#be more mindful and critical of your biases please.

[trannyradfem]

Yeah anon, like, genuinely just learn what gendie speak means and translate it in ur head. You'll find there's way more similarities than you'd have ever guessed. There's a fuckload of things TRAs agree with us on but they have so much cognitive dissonance caused by fear and threats (especially for AFABs) they'll never break it down and admit it. Not until/ unless they peak, anyways. But we can. Read between the lines.

When they say, "why do you say you hate men that's too binary :(", try to imagine their perspective. Regardless of how YOU feel about it, trans afabs exist, and will continue existing until MUCH better treatment modalities come out. (If they ever do, as radical feminism isn't really doing anything to help these women, so where else will they turn to for relief? The trans community, duh.) How can we expect otherwise when women with dysphoria are basically told it's their fault for being misogynists if therapy doesn't work? We don't even have any treatment modalities specifically for dysphoria, so, be more realistic about your expectations, please.

Breaking it down, "that's too binary" can mean multiple things. It can refer to how trans AMABs will call themselves women, but still can easily be extremely misogynistic in the same ways you're talking about when you say you hate men. But they WILL get mass harassed by their own community for saying it bluntly like that, so they use the gendie speak. By adding more flames to the fire, all you're doing is adding more pressure and making it actively harder for them to ever have a chance at unpacking their cognitive dissonance. You're perpetuating the same reactive dehumanization that has made the trans community cultlike and reactive in the first place. And that's a disservice to both that person and radical feminism in general. This person saying that quote is agreeing with you, just not in the way you want them to.

It could also mean to address how trans AFABs only really have transient and watered down male privelege, especially when they aren't flat out the binary type that wants to fully pass as a man. And they want to know, "Do you hate me like that as well?". You see nonbinary and have a negative reaction to that, and I get it, but you're not trying to discern the actual meaning underneath the gendie fluff.

If you can acknowledge that gendie fluff language is useless and detracts from the point, you can also break it down to see what they're actually saying in reference to their own material reality. So this actually isn't all that wild of something to say, you just missed an opportunity to get a gendie to see it your way. You're not obligated to do that by any means, but if you call yourself any level of activist, that's a part of what activist work really is. Not just online, but irl as well.

The next quote, "girls in school bullied me for being too masculine, but boys did not, thus males are not oppressive" is-- once again-- gendie fluff that represents an extremely complex reality as a GNC woman, as dykeulous explained. There's also room here to educate on personal experiences versus systemic oppression, because that's very obviously a missing piece in their logic from the get go. The best way to do that is to sympathize with the very real issue of GNC hate and homophobia that causes this environment for young women in the first place, and then explain your views. Go by statistics, especially when it comes to male crime vs female, sexual violence statistics, pregnancy mortality statistics, etc., because you probably already know these areas well if you're a radfem. And emphasis on "just because it didn't happen to you in that way, doesn't mean it's not happening for most women".

Just kinda treat them like people and not a stereotype of the worst gendie you've ever met. Please?

How do you get patience to deal with TIFs when they are out there saying shit like "but why do you say that you hate all men, it's too binary 😥" or "girls in high school bullied me for being too masculine but boys did not (?), so your idea that men are more oppressive is wrong"?

gender conforming girls bullying gnc girls in school is a very common problem, one that is very much connected to misogyny. girls being mean to & ostracizing other girls because “they aren’t like them” is likewise a common problem we should be talking about. homophobic women have a very unique way of acting out their homophobia, specifically against lesbians, and that is something that we undoubtedly need to be talking about– especially given the rates of lesbian exclusion within feminist spaces, historically & contemporarily. neurotypical & allistic girls being ableist to neurodivergent & autistic girls who don’t conform to societal norms is also a huge problem, very connected to misogyny & we need to talk about it when having feminist discussions. making fun of gnc female people is not feminist, no matter how “insufferable” you find them to be. mocking them & claiming their problems aren’t valid, claiming their history of being bullied specifically by girls is false, calling them attention-seeking-male-validation-wanting-pick-mes is not the feminist move many may think. you are not morally superior for being gender conforming or for not being dysphoric. “tifs” face a unique form of misogyny & oppression that you probably cannot relate to. you can criticize internalized misogyny & reactionary behavior from dysphoric female people & transmascs without generalizing us all. malgendering is a big thing within the trans community, and there are several transfems (baeddels) out there claiming they “hate all men” & being outright misogynistic to transmascs under the thin veil of their fucked up version of feminism. there are genuinely misogynistic transmascs out there, i agree, and by all means criticize them when they start with “transmisandry” claims & “hating all men is harmful” rants– but invalidating their trauma & instituting that someone “has the patience to deal with them” (concluding that they are insufferable annoying confused girls that thus should be excluded & left behind from feminism) is just no way to go on about that criticism. please refrain from speaking about the things you are uneducated about. that being said, you literally sent this ask to a transmasc person… don’t know if you are aware of that though.

[rottmnt-residuum]

Hi, I've read the Residuum comic, and I think the characterization of the boys is really good. I was wondering if you have any tips on how to write them? Especially Mikey, please.

I'd actually recommend re-watching the show with one character in mind. All my notes on the turtles come from doing separate re-watches for each of them. The key is to ONLY watch the character you are focusing on.

In the end, you'll probably be happier with your own personal interpretation. As we are with ours lol

TL;DR

Massive post under the cut

To preface: we'll be contrasting (this Mikey) against the fandoms version of Mikey, as our interpretation is very different. Don't worry if you prefer the fandom version, there's nothing… wrong per se with writing him this way. We just find him flat and uninteresting. (Main author: not me, I just hate him, lol).

Every reader or fan comes into a story with their own biases and experiences. A ton of our view of Mikey is based on how our siblings acted. We see Mikey as the young sibling that got preferential treatment from the whole family, simply due to being the youngest, but is now aging out of the privilege. Which all youngest siblings do at some point or another.

The fandoms version of Mikey is empathetic, naive, vulnerable, co-dependent and quite often a door mat who cries at the drop of a hat. And as much as the fandom like to say that people love him… when this particular character archetype is in other media, they seem to attract the most criticism. Mable pines, Bolin from Korra, people rag on Aang all the fucking time, and Steven Universe is a whole other bag. These characters don't deserve it, and yet it happens anyway.

To flatten Mikey to simply 'the baby' is a disservice. We don't see or write Mikey as the fandom “baby” version (cinnamon roll uwu). Part of this comes from having multiple siblings, so we interpret the times when Mikey does the puppy dog eyes as typical younger sibling bullshit, mostly by the way that the other turtles rarely react to it, if at all.

The other turtles traits can also get projected onto Mikey. Mikey being the fandom therapist is in the same category as this. He isn't a therapist, he's a psychology nerd who likes to psychoanalyze people and meddle in their relationships. (Donnie and Shelldons relationship, Splinter and Draxums...) he's not trying to resolve your emotional issues. Of the turtles, the character that cares the most about people's feelings is Raph. And Leo is more of a consoler than Mikey ever is. It flattens all the turtle's characterizations when you start doing this because you are ripping out parts that are integral to another characters' complexity.

Co-author has told me that they've seen people become confused when going into the show after only reading fan fiction or coming from the movie. They see his characterization as inconsistent and become upset when their view of him is contradicted. This also happens when a fandomized version of him becomes the primary characterization that they use. Sometimes when this disconnect happens (or if they just don't like the character), Mikey characterization is swung in the complete opposite direction.

They make him manipulative and abusive, or someone who is hyper violent and avoids being held accountable for anything. This is an uncharitable interpretation of him and can come off as pretty racist depending on the circumstances. (like if someone considers the turtles black or not)

Every version of Mikey is a shithead (affectionate), even this one. Especially this one, really. When Mikey not doing the "baby schtick" hes mean. If you pay attention to what he's saying, and just not his tone of voice, he's consistently saying pretty mean or condescending stuff. (You could take this as simply naïveté, but he still says mean shit pretty often regardless)

The times he does say genuinely nice stuff the turtles don't exactly expect it from him, at least, in the early season. And while he is mean, and seems to find saying mean things to be funny, Mikey isn't cruel. Nor will he ever be.

This shit-headery behavior is found in both 2003 and 18 Mikey. They have a degree of social intelligence that lets them use it to annoy people into doing what they want. 18 just has the advantage of being baby faced and having better tonal control. He's good at using people's perception of him to get what he wants.

Let Mikey have his problematic traits, but don't overexaggerate them. He doesn't revel in fooling people. He loves doing character bits, and the baby faced one just happens to be one of them. However, to infantilize or to deem him incompetent is to piss him off, he wants to be viewed as a competent part of the team and competent as an individual. He's not insecure about being young, he just doesn't want to be treated like he can't do anything.

Mikey above all is an optimistic character, he sees the brighter side quite often and is conscious of the harm his actions have on people. Mostly after the fact, but he consistently attempts to rectify the harm he has personally done to peoples lives. (Todd, Bullhop, Draxum). Food and shelter seems to be a thing that he considers to be a right. He doesn't cross a boundary twice once he learns of it, and he never pushes people too far (if he likes you, that is. if he doesn't know you or doesn't like you, he doesn't give a singular shit. But that is standard to most people.). He doesn't care about people's stuff, though. He breaks things all the time.

Mikey understands boundaries, but he doesn't automatically recognize them. He needs them to verbalized or for there to be a very obvious reaction to the boundary being crossed (unfortunately, for Todd and Donnie). Sometimes people mess up (esp. younger people), and it can take a while for teens to learn where boundary is, but he fully respects the boundaries he does know about. He doesn't act petulant when he's told about boundary, he apologizes, accepts it, and moves on. He doesn't dwell.

Mikey doesn't hold on to distressing emotions. He bounces between emotions quickly, but isn't effected in the long run. One thing Iv'e seen people often conflate is the difference between sensitive and vulnerable. Mikey is sensitive, but I have never seen him vulnerable to others. To be sensitive is to be easily influenced by the current situation. To be vulnerable is to hold that influence for a long time. Characters can have one, both, or neither of these traits. But Mikey is not vulnerable. It is the difference between compressing memory foam and a piece of metal until they deform. One will pop back, the other does not.

Those who are vulnerable but not sensitive will take longer to effect, but once you do, they will hold on to that emotion for a very long time. The vulnerable, are grudge holders. (leo). But like I've said, Mikey bounces back. What a character does has an effect on his emotions, but it doesn't make a lasting impression.

Forgiveness is another thing people like to push on him. It is not that Mikey forgives people easily, it's just that he doesn't hold grudges. He neither forgives nor forgets, but he does not ruminate. He's generally affable, first impressions seem to be a big part of how he views people. He is idealistic, and doesn't assume people are unchanging and/or evil, but he's not a mark.

Mikey isn't so much as naive or overly trusting… it's just that he's inexperienced. He doesn't get fooled by anyone in the series except meat sweats, and that's because Meatsweats is on Todd drugs. Mikey just didn't notice when he started faking. He's not… actually all that aware of people's emotional states, passively. He has to tune in to notice things like that.

Mikey isn't someone who really tries to regulate others emotions, either. The fandom like to make Mikey afraid of his brothers fighting and others being upset, but Mikey doesn't actually care. The most distressed we ever see him in a fight is in the movie, and he's not SCARED, he's just concerned (and then alarmed once it turned physical). If anything, outside extenuating circumstances (like the movie), Mikey actually seems to find their fights annoying.

(Mikey actually seems to have a pretty short fuse, but his bounciness doesn't really let it linger very long, lmao)

(One pet peeve of fandom Mikey is the constant crying, crying at fights, crying at insults, crying for no reason all the time. Sure, he tears up when he gets emotional, but when Mikey is genuinely crying It's when he's desperate, like when he's hungry, or when he's trying to save Leo from certain doom. Same thing, really.)

Mikey respects no one (we love him for this). He admires people, he admires his family: April, the turtles, his dad, Lou Jitsu. He admires Rupert Swaggert, but he respects none of them. No one is sacrosanct to the Mikey.

Above all, the way we write characters is to give them a past that informs how they act now. We view Mikey and the other turtles as teenagers that were kids, and that will be adults. Yes they all have “problematic” traits, but 1) good characters need flaws, and controversial traits are one of the best to use, and 2) they're teenagers, don't expect adult behaviors from them, also don't expect them to be kids. They're minors, not toddlers.

This is getting as long enough as it is, so we'll stop here, but this is a very broad overview of how we characterize him. There's a lot we didn't cover here, but if we even started on hobbies, or the real minutia of his quirks and ticks, or even how he feels about other specific characters... we'd be here all day. So I hope this is good enough lol

If there was something you wanted to know in particular, you'll need to get specific. Feel free to ask again ahahh

[piratecaptainscaptainpirates]

Alright, so there's been a lot of chatter about some of the most common racist takes in the fandom lately, and I know most people aren't engaging in good faith but I'm gonna spell some things out anyway. Here's a handy-dandy White Fan's Intro to Racist Fanon 101

Why is it racist to depict Ed as uncontrollably violent?

Because he's not actually depicted that way in the show. OFMD goes out of its way to depict Ed's relationship with violence as complex and intensely traumatic for him. Because he has so many hangups around violence, Ed is one of the least violent characters in a show full of violent characters. He is always shown giving people many chances before they're able to push him into reacting with violence.

Even if you think you're just doing a character study on a guy who is really very complex and nuanced, please take the time to consider if you're assigning more weight to Ed's violent actions than those of other characters or assuming he's worse than he actually is (for example, Ed never physically hurt the crew during his kraken spiral, just Izzy. His crime was being a shitty boss, not going on mindlessly violent rampages).

What do other common fanon depictions of Ed that are racist look like?

The biggest ones are depicting Ed as untidy/messy, as illiterate, and as needing a white man (most often Izzy) to clean up after him. I hope I shouldn't have to spell out why these are racist, but please keep an eye out for them in the fanon you consume so you can be critical of how you respond when they pop up.

Are you saying that all Izzy fans are racist?

Liking a character is morally neutral. Insisting that the viewpoint of an antagonistic character is the lens through which the show should be understood, though, especially when that antagonistic character's whole deal in the first season of the show was trying to control the behavior of the brown lead so he could gain power for himself, however...

Just please consider - why do you find Izzy's tears more deserving of sympathy and compassion than Ed's?

But my hot take/fic/meta doesn't say anything about Ed's skin color!

