#and what pisses me off the most about the level if obsession this fandom had with this friendship

[uselessnbee]

ok now that some time passed i'm gonna be brave and say my opinion

the way this fandom became obsessed with the Will x Edd*e friendship was weird

"oh Edd*e would love Will's art🥺" "Edd*e calling Will 'Will the wise🥺'" you mean the things we associate with Mike and his love for Will?💀

"oh Will would love Edd*e!" "oh Edd*e would love Will!" Edd*e this! Edd*e that!

"if Will was there he would convince Edd*e to postpone the campaign for Lucas' game!" yeah Dustin and Mike tried that stop acting like they didn't what makes you think he would suddenly listen to Will?💀

like sure bro if it's an interesting friendship to you that's cool i wanted them to meet too but the way this fandom became truly completely obsessed was so weird like these bitches didn't even meet probably didn't even know about the other's existence and yall made it into such a big deal and the way yall made Edd*e almost "replace" Mike in some ways or whatever the fuck it was was just weird or the way some people were acting like Edd*e would be Will's big brother figure as if he doesn't already have Jonathan who is also much better than Edd*e could ever be.. it was just too much ...i understand people wondering and enjoying exploring their potential dynamic but that level of obsession did not and still does not make sense to me

(especially because in my opinion they would not be close. Edd*e would throw food or have some of his stupid comments and especially the way he acted about Lucas' game, if Will saw that he would be done with his ass and he sure as hell would not love him like an older brother)

[amethystroselily]

What is your opinion on soukoku?

As a ship? Yeah, I do ship it.

I don’t like it as a “they’re eachother’s one true love” sort of thing, but as a complicated “I hated you at first, but then I warmed up to you, then I hated you again because you screw me over constantly and we’re being pitted against eachother by our boss, then I started to deeply care about you because of the forced proximity and the fact that we were just two teenagers who were never allowed to really be kids and we can find common ground in that, then you left and I still love you even though I dislike you” sort of thing with some sexual tension thrown into the mix? That’s great. Not the most important relationship in each other’s lives, but there’s still an unbreakeable bond.

I’m of the opinion that Dazai is way more invested in their relationship than Chuuya is, and has been since the moment they met, but Chuuya started to really care about him at like 16-17. I think he still resents Dazai though. Dazai was kind of horrible to him. But I think he has forgiven him for it on some level, like he’s forgiven every other character who has ever wronged him. (Forced proximity does a lot for Chuuya I guess idk)

Sometimes I think I kind of just ship it as one-sided with Dazai being on-again-off-again obsessed with Chuuya, but every time he expresses it Chuuya’s just like “you crazy bitch”. But sometimes I enjoy it as mutual. Depends on the day really.

I don’t think it’s particularly healthy, but I don’t really care. I don’t think ANY of Dazai’s relationships are actually healthy, and the only healthy relationships Chuuya had were Adam and the flags. So it… checks out…

I think the fanon version of them used to be SO out of character like 3 years ago, but ever since Stormbringer came out the fandom got a lot less obnoxious about them. Because they actually have a canon past dynamic to go off of. It’s a lot less cutesy and “they only care about eachother🥺” than it used to be.

I think I enjoy their dynamic outside of shipping because it gives someone who knew Dazai well in the past, who he has wronged, who at the time was generally viewed as a more upstanding person than him, but is now still on the “bad guys” side while Dazai attempts to redeem himself. It’s a really interesting angle. Like, Dazai probably does still think Chuuya’s a decent guy, but the people who he surrounds himself with now in an attempt to be better would probably still view Chuuya as a terrible person. He’s a murderer, he’s incredibly loyal to the guy Fukuzawa and Yosano have intense personal beef with, he bragged about selling out their powerless clerks to an enemy, and he’s all around hostile towards them. And yet, Dazai has always felt that Chuuya was more human than him, more feeling, more loyal and caring. But in the end, Dazai’s putting in the work to “be a good person” and Chuuya’s still stuck right where he was at fifteen, right where Dazai helped trap him. How fun.

Also I just kind of enjoy their bickering, but I think fan content leans too heavily into the Chuuya getting embarrassed thing, because sometimes he is but he’s also either pissed or like passive-aggressively indifferent about Dazai being annoying. You need a real mix of the three. And on that note, I’d argue if anyone’s a tsundere in that relationship it’s Dazai. He’s the one who’s making these grand declarations towards Chuuya and as soon as Chuuya’s like “…what the hell man?” he’s like “never mind. I hate you and I want you dead.” And it’s like… a pattern. Chuuya just gets angry at Dazai for completely reasonable things.

Chuuya’s not the only person I ship Dazai with if you were curious, because Dazai has chemistry with like half the cast. I’m more invested in Chuuya’s platonic relationships in general, but there are a few other ships involving him that I don’t mind.

[dual-fantasy]

So much. Yes. the babyfication of mike(& the rest of the system to an extent) cause hes nervous sometimes and mentally ill makes me so mad. hes a bit of a dick and its okay. let him be a dick. he deserves it. let him be awful and gritty. scike ultimately would fail because of how much they just dont love each other. they end it on awful terms. anytime they're near each other they end up getting in a fistfight. mike kicks his ass every time. he'd have to be physically dragged off scott if anyone cared enough to stop him. jo cheers him on. people only get in the way of it when they realize scott might actually Die and even then its just a suggestion. Also, bit of an unpopular opinion in the fandom but I don't like zoke. I think they'd be friends after the show but they wouldn't date. mike grew a backbone after the show as well. he got cooler i reckon. its the mental illness though he stopped going to therapy after roti(also. i want to talk about how people completely forget that he actively sees a psychiatrist?? he is fucked in the head stop ignoring it) and somewhere through dating scott he just Stops Giving A Shit. he contracted scotts shark rabies or whatever and it made him evil. but its okay cause its mike. let him be evil. he deserves it. let him be mean to people. scike are absolutely awful for each other. their ''relationship'' is messy at most. nobody knows how they started dating it just happened one day. they yell at each other in the furniture displays at big stores and make everyone uncomfortable. they cant hang out together around anyone else cause 30 minutes in they get mad at each other and ruin the mood. actually the fandom interpretation of mike pisses me off so much. he is not a dainty little twink he has abs. that isnt just vitos italian superstrength(funniest fucking thing to me) or whatever hes strong as hell. let him beat someone up. let him be mean. he pushed scott into shark infested waters. he was a stupid boy in love with a pretty girl but hes also a dick. it means so much to me. hes an awful person sometimes and he absolutely deserves to be. half of the total drama fandom can not comprehend a mentally ill guy having complexities that make him a kind of bad person. hes a dog motif in a guard dog way. his bites worse then his bark. i do not frown on him being horrible i think he should be like that more. make mike mean twenty twenty four. td fandoms displayed him in such a horrific way i have to level the scales by making him the horrible person he deserves to be. not even in an angsty way he isn't sad and miserable. he should just be allowed to fuck scott up a lot. let him break some noses. I saw a post about brick and mike(no idea what the ship name is. bike ????) and i think they should be allowed to kiss just a little bit. brick frowns on him getting in fights but he isn't gonna stop it. scott deserves to get beaten up a little. mikes stupid and in love with brick though. tying into the guard dog motif. he comes home soaked in blood(probably scotts. none of its his own) and makes brick dinner cause hes actually the best boyfriend ever. just not to scott. theres no scike happy ending they dont become friends or learn to tolerate each other theyre forever bitter and hateful Grave Dog. i wrote this all in one sitting in 2 minutes i hope its somewhat comprehensible

YOU'RE SO REAL the fanon interpretation of mike actually drives me mad. like fucking insane. I hate it. I think the issue is that people don't want actual mental health representation they want the perks that come with being able to say he's mentally ill without actually having to see what mental illness is. they would rather die than realise nuances in his character. and your right the system has also had this happen but to a lesser extent. I like the fanon system more but only in the way that it's actually researched. in every other way it sucks. Ive seen it happen a lot with svetlana too. Its the obsession with easy troupes and simple characters that are easier to portray. they want characters to be more palletable so they erase their real character for the simplicity. it's bad

I think scike is literally never going to work out. it's always bad and it never improves and they're so terrible. they would never say they'll love eachother but they'll spend every waking moment imagining ways to destroy eachother. it's so bad and so good. mike is actually fucking killing Scott at one point. like his face is three hits from caving in. the only person to bother with helping him is brick because of "moral codes" or something. Cameron also wanted to help but he would get killed like. immediately. not even intentionally he would just get hit and crumple and die. everyone else is cheering them on tho. Anne Maria and B made a betting pool. lightning and dawn are announcing everything that happens like sports commentators.

