#bc you can argue no ships should be allowed at all

[gcballet]

Just saw someone complaining about the Newhart ending from 0611 being mockery of people who ship Nandermo and frankly I can only imagine that account is someone who's under 20 bc that is not what mockery/rejection of queer ship fans looks like. You were in preschool when BBC's Merlin came out, you don't know. S6 and finale spoilers below.

The point of the Newhart parody ending was to provide an ending for fans who just wanted WWDITS to stay a goofy status quo sitcom. It's answering the black and white footage of the vampires in the 1950s. The sitcom status quo is a famously really hard trope to work with. The Simpsons is literally still struggling with it - decades of skilled comedy writers have never defeated it. It's a commentary on being satisified by the media we consume. The vampire can never fully be satisfied, no matter how many lives she consumes. The status quo can never be broken no matter how many episodes it attempts.

The 1980s trope of 'it was all a dream' happens in The Bob Newhart Show, it happens in St. Elsewhere, it happens in Dallas. They aren't mocking a queer ship, they're mocking sitcoms and how they've been hamstrung by format in terms of the story they can tell. Assume they did pursue Nandermo unambiguously, onscreen. It would be legitimately too dark for a sitcom. Or conversely, too hopeful for a documentary.

The other generic format choice restricting them is the documentary, because everything the characters do in the show is them being watched by a group of strangers with film equipment. None of their behaviour is wholly real. The entirety of the finale is Guillermo realising his behaviour will change when the crew leave. His behaviour has been influenced by the presence of cameras, and it will happen again. For the first time in six years, he's going to experience actual privacy, and there will be scope for him to express things he has deliberately suppressed with the cameras on. In the first episodes of S5, we saw him get increasingly frustrated with the crew, calling them vultures, as they tried to get the story on what happened with Derek. He's ready for his privacy back, and space to change, but the vampires live by sitcom rules. They aren't prepared to change, or at least, he isn't confident about it.

What We Do In The Shadows (2019-2024) is restricted by two specific genres and their conventions, and the first two 'endings' - the dream sequence and the switching off the cameras - represent exiting both of those genres before any significant radical moves can be implied for Nandermo.

It's a sitcom, therefore the central couple must be in perpetual will-they-won't-they (Friends), the gays must be physically chaste (Modern Family), and the status quo must be maintained (The Simpsons). Once the sitcom is ended via the Newhart ending (which positions Guillermo and Nandor as a married couple, that's not a small thing at all), the documentary tropes can close out.

Documentary tropes are a little harder to pin down, but generally the story should end with Guillermo truly moving on and leaving in a poignant and somewhat tragic way.

Guillermo's narrative thread throughout the documentary version of the show is about his identity and relationship with Nandor. He gives the cameras a big show of finally saying goodbye to Nandor, going on to be a new version of himself, and waits until the crew begin to derig before acknowledging again that a documentary is performative, and he intends to continue their relationship. The documentary format means intimate moments must be captured. When the documentary ends, the intimacy may be private. That's why we don't get a Nandermo kiss. It's allowed to be private now.

Guillermo is sad throughout the finale, yes, but I would argue he's actually mostly stressed, because on one level he understands that the show must commit to one of two trope endings. The sitcom, the repeating lives of the vampires where nothing matters and you can be hypnotised to believe there was nothing deep about it. Or the documentary, where he is forced to tragically leave forever, having learnt a valuable 16 year lesson, perhaps meeting again for a 'where are they now?' Twenty years later.

He thinks he has to choose in under an hour, between the endless sitcom cycle the vampires find natural, or walking away with the humans who made the documentary to capture something ephemeral and temporary.

They do both, and then Nandor and Guillermo get what is clearly the ultimate ending. It's not formatted in such a way that you choose between endings. They're not alternate endings, they're subsequent endings. It doesn't have multiple endings like Clue, it has multiple endings like The Return of the King.

And maybe Guillermo and Nandor don't kiss on the mouth and declare their love for one another, but the camera crew is still leaving the room. What they do do is agree to stay together and work together on something to make themselves and/or the world better. Then Nandor invites Guillermo to share his pseudo-bed and disappear into a private space he has created in secret for the two of them. Even phrased matter of factly that's romantic. Someone flippantly called it 'the gays getting sent to super hell' and wow way to deliberately miss the point. Nandor never follows through on big projects, but he built a miles deep tunnel under the earth so he and Guillermo could at last be alone away from a huge documentary crew and roommates with super hearing. That's beautiful. They don't owe you an onscreen kiss to prove they're in love. They (Nandermo and the show producers) don't even owe you representation, and if you think otherwise, you've not bought into the premise of the show. You are the voyeur watching the documentary, the fan watching the Ross and Rachel (Nandor and Guillermo have been compared to them by the cast).

The whole point of the endings is that they moved Nandermo outside the unreality of TV genres. Not a sitcom will-they-wont-they, not a tragedy within a documentary, just two weird guys in a coffin in a hole in the ground, doing whatever they want because nobody is watching and judging.

They didn't make Nandermo canon, they made Nandermo real.

[the-owl-tree]

genuine question bc I haven’t read the books since. Idk a long time, why do ppl hate nightcloud so much?? I have literally only ever heard of her as an afterthought. Like she’s the third choice for crow feather bc he needed to take a mate to not be seen suspicious and just picked her, there’s no love between them, and afaik he basically forced her to raise her son by herself, not counting the moments of attention he DID give which seemed to be overwhelmingly negative and even abusive. Isn’t she allowed to be bitter and that when he’s very clear abt his apathy and even resentment toward her and her son?? Or am I missing some context

People took Crowfeather passing the blame onto Nightcloud for Breezepelt's behavior at face value, despite two arcs worth of books proving that wasn't true at all. I'd argue the writing team ALSO believed this, as with how they characterized her in the subsequent Field Guides. Immediately, Nightcloud's past actions were re-contextualized to be negative, to further push this idea that she was this old coddling bitch mom who didn't let poor Crowfeather be involved with his son (look at the language of the field guides, they genuinely wrote "she should be glad to be alive").

Crowfeather was (and in some circles still is) a pretty popular character, and a lot of people were quick to latch onto the idea that he was blameless. I can't remember if CrowPool was or wasn't a popular ship, I lean towards yes, so take this line with the knowledge my memory is fuzzy, but I'd also argue that Nightcloud being the "replacement" mate was what made people even more hostile to her.

So, what is Nightcloud actually like? I'm only going to cover scenes where Nightcloud is either mentioned or actually appears, so no Outcast, click the first link for a better look at that. I'll only cover Po3 and OoTS for now.

Nightcloud's Appearances in the Power of Three

Our first meeting with her is in The Sight, where ThunderClan intervenes when they're being chased around by a dog. Her first piece of actual dialogue is her defending Breezepaw from Crowfeather, which is not coddling, especially when given the added context in Outcast that Crowfeather is verbally abusive towards his son. She also proceeds to lecture him about his manners towards a ThunderClan cat, so, she's not the one encouraging his rude streak.

She is then absent for most of the book until the end, when during one of the contests at the Daylight Gathering, Lionpaw and Breezepaw get hurt in a collapsed tunnel incident and she understandably is quite distressed. Then Leafpool drops the "i'd give every drop of my blood for you Crowfeather" line and Nightcloud just tries to divert attention from that, understandably uncomfortable with what's being said.

One of the scenes that's commonly used as "evidence" that Nightcloud stopped Crowfeather from bonding with Breezepelt is this one:

No hissing or swatting. She just doesn't let him help, and considering we now know Crowfeather has been absent from the beginning and isn't above hitting and screaming at his kid, I think it's understandable that she arguably isn't going to stop just so he can help. But that's my interpretation, I think this scene in itself proves nothing of the sort either way and people were reaching when trying to use it as evidence.

Nightcloud's remaining appearances in The Sight is her watching over Breezepaw and Lionpaw as they recover:

That is the entirety of her appearance in The Sight. Onto Dark River! Where her first mention is Leafpool identifying her and Jaypaw sensing some jealousy from Leafpool, as the patrol is going to check in on WindClan and get information because of uh scents. you know usual warriors border bullshit. We then get Jaypaw noticing her breath, and finally him sensing jealousy from Nightcloud (that she does not act on). This is the entirety of her appearance in Dark River:

Cue Leafpool being polite to Crowfeather, and Crowfeather waving as many red flags as he possible can.

