#as most things with fandom. I’m writing ​from personal preference of how I like characters to act

[bonebrokebuddy]

I love this idea.

But I even more so enjoy the idea that both Danny and Jason are 100% completely and fully aware how weird this situation is. It’s their lizard brains responding in that fashion, not their conscious thought. Not only because it has the chance to set up some Very comedic misunderstandings but also because it allows for the characters to act more like they do in the comics.

Another thing to understand is that Danny doesn’t know the Batfam personally in this. So to Danny, holy shit that’s the Red Hood! The guy who he knows killed a lot of criminals in some sort of no-morals Batman fashion.

(Be honest to yourselves, the news would Not report that Red Hood was killing less people, just when he was killing people of note. Y’all know how the news cycle works and y’all know I’m right. Public opinion outside of Gotham would still view him as “that vigilante in Gotham who uses guns and killed a fuck ton of people but the bats support him for whatever reason.” Only people in crime alley who are actively seeing the change occur would really know that Red Hood is actually improving Gotham.)

But like, how the hell has he never heard that this guy was a ghost.

But he pushes that to the side because a teenager (a reminder that Jason was 15 when he died and is most likely the age Danny would perceive him to be) is bleeding out in front of him and he Has to get this guy to a doctor because Danny has zero idea how to handle an injury like this.

He’s fully aware how stubborn and foul mouthed teenagers are, considering, well, he was one recently and after saving Casper High students around that age for 4 years, he’s very aware how to deal with teenagers in difficult situations.

But what Danny was not expecting was the next words strained out of the Red Hood’s mouth as dribbles of blood spewed past the masked man’s lips.

“.. mom?”

.

.

.

What?

———

Jason was having a very weird day.

First a villain with a grudge got the upper hand on him and gassed him, chasing him into one of the neighborhoods of Gotham not yet cleaned up after last week’s different yet still un-memorable villain attack.

Now he’s laying bleeding out with a piece of rebar stuck in his side as with every second that ticks on, his metahealing from The Pit continues to heal with the piece of metal still inside of him.

Desperately trying once more to move his right arm, wedged between the break of a concrete support beam that fell during the previous week’s attack, the shifting only drives him further into the crevice. He can feel the rough, jagged edges of the break tear further through his leather jacket and scrape against his Kevlar padding. It was meant to deal with gunshots, not constant slow pressure. If he makes it out alive, his arm is sure to be bruised to high hell once he wrenches it free.

Despite all of Bruce’s clarity under extreme injury and pain resistance training, Jason knows he’s fighting a losing battle. His vision wobbles in and out as the slow and steady dripping of blood from his skewered left arm that’s pinned to his punctured side, fills the air of the dark debris-filled alley.

God, he’s going to miss Tim. Despite initially being furious that Bruce let another kid be Robin, Tim slowly earned his right as a Robin in his eyes. Learning the ins-and-outs of detective work faster than him or Dick ever did, a talent for hacking, and being able to keep a secret from Bruce no-questions-asked once he gained the kid’s trust. He was loyal to his friends, not Bruce; he admired that of the kid.

It might also have something to do with if he was lazy he could throw a target’s details the kid’s way and have all their dirty little secrets unearthed without him having to go through the time-consuming process of doing it himself. But hey, it was useful and saved him 5+ hours of work. Besides the kid did it faster so it was like saving him time x2.

——-

(Bones Side Tangent: No titans tower incident, all my homies hate the titans tower incident and recognize how fucking buckwild ooc that was for Jason’s character and that Tim would initially be wary as hell of Jason. Sure he idolized the guy as Robin in the past, but Jason is clearly not the same person anymore and Tim’s observant as hell. He’s not going to trust Jason straight off the bat, it’d take a Long time for Jason to fully gain Tim’s trust.

Jason would probably like Tim once he got it settled in his head that Bruce was not replacing him, and that Tim very much so was Only There to keep Batman from making rash or dumb decisions and will 100% keep things behind Bruce’s back if asked by someone he trusts. Tim views himself as very independent and as a result, does not think should Bruce have to know everything Tim is doing or have to involve himself in everything in Tim’s life.)

———

Jason’s blurry thoughts were sharply interrupted by the sudden presence of a figure standing two feet in front of him. (Like, he knew he was pretty far gone, but not that far gone to not notice someone sneaking up on him. Dammit, how far gone was he? Shit. This doesn’t bode well for him.)

Carefully not jerking back from surprise to keep from jostling the rebar sticking through his torso and left arm. Jason blinked behind his domino, trying to clear green halo around his vision that made the figure in front of him seem like they were emanating the sickly neon light of The Pit.

The warmth of the figure seemed familiar, covering him in a blanket in a sense of security and flavor of happiness that he’s not felt in years. Not since before she picked up the bottles and syringes.

Trying to test his vocal cords caused him to cough, racking his body with pain as blood passed his lips,

“… mom?”

A brief pause.

The gentle sound blood dripping down the pile of rubble filled the alleyway.

Then the figure spoke.

Opening its mouth, it spoke in the voice of a young man.

That was not his mom.

That was not his mom.

Who the fuck is standing in front of him?

What the fuck is standing in front of him?

Is that a dude in a hazmat suit?

Holy shit the figure’s eyes are actually glowing Pit green, that’s not just him imagining it.

Wait is this Death?

He thought Wally said Death wore a knock-off speedster uniform.

Does that mean Death is personalized?

Wally’s appeared as a speedster, it only figures his is reminiscent of the Lazarus Pits; the substance that brought him back to life is now going to take him in death.

Very poetic.

Well, if Wally can outrun this bitch, he might as well try to escape it’s grasp as Death babbles on about taking Jason to the “Far Frozen” to “get better and take that piece of metal out of your side.”

“Come on dude, I can’t knock you out if you continue to struggle because I don’t know if you’d wake up from that. Could you please wait to try injure yourself further after the yeti’s fix you up?”

Wait did Death just say they’re going to visit a yeti?

Hold on, he might’ve missed something here?

Short DPXDC Prompts #556

Jason’s Ghost core imprinted on Danny. - The first time Jason felt Danny nearby the sensation of that calmness and lack of rage all the time made him just have a mental meltdown and just sob. He was finally calm. He wasn’t mad anymore…. Why Wasn’t he mad anymore? That feeling of serenity kept intensifying. Jason sees the figure of a very short gymnastic build kid where every single part of his being is screaming at him that this person means safety. They mean calm. Protect them at all costs. Danny doesn’t know why he felt drawn to this area in Gotham until he could hear a ghost core crying out in distress. Upon locating the distress beacon he finds the most massive man he’s ever met. A terrifying mask over his head and far more weapons than Danny is comfortable with being nearby on this man’s person. He really wants to run but the man’s crying core makes every fiber of his being want to help and heal him. And so he does.

[sleepingdeath-light]

having a gomez and morticia-esque dynamic with his fem overlord s/o hcs ; alastor

requested by ; anonymous (15/02/24)

fandom(s) ; hazbin hotel

fandom masterlist(s) ; here

character(s) ; alastor

outline ; “So good to have you back!

Can I request Alastair with an fem Overlord! Reader? Like they have a relationship similar to Morticia and Gomez Addams, especially when Mortica says “Don’t torture yourself Gomez, that’s my job.” Reader is just elegant and classy in a sense with her man 👀”

note ; there are some potentially (very mildly) ooc bits here and there for the sake of filling the prompt, but otherwise this is exactly what the outline requested as best as i could write it lol ^^

warning(s) ; references to canon-typical levels of violence, but mostly fluff!

the two of you are, to put it bluntly, a match made in hell — which is rather fitting as your first meeting occurred in hell itself shortly after alastor’s reign of terror as ‘the radio demon’ had first began

very few people are aware that the two of you are in a relationship, or that you know each other at all, and that’s simply because neither of you see the point in broadcasting your attachments and personal lives to the entirety of hell — your husband may be an egotistical radio broadcaster with a kill count that most sinners can only dream of achieving, but he preferred to keep his private life private and your marriage was just one of those things