It doesn't have to. Most of the racist takes/fic/meta out there don't mention Ed's skin color explicitly. Racism doesn't just look like saying "this character is a brown man so he's bad." Everyone who grows up in a racist society (that's everyone on the planet, btw, you included) has biases to unlearn, and those biases impact how you interact with the world around you, including with the media you consume.

The thing is, OFMD isn't a subtle show. It's very consistent with telling us who Ed is, how he responds to situations, and why he behaves the way he does. If you find it easier to throw all that aside in favor of believing what a white antagonistic character tells you about him, then you should really take a bit to examine that.

And here's the most important thing to keep in mind:

This is not about you.

Trust me, it has to be pretty damn bad for fans of color to call out racism in fandom. Every time we do, we know we're gonna harrassment and just some truly awful shit in our inboxes. But you, random white fan who Did A Racism? No one is out to get you. No one thinks you're an awful person for including a racist trope in your stuff, we just wish you'd examine it so we can make this fandom a better place for everyone.

I have had amazing discussions with white fans who saw my posts on fandom racism and wanted a sensitivity read or a check so they could fix an instance where they uncritically included a racist trope. But most people who make similar mistakes will just double down and insist they didn't do anything wrong, and that makes fandom a worse place for all of us.

Fans of color deserve to feel safe and included in this fandom, and we're just tired of feeling like we have to beg to get some circles to see poc as people. You can do your part by being critical of these tropes and your reactions to them when they pop up.

[zorrasucia]

Teach Me Tonight - Part 6

[Part 1] [Part 2] [Part 3] [Deleted Scene] [Part 4] [Part 5] Part 6: [Part 7] [Deleted Scene] [Part 8]

Reader x Carmy Berzatto (The Bear FX)

Rating: Explicit (5k)

Tags: Smut, Set sometime after the opening of The Bear, Porn with a little plot, Virgin!Carmy, Jealous!Carmy, SoftDom!Carmy, Fluff, Miscommunication, Make up Sex, Sex Toys, P in V sex, Oral (M and F receiving), Both Carmy and Reader have a bit of a praise kink

Summary:

You were in over your head.

Some fashion vlogger had recorded a video in your store, giving it a glowing review and it had been good for business. Maybe too good. The store was now full of stylish teenagers with baggy jeans and designer bags, you had a new hire to train, and a local journalist had emailed you to ask for an interview.

He showed up a couple of days later, tall with dark hair, and every bit as stylish as you would expect a reporter from a fashion magazine to be. You had shown him around, let him take photos, talked about your favorite brands and decades of fashion, and complimented his printed shirt.

"It's from the seventies," he commented bashfully. "I'm a little obsessed."

And he talked about his ongoing quest for the perfect pair of bell bottoms. You showed him what you had in the store and promised to be on the lookout.

"You know, it's weird," he gestured to the side, where The Bear was. "I used to come here when they did sandwiches."

"They still do!" you beamed. "The fine dining is really good too. Well, I'm biased but-"

"Right! Being their neighbor and all," he concluded. You simply nodded along - no need to let him know the intricacies of your personal life.

"Let me buy you lunch," he offered. You were about to refuse when he added. "I'd love to try their food but I hate eating alone."

You accepted. It seemed harmless and it could be good for the restaurant too - maybe he knew a food critic and would recommend the place too.

Richie guided you both to a table with a smile, quickly catching up with your plan once you mentioned the interview, offering the journalist a sampler of the menu.

It was good - the food, the conversation. It caught you by surprise when Carmy stormed out of the kitchen, something angry in his stride.

"Are you enjoying the food?"

It was a simple enough question, it was the way he said it-

"It's excellent, thank you!" the journalist said earnestly, which only seemed to wind up Carmy even more.

"Good, great," he rasped, then turned towards you. "Can I talk to you?" it was said in that clipped tone that meant he was stressed and he didn't have good news.

You followed him to the back and touched his wrist briefly, trying to convey how important this was.

"Carm?" you asked, your face wrinkling in worry and confusion.

"You mad at me or something?" he asked.

"No! Just nervous, stressed... I don't even know - it's just the interview," you tried to reassure him. "Can we talk later, baby?"

"Sorry to interrupt," the journalist had walked up to you without either of you noticing. "I just wanted to know - are you the chef here?"

"He is, yes!" you smiled, thinking everything was going according to plan.

“Carmen Berzatto,” he said without offering his hand, his frown furrowed and something deadly in his stare.

The journalist gave one look at Carmy and his face shifted from friendly to scared. "I'll give you guys a minute."

Carmy was burning holes on the back of the guy's skull and you couldn't be more embarrassed.

"What's wrong with you?" you whispered.

"That fucking guy."

"He's the fucking journalist! Are you out of your mind, Carmen?" you were losing the last shred of patience you had left. "I was trying to do a nice thing and you- We can talk about this later at home, okay? Now leave, please."

You turned away from him and didn't look back until you had paid for lunch and walked the journalist out the door.

"I'm so sorry about him," you explained. "It wasn't personal."

"Don't worry about it. I worked as a server once. I swear working in a kitchen does things to your brain..." he mimicked a spiral by his temple. You winced.

"Yeah."

"Hope he doesn't bother you again," he said, which made your stomach drop. "I'll send you the article when it's done. And you have my number if you ever find those bell bottoms."

He waved goodbye and you huffed in defeat.

Suddenly, you were being hugged by Nat, her arms around your shoulders.

"Did Carmy send you?" you asked, patting her forearm.

"Kind of," she let go of you with a sigh. "He walked in the kitchen and kind of lost it? I had to get it out of him. And when he explained, I came over."

"Thank you," you said softly.

"He can be an idiot," she said.

"Yeah," you nodded.

"He loves you, though."

"I know," you said, rubbing your temples. It had been a long day. "I'll text him."

You were pacing the carpet, waiting for Carmy to get back from work. You had a list of things you wanted to tell him ready to go: that making a scene like that had been embarrassing and hurtful, that he had probably ruined the whole interview acting that way -

Your train of thought and frantic pacing was interrupted by the key in the door. Carmy walked inside, a defeated look on his face, and every cell in your body wanted to go and hold him but you stood still, arms crossed while he closed the door behind him.

"Hey," you said.

"Hey, I, uh," he stumbled. "What I said... What I did... I mean, even Richie thought that it was fucked up so..."

He let it hang there, in the air between you two, keeping his distance.

"Carm," you took a deep inhale. "I need you to understand the store is just as important to me as the restaurant is to you. It's finally going well. And maybe that means I have less time for you. I need to know that you'll be okay with it - with me being busy sometimes - that whatever that was won't happen again."

"I know, I know," he said looking at the ground. "I'm happy it's working out. I am."

You tilted your head. "Then what the hell happened?"

He rubbed his forehead with the back of his hand.

"It's so stupid," he mumbled, embarrassed. "I got jealous. So fucking jealous. I had never- I didn't know what to do with it."

You uncrossed your arms - you actually hadn’t thought of that.

"No need to be, Carm," you reassured him.

"I just-" he blinked hard like he sometimes did when he was stressed. "This tall as fuck guy, with the fancy fucking shirt, just being charming around you..."

"You think I care about that shit?"

"I don't know, maybe?" Carmy looked at you with wide eyes. "I'm an asshole sometimes, I cancel plans, my family is a fucking mess-"

"Hey, I like Nat!" you interrupted his spiral.

"And I think she likes you better than me."

You stood in silence for a while.

"I'm sorry. I am," he said in the end.

You moved one step closer and pressed your forehead to his. "It's okay if you're jealous, Carm. Just- keep your cool if it happens again. Please," you said softly. "I don't know if I can handle you acting like that again."

He nodded. "Promise."

"I'm coming home to you, baby. No one else," you emphasized, running your hands over his chest.

"Mhmm," he tilted his head, eyes closed, like he wanted to kiss you but needed your permission. You surged forward, trapping him in a tight embrace and a searing kiss.

It got heated quickly.

He cornered you towards the kitchen, grabbing and pressing, until you were sitting on the counter, legs bracketing his hips, hands in his hair.

"Carmy," you gasped, as he kissed your neck like only he knew how. His tongue traced the contour of your collarbone and you moaned.

He undid the first few buttons of your blouse, burying his face between your breasts, kissing and nipping. You carded your fingers through his hair, and crossed your legs behind him, keeping him close. The heat between your thighs was getting more unbearable as time went by. He started kissing down, like he would eat you out, atoning for what happened, but you didn't want that.

You pulled on his hair and made him look up. "I need you inside me," he exhaled shakily. "Now."

He took a condom out of his back pocket while you unbuttoned his slacks, undressing him just enough to free his cock. His hands went under your skirt, eager, and moved your underwear to the side. When Carmy leaned to start fingering you, you grabbed his wrist.

"I need your cock inside me," you clarified.

You didn't want the tenderness of foreplay. You moved to the edge of the counter, taking his cock in hand and putting the condom on yourself. You guided his head to your entrance and felt him fill you out. It hurt a little, your pussy tight and unprepped, and weirdly that was what you wanted now. You whined once he bottomed out and he groaned at the feeling, the sound making you roll your eyes.

"Fuck," you held him close, arms around his shoulders, clinging to him for dear life. Without knowing where it came from, you said to the side of his face: "Show me I'm yours."

He inhaled sharply, his hands shaking where they held your waist. Then his hips moved back and forth in one long, agonizing stroke. You moaned. Again. And you held him tighter, letting drowned out cries pour out from your lips. He kept going for a little while, the pace so slow that it made you wonder whether all his anger had fizzled out by now.

Except he started going hard, hitting that spot that made you dizzy. Your breasts and legs were shaking with every thrust. You covered your mouth to stop from screaming.

"Holy shit, Carmy" you mumbled.

His hands touched all over, scratching your thighs and up, squeezing your hips, tracing your sides, caressing your arms and holding your wrists. You shivered. His cock kept hitting just right, his mouth exhaling on the side of your face. His hand traveled south, finding your clit like it was second nature, thumbing at it in small circles, just the way you liked.

"No one can fuck me like this," you whined. "No one makes me feel this good."

His hips stuttered and he moved so that your foreheads were touching and his eyes were staring right into yours, you could feel the sweat on his brow.

"Yeah?" he asked, his voice hoarse.

"Yeah," you replied, your jaw slack as you kept panting and moaning. His pace was so steady that it felt like Carmy could go on forever. Then, impatient, you started thrusting your hips against his, making it go twice as fast, making him groan into your mouth and start losing control.

"Fuck," he cursed, grabbing your hips, steadying himself. "I'm so crazy about you."

"Carmy," you managed to say, desperate, your voice getting high, and your nails scratching at his scalp.

His free hand squeezed your breast over your bra and you slipped your hands under his shirt, caressing the hair on his navel, and up his chest, pinching one of his nipples hard.

"Fuck, baby," he groaned again.

You were so close you could almost taste it. Just then you grabbed his face with both hands.

"Tell me," you pleaded. "Tell me you'll never do that again. Tell me I'm yours."

"Never. Never, I promise," Carmy breathed into your mouth, little desperate sounds escaping his throat. "You're mine, you're mine, you're mine."

He came with a strong exhale, drowning every other sound into your neck. His thumb on your clit kept moving until you joined him, completely spent, bracing on the edge of the counter to stop yourself from falling back.

He placed gentle kisses on your throat while you both recovered your breath. You clenched your walls around his cock, drawing a satisfied moan out of him.

"Did you get the guy's contact?" he panted against your skin.

"Yeah, why?" you replied ruffling his hair with your exhale.

"Thought I'd send him a cannoli or something," Carmy looked up from his place on your chest. "Make sure what I did doesn't make you look bad."

You ran your fingers through his hair, soothing.

"I don't think that's necessary but I'm sure he'll appreciate it. He said something about wanting to marry whoever made the desserts," you teased.

"Don't think Marcus'll be interested," Carmy inhaled deeply, his nose on the exact place you sprayed perfume every morning, though by now it had probably faded into a saltier scent. "When's the article coming out?"

"Couple of weeks," you hummed, caressing his back under his shirt.  "We have time, baby. So much time."

~

You were leaning on the kitchen door, watching as Carmy and Syd posed against the counter. A photographer was giving them vague instructions about where to stand and where to look. She was also complimenting Carmy and hitting on him like she was getting paid overtime for it.

"Sydney, lean forward, yes, nice! Carmen, hit me with those blue eyes! Gorgeous, what a handsome guy!" she said with a cat-like smile.

The restaurant was going to be featured in Food & Wine, which entailed a photoshoot.

They had both started wearing their chef's whites, going for a more professional approach. Then, to make them more comfortable, the photographer asked them to change into their street clothes. It had done wonders for Syd, who was now showing off one of her mother's beautiful shirts with a proud smile on her face. It hadn't been quite as successful with Carmy - he had a tortured look in his eyes. Now he was standing awkwardly in the middle of the kitchen, even more withdrawn than when they had started, every wink and cheesy one-liner from the photographer making him wince.

"Okay, Sydney, a little to the side. Exactly, chin up, please! And Carmen - why don't you stand this way? Yeah, let's show off those arms."

You bit your bottom lip.

"Carm?" you called him - he turned with wide eyes. "Can I talk to you for a second?"

He nodded. "Sorry, excuse us," he mumbled, leaving the kitchen quickly, trailing behind you. He grabbed your hand and squeezed it. "I'm sorry," he said, his blue eyes pleading.

"What for?"

"All the things she's saying..." he turned briefly, making sure the door was closed. "Fuck, I don't mean to-"

"You're not doing anything wrong, baby," you reassured him, cupping his face gently. "It looked like you needed a break, is all."

"Yeah," he exhaled heavily. "It's a lot."

You nodded. "The kitchen looks really nice," you commented to lighten the mood. They had done a deep clean the day before that had run into midnight.

"Thanks," he smiled. Then added: "This is a fucking nightmare."

You intertwined your fingers with his. "I think-" you paused, "that she wants you to look confident. That's why she keeps saying nice things."

"They don't feel nice," he bit his cheek.

You remembered how hard it had been for him to accept compliments for anything other than his cooking when you had first started dating. He would scoff and dismiss every word. Even now, sometimes it felt like he didn't quite believe them and maybe was just humoring you - which broke your heart. There wasn't enough time to unpack all that, so instead you leaned forward, placing one hand on his hip, whispering to his ear, flirtatious.

"Carm, I want you to go in there and eye fuck that camera like you would if it was me," he took a sharp inhale. "I will make it worth your while. Let you do anything you want to me," you promised.