And onto the infamous Outcast! Where Nightcloud has *drumroll* one fucking appearance.

She also has one appearance in Eclipse where she's part of the patrol that attacks Lionpaw, but I'm not even going to mention it it's quite literally just him going "Nightcloud!" before the scene shifts to his and Heatherpaw's conflict. She is entirely absent in Long Shadows, there is no appearance of her beyond allegiances.

And finally in Sunrise, she is entirely absent until near the ending. She's first mentioned by Crowfeather when Jayfeather asks him if he knew the truth, then noticed at a gathering by Hollyleaf:

When the secret is revealed, Nightcloud stands with Crowfeather. No hissing or hitting or turning on him, here is the entirery of her appearance when Hollyleaf reveals everything:

This is it. This is the entirety of Nightcloud involvement in the story, she is barely mentioned and she is barely a character. Her appearances are dwarfed by Crowfeather and Breezepelt, and she is literally just a normal mom character throughout.

Nightcloud's Appearances in Omen of the Stars

Nightcloud is absent throughout the entirety of the Fourth Apprentice. She is only mentioned in the allegiances. She has one appearance in Fading Echoes:

Then there's Night Whispers, where her first appearance is her arguing with Crowfeather while Flametail goes "yikes!":

Her other appearance is the infamous grabbing scene that people latched onto as proof that Nightcloud was an abusive monster who was hurting poor Crowfeather and was forcing him to not bond with his son. Breezepelt and Lionblaze get into a border dispute and it escalates into a fight:

Leafpool intervenes and asks Crowfeather why he's not doing shit, he then proceeds to throw up multiple red flags in front of her and does the red flag dance:

We finally get Nightcloud where she comes in and pulls Crowfeather away from Leafpool. Despite using her claws, presumably because she does not have fucking THUMBS to grab onto him, no blood is drawn. She just pulls him away in an already emotionally charged and over dramatic situation. This is not comparable to Crowfeather's abuse of his son and with everything else I've presented, her grabbing him is not indicative of their relationship, ESPECIALLY given the circumstances of the action:

Her last appearance is her talking about shredding RC cats, it's not relevant but uh it's there. That the entirety of her appearances within the book.

She has no appearances in Sign of the Moon. She then has a two appearances in The Forgotten Warrior where she is hostile to Hollyleaf (which feels understandable to me considering what Hollyleaf did):

She has one onscreen appearance in The Last Hope where she defends Jayfeather from the Dark Forest attack with some other WindClan cats:

Her only other mention is Crowfeather blaming her for Breezepelt's behavior:

In canon, this never happens. We never see Nightcloud encourage Breezepelt to hate Crowfeather, but we instead see Crowfeather spending an entire book abusing Breezepaw when Nightcloud is away. This is bullshit, but the fandom took this as truth and immediately turned on Nightcloud despite no actual evidence.

There are three takeaways from this:

Crowfeather blaming Nightcloud is....false. It's false. We see no canon evidence of this, and in fact the books tell us another narrative.

Nightcloud is barely a character. She has so few actual appearances that calling her "complex" is a lie, she is a narrative tool that moreso supports Crowfeather and Breezepelt's conflict than any story of her own.

Even if Nightcloud did do all that offscreen, Crowfeather STILL abused his child and that is directly tied to Breezepelt's motivations within Omen of the Stars. Nightcloud's behavior does NOT negate the harm that Crowfeather did to his own son.

[genshinconfessions]

Hello !! So sorry if this is not allowed, I just saw an absolutely horrible ship take online and I need to rant because I hate HaiKaveh. This is just overall negativity and will likely start ship discourse so please do skip this if you (general) are particularly sensitive to it !! To battle this, I will also send a more positive ask afterwards.

HaiKaveh/Kavetham as a fandom is the shittiest shit diarrhea from an ass with external and internal hemorroids this world has ever had the misfortune of enduring. The ship itself is fine, yeah whatever "roommates" and "couple that argues like they're old and married" are nice tropes and all, but it's the fandom that I specifically want euthanized. Scratch that, not euthanized, bcs I want it to be painful and inhumane as to reflect all the trouble they've caused. I understand it's a loud minority of the most insufferable people ever but when a ships fandom gets as big as it does, it's no longer a "small but loud group of people" that can be easily dismissed, it's literally the fucking majority of them atp.

"oh but they're canon !! They have so much implied interactions !! You're homophobic !!" KILL YOURSELF??? YOU (general) ARE LITERALLY MAKING THEM THE MOST HETERO NORMATIVE SHIT IVE EVER SEEN ??? I'm sick of acting civil and pushing past my annoyance to come off as respectful and understanding, I'm just as much of a hater as the next person, I want to get violent about this but it'd be stupid if I did. The same fuckers who say you're erasing gay rep when you ship one of them with a female character are the same no life dipshits who will dox and send death threats as they dumb down the ship to being "uwu soft bottom princess bunny Kaveh x alpha dom ultra top borderline (definitely ON THE LINE) abusive Alhaitham" which is literally every mainstream m/f shitty booktok novel made by the straightest millennial white woman to ever rightwing American that these people apparently hate so much.

"Kaveh is a rabbit, look at his hair !!" HIS HAIR IS MEANT TO RESEMBLE A LION. YOU MAKE **SUCH** A BIG DEAL OVER HIS KEYS YET YOU CANT EVEN MAKE THE CONNECTION?? IT REPRESENTS HIM AND HIS HOUSE/COURSE. "Kaveh dresses so femininely, and his wrists are so dainty he doesn't even wield his claymore like the others !!" LOOK CLOSELY, LOOK REALLY FUCKING CLOSELY, his designed is Iran inspired specifically during the Zand Dynasty (iirc, I'm not exactly a Kaveh buff) and his particular style of fashion (though modernized) was popular between both men and women, this doesn't make him feminine, he's more so androgynous get your terms right fucking spuds for brains. Kaveh does in fact use his hands when using his WEAPON OF CHOICE. Yes, he flicks his wrist after plunging but look at how he does it. He only uses one hand instead of the usual two, so all the recoil (idk man I'm so upset rn) goes into one hand instead of being distributed between two. He also, I can't remember if it's after being hit or putting his claymore away, definitely holds it up for some time. Mehrak is there more so for support, and even Mehrak should be very heavy since it's a fucking tech toolbox or whatever made from a machine core. That shit heavy.

The mischaracterisation of Alhaitham is also very shitty and I, as someone who yumeships with him and also really appreciates his character, am very upset at it. I admit I am also guilty of mischaracterisation but I feel that's unavoidable when you yumeship so much that your f/o just becomes an oc who takes the core basics of the original original character. Unfortunately most of my rage was directed at Kaveh because his so-called fans are the worst of the two and genuinely might just be fetishist who only care about their yaoi more than the actual characters. Nothing wrong with loving yaoi, just saying that I don't trust anyone who loves it more than the characters involved. He's a chill guy who just wants a peaceful life for himself and the people he cares about. He's caring, his mind full of joy and whimsy, a love for the world around him that he keeps neatly inside himself. He most likely can see Aranara !! Everytime someone makes him this super dominant and aggressive lover an angel gets burned by your sins. Everytime someone makes him a bratty sub who's sex obsessed an angel gets it's wings ripped off. I'm so fucking tired of all the shitty HaiKaveh on my timeline, not even blocking tags or blocking users gets them off.

On another note, I have a deep appreciation for the artists in the fandom. I can't say much for the fanfic writers because I personally don't read anything related to HaiKaveh or canonxcanon fics, but you guys rock just as much !! Every fan work I've seen from this wretched fandom is just so beautiful that I'm not too put off when I see a particular bad piece in a sea of genuine adoration for this pairing. In the end, when I manage to block out all the shitty takes and the general toxic community, I find myself to be at peace with them. I don't prefer them as lovers, no, I've always saw them more as sworn brothers/friends who've been through so much together that they are in a way family.

TL;DR ship discourse is the downfall of every fandom because people are too selfish and stupid to take a step back and be rational, they are so caught up in themselves that they don't even care about the characters themselves anymore. 2020 was the last good year before everything took a very big curve downwards because of people who are new to fandom spaces and don't bother to learn proper online etiquette.

.

[elainsgirl]

I joined this fandom a while ago and I didnt realize how many people in this fandom were much older than me! I didn't realize there were actually 28-30 year olds out here arguing like little kids over ships and characters. I'm not 'anti' any ship/character and I love them all but it baffles me how childish this fandom is. All sides make me cringe lowkey.

