#being a person with memory issues in fandom is weird

[blorboresidue]

maybe when I reread dunmeshi I'll just keep writing down characters' names and facts about them as I go...or I could literally just use the wiki lol idk

[pluckyredhead]

What the heck is going on in Batman/Gotham War?

I know a lot of people in fandom are confused and/or upset about what's been going on in Gotham War - why is Bruce acting like this, what is Selina doing, why are the Batkids taking sides. So I figured I would fill you all in on what's been happening in Batman and Catwoman since Chip Zdarsky took over with Batman #125, because it has been BONKERS and I have been enjoying the hell out of it.

Below, the quickest summary I can manage while still being comprehensive:

[Content warning: mental illness, abuse, suicide (...ish), LOTS of violence.]

The first arc, "Failsafe," starts with Batman and Robin (Tim, in this case) in pursuit of the Penguin, who is on a killing spree. In the very first issue, Tim gets shot in the neck. Bruce has to take him to the hospital, but first he has to strip him out of his costume and put him in civilian clothes to preserve their secret identities, triggering memories of when he had to do the same to Jason's dead body. There is LITERALLY NO PURPOSE TO ANY OF THIS EXCEPT WHUMP (Tim is back in action with a fucking BAND-AID on his neck very quickly), which is how I knew this was going to be good. Beat Tim up! Make Bruce cry about Jason! I want these men to suffer! (There is also SO much to be said about Tim's own Poor Mental Health Decisions throughout the entirety of Zdarsky's run so far, but that's for a separate meta post.)

Anyway. Bruce leaves Tim in the hospital and goes to confront Penguin, who turns out to be dying of mercury poisoning. He kills himself and makes it look like Batman did it, forcing Bruce to flee. (Penguin actually faked his death and is alive elsewhere under an alias, but that's not important right now.)

In the Batcave, a massive robot called Failsafe emerges. Failsafe attacks Bruce, who usually eats killer robots for breakfast, but he can't seem to get the upper hand on this one. Duke, Cass, Steph, and Dick show up to help, but Failsafe beats them all too, while Tim gets an injured Bruce away and to the Batcave.

In the Batcave, Bruce puts on a weird purple and red Batman costume and a new personality takes over: the Batman of Zur-En-Arrh. Now, Zur has a very complicated history going back to 1958, but for the purposes of this story, all you need to know is that when he was younger, Bruce decided it would be good to hang out in a sensory deprivation chamber until his mind created a secondary personality, Zur, who is essentially Batman without Bruce. Zur is pure efficiency who does not care about anything but the mission. He created Failsafe, for one purpose: to kill Bruce if Bruce ever crossed the line and killed someone. And right now, Failsafe believes that Bruce killed Penguin.

Failsafe nearly kills Tim, which Zur is okay with writing off as an expendable soldier's death, but this causes Bruce to take control of the body back because "Tim isn't my soldier...HE'S MY SON!" (Tim Nation, why are you not ALL OVER this story? It's catnip.)

Babs calls in the JLA (SuperBat fans, you will also want to read Bruce's adoring description of Clark when he shows up), but of course Failsafe has kryptonite, which it stabs Clark with. The League dumps Clark and Bruce into the JLA jet and distracts Failsafe while Tim flies Clark and Bruce to the Fortress of Solitude. Bruce tells Tim he's a good boy and jumps out of the jet and into the ocean so that Tim and Clark will be safe from Failsafe. He's rescued by Arthur, who takes him to Atlantis to heal. THIS HAS ALL ONLY BEEN FOUR ISSUES SO FAR.

Two weeks later, Bruce wakes up to discover that Failsafe has taken over Gotham. He teleports up to the JLA Watchtower on the moon to lure Failsafe there, then blows the Watchtower up, hoping to catch a ride on one of the Javelins. But Failsafe has already destroyed them, so Bruce RIDES A BOOSTER ROCKET BACK TO EARTH, OXYGEN MASK CLAPPED OVER HIS FACE. The whole thing has some powerful Scooty-Puff Jr energy.

The only tricky part is reentry, when Bruce starts to burn up - his costume is fireproof, of course, but his chin is exposed. SO HE TAKES OFF HIS LITTLE BAT-PANTIES AND PUTS THEM OVER HIS HEAD. I swear to god this happened in a real comic book and the entire "Bruce falls off the moon and survives" sequence is utterly delectable goofy nonsense and I truly cannot recall a time I've had more fun reading a comic book.

Anyway, Bruce lands directly outside of the Fortress, BECAUSE OF COURSE HE DOES, and runs inside to find Clark and Tim. While Clark keeps Failsafe distracted, Bruce and Tim program nanobots to inject compassion into Failsafe. I SWEAR TO GOD. They zap him with the nanobots, but Failsafe pulls a high tech space gun out of the Fortress and shoots Bruce with it anyway, apparently disintegrating him. Tim falls to his knees in the snow, weeping. TIM NATION, WAKE UP, THIS RUN IS CANDY FOR YOU.

But of course Bruce isn't dead! That wasn't a killing gun, it was a "zap you into another dimension" gun!!! THAT was the compassion!

So Bruce finds himself in a dystopian alternate Gotham, and I'll be honest, I didn't love this arc ("The Bat-Man of Gotham") as much as I loved "Failsafe," but it has its moments. In this Gotham, Bruce Wayne is dead, so Regular Bruce is like "Oh boy, time to Batman this place up." Also he's plagued by hallucinations of a skeleton version of Jim Gordon who is still wearing a trench coat AND A MUSTACHE. Like I said, it has its moments.

This Gotham is controlled by Arkham, and anyone who is diagnosed as "crazy" is locked up. A new villain, Red Mask, is in charge, and Selina and a Venomed-up Harvey Dent work for him. Bruce teams up with an orphan kid (of course) named Jewel and goes after Red Mask, who turns out to be some guy named Darwin Halliday and ALSO...the Joker. Well, he's the Joker who hasn't been Jokerized yet. But one time he breathed in some chemicals that let him see into the main reality of the DCU (???) and glimpsed Regular Joker and now he wants to build an interdimensional machine to mentally connect with Regular Joker across universes which he assumes will make him insane, NATURALLY.

Bruce attacks Red Mask, who sics a Venomed-up Ghost Maker on him. Ghost Maker cuts off Bruce's right hand. Bruce cauterizes it with an electroshock machine and ties some spikes on it (SERIOUSLY) and goes after Red Mask again. Meanwhile Red Mask mentally connects with an alternate dimensional Joker...but instead of it driving Red Mask insane, he's what drives the Joker insane. Desperate to become the Joker somehow, anyhow, he jumps into the interdimensional portal, and Morally Dubious Alternate Universe Selina kicks Bruce in after him.

Meanwhile, Tim is in full "I KNOW I SAW HIM DIE BUT HE'S NOT DEAD" mode, which: bless. So he teams up with Jon Kent, which...gosh, what an astonishingly boring duo. I love Jon, I love Tim, they're perfectly nice and normal around each other, I'm falling asleep. Anyway Tim fights Toyman for a while and then makes a VERY stupid costume where the entire torso is a giant light-up R, because "I want him to see that Robin is coming to save him." GET A THERAPY, TIM.

Bruce finds himself first in the Michael Keaton Batman universe, then the Red Rain universe, BTAS, Batman Beyond (yes I know they're the same universe but I guess he goes there twice), Silver Age, Kingdom Come, Gotham by Gaslight, and more. Adam West gives him a utility belt. The Dark Knight Returns Bruce builds him a robot hand.

Finally Bruce and Red Mask reach the end of the multiverse, which is a Gotham asteroid floating in space, surrounded by giant Jokerized sharks. LUCKILY BRUCE HAS BAT-SHARK REPELLANT IN HIS ADAM WEST UTILITY BELT!!! Honestly this whole arc was worth it for that moment.

Bruce knocks Red Mask out, but now he's stuck. He has a device from Batman Beyond Bruce to get home, but it's only good for one person, and he can't leave Red Mask there to die. Of course, that's when Tim shows up in his stupid giant glowing R costume and they hug it out, thereby fulfilling but also compounding all of Tim's issues since 1989.

Anyway things are fine now, right? Sure, Bruce is hallucinating that his family is on fire, and the Zur personality is not going neatly back into the box where it's been all these years, and he still has a robot hand (Damian, hilariously, immediately announces that he wants one too), but he's FINE. He is a little bit mad at Selina, because she broke out of jail (she was in jail because she killed her fuckbuddy because he was trying to kill Bruce), and also because she didn't tell him Penguin was alive and that would have stopped Failsafe, and also because Other Selina kicked into another universe. Selina, very fairly, is like "Well I'm not responsible for Other Selinas and also maybe don't build robots to kill yourself with and not tell anyone about them???"

THEN we got Knight Terrors, the summer event in which a villain called Nightmare caused everyone to fall asleep and, uh, have nightmares. Bruce, specifically, had a nightmare that he met an eight-year-old version of himself that vomited up a man-sized bat with a gun for a head. I laughed SO HARD. Bruce also had his body borrowed by Deadman for the duration of the event, so while he endured the psychological toll of nightmares like everyone else, he also endured the physical toll of everything Deadman was doing PLUS the mental toll of being aware of what was happening in the waking world even though he couldn't control his body. As soon as the event was over, he lapsed into a coma so that his body could get some damn rest.

Okay. Now we're up to Gotham War.

(I know, I know. But for all of you who are like "How could Bruce do this???" about Gotham War...*points up* THAT'S HOW. HE IS NOT WELL.)

Bruce awakens from his coma and IMMEDIATELY decides to Fight A Crime even though Babs is like "Maybe don't?" But he can't find any crime, which is...weird. His kids confirm that Gotham's been super quiet since he's been out.

Selina hears that Bruce is awake and is like okay, time to pay the piper. She calls all of the Bats to a meeting and explains that she's the reason crime has been down. See, villains like Joker and Two-Face always have goons, right? But what if the goon supply dried up because the goons have better jobs? So Selina has trained All The Goons In Gotham to be...cat burglars. No violence, no stealing from anyone who can't afford it. More importantly, no helping Scarecrow or whoever commit mass murder.

All of the Batkids are like "Hmm...I feel uncertain about this, but it's working...I don't know what to think..." except for Jason, who thinks it's hilarious and is instantly Team Selina, and Damian, who is staunchly Team Bruce. Bruce, meanwhile, is like "No! NO! THIS IS CRIMES, AND CRIMES IS BAD!" and Selina's like "I mean, robbing from the rich is basically a victimless crime" and Bruce screams, I swear to god, "MY PARENTS WERE 'RICH'!" Inexplicable scare quotes and all. I laughed so hard.

Anyway this is the basis for Gotham War and it is endlessly hilarious to me because everyone in the Batfamily is supposed to be a genius and yet not one single character has pointed out that:

There are jobs the goons could be doing that AREN'T illegal. It's not just violent crime vs. nonviolent crime. There are in fact many other jobs! I am POSITIVE Gotham needs construction workers and hospital orderlies. (Yes, I know it's hard for people with records to get jobs. That isn't addressed.)

Being Batman is SUPER ILLEGAL.

They are all so stupid.