He gulped. "Jesus," he mumbled, his pupils dilated.

You gave him a brief kiss on the cheek. "I'll tell them you'll be back in a few minutes," you said with a satisfied grin and went back to your place by the kitchen door.

"He went for a quick smoke," you lied to Syd.

When Carmy returned, he was in control, hands on his hips, like he had suddenly remembered he owned the place.

"Okay, guys, let's get this over with," he took his place next to Sydney, leaning on the counter and staring right into the lens, something defiant in his stance.

Your heart started racing. Even the photographer seemed affected by the shift.

"Uh, yes, good," after a few clicks she said: "I think we got it. Mmm, one more from this angle and we'll be good to go."

She led them to the main entrance to The Bear, Sydney crossing her arms and Carmy mirroring that same stance. They looked like they had stepped out of a magazine, modeling some understated and ridiculously expensive brand. Carmy looked in your direction for a second and licked his lips, before he turned back to the camera, unflinching and determined.

Another few clicks.

"Thank you guys, that would be all," the photographer went up to shake their hands and say her goodbyes. You were about to follow her out when Carmy took you by the wrist.

"See you tonight," he drawled and you felt yourself get wet.

"When I said you could do anything you wanted to me, I wasn't expecting this," you panted, your hands buried in Carmy's curls, as he kept kissing and licking every inch of your pussy. He was taking his sweet time too, biting on your thighs and going up to give some attention to your breasts and neck whenever he felt you were getting too close to your release.

"What were you expecting?" he asked, an amused glow to his face while he rested his chin on your hip, his mouth and nose shiny with your arousal.

"I don't know," you sighed, frustrated but so turned on. His hand caressed your pussy gently and you moaned. "Give you a blowjob, wear a silly costume, something like that."

"And are you into that?" he asked.

"I do like to suck your cock," you said honestly. Sometimes, with other guys, it had felt like a chore, not with Carmy, you loved to see him come undone, let go completely.

"See, the thing is," he kissed the curve of your hip, "if you gave me a blowjob it would be over so quickly," he exhaled right on your spread out clit which made you shudder. "And where's the fun in that?"

You giggled giddily when he squeezed your ass, manhandling you closer to his face, keeping his focus on your pussy.

"So you're just going to edge me until I beg?" you asked, half wanting for him to say yes.

"Don't worry," he gave a long lick, from the bottom of your lips to the top, making you arch your back and curse. "You will come," there was something dark in his eyes again, that same determination from the photoshoot back in his face - he was in charge. "When I want you to."

You shivered. "Fuck, Carm."

He started sucking on your clit, his tattooed fingers curling inside of you. You melted under his touch, feeling your pussy squeeze his fingers.

"Please, Carmy..."

He stopped sucking, messing with the rhythm, keeping you hanging by a thread.

"You will come," he repeated, "when I want you to," the speed of his fingers increased. "As many times as I want you to."

You moaned. His mouth latched onto your clit, licking until you were thrashing on the bedsheets, his forearm kept you in place on the mattress.

"Fuck, shit, baby," you mumbled. Your gazes met, his blue eyes fiery. He nodded and you came in a blur, desperately grabbing at anything - his hair, the bedsheets - the feeling all the more intense for the time he had spent working you up. He kept kissing and sucking until you stopped moaning and started chuckling breathily.

"Just like that," he praised, something playful in his voice and you would have teased back if you weren't so completely spent.

He kissed the outside of your folds, staying away from your clit and your entrance, just worshipping the skin around them and you caressed his hair lovingly.

"You make me feel so fucking good," you exhaled.

He climbed up your body and kissed you hard, mouth open, letting you taste yourself on his tongue. His cock, hard inside his jeans, grazed the lower part of your belly, it made you tremble in anticipation. "You gonna fuck me?" you asked between one kiss and the next, your hips lifting up to ground on his.

He clicked his tongue. "Not yet," he got up and opened the drawer of your bedside table, taking out your rabbit vibrator. "This charged?"

You nodded, biting your lip.

"Good girl," he praised and your hand squeezed your breast almost unconsciously; something happened to you whenever he talked to you like that.

He lowered himself next to you, held up by one arm; his hand teased your pussy, his calloused fingers spreading wetness around.

"D'you need lube, baby?" he asked, more out of politeness than anything since he knew the answer very well.

"I think I'm okay, Carm," you laughed and he kissed the side of your face.

"Mhmm. So fucking hot," he whispered and you felt the dildo poking at your entrance.

You placed your hand on the side of Carmy's face, your thumb near the edge of his mouth. He sucked on it thoroughly, then let go with a pop. You whined needily.

"Please, please, please..." it poured out of you.

He bumped your forehead with his, his gaze was intense and hungry.

"Keep looking at me," he ordered, and you obeyed, keeping your eyes open even as the dildo went all the way inside you and filled you up deliciously. The coldness of the toy reminded you it wasn't Carmy's cock - but he was holding it, he was right there next to you. Your face contorted in pleasure.

"Yes, like that," he encouraged you, his words tickling inside your belly. He seemed to be overcome just looking at you - it made you feel wanted, adored, beautiful. You wanted to make him feel that way too.

"Carm," you gasped. "I need you to know- Oh, fuck," he pumped the toy inside you, slow, so slow. "I need you to know," you repeated through the fog of pleasure, "all those things the photographer said. They're true. Oh, my God, baby," his expression softened even as he buried the dildo deep inside you. "Your eyes are beautiful," another thrust, you caressed his face. "Your arms are so hot," you held onto the arm that was fucking you, squeezing the muscle there. "Shit. You're handsome, gorgeous, fucking- oh!" you blurted all at once, turning the compliments into moans. "I swear - fuck!" you held his gaze. "Can't believe you're mine."

He leaned forward, kissing you tenderly, swallowing your moans.

"I love you," he said softly.

"I love you," you replied, a choked out sound leaving your lips.

He turned on the vibration and watched you lose control, becoming desperate with lust, thrusting your hips wildly. He kept you there a bit longer than necessary, torturing you a little with how long he was drawing it out. It was so good, so fucking good.

"Carmy. Please," you begged.

"I know, I know," he soothed. "You're doing so good."

It sent a shiver down your spine and made the very last thread inside you snap.

"Oh," you exhaled, coming harder than you ever had, scratching at his forearm, screaming into the skin of his shoulder.

"Sound so nice," Carmy mumbled, looking as pussy drunk as a man could be without actually fucking one. "Baby, baby, baby."

You stayed there for a while, the dildo still inside you, and Carmy's hands touching your waist tenderly while you kissed.

After a long while of that, he got up from the bed, and started getting undressed while you watched. You bit your lip and put your head on your hand, enjoying the sight. He caught you staring.

"You really meant all those things you said," it began as a statement and ended as a question, Carmy's voice going up slightly.

"Every word," you said, taking out the dildo as Carmy showed you his cock. You licked your lips. "D'you mind? Me saying things like that?"

You wanted him to be confident but you didn't want to make him uncomfortable.

He shook his head. "I liked it," he admitted. He stood right by you, beside the bed, fiddling with the condom he had retrieved from your drawer. "Made me feel good."

"I'm glad, Carm," you reached out to caress his leg, following the line of muscle there. Saying he was beautiful once while you fucked wasn't going to change his mind, but you were willing to keep trying.

In the meantime, you could show him. Even with the exhaustion of everything Carmy had done to you, you wanted him inside you, wanted to see him roll his eyes in ecstasy. You crawled to where he was, kneeling, near the edge of the mattress. His cock was hard, pulsing, and it made your mouth water. He stood still, dropped the condom on the mattress, probably guessing what you were about to do.

When you were an inch away from his cock, he pulled your hair and stopped you.

He gestured at the vibrator. "Put that back inside you," he said in that demanding voice and you rushed to do as he said, only uttering a small moan when you had it inside you. He leaned over, tracing a long line from your neck to your ass, reaching to turn it back on on the lowest setting. You writhed a little but after a moment of adjusting to the feeling you were able to stay still and look at Carmy.

"Good girl," he said again and you keened, leaning forward to suck his dick. The sound he made once your mouth was on him was heavenly. "Holy fuck."

His hands were tangled in your hair and you wished you could deep throat without choking, just to watch him lose his mind completely. You settled for going as far as you could, getting every inch of him slick with saliva, making him groan and sweat. You looked up, his eyes were white and his face was flushed, his Adam's apple bobbing as he tried to breathe. You hummed with satisfaction and that woke up his competitive streak.

He pulled on your hair lightly. "Gimme a second," he panted. You thought he needed a breather, but he actually moved to turn the vibrator up a couple of notches. You trembled and reached for his ass, bracing, leaving red scratch marks on the tender skin.

"Fuck, baby," you said between moans. "Not fucking fair."

"Mhmm," he smirked, caressing your scalp. It took all your willpower and concentration but you moved forward and went back to sucking his cock, feeling a pang of pride as he threw his head back and uttered some curse you couldn't quite decipher.

The vibrator set a pace you could follow, rocking forward as it pulsed, letting you give Carmy pleasure while you were ridiculously close to losing your mind yourself.

"Shit, baby," he gasped, his knees buckling for a second. "Make me feel- Fuck, y're so good, so good," he mumbled.

The steady pace of the vibrator was building up a tense knot inside you - you were close, and so it became a race of making Carmy come before you did. You doubled your efforts, speeding up, hollowing your cheeks, moaning into his skin.

"You're fucking killing me," he growled, pulling on your hair just the way you liked it, making you roll your eyes as you sucked on his length. You were completely overwhelmed; you couldn't help but whine over and over. "Holy fuck."

He stared right onto your eyes as he came. He had told you he didn't mind if you spit his cum but sometimes you felt like drinking it all, consumed with lust - today was one of those times. You stayed there, licking his slit, caressing his balls until he pulled you away.

"Fuck, baby," he sighed, kneeling on the carpet to look at you.

He was completely wrecked: face red and sweaty, hair messier than you had ever seen it and a glazed look in his eyes. He tilted his head to kiss you thoroughly, tasting the cum leftover on your tongue. You could finally let go. You put your hand between your belly and the mattress, maneuvering the vibrator so it hit right where you needed it and you came immediately, kissing Carmy, biting on his lips, and humping on the bed. It was too much and just enough.

Carmy helped you take it out once you started whining from feeling sore. He moved your body to lie comfortably on the bed, your head on the pillow and him next to you.

"Fucking insane," he exhaled. You chuckled in agreement, fucked out senseless. "D'you need anything?" he asked gently after a moment.

You shook your head, raising a hand to caress his face.

"I feel perfect, Carm."

You moved your index finger, tracing the contour of his eyebrows, the line of his nose, and the curve of his cheekbone. 

“Pretty,” you managed to say.

He smiled and brought you closer, inhaling the scent of your shampoo, his arms around making you feel safe.

~

[Part 7]

~

@th3h0nkz

[physalian]

The Dos and Don’ts of Giving and Receiving Constructive Criticism

Some of these should be painfully obvious and yet. They come from experience.

Receiving feedback:

Do

Understand that a criticism of a character’s thoughts, actions, morality, and choices are likely not a criticism of you as an author, unless the character is an author insert

Understand that they are being paid to critique how successfully you told an entertaining story, not pander to your trauma dumping

Understand that critiquing a book’s success as an entertaining story means that how much you yourself connect with or love a character or scene or plotline is irrelevant if it doesn’t make a compelling narrative

You might have written your book for yourself. Your editor is a different person with their own human biases and perspectives. If you just want to pay someone to stoke your ego, make that 100% clear up front.

Stand up for yourself and clarify where necessary if some details were overlooked or if explaining outside the narrative can better contextualize anything confusing or lacking detail.

Stand up for yourself in what feedback you are expecting, and what degree of criticism you’re willing to endure. An editor can let more or less of their own views show depending on what you ask for.

Stand up for yourself if your editor delivers inadequate or useless feedback. You’re paying them for a job, and you deserve to have it done properly.

Try to separate dislike of a book from dislike of yourself. It’s not easy, but the goal is to fix your book that you’ve already spent a lot of time writing, and they’re only trying to help.

Remember that your author insert is subjected to the same level of criticism as any other character, and that you asked for this.

Keep an open mind and be prepared for feedback that you don’t like, because you can’t please everyone. Your editor should be able to tell you whether or not a scene or character, or plotline works separate from their own personal tastes.

Don’t

Argue with your editor over their religiosity or lack thereof and insist that adhering to genre expectations means they “worship the god of [genre]”. (really, argue with your editor over anything like this, e.g. their own sexuality, religiosity, gender, socioeconomic status).

Argue with your editor while still expecting more work from them as if your aggression will in any way positively impact their perception of your book.

Insult your editor’s intelligence for not understanding your jargon and attempts to sound smarter than you are.

Get mad when your editor sees right through your BS and calls it like they see it, specifically your self-insert Mary Sue protagonist.

Insist that the solution to better understanding your book is for that editor to do extensive homework on your niche topic. If it’s a niche book for niche audiences, hire an editor who’s already knowledgeable about that niche topic.

Equate a bad review and opinion of the book with unprofessionalism. These can overlap, but they are not interchangeable.

Forget that your book is probably meant for leisure and entertainment, and your audience is under no obligation to read “until it gets good,” when they can go do literally anything else. Your first job is to entertain, if you write fiction.

Giving Feedback:

Do

Pay attention to your client’s wants and needs and expectations. If they’re more sensitive to bad feedback, do your best and stay as objective as possible. You can’t please everyone, either.

Helpful feedback includes an explanation of why an element needs work and how it can be improved. Saying “I hate this” with nothing else helps no one and just makes the author feel bad with no direction of how to make it better.

Communicate beforehand how much of your own personality your author wants from you. Do they like personal opinions and your personal reactions to the text, or do they want it as impersonal as possible and solely focused on the structure of the narrative? This might avoid a mess.

Remember to leave notes of where things worked well to balance the criticism. Even a simple “this is good” highlighting a line or a paragraph or two helps keep authors motivated to keep writing. I firmly believe that no book is completely unsalvageable.

Make it painfully clear with no room for debate that criticism of a character is not criticism of the author, unless it's an author insert, in which case the author absolutely asked for it.

Make it clear that you are just one person and these are all suggestions, not laws.

Don’t

Let your own personal opinions cloud your judgment of whether or not someone with different tastes could enjoy the book.

Unless given permission, get too personal with the narrative and reach beyond what’s written on the page.