I feel like I should stick to the other fandoms like the cruel prince and boys of tommen.

haha no really, I was shocked too. I thought the demographic would be early 20s at the maximum, I didn’t realise the fandom spanned across such a broad age group which honestly is actually quite cool bcs you see how different interpretations are due to different age ls and what was once popular vs now is actually one of the reasons why there is such a divide in the ship war or even character wars.

I think for most people this fandom is just an outlet, somewhere they can go too to escape real life for a while and there is nothing wrong with that. I think arguing about characters and ships (respectfully) allows stans to focus on something else other then real life which I can more then understand.

Do some people take this fandom way too seriously? Absolutely. You have no idea how many times I want to tell people to go out and roll around in grass because 9/10 its never that deep. I think this week I have finally understood what second hand embarrassment & acting crinhe truly meant.

Tbf boys of tommen has become so messy itself - have you seen the fandom? They’re constantly arguing on twitter 😭 Idkwtf Chloe is doing with the series and it’s honestly put me off with how wish washy she has been lately.

Cruel prince is just your iconic fandom. Its peaceful over there, everyone just enjoying how down bad Cardan is for Jude - as he should be.

The acotar fandom isn’t for everyone and if it isn’t for you - there’s so many other fandoms you can go into

[snowstories]

I saw a post that reminded me of this which is why I'm talking about this out of the blue but whenever I see the 'do canonically male characters you headcanon as trans girls count as female characters' debate pops up I remember this one event from the Voltron fandom where an f/f ship week banned genderbending and people lost their SHIT about it, SPECIFICALLY because the mods were like 'we want people to actually focus on the female characters and not submit already popular m/m ships but genderbent'.

This was years ago obviously so standard 'my memory may be fuzzy' disclaimer, but while I believe part of the reasons the mods banned genderbending was bc they believed it to be transphobic (which you could actually argue against and is a stance I don't agree with), and ppl were using that as leverage to argue, but that's not what ppl were actually angry about. Also, I believe the event was run by antis, who had a 'no age gap ships' rule in place, and people were mad about that, but like. The only f/f ships at the time with even kind of an age gap were ones involving Pidge, (which, again, for the record, I never personally gave much of a shit about), and yeah I do believe those were banned and ppl were pissy about that, but most of the ppl arguing with the ship restrictions were doing so in combination with the genderbending restriction, bc what they were mad about wasn't actually about a major female character being banned from the f/f ship week for Ship Discourse Reasons.

What they were angry about was specifically being told their genderbent m/m ships didn't count because they did not, in fact, contain female characters. Arguments were made that, because it was genderbent, it was now f/f and should be allowed in the f/f ship week. The mods went no, those are still canon male characters and popular m/m ships, and we're trying to run a week about the female characters and f/f ships because they don't get enough attention. The mods were fending accusatory and argumentative asks for ages and told people to create their own f/f ship week if they didn't like how theirs was run, which. People did.

A counter f/f ship week was organized but with less restrictions, specifically the restriction on genderbending was lifted. Now, I never followed Ship Week B, because I don't care about shipping and I was there to see more attention given to the female characters, which allowing genderbent m/m content seemed pretty anathema to. But I did check in on it out of curiosity, and to no-one's surprise, Ship Week B contained very large amounts of mostly genderbent sheith, with some shiro/lance and lance/keith thrown in. Like, I'm sure there was also actual f/f content (I remember there being some Pidge/Allura specifically), but I remember very little of it.

And as I alluded to in the large Nuance Disclaimer paragraph: yes this was the Voltron fandom, yes the Disk Horse was involved and made everything far more explosive than it probably would've been otherwise, and also, if the mods hadn't explicitly put the genderbending restriction in the rules list they probably would've gotten maybe a few genderbent m/m submissions tops. It's pretty obvious that a large motivation for Ship Week B was spite, and as someone whose username is literally spitecentral on AO3, I can confirm there is no stronger motivation for fan content than spite. I don't actually think that genderbent m/m is such a major problem in f/f spaces that it needs to be explicitly banned to avoid having it overrun ship weeks.

But even taking all that into account, this whole thing was completely fucking bonkers. Regardless of your opinions on the mods' opinions on genderbending and the Disk Horse, asking ppl not to submit genderbent m/m content on account of it not containing canon female characters is completely reasonable, and the fact that people got mad enough about it to create a whole seperate f/f ship week SPECIFICALLY to allow genderbent m/m content is insane. All the f/f ship week asked was for people to pay attention to female characters for once, and people threw a fucking tantrum about it and not only point-blank refused, but created more content for the male characters out of spite.

So yeah that was kind of a formative fandom experience to me that taught me:

People will take any excuse possible to avoid paying attention to female characters.

People will make literally anything, up to and including female character-centric fandom events, about men.

And that's what I think about any time I see people get offended when others point out that headcanoning a canon male character as a trans girl isn't the same as engaging with female characters.

[limeade-l3sbian]

Pro kink rant:

So i’m in several shipping fandoms. I’m not against people shipping characters in a sexual manner, but I’ve definitely noticed the more and more extreme versions of sex fans and fanfic authors enjoy their pairing going through and it’s alarming. Today someone I follow who ship two male characters whose canon dynamic I enjoy talked about how much they enjoyed a fic they had read about them, where one of them was whipped so severely, another third character had to help with the clean up because there was so much blood. Sounds alarming right?

Well I pointed that out, while also talking about how the person who’s capable of getting off on another persons pain, especially such a severe degree, should not be something to glorify and is scary and twisted.

The other person replied that they are two consenting adults(characters) and obviously that’s true, but why does that matter? What pushes a person to actively get turned on when the person they are participating in sexual activities with is in pain and even bloody? How is such a person allowed to be in society? Sure it’s consenting but beating someone bloody is not and never will be a neutral action. It’s always someone being beat. Someone could argue missionary can be rape and yea it can but not only don’t i agree with the notion of rape being a form of sex, even if it was, sex in and of itself is a neutral action. if we take any violence away from it, if we take any force, if we take any feelings of obligation out and someone just has sex with each other bc they are attracted to each other, that is a totally harmless. There’s nothing about sex at its core that is malicious. Beating someone(or another popular kink in fandom nowadays, choking) is an act of violence at its core. You cannot just remove that factor.

Then there’s also the reality that most people having violent sex, amongst those the person who gets beat, degraded, choked, etc., is almost always women, whereas the one doing the beating, degradation, choking, etc., is usually male. It’s not a coincidence. It’s not because biologically women just like being beat, we can all agree on. It’s because women are not only socialized to become vessels for men’s desires, we are also degraded both psychologically, sexually and physically through every day life, whether it’s done by someone directly, teachings, media, pornography, oppression.

And then one can obviously argue that those two characters that started this whole thing are male, so who cares, but is it not curious that the character that got beat was the “bottom”? The “receiver”?

“Getting fucked” is not a female thing, that’s not what i’m saying, but whether it’s female or male, getting fucked inherently puts that person at a more vulnerable position. Not only due to higher risk of injury but also psychologically. Letting someone into your body is always gonna require more vulnerability than putting in. So why is it almost always the person in that position being the “masochist”?

There’s also the fact that consent matters little. Not only is it a common occurrence for woman or male bottom to be pushed too far, it’s also downright impossible in a lot of these physically and psychologically extreme situations to say they retract consent. And even if they do manage, it’s once again also very common for the sadist to continue on until they reach climax. Not to mention all the abuse and murder being committed and brushed under the rug because the perpetrator can simply claim the other person wanted it. And it’s perfectly accepted in todays society because “don’t kink shame!”. And sure in some of those situations it probably was a situation that went too far on accident, but if it had never taken place in the first place, if the sadist didn’t get off on the control over the other and their pain, it would not have happened. It’s still an abusive situation. You cannot neutralize violence. A violent act is still gonna be a violent act even if you do it in the bedroom.