I do not like zoke either because I don't like the way that Zoey was handled in canon. I think they should've made her weirder. she cannot be the "weird small town loser" if her only weird personality trait is a flower in her hair. she shouldve collected bones and made them into jewellery. they're friends but I can't see them dating. he stops caring after the show (and the reset button doesn't work!! it does not fucking work!! the system is still there!!) and decides to just be terrible. making up for the fanon bullshit my making him worse you're right.

and the Italian superstrength is easily one of the funniest explanations I've ever seen. in anything. Vito doesn't have fucking superpowers y'all mike is strong. he canonically does kickboxing!!! and is very passionate it!!! the show makes a point out of it!!! and also he can do everything that Svetlana can. even if he doesn't have the form or the practice in order to actually do it he could still theoretically do it. because Svetlana can only do what their body allows. mike is fucking jacked and incredibly strong he's just skinny. his ass is NOT a twink you all just hate nuances! he needs to beat up people. he needs to be worse. he needs to be terrible and horrible and cruel

and the guard dog motif is soooo good. weapon that's only used in necessity. bites not for enjoyment but for protection. able to fight but has the morality to restrain himself. he should be allowed to go crazy though. pleaseeee pretty please can he go crazy and silly and insane and violent. you're so real about brick and Mike I think they would be cute.

also DW I write all my posts in 2 minutes too that's why they're all incomprehensible

[incarnadinedreams]

So I finally finished reading TGCF! (The main novel, I haven't gotten to the extras yet). I watched the first season of the donghua ages ago (right after I watched what was available of the MDZS donghua at the time and before I read the MDZS novel), then started reading TGCF as the first volumes of the official English versions were releasing and fell off.

My original plan was to "catch up" through book 5 and just keep up with the official releases. As soon as I finished book 5 I immediately abandoned that plan and went straight to the fan translations (whatever, I'll still be buying the officials as they release so I don't feel too guilty about it).

Anyway, I am feeling..... surprisingly normal about this book? I enjoyed it and had fun reading it and so far have not felt any inklings of obsessive derangement over it.

(Extremely long and rambling first impressions/thoughts after a single quick read below the cut, probably not that interesting. May contain major spoilers, and sorta comparing it to MDZS and specifically JC a bit just because the comparisons get pushed a lot because of the overlap in the fandoms)

Anyway, as a Jiang Cheng Enjoyer I've fairly often seen people say things like 'you should just read TGCF, Mu Qing is actually what JC stans wish Jiang Cheng was' or 'Mu Qing is Jiang Cheng but done right' and I just....... kinda don't see it?

Anyway... Is it just me? Am I stupid and missing something?

I mean, there are some obvious parallels and MXTX very clearly has a pattern/dynamic/formula she likes with the 'best friend side characters' slot, re-used some similar surface-level descriptions for Mu Qing that had been applied to Jiang Cheng (bad-tempered, sarcastic, unlikable, good looking, etc). So I'm definitely not saying people are totally wrong for seeing a connection there.

But they didn't actually feel all that similar to me beyond a handful of traits? And not only because of the tragic lack of jilfy purple electro-whip.

I think part of the problem is that Mu Qing suffered from a serious case of "tell, don't show" in his portrayal... in the text we're being told by other characters that he's so unlikable or has such a nasty personality or is so untrustworthy... but then rarely or never actually says or does anything "on camera" to show that?

Like, this isn't "he has done nothing wrong!" in the "I shall protect this precious blorbo of my heart" way, it's in the "ummmmmm... he has actually... not done anything wrong in this situation...? And I am confused as to why these characters are reacting to him in a way that is so wildly out of proportion to what has actually happened?"

As much as I love Jiang Cheng, he does at least actually say some mean things "on screen" in the novel to earn that bad-tempered sharp-tongued characterization. I might personally think he was perfectly justified in saying about 98% of them and being pissed as hell, but at least he actually does the being angry and bitter and verbal lashing out that he's characterized with. (Though I think he actually does a lot less of it than people seem to think, as most of the time he's just being pretty normal actually. But there are some scenes at least.) Of course, conversely, Wei Wuxian does also do many more actually bad things to balance it out too and make JC's on-screen anger/reactions make a lot more sense.

But Mu Qing on the other hand... a few snippy comments and some eye rolling? Everything else always ends up being someone else baselessly accusing him based on some accidental circumstances that got cleared up with reasonable explanations. His involvement in the whole turf war over the meditation place was mostly him showing up after the rest of them had already made up their minds and he was trying to de-escalate the situation without losing the job he was using to support his mother with or creating more problems.

The only kinda bad things I think he does (be okay with the idea of using the Human Face Disease against the Yong'an people to stop it from spreading in the Xianle capital city) is one of the few things that nobody actually has any issue with him for! You could argue that it was bad to get Hua Cheng kicked out of the army... but also he was 14 and there are no actual details given and tbh that kid was kinda creepy from an outside perspective (even if I liked him)...

To be honest I'd seen a few people making vague comments about his "betrayal" in the past so I knew it was coming, but "I'm gonna go take care of my mom instead of doing these former rich fuck's laundry" was so deeply underwhelming on the betrayal scale I was like "wait, that's it?"

I mean there was not even a siege involved...? Not a single declaration of hatred? Not even a little bit of threatened torture?

Anyway, I was already still feeling some kind of way about that royal laundry situation when I got to the scene in Mt Tonglu where Mu Qing is all "I was in awe of you, you're a better person than me and I wanted to be your friend" while Xie Lian is like "um well you'd spit in someone's cup but you wouldn't poison it so I don't want you to die I guess."

I just felt sort of vaguely put off by the whole exchange and the sense of a total lack of reciprocity from Xie Lian. His whole vibe is "well I don't dislike you enough to let you die, and saving people is my thing in general so, y'know, here I am saving you."

Because what made the whole dynamic work in MDZS was how (even if the characters didn't necessarily know it about the other) they just cared about each other so much, to an absolutely unhinged degree, and that felt missing here. So even though WWX has some of the same vibe of negative or resentful opinions of JC at points, it hits different because they're laid on the backdrop of an utterly unhinged sacrifice specifically and uniquely for Jiang Cheng (which, unknown to WWX, was needed because of a more standard in type but but still unhinged sacrifice of his own that was specifically and uniquely for WWX)

I don't necessarily mind that specific relationship being different or less intense in TGCF (in fact I prefer that it's not just a copy-paste of the same characters going by different names with a bit more polish, the way some people made it sound like it would be), but the way that specific scene played out given the backdrop of how MQ keeps getting treated throughout the rest of the story just felt icky to me. Idk.

A lot of the way the characters interacted with each other just felt like the action and reactions were a little mismatched or something? Something about the behaviors involved didn't ring as painfully, horribly, clearly true to me as they did in so many MDZS scenes.

Anyway I did enjoy both Mu Qing and Feng Xin as characters, I'll definitely be indulging in some FengQing content (recs/links welcome if anyone actually read this far lol), just specifically their relationship with Xie Lian did not inspire in me even a teensy fraction of the depths of absolute feral obsession that the Yunmeng Shuangjie relationship does. It... just did not resonate that way with me. If I had to speculate (in a wild and baseless fashion, source: my ass), I think that toning down the intensity might have even been intentional on the author's part this go around.

Anyway a lot of that was mostly because the expectation of a strong parallel and deep reaction to the Xianle trio's relationship was pre-planted in my mind, and such expectations are generally always doomed to fall short anyway.

As far as the rest of the novel, like I said - it was generally quite enjoyable, I had fun reading it, I'm certainly not trying to trash it! I'd say I actually overall enjoyed the HuaLian relationship developing in the novel itself more than WangXian, in terms of how the flirting was executed. Like "what if you had an extremely dangerous and fervently obsessed stalker, but also make it cute". I don't dislike WangXian, but for me their relationship was just a fun side-plot and not what I really cared about or kept reading for. I did find the Hong-er and lantern ghost flashback scenes quite touching and sweet.

The first ~200 chapters (by the web novel serialization chapter numbers) I'd say were generally constructed better than MDZS, so I see where people say there was a bit of a level up there. The last ~40ish chapters the pacing felt kind of off to me, like there was just too much crammed in and MXTX just wanted it to be over and done with.

The 'uncovering secrets of an ancient lost empire/kingdom' type of plot is my absolute jam, my favoritest trope of all time, I actually loved the concepts there. It was like a two-for-one, since we got the learn about the fall of Xianle which scratched that itch a little bit, and then the full-on mystery aspect with Wuyong. I wish there had been more time spent on the mystery/uncovering information about Wuyong aspect of the plot rather than the answers coming relatively quickly.

Unsurprisingly in addition to Feng Xin and Mu Qing, I was a huge fan of Yushi Huang, Ling Wen, Shi Qingxuan, He Xuan, Lang Qianqiu (his adorable golden retriever energy is irresistible when combined with a Tragic Backstory), Guzi, Yin Yu, Quan Yizhen

Surprise favs were Pei Ming (I'd only seen through the donghua S1 so I kinda had him categorized in my mind as the offscreen God of Fuckboys, but ended up liking him an unreasonable amount) and Qi Rong

Anyway I had all of these thoughts while I was reading then felt a bit guilty about them when I read the postscript because I am the person she was afraid of coming over to read TGCF after MDZS :x

[maple-the-awesome]

We'll Meet Again...I Know When || Chapter 13

Pairing: Bucky Barnes x GN Reader

Words: 2,774

Overview: Given your old-fashioned personality and obsession with all things 1940s to 1980s, it’s no wonder that most people refer to you as an ‘old soul’ who would’ve rather lived back then than in the modern era. Little do they know, you already did, but with your previous life as Hollie Stark cut short, you’ve been left with some…unfinished business, to say the least. Top of your list? Finally getting to marry your thought-to-be-lost fiancé.

Series Masterlist 🤎 Marvel Masterlist 🤎 Fandom Masterlist

CHAPTER THIRTEEN: TRATIOR OF TRUST

"Where is he?"

"Must I remind you that you're currently under arrest for harboring a fugitive of the law? What makes you possibly think-?"