Do more than what you’re paid for. You’re an editor, not a therapist for the writer’s trauma dumping.

Forget to wrap up all your thoughts in a condensed format that the author can reference, as opposed to endlessly scrolling through the manuscript trying to summarize your points for you.

Walk away with absolutely nothing positive to say about the manuscript. Even if it’s awful on every front, the writer still tried and that deserves merit.

This is from my personal experience beta and sensitivity reading, and dealing with other beta and sensitivity readers. We are all human and these jobs are not one-size-fits-all and there aren’t really hardline rules as every author, editor, and manuscript is different with different needs.

Just some things to keep in mind.

But also, for the authors who do write self-insert Mary Sues: You are in for a very rude awakening if you expect anyone other than yourself to adore your book with zero criticism. If you really just want someone to proofread and look for typos, tell them.

[polling-sonic-fans]

Tumblr Biases

Recieved yet another note on a poll expressing concern that it would be a biased result because the population of tumblr does not reflect all Sonic fans. This is true for all of this blogs polls - they can only, and only aim to, capture data on the Tumblr Sonic community.

A few expected biases that come to mind immediately, that you shouls be aware of interpretting the data from these polls (and many others on this website:

Tumblr seems to have above average incidence of neurodiversity when comparing large polls to global data (See Table 2). This is expected to affect polls regarding narrative readings, specifically in interpretting neurodiversity in characters, and interfan relations/ fandom culture.

Tumblr is known to overrepresent non-hetero sexualities (regrettably, citing buzzfeed here); this might suggest that polls will skew towards reading characters as LGBT, and a preference for same-sex pairings over more typically 'straight' user bases.

Tumblr has a higher proportion of women/ female identifying people, as well as a large non-binary and trans population. Considering that in 2015 Yougov found that more women than men listed Sonic as their favourite video game, (although we cannot extend this data too far - it is out of date, British, and a very specific wording), it could be said that this doesn't impact our polls as much as gaming communities with more men in them, however we should be aware that tumblr has a distinctly smaller community of cisgendered men.

Tumblr is perceived to lean left, although this is a difficult metric to quantify as 'left' is so broad. Still, we should expect polls relating to politics, ethics, and activism can be expected to be affected by this.

70% of tumblr users are Gen Z and Millenials. This should not be a major issue, as it is expected that the majority of Sonic fans will be under the age of 50 at present, but will impact the life stages we expect most users to have hit.

There will be more ways in which the data gained in these polls is biased by hosting on Tumblr. Blogrunner does not have ambitions to host polls on any other site, as this is where it is active. However please consider these and other biases if you intend to use any data gathered here for your own purposes, as well as the following caveats:

The reblogging nature of this site means that polls with small sample size cannot be considered reliable: one large blog might be able to share a poll and encourage their followers to vote in kind with them. I recommend that until polls start reaching 500 votes minimum, they cannot be considered fair representatives of the tumblr Sonic community, and as always the more votes the more reliable.

I am asking polls in English: these questions can only be considered to be reflective of the english speaking population of tumblr.

Polls on tumblr do not allow for changing vote - if wording is complex, votes are more likely to be inaccurate.

Polls regarding characters will include that characters tag, and therefore recieve more traffic from fans of the character who frequent that tag, than those who dislike the character, who may even have it blocked. Same for ships and games people may either follow or block.

That's all that's coming to mind right now. This post will be pinned as a disclaimer, please always do your own research and think critically about the ways in which netnography and survey are limited data points. Thanks.

[critical-skeptic]

"Why Is It Always Children And Not Elderly Or Homeless?"

Why is it that every time we see someone doing meaningful community outreach, like trans people reading books to kids, the knee-jerk reaction of some folks is to clutch their pearls and conjure up the most grotesque, baseless insinuations about "sexual deviancy"? You want to know why people aren’t lining up to read books to nursing home residents or the homeless? Simple: nursing home residents and homeless adults don’t need to be introduced to basic human decency and inclusivity lessons—they’ve already lived their lives with all the prejudices, biases, and social mores they’re going to carry to the grave. Children, on the other hand, are still forming their worldview, and maybe, just maybe, they could benefit from seeing that gender-diverse people exist in the world and can be mentors, caregivers, and guides just as easily as anyone else. This isn’t about some dark, deviant agenda; it’s about building a kinder, more understanding generation that, ideally, won’t grow up to perpetuate the same hateful rhetoric you’re so fond of spouting.

Then there's the redirection tactic of "But why don’t they go help the homeless instead?"—as if the people griping about drag queen story hours are suddenly overcome with a burning passion for solving systemic poverty. Please. Most of the time, these very same people wouldn't lift a finger to help marginalized adults unless they thought it could score them points in some twisted moral competition. This brand of armchair outrage doesn’t come from genuine concern for the homeless; it comes from a narrow, knee-jerk discomfort with seeing trans and queer folks visible in society. It’s the classic “I’m totally okay with the existence of marginalized people—as long as they stay out of sight and don’t interact with my kids.” The irony is rich: the people complaining the loudest about moral decay and deviancy are the ones obsessed with what others are doing with their bodies, projecting their own insecurities and narrow definitions of "normalcy" onto everyone else, while offering no meaningful solutions to the actual problems they claim to care about.

And let’s address the thinly veiled accusation that reading books to kids in an educational setting is somehow a predatory act. This is nothing more than projection, plain and simple. Those spewing these accusations are often the same ones who have internalized a culture that sexualizes and polices everything they don’t understand, reducing every act of goodwill to some perverse ulterior motive. It’s a classic smear tactic: if you can’t actually criticize what someone is doing on the merits, then conjure up the specter of “protecting the children” to justify your own discomfort and ignorance. Never mind that the vast majority of crimes against children statistically come from close family members or trusted adults in traditional community roles (particularly those traditionally most sanctimonious about gender and sex preferences)—let’s conveniently ignore that and demonize the people promoting inclusivity instead, because that’s easier and fits the narrative you’ve been fed.

The reality is, people in marginalized communities engaging in public service, especially around kids, is about as far from “virtue signaling” as it gets. It’s not performative; it’s an act of resilience and generosity that exposes kids to perspectives beyond the narrow, exclusionary views they might otherwise inherit. If you’re so concerned about the moral guidance of children, maybe consider what they’re learning from you: fear of the unknown, contempt for differences, and a complete inability to approach the world with empathy. Maybe, instead of wasting your time policing the identities of people volunteering to make a difference, you should be figuring out how to channel your energies into something actually constructive—like addressing the societal issues driving homelessness or pushing for better elder care. That would be “virtue” worth signaling. But, of course, that wouldn’t give you the satisfaction of othering people who are different from you, now, would it?

[writingquestionsanswered]

Struggling with Feedback That's Missing the Point

triplecreature asked: I'm in a creative writing course in university and we're doing workshops where we review each other's poems and short stories. I'm conflicted because I don't want to be closed-minded about constructive criticism, but sometimes I feel like the feedback I get is missing the point. For example, the instructor indiscriminately marks up any "abstract" line, even if it's emotional sentiment or would break the structure/line scheme to remove. She's also biased against heavier topics because they're too depressing and said I can't make poetry about characters/conversational perspective. My short story got negative feedback from my peers because my protagonist wasn't inherently good or bad. They felt it his grey morality "didn't make sense." I don't want to be arrogant so I feel bad for struggling with the criticism I get. How do you gracefully approach a situation where you feel uncertain or misunderstood by feedback you get?

Here's the thing...

Reading and writing is a very, very personal thing. We all develop very strong opinions about what we do and do not like, and sometimes people confuse their own preferences as being universal truths. Abstract poetry doesn't seem to resonate with your instructor, and unfortunately she's choosing to interpret that as a problem with abstract poetry rather than a personal preference.

Having said that, it's really important that we not take negative feedback too much to heart. It's always worth analyzing where the feedback is coming from and whether it's more likely to be feedback based on a personal preference or actually credible feedback.

When you get critical feedback from a single person or a few people that feels off to you, you can generally disregard it, especially if it conflicts with the majority feedback. For example, if three people says your morally gray protagonist makes no sense, but ten people don't have that issue, you can probably assume your protagonist is fine. If you give your story to six classmates, and all six of them feel the morally gray protagonist doesn't make sense, it's worth considering why all six out of six people feel that way. Are they saying it doesn't make sense because they expect a character to be either good or bad, or are they saying it doesn't make sense because something you laid out in the story is conflicting with the idea that this character is morally gray?

Ultimately, it's up to you to decide whether or not to listen to feedback, but especially in a creative writing class, I wouldn't take the negative feedback too much to heart. If it's one person's opinion, smile, nod, and thank them for their opinion. If it's five people with the same opinion, take some time to consider whether there could be some merit to what they're saying. In any case, don't take it personally. ♥

•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••

I’ve been writing seriously for over 30 years and love to share what I’ve learned. Have a writing question? My inbox is always open!

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[alatismeni-theitsa]

hello! i hope you’re having a wonderful day 💕 i wanted to ask if you know of, or have any literature or book recommendations that surround Ottoman Era Greece, The Revolution or the 19th century? i’ve been trying to find stuff but all that comes up is greek myth retellings it’s rather annoying 😭. if they have an english translated version that would also be superb! fiction or nonfiction i don’t mind, i’m just super keen to read and learn more about that era of Greek history many seem to overlook. Thank you so much! btw i love your blog so much.

Hello! Very sorry for being late to answer this but I was gathering books. While I have read historical articles and texts on the Revolution and the Ottoman period, they were in Greek. I will list here books I found in English, mostly by foreign authors. I checked them and they seem mostly fine (I usually try to avoid those with specific western agendas in the descriptions, and generally I am trying to show the most objective works. Please make sure to read more than one, so you can see multiple perspectives. I'm sure there will be biases here and there xD

Historical Books

Stories Of The Greek Nation - In Today's Language: (14th and 15th Volumes) - Paparrigopoulos Konstantinos (Also published by National Geographic in 2004)

The Greek world under Ottoman and Western Domination: 15th-19th centuries - Kitromelides Paschalis

Greece, The Hidden Centuries. Turkish Rule From The Fall Of Constantinople To Greek Independence - Brewer David

The Edinburgh History of the Greeks, 1453 to 1768: The Ottoman Empire - Molly Greene

Viewing The Morea: Land And People In The Late Medieval Peloponnese

Ottoman Cyprus: A Collection of Studies on History and Culture (Near and Middle East Monographs) - Matthias Kappler, Eftihios Gavriel

Ottoman Brothers: Muslims, Christians, and Jews in Early Twentieth-Century Palestine - Michelle U. Campos

Crypto Christianity And Crypto Christians In the Southern Balkans, Asia Minor and Cyprus - Athanasios Dimitrios (Protopresbyter)

Sephardi Lives: A Documentary History, 1700–1950 - Julia Phillips Cohen and Sarah Abrevaya Stein

A Jewish Voice From Ottoman Salonica: The Ladino Memoir Of Sa'adi Besalel A-Levi - Halevi Saadi Ben Betsanel

The History of Greece under Ottoman and Venetian Domination - George Finlay

Jewish Salonica: Between the Ottoman Empire and Modern Greece Devin E. Naar Stanford University Press

The Genocide Of The Ottoman Greeks - Studies On The State-Sponsored Campaign Of Extermination Of The Christians Of Asia Minor (1912-1922) And Its Aftermath: History, Law, Memory

The Greek Revolution

Ioannis Makrygiannis Memoirs (Makrygiannis is a Revolution Hero) Theodorou Kolokotroni Memoirs (Memoirs – Court Case) (Kolokotronis is a Revolution Hero)

Deligiannis: Memoirs - Deligiannis Kanellos (Deligiannis is a Revolution Hero)

The Greek Revolution - A Critical Dictionary - Kitromilides Paschalis, Tsoukalas Constantinos

Collective works: Stories Of The Greek Nation (Sixteenth Volume): Contemporary Hellenism From 1941 To The End Of The Century . (Publisher: Athens Publishing House)

Poems

The Cretan - Dionysios Solomos

The Free Besieged - Dionysios Solomos

Works by Rigas Feraios

Fiction

Imaret - In The Shadow Of The Clock - Yiannis Kalpouzos

Niove's Children - Tasos Athanasiades

Number 31328 - Elias Venezis (A true story in a literary style)

Bloodied Earth – Dido Sotiriou

Ottoman Odyssey: Travels Through A Lost Empire by Alev Scott

Please suggest more books if you have something in mind!

[vee-crytraps]

Hiiiii

I hope you're doing good, not good criticism aside.

Now, this chapter 🧑‍🍳💋 as always

There's so much to unpack good god.

The fact that Bruce forced everyone on an outing bc missy I ignore and isolate my daughter and then get mad when she goes looking for a more receptive father figure? It's so dad of him lol. Like, you're the one basically forcing your daughter to go look for love demonstrations that actually make her feel loved and not controlled, attention, understanding and quality time and then have the audacity to be mad, plan a shitty trip and then disappear. Honey, thanks for trying but you gave us absolutely nothing.

Dick mentioning how it was him and Bruce the ones to take Robin away from her says a lot about his character. I swear to god am equal parts attracted to your Richard as much as I am holding a personal Vendetta. Girl, get out of the stage please (and he's reenacting Mia's Goth "Please I'm a star!" Scream while we kick him out).

I don't feel good about being proved right like Barbara, good god, I feel so fucking bad 😭😭😭😭.

Jay bird baby, why are you out here proving me right? I don't wanna be. I need the fanon uwu coquette version of him to heal my heart. When he was I'm going back without any regard for batsis? Girl, I needed to take a deep breath and hold onto my heart pieces. Jay, Jason, my love, no. Immediately no. That was literally your only line.

Damian, and I AM biased, love you. He's so intense lmao, same boy, same. But when Nadia came? I put down my phone and punched a pillow. I could never. I'd probably die hahahahhaah

Can't hate her, she's giving enabling bad influence young aunt and I love it. Dick, you're stepping up to your nickname hun.

Also, the scene by the lake? Sorry, I literally want to slobber him up and hydrate his beautiful caramel skin with my saliva and tears cause he's so hot and then kick him in the balls and assure he doesn't have any offspring that could potentially come out as dumbassy as him. But him getting to know about Damian? Hihihihihihi I was rubbing my hands together.

This is just where my imagination went, batsis with Damian and Jon (sorry, I just love them together, they make a great pair and balance each other out). Dick's face would be so fucking funny.

