sometimes even if someone is being weird about your source to your face, you get mixed responses and people telling you it's "not that deep".

But.. with animalfolk (and otherkin who aren't generally seen as fictionkind). I think from what we've seen it's more normalised if a fox therian sees someone saying foxes are stupid and gets upset. It's more okay for a dragonkin to get pissy when people say all dragons are xyz. And if someone brings animal-based stereotypes to an animalfolk like "dragons are all stuck up" to dragonkin, they're 9.9/10 times going to be backed up fully by the community around them. This is ignoring when animalfolk are making comments like "these animals in these cute videos are being mistreated" and correcting misinformation--because that's a separate thing of them informing and reducing harm as opposed to a personal vent. I'm only talking about the community-wide "valid" responses to criticism of your source and emotions around that.

Fictionfolk who are also animalistic or things like fictherians aren't exempt from the treatment of fictionfolk mentioned above, either, so it feels less about animality (and less about what's "physically real" due to non-animal otherkin/mythkin) and more about the identity being fictional in general.

Now I know animals are "real" (and in the case of dragons/other mythkin who aren't earth animals, well-established in the alterhuman community) and fandom should be allowed to exist as fandom, I'm not advocating for fictionfolk shutting fandom up or anything. This is about the allowance of emotion people feel. I'm not talking about what animalfolk or fictionfolk do in response to these situations, just simply the way others react when they simply express discomfort. Animalfolk from what we've seen aren't told to separate from their identity "just a little more" so they're less upset when people call cats stupid or ugly, they're usually supported. Fictionfolk on the other hand are much less likely to be supported and more likely to be told that for their own health, they should separate from their source. It feels so vastly different in how these things are handled.

And of course, nothing against animals or animalfolk--it's just a longstanding thing that fictionfolk are left behind a fair in the community bit so animalfolk are the baseline of how people should be treated by their community in my opinion.

On a similar vein of thinking, factfolk (including nonhuman factfolk) are often dragged through the mud even moreso than fictionfolk, in very similar ways. You have to be careful with what you say as a factive or someone will accuse you of... Anything under the sun, really. Especially if you talk about your source and your feelings about them. Factfolk are expected to be largely separated from their source in general, not just when they dare to have emotions about it. Which... Isn't great!

Maybe this post is an ice cold take but the "you need to step back from your identity" idea is really normalised and--yeah, in a lot of cases it's healthier to step back, but.. Why is that the response given to people venting? Why do we expect fictionfolk and factfolk to readily sever their close-knit connection to their source whenever others think it's too unhealthy for them? To change who they personally are whenever they vent their frustrations? Why are fictionbased and factbased identities treated as less of an irremovable part of you and something you should bend and remove yourself at least partially from? The more I think about it, the more it feels incredibly unfair that it's so normalised.

And I think it shows that yeah, there's a long way to go for acceptance of fictionfolk and factfolk in our community. These things need to change and have needed to for a damn while. I don't have any solutions, but I have opinions and rambles, so maybe sharing them will spur something on. At the very least I hope some people see this and feel seen, and feel like it's not morally wrong or a personal failing to feel upset when your source is insulted--or anything of the sort, for that matter.

[oidingus]

(unsolicited feedback re: disability, feel free to ignore /gen) you’ve made some really charming animations but i unfollowed around the time of the bloody one because of how often you make Viktor collapse and separate him from his mobility aid made me uncomfortable as a disabled person. coming across your recent tender animation reminded me of this discomfort and thought i’d idk let you know in good faith in case it’s helpful. for context, my disability makes me esp. prone to falls but they’re almost never a surprise and i’ve lived with it so long it almost never happens because even when i’m not taking care of myself as well as i should, adjusting my behavior to prevent them is a crucial part of symptom management and just like getting shit done. i know Viktor’s a fictional character but to me it feels infantilizing. i also see it so much in fics (despite it never happening in the show, certainly not under normal circumstances as an adult) that it gets a little frustrating. like Viktor, my condition is also getting progressively worse but you generally get better at managing it with age. certainly being on your deathbeds could contribute to worsening symptoms but when you’ve been doing it your whole life you’ll literally be in a condition that would send others to the ER, faceplant, then be right back at it ASAP—no blink, no acknowledgement besides maybe needing to get shit back in place/occasionally take a breather. obviously idk your background—maybe you’re disabled too and you’re pulling from your own experiences—but just in case not i wanted to share as honest, well-intentioned food for thought, esp. b/c ableism is the default and so incredibly baked into (esp. US) culture that even many otherwise very progressive people literally hold views closer to eugenicists than those guided by equity/disability justice. oh and re: canes admittedly there are days i might not use it to go a couple steps in my own house but others attention/concern (even from people you love) can be tiring, so unless it’s very early in their partnership when Viktor is more stable/sucking it up more because he still believes he can overcome prejudice by projecting a good enough image, Viktor ain’t going anywhere without that cane/crutch. frankly he needs a powered wheelchair BUT ANYWAY if you chose to read all the way through i genuinely appreciate your time and hope it’s helpful food for thought.