"-I refuse to answer any of your questions until mine are answered first. I want to know the status of James Buchanan Barnes, is that so much to ask for?" You hiss, leaning back against your chair with crossed arms which makes the detective sigh for what must be the sixth time within the thirty or so minutes that he’s been supposedly ‘interrogating’ you (not that he’s gotten anything to show for that time).

You already know the drill behind this sort of thing, not to mention you’re incredibly stubborn, although you are notably being pretty nice to this guy considering the circumstances. You haven’t raised your voice nor have you attempted to force your way out of this highly secured room yet. Instead, you’ve made one simple demand in exchange for cooperation: answer the damn question about Bucky or else your lips will remain sealed. It’s this detective’s own fault for pissing off a Stark over something so avoidable. You can play this game all day if you must!

The man, who has likely gained more white hairs during this short experience, rubs his temple tiredly. Today has already been stressful enough for him as it is and you’re definitely not making it any easier with your mulish refusal to just throw him a bone already.

Not having the willpower any longer, the detective decides to give in himself,"...Mr. Barnes is being held in a secure location within the building. He's safe at least, but I'm afraid we're unable to tell you anymore than that...Will you answer my questions now?"

"He's innocent."

"That's not what I-"

"-I know. I'm skipping all the bullshit and leaping to the point since you've already wasted enough of my time here. James is innocent. He was with me in Bucharest the entire day of the UN conference. The longest I had my eyes off of him was whenever he went to the bathroom. Now, I highly doubt that's enough time to even cross borders let alone do what you're accusing him of."

"And how are we to believe your word exactly? For the last two years, you've been on the run with Barnes across several countries: the United States, France, Germany, Romania...and that's just the ones we've been able to track," he narrows his eyes, waiting for a possible response from you, but he receives nothing aside from a roll of your eyes as you fight back to the urge to correct him on the two countries he missed.

"...I've taken a look at your records. Says here that you were a child prodigy, excelling in all levels of school, in fact you obtained your bachelor's degree by 14 and doctorates by 19. You worked at SHIELD Headquarters for four years until you disappeared with the Winter Soldier, consequently right after HYDRA had been discovered within the organization."

"That timeline is lacking details and, while I'm sure that's intentional, let's just get it straight, shall we?" You affirm pointedly. Sitting straight, each of your words are spoken sternly, challenging this detective's own authority by tone alone," I'm not a fascist so don't even try spinning that shit towards me. I had no idea HYDRA was within SHIELD until everyone else did and I sure as hell wouldn't have let them get away with it had I known any sooner. Also, it's not like I just up and left SHIELD. It disbanded, thus I was officially unemployed."

The man falters slightly under your intense stare before fixing his posture," so, you decided to run off with a fugitive instead of attending a job fair?"

"You can't morally link the Winter Soldier and James Barnes to the same responsibilities. You work for the government, right? So, you must understand to at least some extent what it's like to be a puppet? Well, for James it was worse than that. He had been tortured for decades under HYDRA - decades of no freedom and brainwashing until he could no longer even think for himself. He was their tool, whether he wanted to be or not.

"With all that said, the moment the independent variable, HYDRA, was removed, James got significantly better and showed no signs of the Winter Soldier's patterns. I have evidence for that as well. I've been keeping track of his mental health over the course of the last two years. He shows clear signs of PTSD as well as extreme memory loss in the beginning, but we've been working on healing, in fact, he has shown amazing progress towards the latter. The important detail to note is, despite his mental turmoil, James has never harmed anyone, only wanting to rediscover his past and find a new, peaceful life-"

"-He's never harmed anyone until now," you open your mouth to bitterly object, but you're not given a chance when the detective slips several pictures in front of you," if you keep insisting on his innocence, then how do we have video surveillance footage of Mr. Barnes at the UN Bombing?"

You gaze over the pictures with wide eyes that slowly narrow. The picture, like most from video surveillance, isn't all that clear. It shows a man dressed in black walking away from the UN Bombing, at least you assume as much going off of what the detective said. You'll admit that his face does look like Bucky at first glance, but only at first glance. Even if you hadn't spent that entire day binging the extended cuts of Lord of the Rings with the real deal, you would know that the man in the picture is an imposter. While you can’t give an exact reason, there's something off about his appearance that doesn't match. You know your Bucky. That's not him and you voice as much to the detective.

He sighs (the seventh time) and breaths your last name showing exhaustion, but you don't give him a chance to argue further.

"That's not Bucky. If anything, he's been framed. Either way, you've got the wrong guy."

At long last, the detective stands, running a hand through his hair in irritation before marching outside and slamming the door behind himself. While this day has been utter hell so far, knowing you've finally broken the poor guy does bring a satisfied smirk to your face, one you direct to the cameras eyeing you in the corner of the room.

You know they've been listening this entire time, praying that you, the one who's been living with James for the last two years now, could provide them with valuable evidence against him. They even offered a plea deal: cooperate and your own punishment will be practically nonexistent, however counteract and you'll go down as his accomplice meaning it'll be a long time till you see the sun again. Little do these people know, you use law books for light reading, so you understand how this intimidation works. Even if you have to be your own lawyer, you'll prove Bucky’s innocence and yours, too.

Several minutes later, the door opens from behind you, signaling that another detective has come to try chipping away at your strong will. With a huff, you turn in your chair to face this newcomer," alright, to summarize what I told the other guy, I..."

Your voice dies within your throat, your lips pressing together tightly to muffle your sharp inhale of air.

It's not a detective this time, but rather Steve Rogers who stands with his back to the door, his eyes narrowed towards you in an intimidation attempt far more effective than those utilized by the government. Based on it, you expect his first words to be yelled or, at the very least, hissed with every ounce of anger he certainly deserves to show. Instead, they’re quiet and worn as he slowly makes his way to the detective's old seat.

"As we speak, they're building an entire case against you claiming that you're a HYDRA agent who's been controlling the Winter Soldier - for longer than these last two years, too. They're using your background as evidence, trying to say it fits that of a double agent whose goal was to get close to SHIELD and even the Avengers for insider information.

“As far as they're all concerned, you're the puppet master behind this whole ordeal. You ordered the Winter Soldier to bomb the UN. You planned the attack. Do you realize how long you'll go away if convicted?" Steve doesn’t take a seat, rather he hovers nearby, his eyes watching you steadily. Through the resentment, you can hear a tiny hint of genuine worry behind his voice.

"...I figured as much..." Dropping your 'tough' act, you sigh and look at the pictures left on the table. It’s as if you’re only just now starting to feel the effects of today’s stress. Steve finding you, Bucky’s arrest, the government claiming he did something you know he’d never do…It’s a lot all at once and while you’d like to say you’re used to this sort of thing, it certainly never gets easier.

“You don’t believe any of it, though…do you? I’d never work for HYDRA. Besides, we’re friends-”

"-I don't believe you'd work for HYDRA," Steve confirms only to your short relief before he adds bitterly," but I'm beginning to second guess the whole 'friends' thing."

"Steve-"

"-If you were really my friend, you would've told me when you found Bucky. You wouldn't have waited until I accidently came across you both. Were you ever going to tell me?"

"Of course I was. We just needed time-"

"-Time for what exactly?" Finally, there's a slight raise to his voice," you know how much Bucky means to me! I told you all about our past together - I confided in you because, for some reason, I thought you'd actually be able to understand! Especially after everything that happened with SHIELD and HYDRA, I thought I could trust Natasha and you since you both seemed just as affected as I was, but I guess I was wrong - wrong about the two of you.”

You flinch, bowing your head away from his intense stare," so, you know about...?"

"Natasha helping you? Yeah, she already gave herself away. The second we came here she was trying to vouch for you to the others. It didn't take long to piece the truth together after that," Steve begins to pace, although there isn't much space for it in this closet of a room.

“Please don’t blame Natasha, Steve. None of this is her fault. I made her promise not to say anything to anyone even though she wanted to-”

He suddenly turns to you with a pointed finger, “-how could you tell her and not me?!"

"I told her because she caught me before I left! If it had been you, I would've confessed then, too. Natasha finding out was a...miscalculation if anything.”

‘...On more than two fronts.’

"A 'miscalculation'? To what plan?" Steve rests his hands on the back of the empty chair in front of you, leaning forward slightly as he’s clearly trying to maintain a level head," that's what I don't get...What did you gain from anything of this? Lying to all of your so-called 'friends', finding Bucky, keeping his location a secret from even me? What did any of this give you?!"

"It's…complicated…This entire situation is…" He opens his mouth, but you hold a hand up sharply," don't. Let me explain. Bucky's mental state was all over the place when I first found him. He barely remembered who he used to be, had no experience operating on his own freewill, and he was scared shitless on top of it all as anyone would be. He didn't need the stress of having you around then. He needed time before that."

"I'm his best friend-"

"-Which is exactly the problem. I know that. He knows that. Even then, he remembered that you were at least someone important to him in his past," inhaling slowly, you run a hand through your hair while glaring at Steve in the corner of your eyes,"...look...He's not the same James we lost on that train. When I first found him, he had no idea who he was aside from his time as the Winter Soldier and a few very vague memories of his past before that. He didn't want to face your disappointment when you've waited all this time to get your best friend back only to realize you get the shattered pieces of him instead.

"...You have to understand, Steve. It's difficult getting caught up in two different lives. It hurts knowing you can never fully be the person others want and the stress of thinking no one will accept you for you can be unbearable, which is why I never told you about Bucky. I wanted that to be up to him. I wanted to offer him support and help him put the pieces back together while also letting him be the one to decide when he felt confident enough to meet you again," your hand remains tangled in your hair while you speak as softly as possible, your words genuine yet still not enough apparently.

