#anyone is free to disagree but that makes them stupid

[everyonesadoptivedad]

Everyone out there debating on whether the numbers on perfect court's cheeks are italian numbers or arabic numbers but y'all are wrong, they are actually in cuneiform

[mostlysignssomeportents]

Expert agencies and elected legislatures

If you'd like an essay-formatted version of this post to read or share, here's a link to it on pluralistic.net, my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog:

https://pluralistic.net/2024/11/21/policy-based-evidence/#decisions-decisions

Since Trump hijacked the Supreme Court, his backers have achieved many of their policy priorities: legalizing bribery, formalizing forced birth, and – with the Loper Bright case, neutering the expert agencies that regulate business:

https://jacobin.com/2024/07/scotus-decisions-chevron-immunity-loper

What the Supreme Court began, Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy are now poised to finish, through the "Department of Government Efficiency," a fake agency whose acronym ("DOGE") continues Musk's long-running cryptocurrency memecoin pump-and-dump. The new department is absurd – imagine a department devoted to "efficiency" with two co-equal leaders who are both famously incapable of getting along with anyone – but that doesn't make it any less dangerous.

Expert agencies are often all that stands between us and extreme misadventure, even death. The modern world is full of modern questions, the kinds of questions that require a high degree of expert knowledge to answer, but also the kinds of questions whose answers you'd better get right.

You're not stupid, nor are you foolish. You could go and learn everything you need to know to evaluate the firmware on your antilock brakes and decide whether to trust them. You could figure out how to assess the Common Core curriculum for pedagogical soundness. You could learn the material science needed to evaluate the soundness of the joists that hold the roof up over your head. You could acquire the biology and chemistry chops to decide whether you want to trust produce that's been treated with Monsanto's Roundup pesticides. You could do the same for cell biology, virology, and epidemiology and decide whether to wear a mask and/or get an MRNA vaccine and/or buy a HEPA filter.

You could do any of these. You might even be able to do two or three of them. But you can't do all of them, and that list is just a small slice of all the highly technical questions that stand between you and misery or an early grave. Practically speaking, you aren't going to develop your own robust meatpacking hygiene standards, nor your own water treatment program, nor your own Boeing 737 MAX inspection protocol.

Markets don't solve this either. If they did, we wouldn't have to worry about chunks of Boeing jets falling on our heads. The reason we have agencies like the FDA (and enabling legislation like the Pure Food and Drug Act) is that markets failed to keep people from being murdered by profit-seeking snake-oil salesmen and radium suppository peddlers.

These vital questions need to be answered by experts, but that's easier said than done. After all, experts disagree about this stuff. Shortcuts for evaluating these disagreements ("distrust any expert whose employer has a stake in a technical question") are crude and often lead you astray. If you dismiss any expert employed by a firm that wants to bring a new product to market, you will lose out on the expertise of people who are so legitimately excited about the potential improvements of an idea that they quit their jobs and go to work for whomever has the best chance of realizing a product based on it. Sure, that doctor who works for a company with a new cancer cure might just be shilling for a big bonus – but maybe they joined the company because they have an informed, truthful belief that the new drug might really cure cancer.

What's more, the scientific method itself speaks against the idea of there being one, permanent answer to any big question. The method is designed as a process of continual refinement, where new evidence is continuously brought forward and evaluated, and where cherished ideas that are invalidated by new evidence are discarded and replaced with new ideas.

So how are we to survive and thrive in a world of questions we ourselves can't answer, that experts disagree about, and whose answers are only ever provisional?

The scientific method has an answer for this, too: refereed, adversarial peer review. The editors of major journals act as umpires in disputes among experts, exercising their editorial discernment to decide which questions are sufficiently in flux as to warrant taking up, then asking parties who disagree with a novel idea to do their damndest to punch holes in it. This process is by no means perfect, but, like democracy, it's the worst form of knowledge creation except for all others which have been tried.

Expert regulators bring this method to governance. They seek comment on technical matters of public concern, propose regulations based on them, invite all parties to comment on these regulations, weigh the evidence, and then pass a rule. This doesn't always get it right, but when it does work, your medicine doesn't poison you, the bridge doesn't collapse as you drive over it, and your airplane doesn't fall out of the sky.

Expert regulators work with legislators to provide an empirical basis for turning political choices into empirically grounded policies. Think of all the times you've heard about how the gerontocracy that dominates the House and the Senate is incapable of making good internet policy because "they're out of touch and don't understand technology." Even if this is true (and sometimes it is, as when Sen Ted Stevens ranted about the internet being "a series of tubes," not "a dump truck"), that doesn't mean that Congress can't make good internet policy.

After all, most Americans can safely drink their tap water, a novelty in human civilization, whose history amounts to short periods of thriving shattered at regular intervals by water-borne plagues. The fact that most of us can safely drink our water, but people who live in Flint (or remote indigenous reservations, or Louisiana's Cancer Alley) can't tells you that these neighbors of ours are being deliberately poisoned, as we know precisely how not to poison them.

How did we (most of us) get to the point where we can drink the water without shitting our guts out? It wasn't because we elected a bunch of water scientists! I don't know the precise number of microbiologists and water experts who've been elected to either house, but it's very small, and their contribution to good sanitation policy is negligible.

We got there by delegating these decisions to expert agencies. Congress formulates a political policy ("make the water safe") and the expert agency turns that policy into a technical program of regulation and enforcement, and your children live to drink another glass of water tomorrow.

Musk and Ramaswamy have set out to destroy this process. In their Wall Street Journal editorial, they explain that expert regulation is "undemocratic" because experts aren't elected:

https://www.wsj.com/opinion/musk-and-ramaswamy-the-doge-plan-to-reform-government-supreme-court-guidance-end-executive-power-grab-fa51c020

They've vowed to remove "thousands" of regulations, and to fire swathes of federal employees who are in charge of enforcing whatever remains:

https://www.theverge.com/2024/11/20/24301975/elon-musk-vivek-ramaswamy-doge-plan

And all this is meant to take place on an accelerated timeline, between now and July 4, 2026 – a timeline that precludes any meaningful assessment of the likely consequences of abolishing the regulations they'll get rid of.

"Chesterton's Fence" – a thought experiment from the novelist GK Chesterton – is instructive here:

There exists in such a case a certain institution or law; let us say, for the sake of simplicity, a fence or gate erected across a road. The more modern type of reformer goes gaily up to it and says, "I don't see the use of this; let us clear it away." To which the more intelligent type of reformer will do well to answer: "If you don't see the use of it, I certainly won't let you clear it away. Go away and think. Then, when you can come back and tell me that you do see the use of it, I may allow you to destroy it.

A regulation that works might well produce no visible sign that it's working. If your water purification system works, everything is fine. It's only when you get rid of the sanitation system that you discover why it was there in the first place, a realization that might well arrive as you expire in a slick of watery stool with a rectum so prolapsed the survivors can use it as a handle when they drag your corpse to the mass burial pits.

When Musk and Ramaswamy decry the influence of "unelected bureaucrats" on your life as "undemocratic," they sound reasonable. If unelected bureaucrats were permitted to set policy without democratic instruction or oversight, that would be autocracy.

Indeed, it would resemble life on the Tesla factory floor: that most autocratic of institutions, where you are at the mercy of the unelected and unqualified CEO of Tesla, who holds the purely ceremonial title of "Chief Engineer" and who paid the company's true founders to falsely describe him as its founder.

But that's not how it works! At its best, expert regulations turns political choices in to policy that reflects the will of democratically accountable, elected representatives. Sometimes this fails, and when it does, the answer is to fix the system – not abolish it.

I have a favorite example of this politics/empiricism fusion. It comes from the UK, where, in 2008, the eminent psychopharmacologist David Nutt was appointed as the "drug czar" to the government. Parliament had determined to overhaul its system of drug classification, and they wanted expert advice:

https://locusmag.com/2021/05/cory-doctorow-qualia/

To provide this advice, Nutt convened a panel of drug experts from different disciplines and asked them to rate each drug in question on how dangerous it was for its user; for its user's family; and for broader society. These rankings were averaged, and then a statistical model was used to determine which drugs were always very dangerous, no matter which group's safety you prioritized, and which drugs were never very dangerous, no matter which group you prioritized.

Empirically, the "always dangerous" drugs should be in the most restricted category. The "never very dangerous" drugs should be at the other end of the scale. Parliament had asked how to rank drugs by their danger, and for these categories, there were clear, factual answers to Parliament's question.

But there were many drugs that didn't always belong in either category: drugs whose danger score changed dramatically based on whether you were more concerned about individual harms, familial harms, or societal harms. This prioritization has no empirical basis: it's a purely political question.

So Nutt and his panel said to Parliament, "Tell us which of these priorities matter the most to you, and we will tell you where these changeable drugs belong in your schedule of restricted substances." In other words, politicians make political determinations, and then experts turn those choices into empirically supported policies.

This is how policy by "unelected bureaucrats" can still be "democratic."

But the Nutt story doesn't end there. Nutt butted heads with politicians, who kept insisting that he retract factual, evidence-supported statements (like "alcohol is more harmful than cannabis"). Nutt refused to do so. It wasn't that he was telling politicians which decisions to make, but he took it as his duty to point out when those decisions did not reflect the policies they were said to be in support of. Eventually, Nutt was fired for his commitment to empirical truth. The UK press dubbed this "The Nutt Sack Affair" and you can read all about it in Nutt's superb book Drugs Without the Hot Air, an indispensable primer on the drug war and its many harms:

https://www.bloomsbury.com/us/drugs-without-the-hot-air-9780857844989/

Congress can't make these decisions. We don't elect enough water experts, virologists, geologists, oncology researchers, structural engineers, aerospace safety experts, pedagogists, gerontoloists, physicists and other experts for Congress to turn its political choices into policy. Mostly, we elect lawyers. Lawyers can do many things, but if you ask a lawyer to tell you how to make your drinking water safe, you will likely die a horrible death.

That's the point. The idea that we should just trust the market to figure this out, or that all regulation should be expressly written into law, is just a way of saying, "you will likely die a horrible death."

Trump – and his hatchet men Musk and Ramaswamy – are not setting out to create evidence-based policy. They are pursuing policy-based evidence, firing everyone capable of telling them how to turn the values espouse (prosperity and safety for all Americans) into policy.