(of course rosie is keenly aware of the two of you and teases alastor relentlessly, and lovingly, for how utterly in love with you he is — but he lets it slide because he knows she means well and wouldn’t dream of causing you harm)

but when you’re together it’s plainly obvious, even to those who don’t know you well at all, that the two of you are deeply obsessed with each other — that’s mainly down to your unusual, and yet somehow not at all surprising for the two of you, displays of affection which most would find deeply off putting

of course your alastor is a gentleman and can appreciate the more traditional romantic displays — he never fails to greet you with a kiss on the back of your hand and a bouquet of the finest flora hell has to offer, and he’s always ready to offer you his jacket if you complain about the weather — but it doesn’t just stop at those more ‘normal’ acts (something that you come to be more and more grateful for as your relationship progresses from courting to dating to something resembling marriage without all of the formal paperwork)

there are displays of affection that are more reliant on his more cannibalistic side, for one: diligently licking any and all of your wounds clean whilst earnestly complimenting the rich flavour of your blood (after dealing with whichever poor soul decided to go after you in the first place), talking cheerily about all of the ways he’d prepare your flesh if ever you let him (and listening with rapt attention as you discussed your own plans for any errant limbs or slabs of flesh that he may lose in battle), making sure to get to rosie’s cafè as early as possible to ensure that you only get the best of your favourite baked treats, and staring hungrily down at you as you gingerly wipe the blood from his lips and cheeks with your fingers and lick them clean in a way that most anyone else would find disturbing

there are shows of love that lean more into your mutual sadistic tendencies: kissing sweetly whilst the blood of your victims is still fresh on your skin and clothes, slow dancing to whatever song he’s broadcasting from his radio on top of the corpses of your slain targets, wistfully admiring each other as you rage and show your full demonic forms to anyone who dared to cross you (a precursor for plenty of compliments and private affection later on, i’m sure), and you stepping forward and coaxing him out of a violent episode by insisting that he should torture you instead with that sweet tone of voice that you know he can’t say ‘no’ to

there are acts that are a mixture of the three — such as you calling each other the sweetest pet names in a mixture of your spoken languages (‘love’, ‘cher’, ‘dearest’, etc.) before going on to say something truly monstrous that would have everyone else in earshot staring with a mixture of horror and disgust, or him taking you out to get your tailored clothes repaired since he so loves taking care of you after a spat with another (now likely very dead) overlord left your clothes torn in places and stained with all sorts of viscera

and, of course, amongst all of that you can guarantee that alastor is being nothing short of encouraging, adoring, and protective over you (read: quick to threaten anyone who intends to cause you harm into silence and slaughtering anyone who refuses to comply with that warning) and your honour as you go about your life as an overlord alongside him — he knows you’re more than capable of taking care of yourself, but he was raised to be a gentleman and he’s certainly not going to stop being one just because he happened to go to hell

truly, it’s like the two of you were made for each other

[the-simple-creature]

Nuzi, Envy, and Vizzy. The big three of MD ships.

A big post about comparing these great ships and the reasons why people love them.

Reason #1: colors

N and Uzi are on nigh polar opposite ends of the color wheel, very obviously fitting their nigh polar opposite personalities.

V and Lizzy, while still very different from each other, aren’t quite as opposite as N and Uzi. Their colors more… accentuate each other rather than fully contrast. Again, very fitting.

N x V is very different from the prior two. Their colors don’t show how different they are but instead how similar they are… at least at first. At first it showed that they were cut from the same cloth, it felt like they were meant to be together. Now, in yellow, it feels like a reminder of how far they’ve grown apart.

Reason #2: dynamics

This one is probably a lot less complicated to explain.

Nuzi is two very common but very loved tropes combined: The “Two loveable dumbasses get up to shenanigans” trope and the all too familiar “opposites attract” trope. Somehow resulting in the queerest straight couple known to man, and we love it.

The Vizzy Dynamic is both really hard and really easy to explain because it has multiple different parts and interpretations and is not cannon (yet). The interpretation that most people in the Vizzy Nation have is Lizzy simply not fearing V and V being very confused but not necessarily disliking it. Also, two “tsundere” -type characters put together really can’t go wrong.

Envy, oh Envy. I’m so sorry, Envy and Envy enjoyers, but I honestly much prefer it in the past tense than the present tense. The “dynamic” of Envy to me is that it was so simple and so perfect, but it was just never meant to be. It is a very tragic and realistic story. I like Envy, not as a ship per se, but as a story.

I was wrong.

Reason #3: IDK bonus canonicity/legacy round

This is almost like a bonus reason because any sane shipper (oxymoron) doesn’t really care if their ship is canon, but it is a nice cherry on top!

Envy is, in a way, the ship of the past. Not in any negative way but rather a sort off… nostalgic way. A nice thing to look back on. Envy was canon, and it’s a good thing that it was.

Nuzi is the ship of “now”, as in episodes 2-8. The age where glitch is consistently supporting the show and the fandom is always awaiting the next episode. Nuzi is canon and always will be.

Vizzy, I predict, will be the ship of the future. When the only thing supporting the fandom is a bit of merch every once in a while, a few glitch inn shorts, and the fandom itself. Vizzy could be canon and nobody would complain but it will be more popular in the future.

It’s 1:30 as I’m writing this and oh god I need to go to bed.

(Feel free to add whatever you want to this!)

[foxconfessorandthewolf]

Okay, so I’m a bit wine drunk but I don’t think I’ve ever really articulated why I love Snarry together and I’m currently trying to finish a fic after taking a three-year-hiatus from writing these two, so this is probably a good exercise!

I’m a bit on the older side of fandom, having been a fanartist and fervent reader since 2003, so my connection was really sparked during that time between OOTP and HBP when Snape and Harry were at some of their most clashing and deeply vitriolic, forced together into hateful vulnerability by Occulmency lessons. Every scene between them was electric, laced with tension as we truly did not know how things would go, or even where Snape’s true loyalties lay. He was an unknown, tied up with Harry’s own family’s mysterious past, connected to Harry in a myriad of odd ways that few other characters were, and - as a rivals-to-lovers lover - I was fascinated by him. From that first moment when they lock eyes in the Great Hall and that frisson of pain shoots through Harry’s scar, I desperately wanted to know who the hell this man was and his story. I think a lot of Snarry shippers come to the ship with a special appreciation for Severus Snape’s character himself. He’s such an incredibly drawn character, rich with complexity, complicated and pretty fucked up, with clearly-held passions, hatreds, weaknesses, and motivations. He’s emotional in a way a lot of other characters aren’t, though I think he’d loathe to hear that. And his character voice! It’s unique and pitch-perfect. You always know exactly who is speaking with his lines. Honestly, the way he evolved from a spy/traitor stock character to become so multifaceted and enigmatic is a masterpiece of characterization, and it’s an aspect of why I’m drawn to him - there’s still so much about his origins and well, what his damage was, that we don’t know. Because of this, I especially love Snarry fics that delve into character studies of him, trying to explore all the shadows left behind. I also admit I have a preference for interpreting Snape as morally grey. I like him petty, sharp-tongued, ambitious, with an incredibly liquid definition of what is right and wrong. He’s self-interested, dripping with disdain, and really doesn’t see that as a problem. What happens to him when he deeply falls in love?

I love a ship that makes me work for it. There’s no obvious line of how Snape and Harry might wind up together, so each fic is a wealth of possibilities of bringing these two together despite their roadblocks. As I mentioned, I’m big fan of animosity in a ship. Give me rivals, give me enemies, give me the sparking passions, the sharp fury, the way they stoke each others’ emotions and seek to hurt, the racing hearts, the raised hackles, the intense emotional reaction to another person. Just throw it at me. I devour that shit. I love the messy and taboo nature of their relationship, the complications raising from their age difference, temperaments, and largely similar and shared traumas. There’s an interesting element of Snape being a foil to James Potter, and how that relates to Harry and their past. Basically, this shit is really good potting soil for incredible fucking fics, packed with nutrients.

The shared natures of their traumas, like Voldemort and each being forgotten and abused as children and how they might be able to understand each other and bond from it is also something that’s fascinating to explore. I love when a writer pushes on Snape’s bruises, looking to make them hurt, cracking his sardonic brain open and rooting around in there, and I love when they compare and contrast to Harry’s. There’s a seductiveness to how Snape is so obsessed with Harry, fixated on his Boy Who Lived heroic reputation, clearly dripping with envy. What, beyond jealousy, might draw Snape to Harry and what, other than hatred, might draw Harry to Snape?

It’s all this, the passionate, electric, dangerous nature of their relationship; the way their characters contrast each other yet have surprising connections; and the question of finding solace that keeps me here, 21 years later. I’ve had wines less complex than this ship. They’re fascinating. They’re messy. They’re everything.