“I already knew about Bucky’s memory loss. I’m the one who fought him directly and saw that empty look in his eyes myself which is why I’ve been so worried about him. I told you this back then. Even if he isn’t the same Bucky I knew back in the 40s, I still care about him. If he was questioning that, you should’ve known the difference. If you were that concerned about being involved and helping, you should’ve convinced him that I’m here for him instead of just feeding into his fears-”

"-I didn't feed into anything. I already tried telling him exactly that, but the more I pushed, the more he shied away from me! I couldn’t make any progress-!”

"-Then at the very least you could have messaged me! I didn't even have to be there physically nor did Bucky have to know! All it would've taken was one phone call - one text message saying that you found him and that he was safe-!”

"-And what? You would've left it all be then? Don’t try fooling yourself. If I had told you from the beginning that I was somewhere out in the world with Bucky, you would've stopped at nothing to find us and we would've still been having this damn argument."

"What makes you any more qualified to look after him than me?"

“Why do you insist on behaving like a jealous ex…?” Rubbing your temple, you suddenly feel bad for that detective earlier," the bottom-line is this isn't about either of us, Steve. This is about James-!"

"-My friend."

"You don't own him!"

"Neither do you!"

This sets you off, leading you to smack your hands on the table and push yourself up with a fierce glare, “I’m not trying to! I worry about him and unlike you, I’ve been willing to actually set aside my own needs for his!”

"Oh, so now I'm the bad guy here?" Steve marches towards you until he stands only a few inches away, a similar sight that had occurred in the apartment earlier today.

“You’re not listening to a word I’m trying to say, so yeah, kinda!” Despite the lack of distance, you don't falter this time, standing tall against him as you meet his eyes with your fiery ones.

"I don't even see why you care this much! The Winter Soldier was someone who tried to kill you! You hated him yet the second he turns back to Bucky, you jump in suddenly and act as if you have all responsibility over him! At least I was his friend back then! You were a stranger to him, so why are you trying so hard to put yourself on some sort of pedestal in his life?!”

"Because I have a right to be involved in my fiancé’s life, dammit!"

Steve blinks, his anger only temporarily melting into an expression of confusion, although the change is just that: temporary.

“...Your what?!” If he hadn’t looked angry enough before, then those words have certainly done the trick now. You can see the clear fury behind his eyes because, of course, out of all the argument’s you’ve put forward today, that was the first time he actually decided to dwell on any of them.

You open your mouth, illy prepared to stumble over some poorly woven excuse you highly doubt he’d believe anyways, but by the time you so much as intake air for this hurried speech, the room suddenly lights up in red as alarms blare in your ears. This puts the whole confrontation on hold, demanding your attention as you instantly realize what these alarms must mean.

"James…"

NEXT CHAPTER ➡️

⬅️PREVIOUS CHAPTER

[disaster-fruit]

For the Fanfic Writer Ask Meme: A, M, U

A: Of the fanfic you’ve written, which is your favorite and why?

Obviously the arranged marriage AU, which is unfair answer because its the one that isnt published and also not even finished since i decided to rewrite some parts. But it is what it is, i could tell from the moment i finished the first draft that it was something really special and a level above my other stuff. I'm not sure i can put my finger on exactly why, it has a lot of emotion but its still self-indulgent and sex and messy like my other stuff, its not particularly serious or high-brow. But still i think its better, and i tried to think of a fic to say here that was published but none really seem to be a worthy comparison. All i wanted when i finished it at the time was to write more and see if i could keep that level up

M: What’s the weirdest AU scenario you’ve ever come up with? Did it turn into a story?

Though one, i have so many aus in my mind i dont keep track with most of them. I'd say the weirdest kinky ones i have never became stories, nope. And i felt they were all a bit too much for the fandom, that tends to skew 'fluffy' and 'simple' and it was kinda hard to find motivation for my more out-there ideas when i knew wouldn't be anyone's cup of tea. I make aus for myself but when i wrote i wanted to share, so if there was no one to read i saw no reason to not just keep daydreaming about it for zero effort.

But not keep it too vague, the least weird one i had was an among us au…. yes. But going for the space-horror route and mosterfuck shenanigans. The other ones need too many words to explain so you'll have to die wondering.

As for non-kinky im sure i'm simply not remembering weirder ones. But one recent i had was when i came up with an entire plot for an addams family au fic and i was like………. yep they're not ready for it, scrap it. Keep it in the cozy corner of my mind.

U: Is there a pairing you would like to write, but haven’t tried yet.

Hmmm not really? For me to write i needed to be high-key OBSESSED otherwise i wouldn't even have scenarios to try. And it needs to be a long-ish term obsession, which i also havent gotten in a while. But to not leave this blank i think the closest i got to this in my memory was when i was in the capri fandom i wanted to write something for Jord/Aimeiric because i couldnt stand the slander they got in the fandom (everyone wanting to pair jord in the background of fics (not even jord-centric fics just yk lamen fic where he was just stadning there) with men he didnt even interact with even in aus where aimeric was aliveeeeeee PISSED ME OFF) and i wanted to do it JUSTICE but i never did and my carpi phase is gone so i can only hope someone after me did the justice eventually

[khentkawes]

Tony Stark-antis need to learn some chill and basic narrative comprehension skills. Like really? Again with this bullshit?

Dude, we are ONE episode into Falcon and the Winter Solider and people are already using it as an excuse to resurrect anti-Tony Stark bad takes. Like... WTF fandom? Do we really have to go through this with every single post-Endgame mcu project? Really? When are ya all gonna learn some comprehension skills and actually pick up on what the narrative is trying to say?

Say it with me: the bank loan scene was a not-very-subtle jab at systemic racism and the way black veterans have been treated in American for decades. It’s not an excuse to anti on about how “tOnY sTaRk DiDnT pAy ThE aVeNgErS CuZ hE’s A eVIL bILLIonAiRe!”

Are you all so afraid of talking about systemic racism that you have to blame Tony Stark for Sam not getting a bank loan? Really? After a year of BLM protests and extensive awareness-raising for systemic racism, and y’all still don’t get it?

That’s the real world issue that the narrative was trying to lay out, and it’s the in-universe explanation for that scene, which is trying to address out-of-universe real-world issues. But now let me be petty and go back to the in-universe issues of whether Sam got paid... because this whole take is just pissing me off and I have to rant. So...

Sam hasn’t had a paying job in seven years, and he chose to leave the Avengers when he defied the Sokovia Accords because he blindly follows everything Cap says without ever thinking for himself. He’s been badly written ever since he showed up at the end of Age of Ultron. And that bad writing means he’s just been playing as Cap’s lackey, and in doing so, he CHOSE to leave the Avengers, to reject a government paycheck, and take his chances on the run for two years as a fugitive. So yeah. Two years, no job, no pay. And as far as we can tell, he didn’t do a whole lot of awesome saving-the-world in those two years either. He was just hiding out with Cap and maybe punching a couple of low-level terrorists or something .There certainly weren’t any alien invasions that he stopped in that time. And after that, he was dust for five years. That’s not his fault, obviously, but no one can expect to collect a paycheck while they don’t exist. That’s why the post-Blip economy is probably a bit wonky at the moment. So in total... seven years. No job. No paycheck. Part of that is consequences of Sam’s actions and part of it was through no fault of his own. But yeah, after seven years with no paycheck, there’s a good chance he’s got money issues. Did banks seize assets of those who were blipped? Totally possible.

But now, in-universe, let’s remember that all this bullshit that antis are spewing about “Tony Stark should have set aside money for his friends and teammates” and “Sam saved the world from aliens so many times, so he deserves a pension” and “Tony could set up a trust fund for all of the avengers because they’re his friends!” Yeah. That’s all 100% BS.

First off, Sam Wilson and Tony Stark are not friends in the MCU. Never have been. In Civil War, Tony said, “I know we don’t know each other very well” because they don’t! They’ve NEVER FOUGHT TOGETHER ON THE SAME TEAM! Think about that. Tony wasn’t an active duty avenger between Age of Ultron and Civil War, and that’s the only time period where Sam was an active avenger. So they were never really “teammates” and they weren't friends. They were, at best, acquaintances or coworkers who never worked closely together.

And during that time, when Tony appears to have had little contact with the avengers, he was bankrolling the team. He says, “what, am I doing here? Running a bed and breakfast for a biker gang?” He made the compound and supplied all of the avengers’ tech. He gave them free room and board. It sure looks like they had everything they needed, so it’s entirely possible (even likely) that Tony was paying the Avengers during this time. But that’s all it was. Two years when Sam was an active avenger, Tony wasn’t, but Tony was still bankrolling the team. After that... Sam was a fugitive and then he was dust. So he spent 7 years with no job, and two of those years were by choice, because of Sam’s rejection of being an avenger and refusal to accept a government paycheck. He chose to be a vigilante with Cap, and vigilantism doesn’t supply a paycheck on its own.