They dress this up in the language of democracy, but the destruction of the expert agencies that turn the political will of our representatives into our daily lives is anything but democratic. It's a prelude to transforming the nation into a land of epistemological chaos, where you never know what's coming out of your faucet.

[poweringthroughthis]

behind locked doors | jake sim

nsfw, mdni

pair: sim jaeyun (jake) x male reader

desc: dreading PE class more than death itself, you find yourself in a predicament. will someone come to your rescue? maybe someone who always does. but even so, are you ready to face them when they do?

warnings: handjob, anal s*x

You were never too good at running, so the moment the gun had fired and everyone had sprinted away, you were already out of breath. You could see the finish line a couple meters away, but your lungs burned and your vision blurred from sweat, you felt like your body would give in at any moment.

"Hey, slowpoke!" you heard someone say behind you. Before you could realize, an arm was wrapped around your waist and your feet left the ground. You found yourself on the shoulders of one of your classmates, his free hand holding onto your legs so they wouldn't dangle, but firmly enough that his fingers pressed into your flesh. "J-Jake, what are you doing?!" you yelled, but he just laughed and started running.

"We're gonna make it to the end before anyone else, now hold on!" His voice was cheerful, his touch gentle, and for some reason his hands felt warm on your skin. He ran a bit more, then set you down. You had crossed the finish line and were now safe. You took a few deep breaths, your heart pounding in your ears, and turned to Jake.

"Why did you carry me?" He laughed and gave you a pat on the shoulder. "Well, I saw you were tired, and I didn't want you to get punished for being the last one to reach the finish line." Jake was such a handful sometimes, if he wasn't a close friend, you'd probably reprimand him for it. He was impulsive, carefree and so energetic all the time. But deep down, that is exactly why you admired him too.

"What are you talking about? What kind of punishment?" "The punishment was the coach would lock the loser in the storage room until the end of the period."

Your eyes widened. You could only imagine how boring it would be, being stuck in there with no way to pass the time. Jake laughed again, his voice ringing through the empty field. "Don't worry, it's not like it was the real punishment! It was just a game we played, so we would run faster. Anyway, thanks for helping me win, I wouldn't have made it to the end without your weight!" You felt your face flush.

"Y-you didn't need to thank me. And…I guess I owe you now, right? So I'll do anything you want, just name it." He grinned. "Really? Well, okay, let me think…"

A few minutes later, you found yourself sitting on a bench, your back to the door, while Jake stood in front of you. He leaned forward and placed his hands on your thighs. "Alright, close your eyes and don't move. It's a surprise, so don't spoil it for yourself."

"What are you even gonna do? This is stupid." "It's not stupid! Just trust me." You sighed and closed your eyes. A moment later, you felt something soft against your lips. Your eyes flew open, only to see Jake kissing you. "Wha-"

"Shh," he hushed, his voice low and quiet. He kept his lips on yours, and slowly his hands moved upwards, his thumbs pressing into the insides of your thighs. "Mmm…Jake, I don't think we should-" "Just relax. Trust me."

His voice was a whisper, but there was an unmistakable command to it. His hands were so gentle, so reassuring, that you couldn't help but obey. "Now, open your mouth." Your lips parted, and he kissed you again, deeper this time, his tongue slipping into your mouth. His hands traveled higher, until they reached the waistband of your shorts.

You gasped, and his tongue brushed against yours. The sensation was overwhelming, and you couldn't stop the moan that escaped your lips. Jake pulled away and chuckled. "See? You're enjoying it." He pressed his fingers against your hardening length, and you whimpered.

"That's right. You're getting hard for me. You're so cute." You tried to disagree, but he cut you off. "It's alright. Don't be embarrassed. Let's take this off, shall we?" Before you could say anything, he slid your shorts down and began stroking you through your underwear. His touch was light and teasing, and you moaned loudly.

"That's a good boy," he murmured, his lips brushing against your ear. "You're doing so well, just keep making those pretty noises for me." You wanted to say it was wrong for friends to blur lines, but your voice died in your throat. All you could manage was another soft moan. He continued to stroke you, and you couldn't stop yourself from bucking your hips into his touch.

"Jake, please," you pleaded, your voice shaky. "Please what? You want me to stop?" "No, don't stop. Please, don't stop." "Alright, since you're begging so nicely."

His lips crashed into yours, and he pushed you down, your back hitting the bench. He was on top of you now, his body pressed against yours. You could feel his hardness through his shorts, and you moaned into his mouth.

His hands moved lower, and he slipped his fingers under the waistband of your underwear. He broke the kiss, his breath hot on your neck, and tugged the garment down. Your cock sprang free, and he wrapped his hand around it.

"Fuck," you gasped, and he began stroking you, his pace quickening. "You're so hard for me," he breathed. "I bet you'd love to get fucked by me, wouldn't you?" You nodded frantically, and he chuckled. "That's what I thought. Turn over." You did as he said, and he positioned himself behind you. He pulled his shorts down, and you felt the tip of his cock brush against your entrance.

"Do you want this?" "Yes, please," you begged. He began to push inside you, and you moaned loudly, the sensation of being filled by him sending waves of pleasure through your body. "God, you're so tight," he groaned, his voice strained. "You feel amazing."

"You feel amazing," you moaned, your words coming out in a gasp. "I'm going to fuck you now," he whispered. "Is that okay?" There was something so arousing about the way Jake talked. So vulgar and uncensored but caring at the same time. "Yes," you said, nodding. "Good boy," he praised, his voice soft, before slamming his cock inside of you, hard. You screamed, and he quickly clapped his hand over your mouth. "Shh, you have to be quiet," he whispered, his voice low.

"I can't help it," you whimpered. "You're so big." "I know. I'm sorry." He began to move, slowly at first, then picking up the pace. You bit down on his hand, trying to muffle your moans. "Such a good boy, taking my cock so well," he purred, his thrusts getting deeper and harder. "J-Jake," you gasped. "Yes, say my name." "Jake!" "Louder." "Jake! Oh, god, Jake!"

He grabbed a fistful of your hair and pulled, his hips slamming into you with such force that the whole class could hear. "Fuck, you feel so good," he growled. "I'm going to cum." You nodded frantically, and he pulled out, flipping you onto your back and slamming back into you. "Jake!" His lips crashed into yours, and you moaned into his mouth as he came, filling you with his warmth.

You lay there for a few moments, catching your breath. Then he pulled out, and you felt a trickle of his seed spilling out of you. "That was amazing," he said, panting. "Yeah, it was," you replied, still a bit dazed. He sat up and pulled his shorts up, before pulling you up and fixing your clothing. "Are you okay? Was it too much?" You shook your head, smiling. "No, it was perfect."

"I'm glad." He placed a quick peck on your cheek. "I'm gonna go get the key, the teacher should be here soon. Stay here and pretend we didn't do anything." "Okay." "By the way, if the others ask what we did in here, just tell them we made out." "What?! That's not happening!" "Oh, come on, they'll believe it." He gave you another quick kiss on the cheek and disappeared into the hallway, leaving you blushing furiously.

A few minutes had passed but you saw Jake still rummaging through his jersey and other clothes for the key. "What's taking you so long?" "I can't find the damn thing." "You're kidding me. We're gonna get caught."

"Relax, it's gotta be here somewhere. I swear, I saw the coach put it in the pocket of his jacket." You sighed. "Maybe we should just confess. At least then we won't get in trouble."

Jake rolled his eyes. "Oh, come on, that's no fun. Besides, I bet the coach is still outside the building, and there's no way we're gonna get out of here if we wait until he comes back. Just sit tight, I'll find it." You groaned, "how did we not notice if someone locked the room from the outside?"

"I dunno, maybe we were just too horny to think straight." "Oh my god, can you stop talking like that? I can't believe we actually did that." "Why not? You enjoyed it, didn't you?" "Well, yes, but still." He smiled and gave you a quick kiss. "See? There's nothing to be ashamed of. We're both adults, we can do whatever we want." "You're really something else, you know that?" "Thanks. Now, let's see, where could it be?"

After a few more minutes of searching, he still hadn't found the key. "Damn it, it's not here. I must've missed it. Maybe it fell out of the pocket when I was taking off the jacket. Shit, we're gonna have to confess after all." You sighed but then smiled faintly. "it's okay. i don't mind being seen with you." He smirked. "Is that so? Well, good, because I was thinking maybe we could continue this after school, in my dorm." You blushed. "You're incorrigible." "Is that a yes?" You rolled your eyes and smiled. "Fine, I'll see you there." "Great. Now let's sit and wait for coach and tell him we got locked in the room."

"But I thought you said he's not here anymore." "Nah, he's still here, probably outside smoking a cigar." Jake joins you on the bench and wraps his hands around your waist from behind, your naked upper bodies touching. "Let's wait until he's back," he says, his voice low and soft. "Okay."

You lean back against him, enjoying the warmth of his body. You sat like that for a while, quietly, not saying anything. "Jake?" "Yeah?" "I'm glad we took this step forward." He smiles and kisses your neck. "Me too." You close your eyes and let yourself enjoy the moment, knowing that things will never be the same between you two.

After a few moments of silence, he spoke up. "Guess we couldn't escape the punishment after all, huh?" You laugh. "Guess not."

[spotsandsocks]

Fuck it Friday!

@tizniz @diazsdimples

As they say I did not mean for this to exist and yet here we are 1.3k later. Will put on ao3 later and tag everyone later- in my lunch and running out of time. And I need to set this free so I can know peace.

I got in my Eddie feels - aren’t we all right now, had thought and now… have some pain with a hopeful ending. I’m still sold in eddie being so deep in comphet he has no idea what to do. This is the push he needs. Demi Eddie for the win. No Eddie bashing here! Chris loves his dad and wants to help.

When you walk into your living room and find you parents, your son and your best friend sitting there waiting for you, you know things are bad.

To be honest he should of expected something like this.

Eddie stands frozen, awaiting his fate as his dad speaks first.

“We need to talk son.”

At least that’s true Christopher has barely said a word to him since it happened. Not that he blames him.

“We’re worried about you.”

Buck goes next but those words aren’t new he’s already said that and again Eddie doesn’t blame his friend for his feelings. Like he said last time he’s worried about himself too. It’s hard to get his head around the recent choices he’s made harder to think about the consequences.