[crossposted from a reddit comment I just left, and wanted to share with y’all]

[moraxsthrone]

Can I make a request for a chubby/thick! Reader xgenshin men?Alot of artists don't have much of this factor when it comes to writing for genshin so could you please take it into consideration?Thank you!!

yo i’m not even taking requests rn but i wanted to answer this one bc this is so valid?? And YES, chubby/thick!readers are SORELY underrepresented in most fandoms, sadly. all of our bodies are beautiful and should be celebrated and adored! i hope i did an okay job and didn't write anything unintentionally insensitive (if i did, lmk kindly, please). ♡

*ੈ♡⋆ pairings — diluc, itto, kaeya, thoma, tighnari, zhongli (separate) x gn!chubby/thick!reader

*ੈ♡⋆ warnings — nsfw. mdni.

*ੈ♡⋆ diluc — idk why but I get the impression that diluc has a slight preference for a thick lover? like, he would def prefer someone with extra meat on their bones. he likes biting the fat of your inner thighs, leaving a trail of spit all the way to your juicy sex before sucking you into his hot mouth.

*ੈ♡⋆ itto — i’ve said it before and i’ll say it again: this oni LOVES a thick lover! he NEEDS something to grab onto when he’s plowing into you from behind like a demon in heat. and he has to keep looking away from your ass bc watching it ripple with every impact of his hips nearly has him filling you up with his oni seed.

*ੈ♡⋆ kaeya — kaeya is (among other things) a body worshipper fight me. feeling the plush of your thighs squeezing his hips as he rocks them into your core will have him muttering sweet praises in your ear about how much harder his cock is getting bc your soft thighs are riding his.

*ੈ♡⋆ thoma — sweet, sweet thoma is so loving and respectful. he loves to hear you praise him for his cooking skills, but loves hearing you whine his name while he's filling you up with his cock even more. he thinks your tummy is so cute, especially as it rubs against his when he's got your knees bent over his arms and he's splitting you open around his pretty dick.

*ੈ♡⋆ tighnari — idk why but i get the feeling nari loves to fuck those luscious thighs of yours until your skin is slick with his pre and he's biting his lip to fight back his whiny moans. then, just before he cums, he pushes his cock inside you and fucks you with shallow, stuttering thrusts as his warm cum floods your hole. you haven't even gotten to cum yet but before you can huff in frustration, nari buries himself balls deep and fucks you properly. don't worry, your needy fox boy won't be done with you anytime soon.

*ੈ♡⋆ zhongli — this mangod is so fucking refined in his tastes that he sees the true beauty beyond the surface of everything, from inanimate stones to living creatures. he has seen and loved all body types bc it's the quality of a person's character that he finds most attractive. so when he's pumping his thick geo cock in and out of your walls, he's making love to every part of you. he's kissing every dimple, grabbing every fold, and leaving his marks along your plump thighs bc every inch of your exquisite body is just as much a part of you as your rich mind, heart, and soul.

m.list

♡ — 18+ reblogs, comments, likes, and follows are always welcome and appreciated !!

[survivalove]

debunking lies zutara shippers say about the atla creators & writers

disclaimer: this is in no way an endorsement or defense of bryke or anyone mentioned. literally just debunking false statements i see spread throughout and outside the fandom as it pertains to kataang

1. that bryke made kataang endgame because the nice guy should get the girl

this is something I see often usually linked with this video of a man ⬇️ who they claim to be bryan/mike echoing this sentiment.

this man is in fact john o’bryan, one of the three known zk shippers in the writers’ room (we’ll expand on this in point 5) talking about how he saw aang. not the creators. so of course it shouldn’t surprise anyone that he doesn’t even like kataang in the first place.

2. that bryke made kataang endgame last minute and zutara was the original pairing

bryan and mike (notice how i’m using both of their names separately. this too will be important in the next point) have talked about how kataang was planned since they originally wrote the show.

they have also talked ad nauseam in a video (which I will not share here cuz it made a lot of ppl angry) about why they do not like zutara and its shippers, so this entire point is bogus.

++ the reason why they say zk was the original pairing is because of one of the zk writers (joshua hamilton) wrote this in the atla fun facts that used to run on tv. (we’ll get into him later) those atla fun facts contain a lot of inaccurate/non canon “facts” which you can check and verify on avatar wiki if you know what i’m talking about.

3. that aang is bryke’s self insert (specifically mike)

yeah, here’s where the separation becomes important. bryan (L) and mike (R) are two different men. mike has never said that aang was his self-insert, nor has he directly talked about relating to aang. bryan, however, constantly talks about how much he relates to zuko. even, going as far to say he tries to think like zuko when he writes characters and shows.

the only time mike has come close to saying he relates to aang is when dante said he thinks mike is more like aang while bryan is more like zuko, and they, mostly bryan, agreed. (mike has actually said he relates to korra more than aang but hey) bryan also is the one who drew mike’s beard on adult aang because he considered it a nice reference to his friend. this is the main reason why shippers ran with that self-insert narrative because half the time, they think bryke is actually one person ☠️

++ in fact, aang’s original character design is based off the mixed black-chinese son of sifu kisu

4. that atla was supposed to have a season 4 where katara and zuko got together

this is mostly something that has come out of a fabricated interview by the head writer, aaron ehasz. he was allegedly asked what he would have liked to do if given the chance to write a fourth season of the show and talked about an azula redemption arc among other things. zutaras then made up a whole fake interview including that he wanted to make the two characters endgame.

ehasz then came out to say that most of these “interviews” were faked and that he has never talked about having a preference for any ship. if you go on his twitter, you will see him talking about an azula redemption arc tho.

as for atla having a 4th season at all, it was never intended. the creators, the music composers have all said at various points in time, the show was written and pitched as three seasons, three elements.

5. that most of the other writers shipped zutara and bryke’s authoritarianism shut it down

as I said above, only three writers on the original show have come out to say they preferred zk at some point. atla has had a total of 21 staff writers. 3 out of 21 is not most if you ask me.

as for bryke (yes now i’m using the shorthand cuz i proved my point earlier) being authoritarians, no writer or staff that has worked with them on the show has said this so…? idk where that came from but i’m not here to back them up just mention facts.

6. that all the women who worked on the franchise shipped zutara while only men shipped kataang

atla has very few female staff as it is:

5 writers (elizabeth welch: zk; others: unknown)

1 director (unknown)

5 storyboard/character artists (lauren montgomery: ka; elsa garagarza: ka; angela song mueller: zk; others: unknown)

1 comic writer (faith erin hicks: ka)

2 comic artists (gurihiru: ka)

++ mae whitman (katara’s voice actress) has expressed her like for both ships throughout the years.

so i’m not sure what defines all and only for some ppl but those definitions are not in my dictionary. disclaimer: i’m not declaring anyone here as a shipper in any official sense. this is just based off statements they have made that you can google!

7. that katara is written poorly in post-atla content because of kataang/bryke

I mean the first part isn’t really a lie, more of an opinion which I can agree with to an extent.

why I mention this here is because zks will not only go on a tangent and link the misogyny in the writing to a m/f ship and say the other m/f ship would have been more feminist…

but they also refuse to hold all the men involved accountable. like I said, 3 known atla writers shipped zk and 2 of them (joshua & john) were men (who would’ve thought men could like a ship and it could still be considered feminist 😃). they were also 2 out of only 4 atla writers that came back for legend of korra, outside of the creators. (19 to 4 ☠️ no comment). these shippers very well know this and instead of holding these men accountable for the misogynistic writing, they instead brag about them shipping it and ask them about zk whenever they have the chance.

another example is gene luen yang, a comic writer who again shipped zk (another man GASPPPPP) responsible for the first 5 comic books. everyone knows his comics suck in terms of characterization, particularly katara’s. in fact zutaras have made multiple threads on how poor the writing is. funnily enough, they always fail to mention that gly was the script writer or acknowledge his part in this mischaracterization, while bragging about him shipping zk in other posts. ironic.

meanwhile, bryke have never offered writers’ commentary on any of gly’s comics besides the search - mike (because they were mostly writing legend of korra during his run.)

basically these shippers don’t care about misogyny or holding male writers accountable if they ship zk which is funny because I thought it was… for the female gaze? why are you hyping men shipping it anyway? confusion.

[gotskamstuff]

MY THOUGHTS (THAT NO ONE ASKED FOR AND A BIT TOO LONG) ON THE WHOLE “RUDY IS LEAVING THE SHOW/JJ IS DYING” SPECULATIONS

Sometimes I wish I was one of those people who enjoys tv shows and still is very passionate about it but without entering the world of the fandom ‘cause I would be a liar if I didn’t admit that all the things I’ve come to know about the cast in past couple of years have ruined my experience with OBX a little.