Also, not him being "you shouldn't continue that". Shut up. The fact that you hurt her doesn't give you the right to assume Damian would. At least not the same way as you. And we all know he has already begun to ruin her opportunities at getting to know decent people (as Nikolai is described as) so don't act like you actually have her best interests in mind. You are so hypocritical Richard Grayson agh.

Also, Jon as always being THE knight in shining armour that he is coming to save the day. Dear heavens, can he be anymore sweethearty? Impeccable job, as always Jonathan Kent, immaculate. Clark, we salute you. Thank you for healing us and giving us a speck of hope in man kind (by this I mean actually men, not humans).

I may be a bit disillusioned with the girls. Come on sugar, please include your little sister innnnnnn. Barbara, stop being my representation in the story, I can't stand it. I just don't want to be right about the boys 😩

But it hurts so good!1!1!1!1!1!!1!1!1!

Anyways, thanks for such an amazing chapter.

Ignore people who don't appreciate it. I hope you have a wonderful day/night!

Xoxo - 🫀

Ah, you have no idea how happy it makes me that you slid in here before I shut off my anons!!!

This is totally a shitty dad trip, this is for real a thing my dad used to do when I was a kid lmao. Dick is the mooooost complicated one of them all simply because batsis is like a piece of his childhood. I mean he was in his teens when she was adopted, but she was around long enough to know him from top to bottom. Much like Bruce he's got this caged bird attachment to her haha He does think he's doing good for her by steering her away from Damian and others, but it's the kind of 'I'm sure i'm right' that just so happens to align with the fact that he wants to wait until he's good enough for her. Jon is a very very lovely guy! Clark raised a good boy, but I hope everyone remembers that they're also superheroes! And aliens, who canonically don't experience or understand the entire range of human emotions. The venn diagram is only almost a circle. The truth is, most of these boys have been shot, stabbed, torn apart, mind controlled, broken every bone both indidivually and together, murdered and brought back to life in a goo that makes you crazy, broken then put back together both correctly and incorrectly emotionally and mentally; wooooof they are not okay. But they want to be! For her! They just have to learn a hard lesson first! Bruce has set the example that your civillian life is where you cut corners and make sacrifices- which does not bode well for batsis, who is attracted to people who were raised by him haha. Not to mention, her entire existence is her civillian life. Bad luck fr! Things will get better! Remember this leads into KMM where everything is sexy and happy! Thanks as always for dropping in. As you can guess it was pretty discouraging knowing I put like 90,000 words into creating this universe as a whole and then having someone tear it down with a few hundred. I very much needed this <3333

[demigoddessqueens]

(1/2) Can I request a male match up for Critical Role Campaign 1 Vox Machina, Campaign 2 Mighty Nein, Castlevania, and Baldur's Gate 3 please?

Sexuality : Straight but please exclude Baldur's Gate 3 Raphael, Emperor, Cazador, Thorm, and the Withers!

My personality : I'm shy, timid, quiet & polite to strangers. With people I'm comfortable with, I'm loud, outgoing, playful, mature, responsible, motherly(to naughty friends), childlike(to mature friends/family) and sarcastic (unintentionally).

I'm kinda tomboyish as I wear over-sized t-shirts, baggy pants, sneakers but don't play sports or video games. I'm a slow learner, not smart, not strong, and not talented. It's pretty normal that even my loved ones would be frustrated with me when I can't understand what they want me to do.I'm pretty dense, straightforward, oblivious, and naive too.

I get confused or misunderstand what people meant easily so it's best if you tell me straight to my face so I can't be mistaken. I'm also touch starved as I love giving & receiving affection but I only can hug one person and even then, I do my best to not overdo it because I can be overly touchy if I don't hold myself back.

I'm a hopeless romantic, sensitive, clingy, forgetful, & overthink often. I work as hard as I can & try my best & be careful as I can to everything I do, as I'm pretty clumsy & makes mistakes more often than most people. I try to help my family and friends as they've helped me & cared for me dearly.

2/2) I try to communicate properly & ask for their consent first before doing anything because I misunderstood that I had their permission before. I do my best to give people the benefit of doubt but I do have my limits. I don't really get angry often that even my family & friends are surprised when it happens once in a blue moon. I don't believe in compliments I get occasionally or why my family & friends care for me because I don't see good things in myself only bad things. I'm insecure about still being a bit underweight.

Hobbies : drawing, reading manga, listening to music, fanfics especially reader inserts, and watching anime, movies, & cartoons. My favourite genre is romance but I love comedy, mystery, action, sci-fi, fantasy, and historical too! My favourite music genre is pop, but I also love ballads, & alternative rock!

Likes : music, fanfiction, manga, anime, cartoons, books (If I find it interesting), family, friends, potato chips, chocolate, cakes, bread, anyone who is kind, patient, supportive, helpful, tries at least, trustworthy, responsible, fair in general, respectful, flexible, honest, open-minded, humble, sincere, accepting, thoughtful, encouraging, forgiving, careful, understanding, wise, mature, cooperative, caring, etc.

Dislikes : anyone who's rude, disrespectful, doesn't listen to others, refuse to admit mistakes, blames others for their mistakes, ignores people yet demands attention from them, demanding, won't acknowledge what you said, hypocritical, biased, irresponsible, careless, disloyal, inconsiderate, insensitive, inflexible, petty, hostile, untrustworthy, immature, uncooperative, unforgiving, judgemental, narrow-minded, self-centred, unethical, self-righteous, etc. That's more but that's all I could think of.

MASTERLIST 11

Vox Machina

I pair you with….Vax

He’s your support, your listener, the one who understands what you’re going through and those sticky fingers always “gifting” you things that catch your eye. He adores the romantic side of you.

The Mighty Nein

Pair you with…Beauregard

She’s curious about what interests you and sees how you don’t take shit from anyone or anything at anytime. You stick up for her and she’s got your back too. Kisses from you on her bruised knuckles help all the same.

Bell’s Hells

You are with….Ashton

He feels protective of you, despite his denial that he’s grown more fond of you than before. The barbarian can be their most authentic self around you, all the ugly and good is at your feet, and you accept him still.

Castlevania

I pair you with.., Sypha

She recognizes how similar you and Trevor can be which can cause you to butt heads with each other but she knows you mean well. Living as a Speaker entails being well read and observant which you two find common ground on. She’ll even listen to your music, one earbud for you both

Baldur’s Gate

I pair you with….Astarion

He feels a closeness with you because he can recognize the same cycle he’s repeated for 200 years but he sees you making a difference. Bit by bit, he does too because you inspire him. Gentle touches from you make him shiver at the touch

[multi-fandom-lunatic]

Representation in Keeper of the Lost Cities: A Critical Analysis

NOTE: This essay was written was originally a rant on the KotLC fanbase Discord. I copy-pasted my points into Chat-GPT and asked to make this into essay format. This is an AI assisted piece. Please don't think, however, that my points are any less valid. NOTE: This is also on the Keeper of the Lost Cities reddit.

Please add your thoughts!

Introduction

In discussing representation within Shannon Messenger's Keeper of the Lost Cities (KOTLC) series, it's imperative to address the nuances and complexities of how various groups are portrayed. While the series enjoys widespread popularity, it also reveals significant shortcomings in the representation of People of Color (POC), LGBTQ+ individuals, and other marginalized groups. This essay explores these issues, highlighting both the problematic aspects and potential areas for improvement.

Representation of People of Color (POC)

One of the most glaring issues in KOTLC is the limited and stereotypical portrayal of POC characters. The primary POC characters in the series—Tam, Linh, Wylie, and Maruca—are few, especially considering the statistical likelihood of a more diverse population. Even more concerning is how these characters are represented. For instance, upon their introduction, Tam and Linh are compared to anime characters and K-pop idols in Sophie's mind. This reinforces harmful generalizations and stereotypes about East Asians, which is both insensitive and problematic.

Moreover, despite elves in KOTLC not having countries or distinct cultures beyond "elven culture," which is portrayed in a predominantly European manner, there are inconsistencies in how racial representation is handled. For example, official artwork by Laura Hollingsworth depicts the Song family in front of an Asian temple, despite the series' premise that elves do not adhere to human cultural practices. This selective representation is problematic and reflects a lack of cultural sensitivity.

Stereotyping and Racism

Tam and Linh's characters fall into several Asian stereotypes. They have strict parents, a common trope for East Asian characters, and Linh is depicted as a bubbly, sweet girl without much depth, until her sudden, seemingly random outburst in "Stellarlune." These characterizations do not allow for the full depth and complexity that POC characters deserve.

The portrayal of gnomes in the series is even more troubling. Described as brown-skinned, unpaid workers who do manual labor for the elves, this depiction carries disturbing parallels to historical and contemporary issues of racial exploitation. The gnomes are presented as happy to serve their white, elf masters, which echoes deeply racist narratives. Despite being able to leave, the gnomes have no viable alternatives, essentially forcing them into servitude.

If Shannon Messenger chose not to include queer characters, it wouldn't necessarily be harmful, just lacking positive representation. However, employing Laura Hollingsworth (LH), known for her homophobic views, exacerbates the issue. LH, a conservative Christian, has openly opposed queer identities and followed white supremacist accounts. Her biases are evident in her work. By continuing to collaborate with LH, Messenger not only excludes queer representation but also tacitly supports an artist who opposes it. She has even addressed this. This perpetuates homophobia, and Messenger should be held accountable for her choices in supporting such a figure within the KOTLC series.

LGBTQ+ Representation

As an LGBTQ+ individual, the lack of queer representation in KOTLC is particularly disappointing. While it is not inherently homophobic to exclude queer characters, in a series as character-focused as KOTLC, it becomes a notable omission. Early books could have integrated queer characters naturally, but introducing one now might feel forced and tokenistic.

Characters like Linh and Marella have been perceived as queer-coded by some fans, but there is little textual evidence to support this. Queer audiences should not have to read subtext to find representation. Additionally, the series employs an artist, Laura Hollingsworth, who has expressed homophobic views. Shannon Messenger's response to concerns about Hollingsworth's involvement was minimal and failed to address the deeper issues.

Body Image and Ableism

KOTLC also perpetuates harmful beauty standards. The elves are depicted as perfect, which often translates to being slender, muscular, and fitting Western beauty ideals. This can negatively impact young readers who already struggle with body image. Additionally, the series lacks representation of disabled characters, implicitly suggesting that physical perfection is an elven trait, thereby excluding those who do not fit this mold.

Conclusion

In conclusion, Shannon Messenger's Keeper of the Lost Cities series falls short in its representation of POC, LGBTQ+ individuals, and other marginalized groups. The series reinforces stereotypes, perpetuates harmful beauty standards, and fails to include diverse identities in meaningful ways. Addressing these issues requires a commitment to sensitivity and inclusion, such as hiring sensitivity readers and reconsidering collaborations with problematic artists. By doing so, Messenger could create a more inclusive and representative world that resonates with all readers.

[musicfeedsmysoul12]

A Talking To

Summary: Shinsou's homeroom teacher wants to talk to him about training for heroics. It doesn't go how anyone would expect.

Note: This was an exercise for me in trying to write a character I like (Shinsou) critically. It is Shinsou Critical and uses an OC to do so. It does not go as far as some fics do, but I had a good time trying this out.

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 Shinsou Hitoshi had been waiting for a few minutes when his homeroom teacher finally showed up to her office. Gas Attack, or GA-Sensei as most called her, looked at him apologetically. 

 “Sorry Shinsou, had to deal with some crap thanks to the internships coming up,” she said. The very tall and muscular woman opened her office to reveal a simple room with a desk and chairs. Gas Attack was one of the few teachers who had their own office, with most preferred the more traditional style of sharing. Hitoshi knew though that Gas Attack’s Quirk was behind her sole office. Poison Gas had her only ever breathing out deadly clouds, meaning for safety reasons she didn’t share an office so she could eat comfortably. 

 “I heard some heroes were offering internships to Gen Ed,” Hitoshi said as causally as he could. He hoped that was the reason for his meeting.

 “Second year students yeah.” Gas Attack said crushing his hope. The woman let him into her office, following after. She sat at her desk, removing her tank from her back so she didn’t have to sit uncomfortably. “Alright Shinsou. Do you know why I asked to meet with you?” 

 “No,” Hitoshi said. It had been sudden, her request, but he didn’t think it would be like that time with his teacher in middle school who wanted Hitoshi to mind control someone else. 

 “Shinsou… you’re aware you’re on wait list with the rest of your classmates correct?” Gas Attack asked. 

 Hitoshi scowled at the reminded he’d failed the entrance exam because the stupid exam was stacked against people like him. who had Quirks that didn’t work against robots. Only to stop. “Wait what?” the rest of his classmates?

 “… Shinsou, you do know class C is the class for students like yourself who applied for Gen Ed and heroics, and who got wait listed for the heroics program right?” Gas Attack asked. “I know Nezu and I both talked about it at the beginning of the year. Though I’ll admit that orientation got very long…”

 “I… no.” Hitoshi could admit he hadn’t been paying attention. To bitter. “How did Ito not get in?” He couldn’t help but ask, mentioning the girl with laser eyes.

 “Same way you didn’t. She failed the exam.” Gas Attack said. “I know you students seem to be fond of complaining about how unfair the exam is, and I’ll give you that it is biased towards flashy Quirks but we have an invisible student in 1A this year, and a student who just talks to animals. If you’re smart, cunning and skilled the exam can be passed.” 

 Hitoshi nearly flinched. His mom had posed a question to him after watching the sports festival, if he was so certain he’d failed the exam because of his Quirk being a bad match up, how did Hagakure get in. The boy hadn’t been able to answer. 

 “I suppose this actually explains a few things to…” Gas Attack muttered. 

 “What?” Hitoshi asked.

 “Shinsou, why haven’t you taken advantage of the gyms here? Why haven’t you approached me or any of your other teachers about advice for training?” Gas Attack asked. 

 “… what?” Hitoshi repeated, baffled.

 “Shinsou, it was all in your syllabus. Please tell me you didn’t just ignore it,” Gas Attack said in a very disappointed tone as Hitoshi squirmed. He’d thrown it out the first day, to angry at being denied a place in heroics. “This explains everything I wanted to ask at this meeting.” Gas Attack sighed. 

 “What was this meeting about?” Hitoshi asked. If she'd already made up her mind, something had to be going on.

 “There are three ways people can become a hero at this school. Start off in heroics, transfer in or receive specialized training to gain a recommendation for the licensing exams.” Gas Attack explain. “Also explained during orientation.”