It almost like it wasn’t him making the decisions. It’s almost like he doesn’t know who he is anymore but then has he ever?

“I’m going to go to Texas”

The third sentence comes from Christopher and is possibly the worst thing he’s ever had to listen to and Eddie has had to hear heartbreaking words so many times.

“What?”

That’s his voice. the first thing he’s said but it’s a barely a whisper. Surely even with everything that’s happened Chris can’t mean that.

His son looks at him, calm and steady and repeats himself.

“I’m going to Texas with grandma and abuelo.”

Eddie turns to his parents all his hurt and betrayal rushing to the surface, he’d thought… he’d let them back in, trusted them

His voice is louder now, “How could you? Why? Why would you try and take him away from me again. I thought..”

Chris stops him in his tracks

“They didn’t ask me. I asked them.”

There’s no words available to respond to that.

“Dad?”

His heart hurts. His head too, everything hurts. He’s fucked up again. Again, again, again. The worst things he knows he deserved this, he caused this nightmare it’s his fault, his fault every time.

Chris’ voice sounds far away.

“It’s not ‘cos I’m mad.”

Eddie doesn’t even hear him. He’s found words and they sound desperate.

“I’ll come with you.”

If Chris wants to leave he’ll do it. No matter the cost. No matter what he leaves behind.

Then that sacrifice is taken from him too.

“No. I don’t want you to.”

He can’t breathe. He’s dizzy, he can’t think. What has he done?

He can’t hear them when they call him.

“Dad?”

“Eddie?”

“Son? Mijo?”

“Eddie?”

“Dad?!”

He turns from them all and he runs.

An unheard voice chases after him.

“I’ll go.”

*

Standing by his sink trying to breathe like he’s been taught when this happens to him he doesn’t need to know who followed him when the footsteps stop.

Buck. Always Buck.

“He’s not trying to punish you”

He can’t turn around. Can’t look, not yet.

“Feels like it”

Soft and concerned, that’s how he sounds. Buck sounds like that a lot recently.

“He’s not. He wouldn’t. He loves you.”

There’s nothing but bitterness in his own words.

“Does he? Maybe he shouldn’t.”

“Eddie!” There’s censure in that word, Buck obviously disagrees and disapproves of that sentiment.

“He loves you. He’s angry and he’s hurt but he still loves you. You can be upset with someone and still love them. I think you know that better than anyone.”

He does.

“Then why is he going.”

He wishes he didn’t sound as heartbroken as he feels. Wishes he could still manage to hide some of his heart from this man.

“Because you need him to.”

Spinning around he turns on his best friend to challenge the stupidity of those words.

“What? I need him here with me. He has to stay with me.”

“Eddie.” Buck’s face and voice hold nothing but aching sympathy. It’s like a knife cutting him open which isn’t fair he’s already got so many wounds.

Then it gets worse because a new voice enters the kitchen.

“Dad… you always tell me I need to be myself, that that’s good enough.”

Eddie stares at his son standing there, just behind Buck, so tall now, so much older than he is in Eddie’s heart.

“But I don’t think you do that. You should do that if you want me to.”

It’s all to much and even rubbing his face doesn’t stop him feeling tired and defeated.

“Chris what are you talking about?

Buck looks down at Chris who nods. There’s unspoken words flowing between them and it’s obvious they’ve been talking about him.

Chris says “Buck can tell you. He worked it out. And he’s right. I do love you.”

Then he walks away, leaving Eddie staring at his friend and waiting for answers.

“Eddie, its it’s like… well, you were a dad and a solider and a medic and a husband. All before you were 20. Man! That’s a lot!!”

Buck takes a step closer.

“Hell Eddie I was a kid at nineteen, a baby, I had no idea who I was what I wanted, and you had to be all that. And your dad told me you had to “be the man of the house” when you were even younger than that.

So who are you? How can you know?

You’ve been so many things for everyone else. You try so hard to be “normal” I see that and I I know you think you’re broken, but you’re not.

You just haven’t really met you yet. How could you, when did you have the time?

That’s why Chris is going away. Just for the summer. He wants you to have time to be you. Find out who Edmundo Diaz really is.”

Eddie listens stunned and horrified. Are they right? Is that all true. He’s terribly afraid it might be.

Buck smiles soft, eyes still worried.

“It’s ok to go look for him.”

His words get stuck for a moment but this is Buck. He can say this to him.

“What if I don’t like him when I find him? What if he’s … not normal?”

“What’s normal huh? And seems unlikely- I think I know the real Eddie Diaz a little bit at least and he’s pretty great. Always will be.”

Buck’s close enough to touch now. He really wishes he would. He’d like a hug.

“Eddie, your life gave you no room to look for what you truly want for yourself. You have to do that now or I’m scared what might happen to you. You need time and space..”

“I don't want to be alone.”

The words leave his lips scared and true and then he gets something he wants for himself for the first time in a long time as Buck folds him into a hug.

He gets to be held while Buck speaks quietly.

“You won’t be. You got me. You’ll always have me. You told me I could have you back any day, well it’s any day and here I am - I’m not going anywhere.”

It’s a lot to deal with, think about but maybe he can do it with help.

“Promise?”

Buck’s body shakes with a laugh

“Pinky promise and Maddie would kill me if I broke one of those.

“He’ll come back?”

Eddie lets himself be held and given comfort by the only person who could. Which is probably something else he needs to think about.

“Of course he will, this is his home, you’re his Dad.”

He can share his fears with this man, he knows that he has before and he does again now.

“I don���t know if I know how to be anything else.”

Buck’s arms tighten around him.

“I know, but you’ll work it out cos even if you’re not sure who Eddie Diaz is, I am and I know he can do anything.”

Buck sounds so sure, maybe he’s right, maybe with help and time he can work out who he really is and what he really wants and then once he knows that, maybe he can find it.

Buck keeps holding him, keeps believing in him and that he can do anything even find happiness.

Maybe he can and maybe he won’t have to look very far.

[nekropsii]

Hello! First of all, love your work. Wonderful takes and analysis on the alpha trolls, and also i’m a big fan of sovstuck - both the text and the awesome cool art. I love that every character gets introduced with their own unique artstyle, each oozing with character :)

I wanted to ask, - and please believe that i’m asking in good faith, - about your proship dni. I’ve been seeing discourse about ‘pro/anti ship’ for ages now, but i cannot for the life of me understand what the hell either side stands for. First i hear it’s about abusive or problematic (pedo/incest) ships in general, then it’s about the difference of portrayal/endorsement of those things, then it’s something else entirely and i can never fucking understand what the hell the issue is and why it is so heated.

By no means i’m asking you to speak for the whole discourse or even for the entire ‘side’ of it - if there’s one thing i got, it’s that no one can agree on their definition of what ‘their side’ stands for. But i would like to know what meaning you put into the terms, and what kind of ‘proship’ you would like to not interact with you; i trust that you know what you believe in and are able to put it to words in a way that makes sense and doesn’t contradict itself or common sense, as i sometimes see :”)

I.. understand that since the topic is so divisive, you may get a ton of bullshit in your ask box and notes, should you choose to answer this, both from people who disagree and those who choose to misinterpret what you say. So feel free to ignore this ask if you don’t want to deal with that. Still, i do hope i can someday gain some clarity on this topic haha.

Best wishes!! thanks for what you do :)

Hello! Thank you so much, the compliments mean a lot! They really keep me going, lol!!

First of all, congratulations on formulating the most normal ask adjacent to this topic. Since it's so god damn touchy, people have a tendency to start throwing rocks no matter what "side" they're on, and no matter if they know what the hell they're talking about or not. Frankly, some of the ruckus surrounding this circus act is embarrassing. On both ends. Second of all, while this isn't something I'm an expert in, I do know more than I'd like, so I'd be happy to give my perspective, even if it's potentially a bit limited/flawed.

Thirdly, I'm putting this under a cut, for anyone who doesn't want to read all that.

Content Warning: Discussions of Shipping Discourse, Sexual Assault, Abuse, Grooming, Incest, and Pedophilia.

Let me start this by defining what the Relevant Terms mean:

Shipping: The act of pairing two or more Characters together. Though the term is derived from "Relationship", and therefore is at its core - technically, theoretically - a Neutral Term, it - conversationally, colloquially - carries extremely heavy Romantic Connotations, with a strong implication that said Romance is found to be appealing - typically in the sense of being either Cute, or Sexy. Defining this is not me trying to condescend you - One of the key questions in this discourse is what it means to "ship" something, and whether or not the term implies the shipper is condoning the material inherent to the ship.

ProShip: Essentially means "All For All Shipping". It's the personal, discourse-based identity label equivalent to the phrase "Ship And Let Ship". There's a common misconception floating around that the "Pro" in "ProShip" stands for "Problematic", rather than simply being the positive antonym to the prefix "Anti". While I find this to be a failure of basic deductive reasoning, I can also understand how the conclusion was reached - Proshippers are most commonly associated with "Problematic Content"/"Problematic Ships", and they do tend to take pride in being "Problematic" themselves. Either way, the word "Problematic" is highly associated with them and often reclaimed by them. They also call themselves "Anti-Antis" (horribly stupid label, by the way), and "ComShip(pers)", with the "Com" being short for "Complex". To my knowledge, ComShip is a sect specifically trying to get away from the baggage that the term "ProShip" holds, and away from the very real predator problem within the ProShip Community. But I'm getting ahead of myself.

AntiShip: Essentially means "Against Certain Forms of Shipping". It actually used to be a term for people who were against specific individual ships, rather than a blanket discourse label - for example, rather than someone identifying as just an "Antishipper", they would typically label themselves as "Anti-VrisMeen", or a "VrisMeen-Anti", or whatever their focus was. An important thing to note is that Antis trend Young, and they trend Traumatized. They are typically Teenagers, and their stances are largely informed by their discomfort watching Adults Sexualize Characters who share their age or younger, and discomfort watching people Sexualize some kind of Trauma they've been through - and considering their general ages, it's not unlikely that that Trauma is either Fresh or Ongoing. This is not always the case, but it's such a large amount of the AntiShip crowd, and it's acknowledged so little, that it's worth mentioning. It's a very important piece of context to me.