That was actually very helpful and thank you so much for taking the time to write it! Yes i focus mostly on the earlier years of their knowing each other, but still. And to anyone reading it: I would really appreciate any insights on how to approach Vik's disability better, feel free to dm me if you can help me with the factchecking

[unionizedwizard]

honestly i like zenos' ending because it fits with one of the many reasons he is so memorable and uncanny to the player: his awareness that he is a video game character stuck in a video game, and his refusal to interact with the material in good faith & bend to the narrative's rules. in my opinion this is the key reason he immediately resonated (no pun intended) with the WoL, but his main failure is that he always (arrogantly, cruelly) refused to interact with the world in the way the "ideal" player character does: no emotional investment towards anyone (what for? these are all "npcs" to him, you can just kill or torment them for fun to see what they'll do next or what loot they'll drop), no crafting/gathering (lol), no sidequest (lolx2), no concept of actually conquering/stabilizing an empire (he doesn't care about turning ffxiv into crusader kings the way that varis does, for instance). he's the concept of the entitled cutscene skipper who is only there for high-end content and is unable/unwilling to cooperate because he sees himself as essential superior to everyone else due to his (excellent) skills; even his job change/constant skill evolution mirrors the player character's behavior

in the same vein as yotsuyu's survival being open until she goes too far and denies the very tenets of the narrative (succumbing to despair and the belief in an unchangeable, evil nature which can create nothing but cruelty and is therefore justified in causing harm, with no redemption possible), which dooms her irredeemably, zenos willingly missed every sign & opportunity to actually grow... so that in the end, his apathy & desire for personal freedom coupled with his awareness of the narrative (existential horror if there ever was one) anchored him in ultima thule (literal liminal space between reality and fiction) after a last 4th wall breaking speech to the WoL, just because he refused to be the puppet of the writers ever again. we know he could have left. if WE did, that means HE could have left, with sufficient willpower (which we know he has, for things that really matter to him). but he didn't! i think that's a respectable, honorable choice all things considered, that's truly coherent to his character. he WOULD rather stay stuck in limbo (cancelling his sub?) forever than actually interact with the world with respect & patience & humility because he's too proud & unable to even envision doing otherwise. that was an ultimate manifestation of agency on his part and his story would not hit as such otherwise

[alikesical]

just watched Pirates of the Caribbean with my little sister and I've got this uncontrollable urge to write a pirate!Dick Grayson fic

why Dick?

vibes, always

also, he can fit both the role of the pirate and the damsel perfectly cause he's baby girl like that

I bet he'd cry out of annoyance if he thinks the ransom money is too low

and honestly I can't really imagine anyone else as a pirate?

actually no, Jason would be an awesome pirate

like

he was part of the rich and now he wants to eat the rich

and tim I can only imagine as part of the guard for some reason? idk why, vibes again probably

maybe he's chasing someone or maybe he's looking for a childhood friend

maybe they're the same person

damian? he's a rich kid through and through

but he also stabs people

still not very piratey in my head

maybe with a pirate reader that converts him into a pirate after kidnapping him, or pirate reader who thinks she's kidnapping him but it's all according to his plan

i should think about this more

now Bruce? he'd be a secret pirate cause he's dramatic like that

I bet he'd chase himself and then pretend his alter ego is too smart

I bet reader would catch on to that and clown him

still dick is undoubtedly more jack sparrowy

anyways

I have 5 credit tests barely scattered between this and the following week and no time and should study more, but my brain is filled with fictional characters, so I might as well finish writing the 4th part of the Bruce series and then make a new one

who knows 🤷‍♀️

[outrunningthedark]

people are so weird about lfj. and i don't just mean the people who don't like him. multishippers who don't mind the character can be just as weird when you see that bias slipping through. ryan can say eddie loves buck "to the core" and it's "hehe he is so valid for that" (in a platonic way, but i digress...) but then when lou says HIS character believes he found The One in Buck because THAT'S HOW LOU IS PLAYING IT (and being allowed to???) all the sudden his interpretations have everyone, even the fans who want to act like they're "neutral", being like "lol that's just his silly little headcanon don't worry". girl. (gn) girl. how threatened do you have to be by a fictional ship (even when you claim you're not) that you can't see tommy's feelings for buck don't actually TELL us anything about where their relationship is gonna go??? tommy's in love with buck. where's buck at in all this? do y'all know? because i sure as hell don't.

[makeitmingi]

When Flowers Bloom In The Dark [Chapter 21]

Genre: Romance, Mafia!AU, Violence, Angst, Slow burn

Pairing: Hongjoong x Reader (y/n)

Characters: Florist!Reader, Mafioso!Hongjoong, Mafioso!Seonghwa, Mafioso!Yunho, Mafioso!Yeosang, Mafioso!San, Mafioso!Mingi, Mafioso!Wooyoung, Mafioso!Jongho

Summary: When you appeared and wept at his mother's funeral, Hongjoong found himself wanting to find out more about you. A regular girl, who owns a flower shop in his territory and has a relationship with the mother that he hasn't spoken to in years, why hasn't he ever noticed you before?

[Warning(s): 18+ for violence, use of weapons, smoking, alcohol consumption, slight gore, gang affiliation, tattoos and character deaths. Minors DNI. This is a work of fiction and does not represent the Ateez members in real life.]

Word count: 3.2K

You didn't miss the way Hongjoong's face fell when you retracted your hand. His own hand fell back by his side as his eyes searched yours, waiting for you to say something. Did you like Hongjoong? Was that why you were feeling all these different feelings when you were around him?

"I realise this is a lot for you to take in now. You don't have to say anything." Hongjoong spoke first. The silence was killing him and he just needed to break it before he breaks.

"I'm scared." You admitted.

"Why?" He didn't expect you to say that, he thought you would tell him that you didn't feel the same or that you liked him back.