Selina's plan doesn't even work, because one of her thieves gets killed by a rich person defending their home, and Bruce is like "See? This is why crime is bad!" and like...pretty much snaps. He's particularly fixated on Jason, even (rhetorically) threatening to kill him, which is when the other kids jump into the fray on Jason's side, all except for Damian, who like I said is firmly Team Bruce. (This makes complete sense to me, Damian has been dealing with severe trauma and isolation pretty much nonstop since 2018 and he and Bruce have finally made a tenuous peace, so I can understand why he wouldn't want to lose that.)

Also, Vandal Savage buys Wayne Manor. It's so random and SO funny.

OKAY BATMAN #138. Bruce has kidnapped Jason and injected him with a variation on fear toxin which will be triggered whenever Jason's adrenaline spikes, the idea being that Jason is no longer capable of killing - but in practice, Jason is no longer capable of even getting up off the floor, he's so terrified. I want to be really, really clear here: Bruce is like 90% Zur here, and the only reason he goes this route and doesn't kill Jason is because the remaining 10% that's still Bruce loves Jason and is trying to help him. He's just incapable of good or humane help because Zur literally can't do feelings.

Dick knows something is up and is sneaking around Bruce's Secret Other House We've Never Heard Of to figure out what it is. Damian attacks him to protect Bruce. Tim attacks Damian so that Dick can do what he needs to do, and handcuffs Damian to a parking meter:

THERE IS SO MUCH TO UNPACK HERE!!! TIM GO TO THERAPY! DAMIAN GO TO THERAPY! EVERYONE GO TO THERAPY!!!!!

Dick figures out what Bruce did to Jason (it's on the computer, for...some reason?) and absolutely loses his shit on Bruce, beating the crap out of him, which tbh is the only thing that felt off to me in this run because frankly I don't think Dick likes Jason that much. BUT WHATEVER.

Tim pulls Dick off of Bruce. Bruce leaves them both tangled in a net and flees as the cops approach. Zur's like "Good, fuck 'em" in Bruce's head, because the cops will expose Dick, Tim, and Damian's secret identities and Bruce will be free of the dead weight of a family, but the little bit of Bruce still in there throws Dick a batarang so he can free them all in time.

Then Bruce leaves. Damian is devastated.

I WILL NEVER RECOVER FROM THIS PAGE. Damian really thought he could have Bruce's love and loyalty if he turned on everyone else! Tim is going to be a therapy dog to a Wayne even if he has to settle for the one he doesn't like! That unresisting, blank hug made me SCREAM when I turned the page. Incredible. (Also the art fucking S L A P S, god bless you Jorge Jimenez.)

ALSO it turns out that Selina's second in command has been Vandal Savage's daughter Scandal Savage the whole time and they are turning Selina's cat burglar army into their own personal army WHOOPS. (This also feels very OOC for Scandal but at this point I trust Zdarsky with my life so let's see where things go.)

SO THAT'S WHAT'S GOING ON IN GOTHAM WAR. TL;DR:

Bruce is unhinged because he nearly died like 19 times in a week and it unlocked the smaller, meaner purple Batman that lives inside him.

Selina is unaware that you can get money legally.

Tim is going to have a nervous breakdown if he can't fix someone, ANYONE.

Damian needs a hug but ideally from someone he actually likes this time.

Jason is so scared.

THE END.

[adventures-in-mangaland]

Dead Boy Detectives Fic Recs Part 10

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Xmas | Part 9

I may take a break for a little bit as I haven't been reading much lately, but I'm sure I'll come back to doing these lists soon! This is such a lovely, talented fandom that deserves all the love! ♥️

Also, don't forget, these rec lists now have their own collection on AO3 for all the fics I've ever recced here. If your fic is on this list and you don't have 'Invite to collections' enabled, please feel free to add it yourself! :)

i'm just too stubborn to know when to quit! (you) by emryses

Spiderman AU! Which also kind of gave me Superman vibes? Featuring Charles as Spidey and Edwin as Lois Lane.

This is a gift (The high cost of living) by foolishgames

Death is having a day off so Edwin and Charles get a little treat. This is an "Alive for a Day" fic and it's done so well! Just a sensory extravaganza for the boys pretty much free of angst.

these things are sent to try us by KiaraSayre

Edwin and Crystal are trapped by a therapy time-bubble, forcing them to work together (and through their issues) to break free. I love fics that centre their prickly friendship and this one has excellent sniping turned cheerleading for each other. Also, Edwin gets an ear piercing. Wholesome.

The Long Way Home by Ice_Elf

Edwin is sent back in time and befriends baby Charles. This one has a lot of sweetness balanced by time travel angst and Charles' canonical terrible childhood, though vastly improved by Edwin's presence. Recommended!

kick the last nail in by Cesare

In which Johanna Constantine is hired to exorcise the vengeful ghost of a haunting victim's childhood friend, Charlie Rowland. I love an unreliable narrator and I'm always happy to see more of Johanna!

I'm trying to get an education here by eunoise

Crystal and Niko are dreading their school's Parent Teacher Night so they enlist the boys to pretend to be their parents... This one is so funny but also sweet? Worth reading just for Edwin getting waaay too into his role.

I found the cure to growing older (& you're the only place that feels like home) by thegirlofthorns

5+1 fic about Edwin slowly opening up to Charles about Hell and processing his trauma... through puzzles. Featuring sudoku, a hedge maze, Edwin having a Bad Time and (Emotional) Hurt/Comfort.

stare down at the wonder of it all by vyther15

Listen, I'm always here for a Cinderella AU, OK? Also, shout out to the author for using subheadings like the intertitles in the show. We love to see it.

he seems to me equal to the gods that man by purposefullyinlove

This fandom has been needing a Professors AU and this fic delivers! Bonus points as it's also an Outsider PoV fic about the student body rabidly speculating about Professor Payne's love life and also that hot punk guy who hangs around campus sometimes. Such a delight.

if we want to get close then we'll need to get lost (in the heat of it) by wordsinhaled

Edwin needs to have sex for case reasons and Charles is determined to make it Beautiful. This is A Case Made Them Do It with heart.

The Case of the Omegaverse Portal by miraworos

When Edwin is kidnapped, Charles must rescue him from a strange alternate universe where they're alive again and also have some weird new biological quirks... Tbh, the title is pretty self-explanatory, but maybe skip it if you don't like A/B/O. Personally, I love a "Canon Character is Suddenly Omegaversified, Time for Some Social Commentary!" fics.

Only trouble is, I'm dreaming my life away by Hse11z5

Edwin is trapped in a dreamworld and Charles must venture into his dreams to rescue him. This one is bittersweet as the boys kind of get to relive being alive in the dreams and Charles being part of Edwin's dream memories of his life gives it an Alive Boys/First Meeting in 1916 vibe. Plus Charles acting on his Feelings Realization at the worst time and Edwin Misunderstanding gives it a nice extra sprinkling of angst.

loving nothing solitary by williamvapespeare

Edwin and Charles in the aftermath of the attacks. This one is part of the Expanded Universe of DontOffendTheBees' Painland Domestic AU. The boys are still alive and in school and helping each other cope with the trauma of their near death experiences, sleep deprivation, separation during the Easter Holidays and their respective families. Lovely Hurt/Comfort.

Let's be jolly by ghostinthelibrary

A pixie infestation at the office Christmas party forces Charles and "Supply Closet Thomas" (aka the Cat King) to team up to save Edwin (and the rest of the bureau). Belated Christmas Party fic in the Ministry of Supernatural Investigations verse. I will rec anything in this AU, it's all golden! Anyway, enjoy hideous Christmas jumpers, social embarrassment and Charles somehow never questioning his insane jealousy of his totally platonic partner's ex.

Rituals of Remembrance by justafandomfollower

Crystal meets a weird Edwardian ghost detective with insane pain tolerance at the cemetery and helps him with his case. This is a short and sweet Edwin & Crystal Different First Meeting friendship fic. I loved the concept of Crystal meeting one (or both!) of the boys pre-canon while she was still hanging out with ghosts in the graveyard. This needs to be more of a trope!

where was my fault (in loving you with my whole heart) by aletterinthenameofsanity

Charles thinks they're friends with benefits but wants to be more. Edwin just thinks they're in love. It all comes out at the worst possible moment. In which they are in love but break each other's hearts in very different ways. Angsty but tender and has a happy ending.

Tell the Gravedigger (He Only Needs to Dig One) by Civilized_muppets

The boys decided to bury Edwin's remains with Charles' in the early 2000s. This becomes a Problem when Charles' murder is finally investigated and his grave is exhumed, prompting consternation at the second skeleton, wild conspiracy theories and an unfolding newstory that grips the nation. I have been dying for a fic with this kind of Unsolved Mysteries, national media attention and "Justice for Charles and Edwin!" vibes. Plus established payneland as the icing on the cake.

@emryses @thenyoumaykissthebride @ghostinthelibrarywrites @wordsinhaled @williamvapespeare @starsandatoms @justafandomfollower @vyther15 @edwin-paynes-bowtie @miraworos @civilizedmuppetsao3 @ice-elf @eunoise @codenamecesare @dont-offend-the-bees @aletterinthenameofsanity @atariakana @whatthehorsedoicallthisblog @shazziez @extremely-eager-reader @northen-light @tigerliliesandcherryblossoms @fairandfatalasfair @tessaaaaa @icurlybooks @guardianspirits13 @many-gay-magpies @bibliomancer7 @littlepocketuniverse @lavenderlovers-stuff @every-moment-a-different-sound @nobledragonflying @overlord-of-chaos

As ever, let me know if you'd like to be added to the tag list. :)

[andhumanslovedstories]

I'll play the 500-word ask game! Your Tortall fanfic, please - I was thinking of this segment, but really anything you want to comment on in the fic! (Also thank you for writing it; the voice works very well and the text feels very true-to-source!)

Kel may never have forgiven the king for putting her through a probation period—a life’s first major disappointment cuts deep and leaves a scar—but her issues to him as a man did not blind her to his success as a king. “He’s formed alliances with the Bazhir, the Yamani, and Tusaine for the first time in our history. He controls the Dominion Jewel, the most powerful mage in the world is loyal to him, and our training school produces the finest knights in the world.”

Don’t forget our excellent spy operations,” Alanna added. “But people’s memories get short, especially in times of hardship. A short war unites a nation; a long one wearies it. And our war with Scanra has lasted far longer than we expected, even after your contribution.”

Kel grimaced. It was true. Even after Kel had slain the creator of the Scanran war machines, the forces of King Maggur fought bitterly for every inch of land. They had no reasonable hope of winning, not with Scanra’s weak harvest and weaker tribal alliances, but they were determined to make Tortall’s victory costly. They’d turned to guerilla tactics in the mountainous border region between the two nations, and they were willing to lay down their lives for every square inch.

Still, the gaudiness of the Midwinter’s Festival felt tasteless to Kel, a slap in the face to the soldiers who died and the ones who were still there fighting in the bleakest of conditions. “If everyone could put some trust in each other and go without the things they don’t need, we could redirect all this wealth to ending the war.”

“If people could trust each other and go without, we wouldn’t be fighting this war. We’d be living in some happy utopia that would be very boring for people like you and me.”

Oh my god, I wrote this Tortall fic in 2011. Sometimes the passage of time just hits. Especially because of the time I remember Kel has always been my favorite of Pierce's leads. It would be difficult to overstate the impact Kel as a character has had on me over the years. I wrote this fic in October 2011--that was during my first semester of college, when I was 18 years old. I'd brought The Protector of the Small books with me to college for emotional support. There was a hurricane on the east coast during our freshman orientation that knocked out the power in my dorm. I remember reading all four books by a window while it was raining like crazy, and then thinking ruefully that I should have saved them for later when I needed a pick me up.