The general Belief Systems of both sides, as they currently stand, are as follows:

ProShip: ==> Never Harass Anyone Over Their Ships: This is the bones of their beliefs, and where everything started. Essentially, it's rude and unnecessary to send people Harassment over a Ship they enjoy, because not only could you be doing something better with your time, but also it can be pretty difficult to tell the "How/What/Why" of someone's interest in such material. ==> All Forms of Shipping Should Be Allowed, No Matter The Content: This is the meat of their beliefs, and also where the arguing starts. It's exactly what it says on the tin - Anything Goes, including Rape, Abuse, Incest, and Pedophilia. This is why the label is so touchy - many people are extremely uncomfortable with the idea of Fandom going back to its habit of uncritically normalizing + romanticizing Rape, Abuse, Incest, and Pedophilia. Part of this is due to the fact that this uncritical normalization has led to genuine, tangible harm on people in Fandom Spaces, particularly Minors. ==> Being Problematic Is Based: The skin of their beliefs. Many people wrap up Shipping Discourse in terms that make it sound like engaging in it is Political Praxis, somehow. While your stance on Shipping Discourse can certainly be telling of your Political Beliefs, in the way that your stance on literally anything can be telling of that, calling Shipping Discourse on its own some kind of Radical Political Stance is... Deeply silly, and also keeps leading to people saying "Being into Incest/Pedophilia is Queer Nature", like, unironically. I keep seeing this happen. This part of it tends to be very... Spite-driven. ==> Fiction Is Not Reality: Basically their catchphrase - nothing that happens in fiction is real, and therefore has no tangible effect on reality.

AntiShip: ==> Please Tag Your Content Appropriately And Keep It Out Of The Reach Of Minors: The bones of their beliefs. Self Explanatory, typically followed up with "and if you can't do that, don't post/make it at all". To further illustrate this, I'd like to spark any reader's memory of the times where you couldn't Google search "Fluttershy" without being lambasted with hardcore porn. No additions of "R34", or "NSFW", just "Fluttershy". There was no SFW Filters. You just had to fucking fight for your life. Being a child on the Internet is and was extremely rough. There wasn't any Official Tag Filtering on Tumblr until... I think 2017. It was dark. ==> Abuse/Rape/Incest/Pedophilia Should Not Be Considered "Shipping": The meat of their beliefs. Essentially, these are extremely heavy, delicate topics meant to be treated with respect and tact, or not handled at all. This is not possible in Shipping Content. At least, not as we currently understand it, and will likely remain understanding in that way for years to come. They argue that Fanfiction is not ever going to be on par with Vladimir Nabokov's Lolita. Which is true. They also argue that it's impossible for most Fanfictions to treat these sensitive subjects with any respect, which is... Dubious, but also fair, considering the Sturgeon's Law of it all. ==> Ewwwww...: The skin of their beliefs. Disgust. It's a whole lot of disgust. Again, worth reiterating that the bulk of AntiShippers are quite Young and/or Traumatized, and the content they are reacting to tends to be Extreme, so a gut response of disgust is... Honestly, healthy. No 15 Year Old should be stumbling upon art of a child getting frisky with their dad and going "hell yeah, brother!". Though I wish they'd handle their disgust with more tact, I find that it's just... A fair response, given their age, what their backstory tends to be, and what content they tend to be reacting to is. ==> Fiction Affects Reality: Not necessarily their catchphrase, but definitely their counterpoint to the catchphrase of ProShippers. They do not say Fiction is real, just that it does literally have a tangible effect on reality, and point to cases where this is observable. The impact Jaws had on real life sharks is a favorite, as is The Birth of a Nation, and The Turner Diaries. And, of course, the ways that the works put out by ProShippers has tangibly affected the lives of others, especially children.

It is worth noting, I am neither of these things. I do not identify as a ProShipper, nor do I identify as an AntiShipper. I identify as a Horror Writer. I have "DNI: ProShip" in my bio because their stances make me the most uncomfortable, and I have been victimized personally by members of their crowd and the result of their beliefs.

I was Groomed by an Adult ProShipper when I was 14 Years Old. She used her ideologies as a ProShipper to excuse herself and the (sexual) content she forced me to Roleplay with her, and used it to pressure me into writing more and more extreme content. I did not want to do it even at the time - it made me uncomfortable - but she made the idea of saying "No" to her... Quite scary, and like I was the one in the wrong for being uncomfortable with it. After all, Fiction Isn't Reality, right? I am not the only person I know with this experiences. I have met and spoken to countless - and I mean countless - individuals who have had similar experiences with that crowd. The sheer distrust kids and teens tend to have towards them is learned through that crowd's propensity towards grooming them. Because the celebration and normalization of that content breeds comfortability with "the real deal", and comfortability with harboring predators.

I'm sure some ProShippers have noble intentions, and don't realize what the controversy is about. I'm sure some of them are deeply out of the loop, and still think it only means "Being Anti-Harassment". But I do not care enough to give people the chance, just... For the sake of my own sanity. You understand, I'm sure. I do not think that this rift between worlds is ever going to get closed, or that these sides are going to experience amicability, because the question is nuanced and about morality itself, and one side is full of defensive, traumatized teenagers trying to keep themselves and their friends safe from what they are perceiving as legitimate threats to their safety, and the other side is full of people who just wanna jerk it to weird porn.

I'm not personally comfortable with, like, any self-identified ProShipper being near me, just due to my own experiences. Some might try to identify me as one against my will, due to the fact that I am Anti-Harassment and a Horror Writer unafraid to touch upon every single one of the aforementioned sensitive topics, but... I am simply not one, because I don't identify that way, I don't believe in their beliefs, and they creep me out, lol.

My beliefs are that people should be able to write about whatever they want, as long as they handle things with the appropriate amount of care, and as long as they keep things tagged appropriately. I think that harassing people for shipping Stridercest in fucking 2024 is lame because you could be doing literally anything else with your time, and I think shipping Stridercest in fucking 2024 is lame because you could be doing anything else with your time. Like, come on, man, it's not even interesting. They're not even doing anything interesting with it. Where are the themes? There are no themes. It's just brothers mackin' on each other whitely. Come on.

No topic should be off limits, but you should at least give it the care and respect it deserves, and you should make it interesting. Nothing is interesting on its own. Rape is not interesting on its own. Incest is not interesting on its own. Abuse is not interesting on its own. Pedophilia is not interesting on its own. Taboo subjects are not interesting on their own. They're mundane evils that happen literally every day to regular people. In writing, they need to be paired with themes, and, hopefully, with good writing. People who have been through these things deserve not only to have their trauma represented, but handled with care, and also for it to be interesting to read. They deserve to have options. They deserve to have good literature to chew on, to help them digest and cope with their own trauma. It's difficult to do that when you feel invisible to everything but the camera lens of a Fetish Pornographer, and I know many people who are suffering with the fact that their traumas seem to only ever be represented or referenced in shitty pornography.

Sure, some people cope with their own trauma by sexualizing it. I know that's the case for some ProShippers, and their reason for being within that group. But it's certainly not everyone's method of coping, and it shouldn't be the only option... Which is why I'm advocating for safe, non-fetishized exploration of extreme themes.

I think the reason why the discourse is so unclear is because "ProShip" and "AntiShip" aren't very tangible, definite belief systems, and also the talking points are evolving and maturing over time. A few years ago, the beliefs of "Antis" definitely broadly leaned more heavily towards total rejection of those themes being present in any fiction, but their arguments seem to have matured lately into "the problem is the nature of the depiction, not the presence of depiction itself".

That's all I can think of saying right now that wouldn't just be me walking in circles. And don't worry, I can definitely take the hit. I'm not sure what here could be very arguable other than semantics, or maybe a history lesson or two.

Thank you for the ask! Hope this helps!

[sozzledjuja]

Mephisto & Praxina - A Relationship Analysis

Because part of me wishes that the twins' dynamic had been more explored in the show, while Mephisto was still "alive".

There are honestly so many scenes, especially in season 2, where you could feel the main underlying issues between them, but they were never actually adressed or explored.

Also, feel free to add your own thoughts, maybe stuff that I missed, or things you disagree with as well.

Let's start with this scene, from Cute As A Doll, which I'm surprised not more people are talking about:

So, Praxina gets hurt by Auriana's blast, and Mephisto immediately stops his chase for Iris to teleport next to his sister, to make sure she's alright.

Aaaaanddd- she yells at him for caring/worrying, telling him to just go after Iris.

LOOK AT HIS FACE BRO. Homeboy was truly worried, but then immediately gets back in the game.

It's easy to just look at the dismissive and "careless" way in which Praxina treats Mephisto most of the time, and rule her off as "heartless". However, this sentiment seems to also be present when HE tries to "connect" or worries about her.

We see this again in Forget You:

She sees attachments and emotions as a sign of weakness and vulnerability, and clearly doesn't allow herself to feel it and lashes out whenever her brother does.

This refusal to accept love and affection is usually born out of an inherent lack of trust in people. It comes from a place of fear. She seems to prefer to remain impartial and formal as much as possible, regardless of how much her brother (or anyone else, for the matter) wishes to get close to her.

When it comes to other people, I believe she simply doesn't trust that the gestures of affection are real/genuine.

Good!Praxina, in Forget You I believe, was less of a "possibly redeemed" Praxina and more of a "blank page" Praxina, as in, what she would've been like had none of the Gramorr or the other bad stuff happened.

Still, let's not forget that Good!Praxina still clearly had some concerning instincts, so some of her less pleasant characteristics like her destructive behavior, lack of empathy, difficulty accepting affection and praise, and connecting with people, were probably already there since the beggining.

Iris said it herself:

Remember, Good!Praxina still didn't like the idea of helping people when the girls first tried to teach her how to be a good person; Only AFTER being exposed to good influences did she actually begin to redirect her energy torwards "good" goals, and I think this proves that, in a different, more positive enviromnent, she would've definetly turned out differently.

But, alas- she didn't, so here I am, writing this big ass psychological assessment. Which is mostly her fault.

Also Mephisto clearly has some issues of his own when it comes to how his sister treats him (which, let's be honest, while I wouldn't call it abusive, she definetly isn't an easy person to care about).

Also the fact that she seems to think he's incapable of doing anything right definetly bothers him more than he lets on.