"Hongjoong, what if you only feel this way because I am a connection to your mother? I know you don't have an ulterior motive consciously but maybe it's subconscious-"

"No, don't say that. If you don't feel the same way back, that's fine. But don't... just don't..." His jaw clenched, unintentionally snapping at you.

"I'm sorry." You whispered.

"It's alright. This is a lot, I shouldn't have..." Hongjoong was now feeling the weight of his words sink in.

"No! No... It's not like that. Please don't feel bad, this is all on me. You telling me this actually helps, it answers a lot of questions I've been having." You said, making his eyes light up slightly.

"But Hongjoong, even if I do feel the same way for you, I don't know if I can go through this, knowing that there's so much more to your life that I don't know about. I don't know the real you yet, we've only just started really knowing each other." You confessed.

"I understand. (y/n), I do want to let you into my world, to see and know the real me but the thought of you getting hurt because of me... I can't fathom..." He sighed.

"Whether you let me in now, as a friend or as a romantic partner, I'm still going to be in danger, aren't I?" You questioned.

"Yes..." He nodded glumly with much guilt and shame.

"We haven't had a chance to even go out on a date yet. Shall we just go from there?" You offered a small smile. And Hongjoong hummed in agreement.

In reality, your heart was hurting. Of course, you like Hongjoong back but you couldn't bring yourself to give your heart over so quickly.

"I'll go." Hongjoong said. You took the initiative this time, wrapping your arms around his waist.

After seeing Hongjoong with all the rich daughters, you couldn't believe he was here, expressing his feeling for you. You were not like those opulent women, you couldn't just throw yourself at him.

"There has been no one else. I don't care about those rich girls. They're nothing to me." He whispered, as if he could hear your mental doubts.

"They may be more worth it than me." You said, words slightly muffled by his shoulder.

"No, don't say that. I just know you're so much better than them, you're more worth it and deserving than them, I'll prove it to you if you let me." He spoke with determination. When he felt you nod, he let out a small sigh of relief, you weren't outrightly rejecting him, you were giving him a chance.

"Goodnight. Don't stay out too late, go home and rest." He spoke softly and fondly, daringly giving you a kiss on your forehead before leaving the shop.

"Goodbye." You said to his retreating back but you doubt he could even hear you.

"He likes me..." You fell back into the chair, realisation hitting you. You buried your face into your hands.

You thought back to all the times you felt your heart race when you were with Hongjoong. It wasn't nerves or anything, now it was clear to you that you liked Hongjoong back.

It brought tears to your eyes. You were scared, you were confused, you felt guilt for the hurt that you caused Hongjoong.

Right now, you didn't know what to do. You had no one that you could talk to about this.

And you knew you had no right to feel upset because you were the one that pulled away, you were the one who set the boundary and was afraid to cross it.

Despite Hongjoong trying to hide it from you, the few times that you've encountered him outside, it was obvious that he and his brothers were involved in some illegal business. They could be running their own mafia syndicate.

Would you be able to live with that? You laid low your entire life, could you really throw that away and put yourself in the spotlight with Hongjoong as his partner?

All for the sake of love?

It was too much for you to think about now. All you wanted to do was go home and hide in bed.

Hongjoong didn't bother going back to the party. He sent a text to his brothers and went to one of his bars which was close by to where he was. All he wanted to do now was get drunk.

"Boss Kim." The staff greeted him.

"I'll be in my office. No one is to disturb me." He said briefly and walked up the stairs.

"Yes, boss." They all bowed, watching him trudge up the stairs. Entering his office, Hongjoong grabbed the entire whiskey bottle off the bar cart and a glass.

"You're an idiot." He told himself as he poured himself a glass and downed the contents in one go. Then he moved to refill his glass. Cradling the crystal in his hands, he slumped in his office chair.

He lifted his hand to look at it, clenching it into a fist. The feeling of you slipping your hand away from his, it was painful. But Hongjoong knew you were right. You didn't know each other enough to enter a relationship now. He'll just have to cast aside his worries and show you his true self.

"And this is my office." The door opened and Hongjoong raised his head with a frown. He gave orders to not be disturbed.

"B-Boss Kim!" The assistant manager jumped when he saw Hongjoong sitting in his office chair, obviously not expecting the main boss to be in his office.

"Your office?" Hongjoong seethed.

"Who is that?" The assistant manager's friends were confused, thinking there was a stranger in their friend's office.

"Is this how things have been running since I've not been here?" Hongjoong rose from his desk. He threw his crystal glass, crashing it into the wall by the assistant manager's head.

"GET OUT!" He roared, a threat that he won't miss the next time. The assistant manager and his friends ran off.

Has Hongjoong been that distracted that his staff were acting up without his knowledge? He was always on the ball on these things.

"Now I need another glass." Hongjoong cursed and went to get another glass from the bar cart, filling it up with more whiskey. But this time, he laid down on the couch instead of returning to sit in his office chair. Letting out a sigh, he gulped the alcohol.

RINGGGGG

"Mmmm...?" Hongjoong groaned and fished for his phone, pressing it to his ear.

"Are you dead in a ditch somewhere?"

"What do you need, Hwa? I'm gonna hang up..." He trailed off, on the brink of falling back asleep. Right now, he was nursing a bad headache from finishing off the whiskey last night.

"Where are you? I'm coming to get you."