1/2

[gonegrove]

okay but for another angle on heather/eddie going off of something i mentioned before:

they have this wildly combative, horny thing going on and eddie realizing he’s seeing some parts of her no one else has seen, intentionally or unintentionally, and getting possessive of it and her. like this is what flips it being “messing around” to “she’s MY girl”. he likes the idea of being this person who exists in this special singular spot in her life -- in ANYONE’S life -- and how it marks him out as significant and how it’s something only they share.

eddie standing his ground more as Her Guy in public and being more flip about their relationship even if she’s been trying to keep it on the DL, making it clear other guys can promptly fuck off. also slowly pressuring her to define this shit more thoroughly bc it’s getting more and more intense and not just for funsies for him and he’d like to know NOW before he’s COMPLETELY INSANE if he should try to abandon ship.

heather trying to avoid ALLLLLL of that because it was great when they were just arguing and being horny n shit but the one thing she cannot handle is emotional vulnerability/honesty. literally so scared about Feeling Things outside of the like, 3 allowed things (happiness, anger, pride) that just CONSIDERING she’s physically capable of more is terrifying. so she’s just trying to ghost him now as he’s pressuring her.

eventually turns into a HUGE blowout fight. screaming. shouting. slurs. name calling. the WORKS. like, this is truly vicious vile shit. they’re both being AWFUL.

heather starts crying.

record scratch. world stops turning. the universe is completely on pause, holding it’s breath.

eddie just standing there feeling like he’s elric having just accidentally killed cymoril (or for the peons -- he’s frodo seeing gandalf’s death in fellowship tho it’s not a 100% 1:1). he’s totally frozen for like a solid minute bc Heather Fucking Holloway is crying. he made heather holloway cry. somehow. him.

heather’s MORTIFIED this is the LAST THING SHE EVER WANTED TO HAPPEN and is just trying to MOTOR out of there. but he stops her because he’s terrified of what’ll happen if she goes and they leave things like this. and realistically she doesn’t really have anywhere to go, they’re at his place (he’s not even allowed in her NEIGHBORHOOD) and that’s a huge walk to hers. so she’s stuck there and she cannot. stop. fucking. crying. doesn’t even know WHY she’s crying.

eddie very slowly and hesitantly pulling her into him when she’s not really going for his verbal attempts at comfort/asking what’s wrong/apologizing because he doesn’t know what else to do. so he just stands there feeling awful and insane and so fucking stupid but slowly, slowly she starts to settle down and accept his comfort. it’s like pulling teeth but he finally gets it out of her that she’s terrified. that feelings are Bad. and his pressuring her scared her because All Interpersonal Connection is Evil and only exists to Doom You later (the joys of having like 99% fake friends only lol) and he’s like Oh. 

and he???? loves her even more????? and also know realizing THAT’S what he was getting so weird about???? he was so possessive because he loved her???? and he loves her even more now that she’s saying she actively doesn’t want that because it’s scary and can only lead to disaster????? he very softly tells her tough shit because she’s stuck with him now so she better put on her big girl panties and nut up. she just glares at him with so much anger but her arms around his waist get even tighter, holding him solidly in place flush against her. he grins the most shit eating grin.

[autisticcassandracain]

3, 7 & 13 seem juicy

3 is answered!

7. what character did you begin to hate not because of canon but because how how the fandom acts about them?

JASON FUCKING TODD

fuck this guy but fuck his fans more. Some Jason fans are like, reasonable and just think he's an interesting character. I disagree but that's mostly because I think we just don't need any more characters challenging Batman's no kill rule specifically, I just think they're boring. Jason has a bit of a leg up in that he does have interesting family Baggage, but ultimately his writing (at least preboot) was so incredibly inconsistent that nothing outside of what they did in Under The Red Hood really came of it. I don't know much about post-flashpoint Jason but frankly he seems to have gotten all unique attributes sucked out of him over the years so he's not all that appealing to me there either. That said I really don't necessarily hate Jason in canon, I mostly just find him boring.

That said the subsection of Jason fans who think he's Right, Actually single-handedly made him my least favourite comic book character outside of the Joker. It's positively infuriating to see a bunch of people argue that Jason's completely nonsensical 'ideology' is Right, Actually, with the justification that yeah, we SHOULD totally just kill criminals! Not that kind, no, only like, the Really Bad Ones, like rapists, you know? And Bad Drug Dealers. How do we filter the Really Bad Criminals from the Poor Misunderstood Criminals? By vibes or something idk their arguments usually don't get that far because they're reactionary and don't think beyond their base instinct of 'I Want Bad Person Dead'. Also, 'Batman SHOULD kill the Joker he's just that bad!' a) the Joker's not gonna stay dead, death is about as effective as fucking Arkham, there's no point, and b) the Joker is not materially worse than most other supervillains. Most other supervillains have done shit that's on par with the Joker. Yes, the Joker is often portrayed as Uniquely Bad, but this is mostly a combination of narrative framing and Personal Baggage Batman has towards him than anything objective. If Batman kills the Joker there's literally no reason for him not to kill, say, Zsasz. And a Batman who kills freely is, frankly, a boring fucking character, because it does away with almost all the idealism and, yes, optimism that makes his character compelling. Shut up forever.

Anyway Jason Todd was wrong on every possible level, and you're all annoying and I hate your fave now.

13. worst blorboficiation

Honestly I'm not sure what 'blorbofication' means, I'm assuming it's like, fanon-ifying/woobifying? This is a bit difficult to answer tbh bc I tend to get invested in characters that are less popular in fandom (this is deliberate btw), so while there's plenty of characters who had all their interesting traits sucked out in the name of making them Blorbo From My Tropes, MY faves usually get stuck getting all their character traits sucked out due to a terminal case of fandom not giving a shit about them. That said if I can nominate Stephcass as a duo, Stephcass. They have an incredibly interesting, multi-dimensional dynamic, or at least they HAD until the post-flashpoint continuity was allowed to actually use them and realized that queerbaiting was lucrative. Not that fandom was less boring about them before then but at least it wasn't actually canon. Anyway in fandom they're annoying as fuck bc everyone is dead scared to give their f/f ships any conflict at all and it makes me want to chew drywall. Fluffy fics are fine the one (1) stephcass thing I wrote was fluff too so like, stones, glass houses, I know, but would it seriously kill people to stop reducing them to the Sunny One/Stoic One combo.

Oh wait, also Damian. He Would Not Fucking Say That.

[meowdei]

your ask game looks so fun! my self ship is alhaitham and we first meet at an Akademiya-run event, where I’m on a different darshan (Vahumana to his Haravatat). And he just looks down on it because my views contradict his own lol

I love the idea of alhaitham taking his partner to the desert for a mutually beneficial research trip. You to learn some more history stuff and he’s there to study runes. And he’s like I’ve been here before, I know which way to go and you’re like idk I really think we’re supposed to go that way and he just argues with you like he knows better bc that’s what he’s good at

And, well. He did not know better.

It is now getting dark and you have to set camp for the night and you’re lost all thanks to him. This never happens to him—ever. Of course the first time he ever gets lost in the desert is with you.

“Well,” you huff, laying down in the tent and pulling the blanket over your body with an unimpressed glare, “good thing we have you to be a know-it-all-navigator. Now we’re behind schedule.”

“It was an honest mistake,” he huffs (practically pouts, but he tries to keep a straight face enough that he’s not exactly considered one just yet.) “I’m human—I’m allowed to make those here and there.”

“If we get eaten by a consecrated beast, I’m gonna blame you.”

“We are not going to be eaten by a consecrated beast,” he huffs. “Even if we do run into one, I can handle it.”

“Like you handled the directions? I’m a little scared, then.”

And he really does pout a little at that because he’s a very capable fighter and you should know that. So since he’s a bit sulky over his mistake, you cuddle him extra tight for the night and keep your teasing to a minimum for the rest of your trip.

But boy do you let him have it later. Extra when the rest of 4ggravate are around to hear 💀

[violetsareblue-selfships]

answering assorted questions from this ask game for zayne & i (i really should come up with ship names hehe)

🍧 — if you has to put a label on your relationship with f/o, childhood sweetheart? married? tell me!

ooh, childhood sweetheart kinda works (we at least had small crushes on each other as children) but i think the best label is 'lovers' honestly :3

🔥 — who gets jealous easier?

we each have our moments, but neither of us is overwhelmingly jealous. (if i had to choose, though, i'd say zayne is)

💋 — if you two were a romance trope, what would it be?

friends to lovers; also second chance in a way - like it's lucky that we ran into each other again (but like we were too young to be in a serious relationship when he moved away so...) but yeah

🎂 — how do you two celebrate each other's birthday?

we'll take the day off (though it's harder to convince him to take time off for his own but oh well). for his, I'll bake him something and take him to dinner usually (then we can spend the night in together). for mine, he basically tries to spoil me - like doing whatever i wanna do.