It's easy to laugh these moments off but there's definetly something much deeper going on.

Again

And again

And again. and this one was fucked up

And in many other times.

Oh- and the fact that she always blames him for everything. Which is another one of Praxina's biggest flaws: an inability to admit fault or take any sort of accountibility. Aaand shifting the blame.

Which he knows, and this is clearly something that he takes and takes, until he snaps.

This moment in If You Can't Beat Them was also really telling on how he actually feels about how his sister never actually shows any appreciation for his contributions, and seems to think he's weaker and less capable of reason as she is.

I genuinely do not know what goes through Praxina's brain to make her do this. I don't know wether she actually genuinely believes he's stupid and fucks everything up or not.

And Gramorr, although he doesn't outright show much preference for Praxina in spite of Mephisto, seems to share the sentiment, given that he appears to be slightly less patient/harsher towards him than his sister.

What I can say is that Praxina definetly believes that he is the weakest link between them (which might seem like it's true at first glance, but I wouldn't be so sure as to state it), which, given the previous statement, might also be a result of Gramorr himself thinking/saying it, since they've probably been training under his wing for quite a long time, which would make her (and Mephisto) easily influenced by his opinion, as an authority figure.

And he might pretend it doesn't effect him, but we all know that deep down it does, and that he's kinda insecure despite all his bravado.

I think Mephisto's always been more sensitive and more "emotionally-inclined" than his sister, even before Gramorr. I believe that both twins have the potential to be good, but Mephisto is definetly more "hardwired" for it than Praxina.

And we already know what she thinks about that: emotion=weakness.

And part of her wants to keep reminding him she's better too. The girl's got a big ego to stroke.

Mephisto also seems to have more morals than his sister.

We can see that throughout the show he's helped the princesses sometimes: Iris, with whom he teamed up with to save his sister in If You Can't Beat Them, in which he even told her he'd be honored to serve her as queen of Ephidea, had circunstances been different, which I truly believe he meant;

And Carissa, in Statue Game, who he ALSO teamed up with to save his sister, and who, let's not forget, he gave the other evil amulet back to, so that the princesses could reverse the spell that turned that human girl into stone.

And when Gramorr got the last gem, Mephisto seemed to actually be horrified by what was happenning.

He clearly wasn't totally fine with enslaving the entire planet.

Praxina, on the other hand, seemed pretty okay with it.

Ecstatic even.

She's relishing in what's happening, that's what she wants. To bend other to her will, to be feared rather than loved, to have power over others.

Maybe not what she needs, but what she WANTS.

Mephisto realizing that is GOLD from a storytelling prespective.

I feel like he looked at her in hopes she'd be as concerned as he was, that they were on the same page about the situation, only to find her- well, laughing. I joked about this being his "oh shit, these people are actually evil" moment, but I think part of him was only surprised with Praxina. Maybe he hadn't realized just how far this "lifestyle" had actually shaped his sister.

We know for sure that Mephisto has higher levels of empathy than Praxina. And common sense. This is why I always disagree when people say that Praxina is smarter than Mephisto. She might be more "logical" and "rational", but neither of those things equate to cleverness. Mephisto seems to be more astute and more intuitive.

Him starting to realize Gramorr was probably not gonna give them shit is a great example of this.

Which Praxina did NOT even think about. She was on a high, thinking about all the power they were gonna have now that Gramorr was free and back in action. Miss girl, you are delusional.

Honestly Praxina's fatal flaws deserve their own separate post.

Because let's be clear: I'm trying to debunk all of the twin's relationship issues, and everytime, it's clear who's actually responsible for everything going badly in the emotional realm.

I love her but she IS the problem. Not saying Mephisto is a poor innocent baby who never did anything wrong his whole life (I'm looking at you, lolirock fandom). He definetly has a lot of flaws and bad traits himself, but he's not the one to blame for anything regarding his and his sister's relationship.

To conclude,

THIS is normal sibling behaviour.

All the rest I showed above this SHOULD. NOT. BE.

This is not me saying they have a bad relationship, but I am saying that they don't have a fantastic one either.

Also, I blame dark magic too. The Team has confirmed it makes them more irritable, so there's that too.

They really care about each other, and I don't doubt that BOTH of them would do anything to keep the other safe. But they got lots of unspoken stuff to talk about.

And are both in desperate need of therapy

[raskyven]

oh my god why are people SO weird about bottom inho im like.. there's some incredible fics out there and you guys are throwing fits for what??? at some point it starts to feel like the subconscious heteronormativity has gone wild or something like why am i seeing inho hisband gihun wife and then whittling down their characters to fit those roles like.... do they even like the ship or are they just enjoying shoving them into moulds so they can pretend theyre like every single other ship they enjoy...... anyway all this to say i love bottom inho i hope gihun fucks him in his stupid leather chair

omg preach!!

you're completely right about heteronormativity. this is a problem on almost every mlm ship. like what, inho is the big evil alpha, while gihun is an innocent little malewife omega who requires protection?? they always overly feminise someone in every ship dynamic, and i'm not saying it's wrong; everyone is free to read whatever they want/enjoy (altho it bothers me when gay couples are written as if they have hetero dynamics or smth), but their attitude towards people who disagree with them is... ugh.

like, i can understand s1 gihun to some extent, but s2 gihun (if you've seen gravity falls, you'll get what i mean) reminded me of ford at his most paranoid!!

tbh, i really enjoy imagining powerful characters who are always in authority as bottoms; and making them practically physically suffer bc of their love for their partners, to compromise on things they wouldn't typically compromise on (while learning much more about themselves and how much they appreciate being cared for!!)

...arthur pendragon, tom riddle and now, hwang inho. you can see a pattern, right? 🫡

anyway, thank you for sharing your thoughts with me, anon!! 🫶🏻 inho reallyyy deserves to be fucked in that leather chair, right? 😉 i hope someone makes a fic on that lol. i only want gihun to gently care for inho (and for inho to use gihun to make himself feel better. he's such a power bottom ✨️) who most likely hasn't allowed himself to get close to anyone since his wife's death 🧎‍♂️🙏🏻🙏🏻

[dee-morris]

Finally We're Going to Talk About Crowley

I really do love them equally but you wouldn't know it from my posting history because I constantly feel the need to ride to Aziraphale's defense every other week.

Anyway we talk incessantly about Aziraphale's behavior in the last scenes of season two for obvious reasons, but I think Crowley also needs some deconstructing. His behavior is less shocking; he appears to be reacting to Aziraphale more than taking the reins of the narrative himself. But there are a few key moments I want to look at more closely.

The first thing I thought of was how nonchalant he appeared to be about his only friend going off to have a private conversation with a powerful angel who clearly loathes the sight of him. "Go ahead, the day can't get any weirder" YES IT CAN YES IT CAN but anyway, I was deeply mistaken.

The second they're out of sight he jumps to his feet and stares out the window after them, then he starts to pace around the bookshop. He stops dead when he sees Muriel and goes back to nonchalant mode. "They'll be back soon."

(In the tone, imo, of a parent waiting for their kid to come back from a date and it's past curfew and they're not answering their cell.)

And then--he immediately tries to get rid of Muriel. Who doesn't want to leave, bc "The Metatron might need me!" And you can see the "oh my sweet summer child" expression cross Crowley's face. He's still his usual casual demonic No Fucks Given self on the outside, but he doubles down on getting Muriel out of the shop.

I don't want to spit in anyone's crepes with this next bit, but I don't think the "us time" portion of this conversation was intended to be romantic. I hypothesize that Crowley had just about made up his mind to have an honest conversation with Aziraphale about his Fall and whatever tf he's got going on with the Metabitch. And the "extremely alcoholic breakfast" was what he needed to get through the conversation.

I'm wandering into the realm of speculation at this point, but I think my hypotheses are based on canon events. Crowley does not talk about his Fall with Aziraphale and discourages any mention of his angel identity. That could just be a trauma response, but you don't see the same reticence when it comes up in conversation with Beelz or Muriel or even Jim. I think he's been protecting Aziraphale from something all this time, maybe for his own safety or maybe because he doesn't want Azi to lose faith in heaven/God. The way he tries to send Muriel away makes me think it's a physical safety thing.

But then Metacunt shows up in the flesh and Crowley goes, Yeah it's time to have The Talk.

So then what changed?

This next extrapolation is a bit tenuous so feel free to disagree, but I don't think Crowley was as lost in the woods as he seemed to be. Crowley is impulsive and emotional, but he's not stupid. My friend leaves with the most dangerous angel I know and comes back acting weird. We are not getting that breakfast at the Ritz, are we?

I think the confession and the kiss were sincere, but I also think they had a purpose. I think he was trying to snap Aziraphale out of whatever was making him act like a marionette on crack. But, "It's too late. It's always too late."

[vladdyissues]

I don't know how you do it, Dude, I'm afraid to say that I'm attracted to pompous pep since I know it's wrong to ship a minor and an adult, People are cruel to death, Nobody knows what I like, I hide among the anonymous messages of the internet, Sometimes I see people like you who have their account free mind, People talk very badly about accounts like you, even putting them in places in the fandom to talk badly about them, Fear runs through me, I want to draw pompous Pep, Maybe I'm not attracted to the sexual, But I really feel like it's wrong and it hurts me

You've been at this for a while, right? Your account is full of pompous Pep (I secretly love your account), How did you manage to have the courage to show yourself?, People look at you badly, say bad things, that you are a sick pedophile and that...How do you achieve this without fear???, are you so brave or god 😭

1️⃣ I'm from old school fandom—pre-Twitter, pre-AO3, pre-Internet-as-we-now-know-it. I've learned to not give a fuck about what stupid, ignorant, uninformed people say on the Internet.

2️⃣ It's not my job to educate or "convert" people who disagree with me. I'm not a missionary. I'm here to have fun, and no one is going to spoil that for me.

3️⃣ I—and you, and anyone else reading this—don't owe anyone on the Internet an explanation, a reason, or any kind of justification for writing stories or drawing pictures of fictional cartoon characters smooching. (It's all so silly, honestly. I have real things to care about, like bills and pets and laundry. I envy people who have nothing to stress about except ink and paint from a 20-year-old Nickelodeon show.)