"No." Hongjoong refused and hung up, cutting off Seonghwa's protests. He threw his phone aside and went back to sleep.

"God, why is there glass on the floor?" It only took about 30 minutes for Seonghwa to arrive at where Hongjoong was. Hongjoong was fast asleep, not aware of his best friend's arrival.

"Get someone to clean this up." Seonghwa ordered the manager, who bowed and scurried away.

"Kim Hongjoong, wake up." Seonghwa hit the back of Hongjoong's head. The captain finally stirred, holding his already hurting head and curling up into a ball, away from Seonghwa. Seonghwa didn't even need to go close to Hongjoong, he could smell the alcohol that reeked from the captain's body.

"Did you kill someone?" Seonghwa asked.

"No, I threw a crystal glass near his head but he was alive enough to run away with his friends. I missed on purpose." Hongjoong mumbled, eyes still closed.

"What happened? You left the gala and just disappeared. And dropping us a 'text' saying you're not coming back doesn't count."

"I don't want to talk about it..." Hongjoong said, knowing he sounds like an angsty teenager.

"Look, whatever happened between you and (y/n), you have responsibilities, Joong. You're the head of the family." Seonghwa sighed. Hongjoong finally sat up at that, looking at the taller.

"How did you know? Did she tell you? What did she tell you?" Hongjoong's eyes widened in panic.

"Calm down, I didn't even talk to her. I just assumed because your mood is very much related to (y/n) nowadays." He stated.

"Oh... It's fine. I'm just moping. Let's go home. I need to shower." Hongjoong stood up, grabbing his jacket from his desk while Seonghwa grabbed the phone that was tossed to the ground after the call earlier.

The two of them exited Hongjoong's office and everyone bowed to them as they walked down the stairs. Before heading to the car, Hongjoong turned to the manager.

"If I find out anyone is impersonating me and in my office without permission again, it'll be your head I go for next." He threatened.

"Y-Yes sir! It will never happen again. The assistant manager has been fired." The manager apologised.

"Good." Hongjoong nodded and left with Seonghwa. The driver came out with a greeting bow to Hongjoong and opened the door for the two oldest to enter.

"Let's go." Hongjoong said and the driver started the car.

"When we get home, go shower. We're holding a meeting to discuss the gala last night." Seonghwa informed.

"Okay, can you get the chefs to prepare me some food? I haven't eaten and I'm having hangover stomach." Hongjoong asked. Seonghwa nodded with a soft hum.

Hongjoong could be clumsy and forgetful, and Seonghwa might be naggy and 'uptight' but the two had a soft spot for each other, they'll always take care of each other, no matter what. That's what best friends do. And even if Seonghwa was nagging now, he was worried about Hongjoong.

"Welcome home, sirs." The butler greeted them at the door. Hongjoong dropped his jacket and made his way upstairs, wanting to take a warm shower.

"He's home?" San came out of the dining room.

"Yeah. But he wouldn't tell me what happened. It's obvious it had something to do with (y/n). He's so hungover." Seonghwa sighed.

"Did they fight?" Yunho asked worriedly. Seonghwa shrugged and went to the kitchen to ask the chef to prepare something for Hongjoong to nurse his hangover.

"And get him a hangover cure." He added before leaving to join the others in the living room.

"He's fine, everyone. Just get ready for the meeting." Seonghwa said, meeting the worried eyes of the other members.

"Yes, hyung." They replied and split up to get ready for the meeting. Mingi went to the computer room to get his information downloaded onto his tablet. Jongho and Yunho were inside, also putting together their meeting agendas.

"Do you have anything to do with last night?" Mingi asked his best friend. Yunho shook his head and the serious expression on his face indicated that he wasn't lying.

"Come on, Seonghwa hyung already said that Hongjoong hyung will be fine." Jongho said.

"It's not Hongjoong hyung I'm worried about. It's (y/n). Hongjoong hyung has us but who does she have?" Yunho pointed out.

"With hyung's temper..." Jongho added.

"Okay, let's not think the worst, especially of Hongjoong hyung. Maybe it's nothing and we're just jumping to conclusions." Mingi said, grabbing the tablet and leaving the computer room.

Hongjoong emerged from his bathroom, fresh out of the shower. He changed into a new suit and left his room.

"Your food is ready in the dining room, sir." The butler informed.

"I'm going to my office. Bring the food up to me." Hongjoong said, checking his phone. The butler nodded and bowed before walking away while Hongjoong headed to his office. He sat down and turned on his computer, sifting through all the mesages he missed yesterday while preparing for the gala.

*KNOCK KNOCK*

"Come in." Hongjoong called out, not looking up from his screen as he typed away to reply to the more important messages.

"Sir." The butler came in with his tray of food. Hongjoong knocked his fist against his desk and the butler carefully placed the tray of food before him, careful not to intrude in his space.

"That'll be all." Hongjong waved him off. The butler bowed and left the captain's office.

"Hangover cure..." He ignored the bottle and began to drink the soup.

*KNOCK*

"Who is it?" Hongjoong frowned as he looked up. There was another single knock and he beckoned for the person to come in. The door burst open and two men fell in.

"What's going on here?" He stood up, seeing the two practically crawling on the ground, injured beyond belief.

"B-Boss Kim..." They struggled.

"What happened?" Hongjoong asked, standing before them. Usually, they would handle issues on their own, that's what Hongjoong trained them for, but for them to show up to Hongjoong's office in such a state was concerning.