And finally... Sam has never saved the world! And he’s only fought aliens during Infinity War and Endgame. So where are people getting this whole, “but Sam should be paid because hE sAvEd tHe wOrLd!”? Uh, no. Not really. He helped in Endgame. He tried to help in Infinity War. And that’s good. That’s important. It’s not nothing. But it’s also not saving the world. In this first episode of TFATWS, Sam literally accepted thanks from a guy who said “you brought my wife back,” when Sam had nothing to do with that. Bruce snapped and brought back all the dusted. Sam had no role in helping for that. Now I get that Sam was probably just being polite. But it’s contributing to this narrative that Sam did more then he actually did. Naw, man. Marvel never cared about Sam Wilson until five minutes ago. So they’ve never actually shown him doing anything that was, well, important. And that’s a fail on Marvel, but if we’re looking at it from a purely in-universe perspective... Sam Wilson doesn’t deserve any more or less than any other government/military contractor. Because that’s what he is now (he’s not an Avengers because the Avengers no longer exist), and that’s what he was up until the last scene of Age of Ultron. Most of his existence, he’s been a solider. He’s a military guy. So if he’s not been getting paid, that’s on the military. Tony, at most, would have paid him for two years of his time and work. The rest is all on the military, including Sam’s current finances.

Which means, you want to blame someone for Sam’s finances and his inability to get a loan? Well, there are three reasons. 1. Sam chose to leave the Avengers to become a fugitive with Cap, which means he had no job and no paycheck for two years. That’s the consequences of his actions. 2. the military either stopped paying him at some point, or hasn’t been paying him enough/quick enough in the past six months since the Blip. Military pay for veterans and veterans’ access to benefits is a real problem, but it’s a military problem. And it’s possible that any back-pay or pension that Sam is owed is tied up in red tape, which is probably only exacerbated by his time as a fugitive (which might mean he was made ineligible for any pension). And finally 3. systemic racism. His sister was pretty clear on the fact that “people like us” are the ones who always seems to be denied loans. She was saying that there is money available for loans, but it always go to white folks first. Maybe try listening to the black character explain why they believe they aren’t getting paid. Sam (when not on the run or blipped) was living a pretty cushy life as a supporting avenger for two years. He apparently didn’t have to think about how systemic racism could affect his family because he was temporarily insulated from it. Now that layer of protection is gone because he’s not living in a cushy compound away from the real world (which, for the record, is probably a good thing. I think the Avengers being so isolated from the real world is probably partially what led to the problems in Civil War). So now Sam is going to be confronted with the reality that systemic racism is real and can affect anybody, regardless of your fame or your job. And after the past year of discussions on race, the fandom shouldn’t be surprised by this narrative.

I am so sick of every single MCU project post-Endgame being twisted by antis who just want to use it to hate Tony Stark. I mean, seriously. Give it a rest, people! Try reading the narrative the way it was intended and stop twisting it for your hate-Tony-Stark obsession.

[otaku-tactician]

How about Cu for the character opinion bingo? (assuming you're taking asks for it lol)

Thank you for the ask, I appreciate it! ...Gotta admit though, Cu is the one character who drives me insane (in a positive way!)

I am obsessed with Fate Cu, to a rather unhealthy level tbh. I think about him everyday. One day I'll just be in the shower, thinking about him and the next second I'm close to CRYING (seriously i don't even know anymore). Also I have to admit, I struggle so much to understand him (to me he is like an onion) to the point that he pisses me off, hence why I chose 'biting and killing and maiming them and death and violence'. He is my fav but he really gets under my skin!

I think fandom would get really mad with some of my hidden opinions on Cu, because I feel like some areas of fandom typically focus more on Cu's really sweet side where he takes care of others like a big brother, can be very supportive, kind and a great guy. And that's totally valid. He is a very decent guy sometimes, and has been shown to be a really reliable and helpful dude to those he cares for. And that charm of his is really quite enticing.

But honestly, I feel like Cu is way more than just his extremely likeable side. I think he's got some chaotic and even some pretty messed up characteristics too. This is the dude who willingly consigned himself to an early death for his heroic ideals!!! (which drives me insane) Who is so true to himself and his beliefs, yet will put up with bullshit he doesn't like sometimes to serve a lord- but won't hold back once they cross his boundaries. Who won't hesitate to kill innocents if he deems the situation calls for it, but will also help innocents if he deems it right to do so. Who can befriend his enemies if the occasion calls for it, and who is damn near IMPOSSIBLE to stop if he sets his mind to something. (and makes sure to look as cool as possible whilst doing so! lmao he gonna go out in style)

Also those myths about him having a mega powerful dick that can kill a human, taking on numerous warriors in one-on-one combat, becoming the main hero of his hometown at such a young age, his extreme popularity/ fame, his romantic escapades, and all of the tragedies...he's got so much stuff going on LMAO!!!!! Dude his character is so busy.

CU IS SCARY !!!

Yeah, so my opinions on him would drift more into the 'unpopular opinions' side, so I don't really talk about him a lot; because that would be awkward. Like also please somebody teach this man what sexual harassment is pls....Emiya did his best though.

Also I like his ships a lot, I think they're all very good. More like, what a lucky guy he is!! Cu gets some of the BEST and most AWESOME ship dynamics with other characters, and so many as well?! And in regards to screentime, it seems to fluctuate between him getting a lot all at once, or being abandoned to radio silence for years on end! Lmao he definitely gets the short end of the stick sometimes despite being such a powerful character.

And no, I am definitely not the person who is right about Cu either. I've had to look at Celtic Mythology sources as well as tumblr blogs to even get an ounce of his character because somehow I have overcomplicated his character to the point where I see him as being extraordinarily multi-faceted.... maybe he is. Or maybe he's much more simple a character than I realize. Well, whatever. I am not a Cu expert, and I would like to stay that way.

I need to stop here, or I'll ramble on all day....

[jimpickenss]

Mm I dont wanna spam the group chat, but im having thoughts™️

Im getting kinda tired of parts of the community trying to speak on "behalf" of kevin.

Three main examples have been:

When the first kinda nsfw-ish fan art started popping up on the reddit, there was a whole thread speaking on behalf of Kevins presumed comfort level on the subject. Eventually he had to chime in himself to get people to stop, arguing that hes fine with it and if he wasnt, he would say something

The second was after Kevin announced he was going to start taking things easy, with regards to his foot. This prompted a ban of the "pspsps" meme in pre-stream chat by the Mods, under the guise that this long standing meme was "pressuring" Kevin into trying to show up on time, and that this was Bad™️, and anyone who pspspsps in the chat had their message deleted, until Kevin addressed it on stream, assuring people he does not mind the meme. (Source coming when I find it)

The most recent has been a general policing of the "cult" itself by users, in which now people are presuming the feelings of other streamers, specifically those on the NoPixel GTA server, arguing that the cult is annoying them and needs to stop talking about Kevin in their respected chats. Going so far as agreeing in the Pre-Stream chat that they would pester Kevin himself to make him make an announcement telling the cult to stop, as if the other streamers can not handle their own streams (or those that have addressed it, mainly Farmhouse78, have not done it well enough, or that these other streamers don't appreciate the severe uptick in viewers/follows/subs/income coming in off of the Cult) (edit: Thank you anon for pointing out this comes off as thinking that just because these channels have seen an uptick in viewers, that they have to accept this behavior, I agree ive seen the behavior get out of hand, what bothers me specifically is that the infantilizing of kevin has extended to the other players hes interacted with)

Now, I get the irony of making this post, but its been crazy to see thing community grow, and its been pissing me off with how much it seems people are starting to infantilize Kevin. Look, if he doesn't mention it, its probably not a problem to him, and, what other members of the community do in their spare time is not up for others to control, seriously.

Im not sure if this is the effect of a community getting large, or the fandom-ness that this youtube community has taken, but ive not seen another youtuber have a community that tries so hard to "protect" their uwu leader. Anyways, this goes to all the Mods/Fans/Active/Inactive/Obsessed/Casual viewers/etc., just remember were not his friends, and Kevin the Person and Kevin the Persona are two separate identities, stop trying to control how people interact and stop trying to speak on behalf of others

[peppertaemint]

Thanks for your reply to my message. I've been extremely frustrated with BTS fans and just fandoms in geneand this increasing toxic bullshit that's been going on but your response has made me less frustrated about the whole thing. I should just suck it up and try to ignore it as much as possible. I mean when it comes down to it, I am giving it some power over me to be able to piss me off. I need to learn to let things I can't control, roll off of me. Thanks for the EXO gif, made me smile (miss my boys). Anyway, on another note I am getting into SHINee lately. I've always liked all 5 of them but just never became a fan enough to want to check out their discography. Of course I've liked a few of their songs and solo songs but never went far from there. My favorite is DCM and lately I've been mildly obsessed with the video and by mildly I mean watching it once a day for 4 days straight. See what happened is, I watched it when it came out and got caught up in Key's web and since Taemin is part of SuperM, I really went down a rabbit hole of Taemin and Key solo music videos one day. Four days I had an itch to watch the DCM behind the scenes video. Okay fell a little in love, then I watched them react to the DCM video and laughed my ass off the entire time, then I rewatched the DCM video and my eyes suddenly opened to how amazing Minho looked and how amazing Onew sounded, and of course my soft spot for Taemin and my heart eyes for Key so I have been obsessed ever since. Like dude, can someone clone Key for me? And his laugh... I mean I could gush about him all day. I love how retro his music can be. As for the DCM video, not only is it a great video and they all did the damn thing, but there's something about that instrumental section where the four of them are dancing together that is just so touching. Alrighty just wanted to share that and also say thanks for pulling me off the edge

I'm glad the EXO gif made you smile. :) I actually liked seeing it side by side with the BTS gif. It made me feel like they're really inhabiting the same genre and fandoms should enjoy what they have in common. Sigh. Honestly, I could see EXO and BTS having the most overlap of fans. o.o

But, on to dance! A thing I love about SHINee's choreographies is how thoughtful they are in terms of how the members dance with one another. DCM is a great example of this. The part where they face each other takes the performance to another level.