🧊 — who sings in the shower?

i do, 100%. he might hum something if there's something stuck in his head, but I'm the one who does full-on singing when I'm showering

🔮 — who is more protective?

we're both very protective, but i'd say he is. though, he doesn't have to worry about me getting hurt very often (it's only when I'm doing any missions with May that he has to worry). but also, it comes a bit innately for me - like the way my evol is used most often is for shields so... yeah

🎈— what is your most precious memory with them?

gonna say it's our first kiss - he takes me up to Snowcrest thinking that the change of scenery would help with my writing (and he's going up there anyway to assist Dr. Noah with research) and we have a heartfelt conversation under the aurora and end up kissing <3

🐇 — what kind of pet do you think you could raise together with them?

i think we'd have a cat (or multiple cats, I'm not picky) but yeah! he's already been shown to have a fondness for them anyways :3

💍— what is their view on marriage?

the way this game is - he'd only want to marry me; though he doesn't know if he'll be allowed to (astra's whole curse on him bc of the foreseer version of him - astra's 'tools' were not allowed to fall in love and guess what happened lol) but yeah, he'd definitely be happy getting married to me

🎀 — do you have any matching clothes with them? If so, what does it look like?

i think we'd have coordinating outfits (like not identical matches but similar patterns & whatnot that look good together) - though maybe matching sweaters (I'm picturing like something with like a snowflake pattern or something similar hehe :3)

🧸— favourite gifts from each other?

i like anything he gets me - though it's usually either plushies or snacks (or occasionally video games (he has the salary where it's fine and he'd rather spend on me anyway)). for him, he likes the pastries that i give him - they're all made by me and he has such a sweet tooth. though i think he'd honestly like anything i give him - so long as there's love and thought behind the gift.

🌱 — how do you make up with each other after an argument?

we rarely argue - we're pretty decent at bringing things up before they become a problem. i think the only thing we'd argue over is if one of us got in unnecessary danger fighting wanderers and our method of making up would be similar - making the other a warm drink & a snack and apologizing. given that this is mostly out of concern, the argument ends pretty easily with a promise to be more careful in the future

🩹 — if you or your f/o got hurts, how would the other react?

he'd be upset but he'd know immediately how to treat me - he'd only take me to the hospital if it were serious enough (i swear, he'd even give stitches if he had to - he's very much capable). for me, i'd be concerned and i'd help him treat it however i can (he's given himself stitches before so i doubt i'd be much help but i can bandage any wounds if i have to) - though i hate any time he's hurting because of his evol because i can't do anything besides try to warm him up - making him tea or hot cocoa and cuddling him if i can...

❄️ — how would you spend Christmas with them?

there'd be a lot of making snowmen together & going to look at the lights (whether walking to do so or driving around) - we'd decorate his apartment together & set up a tree and bake together <3 basically the coziest version of the holiday possible

🎃 — what is your Halloween costume? Do they match with your f/o?

it varies - i like dressing up as all sorts of things. i do think he'd like to match if he's capable (i see this as him potentially dressing up for the children in the pediatrics' ward or smth for Halloween). could do things like vampires or animals (thinking cats again) or something like that ^-^

🌠 — if you or your f/o could make one wish come true, what would it be?

for me, it'd be for him to be free of astra's curse. i'd want him to be able to fall in love without the consequences of his evol hurting him. honestly, i think his wish would be the same - basically his only wish is to be with me (the birthday event really confirmed that).

📸 — do you have any photos of your f/o? do you use it as your wallpaper?

yes and yes! i have... 288 screenshots & 45 specifically that are 3* and 4* from the game - not to mention what i have saved on Pinterest (which i don't have in separate folders so idk the number) - for my wallpaper, i use a background switcher and it rotates through like pictures of all my f/os - specifically the folder i use for zayne is the official memories (so it pulls from those 45 :3)

🫕 — camping together seems fun, who cooks and who set up the tent?

honestly... i think if we were camping we'd end up renting a cabin or something but he'd be the one to set up the tent & we'd cook together :3

🍝 — do you two share your foods with each other? have you try feeding them yourself?

we do! really the only thing he wouldn't want off my plate is carrots & I'm usually pretty picky, but we'll share sweets and chips and stuff :3 and yes (in the birthday card, he asked me to feed him cake - it was cute :3) but he's not shy taking bites when i hold food out for him and vice versa :3

💄— what nicknames or pet names do you two use for each other?

My Pet Names for Him: darling, love, dearest, baby (among others) (i use so many pet names, literally like any you can think of honestly) His Pet Names for Me: Angel, darling, love (among others); he'd also call me his shadow occasionally alluding to my evol hehe

💎 — if you and your f/o were in a fake relationship/marriage, who do you think would lose at falling in love first?

I think it'd be the trope of both of us already having feelings for the other when the fake relationship starts but I'd probably cave first in revealing that my feelings are real.

🍿 — your perception of them and their perception of you?

zayne -> me: sweetheart, adorably shy when it comes to talking to other people, talented baker, basically the sun personified. concerned that people might try to take advantage of my kindness (but also knowing i can defend myself if i need to)

me -> zayne: super smart, super capable doctor who just needs a lot of love, deserves so much love & recognition (also dawnbreaker specifically - precious boy who deserves more than the game's giving him honestly). concerned that he overworks himself but also knowing he'll listen to me if i want him to rest (or i can make him rest at least sometimes hehe)

🍒 — what would your contact names be for each other?

Honestly his for me would likely be my name or 'darling' or something like that. I'd probably have him as 'Future Husband' or 'My Husband' with a heart emoji <3

🏷️ — what is you and your f/o's ship name? how did you decide on that name?

i don't have one but honestly i'd use something related to jasmine given that those flowers are significant to his lore <3; his tag, however, 'under the aurora's glow' is related to our first kiss <3 (also it showed up in the birthday video they posted; it literally said 'under the aurora' and i was like ooh a sign we're canon hehe)

[charlesdesvoeux]

terror rewatch time!!! i'll be using this post to comment on ep. 3 "the ladder" block the tag terrorwatch2 if you'd like :-)

just throw silna's father into a fucking fire hole huh. god these fucking people. the utter contempt and disrespected for anything and anyone who is of the place that they plunder and destroy and exploit and pollute with their very presence.

"if that's how they punish one of their own how will they deal with-" imperialists? plunderers? what word were you gonna use, ned? how would you describe your mission and your effect upon this land, now that the blood of an inuk man is in your hands?

"if the arctic bedeviled him, why should it open up to you, that's his thinking" and he was right lady jane........ sorry your hubby's hubris that you also stoked killed him (not really sorry though!!!!)

the way jirv quickly looks around to see if anyone is watching billy enter his room.... "do other people know of his vices? will i be taken for one of them if they see him entering me my room?"

goddddd the way franklin dooms them further by not allowing the sled party to go find rescue.... man..... sir john ross was mean to me and i'm gonna doom myself and 100+ men about it

"you're the worst kind of second" bc you don't fawn and throw yourself at my feet jesus fucking christ john franklin die challenge. "you'll never be fit for command... the vanity of your outlook" he's describing himself and attributing it all to crozier!!!! that is quite revealing

he's sooo fucking harsh to crozier. and obviously croziers not perfect but like. bringing the sophia thing into it is just cruel. perhaps deep down he feels a sense of inadequacy, and he knows crozier was more deserving of commanding the expedition, and he was only appointed bc of his being more "respectable" and not more competent, and that's why he puts so much emphasis in performance, in the "your demeanor should be all cheer" of it all.

dundy and jfj eavesdropping lolllll

the offer to lead the party is quite selfish as 1) he's pretty sure they're on the vortex of doom and he's trying to save himself and 2) he finds franklin's presence impossible to tolerate and wants to distance himself from him, even if he finds way to rationalize the choice to have him lead the party himself. but also pls imagine poor lt. little having to take command of terror at this point in time (any point in time really) it would be a DISASTER

ok so it's The Scene (jirv + hickey)... the way jirv looks away uncomfortable after hickey says he was hoping they'd meet...

"separated from the temptations of the world... find spiritual benefit in the collective... man's worst urges can be satisfied through christian pleasures..." the way he has a list at the ready!!!! tell me: what are your worst urges, john irving?