"We were ambushed, boss. In area 1..." The male coughed out, holding his ribs. Hongjoong chewed on his bottom lip, he checked his watch for the time.

"Clean yourselves up. I have a meeting but we'll talk after. Go get checked with the infirmary first." He said.

"Y-Yes, boss." The two supported each other and limped out of Hongjoong's office.

'Message to all teams that can spare men. Area 1 was ambushed and needs back up. Contact Area 1 team to ask for details and support them. - Hongjoong'

Hongjoong's phone buzzed with acknowledgement messages from his men. He didn't have time to read them now.

"Damn it." He reluctantly opened the bottle of hangover cure and downed it since he didn't have to finish the soup on his tray.

"Clear my tray." Hongjoong said to a passing maid, who nodded and bowed, entering Hongjoong's office. He wanted to just grab what he needed and go for the meeting but he had things to settle.

"Sir." The maid bowed and left his office with the tray. Seonghwa, who was walking past, glanced at the tray with practically 3/4 of the food left and swung by Hongjoong's office instead of going straight to the meeting room like he intended. He saw Hongjoong frantically sending messages and calls.

"Hongjoong, what's wrong?" Seonghwa tilted his head.

"Nothing. Just something I need to settle after the meeting." Hongjoong replied, too focused on his computer screen to give more details to his second in command.

"I'll see you at the meeting room." Seonghwa was about to leave him but Hongjoong stood up.

"I'll go with you! Hang on." Hongjoong clumsily flipped through the items on his desk, looking for his iPad and documents.

"Let's go." The two walked to the meeting room together. As usual, Hongjoong sat at the head of the table with Seonghwa on his right, just like how they sat at the dining table.

"Hey, hyungs." Mingi greeted as he shuffled in and took his seat. The others streamed in and all sat down in their seats.

"Does anyone need to get anything?" Seonghwa asked as San and Yeosang stood by the door.

"Nope." They all shook their heads.

"Alright, we're all here. Go ahead." San confirmed before Yeosang locked the meeting room door, securing it with the lock. They all heard the metal gears turn and lock into place, essentially locking all of them in the meeting room.

"Let's begin the meeting. Begin with the gala last night." Hongjoong instructed. Each of the boys gave a run down of the important conversations they had with different business partners.

"And we're sure we can trust him?" San asked.

"Yes, all background checks have come up clean, everything. We can trust him, for now at least." Jongho replied.

"Alright, make sure to run surveillance still. Next." Hongjoong waved and Yunho stepped up, presenting the main points of the conversation he had with the governor last night.

"That's all he's donating? What a cheapskate." Wooyoung rolled his eyes and clicked his tongue.

"I have a strong feeling he doesn't think this initiative will take off well. But I'll be sure to convince him again, hyung." Yunho promised.

"Okay, you take care of that. And good job on the gala last night, Yunho." Hongjoong nodded, he was confident in each of the members' ability to 'convince' people.

"Thank you, hyung." Yunho bowed his head and the others all gave him smiles or thumbs ups.

After that, Hongjoong let Seonghwa address the room on other 'family' related matters. While the older spoke, Hongjoong drumed his fingers against the table top. Was he supposed to tell the members where he disappeared to last night? He felt like he owed them that much for being irresponsible.

"So, everyone has to be on the look out. We cannot afford to have a slip in judgement, it will not only affect us but affect everyone under us." Seonghwa said.

"Yes, hyung." The others nodded obediently.

"Hongjoong, anything to add?" Seonghwa turned to the captain, who was chewing the inside of his cheek.

"I would like to apologise for disappearing last night, it was irresponsible of me to do so as the captain. I know I owe all of you an explanation of where I was." Hongjoong breathed.

"It's okay, hyung. You don't have to tell us..." Wooyoung said, sensing Hongjoong turmoil.

"No, it's fine. I... confessed my romantic feelings for (y/n) last night." He revealed. Some boys' eyes widened in surprise.

"We decided to just get to know each other better before taking any steps forward. She's right, I keep a lot of secrets from her and am not honest about a lot of things." Hongjoong sighed.

"Wait, so you're going to tell her about Ateez?" Seonghwa blinked. Even if he was rooting for Hongjoong for a while, he never really thought about the implications of you knowing what they do. Would you become a liability?

"Eventually." Hongjoong nodded.

"What happens to us then?" Yeosang asked.

"Nothing will happen to any of you, nothing will change for you. (y/n) knowing Ateez will be my responsibility. Anything concerning her will be my responsibility." Hongjoong said.

"You already have a lot to take care of, hyung. Are you sure this is the right way to go?" Mingi pointed out.

"(y/n) means a lot to me, as do all of you. There's never too much when it comes to the people you love." The captain said seriously.

"I wish you and (y/n) all the best, hyung." Jongho smiled. Seonghwa reached out to squeeze Hongjoong's shoulder to show his wordless support too.

"We're not getting married but thanks." Hongjoong chuckled.

~

Series masterlist

[elodieunderglass]

Hi, hello, I'm sending you a weird not quite ask that you can feel free to tuck deep into the recesses of your inbox and never look at if it's too weird.

But I've been thinking about Killie. Again. Which is odd, because I'm not the blorbo rotating type. I'm happy enough to watch other people play in their sandboxes, but I just...don't. Fandom. The way people normally do on this site. So, I was wondering why your horrible horseboy is so beloved and such an infohazard to anyone who comes across him, and I think I hit on it. At least for me.