That makes it an extra pleasant surprise when I reread it and really liked it! (I even had the very odd feeling of being inspired by my own ending.) I remembered the broad strokes of it--Kel and Alanna talking at a banquet while on the lookout for Tortall's second openly female page--and absolutely none of the details. I can't believe the only relationship tag I had in there was Kel/Dom. I'll be honest, I don't even really remember who Dom is. I went back and added Kel & Alanna as the main relationship because, like, duh. Yeah.

It's doubly weird to me I tagged the barely mentioned romantic pairing considering the story was written for a livejournal community challenge to specific write gen fic about women outside of the context of romance and shipping. This was a weird transition time in fandom where lj communities were still very prominent, but more and more fic was getting posted on AO3 instead of in a community or on a personal journal. I remember some debate about what female characters counted for femgenficathon (the community/challenge I wrote this for). It might have been a debate about trans women, but I remember more specifically discussions of whether genderswapped male characters counted.

Anyway, back to this fic specifically, it's funny the author's note is me talking about the difficulties of writing fanfic for a book because I want to match the author's style when that's something that I've been thinking about a lot lately writing for Scum Villain. What I remember most about this fic is specifically the work I put in studying Tamora Pierce's writing style so I could ape it. A sentence early--"Her closest tablemate, a small but sturdy red-headed woman Kel regarded with equal parts affection and awe, chuckled at Kel’s distress."--is the direct result of me studying Pierce's first paragraphs in her work to see how she reintroduces the reader to characters they have met before. There's also a simplicity and directness to the language that isn't my default. I can get pretty flowery. In my default state, I love a paragraph long metaphor.

These two women have this shared experience but also could not be more different. When I was a kid, I really wanted Alanna and Kel to be best friends, and I was disappointed when they weren't, but I understood why. They are very different people, almost in different genres. Alanna and Kel are two very different takes on the lady knight. Having to pretend to be a boy versus openly being a girl leads to such different dynamics. Alanna's story is so much about identity and self-definition, but also about being extraordinary. She's gifted with magic, she's touched by the goddess, she has a magic cat. She's a fantasy heroine. She's indisputably extraordinary.

Kel meanwhile has no magic. Her story emphasizes continual, endless practice, discipline, training. Her adventures are human-sized. Alanna's book one ends with defeating magical monsters in a cursed city. Kel's involves helping a bunch of other pages fight off bandits. She doesn't deal with gods; she gets put in charge of a refuge camp. Her story involves a lot of practical logistics in a way Alanna's doesn't. So she ends up being this character that's such a mix of realism and idealism, seeing the world the way it could and should be while also seeing the work and frustration of getting there. That was what made her such a huge inspiration to me as a kid--god, between her and Tiffany Aching, I have gotten so much from the tales of hard working girls.

That's why Kel in this fic looks to everyday and mundane examples of female fighters. Because she works so close to the ground, she appreciates the grassroots. I thought that hit a good balance of her faith in the future without making it sound like she thought gender equality would be easy. Actually, to be honest, I got...comforted, I guess, by my own ending. (Again, a very pleasant surprise.) Kel's hope always feels earned. That's what I was aiming for.

[nuttyhatter]

For the past few days I've been reading Transformers' fanfiction. Am I in the fandom? No. Was I reading about Optimus and Megatron? Yes. Should I be Ashamed? Yeah, probably, but that's not the point.

The point here is that I learned that in the past, Optimus was Orion Pax and Megatron was D-16. And then I remembered an episode of an animated serie I used to watch in Cartoon Network where Optimus lost his memory and he seemed to get along with Megatron and belive what he said. Then I think I stopped watching, either because they always repeated the same episodios or because I got bored, I don't know.

I'm also confused about Megatron's past. D-16 was a miner. But I also read about him as a gladiator and the name Megatronus instead of Megatron is also thrown around.

Orion Pax was an archivist I believe, which I understand as a sort of librarian.

Where am I going to with all of this?

You'll see, I want to know if there is a fic where, when Optimus loses his memory and becomes Orion Pax, he is a complete and absolute menace. He is still an archivist, sure, but he has a Past, he has Lore. He was not the cool and collected hero and soldier he is today and he was not some quite and shy young mech. No, he was chaotic. Trouble followed him and when it didn't, he went looking for it.

I can't decide if I want the past friendship with Megatron to be a part of whatever this is or not.

But lets say it isn't, let's say that Megatron is just as confused as everyone else.

And what about Autobots and Decepticons? Easy, Orion would have no idea what those are. And he wouldn't care. He would only care about how cool flying seemed and then be absolutly exited about being able to do it himself (assuming he can, I don't even know where in the saga I am putting this). He'd want to race the Autobots in the ground and the Decepticons in the sky.

BUT he would not trust any of them. Why? Because they all kept calling him Optimus Prime, insisting that's who he was. Prime! As if he'd ever become part of that system!

In the meantime, he is balancing the despair of the news about the destruction of his home world and everyone he knew with the excitement of a new world plus the loneliness and confusion that came with the later.

For Megatron, you'd think things were ideal since his greatest obstacle was out of the way, right?

Wrong!

There was one thing Megatron could have never imagined, never expected or even suspected, and that's just how much the other Decepticons liked Orion Pax.

Orion was funny, he liked to spar and he fought dirty. He made jokes and teased them and he was not afraid of any of them. He was not stupid and understood that all of the Decepticons had a past, they all had done horrible things, but for some reason that wasn't a deterrent. Sure, the mech didn't trust them (and those trust issues should be adressed, but the Decepticons were no better so...), but Orion was always up for a good sparring session or just fooling around. The mech was also odly well-read in the weirdest of topics from history to medicine, mythology and weird facts about games from Kaon (why? and how?).

And Orion was that odd kind of friend that didn't tell you shit about himself, but for some reason you wanted to tell him everything about you.

And what about the Autobots?

Well, they obviously missed their leader, but the ones that really had a problem were the younger ones because why was Opt-Orion so friendly with the Decepticons but didn't even speak with them?

Orion was avoiding them and he would keep that up until those Autobots stopped calling him Optimus.

Orion would go here and there and some times help the Autobots and others the Decepticons if any of them were in actual troubles because he was still a good person who cared about others while trying not to do so.

Just... Orion Pax accidentally uniting the remaining Cybertronians by being his lovable, reckles, and complicated self.

And there is megop, apparently...

[wickjump]

What's ur opinion on ink neglecting/forgetting his children (paperjam, gradient)?

I personally hate it

awful. you are so right, asker. everyone be more like katyalice they know what’s up. its literally the worst thing this fandom has made and im only partly exaggerating. do you think he wouldn’t be fucking ecstatic to have made something alive? if ink can remember the names of his parents whom he doesn’t see every day he would remember the names of his kids who he raises. even if the other parent isn’t in the picture he would try to be the best parent he could be.

like. kids come with so much possibilities. he’d go overboard making the best room he could even if they’re an infant who doesn’t need that many clothes or decorations. he would have a calendar in every room so he has something to remind him of events like birthdays and holidays he otherwise wouldn’t remember to celebrate. kids are interesting, they’re something he would spend so much time adoring. he gets to participate in the life of something he created? he would fucking love that!!!!!

he would be so involved in their lives because he probably didn’t even think he’d ever get this chance. he can’t create aus, he can’t create life. and then suddenly this baby exists?? and it’s HIS??? he’d love being a parent. he would have photos of his kids on him and brag about them even if he might mix up names from time to time. he would be ink-level of weird about it—a kid would come home being all angsty and ink would clap and say “ooh, now we’re in the edgy phase!!! i mean. go to your room.” he treats the kid more ‘real’ than he treats people from aus because this kid, in his eyes, is just like him. there’s no au that made them, no script, they were born outside of the multiverse with no story planned for them as far as he is aware!!! this kid is real.

and im not saying his memory loss just wouldn’t exist. i can see him mixing up names and/or faces. i can see him occasionally missing events or mixing up dates. i can see him forgetting that his kids, unlike him, need to eat until they remind him and then making food for them later than normal. but if he has an other parent there (which would definitely be the case with dream or swap, 50/50 for error depending on interpretation) they would help him with those things. they would help because that’s what partners and parents who give a shit do. his memory loss being portrayed as the trait of a villain is weird to me.

if he has kids and his memory issues are so severe that he cannot remember they exist or to take care of him, then he also shouldn’t remember the names or faces of friends or his parents or literally anyone else. his memory would not suddenly fail for specifically his kids because you want shipchild angst. it’s just. not good writing to completely mischaracterize one character for the sake of building up another.

and making ink abusive is just. no??? in his faq it says he tries to solve issues with words first and this would not change especially in a home environment??? if he doesn’t attack strangers because he wants to see if there’s another way to get around this, then he is definitely not someone who would hit his kids or partners. who do you think he is because your ink privileges should be taken away if you think this

[londonbelow]

ramblings of an (ex?) fanfic author

I just finished re-reading Absolution (because I missed Mad Max, of course) and I think my biggest issue with republishing it is that while it reminds me of great, fun memories during a magical time in harry’s world, it also reminds me of how toxic that time was if you were on stan twitter and in the world of wattpad fanfic.

I am not proud of a lot of the writing in it, I’m not proud that I let comments influence my decisions when it came to storyline and smut and I’m embarrassed by the intensity of the degradation I wrote into nearly every single smut scene… it’s been hard for me to wrap my mind around. I was shocked at the amount of smut in it that didn’t make any sense to the actual storyline? And how HARSH a lot of it was. I was in a much more male-centered mindset when I was writing this story and I think it shows through the way I wrote my smut scenes in that particular book. This isn’t me bashing degradation kink, because I clearly experienced it and still enjoy it to an extent… but I think i took it too far in Absolution.

This was also a very weird time for fanfic and stan culture as a whole because of the pandemic. Harry (and fanfic about him) was really blowing up and gaining attention on TikTok right as I started publishing chapters and I think it was easy for me (and a lot of other authors, I’m sure) to get caught up in the excitement and the attention from it all. I let the comments on my story influence the way I thought about the story and my writing. I think I would feel so much better if I edited a lot of the book before publishing again, but I also feel bad for doing that because I know people are attached to it the way it is.

Absolution has been offline for quite some time and I worry people will go back to read it again and realize it wasn’t as good as they remember it being. I know the best thing for me is to get into a headspace where I don’t care what people think about my stories or my writing, I know that more people love my writing than those who dislike it, but the amount of hate that Absolution got when it was being published has been burned into me for a long time. And now, looking back at the story, I feel like I’m seeing all of the points people were making against it and I wish I took it as constructive criticism rather than pure hate (although, most of it was just pure hate).

I’ve been reflecting a lot on 2019-2023 in the Harry fandom. I know the pandemic had a lot to do with the way my fanfic blew up the way it did—people were quarantined and bored, TikTok was thriving because of it and that’s how a lot of people discovered my writing. I think that’s a big part of the reason I have such a sour taste in my mouth about it, because while harry is my favorite person in the world and has been for many years, and love on tour was my most favorite experience, the pandemic rewired my brain so harshly that anything I went through in that time period feels at least a little bit tainted.