 “You just said it was long,” Hitoshi said in embarrassment he'd missed that. “I doubt anyone else heard it.”

 “Six of your classmates approached me about gym time and training plans. Three asked about apprenticing with someone and one has already been offered special training,” Gas Attack said. “When I was asked about you I said I didn't think you were ready and so far nothing has proven me wrong.” 

 “What?!” Hitoshi jumped up. “How can you say that?! I got into the final round of the sports festival and it was just because of that monkey and perf-Quriked-”

 “Shinsou, do not use slurs in front of me!” Gas Attack said, her voice carrying. He froze, eyes widening when he realized what he'd just said in front of a teacher. Shit.

 “I… I didn't mean it. I was just angry.” he said quietly as he sat back down. He didn't mean it. It was just… easier to use those as descriptions. He didn't mean them meanly. 

 He wasn't a bad person. 

 “Don’t lie,” Gas Attack sighed. Hitoshi flinched. “I don't think you're actually anti-mutation like you just hinted but I do think you're pretty damn Quirkist Shinsou.”

“What?!” Hitoshi felt hurt by that. He wasn't Quirkist! How could his sensei say that?! He thought he had a teacher who understood him given the first day of classes she laid out who she was. Government Hero Gas Attack, part of the military and used as a last resort when death was the only remaining option. She was on a watch list because of the risk of her Quirk. He thought she understood.

 “Present Mic was muzzled for most of his childhood. He's talked about it openly yet last week I heard you talking about how he doesn't understand discrimination after he told you off for commenting on Ito’s complaints about her eyes.” Gas Attack said. Hitoshi remembered that. Ito complained about the stinging in her eyes which led to her complaining about how people reacted to her Quirk. He'd said she should shut up about Quirk issues. Then Present Mic and…

 Hitoshi had forgotten about that. That Present Mic was muzzled for a portion of his life. Because people didn't like his Quirk. 

 “You complained about Cementoss telling you off about using your Quirk on your teammates in the Calvary battle and said he doesn't understand how hard it is with your Quirk when he's been buried alive by classmates for his. All of this is public knowledge Shinsou. I know you know it.” Gas Attack said. Hitoshi remembered that to.

 Cementoss told him it wasn't heroic to brainwash people to work for him, that doing so showed a lack of teamwork. Hitoshi had been angry. What did the man know about having people refuse to work for him? It happened all the time. But… he forgot about the interview on why the man was scared of enclosed spaces. How his classmates hated him that much. 

 Yet that… that wasn't…

 “Its not the same!” Hitoshi said and it wasn't. They were treated like crap sure but it wasn't like how he'd been treated by people! They didn't understand how it was to have to face fellow students refusing to answer questions, teachers nudging people to make sure they weren't controlled or people trying to convince him to use his Quirk for their benefit! They didn't understand had it was for him.

 “What about me?” Gas Attack asked. “My parents abandoned me at age five and I bounced around the foster system which tormented me. I'm on a watch list just in case and I have to eat alone because of my Quirk. I have to routinely go in when murders happen around my place to show I didn't do it even as a hero. Do I not understand how it is with a Quirk people call villainous?” 

 “I never…” Hitoshi stopped. “I’m not Quirkist.”

 “Using a slur sure says you are and despite what you think? Perf-Quirk is a slur used against people who have traditionally attractive Quirks. Meanwhile you have no idea what goes on behind closed doors.” Gas Attack said. “I had an army friend who had a super strength Quirk. Flashy, cool. Her husband used to beat her and assault her every time he could. She killed him when he tried to hurt their son. Another friend of mine has a Quirk that let her sing perfectly. She was forced by her parents to be a teen idol where she faced sexual abuse as well as physical before she ran away to join the army.”

 “I…” it wasn't like that. Kids like Midoriya or that Bakugou asshole got everything in life while Hitoshi only ever got looks and people edging away. Sure, he'd never been physically harmed. His mom would murder anyone who did that, but he never had a comfortable childhood with lots of friends. His own dad got uncomfortable with his Quirk all the time. 

 “It's the same thing.” Gas Attack said. She learned forward in her desk. “I think you're a good kid with heroic potential. I also think you're a bit Quirkist and someone who needs to realize you can't just use your Quirk and expect results.” 

 “You think I can be a hero?” asked Hitoshi softly.

 “I do, expect you focus on that,” Gas Attack sighed. “I said a teacher asked if you were ready for specialized training. I said no due to my worries. They said I was wrong and I said I'd set up a meeting for this.” she motioned to the two of them. “I was actually hoping you'd prove me wrong, and that I could sign off on you receiving training. However Im not.” 

 “Please! I'll do anything to be a hero,” Hitoshi begged. She couldn't deny him this. He wanted to be a hero more then anything! He'd earned it! He got so far into the sports festival! Not like Ito and her stupid eyes or the dog faced… 

 Hitoshi froze, his mind realizing what he'd just done. Another Quirkist comment was made in his mind. What…

 Gas Attack couldn't be right. She couldn't be. She just couldn't. 

 “Therapy,” Gas Attack said. “We have ten therapists on staff, I arranged for a meeting with one of them.” she grabbed some paper from her desk. “Plus I want you to show me you're dedicated before I sign off on anything. So there's a training program for you. Follow it. We’ll talk more in the second semester.” she handed the papers to Hitoshi who clutched at them desperately. He wasn't Quirkist. He was a good person, better then so many others. He'd show her! He would!

 He had to. 

-0- 

 Gas Attack sighed as she entered the staff room. Aizawa was waiting like a vulture for her, Present Mic and Midnight sitting with him. 

 “Who was right? I was. Kid is nowhere near ready if he's calling a mutation kid names and saying shit like perf-Quirk.” she said to Aizawa who stared at her in shock.

 “Oh shiiiiit,” Mic muttered, though he didn't seem surprised. Kid’s comments to him were probably fresh in his mind. Kid just had to whine that Ito, who could go blind, didn't know anything about hard Quirks. 

 Teenagers, thinking they're the center of the world.  

 “That can be treated while training,” Aizawa said.

 “It can be if he'd showed dedication to training himself before,” Gas Attack went to sit down with the three. “He outright admitted he hadn't paid attention or read the syllabus. Kid was unaware that C is the waitlist class or anything.” 

 “Wow.” Midnight said. “I mean I think a lot of people don't but like shouldn't he try to pay attention if he wants to get into heroics?”

 “Youd think. Honestly, I think the kid will be a good hero. He's just in the bad habit of relying on his Quirk to much and having a victim complex. And he's pretty Quirkist against people he views as having acceptable Quirks. Hopefully he grows out of it.” Gas Attack shrugged.  “I was surprised you wanted to train him given how much you claim to hate people coasting by with their Quirks.”

 “Claim?” Aizawa asked, catching her word usage. Good.

 “Yes claim. After all, that Bakugou kid in your class may work out but he certainly seems to think having a strong Quirk is all you need as a hero.” Gas Attack said. “Hell Nezu sent me his file, shows how worried he is about it.”

 “… oh fuck,” Aizawa said, covering his face.

 “Whats wrong?”

 “I read the files during the second week so I don't have biases going in. Other then medical files I mean, I know about Kaminari’s ADHD and the such. But…”

 “Oh shit.” Gas Attack said. “Wondered why the kids haven’t been in extra lessons or something. Hell I was surprised Bakugou hasn't been put in my class for a wake up call while you go around claiming a mark is on his record to scare him.”

 “… I need to read those files.” Aizawa sighed.

 “Should have first week of class,” Gas Attack said blandly, causing the man to flip her off. She grinned in reply. 

 “You gotta be more on top of this shit Shou,” Mic sighed.

 “I know, I know,” Aizawa groaned. 

 “Do you?” Midnight asked sarcastically. “Cause it's every year.” 

 “Shut up,” Aizawa sighed. “GA, want me to try and see if Shinsou would go and get special training without permission?”

 “Now? Kid would, he's a dumbass teenager,” Gas Attack snorted. “Give it a few weeks, see if he's still desperate after a couple of sessions.”

 “Think he'd learn that fast?” Aizawa asked.  

 “Eh, maybe maybe not. If he doesn't it'll be second year before I even think about speaking of extra training.” Gas Attack shrugged. “We’ll have to see. But you need to read the files and look into the kids who want to be underground. Why the hell were you looking at Shinsou for that?” 

 “… can we blame lingering concussion?”

 “No.” 

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Notes:

 Shinsou does not fall for the trap and instead works his butt off. He gets the training with Aizawa who is also training Ashido, Shouji, Tokoyami and Midoriya! 

 Aizawa also does read the files and make his apologies to Izuku cause Holy shit he fucked up. Bakugou is watched closely and he fails the final exam for hitting Izuku (they were put together with Izuku’s permission). He then flunks the extra lessons for leaving the cabin to try and fight when they warned them all to stay inside. He's put into class C, and the empty spot in 1A is fought over by the ten students who were already trying. Shinsou doesn't get a spot just yet, but he does eventually much later.

-Gas Attack is an OC who was used because Japan usually has the homeroom teachers only do homeroom and because I wanted a character who has been heavily hurt by how society views their Quirk. Gas Attack is always being second guessed and only joined the military along with heroics in the words of Kaiden Alenko: ‘might as well get a paycheck for it’ because they're watching her anyways. She's been retconned slightly by me for reasons.

-One of my biggest pet peeves when reading Shinsou critical stuff is how they write him as a complete monster who'd use his Quirk on everyone for stupid reasons. He's a jerk, but hot damn are you doing exactly what you say his stans are doing which is making things up to make him seem a certain way. Sympathetic or monstrous. Either or. 

-It's hard for Shinsou to argue against him not working out so I had him mostly focus on the response of Quirkism. He's very stubborn but he does see where Gas Attack is coming from and hates it.

-I don’t think Shinsou would double down after this. Rather I think he'd be so determined to prove GA wrong he realizes she's right and tries to be a better person. 

-Aizawa isn't the center of this piece but I included him for more detail. He’s at least aware he fucked up even if it's because of his injuries. 

-I also retconned the kids actually having a mark on their record cause that’s just awful. They scare the kids with it which isn't much better but once they become better they tell the truth. 

[splatoonpolls]

Anyway! With the two big elections this year, and the current wars going on. Here’s some ways to fact check! (I’m stealing this from social studies haha. I am not an educator in this subject email your professor or seek a greater source than this please)

Picking a source

What is the political position a news source have? Is it right wing, left wing? Is it even Marxist or hey even gives literal Nazis their opinions to voice it? Google up the news site and you will probably find a Wikipedia article of even a site saying the news source political leaning. Learning about that it’s important because political news sources will be biased.

Do they cater to a specific crowd? Political leaning and this is different while they might overlap. Do they cater to mainly an lgbtq audience? An animal rights/climate change movement one? A more religious/ethnic audience? This will help you to see through different biases.

If it is public service/gets money from the rulers (two different things), check if the current government/rulers isn’t a dictatorship/or just really shitty. One example is the Turkish public service which has been used for pro Palestine news, but you need to keep in mind they do deny the Armenian genocide and also supported the invasion of Artsakh. So be critical of those too.

Does it get funding from a non government agency? Let’s say they get funding from a lobbyist group that focus on fossil fuels. Then learning about the environment wouldn’t be as good of a source now wouldn’t it?

If you’re using a non profit organization. A quick reminder they’re also not perfect.

Also compare different news sources! Especially on the opposites of stuff.

Don’t use the big 3 Ts (twitter, tumblr, or TikTok) as a main go to for big political information unless it is from a trusted journalist with a proper education.

TLDR: there is no perfect news source. But ouch one you think suits your current needs for the current situation.

Now when you’ve picked a new source. Here’s how to check the article!

Check if the source is true. They might use misformation and even disinformation. It’s really common with far right news organizations to spread misinformation about lgbtq people. One time libsoftiktok posted how a university had period products in the men’s bathroom. While a quick image reverse showed articles saying that university were just adding free period products.

When was it written? And who told it? Let’s say a car crash happened where you live. You may hear it from person A who was on the bus while the crash happened. However there is also a chance you may hear it from person G two weeks later. One will have their information more tangled up. (And this is also a way to see if something is a conspiracy theory or not)

Is the source in general trustworthy or has it on several occasions said misinformation (like Alex jones). If it is the latter. Don’t use it

If it has had people of two different opinions together. Please make sure it isn’t like “hey person A and B!” Will you please talk about the housing crisis” and they give person A four minutes while person b gets 30.

If anyone wants to correct me or add info! Feel free to do it!

[felixsmeshglove]

Hii I'm a baby stay who biases Seungmin and I've been on a total kick of reading everything with him lol

So could I please request

Seungmin (maknae line)

Gn!reader

Prompt: academic rivals to lovers? Prefer straight fluff with just like friendly competition/teasing but hurt/comfort could work too!

I'm a uni student and the only thing that is saving me is imaging stray kids at university with me lol

Thank you so much lovely :)<3

ooo thank you so much for requesting! i have been a little nervous to write for non idol!au type SKZ so bear with me, seungmin honestly rots my brain out so much so i get your obsession!

~~~~~

finals week - kim seungmin x reader

writers note ; for this fic seungmin and you are both in high school, you share a photography class and you both are just trying to get your portfolios done for finals week but seungmin just has to make it as much of pain as possible. not the most confident in this but feedback is welcomed

pairing ; college!kim seungmin x gn!reader

wc ; 0.9k

content warning ; seungmin’s an asshole™️ but in a cute way, angst if you squint, mostly just fluff, sorta enemies to lovers? more like playful rival to lovers

~~~~~~~~~~

your feelings for kim seungmin were… complicated. he truly frustrated you to no end, and what made it even worse was just how pretty he always looked. you always chose to put the thought out of your mind though. he was manageable enough last year when in normal classes but this year for some reason you’d chosen photography in an attempt to fill in some elective courses.

much to your chagrin, you were met with the same big goofy shit-eating grin and cocky gaze peering at you as you’d entered the room. you’d even requested to change classes but by the time you had, it was too late to switch.

you were stuck with kim seungmin.

he always seemed so critical of your work every time, peering over to your computer as he watched you work on your various assignments.

“why did you retouch that, it looked just fine.”

“i can still see the seam of where you removed that.”