You don't shy away from two things in your telling of him: that he's kinda awful in some ways, and that he's deeply loved. He's a horrible little gremlin with bad lungs and worse social skills who bites, and he's LOVED.

As kind of an awful person myself (*this isn't self deprecating, gimme a sec), who's not at all okay with the idea of dying alone and unloved, Killie and your depiction of him is soothing.

*I'm not awful because I choose to be, and I know I have a lot of good qualities even if it takes my therapist bullying me into recognizing that I do, but due to both disability and just life in general, I'm sometimes not a pleasant person to be around. I'm irritable quite often, and I'm flaky even when I'm doing my absolute best not to be, and I'm overly sensitive sometimes, and don't know how to talk to people without talking about myself and trying to relate it back to them, and I'm messy...it's hard to imagine anyone loving me.

But even though Killie is a fictional character, there's enough 'loved in spite of and also for his flaws as much as his virtues' that helps me reroute the worst of those thoughts into something a little healthier.

So thank you? I think? Yeah. Thank you for your horrible horseboy and his long-suffering but steadfast partner.

(in reference to killie the horrible horseboy OC)

thank you so much for this. far from not looking at it, I have looked at it a lot. It made me think very hard and (hopefully very well) about what I'd like Throw Your Heart Over to be about, and what I'd like it to achieve for people. You remind me that, while it's all fun, what's most important is to be brave and true.

You are so very brave and true. I admire you very much for being so brave and true. I am humbled by it. It is a big, big thing and I don't quite know what to say. I think it is reductive and unhelpful to say things like there's someone for everyone! everyone deserves to be loved! when we live in a world where that doesn't happen, nor does everyone want to be partnered, nor does everyone want to be given to someone else as a partner. it's an automatic reflex when someone says "I don't feel lovable for these reasons," for other people to be dismissive of the reasons - as if that's helpful - or to instantly say "someone will love you!", as if there has simply been a administrative mistake in the assignation of one's soulmate. But that reflex doesn't do much good. Firstly, it's true that there are reasons that make love less easy for people, and pretending that love isn't work just makes people who don't get enough love feel rubbish. Secondly, there is no mechanism in the universe by which people are assigned their very own partner (and believing that there is can make people crunched-up and hurtful, if they're having trouble finding one.) So yeah! It probably IS hard to imagine finding someone! And that's okay! It means making your imagination stronger! Beefing up your imagination! getting your imagination buff and built! (insert montage of Killie attempting to lift weights with his mind.)

so I made this with you in mind, though I'm not sure it's all that I wanted to say. it was something about your fears might be true, but your hopes might be too; and in the event of someone loving you, you'll know that you will have something tremendously special, because you'll both have to be VERY brave and true with each other. and because of this, you will have a lot of evidence to show yourself how loved you are. You might be hard work, but to someone who loves you, it will be good work. and no weird ghosty worries, with or without antlers, or even your own self-doubts, will be able to take away how real that work will be.

I think you sound tremendously lovable. I think you make a great difference to the world. Thank you for making me more brave and true.

[moon-creates]

Touchstarved Updated Demo Review

(Spoilers, obviously. You have been warned!)

I love the new Demo!

Obviously, after a whole year of knowing the old version and loving the characters in it, any changes will take a bit to get used to.

Now that I have given myself 24 hours to digest it properly, I can fully say the new version feels less like a demo and more like a great Introduction to a intriguing story. It almost felt like a "Chapter 1" of a multi-chapter story but I will reserve that title for the real chapter one (once we have chosen which route to follow).

Right off the bat we see that The Hound is no more, replaced by the new backstory "The Exile". But fret not, dear reader! Nobody is forcing you to take your blorbos out the back of your local seven-eleven and shoot them in the back of their heads. Your Hound blorbos shall continue to live on. It seems pretty easy to adapt the Hound MC's to the Exile. And if that is too much of a task, there is an ancient tradition of fan fiction, to scratch the itch that canon cannot scratch for you!

(My personal Opinion: Writing a Main Character that everyone will be happy with is already impossible. Every OC will have a trait (or multiple) that canon just cannot accommodate without alienating other readers. I understand the upset over the change, but I don't think that means its a bad change. I do hope to see more fanart and fanfiction from people, to highlight what exactly makes your MC special.)

Lets move on to the Pacing of the Demo. I really liked that they cut the old demo into two parts, making our MC experience the Intro over the span of two days instead of one. It does give us a pause to breathe and consider our options.

What are our options? Lets talk about the Love Interests!

KURAS

Mr. "So rude to ask about the surgery I performed on you". His introduction isn't much different to Version 1, though I enjoyed the evening route with him! I mean, he bought us food! (Honey Pistacio cookie YUM!) The new background is fucking beautiful and it fit the more calming, quiet vibes that Kuras has. (I cannot wait to see the monstrosities this man has committed.) I wished we actually got to touch his hand with the red option but maybe that would've been too much of a spoiler? It did gave me major Jesus vibes (and, weirdly, I don't mean that in a negative sense). It makes me wonder if he actually could cure us.