I want to write again. I miss it, desperately. I’ve been working through a lot of trauma and figuring things out for myself for a long time, and things still aren’t 100% good. I know they’ll probably never be 100%, but I would like to be able to approach writing in a healthy manner. I would like to look back at my work with pride and not let strangers online control my perception of my worth. I’m doing my best to be the greatest version of myself that I can be, I’m working hard to release myself of the brain rot I’ve acquired ever since that man broke into my apartment and I dealt with the ptsd and fear via severe isolation.

I get messages all the time about Absolution. I know people miss it and want to read it again for nostalgic reasons and I get it, I truly do. But I’m not ready yet for it to be published again and I can’t say for certain that I’ll ever feel ready to publish it again. Rewriting a piece of work that you already have a complicated relationship with takes a lot of hard work and brain power and I feel like if I’m going to work hard to write something, it should be the book that’s been spinning around my head for the last few years that features Mad Max as the MMC. The book that I could see myself not only writing, but publishing one day. I’m not saying it’s a waste of my time to rewrite Absolution right now, but I am saying that I have a short attention span now (thank u tiktok for short form content… it’s ruined me completely) and I have limited energy for writing overall. I want to put that energy somewhere that matters to me.

I second guess myself often. I will type out an entire post, scroll through it and nitpick at every little thing. I did it with this post lol. I always convince myself that people will hate it, will hate me if I say everything I want to or need to say. I have been shrinking myself down for years, I want so badly to please people, to make all of my readers happy when they’ve made me so happy in the past, but I’m doing myself a disservice by not being my true authentic self with you all 100% of the time. I need to accept that not everyone will like me, not everyone will like my writing, my characters, my stories. They aren’t for everyone. But my brain has me convinced that I need to cater to everyone or else I’m a bad person lol. Once I free myself from those mental chains, I will revisit Absolution and that entire world.

I feel like a lot of people are probably sick of reading these types of posts from me. I’ve always struggled with leaving my past writing on the internet for anyone to access and judge. I have struggled so deeply with absolution and then feelings of guilt when I take it away from you all. I know people have got to be sick of me publishing and unpublishing it. Of saying I’m going to edit it and repost and never doing it. Of deleting every trace of my writing on the internet and never putting it back. I completely understand the frustrations and all I can say is that I’m sorry, but I’m also not. I have to go through the motions, I have to let myself feel the way I feel and I hope everyone understands my struggles with this.

As for Petal… that is different for me. I don’t feel the same negative emotions toward Petal that I do toward Absolution (or dark side or daylight, the Harry fanfics I wrote back in 2011 lol) and I think it’s because I personally find Petal to be the better story. My writing was better, the smut was better, the characters feel well-rounded to me. I still have my issues with it though… there’s still a lot of smut that wasn’t totally necessary to the plot (which is fine, don’t get me wrong, I love a smut heavy story! but I’m a plot heavy girly and I should be writing that way). I also had an original ending in mind when I first started writing it and at the last minute I decided I needed to give it a happily ever after. While I don’t totally regret changing the ending, I do feel sad for myself because I always let the feedback I receive sway my decisions.

I let twitter’s toxicity get to me immensely. I let the wattpad comments get to me instead of just moving my material to a different platform. I was worried that if I tried to change anything, or if I didn’t include all the smut, if I kept the unhappy endings, that I would lose my popularity. It was so beyond necessary for me to disappear from the internet for a long time, to find new things to love and care for, to rewire my brain in a healthier manner so that I wasn’t just trying to please other people.

Anyways, there’s no point to this. I just have a lot of feelings and thoughts about Absolution and my writing in general and doing a little re-read of it over the last couple of days brought a lot of icky feelings up. I felt like I was reading it with fresh eyes and a new perspective, and I wish I was coming to you all to say “fuck you if you don’t like it, people love it and it’s coming back” but I can’t say that just yet. I need more time. I know anyone who truly loves me or my writing will understand that my main focus going forward will be original content. I think I’ve always been scared to move into that world because what if I write a book with all original characters and everyone hates it? What if my only talent is for writing Harry Styles fanfic and I can’t even write that right now? It seems silly to muse over these intrusive thoughts but… my imposter syndrome has been killing me more and more as I get older and start to explore more of what I truly love. I feel like such a fraud so often, like none of the success I’ve had was real or deserved and it was all just sort of bestowed upon me without me working very hard to get it. (I say this as if my fanfic got me a six-figure book deal or something lol, this is how you know it’s truly bad for me!!)

I’m 33 years old and all I’ve ever wanted in my life is to hold a book in my hands that I wrote and felt proud of and I’m nowhere near achieving that goal. Most days that goal feels light years away from me. Some days it feels completely impossible, even with the influx of self publishing in the book world. I always thought I would take a break from writing and come back with a new banger about Harry and it would just be a rinse and repeat situation, similar to my break between dark side/daylight and absolution. I know I can write decent fanfic, but can I write a book worth publishing? I think now is the time to put my Harry pen down and explore something (sort of) new.

Mad Max is an original character of mine that I am deeply invested in. He lives in my head rent free. He feels so fleshed out and whole and real that I know he’s the perfect character to attempt writing a book about. If I’m ever going to be able to do it, it will be with Mad Max as my MMC. The world I created for him is so clear in my mind, I can see it every time I close my eyes. I hope that i can release all of my doubts and stop overthinking and just write. I need to just write. I don’t need perfect right now, I don’t need popular, I don’t need positive feedback in order to write in a Google doc. I think somewhere along the way, I forgot that. I forgot that this isn’t a performance for an audience. It’s my childhood dream. It’s all I’ve ever wanted for myself. I owe it to myself to at least try.

So in conclusion: Absolution is not coming back anytime soon, unless I can figure out a way to put it behind a paywall or something that ensures only the people who truly love it in its raw, unedited form have access to it. I’m teetering in the middle of republishing Petal or keeping it down for now. All my work that’s posted here will stay here, as I do quite love all of my oneshots and feel proud of them.

I would love if anyone that bothered to read this far would take two seconds out of their day to send me some good vibes or positivity. I’ll even take prayers. I’m not religious, but I will take any magic or hope that exists in this world to get the authors pen back into my hand.

I think of you all so often. On here, on toxic ass twitter and even on the hellscape that is Wattpad. While I have a lot of negative feelings about my time as a fanfic author, I hope you know that I truly have soooo many positive experiences with you all. I have felt your love and your light every time you’ve given it to me. A lot of you carried me through very dark times and I hope you feel my gratitude. I wish that I could give you what you really want as a way to express that gratitude, but I know most of you will understand why doing so would be harmful to my already very frazzled and fragile mind. Mental health is a lifelong battle with a lot of ups and downs and I appreciate anyone that’s stuck with me through the various “downs” I’ve experienced over the years.

I have to add, it feels so good to type a bunch of giant paragraphs about how I feel and send them off into the void. I’m not sure anyone will read this, and… I don’t care if nobody does. I needed it off my chest, I needed to dump all of my thoughts somewhere and tumblr has always been safe for me to do that.

Sending lots of love and giant hugs.

Aubs

[missaccuracy]

You find yourself in the early 2000s, Bryke has hired you as a writer for Avatar, your contract allows you to write one episode per season, and can collaborate on other episodes that Bryke aren't personally writing. What do you do?

Well, the first thing I'd do is write a "Zuko Alone" kind of episode from Azula's POV. This doesn't even have to do as much with me being an Azula fan (well, maybe a little), as it has to do with the collective agreement in the fandom that Azula's breakdown seemed a little rushed. And I also hold this opinion, tbh. Azula is a great character, but having more build-up to her breakdown by adding more of her own thoughts, memories and flashbacks would help the audience to understand her better.

I'd also make a solution to Aang's dilemma about not killing Ozai and using an energybending instead a more difficult task. I wouldn't want Aang to actually kill Ozai, but the energybending was a really last-minute solution that I wouldn't give to Aang so instantly. I think it'd be more interesting if Zuko brought up the issue of the Erth Kindgdom genocide earlier (he should've really), and Aang spent a longer time trying to come up with the idea of how to prevent Ozai from doing it without killing him, so that the final solution felt earned and I think many people would agree with my decision.

I'd do something with Hama's character. I talked about her in one of my posts, but I'll have to repeat again that her character was very, very weird. With her powers, and her confidence in using bloodbending, she could've ended the war long ago, but for some reason, she wasted all her life terrorizing random Fire Nation's citizens. I like her charecter, but I'd probably rewrite her to be a young girl, preferably Katara's age, who escaped prison not long ago and now is calculating her next move. She wants to get to Fire Lord and kill him, but at the same time she becomes a fanatic and makes random people suffer, kinda like Jet, which is understandable from a victim's of war point of view, but still not good and the Gaang unfortunately has to deal with her. Good thing she taught her technique to Katara.

And the last thing I'd do, but not the least, Jet is alive and helps the heroes in the end.🙏He didn't deserve his fate and that's all I have to say.

[olderthannetfic]

https://olderthannetfic.tumblr.com/post/785818215113768960/since-youve-gotten-some-asks-about-black-butler#notes

Take this with a grain of salt since the last time I actively was in the fandom and thereby listening to any discussion about this, in 2016-2018-trickling out in 2019. Started reading at the end of the Circus arc. Also spoilers but not really plot relevant at the end. First to cut it short: I'm guessing Grell and Grelle thing happens because the translations and translators are different between issues and media. The French and German translation of the manga were the first ones I know had "Grelle" while I personally remember the English manga having Grell same with the anime. I'm guessing it's a case of "Difference in translation being blown way out of proportion." and maybe "Grelle" just feels more feminine to some with specific headcanons???

But back then the few Japanese fans who'd come across the fandom lines into the Anglosphere fandom side claimed that Grell's gender was closest/definitely to "Okama" which is some kinda "Big sister" type male character-... From memory: A cross-dressing male character who identifies more with female traits and behaviours and appearance. Example of such a character is Ryouji "Ranka" Fujioka from Ouran High school Host club. (Of note: I have heard that it's also been adopted by trans women "recently" (Recent as in this was the first time I've ever heard it about 2-6 years ago. (Yes I'm taking a that big time span bc I'm unsure) But that it's also still used for cross-dressing men. I personally I remember it kinda sounding like the culturally Japanese version of a Drag equivalent.)) But also that Grell, at the time of "debuting" as a character fell right into the time frame where "Gender ambiguous" or "Gender ambivalent" writing characters were common, ie: Crona from Soul Eater is an example of a character with no canonized gender. There are more btw. You could really get a broad spectrum of characters here, from "No canon gender and it doesn't matter, never revealed." to "We know the characters gender but it really doesn't matter as their presentation is the focus so the character just "is" compared to other characters." I don't have an example bc I don't remember the anime, but the example I'm thinking of is a female character presenting visually and behaviourally as male, everyone acknowledging she's a woman but because she "fits in" with the men she's accepted in the bro-gang while any other woman is "rejected" for being a woman.