The majority of SHINee's choreographies, from the complexity of Sherlock and DCM to concepts like Odd Eye that feel simpler, the use of space and how the dancers relate to one another is thoughtful, intricate and meaningful. Sherlock's concept is an "after image" where the members freeze to capture the after image of a person moving through space.

Odd Eye has a queer sexiness to it, and the formations are just as "peculiar" (note the play on words happening). It feels almost casual, but it's not. It's considered.

Good Evening is a great example of how moving through a small space and the "cliche" chairs of classic boyband dance choreographies can be turned into artful emotion. The dances where they face each other, or move with each other—literally touching, holding, pushing and/or pulling—give the sense of how the dance is not for the audience's amusement, but to convey a message and embody something meaningful for the performers themselves, as well as the audience.

[sunnymenagerie]

RuPaul’s Drag Race: Big Openings & Toasters

My serotonin, AKA ‘RuPaul’s Drag Race,’ is back in my life as of this week and I’m beyond thrilled…and already kind of obsessed with the season 14 queens. Well, half of them because like we’ve seen before - this is a split premiere. Meaning we got to meet half of the queens, seven to be exact BUT we did unfortunately already say goodbye to Michigan’s first queen. Which, I’m pissed because Orion Story was the cutest damn thing I’d ever seen in those confessionals. I’ll miss the eye candy, but I wish Orion well and I feel like that’s truly not the last we’ve seen of that queen. Also, Orion - hope your cat is doing okay too!

Okay, so I already said who went home but before Orion’s story was cut short, we met all the queens, and their entrance looks - there was…variety. Alyssa Hunter went literal, Willow Pill went to the mall in 2002, and Kerri Colby went for the jugular of every other queen there because - WOW. I think by now we can all agree that Kerri Colby’s beauty is next-level and that we all collectively looked like Willow Pill in that we were stuck gawking at Kerri because um, did you see her? Poised and polished at 24, could she take home the crown? I think at this point the fandom would find RuPaul and want answers if Kerri didn’t make it to the final four. Plus, Kerri won the mini-challenge that saw the queens spinning on a wheel for a photoshoot. It was very ‘America’s Next Top Model,’ but yeah, Kerri will be in the top 4. Of course, that’s based on an amazing entrance and a surprising talent, jump roping!

Oh yeah…we kicked off season 14 with the CNTs, a freaking talent show AKA an elongated lip-sync with some odds and ends thrown in. The latter being June Jambalaya’s African dance and Orion Story’s attempt at…something. Well, according to the judges because I actually liked it. Was it the most perfect thing on earth? No, but I appreciate it when queens come out and do something vastly different than the rest of the crowd. For that, I can’t hate. Oh…another odd, Willow Pill. At first, I had absolutely no idea what the hell she was doing but I think as soon as that toaster came out, we collectively all went, oh…Oh…OH!

Willow Pill walked in and instantly was underestimated by the other queens due to her 00s Socialite Realness ensemble, but we have to remember that she comes from Yvie Oddly’s realm, and that’s not a realm to underestimate. Willow Pill may make some strange choices, but they pay off big because they make her truly stand out. If it wasn’t for her runway - which fell in the middle for me - I think she may’ve been a contender to win this week. However, she was just safe, near the top - but safe nonetheless.

Alongside her in the safety zone was Bosco - which shocked me because of the critiques. Now, I’m Team Kornbread right now because she’s a queen I’ve followed for a while not but based on the critiques…them reading June so hard for the little details and Kornbread’s ripped tights…I thought Bosco’s near-perfect critiques and guest judge Lizzo comparing her to Marilyn Monroe - yeah, I couldn’t have been the only one that thought the Seattle queen was taking home the win, right?

Despite all of that, Kornbread was this week's winner-winner chicken dinner and really cemented herself as a frontrunner QUICK. I’m all about her and I’m happy to see she’s already shining bright and leading the pack. Now, based on their entrance looks, performances, and runways…here is how they’re ranking for me so far. I won’t include Orion as she already said adios, but do note that I wouldn’t have sent her home…I thought she had more to show. Anyways…from my top to my bottoms:

Kerri Colby: I think she is struggling to let loose a little right now, but it’ll come.

Kornbread: She’s already won once, but I think the judges are watching for her to be more polished on the runway, to give a little more elevation and I think she’s going to be one to take notes and improve

Willow Pill: Endearing, out there - YES

Bosco: The dark horse I’m riding to the final four

Alyssa Hunter: She’s pretty but I think she needs to focus on what makes her unique in the competition

June Jambalaya: Gorgeous but we need more, and I hope she’s able to deliver it

[iamnmbr3]

This is kind of a weird question but do you believe there is a right side to this loki fandom war (as in people who enjoyed the show and people who hated it)? Because I simply can’t see how my perception could be wrong. I’ve been obsessed with Loki for at least 10 years, I’ve read every comic i could get my hands on, I had a very intense norse mythology phase and i’ve written and read more meta than I can remember. I’ve also been studying creative writing in college for the last year. And the only conclusion i could come to is that the loki show is objectively awful. There is no redeemable quality whatsoever. The people responsible for it are evil, although I don’t know what made them do this to us. These feel like facts to me, not opinions. I’ve tried to see through the other side’s eyes but I just couldn’t do it. Everything they say felt wrong. Fans can enjoy it just as long as they understand they are supporting something bad. If they don’t get this then I can only assume they are either completely oblivious to everything that makes Loki Loki, or they really know nothing about storytelling. Either way, there is a lot of plain stupidity involved. What pisses me off the most though is that these people that never cared about this character the way we do get to be happy and enjoy the show. Your blog feels like a safe haven in this regard. I love going through it and feeling like I’m surrounded by smart people.

Well. Of course I believe that my opinion is correct lol. Everyone is entitled to their own view (as long as they don't harass others). But yeah in my view the show is objectively terrible. I truly believe it is the worst tv show ever made.

It fails completely as a Loki show because it is utterly inconsistent with the past characterization (and even past appearance!) of the character and does not focus on Loki or tell a story about him...or even include him at all bc Larry is not Loki. It fails on a technical level in terms of the writing, cinematography, costumes, directing, world building, storytelling etc when viewed purely on its own merits as a new thing. And it fails on a moral level because it is filled with deeply problematic, offensive, and/or harmful messaging.

[fantastic-rambles]

You made great points as to why a final Adam/Langa race would happen. It makes a lot of sense narratively, but I do hope they’ll choose a more subversive path in which he does forfeit/quit whether that be during Tadashi/Langa or Adam/Langa. I still hope for Tadashi/Adam to occur since they’ve also built him up as an equal. They’ve made a point that in other races Adam has purposely stayed behind to match the speed of other races, regardless of whether they start together, if he was interested by them. But Tadashi matched Adam’s time exactly in the qualifying rounds. And considering how much Adam has insulted Tadashi about being beneath him, I’d find them going head to head pretty satisfying. Makes me want to see a race where both are going all out since we’ve never seen either of them particularly intense about winning. Adam because of his persona and wanting to mess with his opponent and Tadashi because of his reserved nature. Either way I’m sure it’ll be good.

And I hope that Reki is more secure in himself when facing Adam like you mentioned. If he doesn’t want to go against him again, what do you think would happen? I’ve seen ppl say Reki will probably agree for Langa’s sake and the opportunity to skate, but what if he holds his ground about not enjoying skating with Adam? Do you think it’s possible that could be what causes Langa to forfeit/quit. (That would make Adam so mad lol). It’s probably not likely since they’re our main protagonists, but I think it would a cool demonstration of their character growths. Reki because he wouldn’t skate if it’s not going to be fun for him and Langa because it goes back to the original broken promise + prioritizes the relationship that makes him happiest about skating in the first place. Also, they can get away from what could be considered unnecessary, dangerous behavior that show condemns (when Manager Oka tells Reki that he’s enjoying pain because he’s unhappy with himself). Obviously skating is good for Langa and Reki, but the illegal and dangerous races at S could be framed as self-destructive. Especially when you consider all the injuries and strife surrounding it. I think if the characters were to come to this conclusion at some point (with or without quitting yet) it may make sense plot wise since the whole political scandal/jail thing makes me nervous about S continuing. Considering that Tadashi is the main man in charge of keeping cops away and he currently wants to end Adam’s time there, I wouldn’t be shocked if a confrontation with the law happened there like it almost did that one ep when the race got interrupted.

Oh and don’t worry about rambling at all! I love any long analysis on Sk8. Plus, I can get like that too and definitely edited this to make it more understandable lol.

Yeah, I would love Adam/Tadashi, but I feel like Adam/Langa is more likely. (And technically, Tadashi beat Adam by 2 seconds, though Adam also wasn’t taking it seriously then.) Though I do feel like Langa is probably at a level that Adam finally can skate all-out against him, if it comes down to the two of them.