4️⃣ The media—specifically, the fictional entertainment—we enjoy is not a reflection of our humanity, morality, or an indication of our personal beliefs. If that were true, the police would be arresting authors like Stephen King and George RR Martin for writing about underage sex and incest and gore, as well as anyone who enjoys their works.

You know who does believe that reading something will "pervert" you, or that enjoying "dark things" like murder and violence and age gap ships means you must secretly be committing those things in real life? Fascists. Conservatives. Right-wing nationalist fundamentalist Christian types. People who want to ban queer books from libraries and call anyone who disagrees with them "pedophiles" and "groomers". Remember that the next time you see one of these fandom cops screeching about how so-and-so is a "pedo" because they ship two cartoons. These are people on the wrong side of history. They're anti-intellectual, anti-education, and pro-censorship. Get away from them as fast as you can.

Anon, if it seems like a lot of your friends (or the people you're around) are hating on something you want to enjoy and making you feel unsafe to talk about the things you like, then you need to find better friends. Leave them. Block them. Add their usernames to your content filters so you never have to see their ugly, hateful opinions ever again. You don't need that kind of negativity in your life, especially here on Tumblr, where we're all trying to find things that make us happy and celebrate others' creative works. Life's too short to hang around shitty people 💩

[tea-and-secrets]

i run a fandom confessions blog and one of my rules is to be kind to each other/not shame each other over differences of opinion (the fandom is prone to discourse so it is a necessary precaution lmao) and normally it is so nice and pleasant and i genuinely love that i’ve been able to carve a relatively discourse-free little spot in that fandom. but also. sometimes ppl have interpretations on characters that i disagree with soooooo hard. and it takes all of my willpower to smile and go “wow i’ve never thought about them like that!” one of my regular anons talks about my notp constantly and i’ve had to grin and bear it the whole time. i’m not an ass so i’ve done my best to not make anyone uncomfortable (the anon is aware i’m not a fan of their ship but like i said. i’m not an ass and they’re still happily sending asks so we’re good) but oh my god the amt of confessions i’ve gotten from ppl where all i can think is “they would not fucking do/say that” but i smile and nod. i will never let them know when i think their takes are stupid but god sometimes you get an ask completely mischaracterizing the guy ur obsessed with and you have to take a breath . before you can tag it and hit post

.

[yadchi-i-guess]

actually I wanna delve more into Cyn and Pomni's possible friendship, since it's definitely found in the more unlikely of places... so imma dump my thoughts about them here.

Rambling below cut:

Like anyone else, Cyn initially sees Pomni as an obstacle in the way of her murderous, apocalyptic plans. She would not hesitate to mangle and maul her (as much as she can in the Digital Circus) and even have fun with it.

One of the things that makes her stop and reconsider is the fact that Pomni is susceptible to possession/control via Callback Ping. Well now she has an ally!

Pomni, who hates being possessed with a passion, isn't on board with Cyn's plans but goes along with them to avoid being murdered and such. So yes, it does start out one-sided. She doesn't like her, but she doesn't... hate her.

Cyn is genuinely happy to have a friend, and she surprisingly cares about her a lot. When Pomni asks not to be touched, Cyn would stare at her, then be like "okie" and resort to only patting her with a tendril on occasion.

Pomni has every reason and right to be disgusted by this drone wearing a dead child's skin, but the thing is... the two just vibe. Cyn gets in her personal space sometimes, yeah, but she's strangely good at making her feel better.

When she isn't being destructive, Cyn is really playful and teasy. We see this in instances like the gif above where she taps her fingers excitedly, or when she does abnormal contortions of her body with a big stupid grin on her face. She's having fun. And she wants Pomni to have fun. And yk what? Pomni joins in on it.

As for headcanons abt what exactly they'd do together, Cyn would show Pomni all her cool eldtrich limbs, letting her touch them if she feels like it. Pomni rants about life in the Circus, and Cyn listens, then pats her head in reassurance.

I'm pretty sure Pomni isn't aware of the fact she gets fangs when angered or upset, so when she does notice, she really doesn't like them. Cyn does though, since she has her own set of sharp teeth. Makes Pomni feel a lil better about having them.

On the rare occasions Cyn gets angry, Pomni will attempt to reel her in to avoid chaos. Her logic is that "if she's so hostile when she's having fun, God only knows what she's like when she's not having fun".

They also look at stars in the sky when they're chilling. Pomni points out constellations that Cyn can physically draw.

As a bonus, here's my thoughts on who gets along with who:

Ragatha gets along with Doll and possibly Thad, as well as Sam when she's high on stupid sauce.

Jax gets along with Nori, Thad, and gets most annoyed by N. He likes teasing Uzi.

Gangle gets along with J and Emily, possibly manor V.

Kinger gets along with Khan and Nori.

Zooble gets along with Uzi (actually they fight a lot), V, and possibly Doll.

Feel free to agree or disagree. These are very disjointed thoughts, but I figured I'd jot them down. Also, I'd love to hear your thoughts!

[boundbyeclipse]

Hi! I loved your story, I hope it's not too soon to request another one but I was wondering if you could do a Kai x reader where reader is in a secret relationship with him, the rest is completely up to you, your doing a great job keep it up!

-🐦‍🔥

hi, angel! it’s never too soon or too late to request. feel free to drop something in my inbox at all times! it is my pleasure to write for you all. i will try my best to write this down, might not be my best work, probably won’t be too interesting, but i’ll do it. and thank you, it means the whole world to me to have your support ♡ ps. i got a little carried away with this one, oops 🫢

tags : female!reader, witch!reader, heretic!Kai, minor cursing, small mention of alcohol, Damon mentioned, Stefan and Elena as special appearances

"Stop staring, it's very creepy, you know" you rolled your eyes at Kai, who stood by the doorframe, arms crossed, a smug smirk on his face.

"Well, being creepy is a part of my daily activities. In addition to that, why would I not stare? I mean, look at you, looking through the spell book, so invested in it, I doubt anyone would disagree when I say you're the prettiest girl on this earth"

"Kai! Shut up before I throw something at you" you sighed, unable to stop the smile from curving on your lips.

He uncrossed his arms and shoved them inside the pockets, pushing himself off the doorframe as he straightened his posture. A faint laugh escaped from him, his eyes looking down for a moment before looking back up at you.

"I mean, you could, it would leave the perfect impression of us fighting. We `hate` each other after all"

"Not before I do this" you looked at him, closing the book and making your way to your boyfriend, grabbing his face as you stood on your tippy toes to kiss his lips. His hands held your waist firmly, pulling you against his form, chuckling lowly.

"This is why I love you. You're not afraid to take risks"

You smirked.

"And I can very quickly make it look like we're arguing. Considering Stefan could be back any minute now, we can keep on kissing while we still have time"

Kai snickered, "Showtime", brushing a strand of hair behind your ear as he leaned in for another kiss, enjoying the moment before the both of you get interrupted by Stefan swinging the door open, a confused look on his face as he sees you standing super close to Kai. He frowns, tilting his head in question.

"Mind telling me what's going on here?"

You rolled your eyes, bumping your shoulder with Kai's as you walk away, making it look like you two just fought.

"Nothing unusual. Tell him to stop intervening with my private time, it's getting out of hand" you tell Stefan before you make your way to the kitchen to grab some bourbon.

The two males follow your figure as you leave them both to be. Kai shrugs, plopping on the couch where you just sat with the spell book in your hands. He opens it, with the intention to rile one half of the Salvatore brothers up. And it works, he hurriedly walks over to the heretic, grabbing the book and smacking his side with it.

"Ouch!" Kai winces.

"What is up with you? I thought me and Damon already warned you to not get in her way. Of course, unless you wish to have your ass kicked out to sleep on the streets"

Kai snorted, his palm flying to his forehead as it makes a slight slap sound. He sighs heavily.

"How can I not when she's under the same roof as me? It irritates me, I hear her practising spells all the time! And she never shares cupcakes with me"

Stefan grabs him by the collar, pulling him up from the couch.

"Listen, I am not putting up with this stupid behavior of yours, so you either sit your ass down and leave her alone, or I'll make sure you end up homeless. Am I clear?"

Kai nods, raising his hands up in surrender. Stefan lets go of him, his body falling back on the couch with the small push on his chest.

It was a dangerous game you were playing. Being in a secret relationship with Kai was a very big risk, especially knowing everyone around you despised him, and you had to play a part in that too just to cover up the truth. If they found out about your little secret, Kai would probably end up dead and you would have the whole novel read for you about being insane for loving the leader of a gemini coven. But you could not control your feelings. You loved him, you cared about him, you adored him. He’s the one who’s helping with learning magic, after all. When he first met you, he knew you were special. It was love at first sight for the both of you, may you believe it or not. It all led to being each other’s secret, hiding behind closed doors, running away from home from time to time just to have time for yourselves. Maybe it was tough hiding your feelings, but you somehow loved the thrill of it. It’s even a bit funny, because there have been times when you nearly got caught - like just now. The face Stefan made nearly made you laugh out loud.

But really, what would everybody do if they eventually found out about this hidden romance? You were always so curious to know, yet scared, because what if they took him from you and you never got the chance to see him ever again? They only see him as a threat, as someone who’s going to harm you by taking your magic away, but that is not who Kai is. He has always wanted affection, acceptance, and most importantly - love. And you were the only one who saw it. This boy might be different, but it wasn’t an obstacle for you.

As clock striked eight in the morning, Stefan and Damon had taken off to take care of business, leaving you, Elena and Kai at the house. Being the foodie that you are, you wanted to cook breakfast, so you made your way to the kitchen, grabbing the ingredients you needed from the fridge. Humming along with the song playing in the background, you got to work.

Unbeknownst to you, Kai stood at the doorstep, admiring your little dance moves that were adorable. He was praying Elena wouldn’t show up, because he truly wanted to enjoy the sight, without having to put on an act.

Turning around to grab a wooden spoon, you caught him staring with a smile on his face, and you flashed one back at him.

“You’re up early” you said, thoroughly mixing the mixture in the bowl.

“I heard the music so I had to check out what’s going on downstairs. What are you making?” he went over to the kitchen land and took a seat. Your cheeks began burning, you suddenly felt shy around him. Not that you usually do, but something about Kai being present while you’re cooking made you all giddy.

“Pancakes” you pressed your lips together, trying to hide your flushed cheeks as you turned away.