Even this whole “JJ is gonna die” speculation, let’s be real it’s not the first time we have discussed this in the fandom and we basically ask ourselves this question every season and yet now it feels different.

I don’t believe speculations coming from unknown sources and I don’t believe in rumors as a solid proof… HOWEVER again I’d be lying if I said that finding out that Josh Pate (one of the main producers of the show) has abruptly unfollowed Rudy and there’s seemingly something that happened between the two, didn’t stir up the fear in me that yeah maybe he could be leaving the show. Because let’s be real, the actors having drama is one thing, but one of the producers cutting ties with you IS A WHOLE DIFFERENT STORY.

This is why it feels different this time.

I remember genuinely fearing JJ was gonna die in S2 when in the trailer they showed his head wound and I was incredibly scared about it, but it was a “devastating” fear still with a tingle of excitement about the storyline involving a possible Pogue death and with curiosity on how the story could possibly move forward…but now? Now it feels completely disappointing knowing that IF JJ dies it will be simply because he wanted to leave and honestly it would completely ruin the show for me ‘cause to put it quite frankly I would lose my trust in the story writing.

I am in no way a snowflake when it comes to characters dying in shows, sometimes I even love it ‘cause as devastating as it can be it can also be an amazing shock factor for the show but it needs to be done with purpose both for the story and for the character.

JJ dying for me would ruin the entire show and it’s not just because “omg Jiara” “omg JJ is my favorite character” “omg the show wouldn’t be the same” but because realistically it would ruin the entire arc of his character.

Regardless of who your favorite character is based on personal preferences, objectively speaking JJ is the best written character of the show and one of the characters who was given the most depth and one of the most interesting storylines, there has been a great amount of good writing when it comes to JJ’s character development and a character like him ending with death would be like throwing all that work out of the window.

I think it’s a pretty common thought amongst the fandom that JJ’s arc to end in a right way for his character would be to literally having him live his future that he so badly believed he could never have. For the whole show JJ has projected hos lack of a future and his impossibility to ever have anything good for himself, his entire story and growth was about him overcoming that and accepting he can prove everyone including himself wrong, to then end his character like “syke you actually do not get a future and you never get to live it” would completely destroy the entire arc of his character and nothing about his journey from S1 to S3 would have any meaning whatsoever looking back at it.

And I want to make it clear that IF (once again it’s still all speculations) JJ dies I still would not put ALL the blame on Rudy for leaving ‘cause actors leave shows ALL THE TIME and there’s an endless number of things you could write to take a character out of the picture especially for JJ who always had an element of unpredictability to him.

If Rudy was like “hey listen, I’m done with the show” the producers could have 100% put their foot down and still negotiate something reasonable for both parties to leave the door open on his character like “ok your choice free to go, but we are not killing the character…would you come back for the final 2 episodes of the entire show?”

And JJ could have tooooons of possible scenarios for him to leave: following his dad, breaking up with Kiara and leaving Kildare…the INSTANT they mentioned the surf trip in the show they had the perfect opportunity to use it as an excuse to make both JJ and Kiara or one of the two leave at any point to be lost somewhere in the world offscreen. So no it wouldn’t be all Rudy’s fault ‘cause there’s a lot of ways to mostly get rid of a character without killing him and closing the door for good.

This is probably gonna sound bad but I’d rather see the show end all together with S4 than seeing it getting dragged out for longer and longer meanwhile the main cast slowly leaves one by one and especially if the writing gets more and more superficial for convenience.

I HONESTLY HOPE THAT AFTER S4 ENDS WE’LL LOOK BACK AT THIS TIME WHEN WE THOUGHT RUDY WAS LEAVING THE SHOW AND LAUGH…but I don’t even know what to believe anymore. I didn’t believe it until I saw the producers cutting ties with him which realistically sounds like a “good life and goodbye”.

WISH WE COULD TURN BACK TIME TO S1.

[zara-renata]

What are your NSFW Sylus thoughts/headcanons? 👀 bc I'd love to hear you go in depth with them and why u view Sylus the way u do bc it seems like everyone kinda has a different view of him. For instance, a big division I've seen is that there's some people who view Sylus as a switch and others view him as a dom or a service top. It seems like some people get personally offended when their view on Sylus is different from another's unfortunately 😅

I get it, people love Sylus a certain way, but I'll never support people trying to kink shame others for wishing Infold had went in a different direction with him or having kink preferences that might go against Sylus' or even having kinks Sylus might not be into. For me, Sylus is mainly a dom. He loves a challenge bc he gets bored easily, yet he also is very competitive, which is why he isn't gonna wanna lose most of the time. He's stubborn too.

Even in No Defense Zone MC wasn't really in full control. Sylus was ordering her around and teasing the whole time, but he clearly thought it was cute seeing MC want to be a little bit more dominant with him. MC was also obeying his orders. Do I think he likes to be called degrading names when he's eating u out? Sure, I could see that. Likes praise? Sure. Do I think he's gonna let you walk him on a leash and be into pegging? Absolutely not 🤣 but that's just MY opinion on him from everything I've gathered. I think he enjoys letting you have some control, but he's gotta be in the right mood for it I think and he probably has things he isn't into like everyone else. Either way, I'd love to hear ur thoughts on this whenever u have the time ❤️

Hi there. I’ve been thinking about this ask since I got it, and one of the things I know for sure is that I’m going to upset someone no matter what I say. But the whole point of me starting to share my fic and being more active on tumblr is to challenge my social anxiety when it tells me that my opinion isn’t of interest to anyone at the least, or offensive/hurtful at the worst. 

So here we go, my answer under the cut.

So to answer this question, I need to get through a few points first before I tell you what I personally believe about Sylus’s sexuality.

I don’t believe in kink shaming either, and I think that peoples’ complaints about the direction Infold takes the LIs are valid. We all want content that we can really relate to, and if the canon take doesn’t satisfy you, one of the great purposes of fanfic is to fix it for yourself and other fans like you. That’s such a huge part of engaging in fandom and even if I don’t agree that the character would actually do what you make him do in your content, if you write it well enough, if you capture his voice, give him logical motivations, respect the core of the character while you do it, then I can be convinced to enjoy it despite it deviating from canon.

That being said, I love Sylus because of his canon characterization, and I do believe that there are some things he would be into, or not into, based on his dialogue in the game itself.

It’s impossible to answer this question personally without telling you the following: I think it’s insane that we as a worldwide fandom and/or global community have restricted ourselves to a strict BDSM mindset of looking at people as belonging to an inflexible binary of dominant or submissive, with the only middle ground being switch, with formal labels and rules of what a “dom” does, what a “sub” does, and so forth, and the value judgments we place on which label you fall under. And what drives me further insane is how much that binary is tied up in so much misogynist bullshit if we’re talking about hetero pairings with a female MC (the power dynamics of a female sub versus a male dom alone is so often written in such a way that the writer’s internalized misogyny results in literally painful-wince-inducing reading). Human sexuality is so fluid, personal, intimate—I think that the average person’s dynamic and preferences change depending on who they’re with, what stage of life they’re in, what scars they bear from past relationships, and even on a day to day basis, how much energy they have, etc. So although all I seem to see in fandom discourse is dom!Sylus, sub!Sylus, I think that mindset is reductive, especially because even with the shit-tastic translation Infold has inflicted on us, they’ve managed to create an incredibly nuanced character who feels real enough to be human. Reducing him to dom, sub, or switch misses so much of his personality and how much he clearly loves and is obsessively devoted to MC and what MC wants.

 Finally, I think every time we’re discussing fictional characters, it’s important to remember who is writing them, and why. Infold is here to make money. They created LIs with a spectrum of traits to appeal to the widest subset of their targeted demographics. As a result, they’ve given the LIs, at least to some extent, both dominant and submissive characteristics, to appeal to the greatest number of players.

We have memories with Sylus and dialogue that indicate he’s dominant: “I prefer to be the one to take the initiative” when you tap his dick too many times in destiny cafe, his outfit descriptions about him getting a thrill of being a predator on the hunt, of dominating his prey. But we also have the no defense zone where he’s in a submissive position, even if people argue that he’s topping from the bottom in that card. Multiple times throughout the game, he lets you do what you want to him, and then says “are you satisfied? Now it’s my turn,” which points to him being a switch. Like, Infold covered all of their bases not only with Sylus, but all of the LIs to some degree.