When Adam insults Tadashi, I feel like it’s coming from all those years of resentment/lost trust (again, not an excuse for Adam’s behavior, but an analysis of it), and I also feel like Tadashi feels that he deserves them (and he himself sincerely believes that he’s below Adam). It’s obvious to me that Tadashi feels guilty for contributing to making Adam what he is today/for not standing up for or supporting him when Adam was younger, and he has been trying to make up for it by obeying Adam completely, no matter what he personally thinks. Because he couldn’t voice his opinion when Adam’s board was being burned, which was probably one of the most painful/significant experiences Adam has ever had, he feels that he doesn’t have the right to voice his opinion now: all he can do is try to pull Adam away from the self-destructive path that he’s on by betting his ability to skate on a race. In terms of skill, yeah, they’re equal, but in their interpersonal dynamics, there’s a huge gulf, which I think would make it very difficult for Tadashi to “save” Adam because Adam has lost all of his respect for Tadashi or his opinions.

I don’t think that Reki will end up not skating against Adam. But if he did, I don’t think that’s enough for Langa to refuse as well. My scenario for Langa forfeiting is that Reki gets wrecked against Adam, which outrages Langa and/or makes him have to choose between going to the hospital with Reki or staying to skate with Adam, and he chooses Reki over Adam. To me, Reki’s growth would come from the parallels between the two times that he skates against Adam: in the first, he’s completely crushed by the difference in ability and runs away, and in the (theoretical) second, he accepts that he will never be a star skater, but he can still enjoy skating even if he doesn’t win.

And I frankly was really pissed by Reki trying to force Langa to promise not to skate against Adam. Yes, he has a reason for it and he’s worried about Langa, but what about Langa’s own feelings? It’s obvious that Langa has fun taking on challenges, and Adam is the ultimate challenge, not just for him, but also for everyone else. If we want to talk about it in terms of relationships, which it seems most of the fandom does, I saw that as a possessive partner trying to forbid their partner from going out and having fun with their friends. Would Adam be a terrible “friend” to hang out with? Absolutely. But if Langa enjoys spending time with him, what gives Reki the authority to forbid him from doing so? So if I’m being entirely honest, my opinion of Reki plummeted after Episode 5 and just kept going downhill until the most recent episode. xD

I don’t think that “S” itself was particularly dangerous initially, other than for Shadow. Most of the skaters that we see seem to play fair and engage in contests of pure skill, even though it’s always been an “anything goes” sort of thing. Of course, it could be because the best skaters won’t get thrown off by petty tricks so it’s not worth trying them, but in the end, the result is the same. It’s only when Adam reappeared on the scene (from other people’s reactions, it seems clear that he’s been missing for a while since nobody could capture his interest) with his Langa-obsession that he started to contribute his own brand of madness, but that’s limited only to him. Unless someone is skating against Adam or Shadow (or that gang in the prelims), the majority of races are just normal races on a challenging track. Yes, they’re illegal (though it boggles my mind as to why: can’t Adam just buy it and turn it into “private property” so that he can do whatever he wants on it?) (though I guess it’s understandable since buying it would be a matter of public record and he’s keeping his skating life and public life separate) (but then can’t he get someone else to buy it for him?), but part of the attraction of skating is developing new things (like when Reki is gushing about ollies) and figuring out how to “skate anywhere,” so challenging locations like an abandoned mine and factory are places that people can do that. Like taking a turn with what Miya/Reki did by riding the board sideways, and improving on it by instead using a Caspar Slide. Or the various ways Langa goes through the factory (dropping down a broken beam, skating down the railing, using Joe’s momentum on the other beam to push himself forward, etc.). I think that Adam must have chosen that place for a variety of reasons, but one would have been its ability to promote improvisation/the evolution of skating in the hopes that he could find someone who would excite him. Which is why he’s so disappointed by Cherry’s “overcalculated”/boring skating.

After Adam gets arrested, though, I think that “S” will shut down simply because it’s Adam’s influence that’s kept the police away for so long. Tadashi takes care of the logistics, but that’s because that’s what Adam’s told him to do. But I don’t think Tadashi will betray him just to get it closed. (I also don’t think he phoned it in the first time, as I’ve seen other people speculate. I do think that the explanation is as it was presented: the prosecutor was suspicious about an area that was taken out of the patrol route, so she used her authority to override Adam’s bribes.) We’re talking about someone who will go to jail for a crime he didn’t commit to protect his boss. He’s not going to call down the police and risk them getting caught up in the net and in trouble.

[angelhummel]

not to annoy you with a degrassi ask, but I read a degrassi character ranking and umm...

it's not even the characters so much as the comments about the couples relating to the characters

I got to Tristan and they slagged him off which I kind of expected but they also said that triles sucked, then I get to miles and they were a bit more complimentary of him but they slagged off triles yet again this time calling them unhealthy

but then they proceeded to call Jonah/frankie a power couple and say that Craig and Ellie were the best degrassi couple ever

I get that triles didn't have the best start but Craig literally used Ellie's affection of him to manipulate her in to letting him continue doing drugs and Jonah/frankie?? just a big fat no

idk I understand people's issues with triles but it's so bold to act like one couple is irredeemable because you've deemed them unhealthy then claim that crellie were the best couple on the show

tbh I think they just hated Tristan therefore didn't want him around miles and instead of just saying that they reached for the UnHeAlTHy card sorry this is longer than I thought hjdkdklsm

Okay FIRST of all. Ellie is unhealthy and toxic on her fucking own lmao. Putting her in any couple makes that an unhealthy couple. Last we saw of her she was trying to walk into the fucking ocean. Work on yourself first, girlie 💅 Also same with Craig bc holy shit. I actually like him but damn he needed help

Second of all. Jonah and Frankie 🤐 bitch what. Okay like realistically I know that they were only a year or two apart but Jonah was like 17 and Frankie felt like she was about 12. That's the maturity level she was giving me. I had ONE WHOLE MOMENT of actually enjoying her. When she'd broken up with Jonah and was like "im a worse person when im obsessing over jonah so im gonna stop" i was like yes good exactly right girl. And then I barely had a chance to blink before she was obsessing over Jonah again and stalking his socials to see if he was dating Grace. It was a very short lived period of liking Frankie

But again. It's just like Glee. Like. No, none of these couples are perfect. They're a bunch of immature high school kids most of whom are mentally ill or have plenty of other internal issues going on and you expect them to act like perfect little angels and be in completely flawless and pristine relationships???

But no you don't actually expect that. You get pissed when one couple makes mistakes, but arbitrarily decide that the rules don't apply to another couple with similar or worse mistakes, so you just pretend like they're perfect and flawless and pristine whilst shitting on this other couple excessively for literally no reason at all.

Also sort of unrelated but someone made a gifset of Miles being "codependent". And a couple of the gifs I was like yeah okay sure. But one was just. Him leaving prom to go visit Tristan in the hospital? I don't think this person knew what codependent meant. Ugh but finding good Degrassi content is more difficult. I'm not as in the middle of that fandom. So it's like "ooh they make nice gifs lets give them a follow" and then being assaulted with 847439 mola gifsets in a row and reading in the tags on each one about how much Tristan sucks 🙃 That's always fun

[synthmusic91]

thoughts? kjfhlkjdfh asking bc i rb'd the original post from u a bit ago because i agreed w/ original poster but i just saw this rb of it and wanted to know what u thought. ciaran(.)tumblr(.)com /post/652413157345820673/there-is-a-genre-of-posts-thats-obsessed-with-the

well first of all i hope this isn't a bait ask. this reply really doesn't deserve the time and effort i put into refuting it, but there was a point in time when i was emotionally confused by these..."arguments", so whoever u are, anon, i hope this is helpful. i also recommend some distance - literally, "go outside and touch grass", which is a lot more difficult than it sounds, but it needs to be done. anyway, here's my "analysis":

for context, here's what the post in question said:

and the tags:

at a high level, we can see that what ciaran is saying doesn't really respond to what OP was talking about. for this reason, i'm not going to bring in much of what OP said, because it's uncontested in this context, and look at ciaran's reply. i'll try to break this up...

EDIT: i had a long-ass response here, but then i realized it was dumb because the source material is dumb. i cut out most of it, but here are the highlights.

"there is a genre of posts that’s obsessed with the notion that fandom is something much larger, more prevalent, and more able to affect the way media is processed and consumed, than it actually is in reality."

so, as we can all see on tiktok and, indeed, on the electronic lore olympus billboard that takes up a side of a literal skyscraper, fandom is no longer the niche thing that "fandom olds" make it out to be. also, we can't ignore how many (white) fandom players go on and work in the industry (cassandra clare, whoever wrote 50 shades, man idk much of anything so there's probably many more). so this comment is sort of myopic. and since this is what characterizes the rest of the reply, well...it's not great.

also don't look up lore olympus; it's basically a dd/////lg fanfic that happens to be one of the most popular series on the line webtoon app, which is rated for teens...and for $1 to the creator's patreon, you can view not sfw p*dophilic art, so. also obviously i didnt do that; there was a video essay about this. i can't find it though

"ironically but understandably, these posts are made by people who are so terminally fandom-poisoned that they ascribe phenomenal power to it, and think of it as some great evil that must be defeated (by making posts on tumblr, which is obviously a very influential thing to do)"

"fandom-poisoned" is such a nebulous term, especially since it appears to mean "has had some really significant, (in this context) bad experiences with fandom." this is, first of all, a huge assumption to make about a stranger, and second, not the own they think it is. i'm just going to link this post, and hopefully you can see how it relates.

anyway, the "making posts on tumblr is meaningless" is um...interesting, seeing as off the top of my head i can think of two very influential tumblr blogs that talk about really important issues, Gradient Lair and Red Light Politics. I don't know as much about Red Light Politics, but Gradient Lair is frequently cited by academics (not getting into academia nonsense now but... -_-). also, they sound more pissed that the original post did gain traction, but whatever. this paragraph doesn't really make sense, but nothing here does, because i wasn't given much to work with.