I think it's also worth noting that Grell was written during a time where a lot of "Queer" rep in anime was a bit more for the lols, slapstick, or fanservice, and there was no thought put into actually representing anyone, neither accurately nor with any particular level of understanding or care of queerness. Which is a trap Grell also fell into, more into the latter since in canon the slapstick and violence was really heavy a'la: "Haha Grell gets punched because Grell is a pervert towards men!!" You can yourself figure out the "joke". I think a lot of people from that time and before will remember how often queerness was treated more as a joke in anime to either create "funny misunderstandings" or call the character a creep/pervert for going after someone of the same gender and/or presenting against their socially perceived gender roles. And additionally, at least from personal memory, this was also during a time where a lot of "gender" and "sexuality" was conflated heavily with each other in anime, and there was basically zero awareness that having X gender doesn't mean you need to have Z sexuality and vice versa. (Just because a man is gay, doesn't mean he's going to be feminine, just because a woman is lesbian doesn't mean she's masc.) So it was very common that "THE GAY" character also would be the one breaking gender roles.)

How Grell is perceived today I don't know. I always felt weird putting an actual queer label on Grell beyond an ambiguous "probably somewhere under the LGBTQIA+ acronym, simply because of how the character was written. Aka: This character was written as in some way leaning queer but the author had absolutely no knowledge as to what specific queer label she's trying to write. (And honestly, I'd prefer it like that, and everyone just does their own headcanons. Me being unrealistic since people can't be normal.) Even though I really liked the character otherwise, the way any aspect of "queerness" was framed through Grell, it just felt wrong. Like, no matter what you do, the joke in a lot of scenes was always "Ewwww queerness!!! That's perverted" Yes some "hetero" perviness was also displayed in the manga, but it was never treated on the same level of "disgust" and the joke also wasn't played on the characters sexuality/gender. (The closest thing is the pervy sparkly noble, and his framing still falls a bit into a certain "Ewww queerness" joke in addition to him also just being a genuinely actually creeper character in universe.) So all in all, my limited knowledge from a different decade, almost 10 years ago. Grell is Grell. Grell was not written to be good nor accurate representation of any level of actual queerness. Grell was probably most likely written on pre-existing tropes and character-genres. People got way too invested in figuring out a character who at the time of debut, simply was never intended to be anything but "that" character and a subject of slapstick for it. And Western fans once again tried to see everything through a Western cultural lens, and especially and constantly through a "current year" lens. Yes even back in 2016-2018, with a manga that started in 2005.

(And before it's mentioned, I know Yana Toboso once wrote a Yaoi, I also read her previous manga before BB. That doesn't mean that she at the time had any actual knowledge of queerness or how to write a proper depiction of queerness. It just wasn't "the time" where depictions of queerness demanded accuracy in mainstream, or from anyone.)

--

I don't think info on okama is actually that hard to find. They've been a stock homophobic joke for ages and exist in that broad cultural space where there isn't really a distinction being made between effeminate gay men, male crossdressers, and trans women. A cursory google and the comments on the previous post make it sound like the author was just trying to write one, but her thinking on the stock figure of the okama evolved along with a lot of other Japanese people's, and now she sees the character as more of a trans woman.

[lovelyladzzzz]

Bro I don’t even know if the Two Princes fandom is a thing but as someone whose relistened to season one like 50 times I just wanna know did anyone else have a rough time listening to season two? Like season one was immaculate writing, the monologues hit, the character development hit, the script writing hit, but you go into season two and you’re sitting there and there’s just something missing. Like there’s a lack of passion to it all I don’t really get the message of it either! Like season one it’s all about like love is more powerful hate and it had some real world commentary on like younger generations and women being placed in charge of cleaning up the messes of dusty old evil men. Even for like a pg story it had depth to it! But in season two legit don’t know what happened! Listening to it feels like watching a later season of a sitcom that’s been running for way too long! It’s lost its concept! I think I wish it would’ve trusted itself to explore the homophobia aspect a bit deeper! That is an interesting topic that was referenced in season one and could’ve been interesting for them to explore! Instead we have Amir losing his memory and the main conflict stemming from the drama around that instead actual societal issues like in the previous season! Then I get to season 3 and guys I promise you I have tried so hard to listen to season three but then they start singing and I’m sitting here: “Is this a land before time sequel?! Why is it a musical all of a sudden?!”

(Ever notice how ever land before time movie other than the first one was a musical? That’s weird right?)

Anyways! I’ve seen a lot of love for season three so I’ll try again on this re-listen!

Absolutely no hate towards any of the people behind this podcast series it is quite possibly the reason I have such a love for audio stories in general and am currently looking into being in the professional storytelling world! I love the Two Princes I just wanted to share what I personally felt about season two of the show!

One thousand percent go listen to it if you have never heard of it it’s literally amazing! The vocal talent is phenomenal, the production quality is insanely good, characters are so much fun, sound design is literally makes it an experience in of itself and it’s appropriate for all ages!

[madlori]

I'm asking this to you because you're the only person I know who's been around fandoms for so long — do you find this shipping-situation weird? I've been in many fandoms but I've never really seen this insistence on there being only one acceptable ship for a character and encouraging the idea that anything other than the norm is almost sacrilegious. Almost every big fandom over the years have had multiple conflicting pairings, take for example, Marvel. Even works of media that have a canon romantic pairing have had fans who ship others with the leads (that was what shipping was tbh) and no one has ever shown up to their doorsteps with pitchforks in hand, at least not that I'm aware of. So I guess I'd really like your opinion on why you think this is happening now? Have things always been this way, just not in plain sight? Is this just the new fandom culture that is developing now with the influx of younger people? Or is this fandom an aberration where a group of people are so used to being the majority that they simply aren't taking well to things not going their way?

I've been thinking about this today, and I'm still not sure what I think.

I've been in fandoms with a hugely dominant ship before. I've been in fandoms that had ship wars. I've been in fandoms with a lot of peacefully co-existing ships. I'm not sure this fandom is really all that different. To answer your first question, no, I don't find it all that weird. In fact I sort of expected it.

Let me tell you a story about the Brokeback Mountain fandom, which managed to have a ship war despite having really only one ship, the canon ship. So BBM fic fell into several broad categories, the biggest of which were fix-the-ending/canon divergence fics and the straight-up AU fics (I wrote one of each, lol). Post-canon fics weren't as common, because you had to deal with one half of the canon pairing being...well, dead.

There was a post-canon fic that gained a lot of fans...and when I say "fic" that's really an understatement. It was a SAGA, and I don't use that term lightly. It was a series of like...6 or 7 epic 100K+ word fics and it was over a million words total. The author would put out more than one 5K chapters per DAY. I'm still in awe of this woman's output. But it was the content that created the issue.

(Brief recap for those who have not seen BBM - two ranch hands in the 1960s, Ennis (Heath Ledger) and Jack (Jake Gyllenhaal) spend a season herding sheep together, have sex, form a bond, then separate to go about their expected hetero lives but get together for fishing trips every year or so to have sex and spend time together. Jack wants more, Ennis is terrified. Both marry and have families. Eventually Jack dies in what is implied to be a gay-bashing but who knows, and Ennis makes his peace with the love he'd felt for him)

The saga picked up a couple of years after the film's events. Ennis decides to tentatively explore what being queer means, goes to Laramie, finds a gay bar, and very cautiously enters. Through a Series of Events he gets mixed up in an assault there and befriends a local sheriff's deputy, who is also gay. They begin a relationship.

Now, this series was COMPLEX. A huge cast of characters, a long and thorough evolution of this relationship, a lot of angst over Jack's memory, and it really worked for a LOT of readers. The new love interest she created was a really great character.

For others...it did not work and they hated it.

The animosity between fans who loved this saga and those that did not grew pretty heated. This was like '05 so there was no twitter or tumblr, this was all on LJ and dedicated fandom forums (some of which banned discussion of this fic for this reason), but there was doxxing and namecalling and real vitriol.

I guess my point in all this is that when there's strong feelings, some fans will find a way to be horrible to each other.

I was in the Sherlock fandom, another fandom 98% dominated by one ship. There were other ships, but somehow they seemed to co-exist mostly peacefully barring some snide remarks and rude comments (I could be wrong about this, if you asked someone who shipped a non-Johnlock ship they might have a different answer). No, the insanity in the Sherlock fandom was not ship-war-related.

I was also in the Criminal Minds fandom, which has a whole bunch of disparate ships and no ship wars that I can recall.

Then there are other fandoms, like Avatar, with TERRIBLE ship wars that are still going on.

I don't think the situation in 9-1-1 is as unique or different from other fandom wanks as has sometimes been asserted. I think terrible fandom wars are sort of inevitable, whether they're ship related or not. But for what it's worth, here are some of my thoughts on what's going on here.

A loooooong time (5.5 seasons) with one very dominant non-canonical queer ship. No other ship really ever approached the level of saturation or devotion of Buddie.

A pervasive belief that this ship might possibly become canon. That's a feature a lot of other ships do not have.

A lack of intense devotion to any of the other love interests. BuckTaylor was never a challenger to Buddie. Neither was Eddie and Shannon, or anybody else. It's hard to fight when there's no worthy challenger.

But now? BuckTommy is not only canon, but it has a lot of fans. It's a threat. And it's not only a threat in a feelings kind of way (as in, people like a thing that is not the thing I like and it makes me upset) but there's a perception that it's an ACTUAL threat, as in if people like this ship and promote it, it could cause it to become a permanent relationship (the degree to which fan response actually affects how the show unfolds is...debatable).

I do not personally think this is the case, but some fans strongly believe that Buddie could still happen if it weren't for BuckTommy. So if you're still wanting Buddie and believe it will or could happen, the existence of an alternate love interest represents a direct obstacle to that happening. That's a heck of an incentive to hate that competing ship. I get it.

That...might be a somewhat unique situation. There's a fight now because there's a challenger who might actually stand a chance.

This goes along with what we saw in the immediate aftermath of 7x04. I read someone else say (apologies, I don't know who it was, feel free to @ me if it was you and I'll credit you) that the early post-7x04 enthusiasm and acceptance of Tommy reflected the belief that he was temporary. A lot of folks thought it was just a way for Buck to get with Eddie, like, very soon after that. But the more time went by, the clearer it became that this was not the plan or the intention. So the mood soured for those who were still pulling for Buddie.

Other fandoms I've been in with a hugely dominant ship...Sherlock and X-Files are the two that spring immediately to mind...there was never a challenger with any legs. X-Files fandom wank was between the ship and the...lack of ship, shall we say. But a concrete, tangible "opponent" makes a fight so much more visceral, doesn't it?

I do think there's been a fandom shift towards needing ships to be canon that I don't really get, but it's there. There's been a lot written about fandom culture in the last ten years, the breakdown of boundaries between fans and creators, the access to those creators, a sense of ownership/entitlement, purity culture, obsession with shipping "correctly" (which leads into wanting things to be canon for the validation)...these are all newish features. So pile that on top of 9-1-1 having a longtime single ship that's legitimately threatened for the first time in its existence by a competing canon ship and it's kind of a powderkeg.

No wonder it's caught on fire.

[m--rtyr]

I think one of this Fandoms issues when it comes to characterization comes from how fundamentally different a lot of characters are between MyStreet and MCD, and Aphmaus's own difficulty with her characters. For an example I am going to use Gene

I do not find Gene in MCD defensable nor forgivable. He is objectively a piece of garbage and used his mind control and memory erasing powers multiple times to get a character to fall in love with him and other such heinous things. He is not a good person, at all, end of story and that can not change, because he would never want to.