“are you really going to crop it like that?”

never outright insults, but just blunt comments that always seemed to itch you just where he got on your nerves. no matter, though. all of the interactions you’d had with him before had prepared you for this.

throughout the semester though, he never seemed to die down in his efforts to tease and compare your works. that was another thing of his that he seemed to love doing- he loved to brag about how much better his photos were. how much better staged, better edited, better subject choices.

however, he finally wore down to your breaking point once finals week rolled around. your professor had requested a twenty photo portfolio. each student was required to have twentu unique photos, also unique from each other. this meant students could not both have photos from the same location. it was florals for this assignment, you thought you’d had it in the bag.

somehow though, seungmin always seemed to beat you to your various photo locations, forcing you to pick a new one. you’d attempted the floral nursery? he was there. the woods out back behind the school, even past where the trail ended? he was there too.

it was finally when you’d finally changed your photo locations for the seventh time.

it was almost comical as you arrived to the park, and there he stood in his big black puffer jacket and school-supplied professional camera.

“ahh y/n! i didn’t think you were going to try to get your photographs from here! i didn’t like the ones i got from before so i wanted to try again. only the best portfolio can get the best grade,” seungmin said with a cocky hand on his hip as he held the camera with his other hand.

what seungmin was expecting was just for you to scoff and roll your eyes, and attempt to go back to one of the previous locations. however, what he was not expecting was for you to start to tear up and start to ramble. he could barely even understand your rambling as you ran a hand through your hair in exasperation and started to shout at him.

what he didn’t know was just how stressed you were about finals. all of your finals, not just your photography finals had consumed your every hour. you had no time for friends, for any leisure time. you were stressed, exhausted and just wanted to finish your portfolio so you could take one more thing off your plate.

now it was your turn to be surprised, as seungmin cut you off mid-ramble. he hugged you close, firm and comforting arms wrapping around your back. as quickly as he hugged you though, he let you go.

seungmin’s expression was far from his usual cocky one, his plump lips formed into a slight frown as he gave you a look of worry.

“y/n i didn’t know how much it was actually bothering you, if you’d genuinely told me to stop i-… aish…” he tried to explain, but every explanation he tried just made him feel worse about it. the young puppy boy had not intended to actually make you truly upset let alone start to tear up, but it was no excuse for adding to your stress.

seungmin really did like you, that’s why he always seemed to pursue you. poking at your sides when he could, standing just behind your shoulder only to whisper in your ear or surprise you. he thought you were so cute and so expressive, but in hindsight seeing you so upset was never once his goal.

“do you want maybe help you? i know of a few more places no one else will try-“ seungmin offers. you sigh softly and look down, you can’t help but fall for his sweet change in demeanor. even if just a little.

“sure… that sounds nice…” you said softly. much to your surprise, he grabbed your hand gently. he led you along the park trail, taking lots of care to point out various areas you could take extra stunning photos, of course not without snapping a sneaky few of you.

after all, the photos to him were only stunning if they were of you. you didn’t need to know that yet though, but soon. he just had to change his approach to support you more and bring you up. after all, he never once wanted to see those tears in your eyes ever again.

maybe then, you could forgive him. maybe then he could ask you out.

little did he know, you forgave him the moment you saw his face drop when he saw you so upset.

[sharonisthebettercarter]

we need to have an honest conversation about hostile attribution bias, honesty, and bullying.

@deliciouskeys i've had enough of this shit. you wanted to piss me off. now i'm pissed the fuck off.

hey, hiiii. friends of hers? critics? whoever you are reading this and willing to hear me out, i just wanna start by saying don't hate on her or anyone for this. don't send harassment, don't send anon hate, don't even unfollow her if you do read this all the way and find yourself upset with the topics discussed or her actions.

or maybe you wouldn't anyway, and you've already decided i'm insane, fine. but if you are friends of hers, don't barrage her with verbal abuse of any kind even if you are disappointed or disgusted, i'm not about that. and good friends won't just coddle and take your side to enable the bullshit, but they won't try to hurt you when you're down either

and to clarify what this is? it is a harsh criticism of ongoing behavior i have faced from her behind the scenes. or out in the open i suppose but mostly unseen or dismissed.

yes, i have the motherfucking receipts. i've tried to condense them to what i found most relevant to the topics at hand without clipping the interactions so much that they would give a biased misrepresentation, but all conversations as of this moment and to the best of my knowledge are still available to view in full context. mine certainly won't be deleted.

i may have some bad takes sometimes cause i'm as perfect as anyone, which is to say NOT AT ALL. but i'll readily admit that and the fact that i work on it, CONSTANTLY. and before anyone decides to dig through my shit to see if they can find dirt on me IRRELEVANT to this situation to DISTRACT from what's being called out?

all i ask is a fair chance and moment of your time to show you what i've been through, because it's something she never gave me from day one. and bear in mind please, that i am pissed off because it's gone on long enough and now she's trying to drag my friends into it while CONTINUING TO LIE BEHIND MY BACK and feign fucking ignorance.

no more.

deliciouskeys? you. yes you, i am addressing you directly this time. i gave you a peace offering with the mike sully meme, and you just kept going.

since i poked my head into the boys fandom, you have been hostile to me, LIED about me, put words in my mouth, accused me of hostility towards you, assumed my intent while not only withholding the benefit of a doubt, but consistently. consistently putting me down and insulting me as some sort of estranged fandom villain who only exists or popped up to oppose you or ruin everything.

i'm not a fucking cartoon character, i am a person. i do not exist to supplant you or whatever weird shit you keep imagining me to be that makes you act like this.

almost every single thing i say to you, instead of actually LISTENING or i dunno, READING IT AT FACE VALUE, you take. hyperanalyze. and immediately give it the WORST interpretation you can. and that's if i'm lucky.

i'm not here for fandom wars and shipping bullshit. i'm not here for your false dichotomy fantasy. i'm here to be a bullshit shipper and have fun and try to get others to be more open and have fun too. maybe throw in a psa here and there for the things i find important.

i'm not here to get fucking bullied either or to watch others get bullied. you can take your assumed hostility and narcissistic PROJECTION and shove it straight up your ass if you think i'm going to tolerate it.

and what is 'hostile attribution bias'? it's this shit.

oh, and you don't have to assume it anymore. i'm fucking hostile. why am i hostile? oh... at this point, i KNOW you KNOW. but not everyone else does, so let's just lay it all out and let others draw their own conclusions. hm?

this was what set you off, right? the automatic assumption that this was someone i knew, looking out for me? i suppose that's possible but that doesn't mean i know exactly who it was or that i put them up to it.

and y'know, i might have even said that anon was a bit harsh and still given you the benefit of a doubt. anon was ANGRY and that's clear, but plausible deniability is so wonderful, isn't it?

but you've gone beyond that point. it wouldn't be the first time someone's noticed your behavior, and i can guarantee that. our first conversation was on my post about the comics and what they meant to me, sparked from an interaction i had with another fan of the show who refused to read the comics but still insulted them directly to me.

the bottom piece is from the post, the top would be the snippet of conversation with the other person prior. all of these are highlighted with slightly adjusted coloring for ease of understanding who's who. and granted, you could argue that i jumped the gun in my first response to you, but then you accused me of being hostile towards people who allegedly read and disliked them. and i had done no such thing, i literally was not addressing those people at all.

that was the first time you put words in my mouth, lied about what i said, and 'villainized' me for 'attacking people' made of straw i might add, when the post itself SPECIFICALLY STATED:

MISCONCEPTION.

so not the people, but the IDEA. an actually legitimately incorrect idea given context. i could go into a rant about how the comics cover one of the single most important and detrimental concepts to humanity (the war machine) and how american media is so piss watered down, propagandized and censored for babies and pearl clutching old people (and before you clutch your pearls over me 'attacking' babies and the elderly, i am not. i am criticizing AMERICAN MEDIA and PURITAN MENTALITY) that the comic itself was relatively tame outside of the american world view bubble, but that's not the point here, is it.

the 'many many' actually refers to people off of tumblr too, though i'm sure there's a fair share here of that mindset as it's found everywhere with everything. even then, i don't condemn the people. minds can be changed for ideas, that was what i was trying to do. maybe i need better methods and i can admit that.

still you chose to lie to my face or what, attempt to gaslight me?? whatever it was, it was enough for someone ELSE to step in and literally ask if you were BULLYING me.

and me, being the naive fucking moron that i am and thinking we ended on a nice punny note and the conversation wasn't so bad STILL gave YOU the benefit of a doubt.

did you extend the same courtesy to me later on? well, let's see.

no. no you did not. snippets of a convo from an anon ask you got on a proposed canon butchlander from when i tried to join in, you immediately accused me of things i have never said or done or even implied. and when i called you out on it, you immediately apologized (good on you, not included here but i DO acknowledge it and DID appreciate it) and i thought, "oh cool! we must be explaining ourselves to try and better understand each other so this doesn't happen again."

only for you to then backtrack and jump back on that ASSUMED HOSTILITY shit you seem to just LOVE huffing. but just for me i gather. maybe a couple others that i haven't seen or don't know about.

considering this is just the stuff i DO know about.

moving on.

you have questions? oh, what a cowinkydink, i have answers. if only you had just ASKED ME DIRECTLY INSTEAD OF PUTTING WORDS IN MY MOUTH AND LYING.

but to give some clarification to the numbered ones.

love the framing here. OF COURSE, WE are ONLY here to be a NUISANCE. must be nice being a real human who can interact with others instead of solely "bother" them. if you'd actually read the post, you might have seen it was about the BULLYING itself, not the bullshit that apparently makes you rabid enough to be a bully. great use of being obtuse.

stop putting words in my mouth. stop fucking lying about me. stop assuming my intentions. stop painting me for your weird ass personal agenda or vendetta. stop making up bullshit about me when you haven't taken two seconds to get to know me. i did no such thing as 'slur the cishets'. proof is in the fucking pudding.

ahhh... i understand why you don't block people. and i think i'm understanding the insidious behavior and bullying too. you're disgusting to people who you don't want to see the content of so that they'll block you while you get to pretend you're still on your little high horse of being the "less petty" or "bigger" person. and that way you don't have to see their content anymore, right? having your cake, and eating it too. it's smart. it looks good on you as long as people don't see the behavior, like you might actually want to solve problems.

although, if i'm to understand all this correctly, you don't want to given the continued hostility towards me regardless of what i do or say. am i getting this, more of that delectable plausible deniability? or am i giving you too much credit? do you even want the benefit of a doubt at this point? because you stated before you'd rather be considered evil than stupid.

oh, my mistake, "disgusting" than "ignorant". let me not do what you do and put words in your mouth. clarify for me, if you want to.

personally, i think ignorance is more forgivable than malice because at least the uninformed can learn better, while those with ill intent will seek to harm again, but to each their own i guess.

and if you actually have brain damage over a nonsensical but ultimately harmless shit joke online, i'd suggest seeking actual help from a doctor because that isn't normal. but i'm going to be generous and say maybe it was a bit much or gave you a recurring nightmare or something, i don't know you, in which case yeah, get help if you need it. i take mental health very seriously so i'm not joking or being sarcastic here. happy healing and sorry for the trouble if that's the case on this specific thing.

but oh! you just don't want to see it, right? TOO BAD BITCH, I GOT MORE TO GIVE AND YOU CAN'T STOP ME!!

and i don't have a problem with you writing your personal views about a pairing, any pairing. if that were all you had done, we probably wouldn't be having this conversation or, if you don't care i suppose i wouldn't be screaming into the void.

but you explicitly stated your point of view was "pretty common", that defaults my view as "uncommon" or in other words, "others" me and those who like bottom billy. don't you dare deny that when you know for a fact it's true.

then citing reasons for why you believed your view was more "accurate". you then went on to claim you were "baffled" when if that were true and you were actually interested in TRYING to UNDERSTAND? YOU WOULD HAVE JUST FUCKING ASKED ME DIRECTLY.

not that i would owe you an explanation or apology, or anything. but i'd have been NICE enough to try and answer anyway to the best of my ability. here, i'll do it now.

i'm not a big fan of bottom homie for the same reasons i'm not at all a fan of (show) homewell. apart from the whole superdick/compressing anus thing, narcissistic abuse/grooming and exploiting someone's trauma for a toxic kink is not only a huge turn off for me, it's super fucking triggering based on my experiences and what i have been through. i've had enough people looking down on me and telling me they "know what's best for me" while trying to rob me of my humanity and use me for their gain.

the funny thing is that i relate to homie in that sense but consider myself a total bottom who also LOVES the 'dom mommy' in certain context, but i also share a lot of similarities with butcher as well and know they both have a lot of very intense differences from me. and homie has a fucking vibrator for a dick. you CANNOT make me want to miss a chance for that, it's just not going to happen. and if i ever want to explore any form of 'grooming' kink from a personal place? i'll stick to thanos and mistress death, thanks.

i also don't find toxic masculinity sexy, that's a red fucking flag for me more glaring than the entirety of homelander, i find POSITIVE masculinity far sexier and true 'top' like. MM has the most of that in my opinion and is the sexiest man on the show, besides the guy who plays black noir under the mask.

i also fully understand the kink on the other end, y'all wanna baby him cause he's never had a mommy and longs for some kind of nurturing parental love, and y'all also wanna fuck him cause he's hot. so ya smash the two together and embrace the infantilization kink (which is seriously not my thing)

and listen, more power to ya. if that's what you like, enjoy it. i'm not judging. i just don't have the same fucking taste and i'm entitled to that. i don't understand why you have to comment on it or be "baffled" by the idea that people can be different from you.

for the record, i don't want to smash the two ideas together, i want to help homie SEPARATE and DEMUDDLE the legitimate problems and confusion in his brain that makes him so vulnurable to women's manipulations, and help him grow the fuck up without wanting to fuck his own mother (if he hasn't already) or keep him baby minded forever. i want to untap his potential and see the man he can/would become depending on circumstance.

because i like redemption and character growth and am a sucker for second chances regardless of liking dark media, and there's a huge difference between "i like you" and " i like that you like me".

that requires a more careful handling than anything suface level, but regardless i don't enjoy exploiting trauma kinks or reinforcing toxic masculinity any more than i would enjoy yiff or snuff. i wouldn't judge someone for having the taste as long as no one real got hurt. but that doesn't mean i have to have their taste.

stop kink shaming me or being "confused" by my preference, i haven't done the same to you. and before you pretend you haven't or that i have.