"god sees you, mr. hickey, here more than anywhere" now that's an interesting one. bc we know hickey wants to be seen, in a way; he wants to be recognized as somehow superior, and better. especially at this point by captain crozier but also in a metaphysical sense as well. this culminates in his arrogance in trying to bond with tuunbaq in the end.

his slight little smile in the end!!! he clocks that irving is scared of him. and if irving is scared then that means hickey has power. and he wants power, power over his circumstances, power over other people, power over nature.

I HAD ENTIRELY FORGOTTEN THE "DO YOU KNOW WHAT COPULATES IN THIS SHIP? RATS" THING. CORNELIUS HICKEY RAT MOTIF FOREVER.

billy argues that he has to keep himself in good standing with the command which is why they have to break up (it's a power thing and hickey has this obsessive relationship to the idea of power) hickey tries to argue that he's croziers specialest boy (power thing again; being liked by someone might mean having power over them and who wouldn't like to have power over the most powerful man around, the captain?) and billy just fully!!! laughs!!!! in his face!!!

also hickey's "it could lead anywhere ;-)" he wants to fuck that old man sooooo bad

"educate this creature as to the dominion of the empire" GODDDDDD TUUNBAQ DOESNT CARE ABOUT YOUR GODDAMN EMPIRE IT SIGNIFIES NOTHING TO HIM YOU ARE SIMPLY MEAT TO EAT AND SOULS TO CONSUME

unceremoniously dumped by tuunbaq in the same hole they unceremoniously dumped silna's dad. rot in piss <3

"you don't think it's strange how it started killing as soon as we took down the [slur]?" babyboy whose name I do not know you are SO CLOSE to getting it.

this very genuine grief over their fallen comrades expressed through singing was very touching to me.

I like how in the eulogy crozier gives (written by franklin) we tie back to the themes of power developed earlier through the imagery of the ladder; how you can climb up or down in the rungs of power...

GODDDD hickey shitting on billy's bed. babyboy I love you forever <3 also him finding out about croziers attempted resignation!!! having someone's secret also means having some measure of power over them- even if they don't know it

oh and that is also where he kind of gets the inkling of how truly fucked they are. and then the gears in his mind really start turning...

[supernova-ferro]

Ok i have been on dcla twitter before and be so glad that im NOT anymore, but anyways if ur coming here from twitter heres some things to know

You cant just call some random character toxic and abusive for no reason, unless they are in fact toxic and abusive i know twitter likes to throw these words around so if youre going to do that at least have the facts to back it up

We dont really argue on here so dont try and start drama anywhere bc i know twitter likes the drama. Sometimes we disagree but we just respectfully disagree and move on with it, because everyone should be allowed to have their own opinions.

We dont get into ship wars or wars of what show is better. Like obviously you can have an opinion of which one you like the best but we dont get into wars of which one is the best. And everyone has their own preferences of ships which we also respect

WE DO NOT SHIP THE ACTORS. LIKE AT ALL. So pls dont because its weird

Also yes we are very big on non canon lgbtq ships so if you dont like that at all its going to be very hard for you here

I think thats all, ill edit this post if i think of more, but yeah thats basically it

[choptop-sawyer]

Hi again 😎💫 im here to dig at ur brain again bcs i. M. Aaa sorry i just love ur stuff but. I have this kinda rly specific storyline type hc area and I'd love to hear any hcs you might get from it if its at all jr thing. But um I keep sometimes thinking back to the idea of kinda, vaguely growing up in the same area as the Sawyers, being childhood friends (and being stupid 2gether, running arount the countryside, ditching school & playing in corn fields) -

But then having to leave in your late teens to school / whatever (I mean 😎 my sappy ass also thinks abt mutual pining w Bobby but you know...... nearly unrelated.......)

Then, later on (Bobbys now Chop Top, Nubbins is..... dead I guess but also >:( maybe not, the family is up to being a mess etc) returning to town to take a break from work or whatever. N meeting up w the family again, i mean, oblivious to the bullshit they get up to but.... yk

This is a bit rambly i should probs have waited to sleep but I can't get the thought of returning to the Sawyer door wearing Bobbys tie dye sweatshirt that hr borrowed u years ago and all the impact of being a former family member bc u were also kind of an outsider or whatever but also the drama of leaving so uwu sksjd

This got so long. All i wanted to ask is: sawyer family headcanons for a childhood friend returning to town after being away for years. Rip.

THANK YOU FOR SENDING THIS god I love the image too of just standing in the doorway,, you're not home, you've changed a little bit, but you still fit into some of the old aspects you know so well they fit you and cover you.

Actually this is great because that fic that I swear exists has pretty much the same premise but!!! I can make this one less tragic than that one. 😎

(This is mostly Chop Top n you centric please don't mind)

Also this timeline is all fucky. I think that as soon as Chop came home from Vietnam the Sawyers had basically uprooted themselves and were living in North Texas because of the... Hardesty incident. But like can we pretend that that never happened they r still there in Newt? Just for this. (Hope you like it!)

Chop Top's Childhood Friend Returns

You don't think you would have turned out the way you did without the Sawyers.

They were the main element of your childhood, a mystery that you had to be a part of. A mystery, because they were closed off. Mistrustful. The sickness of small towns carried to the extreme, because they were mostly alone. The loneliness made them more miserable, the misery made them more isolated. A cycle, a legacy.

So it was a a miracle that you were even allowed to be apart of some of it, but you attribute that miracle to Bobby.

He seemed to think you were as much of mystery as what you thought the Sawyers were. Two kids looking through a small window into another world. But he liked that. He liked that you were something different, something new. From beyond that small world of loneliness that lived in the house.

You learned quickly that he had a desire for anything beyond that world. So he'd invite you out with him, when you were kids, to run free in the tall grass, when you got older, to drive with him to places unknown. He had a knack for finding these odd places, and he always brought you along with the music cranked up loud on the radio.

Bobby told you many times that he wanted to see the world. He had this lust for life that went beyond the restlessness of the young. He also said that he wanted to bring you along with him when he saw the world. You didn't ever mention how that always made your heart skip a beat when he said that.

Maybe you should have. But the past is the past and you can't change that.

You knew the other Sawyers too, but Bobby tended to avoid them sometimes. But occasionally, you got to hang out with them.

Nubbins was an enigma. You didn't think Nubbins was his real name. But that's the only one you heard from him, but the name situation was the least confusing thing. He was the most open person you knew. And yet you couldn't understand him, and decided at some point that you wouldn't ever. But he was fun. His energy was infectious, if he was filled with joy, you couldn't help but laugh with him too. That was Nubbins, so absent of any purposeful deceit that he was almost a mirror, you saw yourself around him, sometimes it was uncomfortable, but other times it was fun.

Bubba was the opposite. He seemed to be legitimately wary of you. Bobby once told you that Bubba didn't like to leave the house, ever. He stayed and did the chores. You wondered if he minded, being stuck with all the chores but Bobby said he didn't. It was comforting for him. Always having something set to do. You only saw him once. Nubbins had made him tag along when he needed him to hang some things from a tree. Bones from indeterminate animals, a clock with a nail through it. You don't think Nubbins actually needed Bubba to reach the branches (he climbed pretty well) but he just wanted his little brother to see his work. Bubba didn't make eye contact with you the entire time. He was wholly focused on his task of helping Nubbins. But he was gentle when he helped his brother, careful, and for that you liked him.

Drayton was... well. He was the one Bobby argued with the most. He was his brother, but with how much age between the two, it was almost hard to believe sometimes. Drayton was the one that everybody in Newt knew the most. People liked him well enough, but they said he was odd behind his back. He knew that. You don't think he trusted anything outside the insular world he and his family had existed in for years, and was at odds with Bobby because he didn't get why Bobby wanted anything to do with the world outside.

Oftentimes you would see Bobby after he and Drayton got into it. He'd be fuming, but he'd smile when he saw you. You'd leave with him whenever he came to you. These adventures were the most fun you had when you were there.

The other times you'd go off were when he'd convince you to skip school. Bobby never went himself. He didn't get the idea of all those kids sitting in classrooms for hours, doing nothing but writing and listening. Why do that when you can find things out for yourself? Get into some trouble? In his mind, he was saving you from a very boring thing.

You two knew the area around Newt well. The fields and the flat expanses were the best kind of playground. Your dreams were still set in them. A kind of sunshine filled melancholy.