MyStreet Gene on the other hand, I really do like, because he was a weird, creepy, and all around gross teenager who had weird as hell actions, but he genuinely changed as a person. He had the rather classic incel to good person transformation, and he worked for forgiveness and did earn it through actions. He had genuine change from 18-19 versus his mid(?) 20's.

And I feel like an issue that comes up a lot with this specific character is that people mix it up. They want the changed and good person Gene in their MCD fantasy setting, when that can't work. MyStreet Genes actions were objectively forgivable to an extent, MCD Gene's actions weren't at all. A character is just as much their past actions as they are their current, and I see this for many characters who share this cross over of them not relating actions to character.

this problem also applies to like. Zane. He’s mischaracterised like a thousand different ways but people will treat him as redeemable in MCD because MyS Zane was redeemed, without considering that, hey, maybe somethings he did are not okay even if he apologised.

I think there should be room to include MyS characterisations - like having Zane be very fond of horses. But MCD Zane isn’t ’sopping Wet sad little emo baby boy’ he is a fully grown man who has committed Genocide. Like actually on-screen. And attempted it again later on. His whole thing is genocide and a god complex.

It’s just because people want their baby girls to be good people so they don’t have to justify liking them. And so they end up erasing anything interesting about them. Garroth potentially being Levin’s father? No he’s too good for that!! Laurence being jealous and killing people over it? No he didn’t do it for that reason!!! I swear!!! It’s just kind of boring sometimes when the only things you’re allowed to consider about the characters is their potential for good when they have such an obvious potential for bad RIGHT THERE.

it’s less mixing up characterisations and more picking and choosing which characterisations make their fave look better.

[bonefall]

Since the ask box commands to vote Bumble in that tourament (which I did, cuz she was SCREWED over to the extreme) could you talk a whole lot about BB!Bumble's dyspraxia? Since we are talking about the *everything in canon* she got for the High Crime of being a fat foreigner woman and abuse victm in warrior cats, let's talk about the universe where we add disabled to her list of High Crimes but she isnt done dirty as balls(sorry if all this is worded weird)

Plus, I'm personally having issues writing a dyspraxic character (mostly because i kinda suck at absorbing information about things like disability when not using characters as exemples) and you've really helped me in the past with making characters with BPD, so it would be personally useful in character making

(Sorry if I'm rude, I deeply respect your work and it greatly inspires me, especially Clanmew)

All righty! BB!Bumble's dyspraxia!

First off, for newcomers;

WHY I ADDED DYSPRAXIA TO BUMBLE

In canon, Bumble is called a fat, useless kittypet, before being dragged back to her domestic abuser. She then dies while trying to survive on her own, starved to the point of emaciation before Clear Sky murders her.

A very common fandom response to this is essentially, "shes NOT useless! She could hunt/fight if you taught her!" And a lot of AUs will have her survive, learning how to be Truly Useful with all the same skills as everyone else.

I won't lie; I think that's very disappointing.

You're not refuting the rotten heart of this ideology, you're just doing what DOTC already does with Jagged Peak. You're AGREEING. You're saying she WOULD be useless if she couldn't hunt or fight like a wild cat, giving her Coolgirl Badass moments to haha embarass her bigots, and Actually the only problem here is that they didn't give her a chance.

What if they GAVE her that chance, and she COULDN'T hunt or fight like them? Would it be okay to send the battered housewife back to her domestic abuser? Hopefully fucking not!

Let's be frank; None of the groups in DOTC are starving. Not even after the prey sickness pandemic.

"Starvation Rhetoric" is an excuse, only ever rolled out by monsters like Clear Sky as justification for stealing land, murder, and throwing out cats the groups deem unworthy of life.

Yet, this gets rolled out for Bumble specifically, by the MOOR CATS, who are supposed to be opposing his ideology.

And that's where I'm starting from.

Okay. What if she couldn't perform physically like other cats?

What if she was part of a group that DID have real concerns about not having enough food?

How does Bumble herself cope with her feelings, and her desire to help her friends and contribute to a group that loves her?

Let's go through all that, and attack the heart of the idea. In fact, we're going to be doing a lot of it, with a significant portion of early ThunderClan being disabled cats.

(Thunder Storm has three legs. Bright Storm has asthma. Sunlit Frost loses the use of both front paws and ends up with chronic pain.)

Bumble's Dyspraxia

The first thing to know about dyspraxia (or DCD, Developmental Coordination Disorder) is that it comes in a LOT of different forms. The next thing to know is that it's RIDICULOUSLY common. Some estimates say 5% of the population has it-- 1 in 20 people.

It's heavily associated with autism and ADHD. The "classic" symptoms are general clumsiness and motor control issues, like having a hard time tying shoes. But these are also symptoms of dyspraxia;

Short-term memory issues, but not long-term

Being constantly covered in bumps and bruises

Having a hard time telling lefts and rights

Difficulties holding pencils or writing in general

"Wobbliness" including tripping mid-step or tripping over your own feet

Issues in the acquisition of "muscle memories," being slow to acquire physical skills.

Stuttering and taking long pauses before responding to someone else speaking

Most dyspraxics won't have all of these, these are symptoms. Not a checklist.

My partner describes theirs as like "constantly working with cold hands through a layer of gloves." The stiffness of being in a freezer, paired with the general delay of having a cover over your skin.

Mine is more focused on the mental side, acquiring new skills is unnaturally difficult, my reaction time is delayed, and I stumble into things.

Every person with dyspraxia is different, but what links us is that we're uncoordinated. We can't help it, telling us to try harder or pay more attention doesn't work. We aren't being careless-- our brains don't send signals to our bodies properly.

I'm basing Bumble's off my own. Her mate, Turtle Heart, shows her over and over how to hunt. It never sticks. She tries to pick up battle moves from Thunder Storm to help defend herself from Clear Sky's goons. It doesn't work.

She's really trying, she really is. The Moor group quickly loses patience with her, and Bumble is well aware that she's only tolerated on Turtle Heart's vouch. Her worst fears come true when Tom steals their children, and her mate is killed trying to retreive them.

That messes with her, and makes her believe that she really is worthless and a burden.

ThunderClan was FOUNDED on Thunder Storm's fury, breaking off his supporters to retreive her from exile, and Bumble's struggle with self-worth begins in earnest.

There's one thing she's confident about, and really loves. Bumble is trilingual, outgoing, and confident in her ability to talk to others. That's what she can add, and what she wants to do.

ThunderClan is different. It works with every strength and weakness of its members, and values diplomacy to keep it afloat against the odds. Bumble really is needed, but eventually even her translation work becomes less special as more kits grow up bilingual. Eventually, this too feels taken from her.

And then it's back to square one. Her mate is gone, one of her kits betrayed her, Owl Eyes is a big strong man who doesn't need his mum anymore. She's left with her fumbling paws, taking more from the pile than she puts in.

One can only hope she realizes that ThunderClan was born out of love for her. That it was never about what she could add. She didn't have to confront it in the main story because so much was happening, but as peace settles over the forest, it's time for her to start to unpack that idea.

[fregisabunnyboo]

💜𝐌𝐨𝐯𝐢𝐞 𝐍𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭💜

Yo, so uh, this has some kinky shiz in it, beware

——————✧◦♡◦✧——————

type: ✮just for funzies✮ genre: ✮smut✮ fandom: ✮ROTTMNT✮ character(s): ✮Runa O’Crest, Donatello Hamato, Raphael Hamto, Lenardo Hamato, Michangelo Hamato, April O’Neil✮ crossovers?: ✮none✮ tags: none! Just for fun!

TW// !!this is smut if you are comfortable with this, please leave!!

Summary: Donatello leaves during family movie night to take care of some “personal issues,” and gets busted.

——————✧◦♡◦✧——————

They had been planning this for weeks, literal weeks. The Jupiter Jim Movie marathon was about to begin. And Donatello was dreading it.

“Why so glum, hombre?” Leo said, wrapping an arm around his brother’s neck, stuffing a handful of popcorn into his mouth.

Donnie scowled at the talking with food in his mouth, “I’m not ‘glum,’ I’m simply tired.” He tried to play cool, knowing if he slipped up, this could be the end of him. 

“Don, you say that every time we have a family thing,” Leo frowned, pulling away. “Do you just not want to spend time with your family?”

Donnie quickly retracted his words, “No! No! It’s just-... Never mind. I’ll go help Mikey with the soda.” Donnie resisted the urge to spill everything right there onto Leo’s face, but he didn’t. He knew he could trust Leo, but Donnie also knew, no, he couldn’t trust Leo.

“Michael, I'm here to help.” Donnie announced, walking into the kitchen.

“Great! Could you hand me the thingy?” Mikey gestured to the soda flavoring on the counter. Donnie handed it to him and rested on the counter, his shell leaning on the rounded edge of the island.

Donnie was caught up in thought.

It’s about time he admitted something; he really liked Runa. A lot more than just a friend. A lot more than a girlfriend. He didn’t know what it was, but he absolutely loved every aspect of her. Runa’s hair, her eyes, the way she could get so heated over a video game. 

He smiled at the memory of Runa throwing down the controller and yelling, demanding a rematch and accusing Donnie of cheating.

He’d felt this way before, but never like this. His heart was constantly being torn every witch way and he hated it so much! Runa was not easy on his feelings, she always flirted with him and made him think she felt the same. Then, she’d turn around and express interest in other people. To say he was jealous was an understatement.

“Donnie?”

Donnie was great, but he couldn’t deny she deserved better than him. I mean, he’s getting jealous and they aren’t even dating!

“Donnie?”

What was he supposed to do? Admit his feelings and live forever in the friend-zone? Or keep a secret and carry this hate to everyone she dated?

“EARTH TO DONNIE, THE GIRLS ARE HERE.” Mikey cupped his hands and shouted into his ear.

“AH!” Donnie said, covering the side of his head where Mikey had shouted, “Okay, okay. I’ll grab the popcorn seasoning. Tell them I say ‘hi’ or whatever.”

Mikey looked at him, he’s been acting weird and now he wouldn’t even look at April or Runa? Orange frowned and swallowed the urge to ask about it, knowing he’ll never get an answer.

“Okay, I’ll be…sure to tell them.” Mikey said, debating on saying more.

By then, Donnie had already disappeared into the pantry. The girls walked into the Lair, holding extra pillows and blankets to make a fort.

“Hey, y’all!” April shouted happily behind the mountain of pillows, walking into the Lair. “We brought extra!”

Runa was holding the blankets, all neatly folded and stacked. She carried them in one hand, blanching them perfectly.

“And Runa brought the blankets for the walls of the fort,” April pointed out as they both walked over to the couch and started constructing the fort.

Raph started to help build the fort, making sure it was sturdy on each side. Leo helped set up the inside, making sure it was comfortable and big enough for everyone.

---💖---

After the movie got started, everyone got comfortable in their respective spots; April and Leo, accompanied by Mikey, under the tent, Raph sitting on the floor crisscrossed, with Runa and Donnie sitting on the couch a few feet apart.

He stole a few glaces to Runa, making him look back at his popcorn in shame.

Everything was going well, popcorn was warm, drinks were cool, jokes being made. So what was this uneasy feeling pulling at him? It just felt like everything was bothering him. It wasn’t a bad bother, just a uncomfortable one.

Donnie needed to leave, “I’m-I’m gonna go guys.” He chocked out hesitantly, smiling nervously.

“Alright, see ya,” was the general response. Except for Runa, “Where’re you going, Donnie?”