Ok, with that context, and using the sort of vernacular that makes concepts easily recognizable even if I hate the labels: I think Sylus is a switch. He is first and foremost a hedonist—he is comfortable in his body, he prefers the finest food, drink, atmosphere, clothing, he wants to be entertained, he is constantly fighting boredom and the ennui of cynical disillusionment with the worst of humanity and being the apex predator. He loves pleasure. It doesn’t matter what form that pleasure takes. And he wants pleasure with MC in particular, because he is written by Infold as that devoted—he has a line in the destiny cafe about no one else touching him so intimately before. He’s willing to learn everything about your tastes, and then use what you teach him to pleasure you and himself. On multiple occasions he says “Oh, I suck at this? Then teach me.” So even if initially he’s shit in bed, he’ll only make a mistake once and then blow your mind on his next attempt. Sylus wants to fuck you the way you want him to fuck you. So if you want to peg him, "well sweetie, I have a prostate for a reason." You want him to choke you with a tie and fuck you like an animal, he’s down. He’s so self-assured and interested in what you want and giving both himself and you pleasure that he doesn’t believe in the “dominant = most powerful, most masculine, having the upper hand, winning” perspective that so many writers in this fandom seem to assign to the term dominant. Conversely, being submissive, or the recipient of penetration, or letting the other take control isn’t a weakness in his eyes. He “submits” because it pleases you, because he enjoys being at your mercy, he’s thrilled to have someone he trusts enough to have power over him, and that someone is you. He trusts you to make him feel fucking good, and if you can do that by putting him on his knees, who is he to say no? If on the other hand, you submit to him, he thinks you’re the most fearless, strongest badass there is for letting a literal killer who everyone else on the planet fears put you in a vulnerable position. The connotations of dominant = strong, superior and submissive = weak, inferior, losing just do not compute for him. I don’t think he’d just think of you as cute for wanting to dominate him. I think he’d think you’re magnificent for daring to try, he'd be incredibly curious how you intend to do it, and then if you truly are a dominant powerhouse, he’d happily drown in the pleasure you give him.

Now, again, this all assumes that you, yourself, are into dom/sub dynamics. Which so many people simply aren’t. And I think if you just love him, and want to have sex with him because you’re attracted to him and want to share that intimacy with him, or you don’t believe that every single sexual encounter has to contain the rigid dom/sub binary or hierarchy of positions, that you experience attraction and sex as two people on equal footing sharing a life and a bed, he’d happily fuck you in missionary for the rest of his life, luxuriating in being able to watch your expressions, of looking into your eyes, of leaning down to breathe in the scent of your neck, and just loving you until you both come and then have a snack and watch something stupid on tv.

Lastly, I do believe that there are some things Sylus wouldn’t be into, no matter how sexually adventurous he is. I don’t think he’d be into degradation, at least towards you: he is not going to call you cruel names, because you’re the person he cherishes the most in the world. I think he’d just straight-forwardly tell you, “Beloved, that doesn’t do anything for me. If you really want me to, I can try,” but you’d know his heart just isn’t in it. He isn’t going to physically hurt you, either in a pain play way or just being too eager to fuck you to properly prep you. Edit: just look at the way this man handles his gun during quality time. He's not going to treat your body with less sensual respect that that fucking gun. If sex hurts for you, he’d feel like he’s doing it wrong, and he’d slow down or try a different approach until it doesn’t hurt, or he’d tell you he isn’t interested in whatever pain you’re asking for just like with the degrading language. If you’re into degradation, with him being the receiver, I can see him being into that because he seems to be so amused by you when you’re mean to him, but even then, there are so many times in game where he says stuff like, “you talk to that person so nicely, why aren’t you that nice to me” or how happy he gets when you do start doing kind things for him, or saying kind things. I think he lives for your praise much more than anything else, but whether you’re calling him names or calling him beloved, both are good, because you’re right there, finally, looking at him, loving him, and he can finally breathe again after so long without you.

And as for how I’m writing him in the current fic: I’m writing him with all of the foregoing in mind, and will be highlighting what kind of lover I think he is for this particular MC. I could just as easily write him being a very different lover, but still in-character, for an MC who is not so damaged and has a much more dominant personality in the bedroom (as opposed to current MC who is pretty much only dominant when killing and withdrawn/timid outside the battlefield, and who enjoys the soft, kindness-driven taking-the-lead loving that Sylus is capable of displaying).

Thank you for coming to my ted talk. And thank you for the interesting ask! Even if I disagree with your or anyone else’s take on him, at the end of the day we all love this character, and what you want or need from him is valid, even if it’s not to my taste or in line with how I view him.

[mixu]

Hi, hope you are doing well. )

I am curious to know your impressions, anecdotes, experience of being a veteran SNS shipper. How was your experience with Naruto fandom? Has it changed? It would be great if you could talk about it.

Hi! I hope you’re doing well too. I barely receive any asks, so I’m excited.

Ah, my experiences and anecdotes being in the fandom, especially as a SNS shipper (does it count as shipping if they’re canon?) … It’s more than half of my life (I feel like I’m talking to my grandchildren) so this could get long.

I’ve been part of the fandom for 17 years, but it’s just recently that I’ve gotten to interact more with other fans both pro and anti sns. This mainly for three reasons:

Time period

When I entered the fandom internet and social media weren’t what they are today (that’s how old I am). I barely had access to internet for school and quickly read the new manga chapter before having to disconnect.

Location

Younger people don’t realize this but the globalization of manga and anime are quite recent. Now you can find merchandise even at the supermarket and a great catalogue of series is at your disposal with minimal effort. And being an “otaku” in the 2000’s was begging to be bullied at least in my country, so I preferred to keep my interests to myself.

My personality

I’m not the most social of people.

Thus, in the beginning, the fandom was nonexistent to me. It was just me, what Kishi wrote and my thoughts.

Little by little I got to interact with other people who were mainly shônen fans, and never read outside of that demographic, so there was no chance they would recognize a “non-pure shônen” even if it hit them in the face. There was not much to discuss aside from who would beat who, and I wouldn’t have been able to articulate it back then anyway, but my guts knew there was something different about Naruto. More than met the eye.

I next met a different part of the fandom in the form of fanart and fanfiction, but at that time it never crossed my mind that people would cling to those non-canon portrayals with their life. I would say most of these fans are avid consumers from other demographics that got attracted because something (the romance or the potential gayness) caught their eye, but are only interested in how to bend the characters to fit their vision. I know fanfiction and fanart are supposed to be self-indulgent, I enjoy it and write it even, but I’ve mostly managed to separate from the real thing. Not many discussions about the story as a whole (please keep in mind we were all teenagers back then).

So, none of those previous fan groups seemed to understand what I couldn’t put into words, and for the longest time, because my understanding of Naruto and Sasuke’s story was mostly instinctual, I had to go along with it. I let myself be gaslighted into believing my thoughts were just a byproduct of my fujoshi tendencies (I guess it could be right to call me fujoshi, but never due to Naruto).

After a quite long break, not just from Naruto but from manga and anime in general, I came into contact with the more educated part of the fandom in tumblr, and I finally got to put into words what was behind Naruto and Sasuke’s dynamic thanks to all of the great analysis that I found. I got vindicated and felt like I could finally live in peace but it was short lived.

When I met all the crazy antis, oh boy, I understood why ignorance is bliss.

That being said, there are indeed a bunch of obstacles between the fandom and understanding the true significance of Naruto’s story. However, not all of them are due to lack of knowledge when it comes to narrative devices and storytelling tools. I’m far from proficient in that topic and I can confidently say I got it.

Discarding those who will perpetually live in denial due to bigotry, homophobia, lack of an open mind, cultural differences, etc, and after much pondering elicited by this post of yours, I’ve come to the conclusion that the shônen label holds way more power than I originally thought. Or better say, all that shônen represents functions as the most effective reality filter.

Because Naruto was labeled as shônen:

The dudebros who only care about the power escalation won’t understand even if they are not homophobic because they came for the blattles and cool powers, nothing else matters.

The lost shôjo readers who force nh and ss into focus and think they can bend the “romance” to cater to their taste because a shonen writer would drop the ball with something as delicate. “Let Kishimoto draw his battles, we will fix the deficient love story because we know how true romance it’s supposed to look like. We wouldn’t be interfering with the hero’s story, anyway.”

All the while ignoring they are dragging a bunch of toxic tropes with them. They don’t see their pairings as failures because shôjo also has its good share of toxicity and abuse.