LEANDER

Leander got the most changes compared to his V1 counterpart. While he is still the Leander we mock and fear love, he has gotten so much better at manipulating us. All of his new expressions also show why he is so good at what he does - He seems so earnest. I had a hard time distrusting him at some points, even though I knew he wasn't to be trusted. He is so suspicious and I love that the MC can voice their suspicion and be so professionally and elegantly manipulated back into a place of trust and comfort. (Also I would've absolutely ridden that fucker on that bed. RSS why did you clitblock me so much-)

I like that the Adderstones (rip Bloodhounds) seem more like an organized network now rather than a street-fighter gang. Leander being more busy and access to him being restricted also adds to show just how important he is in Lowtown. He always seemed like a threat but now the danger has been dialed up a significant amount and I am SO here for it.

VERE

That blush was very cute! Personally I find Vere to be the hardest to decipher. His personality and what he actually wants from us is harder for me to place with him than with the others. He is playing with us, sure, but I wonder if he himself knows what he wants with us. Maybe I should take Ais word for it and pay more attention to his ears than what he is actually saying. I might understand him better then. But either way, he is a very intriguing character and I hope we get to see him fight in the full game! I also like that the Dev's are fully leaning into him expressing thing with his tail and ears. It's weirdly endearing for such a bloodhungry menace like him.

AIS

I just love this man. I love that the red-eyed woman got a name and much more personality now. She feels like a full character. I am fucking DEVASTATED that we didn't get a Princess sprite and I refuse to believe that she is not important enough for the story to get a sprite of her own. RSS, CHOP CHOP! His was the first 'route' in the demo I played and I just know it will be the first full route that I will play once the full game is released. Not much to say about him because he was already perfect to begin with and I thank RSS daily that we get to bite him [insert praying hands emoji].

MHIN

The changes fit them so well. Talking to themselves is such a fitting thing to do for someone who has no-one to truly talk to. You get more of a sense of their social awkwardness around others. Not in a shy sense but in a sense of struggling to connect with people. I love that we got to hear their inner thoughts about how the soulless body functions, wondering if they could see out of all the eyes and so forth. This time they told us they grew up in Eridia! So I am very curious to see what their story is and how our path with them might look like. Every time they glare at us I just wanna smooch them.

I feel like the Demo fulfilled its purpose fully. It introduced each Love Interest to us, showed us a peak of who they are and what might be in store for us down the line, without telling us too much. We get a feeling for our Setting (Eridia) and I hope MC gets to settle in more over the course of the story. We have great lines, beautiful art, expressive characters and Intriguing stories to follow. The amazing new music tied it all together perfectly.

So in conclusion: Good Update. Almost perfect! However, where is my girl princess, tho?

[biancadoes1]

Sorry, this is long and if you don't post it, I understand.

I want to go back to the WT for a sec, and one of the reasons I don't think what we saw was fake. First of all, I think the existence of dating co-stars, while having the potential to be great for a project, is more likely to be a headache for PR. What if there are problems, or the couple break up while doing promotion? Obviously, when doing promo, there is always the desire to present co-stars who get along and had a great time working together (even when the opposite is true), but beyond that, I don't think Netflix or Shondaland would be putting pressure on them to mirror their characters--certainly not to display the level of unhinged behaviour we saw. Whether or not they were flirting like mad because they're obviously attracted to each other (but were not together), or carrying on an affair while seeing each other people casually, or together all along....I firmly believe that chemistry and closeness is very real.

I didn't really start to think they were together until they started responding to people asking about it. I couldn't for the life of me understand their reactions. I expected them to be clear that Penelope and Colin are characters they play, and reality is different than fiction. Yes, I think Luke said at one point, it meant they did their jobs well, and obviously Nicola said they were great friends....but obviously, I was not the only one that noticed what seemed like very careful word choices, a lot of smiles and blushing, and an acknowledgment that fans shipping them was "sweet" and "not to worry". They saw the whole shipping discourse getting bigger and bigger, you would think they would want to push back harder, not in a mean way, but in a "we're bloody actors" kind of way. And no, I don't think it would have affected viewership--people were already very excited about Part 1, and looking forward to Part 2. And I would say most people--at that time--were not expecting them to behave the way they did; we're still flipping out about it all now.

What's happening now obviously poses many questions and possibilities...the surface narrative that the media is always right there to jump on *could* be true. But for people that are both described as warm, wonderful, caring people....are both really ok with the nasty vitriol their "partners" receive? To have your bf/gf called names, have their appearances and careers mocked; wouldn't that be reason enough to come out and show some kind of support? Or are we meant to believe that's what the no-comment-uncomfortable-looking appearances are about? ("See, this is who I'm with, leave us alone.") Meanwhile, both N and L seem pretty quick to come to each other's defense, when no one would expect them to (for example, the recent SAG blind item when N emphatically denied L was the subject). And while we know she was at the William Tell premiere, I'm fairly certain she posted nothing about the movie (all the other members of the friend group shared supportive IG stories celebrating Jake). Also, while we know she went to see his play (more than once?), yet she also never made a peep about being there, and what she thought of it and his performance, as a supportive gf (or friend!) would do. And while I can understand that L and N are not as active interacting with each other on SM because of the current insanity of fans, wouldn't things like wishing each other happy birthday be a way of retraining fans and assuring them that they are, in fact, the best of friends, who tease each other and have fun the way they used to?

As always, I want to say that they obviously can do whatever they want to do and don't owe the public a thing. But what we do see....mixed messages, indeed. It just reinforces to me that we really have no idea what's going on.

.