“Ah- You know, I just need a little break.” He lied.

“Oh, okay. See you in a few then.” Runa said, setting down her popcorn.

“SHUUUUSHHHH.” Leo said obnoxiously. Donnie rolled his eyes.

The purple turtle krept down the hallway and into his bed room, making sure to shut the door behind him. He went over the the small bed-side table and pulled out one of the drawers. He scooted some clothes to the side to reveal underwear.

Woman’s underwear.

He pulled them up by the lace hem and looked at them with a tired and slightly uneasy face. Donnie started to get undressed, taking off his large shirt first, then his pants.

Now he knew what the uncomfortable was. His dick, making a ruckus. The organ stood up tall, ready to be pleased. Sometimes, it had a mind of it’s own. Now, Donnie could feel the dusting of blush around his cheeks and nose, making a line across his features.

He pulled the undergarments to his snout, sniffing them. His thing twitched, awaiting the soon forceful hand that would stroke it to completion.

Donnie hated having to please himself like this. He knew it was wrong, gross, kinky and downright perverted; but he didn’t care anymore. It tasted so good.

Ever since he got a hold of her underwear, it’s been the only thing that could calm him down.

Runa had been the core problem, and now he was dealing with the after affects.

Why couldn’t she have just stayed all prissy? Why couldn’t they just go back to hating each other? Why’d she have to make him fantasize about her like this?

Almost all of the scent from the undies where gone, he could only really smell his breath. Donnie started to suckle on them after the pure stench alone stopped doing it for him. Damn, she tasted good.

Only to be actually tasting her, his tongue lapping up all the juices that flowed out of her, like water on a hot day. To hear her pant, and moan his name. To imagine her tied up and oh, so helpless.

To feel her tight pussy over his cock, creaming because she couldn’t handle him. To hear her scream to slow down.

The hand around his dick tightened, trying to get him to his climax as quickly as possible.

The things he wanted to do to her. Of course, he would never hurt her! Just tie her up and make her beg for him.

Donnie hadn’t even noticed himself growing louder, his once quite huffs now grew to loud groans as he flung his head back in pleasure, the image of Runa’s face flashed in his mind. He was so close! Damn, why did he have be able to go so long?

---💖---

“What’s taking Donnie so long?” Runa whispered out loud to herself.

“If you wanna see him so bad, just go check up on him.” Leo said with a sarcastic flaunt in his voice.

“Fine,” Runa huffed, getting up, “I will!”

Runa crept carefully down the halls, making it to Donnie’s room; soft moans and breathy groans were emanating from his room, bouncing off the walls and into her ears.

Runa blushed at the naughty thought that entered her head, shaking away the idea, she approached the door.

He’s probably working out, she thought, her face still red with embarrassment. She knocked on the door lightly, opening it slightly to peak in.

“Donnie?” She asked, opening the door slowly, only giving Donnie enough time to attempt to cover himself, underwear still on snout and a bewildered look on his face.

“What are you-...Oh, oh my...” was the only shocked expression Runa could muster out, gazing at his redden face, his exposed and twitching member, and her underwear and his snout!

“It-It’s not what it looks like!” He said quickly, trying to push his peaking dick back down, only to make it jump back up.

Runa could only stare at it, his thighs, covered in sweat and pre-cum. Her eyes made their way back up to his face.

“Then, what is it?” She asked, her personality snapping back into action.

Donnie was at a loss for words. What was he supposed to say? “Oh, yeah, I’ve actually been getting off to your underwear for the past few months”?

“I-.. Uh-...” He looked down at the floor, too embarrassed to say anything.

“Are those mine?” She hissed, surprisingly no disgust in her voice.

“Uh...” Donnie couldn’t lie, “Y-Yes...”

“And where you... eating them?”

“No, I was, uh, sucking on them...” That answer wasn’t any better.

“Give them back, I-I don’t want to give you access to these anymore.” Runa held out her hand expectantly, looking away. She stole glaces at Donnie as he slowly pulled himself away from the edge of his bed, taking the underwear out of his mouth and placed it in her hand.

The swift movement made only more awkward as their hands touch, making Donnie wince and Runa’s face heat more.

Donnie didn’t know if he should sit back down and continue or just stand there until she left.

“Runa...” Donnie started, holding his arm and looking down shamefully, “I-I don’t know what came over me. I just-... I didn’t mean to go that far.”

“What? Is that how you apologize for using my underwear as a cum rag?” Runa fumed, keeping it quite.

“Yes?” Donnie smiled nervously, “And I wasn’t using it as a cum rag, that’s disgraceful to someone so beautiful.”

The words struck her, a pang in her heart, the thought to do something impulsive. It all came too fast. Beautiful? Was he joking?

After a moment of processing, and reflecting, she finally opened her mouth.

“Are you serious?” She asked, genuinely intrigued now, “You think I’m beautiful?”

“M-More then beautiful,” Donnie hesitated, “I don’t know how to describe you, you’re so amazing.”

Runa blushed, out of all the times he choose to flirt...

Then, Runa got an idea. 

She stuffed the wet underwear into her back pocket and slowly started to descend to her knees, resting on them in front of Donnie.

“What are you doing?” He said quickly, following her with his eyes.

“Giving you want you want,” She purred, “May I?”

Donnie’s eyes widened before vigorously nodding, “Mhmm! Go ahead!”

“Don’t act so excited for me.” She smirked.

Donnie’s slightly annoyed expression came back to his features, “Just suck it.”

Runa hummed as she slid her hands to Donnie’s thighs, placing them firmly on his sides and squeezing, making his dick throb.

Runa licked the top of her mouth, trying to get the most saliva on her tongue as she could. She opened her mouth wide, letting Donnie see all the goodness he was about to feel. 

She slowly slide her mouth over the thick member, feeling every bit of it with her tongue. It was smooth and hot, being more thick on the tip then the base. The deep purple melded perfectly with the pastel pink of her tongue, making Donnie groan slightly.

Donnie looked at her at with the most fucked-up face she’d ever seen, he looked totally wasted. He was panting, beads of sweat forming on his face. Runa was getting him riled up, and she knew it. Runa started to moan, making Donnie wince and heave. 

Then, without warning, Donnie grabbed the back of Runa’s head and shoved it forward, making her gag. After she adjusted, he started continue to shove her face into his dick, making muffled moans. The slopping of the two organs together sounded like music to Donnie’s ears.

After a few minutes of face-fucking, he felt close, “Mmm, just a few more.. A-And I’ll be good, baby.” He panted.

Runa looked up, face full of saliva and pre-cum, “Mmm,” she said, Donnie’s hard cock still in her mouth. Suddenly, she took him all back in, sucking hard then dragging her teeth along the length of his cock.

Donnie didn’t even care about volume anymore; he moaned out loudly as he came, letting it get caught in her mouth as she swallowed some, letting the rest paint her face in a wondrous white.

Donnie bent down, grabbing the side of her mouth and spreading it open to see his seed sitting in her mouth. He moved his thumb from her mouth to her check, giving her a heated kiss, pulling away and leaving a string of cum and spit.

Runa laughed, her eyelids felt heavy and she felt tipsy, but still fully sober. She didn’t know how to describe it, but it was so intoxicating.

“Hmm,” Donnie hummed, sitting on the side of his bed, “I still seem to be aroused, despite cumming, heh, quite a lot.”

“Mmm, maybe you need more then just oral,” Runa smiled lazily, picking herself up and started to strip of her sweat pants. Donnie stared as she removed the pants. He could feel himself starting to get hard again.

As soon as she started to waddle over, Donnie felt his heart explode. He couldn’t take it, this was it, he finally getting what he wanted. Once she started to get comfortable sitting on his lap, and started rubbing his thighs, he stopped her.

“Runa,” He breathed, “Once I start, I don’t think I’ll be able to stop, dear. I don’t want to hurt you. Soft shell turtles are naturally... more aggressive.”

Runa licked her lips, “Good, this’ll be more fun.”

Runa positioned herself on Donnie’s lap, grinding on his exposed dick with her covered pussy, making Donnie’s face go to that of uncomfortable. He grabbed Runa by the hips and flipped her over, now standing between her open legs.

Donnie looked at helpless she’d become. He chuckled deviously, “I’m gonna make you regret asking me to be rough.”

Runa saw the animistic lust in his eyes, knowing there’s no humanity left. Her face burst into flames, her tail flicking back and forth. She bit her lips as Donnie put a hand on her back and guided her up softly, making her sit on the edge of the bed. 

Donnie went and grabbed his battle shell, smirking, he looked back at her in her underwear and shirt. He pulled out what seemed to be a video recorder, and some kind of rope?

Runa’s stomach got heavy butterflies.

He set up the camera and stood behind it, pointing it at Runa.

“Okay, strip.” He commanded, licking his teeth behind the camera.

“Wha-?” Runa blushed, you could probably see all her freckles inder the thin layer or fur on her face.

“You heard me,” He huffed, slightly upset at the repetitive command, “Strip.”

She started to slowly take of her shirt, making sure get his attention with a sway of her hips. After the shirt was off, she reached for her bra, giggling her breasts. She moaned his name slightly, trying to keep herself quite in case he didn’t want her to say anything.

“Say it again.” He demanded.

Runa started to play with her breasts now, moaning his name with every touch. Donnie looked down at his dick, now wet with pre-cum again. He huffed and commanded her to get on all fours.

“Now take them off.”

Runa slowly slid down her panties, purple and laced, teasing. After they were off, she waved her hips back and forth, moaning. Donnie stopped the camera and grabbed the rope. It was a soft velvet, so it wouldn’t hurt her.

Donnie helped Runa back up, taking the time to admire her dripping pussy. He flipped her over onto some pillows, making sure she was comfortable before tying her up with the velvet rope.

Runa laughed a bit, “Damn, you really know what you want, darling.”

“Yeah, I want you begging for my cock.” He said smugly, stroking his member, getting the pre-cum under his tip and around the largest areas, making it slick. Runa squirmed at the sight, making her eyes well up with tears as she pleaded with Donnie.

“Please, Don,” She begged, “If you’re going to fuck me, ju-just do it already! I can’t watch you, please, I need you inside me, ah~!”

“Hush now, dear.” He quieted her with a small handkerchief, embroidered with his initials, “You have to watch first, make sure you can take all of me.”

“Donnie, ugh!” Runa struggled against the velvet, “I’m a rabbit! I’m built to be bread!” She cried.

Donnie chuckled, stroking his dick again, “If you say so, but if I rip your uterus in half, just say I warned you.”

“Ah~! Don’t say things like that!” Runa’s face got more red, he cupped it, now leaning over her and positioning himself near her entrance. He leaned down and kiss her, whispering a sweet “Are you ready, love?”

Runa nodded her head as he started to enter his tip into her, making her moan and wiggle.

“Stay still, and it won’t be so painful,” He warned.

Runa sat still and let him enter her more, almost immediately adjusting to his huge cock, that was almost double the original size. She moaned as he started to go all the way in, her pussy sucking him in, encouraging him to go deeper.

The words echoed in Donnie’s head, “built to be bread?” Tch, we’ll see.

Donnie got comfortable once more at started at a slow pace making her moan with every slap of skin. The way her thighs and tits bounced with every strong thrust made him groan. He watched her arms struggle to try and get free of the velvet, groping at the rope, trying to grab and scratch at something.