The fujoshi and fundashi who despite coming after the gayness, still miss the point because they do not care about the story so long as two hot men are kissing or fucking or whatever. They don’t actually believe in sns because most of their pairings are ships for fun, anything can be shipped, (pencil-senpai and sharpener-kun) so they see Naruto as a love story only under their terms but never in canon.

Then we have people that read a wider range but fail to look at the story as anything else than one written for male teenagers. Got shôjo for romance seinen and josei for more maturity, so shônen is meant for an easy quick snack.

Some of my friends, that I consider very intelligent people, way more versed in storytelling and narrative and whatnot than me, who are definitely not bigots or homophobic, still miss the point because they weren’t looking for it. They realized only after I pointed it out (I even made a ppt presentation, but that’s another story).

As for the people who understand from the beginning:

There’s of course those with the knowledge to dissect the story, and who can consciously ignore the restrictions of the labels.

Yet another group (I consider myself part of this one) that manage to bypass the rules only guided by instinct, but kept second-guessing themselves until they met someone from the previous group.

Then there’s my mother, bless her, who watches anime and loves her romances, but knows shit about manga demographics and wonders how the fuck Naruto and Sasuke gave birth to Boruto because in her eyes that little piece of shit has to be their son.

So once again, it all comes back to Kishimoto and his decision sell his soul to Jump. Was it all for fame or money? Was he too hopeful and naïve? Was it all a cruel prank?

What happened to mangakas like Tezuka? That man knew no limits.

That’s it for my thoughts on and interactions with the fandom. I think I leave my evolution as a sns stan for later if you’re interested in it.

[hughiecampbelle]

10k Follower Ship Celebration! ❤️🤍💙

My loves!!!! This is so wild!!! THANK YOU!!! Thank you for supporting me and my silly writing. Thank you for the likes, and reblogs, and especially the comments (it's embarrassing how much I reread them lol). Thank you for being here and loving The Boys/Gen V as much as I do :) I don't want to get too sappy lol, but writing has been the one constant in my life since I started this blog. It's gotten me through the worst times in my life and I know, no matter what, I can always come back to it regardless of how long it's been and find so many of my friends like no time has passed!!! I want to show my love by opening up ships again, but this time they're gonna be a little different (in a good way!!!) Please be sure to read the rules and remember all requests are open!!! Xoxoxo❤️🤍💙❤️🤍💙❤️🤍💙❤️🤍💙❤️🤍💙

RULES:

Only one ship per person - I wanna make sure it’s fair for everyone and that I have time for everyone :)

These ships are only for the The Boys and Gen V fandom!- It’s what I feel inspire to write right now, so any other fandoms will not be written for with these ships!

Specify! - Please specify which fandom you'd want to be paired with, gender you'd want to be paired with, and, if it is an issue, who you don't want to be shipped with (ex: I'd love a ship from Gen V, for any character, just not Cate Dunlap)

Please be kind! - I am one person who is doing this to show my love and appreciation for the fandom as well as the people who are constantly supporting my silly writing. Please remember to be kind when requesting and please try not to make demands, if that makes sense? I love doing ships, but sometimes the attitudes around them can turn something fun into something discouraging and quickly lead to burnout

SHIPS ARE OPEN: August 24th -> October 16th

ANYTHING SENT AFTER WILL BE DELETED UNLESS SPECIFIED OTHERWISE!

WHAT TO INCLUDE:

The most important thing would be to include what gender/s you’d want to be shipped with and if you want The Boys, The Seven, Gen V or either/no preference to be paired with! I wouldn’t want to ship anyone with a character they’re personally uncomfortable with :) I will 100% respect your request!

Because these are going to be aesthetics, I think the most important things to include are what you look like, your personal style, personality, type of people you typically like/date, favorite things about yourself, interests, hobbies, favorite books, movies, bands, animals, harry potter house, favorite places, dream jobs/homes/lifestyle/future, pet peeves, etc. Basically anything that you find unique to you! Things that can't really be put into aesthetics are things like mental health issues, etc. so please try to limit that kind of information.

WHAT WILL IT INCLUDE:

Because these ships are going to be different from the last ones, I want to keep it a surprise, but just know it'll include an aesthetic of your relationship and maybe even a little blurb of writing!

PLEASE REMEMBER:

I’ve done this before under the #johnnyshellby-ships / #jammesbarnnes-ships / #kaitbishop-ships (my old urls) so I’m gonna tag this #hughiecampbelle10k-ships in case you’d want to block it for any reason!

I’ll try to get to these asap and they’ll be posted between other posts and requests, but please understand I am one person so they might take some time! Xoxoxo❤️🤍💙❤️🤍💙❤️🤍💙❤️🤍💙❤️🤍💙❤️🤍💙❤️🤍💙❤️🤍💙❤️🤍💙❤️🤍💙❤️🤍💙❤️🤍💙❤️🤍💙❤️🤍💙❤️🤍💙

[steddieunderdogfics]

This week’s writer spotlight feature is:  Pricklywhicket/@messessentialist ! Prickleywhicket has four fics published to AO3 -- All in the Steddie tag!

Our anonymous nominator recommends the following works by pricklywhicket:

so let's sneak in from the cheap seats, honey

it's supposed to be fun (turning twenty-one)

start by pulling him out of the fire

"Sadie is so super talented in the way she describes literally everything. She is so good at writing and it's a shame that she's flown under the radar because she's not the quickest at putting things out there." -- Anonymous

Below the cut, Pricklywhicket answered some questions about their writing process and some of their recommended work!

Why do you write Steddie?

Why do any of us write anything? Because we want the story to exist in the world, and it doesn’t yet, so we gotta hike up our pants and do it ourselves!

What’s your favorite trope to READ?

Hurt/Comfort. I’m always a sucker for the blorbos taking care of one another, in whatever form that takes. This has always been true, across a truly astronomical number of fandoms I’ve found myself dabbling in over the years.

What’s your favorite trope to WRITE?

…actually, probably hurt/comfort! I just need to get those little dudes some validation and unconditional positive regard, okay?

What’s your favorite Steddie fic?

I’m sure I won’t be the first one to say this, but: I HAVE TO PICK ONE????? Okay, alright. I can do this. I’m gonna say…Sanctuary by SpicedSage.

Is there a trope you’re excited to explore in a future work but haven’t yet?

I’ve only written canon or canon-adjacent fic so far, so I’m eager to work on something that’s completely AU. I think there’s a unique challenge to keeping characters recognizable as themselves in a world that might not have all the same contexts that made them into that person.

What is your writing process like?

I would love to say it’s super organized and well-planned, but the truth is it’s mostly about routine and responsibility. I set aside time to do it every day, even if I can only tap out a few sentences. I’m not very strict about writing in a straight line - I can stop a scene if it’s giving me trouble, write a note about what I think happens in some [brackets], and move on to something that I have more fully fleshed-out ideas for. Sometimes writing the next scene helps you know more about what needs to happen in the current one. 

Do you have any writing quirks?

I'm sure my betas would say yes 🙃 I tend to write a lot of dialogue - a lot of my revision process is going back through and realizing I have two pages of a conversation with no indication of what’s physically happening in the world around the speakers.

Do you prefer posting when you’ve finished writing or on a schedule?

Definitely when I’m finished. Prior to my ‘23 bang fic, I had never written anything chaptered. I knew going in that I could NOT start posting if it wasn’t finished, because I’ve been burned too many times by abandoned works. I didn’t want to do that to people reading my fic, and the best way to avoid it is to finish before you post.

Which fic are you most proud of?

Easily start by pulling him out of the fire. The biggest, most ambitious thing I’ve ever attempted - I still kind of can’t believe I wrote 85k.

How did you get the idea for start by pulling him out of the fire?

Like most terrible ideas, it was spawned in a fandom discord chat. We were discussing the tendency of Steddie fics to centralize the party at Steve’s house, because his parents are never there anyway. And then someone mentioned what if the parents came home and found their house occupied, and someone else mentioned Wayne being there, and it just sort of…spiraled out from there.

When writing start by pulling him out of the fire, what was something you didn’t expect?

I had no idea, going in, that I was going to write a comprehensive history of the Wayne and Eddie Munson relationship. I started writing it where I did to give some background on Wayne’s existing distaste for the elder Harrington, and then I just…kept writing. Over the course of a month or two I wrote 20k of WayneAndEddie that I had no idea was in me - it just kept coming.

What inspired it's supposed to be fun (turning twenty-one)?

@wynnyfryd. It was a gift for her birthday. We were talking about our mutual love of Letterkenny, and she mentioned that the episode was her favorite and wouldn’t it be funny if someone wrote… and the rest is history.