Bobby told you things in the grass. His dreams yes, but his own thoughts. On music, on late night radio, on movies, on you. He perhaps thought of you as wonderful as voices on the radio, stars on the screen. He never told you that though. But your name was never far from his mouth when Bobby talked about the things he loved.

You and him loved each other as much as two kids who didn't know how to could. He was always on your mind now, with not much tangible objects to remember him with. A photograph taken by Nubbins, your faces blurred because you were laughing. A button, the pin on the back bent. A sweatshirt, which he tie dyed himself, and gave to you one night. The colors were faded. You never did get to return it.

The years away did nothing to lessen thoughts of him. No, they just blurred all together now, and the stream of the sunshine filled melancholy was almost endless. You needed a break. There was only one place you could think of that could help you with that.

So you came back. All things led back to this place eventually. Newt was dying, or dead. Didn't you see somewhere that when a ship went down, it took everything with it? You didn't want to stay for long. But you had to see all of them, you had to know that they were all not these strange figures you had dreamt up.

You went right to the house. You'd never actually been allowed inside, Bobby just always said something along the lines of 'Grandma and Grandpa are napping upstairs' or 'there's a mess' (never mind that he could care less usually about messes.) But you figured he had had a good reason. Maybe he was embarrassed.

When you knocked on the door, your heart was pounding. And that was all. Nothing happened, no indication that anyone was there. You waited, the sweatshirt was too hot but you didn't want to take it off.

Maybe you should come back another time. You were just about to turn around and leave when the door burst open, almost whacking you in the face. And there (you couldn't believe your eyes you couldn't this was a dream) he was.

Bobby had a hammer raised over his head, grinning, he was poised to swing it down, but then he saw you and he felt as if he was in a dream too.

It's been so long. He thought he made you up, a dream to carry him through misery, and you looked the part, even as you stood before him on the doorway. The light of the setting sun shone behind you, heat waves shimmered in the dusk, and you... you.

Facing each other, you stood, just staring. Over head the sky grew colorful, in the fields the grass whispered in the wind. Nothing had changed. Everything had changed. Bobby dropped the hammer and grabbed for your face, and he held it, fingers digging in so tight it hurt.

"H-hey you." He said, and fell to his knees, releasing your face. You numbly touched the marks his fingers left. Bobby still looked like a man who had seen a ghost.

You called his name, and his eyes looked lost, like he hadn't heard it in a long time. He looked up at you, and you could really get a good look at him. His face was leaner, he looked sickly and wiry, but his eyes were just as you remembered. You sank down to the porch to sit with him.

"Fuck... FUCK I didn't... I- I thought ya'd forgotten all about me... uh.. uhm. Fuck! I mean, r-really! Turnin' up out of the blue like you're some kinda... ghost or whatever... WHOA man... like, ya here to return m-my, my sweatshirt? You're wearin' it, you can keep it! You look better in it anyway... heh, fuck." He rambled on and on, hands tensing and twitching as if they were moving to touch you again, just to reaffirm your existence. Did he know how glad you were to see him? Did he know that you hadn't felt right for the longest time being away?

You forgot all about the sweatshirt, the hammer he had raised with a sadistic grin. You reached out and held one of his twitching hands, and he stilled and stopped talking. There was a peace now.

It didn't seem possible for your heart to feel this full. But it was. And by god, if this wasn't the best decision you made in your life to visit your old hometown, if only just for this moment.

Bobby stood, with your hand still in his, pulling you up. He smiled at you, and you knew you still loved him, and in your deepest heart, you knew he loved you too.

But this time around, maybe you and him could love each other right.

[pandoratheprocrasticreator]

Im beating the dead horse with the stick i used to poke the hornets nest but theres an argument bouncing around against the censorship of morally objectionable material on fandom spaces like ao3. And it goes "these spaces were created for morally objectionable material in the first place. Where else are we supposed to put it."

And i agree! I think as long as whatever site ppl are using has a robust tagging system any kind of content should be allowed if it's legal to post. I think individual works should be appropriately criticized for bad or insensitive portrayals of morally objectionable content, and that a saturation of said bad portrayals in media can lead to wider romanticization and acceptance of said topics. Most individual creators however have very little control over how a wider audience would receive their work, even if the inclusion of objectionable content would require more scrutiny by both the creators and audience. Fandom spaces like ao3 specifically refuse to limit individuals from distributing their stuff as long as it's legal. All moderators of these spaces should do is offer people who dont want to see that stuff an easy way to opt out. Criticism towards the subject matter should be given on a case by case basis by its audience. If they changed that rule, ppl will just create another space run on this principle.

(In fact, I personally think its better if the "sickos" explore what they want to explore in fandom compared to making actual published works with certain morally objectionable topics. I can block someones omegaverse incest fic. I can't block an ad for a thinly veiled fetish film disguized as a hollywood blockbuster if it's printed on the side of a bus.)

But anyway yes sites like ao3 was made for ppl who wanted to post gross stuff without being harassed for it. yes its stupid that ppl are trying to harass "sickos" off the "sicko" websites instead of using the extensive block features most of these sites have. no i dont think posting morally objectionable content is harmful on its own but yes these topics should be portrayed more carefully and be subject to a lot of scrutiny when present in any artistic content. But like. I hope the ppl making this argument understand that a lot of people arguing for censorship in fandom spaces dont actually. Care. Where the "sickos" post their gross stuff. Bc they dont want ppl to post stuff they dont like period.

This argument assumes there will always be people who want to explore "bad" topics in fandom. So the solution is to let ppl who dont want to see that stuff to back out. But the people who oppose this wants the "sickos" to disappear altogether. They think if they yell about it hard enough and get enough sites to ban stuff ppl will eventually naturally choose to never think about morally objectionable stuff. Or at least never portray it in a way they dont like. This is why ppl who whine about ao3 "allowing 'problematic stuff' rarely talk about the tag blocking feature. Because it's not just that they dont want to see that stuff themselves. They dont want YOU to see it either. Or for the person to post it. Or even think about it.

And it's like. Wow youre complaining about seeing too many "problematic ships?" Babygirl the first thing i DO when i look up a new fandom on ao3 is to block all the lesbian x men, sibling x sibling, and child x adult ships i can think of. And as i scroll every time i see a bad ship i add it to the block list. What were YOU doing at the devil's sacrament?

[plan-d-to-i]

Playing off of what that person said about bottom Wangji, I personally find it ooc and wish people would tag it as such. MXTX has said multiple times that while people can ship whoever they want, they should never break up the main couple or change their dynamic in the relationship.

Also Wei Ying loves being a bottom in canon. In incense burner, WY immobilizes LWJ and still is the bottom and tries to break LWJ's restraint to get LWJ to rail him. He could have switched it but he doesn't. I find that their dynamic in canon fits who they extremely well, not because of stereotypes, but for other reasons. WY spends his entire first life taking of and protecting every else while in his 2nd he finally has someone to do that for him. He doesn't need LWJ to that, but it's nice to be able to be vulnerable and let yourself go and have someone take care of you for once. LWJ being top allows him to let go of his self-restraint and his be true self with WY and that WY loves all of it and even encourages it. He doesn't have to be perfect or the ideal confucianist man with WY. It also fits better with their dual cultivation and regrowing WY's golden core. LWJ is Yang energy while WY is Yin so it balances each other out.

Essentially write whatever you want, but do take into account the MXTX's wish for her own characters. She knows them better than any of us, so there has to be reason for her choice of dynamics.

I don't disagree. I 100% wish Western fandom could tag their head canons better like "#characters belong to mxtx #ooc belongs to me" when they go off on their "metAs" made up of 99.99% imagination and vibes, and make it easier for everyone to partake in the part of fandom they want to partake in. But half of this fandom self inserted so hard into side characters they can't even tell what canon is anymore and think mxtx did their favs wrong. Personally I really don't care about strangers projecting on the characters and changing them to match their traumas and dramas etc bc I fell in love w the story as mxtx wrote it. Hot take I know. Like I said I love the novel and their relationship dynamic. People switching them is OOC but I find it harder to endure ChengX!an, ZhanCh3ng, Hetswapping WangXian, insecure weak WWX and whatever other stuff ppl cook up for the mains that doesn't improve on the story in any way. I wish ppl could respect the author's wishes but let's be real ppl are out there wishing mxtx harm and arguing cql made the work better so it's probably not gonna happen in this fandom ( ≖.≖)

[campingwiththecharmings]

I posted 17,876 times in 2022

That's 5,283 more posts than 2021!