if you were "seriously trying to understand" you would again, ASK ME DIRECTLY instead of this roundabout bullshit where you talk about it and 'how confused or tired' you are, but can't be bothered to take two fucking seconds to JUST ASK for a more serious answer beyond willem dafoe.

if i wanted to shame you for having a kink, i wouldn't be subtle about it. but i wouldn't anyway because i wouldn't even shame those who have a rape fantasy because i have one and have written and read plenty of it. i file it under 'horror pr0n' with a number of other things, and not every form or 'flavor' of horror pr0n that exists is going to be for everyone, much the same as fucking regular horror. but if it's FICTION, it shouldn't matter.

i understand that and if i judged others for having different tastes or acted... well like YOU, that would make me a hypocrite.

and your friend got it PERFECTLY on the first note. and then decided to enable the bullshit yet again by subscribing to the bane of human unity, tribalism. thanks for reinforcing the idea that this HAS to be a dichotomy WHEN IT'S NOT.

a little healthy teasing and competition? i'm game. it's too bad that's not what this was.

i am not your fucking enemy just because YOU decided i was, YOU do not get to decide that for me. but i'll give them the benefit of a doubt and say they were 'just joking', right?

that's ALL it ever is. "just jokes". but JUST when you or "your side" do it. it's not like you've ever been derogatory and petty about "your side" being the "good side" of fandom.

if you have to constantly reinforce and self assure how "good" you are compared to "others" specifically not part of your niche bubble?

you're an asshole who's not actually "good", full stop. if you have to measure your self worth based on what others do or comparing yourself to them, actually seek help because that's not healthy. just my two cents

but if you want to get technical, NO ONE IS RIGHT AND NEITHER BILLY NOR HOMELANDER IS TOP OR BOTTOM IN A TRADITIONAL SENSE, not just because opinions and preferences can't be right or wrong. because butchlander isn't fucking canon, isn't going to become canon, and as far as we know, both characters are confirmed 100% STRAIGHT within the show with toxic masculinity issues a mile long and would never wanna touch each other like that with a 10 foot pole, and homelander's shown exactly ZERO interest in actually being pegged thus far, so that idea's a headcanon.

even herogasm showed us that 3 on fucking 1 STILL wasn't enough to take him down and homie freaking out over a bruise from an unfair challenge of 3 on 1 because it had logically been a very long time since he'd been hurt makes reasonable sense on a basic surface level. he's then over it by the time maeve makes him bleed and carries on bleeding, and now butcher's dying and is the most vulnurable and literally weak because he's sick of the bunch, so... headcanons? headcanons are fine but let's not forget reality and then laugh at the people who remember it.

and if you had just asked me why i even brought up lovely amazing beautiful cishet women (not at all sarcastic, see above purple posts), instead of YET AGAIN. ASSUMING MY INTENT AND PUTTING A LOAD OF CRAP IN MY MOUTH. you can have that back by the way, what the actual fuck is wrong with you??

or for clarification on why i brought it up? i could have TOLD YOU MYSELF. because unlike SOME PEOPLE, when someone just ASKS a question or gives a neutral or even heated response? I DON'T ASSUME HOSTILITY OR TAKE IT PERSONALLY FROM THEM LIKE IT'S A FUCKING SPORT.

fact (and correct me if i'm wrong): majority of people participating in shipping fandom are cishet women.

this is a simple fact, it doesn't mean anything beyond that, i specifically said both times there's nothing wrong with this.

a majority of people are cishet, so this is to be expected. it still doesn't mean there's anything wrong with the people.

fact: society has issues, ideas, and expectations that affect and harm us all. cishet, or queer. and these issues will and do present themselves in fandom and fan fictions whether we realize that or not. heteronormativity would be one of those. misogyny is another.

and one of my kinks is challenging that, or at least the way i see to challenge that while dunking on redpill idealogy and toxic masculinity because i fucking can.

and i just LOVE how you tout about having the "pReTtY cOmMoN" perception which newsflash, YOU ARE NOT IMMUNE TO HETERONORMATIVE IDEAOLOGY IF YOU THINK TOXIC MASCULINITY IS A REASON A MAN WOULD NEVER BOTTOM. you'd be surprised what people could get up to behind closed doors. but then you turn around and not only put more words in my mouth, enable anon to put words in my mouth, discourage getting a direct answer from me, accuse me and my friends of being the type to randomly accuse someone else of doxxing??? wtf even is that.

and of course. given your 'pretty common' perception being the total opposite of heteronormativity, it MUST mean that society has resolved all of its issues and come to accept queer people exactly as they are in all forms with no expectations or interference whatsoever, oh yeah. places like florida or uganda just totally don't exist. the u.s. isn't on the verge of becoming an actual fascist hellhole for us, and it is TOTALLY just... no one oppresses us. no one.

ESPECIALLY not the cishets.

and despite all the evidence to the contrary, you especially have done nothing wrong here and its all in my head. is that right? can you clarify for me? do you think that my situations have put zero pressure on me in my day to day life? on my friends' lives? do you think you didn't add to that? do you think you and company are the only ones that feel or react like humans?

imagine being so far up your own ass you tell the queer HOW to queer. or at least be a GOOD queer, right?

oh, i'm sorry let me not put words in your mouth. you were of course only laughing at me behind my back for the 'anti-cishet' things i never said.

and no. OBVIOUSLY i wasn't saying any of the shit you accused. i was saying i prefer SUBVERSIVE themes when i do my tops and bottoms and a more detailed look at that can be found in my purple all over responses or just the posts themselves, but if you still want to ask me anyway, i'll answer to the best of my ability.

and what a coincidence that despite you understanding top/bottom not just being related to penetration and some people will feel certain dynamics may be reductive, how ironic that you couldn't possibly fathom that as one of my main complaints.

you don't WANT to actually understand. you just wanted a circle jerk of confirmation bias.

this anon hit the nail on the fucking head. and you wanted to fight them?? i could have overlooked this but i wanted to touch on something really important because i don't know what anon may have seen but i once saw you answer an ask about homelander's redeemability and you cited "tough love" as a means to get there.

and as a former addict and narcissistic abuse survivor (specifying for context), i can tell you first hand "tough love" is not a real thing, and it's not discipline either because that requires teaching and providing tools for rehabilitation. but don't just take my word for it.

from a psychological perspective and to hear actual professionals go over the concept? "tough love" not only DOESN'T work. it is an excuse to be nasty and abusive to someone under the guise that you are only doing it to help them, when all it really does is make you an abusive fuck.

this would be why the SHOW had HOMELANDER of all people saying it, why what billy did to ryan is presented the way it was with HUGHIE of all people, the guy who was at the time dealing with a huge wad of toxic masculinity issues up his ass, 'got it'. and even BUTCHER'S DAD is presented as the piece of shit that he is who gladly passed on his curse to butcher like it was a 'gift'.

even the comics got this when they present butcher doing his scumlord over 9000 move to hughie and annie saying "cruel to be kind" about his own bullshit. no. no no no. he did NOT do that for hughie's well being. he did it for himself because he was a selfish prick.

and i want to be clear. i am being an asshole here and i fully recognize that. that's for ME to feel better because i am fed up with your bullshit. because you have spent your time poking and prodding me for a hostile reaction. well congrats motherfucker. you got it.

and there ain't NO fucking love there.

i won't be your enemy. but i am NOT your friend either. clearly YOU wouldn't want that anyway.

but because i always have to add in that disclaimer for basic human decency? EVEN WITH HOW I FEEL and what the actual science says about "tough love", i would still never tell someone they can't use it in fiction, presented as a toxic kink or whatever the fuck else. even if it triggers me. even if i have a thousand different reasons to criticize it and voice that in a separate space.

people can do whatever the fuck they want and i can't control that. neither can you.

but i don't have to engage with the content or speak positively on it or keep my mouth shut, and i'm not gonna harrass people or pull the kind of insidious bullshit you do either.

at the end of the day, this is fiction. and if you feel the need to run an entire fucking smear campaign about me over fiction and preferences??

stop lying about me

stop putting words in my mouth

stop talking about me behind my back

stop predetermining who i am for me

stop assuming hostility when i will flat out tell you my intent and you can just ask, that doesn't just go for me.

stop fucking gatekeeping and gaslighting.

I DON'T HAVE A DISHONESTY PROBLEM LIKE SOME PEOPLE.

and fuck you.

neither me nor any of my friends or these anons are crazy and i will not sit around while you try to fucking gaslight me or anyone else. try it again, i fucking dare you.

bottom billy lovers existing is not an attack on you. it never was. you don't own the tags. FUCKING DEAL.

this behavior? is UNNACCEPTABLE.

as for fandom? a few more things i want to cover. i couldn't have said it better than a friend of mine who while a little hectic and crazy sometimes, has been nothing but a sweetheart<3 that i just want to encourage and motivate to art or post pictures of her billy butcher kitty babygirl incarnate but unfortunately due to circumstances may be regressing back into her shell.

a message i will never stop promoting, whatever iteration it comes in, whenever it comes up.

i may disagree with what you are saying or doing, but as long as you are not harming anyone, i will fight wholeheartedly for your right to say or do so.

that is the philosphy of true freedom, THAT is what i subscribe to. and it pisses me the fuck off when i see people trying to punish or hurt people for things that hurt no one. we don't get to decide how other people want to live their lives. we can only navigate and hope we might find a friend along the way.

and THAT is the single greatest picture of captain america ever fucking created. no i will take dissenting opinions.

in regards to assumed hostility or hostile attribution bias, a more lighthearted and easily digestable demonstration is below.

gais... just don't do it. don't automatically assume that someone means you harm or pain simply because they disagree with you. this is what leads to more problems. this is what leads to human tribalism. this is what divides us. this is what destroys us. this is what leads to wars. fandom shipping bullshit or otherwise.

the fucking stupidest invention of humanity, fought over goddamn unholy wads of paper and scribbles of ink because people couldn't accept that their ideas weren't accepted by everyone else, and anyone who didn't fall in line got the axe. or alienated. or excommunicated. or accused of being a witch. or whatever.

but this is the kinda shit we need to nip in the bud at the most basic level we can, every time we can.

it's called intolerance of the intolerant. and it's how we stop hatred from fostering and the intolerance being tolerated and eventually taking over.

because assumed hostility? it IS intolerance.

people are not made from ideas, it's the people who make or break the ideas, not the other way around. and ideas can change.

that should never be seen as a bad thing because it's necessary for positive changes and better understanding as time goes on.

challenge yourselves and the way you think, listen to newcomers and welcome them, have healthy discussions, learn to agree to disagree. it's not that hard.

and i know, i get it. it's not easy, not that simple either. everyone's on edge, people are sickly addicted to hatred and anger because they are EASY. giving in to them doesn't require self control or any form of discipline, it is as simple as instinct. it IS instinct. but if humanity has ANY hope of moving forward?

we HAVE to learn to give people the benefit of a doubt. we HAVE to learn to listen to each other, *actually* listen and hear *exactly* what others are saying. HAVE to learn to identify the difference between a differing *non-hostile* opinion and actual *intolerance*

because the world has already seen what happens when we FAIL and eventually we WILL run out of chances to get it right.

please at least TRY to give the benefit of the doubt in an appropriate situation.

i'll lead by example.

keys? even you. even now, i'm going to give you the benefit of the doubt DESPITE how you've treated me AND my friends now. because MAYBE you were actually key in the sketch and just having a bad day each time we interacted or MAYBE you have some sort of trauma getting triggered whenever you see my shit or we interact or whatever the fuck it could be, MAYBE you are feeling the pressures of a self discovery coming out journey and it's manifesting badly (yes i did notice that and if this is the case i would still wish you nothing but good will and luck with that, not sarcastic), or some combination, there's a million reasons and i don't know you, so i'm not going to assume or say anything for certain.

unlike some people.

but i don't think you're stupid. on the contrary, looking at your posts, my first 'assumption' was that you are actually very well educated and were just enjoying having fun and being silly. later and based on some things i saw, it occured to me that your education/upbringing may put you at odds or at a disadvantage with connecting with people online or having them understand you, that doesn't mean there's anything wrong with you or them, it just means you're speaking different languages.

even the "tough love" thing could be a miscommunication/malapropism. it could also be internal denial because you had a loved one do that to you and still haven't come to terms with the actual abuse you were experiencing because "they knew best"

i've been there. but maybe i'm the one who's projecting just to give you the benefit of a doubt. is it fair for me to take out my own frustrations on random people? fuck to the NO. which is why i TRY regularly to keep that shit in line and my life private.

so i absolutely will not excuse you for being so blatantly dishonest about me either behind my back or to my face because even if you do think i'm being hostile (when i'm not), there's no excuse for that. no, i wouldn't excuse myself either.

that needs to stop in a general sense, and i know you KNOW you are doing that because you'd have to *actually* be the biggest fucking illiterate moron on the planet to not know at this point.

especially when i reached out to you before to try and resolve this calmly and you ignored me and then continued lying about me, yucking it up with anons and buddies like high school mean girls. officially. unironically. instead of doing an ounce of self reflecting.

and i didn't include those messages, but the continued disingenuity and callous misrepresentation is there. and especially the carving into my character to define me however you want without giving me a voice to speak for myself.

stop it. you know it. i know it. maybe you think i'm some country bumpkin cousin hick fucker who happens to conveniently be queer but is remarkably stupid or an easy target.

and maybe i am stupid for ever giving you the benefit of a doubt, but you don't get to rob me of my humanity or basic courtesy.

because YOU'RE human too. and you have a right to your thoughts and feelings and opinions, and i get that, and i support it

even if by some fucking bizarre coocoo for cocoa puffs alternate reality, butchlander were to become canon the way I saw it? i wouldn't gloat or celebrate or try to rub it in your face.

I would encourage you to keep liking what you like and keep being yourself, maybe even harder than before.

even knowing you wouldn't do the same for me. at least from personal experience. see any of the above. and if you think i'm a self righteous prick for it, so fucking be it.

but if you're going to be an asshole? at least own the fuck up to it.

oh, and by the way? i now headcanon that billy butcher once a month puts on a full body gimp suit and with ball gag to do some strange kinda unholy shit with fruit OR veggies (never both), and it HAS to be a waning crecent moon, because i fucking can. and you can't stop me. ;)))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))

gais... don't immediately assume hostility. please. i know tone can be hard to interpret through writing or typic and emojis help, and yeah, i know i can jump the gun too. but i try to take things told to me at face/basic value or read them in a neutral tone and i think it helps too.

but we should never be judging anyone before we know them.