What was your favorite part to write from it's supposed to be fun (turning twenty-one)?

I had an unreasonable amount of fun with that one in general. But I think my favorite part was Eddie polling the party about what Steve means to them all. It was fun to sort of put myself in each character’s shoes and think about how they would answer. Plus y’know, any excuse to unironically love on Steve Harrington.

How do/did you feel writing so let's sneak in from the cheap seats, honey?

I believe my exact words upon deciding to write it were “jingles miserably to a blank google doc.” This was a classic case of saying “god I wish there was a fic where—” and having friends tell me that it was now my responsibility to write it. I’m glad I did, though. I love that story, and it proved to me that I could write sex and publish it and not burst into flames. I also just really, really love summer storms. And Wayne’s use of the singular ‘herpe.’

What was the most difficult part of writing so let's sneak in from the cheap seats honey?

Getting over the fear of publishing something E-rated. It was just something I hadn’t done, and I had a lot of anxiety that people were not going to respond well to it. I made three people individually review the sex scenes before I even asked anyone to beta the full fic. Of course I was worried for nothing, the reception for that fic was super lovely and gave me the confidence boost I needed to attempt start by pulling him out of the fire!

Do you have a favorite scene and/or line from any of your fics?

This is like asking me to pick a favorite child. I’ll say this: most of my favorite lines in start by pulling him out of the fire were taken directly from conversations @wormdebut and I had about the fic. She’s my number one cheerleader and sounding board, and sometimes she’s so goddamn funny that I just have to include it. You have her to thank, for instance, for Steve quite literally dropping his croissant when he first sees Eddie in glasses.

Do you have any upcoming projects or fics you’d like to share/promote?

I have a couple of irons in the fire, but nothing I’m ready to share just yet! I’ve been taking a breather from writing (blame baldur’s gate 3, okay) but my WIPs are still very much IP. Stay tuned!

Outside of these questions, Is there anything YOU would like to add?

Not that I can think of!

Thank you to our author, Pricklywhicket, and our anonymous nominator! See more of pricklywhicket's works featured on our page throughout the day!

Writer’s Spotlight is every Wednesday! Want to nominate an author? You can nominate them here!

[gunnrblze]

Mischaracterizations are prevalent in fandoms. I'm curious, which ones of the CoD:Ghosts franchise bug you the most, and make you want to pull out your hair once you see them in fics/other materials?

This question created several additional thoughts, so I’m putting all my yapping below the cut lmfao.

Tbh it doesn’t bother me a whole lot except when it’s a large part of said character, or one of their only canon descriptions/facts/etc. I think it’s great for ppl to create what they want, esp when a lot of the ghosts have little/no info so we quite literally have to make shit up and fill in the likely blanks, but if you’re straying so far from who a character is…😟

Like, Keegan is described and shown throughout the game as being a very quiet man…so it does make me side eye when people portray him as this talkative guy, or someone with a really big personality lol cause that’s just not the vibe. That’s why I rb’d that thing, because I was thinking about how he’s the most popular ghost by far, and I think a lot of those fans aren’t necessarily into the rest of the ghosts game (and they don’t have to be, just an observation). I think that’s why so much of the content made about him outside of the actual ghosts fandom seems out of left field, bc people just kinda take a hot character and do whatever with him (which again, is fine, free will in fandom is good and necessary). I also think that’s why so many people get him confused as being part of other CoD games, because they aren’t aware of where his character even comes from in the first place.

Now this may be a bit of an unpopular opinion bc I know a lot of ppl hate some of the smut aspect that’s written about these characters, because they include themes that are/seem ooc, but I’m gonna be honest…that part doesn’t bother me so much because at the end of the day, people just want to put their fantasies and ideas onto hot masked man…and I get it lmao. Not to say im necessarily gonna read it, esp stuff with hard kink type shit, but it’s more so bothersome when people mischaracterize them because they don’t pay attention to the actual canon character in other fics/materials.

That’s why I kinda separate smut fic from everything else a bit, because a lot of smut I’ve noticed, especially with Keegan specifically, is written ooc, because making it canon/character correct isn’t the point, the sexy time shit is. Now I still prefer reading smut that seems largely in character lol, but I do have to defend the larger idea here that it’s not a crime to write an ooc smut fic because half the time…the smut is the main focus, not the canon/implied personality of the character.

I completely understand the shock of seeing certain smut in the first place (talking about the more fucked up shit here…), especially when it’s then placed on a character you know and love, but it honestly doesn’t bother me that much-and maybe it’s because I’ve been on the internet for too long💀- but that’s kinda the point of fandom I think…doing whatever pleases you, having an outlet. That’s the type of smut I think is very obviously written with the idea in mind, and not necessarily ‘would the character do/behave like this?’. Because yea, these ghost boys would most likely not do all these fucked up things, but I think people still deserve the freedom to write it, and they’re going to anyways lmfao (IF you’re tagging disturbing content correctly, you owe people that much!)

I’ve been having those thoughts for a while now so I had to yap them out of my head lol, but to answer the actual question, aside from Keegan, I hateeee seeing the Walker fam mischaracterized. I think because (it seems) they have more info available on them compared to the other ghosts, so when I see people just giving their personalities a 180 I’m like…Hesh would NOT act like that😩. Especially with Elias because he’s my husband obviously…so people missing larger parts of his character or stuff that’s implied about him makes my eye twitch a little lol.

Also, I don’t typically see a whole lot of ooc stuff for the ghosts in the first place tbh (minus Keegan, bc he has reached the CoD masses of course). Because we’re a smaller fandom, and I think people tend to stay in character more in smaller fandoms (at least from what I’ve seen) because there’s so little content available on characters, and it’s like we’re all clinging to what we DO know about them lmfao.

Thanks for attending my ted talk 💋

[imagining-in-the-margins]

Hi, Pom, hope you’re doing okay. I wanted to know what are your thoughts on this ‘some people write Spencer so out of character and take out all his autistic traits and portray him as someone he’s not, especially during sex’ discourse.

Personally I think those people don’t understand his character very well and don’t see how much he changes through the seasons but I also know that everyone perceives characters differently so there isn’t a correct way to write him.

But I’m curious about your thoughts on it. I’ve seen some comments about the topics a writer prefers to write about (again, specially with smut) and I think they can be harmful for other writers (I’ve also noticed most come from adults that aren’t in their 20s yet so that says something too 😅)

I feel like I rambled too much but I hope I’ve made my point!

Much love❤️

Hi, friend! I’m doing alright, thank you for asking. As an autistic person, I obviously have quite a few personal feelings about any discourse regarding “appropriate” or “correct” behavior for an autistic person in any context. I’ll start my answer by saying that autistic people are not a monolith. We each have our own preferences, personalities, and experiences. I can only speak to my own.

I don’t actually think that anyone is reading Spencer’s character “wrong” because I don’t think the writers are entirely consistent within canon. I also don’t think anyone is obligated to acknowledge or appreciate all aspects of canon. So, I agree with you that everyone can write him however they’d like.

I also agree with you that any post disparaging other writers’ style or work is harmful and entirely unnecessary. It is mean-spirited and inappropriate. Perhaps it’s my age, but it has always been my understanding that, when you engage with a fandom, you are joined by people of all experience levels and backgrounds. There will be people with niche interests. There will be people who write things you hate. It’s inevitable.

The core of a fandom is how we handle those disagreements. I personally choose to live and let live. I see no point in hurting other people. It’s not required in order for me to enjoy my time here.

In a world where everyone is constantly tearing each other down, I would rather be a cheerleader. I would encourage others to try not to engage in these conversations and simply choose to lift up those writers you love and appreciate, instead. We’re here to have fun, after all!

P.S. It’s very silly to claim any portrayal of Spencer in a sexual situation is “out of character” because they do not ever show us his sexual behavior. Believe whatever you want to about how he would react. He’s not real. It doesn’t matter whether someone enjoys imagining him a different way. What does matter is that cruel criticisms over specific sexual preferences will hurt actual, real people. If you want to argue about sexual morality, do it somewhere else. Fandom is not the place. While I have replied to harmful sentiments before, I don’t encourage it. It will open you up to very unfortunate and often triggering interactions with strangers over a vulnerable topic. You deserve better than that. My best advice is disengage & block.

(Finally, because this is a contentious topic, I feel obligated to remind everyone of my philosophy on anonymous hate so we don’t waste each other’s time.)