“Yum, will you share?”

You turned your head sideways to avoid eye contact with him, “if we won’t get caught flirting”

Kai chuckled, leaning back in the chair, hands in his lap as he fiddled his fingers. He loved seeing you like this, all carefree, happy, cooking food, shy in his presence. The butterflies were dancing in his stomach, you were way too cute.

“Right. Elena” he whispered, inhaling deeply and sighing, continuing his observation of his girlfriend who was busy flipping the pancake in the pan.

“Mmm, something smells very good” there she was, coming in the kitchen with damp hair, most likely just out of shower. She had a towel thrown over her shoulder that she used to scrunch her brown locks in order to dry them. To be honest, you trusted her the most, because she was never too judgmental about you or your choices, so if one day you had to tell somebody about you and Kai, she would be the first one to know.

“And you’re here because?..” she looked over at Kai before grabbing a blood bag from the fridge.

“I’m hungry, okay?” he answered, shuffling in his seat.

“Ah, the stubborn Kai Parker. Thought you were forbidden from speaking to her”

You looked back at her, raising an eyebrow.

“Who said we were?”

She shrugged her shoulders and took a seat next to Kai. He tensed up immediately, cursing her in his head for yet another interruption. Great. Now you two have to avoid any dialogue with each other.

“What’s up with you two? You keep fighting and avoiding any interaction. I know the Salvatores think Kai is only bugging you because he wants to steal your magic. Well, I kind of do too. But, guys, you need to at least be decent and have normal conversations. Unless, Kai actually has some bad intentions”

You huffed, “I have nothing to say to him”

Kai licked his hips, swallowing thickly as he began to nervously move his leg up and down. God, if only Damon and Stefan thought the same. At least the simplest ‘good morning’ and ‘how is it going?’ wouldn’t hurt much, would it? It would be something that could at least allow him to speak to you. And he wanted to make it come true. So. Much.

He hopped off the chair and vanished from the kitchen, frightening Elena with his sudden walk out.

“Woah, is he alright?”

“Don’t know. Don’t care” you said monotonously, placing the place with pancakes in front of her, also handing her a fork.

You two sat in silence eating breakfast, not even looking at each other in the meantime. You really wanted Kai to come back in here so he could eat, but the way he fled the scene made you wonder what’s gotten into him. Understandably, he was fed up with the whole ‘rules’ thing, he probably couldn’t bear being there with you while Elena stated some facts. She’s right. Why can’t you two at least have a few words in front of everyone? It’s not like it’s going to hurt you. Heck, why can’t you just tell everyone what’s actually happening?

Your phone buzzed and you opened the text message from Kai, telling you to meet him on the Wickery Bridge.

“Um, I have to go out for a bit. I’ll be back” you excuse yourself, leaving Elena in the kitchen as you hurried to your room to change. On your way to the location, you kept wondering why Kai wanted to meet up with you. It wasn’t a date after all, it sounded like a serious situation. And usually he doesn’t just tell you to meet him somewhere, Kai always leaves smiley emoji’s and tells you to wear a cute outfit. Is he up to something?

You found him leaning over the railing of the bridge, staring into the distance as he looked pretty rough. It worried you.

“Kai?”

“Hey” he showed you a smile, but it didn’t look genuine. It didn’t look real. It looked forced. Fake.

“Why are we here? Did I do or say anything wrong?”

“No,” he took a deep breath. “Elena’s right. Why can’t we get along at least a tiny bit? We’re allowing them to control us, tell us how to behave, we’re not even able to look at each other at this point. And I’m tired of it. I’m sick of it. I know we agreed to keep this a secret, but for how much longer can we pretend? Eventually, it’s either they’re going to begin suspecting whatever is going on, or we’ll have to tell them before they do”

“Baby, calm down. I know how much you want us to be exclusive. I want it too. I want the whole world to know how happy you make me. But you know how dangerous it is and I am scared of the outcome. What if they kill you? I’ll be left with nothing then. You’re my everything, Kai, and I don’t want that to be taken away from me. If I see you laying down on the floor lifeless, I won’t have a purpose to live”

You choked up with tears in your eyes, taking his hand in yours, pulling it close to your chest.

“Feel my heart”

Kai’s eyes lazily blinked as they became watery, your heart beating so loud and hard that he could feel it on his skin. It was hurting him. He hated everything about this situation.

“If I have to die for you, I will”

“No, no, no, Kai. No. Absolutely not. You’re not going to leave me, you hear me?” with a shaky tone you looked in his eyes, grabbing him by the jacket, crying out loud in pain. You rested your head against his chest, your entire body aching as you fought the tears that just couldn’t stop coming out.

Kai cups your face, lifting it up so he can look at you.

“I love you. I’ll do anything for you. But I cannot do this anymore, I cannot keep listening to Stefan lecture me about staying away from you. I cannot keep letting Damon lock your bedroom door at night just so I don’t come in. What am I supposed to do? It’s not like it would be easy for me to leave you either. Tell me, what the hell should we do? I can’t lose you”

“I love you, too, Kai,” you whispered, grabbing his soft face, “you know what? Fuck this. If they kick you out, I’m going with you. If they try to kill you, I will make their skin burn with the spell you’ve taught me” a light giggle of yours reached his ears, so contagious that it made him break into a smile.

“Are you sure you want to tell them?”

“Yes. I’m sure. No one can take you away from me, okay? Our love is stronger than their hatred for you. We should not let anybody step in and tell us what’s right and what’s wrong. Let’s do this, together. No matter the outcome, I will not let them hurt you. It’s time, Malachai”

He nods, pulling you into a deep, passionate kiss, tasting your salty tears off of your lips. He hugs you, holding you close to himself as he holds the back of your head.

“Let’s do this”

You take his hand in yours, intertwining your fingers together as you both walk into the distance, no more hiding. No more doubt, no more fear left behind. With the way you look at each other as you approach the house, nothing scares you anymore.

Because you know,

Love is the strongest weapon of all.

[cezqstar]

haven’t been active in the rykter fandom in awhile, but i’ve seen quite a lot of opinions floating around on here & twt that i had quite a lot of thoughts about!

someone said the show is queerbaiting… and i genuinely cannot believe how anyone can see a character figuring out his queer identity and only see the matherik ship & dumb it down to queerbaiting.

edit: i want to clarify this part i said on queerbaiting because i didn’t articulate my thoughts in depth. at the end of season 2, mathias initiated a kiss with erik ultimately implying his queer identity. and his season 3 storyline has confirmed him as a queer character, who is crushing on erik & struggling with acceptance whilst getting bullied by his ex-best friend. however, erik’s pov is open to interpretation, which leaves a lot of space for fan theories (that i eat tf up) but at the moment, that’s all they are. fan theories. erik’s actions can be interpreted as both platonic & non-platonic, and i don’t see the show dangling matherik in the audiences faces. since they’re very focused on mathias’ story and his perspective rather than erik’s. whose own story seems to focus on him hanging around the wrong crowd and his questionable behaviour. it leaves the storyline open to go down two very different routes: erik could have his own queer realisation and the two of them eventually end up together. or mathias’ has unrequited feelings for his straight (or aro 👀) friend but those feelings helped him with his own queer journey to acceptance. and i think with how they’ve set erik up, it could genuinely go either way and make sense.

^^ that’s why i believe the queerbaiting claims are a stretch.

it’s become very clear why people began watching rykter: matherik. but people NEED to remember that the show is not solely about them. it never has been. this show is about the chaotic lives of ‘sheltered’ (i can’t think of the word i’m after) teenagers who all have the capability to be stupid, immature and selfish. which yes, includes felix as one of those characters and yes, includes erik as a teenager capable of being a bad person at times.

these teenagers are also all (well almost all) capable of redemption. mathias has proved his own ability to be redeemed after his s1 antics, erik will surely have his own redemption path regarding his current s3 antics and thea is currently having her redemption this season. just because erik has been generally good in the first two seasons, doesn’t mean he isn’t prone to poor decision making & shitty actions. remember: they’re all 15-16 years old.

i’ve seen a few people suggest that the rykter writers are ‘getting off’ on or ‘enjoying’ the homophobic abuse that mathias has been subjected to, but i think that’s a massive stretch. and an extremely poor outlook on the shows writing in my opinion. many people forget that even though norway is a progressive country that homophobic shitheads still exist. and the way mathias is being treated by someone as horrible as felix & no one saying anything due to being ‘sheltered’ followers is quite real.

and when someone as jealous, hateful & spiteful as felix who clearly puts up with his own share of prejudice gets to put someone else down (someone who he also feels ‘betrayed’ by), he’ll jump at that opportunity in an attempt to make himself better and stronger. from victim -> perpetrator. i understand the frustration around this season focusing on felix quite a lot but people need to stop seeing his storyline as ways to ‘excuse’ his actions and moreso to explain them & simply SHOW his life. they seem pretty hellbent on showing you that he’s a shitty person regardless of his home life & personal issues.

anyways rant over! time to disappear again lol. feel free to disagree with anything i said. always happy to have a discussion!

[jelzorz]

197.

It feels like treason to think it. Opeli would feel guilty for it on a normal day, she thinks, but the situation is dire and she wonders if anything will ever feel normal again. The Banther Lodge is a far cry from the castle, and it is crowded enough without the kingslaying elephant in the room.

She watches Soren fight Rayla over it.

She watches Ezran hide his tears.

She watches the Kingslayer walk free.

Well, she thinks. There are certainly worse things than thinking it. There are worse things than talking to her friends, her family, who also happen to be part of the council. Worse things have been done than calling a meeting behind Ezran's back, who is the King, yes, but a child first, and he has enough on his hands without this too.

"I don't think Prince Callum can continue being a part of this council."

Soren grimaces. Corvus shifts uneasily on the spot. Barius makes a face and fiddles with his hands.

Opeli stares them down. "Do you disagree?"

A pause. A sigh. Soren huffs and glances through the cellar kitchen window to make sure Callum is still preoccupied with defending Rayla and her murderous father from anyone who dares to look at them the wrong way. "No," he mutters after a moment. "You're right. You usually are, but this... Is Ezran's decision, not ours."