Donnie grabbed he thighs, pulling out to kiss and bite them, talking into them. “Mmm, who’s my beautiful princess?”

“I-I am, Donnie.” She huffed out, her face scrunching up and her eyes closed.

“Good girl,” He stopped kissing her legs and pondered the name, “Hmm, plane old Donnie doesn’t sound good enough. Call me ‘Daddy’, m’kay, love?”

“Y-Yes, Daddy.” Runa stuttered out.

“Good.” Donnie lined himself back up with her hole, taking it slow once again.

“Da-Daddy, please, rail me.” Runa begged.

“If you insist, princess.” Donnie started to go faster, the skin slapping together made the sounds of the moaning die down.

Donnie started going even faster, making Runa moan, almost scream, before Donnie put the handkerchief back in her mouth to muffle the noise as he continued to rail her. He gripped his sheets, instinctively biting Runa’s neck, pinning her down.

Donnie just let his instincts run wild in that moment, scratching at the sheets, biting and humping the life out of Runa. After the felt himself getting close, he finally released his teeth from Runa’s soft skin and pulled out, seeing Runa had already came at least 4 times.

Donnie smirked as he saw her cream pour out of her, he took out the handkerchief and looked at her lovingly. 

“Where do you want it, Love?” He asked, stroking her cheek.

Runa groaned, “I-In me, Daddy! Please, cum in me, ah~!”

Donnie looked away, nervously. He wanted so bad to just cum inside her and clam her as his own. Watch his seed flow out of her with a beautiful white stream.

But at the same time, he didn’t want to be responsible for getting her pregnant. He wasn’t ready to be a father.

“Darling,” He said calmly, “Are you on the pill?”

“Yes, Daddy,” Runa answered, still clearly drunk on love, “Just, put your dick in me already! Fill me up with your seed, mm~.”

“If you insist, Princess.” Donnie started to rail her again, making sure to hit her spot, making her wiggle.

After she screamed as he came inside her, he pulled out, now fully able to relax. He untied Runa as she rubbed her writs and panted. He watched his juices flow out of her, he felt like he had done a good job. A sense of affection and pride welled in him.

Donnie gazed at her, pulling her by her waist into him, kissing her forehead. He hugged her close to him and laid down, with Runa laying on his chest. Donnie started stroking her hair and rubbing her ears, humming a soft song.

“Did you enjoy yourself?” Donnie asked.

“More then enjoyed, God, you’re so good.” Runa said happily, making a kiss noise at the tip of his nose.

“Thank you, baby.” Donnie smiled, catching his breath, “Does thins mean we’re dating now?”

“No, I think we’re married now.” Runa said.

Donnie laughed, oh, she was serious. “Well, I couldn’t imagine anyone else to be my wife.”

“Really?” Runa looked at him with earnest, “You really mean it?”

“Oh, hell yeah,” Donnie smiled, “You’re the cutest badass this planet has ever seen.”

“Mmm, you make me so happy, Donnie.” Runa yawned.

“I’m glad, darling.”

---BONUS---

“Hey, Leo,” April nudged Leo, making him look over at her with a disgusted look for interrupting his hyper-fixation.

“What?” Leo snarled.

“Did you ever find out what that noise was?” April asked.

Leo’s face went red, “Well, lets just say Donnie was doing some stuff. And that stuff is Runa,” Leo snarked.

The rest of the family looked at each other uncomfortably.

“Turn up the volume, Mike,” Raph said, looking visibly uncomfortable.

They didn’t bother getting Runa or Donnie for breakfast the next morning.

[silver-stake-through-the-heart]

Tag Masterlist

It's to help me find posts quickly so it's likely to not make sense for anyone else 😁

(It looks like there's a limit of links you can use in one post. Oooops.)

💚 Dean 💚

head empty just dean

dean's eyes • freckles • jewelry • outfits • soul •

dean + books • cooking • dance • food • hugs • pie • tv •

dean + pop culture • star trek • star wars

dean's room • baby

-

psychic!dean • angelic perception • angelic association • the bible

dean as humanity • dean + free will • dean + saving people

dean studies • dean + emotions • grief • guilt • loneliness • memory issues • self-awareness • sleep • vulnerability •

trauma • dean as bait • objectified dean • sex work • sexual assault • the cbgb story

young dean • parentification • < here's to crappy childhoods> • dean's 17th birthday • john winchester's journal • john winchester's a+ parenting

< boo hoo sorry your feelings were hurt princess > • < you couldn't put me out of my misery? >

dean's hell trauma • dean's hell trauma // moc-demon arc • < i can't be that thing again > • < to call it desire or love… it's not that > • alastair crowley parallels • alastair crowley amara

💙 Castiel 💙

cas + food • hobbies • tv • words

cas being badass • bitchy • dramatic • impatient • lone-wolfing

castiel trueform • art • castiel's wings

cas and the angels • cas and his ??? wives

cas vs sam • the soulless!sam scandal

cas vs raphael • vs archangels • vs doors

castiel cain parallels • cas as the angel's angel • cas + ruthlessness

cas studies • cas + avoidance • brainwashing • grief • penance • usefulness

💟 Emma 💟

all emma posts

texts • caps • gifs • dean and emma • original posts

dean emma parallels • cas emma parallels

art • edits • scenario • saving emma scenario • cas and emma

Destiel

bestfriendsnatural • dean and cas talk • offscreen destiel

cas and the bug • otherwordly castiel • dean and cas trueform

dean's crush for cas • < he's a weird dorky little guy > • dw thee cas apologist •

single minded angel •

rip personal space •

Destiel parallels

couples in other media

other couples

the caincolette parallel • the caincolette parallel (cas version)

Destiel text post (mostly)

destiel + romance tropes

destiel + bickering • birthday • dating • domesticity • enochian • faith • fake dating • healing • home • kissing • longing • marriage • music • possession • retirement • sleep • staring • touch • tv • words

destiel + miscommunication • cas + missing the hints

flustered cas • flustered dean • r rated destiel

codependent destiel • jealous cas • jealous dean

chivalrous castiel • macho man cas •

Exterior POV about Destiel

destiel vs sam • (sam's here too) • thirdwheeling •

heaven and hell know • < don't lose it over one man >

SPN

color saturation • filming choices • musics • references

back-to-back episodes • back-to-back scenes

color symbolism •

bees meta • car meta • nature symbolism •

heart meta • lamp meta • sunshine symbolism

Angels

angelkind and humanity • angels + emotions • angel trueform

soul and grace • sky and stars

Parallels

spn 7x03 // spn 15x07 •

Fandom things

canon vs fanon • different from fanon popular belief • misconceptions about dean • double standard • the weird world of deancrits

[dr-spectre]

Ranting about the Splatoon Fandom Wiki....

I wanna quickly make fun of the Splatoon fandom wiki because like most fandom wikis, it's covered with ads unless you use an adblocker, is poorly formatted, poorly structured, has less info than Inkipedia, doesn't update frequently, has missing information, and genuinely is less "professional" than Inkipedia. It also just copies and pastes info from Inkipedia too so there's that as well... I'm not exactly sure how fandom wiki works and how the moderation works but it seems scattered and not good enough by any means.

Like Callie's page for example has this weird ass paragraph that says Callie was left unstable after Splatoon 2??? And it contains a lot of errors and a very weird subjective piece of text in what is supposed to be an objective as possible page, cause you know, ITS A WIKI!!!

She wants to splat shielded Octarians over and over again because that's just in line with her character, she's energetic and silly, she doesn't give a fuck that you need to go behind them to attack them better, she's just gonna splat them up front with her roller, that's just who she is, she represented team Show No Mercy in Splatoon 1 for a reason. Also that dialogue is cut off from what she actually says to further paint this idea that Callie is some broken unstable girl who was a victim of kidnapping and forced brainwashing, for some fucking reason i don't know. I can't even seem to find the original dialogue they stated because THEY DON'T LINK SOURCES!!! HOW DOES A WIKI NOT PROVIDE SOURCES TO THEIR QUOTES!?!?? WHAT!?? I tried checking Inkipedia and even they don't have this dialogue from Callie, so idfk man. All I know is that the dialogue was cut off. Ugh...

From my memory i don't even recall Callie having a new facial animation where her pupils shrink, or it's just so incredibly minor that it's not worth bringing up at all. She also wasn't smiling to hide her panic when her grandfather was kidnapped and insulting Mr. Grizz what the fuck? She was frowning when Cuttlefish dried up and died for a moment!! She was UPSET! and didn't hide it at all! What the hell?! Also facial animations in Splatoon work by the characters swapping between different mouth presets in quick succession, you can see it for yourself when you watch the Idols perform and sing, their mouths don't move smoothly and it makes sense because their language is just gibberish and clipped together audio clips. You can't animate that smoothly unless you spent an INSANE amount of time to animate their mouths incredibly smoothly to match the intentional gibberish and messy vocals. And you gotta do that for EVERY. CUTSCENE. IN. THE. STORY. MODE. That's why the developers just do the cheaper and simpler option to save on time, money and labour.

The "Plenty!" line in response to Shiver's "what is wrong with you?" Is most likely a reference to her quote on quote "airheaded" personality and a subtle nod at her putting the shades back on again and again.

Callie does seem to have mental health issues but it wasn't caused by some "brain warping evil shades oooo", it was due to various things prior to that. Waking up very early in the morning every single day and working non stop, getting harassed by paparazzi, being incredibly lonely and having a strained relationship with someone you used to care about would fuck up anyone's mental health and cause you to overthink and make bad decisions, like join the Octarians and end up wanting to adopt their ideals due to not wanting to go back to your old life and having to deal a fractured relationship with a family member that you think insulted you multiple times on live television, and those feelings and that darkness inside your heart get further amplified by hypnotic shades that cause the restraints in your head to finally break through. But i digress....

Another BIG issue with the fandom wiki is that it's not updated at all, it's extremely outdated, you can check for yourself, find your favorite Idol or character and see if they have the latest info on them, chances are, they don't.

Marina's page is missing Side Order information and new songs.

Shiver's is missing a LOT of gallery and Splatfest information. (No info on Suffer No Fools and "What would you do at world's end?" Splatfest)

Same with Frye. (Frye has the most up to date info on her Splatfest wins and loses yet Shiver doesn't? Huh?)

DJ Octavio's page spreads the incorrect narrative that he uses music to directly control Octarians which has been proven false.

Inkipedia gets it right by saying it's more like propaganda and military marches.

(Although i have my own personal issues with how sometimes Inkpedia talks about Hypno Callie but at least they bothered to include the god damn relationship chart in her page.)

Yeah the Splatoon fandom wiki is just.... bad man. it's awful. It's dogshit. Sometimes i see it as the top result when i search for characters and other Splatoon related content, i don't want casual fans and newcomers to go on that website which has false and outdated information. Please give all the support you can to Inkipedia. It's incredibly rich in information and updates fairly quickly. As a game wiki it's insanely well put together and one of the best wikis out there. It's amazing. If you want to do a wiki scroll and you're mildly interested in Splatoon then it's a great place to get lost for a while and spend some time in.

I just wanted to do a little ranting is all right now. I know that a large majority of people in the community don't like the fandom wiki and Inkipedia is superior by 10000000x but. I just wanted to rant a little. Get my thoughts out there. I'm too attached to a certain cephalopod woman to let poor information about her slide under the radar.