528 posts created (3%)

17,348 posts reblogged (97%)

Blogs I reblogged the most:

@shewhohangsoutincemeteries

@my-secret-shame

@marveldaily

@tvandfilm

@disabledameron

I tagged 17,743 of my posts in 2022

Only 1% of my posts had no tags

#q - 15,927 posts

#oscar isaac - 1,488 posts

#moon knight - 1,369 posts

#star wars - 1,133 posts

#marvel - 869 posts

#steven grant - 806 posts

#marc spector - 624 posts

#daredevil - 476 posts

#moon knight spoilers - 450 posts

#matt murdock - 449 posts

Longest Tag: 139 characters

#also just wanna say that i have written sequels to stories i never planned more than one chapter for just bc someone liked it enough to ask

My Top Posts in 2022:

#5

128 notes - Posted October 11, 2022

#4

Shut Up and Kiss Me

AN: another ficlet! this is a result of a couple of prompt lists i saw and was inspired by (there are like 4 other prompts i was inspired by also that are ~in progress~ so be on the look-out for those if you happen to enjoy this one 😉).

(Un-beta'd)

This is it, you think. This is the day you finally snap and murder him.

Rated:  T Words: 892 Pairing: Poe Dameron x GN!Reader Warnings: kissing, arguing, a little cursing...i think that's all. AO3

----

“Dameron, if you interrupt me one more time— Maker, help me.”

It’s the middle of the night. You’re exhausted and filthy and the last thing you want to do right now is argue with the posterboy of the Resistance yet again over how your kriffing ship should be maintained.

Unluckily for you, he doesn’t seem to care what you want.

“I’m just saying–”

“I don’t care! This is my ship. Go worry about your own!”

Your aggravated words echo through the mostly empty hangar as you turn away from him, signaling that you’re finished with the conversation. He doesn’t take the hint, however, and as soon as you reach for your tools, he’s running his mouth again. 

The sound of his voice makes the blood rush in your ears and you have to close your eyes in an effort to calm yourself. 

This is it, you think. This is the day you finally snap and murder him.

Clenching your jaw you exhale in frustration and swiftly turn to face him again. “Maker, will you just shut up?!”

He stops mid-sentence, mouth hanging slightly agape as he stares at you in shock and, for the briefest of moments, he is silent. But then the shock wears off and his irritatingly handsome face contorts in annoyance, a fire igniting in his eyes.

“Why don’t you come over here and make me!” he retorts, raising his eyebrows in challenge as his hands fall defiantly to his hips.

You tilt your head at his words, eyes narrowing slightly as you continue to glare at him.

‘Make me,’ he says. With pleasure. 

You don’t remember moving, but suddenly you’re right in front of him, invading his space the way he always seems to invade yours. It throws him off, you can tell by the look in his eyes as they study you.

You realize too late that getting so close to him was a huge mistake. This close, you can smell him, can feel the warmth of his body, can see how soft his gorgeous curls look, can see the many shades of brown in his annoyingly beautiful eyes—

Oh. Oh, shit.

Your eyes widen a little, flicking briefly to his lips before you can stop yourself and he notices. Something in his gaze shifts and you swallow thickly in anticipation.

“Do you wanna kiss me or kill me? I honestly can’t tell.” 

His voice is low, rough, and just a little bit teasing. You flush slightly in annoyance and cross your arms over your chest defensively.

“Right now? Definitely the second one.”

He bites his bottom lip in an effort to hold back a smile and you mentally curse yourself when it causes your heart to stutter a little.

“And before?” he asks innocently, moving somehow even closer to you.

“Before what?” you ask, holding his gaze and fighting the urge to step back and create space between you.

He allows himself to smile a little this time and the action momentarily draws your attention back to his mouth. When your gaze returns to his, there is a teasing glint in his eyes.

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147 notes - Posted September 16, 2022

#3

Love is a Game (For Fools to Play)

AN: So, hi. This is the first fic I’ve written in six years (OMG), and my first starring the lovely Poe Dameron, so please be gentle. I’m so sorry this is so long, btw, I meant for it to be a drabble and, well, obviously got a little carried away lmao.

Also, while I wrote this with a female reader in mind, I’m pretty sure it reads as gender neutral (please correct me if that’s wrong, I’ve read this so many times at this point I might be blind to it lol).

(Un-beta'd)

The Resistance has finally found a safe place to lay low and is celebrating their much-needed downtime with silly party games (and alcohol, obviously).

Rated: T Words: 4,600+ (idek y'all) Pairing: Poe Dameron x Reader Warnings: alcohol use, mild cursing, kissing, mutual pining, friends to lovers. AO3

—

You throw back a shot of Jet Juice and grimace as it burns down your throat.

“Shit, this stuff is terrible. Don’t we have anything palatable?”

Poe sits beside you on the floor of the common room, his own shot of Jet Juice between his fingers. “We’re on a secret base in the middle of nowhere. What were you expecting? A Takodana Quencher?”

You laugh, grabbing another shot. “No, but I’d kill for a Starfire 'skee right about now. Maker, I’d even settle for a Tsiraki, at least it tastes good.”

“Eh, I’m more of a Starshine Surprise kind of guy,” he jokes, taking another shot.

You hum in agreement, only kind of processing what he’s saying as you too take another drink. You feel pleasantly buzzed and you find yourself wishing you felt this good all of the time. “That stuff’ll kill you, you know.”

His entire left side is already pretty much flush with your right, so when he chuckles and tries to bump your shoulder with his, he almost falls over into your lap. 

“Maker, Dameron, why are you always throwing yourself at me?” You snort, slapping a hand over your face when it’s louder than you anticipated; apparently you’re more sloshed than you’d originally thought.

He rights himself and tries bumping your shoulder again, but only succeeds in pressing himself further into your side. “You’re irresistible, I just can’t help it.”

You huff a laugh and turn to answer him, realizing too late how close his face is to yours. His nose bumps your cheek and his breath fans against your lips as you lock eyes with him. His face is flushed and his eyes are a little hazy and your breath catches in your throat when his gaze dips briefly to your mouth. 

You should lean back, give the both of you some space, but you can’t. He’s warm and solid and he just smells so damn good. He licks his lips absently, eyes roaming over your face. 

“You know,” he whispers, raising a playful eyebrow, “if you want to kiss me, baby, all you have to do is ask.”

A strangled laugh escapes you as the tension breaks and he smiles and leans away, searching for another drink. He wrinkles his nose when he can’t find one and looks over at you. “We need more shots.”

Just then, someone across the room yells something about playing a game and mostly everyone cheers. Poe looks at you, raising his brows in askance. You shrug and begin the process of standing to your feet (which you don’t remember being so difficult…). Poe is up before you and helps you up the rest of the way, his hand grasping your upper arm.

“You good?” he asks, watching you wobble a little as he lets you go.

You nod and pat his shoulder. “Thanks for the assist, Black Leader.”

He snorts and shakes his head. “Come on, let’s go see what the game is.”

When you make it to the crowd of people playing…whatever it is they’re playing, a game is already apparently in full swing. You can’t really see what’s happening, but everyone’s cheering and laughing. You try to ask the person closest to you what’s going on, but it’s so loud, they don’t hear you. You look at Poe, Poe looks at you and you both shrug and turn back to the crowd to wait for an opening. 

After a moment, there is one and you grab Poe by the arm and push your way through, dragging him behind you. When you emerge, you finally see what everyone’s so worked up about.

Spin-the-Bottle. They’re playing Spin-the-kriffing-Bottle.

You sigh in disappointment. You’ve never been into this game, even when you’re plastered. The thought of kissing some random person that you don’t even get to pick sounds like the furthest thing from fun to you. But Poe is laughing and cheering beside you (and has somehow found another drink) and you know you won’t be able to get him to leave, at least not right now, so you resign yourself and try to enjoy the antics of your comrades.

It becomes clear pretty quickly that they’re not playing a normal game of Spin-the-Bottle. According to the girl beside you (apparently named Mor), it’s some weird mash-up with another game she can’t recall the name of, but the gist is that a person spins the bottle and goes into a closet with whomever it lands on. 

“What do you do once you’re in the closet?” you ask, sure that this must only be fun if you’re totally trashed.

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156 notes - Posted July 11, 2022

#2

203 notes - Posted October 28, 2022

My #1 post of 2022

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262 notes - Posted September 13, 2022

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