Opeli scowls, some misplaced maternal instinct raising her hackles. "He's dealing with enough," she says shortly. "He's eleven years old, his home has been destroyed, and his own brother returns with the elf that killed—"

"We get it," interrupts Corvus tiredly. "And we're not disagreeing with you. You're right. But what are you asking us to do, exactly? Kick Callum off the council? Is more internal conflict really what we need right now?"

"With respect, High Cleric," says Barius, "are we even supposed to be having this meeting? Isn't it breaking some sort of law to be talking about this before talking to King Ezran?"

Opeli wrinkles her nose at that, the wrongness of this heavy in her gut. "It's not illegal to bring up a concern with members of the council in confidence," she grumbles. It's a weak argument, but it's been played in court before, and she's not above playing the same dirty tactics to keep her king safe. "We are Ezran's council," she asserts. "Our duty is to him and to Katolis and I don't believe Callum's priorities are quite the same. He—" She grimaces too and locks eyes with Soren. "He's starting to remind me of your father."

Soren snorts at that. "Don't I know it," he mutters, and Opeli sees the truth of it in his eyes. Soren would know better than anyone what magic can do to people, the kind of power it gives them, the cleverness they think wielding it grants. "But Opeli, seriously, what are we going to do? We can't just arrest him. All this aside, he's still the prince. He's Ez's brother."

"One might argue that King Harrow was his stepfather, and you can see how much he cares about that."

Another pause. The room flinches because they all know that it's true, what an insult it is to Harrow's memory that his murderer would be allowed to dine at his son's table.

"Have you asked Ezran what he wants to do?" asks Corvus at last.

Opeli winces. "I didn't want to burden him with it," she mumbles. "I don't know that he knows what to do and frankly... I don't either."

"A first," says Barius, not unkindly. "It's all right to be concerned, High Cleric. It's all right not have all the answers."

"Yes, well." Opeli clears her throat and bows her head, hiding her weakness in the way her hood falls over her eyes. "I'm not particularly good at not having answers. I've come to you three hoping you might have them instead."

"I don't think we can help anymore than you," says Corvus wryly. "But our duty is to Ezran, the same as you. Soren and I won't let anything happen to him. The same way Barius won't. The same way you won't. Okay?"

"Call it a secret council pact," adds Soren with a grin. "If Callum does anything else stupid, we step in, no matter what. Deal?"

Hardly, thinks Opeli, even as she nods. She takes what little solace she can get.

[reel-fear]

Genuinely so curious who Mike thinks is gonna be buying The Cage or the new DCTL GN bc with the way he tweets as far as he's concerned, it's not gonna be:

The queer people he has actively admitted he will never show any representation of in the games.

2. The POC he has actively fought against representing in his franchise. [Who he also mocked for thinking they would be represented in his franchise]

3. The Bendy fandom which has always been concerned with topics of diversity esp in the sense of queer people since its creation. Who he has responded to really poorly esp in regards to the GN.

4. The fans who critique him. [He blocked me for doing so lol]

5. His fans in general who he tweets about like this currently. [He's being vague about why people were mad at him or sent him 'nasty messages' because if you actually looked into why you'd see he was in the wrong. Either way, a very hateful way to speak abt ur own fanbase.]

Reminder while Mike is trash talking his fans he has always treated them rather poorly. The fans who won the fanart contest for Chapter 5 never got their posters actually in game due to it being rushed. Not only was chapter 5 a big slap to the face story wise, but it was literally so rushed he couldn't be bothered to add in the art his fans gave him for his game FOR FREE. [Meatly blames this on a crazy timeline, reminder him and Mike are the literal ceos of this company. The proposal of future updates here is also pretty cruel considering Mike nowadays happily admits he corrupted Chapter 5's source code and therefore literally can't update it At All currently. Because he is a moron]

At least they got to be in Boris and the dark survival, and by that I mean that was the Only game they got to be in so far, isn't that just treating your fans like you love them? Shoving their hard work into a spin off game almost nobody has played or addresses much. [Hell, who knows if with the Lone Wolf rebrand they'll even stay there. In which case they'll be in None of the games, only in the credits of BATIM]

6. The Bendy fans who just generally disagree with him on stuff. Like the new ink demon design where there is literally a public poll showing people generally prefer the old one.

7. The Bendy fans who can see he is actively lying to them. To their fucking faces.

He says this has always been the case, but screenshots and links to tweets regarding the books being canon prove it was not. Does he really think bendy fans are stupid or something? [Unless he's admitting here he lied to Kress when he told her the books were canon which sounds worse!]

8. Anyone who doesn't like the idea of giving money to a guy who laid off tons of employees then afterwards thought it was a great idea to express his anti-union views! Also brag about how good of an employer he was, according to his employees, he was not!

So in summary; Mike is an awful person who has not learned anything from the awful things he did. I will not be purchasing The Cage because, combined with this and his absolute refusal to take any kind of critique or see any differing interpretation of his franchise, I have no reason to think my problems with the franchise will ever be addressed or fixed. I probably will pirate The Cage along with any future Bendy Products [Including the movie] and will do my best to avoid giving it any kind of monetary support. Unless this changes any time soon, I can't see myself making anymore positive Bendy posts soon.

Mike has just managed to make it so hard to speak positively or optimistically of this franchise when he's so willing to broadcast how little he cares about it or its fans. I'm at the point where I refuse to pull any of my punches with my problems with it. What's the point of trying to play nice with my critique when either way the people creating it don't care?

So with this post, I want to invite anyone who feels similarly about the franchise to tell me, make a post or send an ask talking about how all of this makes you feel. It may not change how things are, but genuinely seeing other people share my feelings of anger makes me feel better. It feels nice to see when other people share our same concerns and worries. I'd also love to know if anyone else thinks they'll be avoiding purchasing Bendy products over this.

I'm not forcing anyone to participate in it nor trying to say anyone who doesn't supports mike but genuinely maybe if we can collectively decide to boycott things like the movie, graphic novel and The Cage... It might at least make the bendy devs acknowledge how much they have destroyed their own fandom's faith and trust in them.

The way Mike tweets about his actions like he had no control over why people were mad at him at least proves to me he takes NONE of it back nor regrets it. If you didn't know about his actions and only went off his tweets, you would be led to believe Mike has been needlessly picked apart by fans over things he couldn't control [or in his own words, had his words twisted and taken out of context]. That is not how you speak about your actions if you have actually learned better from them.

anyway, that has been my bendy dev callout post. This is an open invitation to anyone feeling similarly upset about the way the franchise is going to talk about it. It's genuinely nice to see how people feel about this and the more we talk about the more it's likely the bendy devs are forced to address our concerns. I don't think they will but hey, that's why I'm not gonna support them with my money anymore nor am I gonna be nice to them in any content I make critiquing Bendy. I mean I'm also basically making this post just in case anyone asks me Why I feel this way towards to bendy devs/as a way to respond to anyone who thinks I am too harsh in my critique in the future.

As always, it seems the best part of Bendy isn't actually anything about canon but about what the fan's are creating with the ideas Bendy failed to do anything interesting with.

Also the books, the books slap.

[rasby]

M6 and what tattoos i think they would have

Asra

• I can see them having a tramp stamp

• And it's definitely something bad and cringy like "GRL PWR" with little coulds and starts around, maybe a unicorn

• They think it's funny

• I can also see him with a full back tattoo, like really nicely done, every line has a story and a meaning type tattoo

• He's sentimental like that

• For afab Asra, i definitely see them tattooing their top surgery scars, not to hide them but to exaggerate them and bring more attention to them

• Bonus points if they did some tattoos himself

Nadia

• Ok, Nadia either has a little ankle tattoo, nothing too big or too meaningful

• OR she had a full sleeve done and plans to do more

• I don't think her tattoos would have too much meaning behind it besides the fact that they would resemble Prakra and it's culture in some way

• I think she just likes the way they would look on her

• Consider, modern AU biker Nadia, fully tatted out. Yes? Yes.

Julian

• Julian...is tricky

• Because i for sure see him having a big chunk of his body fully tatted out

• Maybe not a full sleeve like Nadia, but definitely a forearm, shoulder or a part of his leg

• And every detail has a meaning, obviously

• He has like a short poem or meaningful quote from an artist he likes on his thigh also

• But

• I also see him waking up hungover one day with hello kitty tattooed on his buttcheek for some reason

• He doesn't know how it got there. He doesn't know WHY it got there. He doesn't even know who did it

• Lowkey really likes it

Portia

• I don't see Portia wanting a lot of tattoos

• She does a few small ones at first, just so she can say she did it

• (They're all cat themed)

• And you really have to look for them yk, they're not in an obvious place

• But after some time, maybe she'll want a few more

• She gets some flowers and gives them meaning

• One for her home, her blood family, her adopted family, her partner...

• It's still nothing huge, but now she can look at it and feel warm inside

• Also, will 100% ask MC to get matching tattoos with her

Muriel

• He doesn't have any

• He doesn't see the point

• They hurt to get, they don't serve a bigger purpose, they require time and money and they bring more attention to him and his body

• Safe to say, he's out

• The only way i can see him having any tattoo is if Asra somehow got a hold of a tattoo gun and pestered him about it

• Even then i don't think it would be anything big

• Maybe like a little smiley face, somewhere unnoticeable

• He says he forgot about it and doesn't care but he looks at it every day before he takes a shower and smiles

Lucio

• Also has a cringy tramp stamp like Asra but he unironically likes it

• In general, i think most his tattoos are stupid

• He has one on his pubic area that says "blow here" with an arrow pointing down

• And a lip tattoo with MCs name

• ...you'll have to beg him to get rid of any of those

• He wants other tattoos, he really does!

• They're really cool and if he has anything it's time and money!

• But he always gets bored during appointments and some of them really hurt so he just leaves half way through, leaving his tattoo unfinished

• If anyone asks or comments on it he says something like "you wouldn't understand my artistic mind" or he would make up a story behind each one

• But in all honesty...even he forgot what he was trying to do and he doesnt wanna go finish it so he just kinda...has a half assed tattoo on his rib

• And yes, his first big tattoo was on his rib, the most painful place he could've chosen. It's Lucio, he didn't think much about it

• Will also ask MC for a matching tattoo, as long as it isn't too big

These are all just my HCs, if anyone wants to disagree and/or add on, please feel free!! (I also apologize if there are any spelling mistakes lol)