[antimony-medusa]

Female Characters and the Big Sister Problem

So in this fandom we love family dynamics, and something I see pretty regularly is characters written as a family even if they didn't have that relationship in canon. When it comes to things like SBI family dynamic or Kristin as SBI's mother, some people might not even realize this isn't canon, because the trope is so strong. And now with a lot of people 3-6 years into the fandom, we're expanding the family to other characters— I see Niki big sister pretty regularly, or Niki mother. Puffy mother, Gem sister, Pearl sister— etc. And I know people are writing this because they love family and familial love— family is one of the strongest bonds many people of experience and people are writing this because they want these characters to be part of this network of love!

However, there's also a pitfall when writing canonically non-family characters into a family in its simplest form, especially to female characters, and I think some people might not realize it— so I thought I'd point it out.

One of the basic ways to write a story is you have your main character or main duo, and everyone else is in a supporting role. If your story is about one character, then often things revolve around them— around tommy, or techno, or ranboo, or grian, or jimmy— and everyone else is there to play support. Often in a family situation, big siblings and parents take specifically nurturing and caring support roles.

And when all your female characters are is their nurturing/caring role as a big sister or a mother, if that's what defines them within the narrative, or if you always write them in that way, there starts to be a problem.

Particularly when you look at canon— these characters were not in nurturing roles originally. Kristin is a powerful goddess presiding over death, Niki is defined by rage— Geminitay is out here bullying her friends and building beautiful things, Pearlescentmoon is working multiple jobs and joining revolutions. Roscumber is inventing new types of yuri daily. The list goes on. These are characters in the original with their own arcs and quirks and hopes and dreams! And every time you change someone from their canon role or characterization, that's sending a signal about how you see the character and your specific victory condition for the character. When you hold up the character to the light, are you holding up good at combat, or powerful, or mischievous, or organized competence— or nurturing care of a male character who is the centre of the real story? Are you doing this over and over again? Is the tag full of this?

And again, sometimes you don't have time to get into the background and characterization of all your side characters, that's just a narrative focus thing. But if every time you're using this character nowadays, you're swapping their canon character out for a nurturing role, that starts to message about how you see the character, and further, how you see female characters in general.

When you write a male character away from canon characterization into a nurturing support role that's one thing— the fans of that character are probably not gonna be hype but that's not like, a societal trend. But unfortunately the pushing of female characters and female-perceived people into a nurturing support role is something that hollywood has been doing since we invented film, that people have been doing since we invented stories, that society does every day. It starts to grate. It reduces women down from complex beings into the care they can provide men, and again, I don't think anyone is doing this on purpose, but when you meet it again and again in fiction, boy. I start pacing my room and muttering. It is one of the classic sexist tropes for how to write women, unfortunately. Every terrible guy in your creative writing class who got told to add more female characters does this, and boy, we don't want to be like terrible guy in your creative writing class.

So! You have to make sure your character comes alive as more than just nurturing support. If your heart is set on family, spend a little more time rotating that character. What are her hopes and dreams, and quirks and foibles? Can she contribute to the plot in a way that isn't just support of the main character? Can she provide a narrative role that isn't nurturing? Does she get to be the centre of attention and have other characterization? Can you make her really funny and scene-stealing for a scene, or show that she has a life outside of her family? Consider writing a story or an arc where she's the main focus!

Or even, I'd strongly suggest considering writing women in as not family at all. Expand that circle of influence away from the home. Does your main character have peers or adversaries or friends? Coworkers? Brothers in arms?

I think sometimes people go to family because it's a fast way to show how important a character is to a person, because so many of us think "sister" and feel that tug of affection and importance. And because people love family, which makes sense. Family is important to a lot of us! But if you can show that importance in a different way, through the narrative, you've celebrated a character you like, and you've sidestepped the pit trap hollywood is digging for us. Because boy is hollywood lining up to make this a pit trap. Movie after movie after tv show with female characters who are only there because they're family. It's as bad as the woman who's only there to be sexy, because it starts to message that the only way a woman can be important in someone's life is if they're related to them. Which is not an improvement on women are only there there for sex.

And I don't think anyone is doing this on purpose, and no one fic or au is necessarily "oh this one is sexist", but it's about the trend. When there's one fic that does this, you go "aw this person loves family". When it's every second fic that does this, you start to go— wait a minute, what's the signal being sent here. And we are unfortunately there, as a fandom. We've been there for a bit. And it doesn't mean that every female character in a family dynamic is bad characterization— women also exist in families. I am in one, in fact. Family is cool. But this trope does map so precisely to sexist writing tropes and carries so much potential narrative weight that you've got to do some quick maneuvering to avoid all that, if you're doing family.

So please, I'm begging you, when you're bringing women into the story, make sure family roles is not all your women are, or consider the joy of making them not family at all! Most people your character meets will be not related to them, perhaps your selected character is one of them.

Godspeed, may your women be complex and nuanced beings henceforth.

[strang3lov3]

do you think dad joel has ever felt guilty about what he does with his baby girl or thought of ending it?

(i love him btw)

I really don’t think he feels guilty. I think he takes a lot of comfort and pleasure in knowing that he’s her guy for her whole life. And if it feels good then it can’t be bad, can it? He gets to take care of all of her needs and he loves that she’s gonna need him forever. He’s never gonna stop being her daddy.

He also never thinks of ending it. There’s no reason to! He’s got one priority and that’s his fuckin’ girl. Family sticks together and blood is thicker than water and all of that 🖤

Thank you for loving him. I love him too! I can’t wait to write him again. I’m so pissed that I’m so fucking busy and just can’t right now.

This is a fictional scenario and all characters involved are adults.