"...and then because these people have basically no imagination and unfailingly pick on others for their own faults, they project their own experiences on everyone they perceive as being more ‘in fandom’ than them,"

jesus christ. i'm going not say anything about the tone of this because i put too much effort into this for some rando to call me a cyberbully.

i think what they're thinking about is how there appear to be some "fandom critical" people who try to, holistically, "ruin everyone's good time" by "stirring up drama" about popular fandom artists/writers/whoever else idk. oftentimes these people will also make jokes about fandom whatever, seemingly picking on random people's interests.

however, if you look at the long history of fandom racism, fandom's normalization of p*dophilia, and even general fandom harassment, and then you look at fandom's visceral, unwarranted reaction to criticism regarding these things, you can quickly see that disillusionment towards fandom is entirely reasonable. as for the joking, well...this an oversimplification but not everyone needs to like what you like. it sounds like they just need to get over themself.

and go “You, a 27 year old queer blogger who is into [tv show/anime/movie] an embarrassing amount, are now going to be the face of Capitalism” with no self-reflection or critical thought given to how fucking cringe it is-"

so, i'm regretting putting so much effort into this because this is so fucking long and i have to analyze this nonsense...it feels like i'm back in my feminist thought class. nightmarish. but anyway, this seems to deal with- [CUT FOR LENGTH. nothing important was missed].

EDIT 2: actually here's a summary of what I had. it deserves better than to be a response to this nonsense, but first it detailed how this took 1. the op's post and 2. a comment that we don't even know if op agreed with and misinterpreted that, and threw quite a fit about this- and i hate to say this because this term is misused so often by redditors, but- strawman.

I then went on to discuss how, for example, PoC can uphold systems of white supremacy. while obviously no person of color is going to be the "face" of white supremacy, the discussion still needs to be had, especially within that group. similarly, while fandom constituents may not be the face of capitalism, there needs to be a discussion, within fandom, on how they support and are defined by capitalist (and other) systems.

it was really too good of a point to be making for this trash reply. I could go say more, but I'm still trying to stay on topic, unlike ciaran.

"to act like random people on the internet, end users with no influence over corporate decisions, are the ones personally responsible for the fact that late-stage capitalism has destroyed popular art and culture in an increasingly sordid attempt to make money."

we've been over the "no influence" bit - because in fact fans do have influence, especially since media creators are literally fans, etc etc. i'm tired of people acting like they have no power and using that as an excuse to support and perpetuate harmful, easily avoidable behavior.

also, to act like the nebulous system of late-stage capitalism is the only cause of bad media is ludicrous. first of all, someone has to make these so-called "corporate decisions", and the people making artistic decisions are, again, overwhelmingly members of "fandom." this comment is really trying to keep marvel trash and lore olympus-esque nonsense in the same atomic, indivisible category lest someone catches a whiff of nuance.

"the above post is a great example of this phenomenon because op admits freely that they only think fandom is destroying media because they have been spending more time in fandom and thus have an over-inflated sense of its importance in greater culture. posting your own Ls indeed."

i'm so tired. this person literally has 120 works on ao3 like...who is spending more time in fandom.

and the tags:

#i assure you that fandom has no bearing on my actual real life #and if it does on yours. then that is your problem #it's also a very funny problem to

now this is just egregiously tone deaf. you do not need to do more than a cursory google search to find a bottomless well of examples of fandom harassment, threats, doxxing, and violence, much of which is racially motivated. you can see why it would be bad to make fun of this. 

also the way that “fandom has no bearing on their actual real life“...120 fanfics on ao3. 120.

conclusion:

the reply clearly misinterprets of op's point, and as such, does not refute it. they responded to another issue altogether, which is that of the sanctity of their ~coping mechanism~ or whatever it is. their argument in this respect was, in my opinion, delusional and pathetic, especially given that they wrote it on someone else's unrelated post.

FINAL NOTE: i cut out lots of this because the reply went in so many different directions, so some stuff might not make sense. let me know if you have any questions.

[vvitchering]

@chamomileteainabuttercup tagged me in a fanfic writing Q&A and despite my extended hiatus from writing, I guess I have enough to make this worth doing!

How many works do you have on AO3?

32, and I can't believe I have that many wow

What’s your total AO3 word count?

56,612 which is both impressive and depressing lmao

What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

The Romancing of the Bard (The Witcher, Geralt/Jaskier, the only thing that surprises me about this is how many kudos it got for being so short and unfinished and not entirely that original lmao I'm also a little salty that something silly like that did SO WELL and things I actually cared a lot more about were barely noticed)

For The Joy Of It (The Witcher, Geralt/Jaskier, this was written for a prompt on twitter and I ended up liking it enough to turn into its own fic. I like the themes, I like the ideas, I did what I set out to do, this was a pretty good one of mine)

Bloodmoon (The Witcher, gen but shippy if you want it to be, this is a favorite of mine still, even though I'm not involved in the fandom anymore. I'm proud that I managed to translate my thoughts to writing in a way that felt satisfying and did the idea justice, which is something I struggle with all the time)

Tokens of Affection (The Witcher, Geralt/Jaskier, I think this was one of the first fics I wrote for the fandom and it shows, but it's a sweet little story nonetheless)

All That We See Or Seem (The Witcher, Eskel/Geralt, I'm so happy this made the list. My magnum opus. I think out of all my fics (possibly excluding Bloodmoon) this is the one I was most easily able to See in my head as I developed it. My only regret is not being at a skill level high enough to really tell this story as it was meant to be told.)

Do you respond to comments, why or why not?

I try to! I definitely always respond to indepth comments that say a little more than "good story" because I really appreciate when people take the time to tell me what they liked or what worked for them. That helps me feel like I've accomplished something and points me in the right direction for my next story!

What’s the fic you’ve written with the angstiest ending?

I don't tend to write angst, at least not of the unresolved variety, but Howl kind of.......is both of those things.....oops lol

Do you write crossovers? If so what is the craziest one you’ve written?

I don't, only because I haven't found myself in two fandoms at once that I think work well enough together to do a crossover that isn't crack. I think the closest I ever get to this is when I use elements or settings from one thing and characters from another, like HDM Daemons, or when I was obsessed with the idea of BNHA characters in a Promare setting. But no actual character crossover, no.

Have you ever received hate on a fic?

Nothing that made enough of an impression for me to remember. I think I get the usual "ew why does this ship even exist" crap once in a blue moon but I always ignore/delete it. I just don't have time for it.

Do you write smut? If so what kind?

Ehhhhhhhhhh, not REALLY? I've tried a few times, posted a few half hearted attempts, but that shit is hard. It's one of my biggest struggles and I hate that I still can't even do it in a way that feels comfortable to me as a writer and doesn't read extremely awkward.

Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Not to my knowledge.

Have you ever had a fic translated?

Again, not that I know of.

Have you ever co-written a fic before?

Once or twice, but I'm very picky about collaborations because I know myself and I know how difficult I am to work with. I'm protective of my ideas and I'm stubborn and I find it hard to try and mesh two different points of view on a subject most of the time. I do love to discuss ideas with my friends but when it comes to actually co-writing, I find it too hard 99.9% of the time. Which isn't to say that .1% where it does work isn't super fun! It is! But I think its worked successfully literally once or twice.

What’s your all time favourite ship?

This changes almost monthly at this point LMAO right now I'm really into symbrock (venom), dincobb & bobadin (the mandalorian), and lokius (Loki) still kinda intrigues me despite the show pissing me off

What’s a WIP that you want to finish but don’t think you ever will?

All of them. I hate having wips, I just want them to be done, how do I make them Done???

What are your writing strengths?

I've been told I'm good with descriptions, which I agree with. I do tend to see how I want things very clearly in my mind's eye so it's relatively easy for me to just describe what I'm seeing.

What are your writing weaknesses?

Literally everything else ;w; I'm very weak with action scenes, I always feel like my dialogue doesn't work/is clunky/is ooc, and I can't plan out or carry a plot to save my life. As much as it annoys me when pacing is messed up in media, I also can't pace things well. I either end up rushing through or dragging things out too much.

What are your thoughts on writing dialogue in other languages in a fic?

I think it depends. Multiple sentences worth is probably too much and ultimately unnecessary. I will definitely abandon a fic if I'm forced to keep looking for translations. But I'm a huge fan of peppering in a character's native language if it's appropriate. I did this with Trek for Spock and I do it now with Star Wars for Din and Boba. I think a word or phrase here and there is a good way to encourage immersion and bring characters to life, but there has to be a balance.

What was the first fandom you wrote for?

Supernatural way back in the day, but none of those made it to ao3. I think there's a few still floating around here though.........

What’s your favourite fic you’ve written?

I have fun with every fic I sit down to write, honestly. In the moment, it feels good and fun to be working on something. It's after I'm done that I tend to get down on myself. If I HAD to pick, Bloodmoon was a lot of fun. I liked having a bigger cast of characters to write about and the action scenes in that one came so easily for once! I also enjoyed writing In Passion or in Laughter a lot because non-human POV stuff is always really interesting and fun to write. I'd like to write more Venom stuff some time.

Not gonna tag anyone because I can't keep track of who has and hasn't done these meme things so if you're a writer and you made it to the end of this and you want to, consider this me tagging you :)