[sitp-recs]

I wanted to ask a question... idk if you're straight, bi.... but I consider myself a lesbian and since I read HP books in the pandemic I became obsessed with them, then wolfstar then drarry. I love pansmione, ginsy and linny as well but they didnt hit the same (besides some specific fics) like drarry to me bc I love draco's background story so much. I love how they complete each other (two sides of the same coin / being used as pawns / relatable traumas etc). anyway I was thinking what do you think about lesbians reading mlm/gay men fiction? specially if some of them are explicit. I love them and fic got me through the pandemic as well but I feel guilty :( I read other types of books too (a lot of sapphic ones) but yeah I always come back to drarry. help.

Hi anon! I’m sorry to hear that you’ve been feeling this way about preferring mlm over femslash. You are not the first person I see mentioning this and I think your experience is 100% valid and probably more common than you imagine. Following that logic, I should only read stories featuring bisexual women but you see, I’m not always interested in fics reflecting my own reality and issues. Most of the time I’m not even in the mood to read wlw or straight sex, no matter (or maybe exactly because of) how familiar it feels. I read it occasionally, but I normally use fic as an outlet to escape and read the stories that interest and intrigue me the most, and sometimes they couldn’t be farther away from my own experiences.

Be it because of the writing itself, or because I care more about Harry and Draco than I’ve ever cared about Ginny and Luna, Drarry just attracts me more than Linny. Hell, Ron/Ginny attracts me more than Linny. There’s no rationale behind what I ship, no objective way of knowing what will hit the right note for me, and so I gave up on tying to rationalize it a long time ago. Additionally, as a queer person I noticed that I often feel attracted to queerness in general, so I think it makes a lot of sense to connect to a gay character or mlm story even if you’re a woman (and vice-versa).

We all get different things out of fandom/fic and your reasons for enjoying this and not that work are entirely your own. I believe that our fandom experience should be all about self-indulgence and prioritizing joy and healing over anything else so from my perspective, I don’t think you have anything to feel guilty/ashamed of. That’s my two cents on it, just keep reading what you love and what brings you joy! ❤️

[musicalmoritz]

Though on genderswap Mitsukou? What would their characters belike both appearance and personality wise?

Yuri Mitsukou!! I love this question

So awhile back I posted smth like “no fem4masc Yuri Mitsukou it has to be masc4masc” which like. I don’t really agree with anymore. I like that in canon one of them is feminine while the other is masculine and it’s not really done in a stereotypical way. Fandoms make a really big deal about people feminizing male characters- and for good reason, it does happen a lot. But that gets taken to the point that they end up unintentionally reinforcing traditional gender roles. “How dare you draw that man in a skirt” or “that male character would never cry.” It’s also weird to me that I never see the same defense given to female characters being masculinized, so it ends up feeling like a lot of fans just hate femininity. So when a male character is feminine and seemingly likes masc dudes but has one of the loudest personalities in the manga, I think it’s pretty neat. Ofc there are fans that are weirdly against calling Mitsuba feminine but I already blocked most of them so idk what they have to say

(I could talk more in-depth about how fans are so worried about feminizing Mitsuba that they erase all the soft parts of his personality and make him one-dimensional but I’ll hold my tongue)

However, with fem!Mitsuba things are usually portrayed differently. Since dude Mitsuba’s initial conflict was being bullied for looking like a girl, most people say that the reverse would be girl Mitsuba being bullied for looking like a dude. This is fine but we also have to keep in mind that the entire gag of Mitsuba’s character is that he looks feminine but has an unfiltered personality, based on his looks you would never expect him to act that way. So if girl Mitsuba looks boyish, does that mean her personality would be super soft and delicate?? Because, yeah Mitsuba does have a soft side but not in that way, and it’s not at the forefront of his personality. Plus girl Mitsuba could still get bullied for looking too feminine, internalized misogyny is very much a thing

However, at the end of the day it really depends on personal preference so I’m not at all bashing either depiction of fem!Mitsuba. I go back and forth over which one I like more. Gender themes are a pretty big part of how I write Mitsukou so it’s hard for me to imagine that switched up, but it’s also incredibly interesting to think abt. All in all I like to keep fem!Mitsuba looking androgynous, maybe she has a boyish face but still dresses very feminine. Or maybe she has a girly face but dresses very masc. It’s one of those things I like a variety of interpretation on. For this I say she keeps the same hair length and pink cardigan but wears the girls uniform. So like yeah she basically just looks the same

As for Kou, those of you that read my wlw Kou//Nene fic should know that masc girl Kou is actually everything to me. A lot of fans sort of flip their gender presentations when gender bending them- Mitsuba becomes masc and Kou becomes fem. That’s totally great if that’s what you like but for me personally Kou is gonna be wearing Old Spice. I like to imagine her hair a tad longer in the back, like a choppy version of the Bisexual Bob. She wears some type of hoodie over her uniform the same way canon Kou wears a t-shirt under his uniform. The hoodie is blue btw (gotta incorporate the lore from my mtsk fics)

I feel like their personalities and dynamic would stay mostly the same! Maybe make them a bit clingier the way female friendships are but they’re already pretty clingy in canon lol. I do wonder if Kou’s flaw of not being able to open up about his feelings properly would change due to gender socialization. But many women (including myself) have that problem too so I think it would stay the same. She might be able to open up to Teru or Yokoo and Satou better but she’d still struggle to admit when she’s feeling overwhelmed. I could see her not being the type to tell someone how she’s feeling until all those emotions have built up for months. That’s how I’ve seen the whole “can’t talk abt your emotions” problem present itself in women. And men tend to only feel comfortable opening up to their romantic partners, which is something we very much see with Mitsukou in canon. But with fem!Kou, if Yokoo and Satou were girls two they would probably encourage her to talk abt her feelings rather than just being like “let’s give him a task to distract him” (which is fine too, men have different ways of comforting their friends)

Thank you for this ask!!

[coquetteriddle]

I love your takes on Harry and how he’s such a good person! It’s also why sometimes I find dark Harry fics kind of…eh. Obviously I have absolutely NOTHING against dark Harry fics- I’ve been in fandom for so long that I know in my bones and blood that authors should be able to write whatever they want, this is just me pointlessly critiquing tomarry themes in dark harry fics. Anyway, I think one of the appeals of tomarry is that Harry is a good man trying his best to love somebody who is at best, morally grey. Staying with Tom, one could argue, is one of the few selfish things he does. Tom makes the parts of him that are small and stuck in a cupboard under the stairs be seen, and even tho he ranges from being a morally bankrupt politician to a closet fascist, Harry still can’t go. But he’s kicking and screaming about it the whole time. He doesn’t tolerate tom’s extremely evil bulshit. He leaves, even tho it hurts, when too many lines are crossed. He has it in himself to love his parents’ prospective/actual murderer, but he’ll never ask somebody else to tolerate or ignore tom’s crimes. This is an incredibly nuanced situation, that is such fun to read about as Harry tries to navigate loving a bad man. Dark Harry fics can feel like a cop out in these ways ( honorary mention that fics are made for one’s joy and they don’t have to have complex themes, I’m just being annoying )

thank u sm for the ask!!!

yes totally agree :) it's why i personally don't love dark harry either, along with fics that try to soften voldemort/pureblood/dark magic ideals to seem "not that bad". to me, that's just not...really the point? and obvs its fine, fanon is honestly whatever to me and i'm sure there are tons of fics that portray this sort of dynamic beautifully, but because i love canon so much, it's js not my preferred style

and YES. harry is a good person!!! huge agree on why that is such an appeal of tomarry- their relationship itself is a source of conflict, especially internally. tom/voldemort is a bad person, and harry HAS to contend with this. he can't ignore it or agree with it and he Will leave if he feels like it's something he needs to do. he's completely capable of making these difficult decisions and i really don't like it when fics infantilize him in that way.

tbh this is why i started writing i can fix him (no really i can)....i Love time travel fics because it sets them for the first time, on an equal playing field, and it really does allow the exploration of themes of remorse and redemption. but their original characters are so interesting to me and i felt like their internal conflicts, especially harrys, were never really delved into as much as they should have been. and at least in this fic- i don't think harry would even be willing to love tom if he didn't change. i really do love redeemed tom fics, but i wish they weren't all "babe...stop saying slurs for me🥺" LMFAOO. i don't think a relationship can really change anyone on its own. it has to be of their own volition. with any redeemed tom, i think this is the most important bit: he realizes that harry deserves better, so he decides to become better.

and of course- people can write anything and there are beautifully, amazingly written fics everywhere :) i js personally love exploring their dynamic in a more canon-compliant way