#but every single person I’ve heard complain about never knowing what to say for people to stop calling them bigoted :( it’s so confusing

[chaserofstarsandtheabyss]

Oh? You’re worried about being accused of being a bigot? Did you complete the anti-discrimination training that was 30 minutes long? No? You thought it was stupid and too much work? Interesting, interesting…

[avocado-writing]

we need a rewrite of the tiefling party where tav can actually convince wyll to join the party and have fun please 🥹

notes: love love love writing for Wyll. he's such a sweetie! Implied bard reader but not explicit.

rating: T, but there will be a spicy part 2 coming up!

The party is lively and your head is swimming from the buzz of attention. That, and the small amount of wine you’ve had: not so much as to dull your senses but enough to make you merry. Warmed with Arkhen’s Hoard you take a break from the grateful tieflings and head out towards the familiar babble of the river. The further from camp you go the quieter your surroundings get, and you’re able to breathe a little more easily knowing there aren’t half a dozen children hanging on your every word. It’s lovely to be the centre of attention because you helped them, but a little overwhelming with all those eyes on you.

Of course, that’s not the only reason that you’ve come wandering over this way.

Wyll sits with his legs crossed on the bank, staring at the way the water dances under the moonlight. He seems at peace, the calmest he’s been since Mizora appeared and sprouted those horns for him; shoulders relaxed, tensionless. 

“Wondered where you were,” you say, quietly. You don’t want to make him jump after all. It hurts your heart to see the way that his body stiffens when he hears your voice. Ah: there’s the tension again. Nevertheless, he turns to look at you over his shoulder, an easy smile on his lips - but one with a hint of sadness. You’ve studied his face enough in camp in order to know when he’s trying to hide something. It makes your heart ache bitterly that he would try and hide it from you, though. 

“Thought I’d be able to sneak away. Should have known you’d be able to find me.”

You take a seat next to him in the grass. It’s a soft spot he’s managed to pick, not wet from its proximity to the river, but green and lush from its plentiful feeding. You lock eyes with him and press a hand to your chest, mock-wounded.

“Wyll! You make me sound like I’m a bloodhound tracking you down, not someone who cares about you checking in.”

He laughs, and you see him begin to lighten again. When he smiles this time, it’s sincere.

“That’s not what I meant. Apologies. Just that I’m not surprised you know me well enough to guess where I’d end up.”

“Down by the river,” you hum, fingers suddenly itching for the feel of a lute’s strings. 

“You’re always singing that, you know?”

“I am, it’s a good song. I’ve never once heard you complain about it.”

“I’m not complaining! I never would, I love to hear you sing. Since I joined you on this journey, my life has been filled with so much music. It’s been wonderful.”

You put your hands behind you and lean back on them, allowing your face to become level with his. He looks into your eyes and, this close, you can see his breath hitch a little when your fingers brush together.

“I could be persuaded to do an impromptu performance, but I’d need my favourite person in the front row to give me courage.”

“I’m sure that you don’t need me for that. Courage is the one thing you couldn’t possibly lack.”

“To be my muse, then.”

You know if you lifted your hand and felt his cheek, it’d be warm.

“Please, Wyll,” you continue, softly. “Please come and join us. Everybody wants you there. Me especially, if I’m being selfish.”

“Ah…” you can see he’s warring with himself. On one side of the argument, he longs to indulge you. On the other side…

“I’m not sure. I think people may find me off-putting.”

You furrow your brow.

“You? The single most charming man I’ve ever met?”

Another flash of shyness over his face. You can tell that he enjoys the compliment, but his self-doubt wins out.

“Perhaps I was, before the horns.”

“Oh, Wyll. Do you think anybody up there cares about those? A group of your friends and people you fought tooth and nail to protect? I know for a fact that Karlach wants to challenge you to a drinking game.”

“That seems like more of a reason to hide! I think she’d drink me under one of the tables,” Wyll grimaces, and smiles when you laugh at his silliness. He seems a little more open to the idea, but still not completely sold.

“I don’t know… just… the children…”

“The children who love you and hang on your every word? Umi won’t stop asking me where you are, and someone needs to keep Mol in line…”

“I doubt even the gods themselves can do that.”

When he chuckles you find yourself reaching out to cup his cheek, running your thumb over the sharp ridge that was raised there when Mizora cursed him. His eyes widen and glaze over before sliding closed, nuzzling into the gesture, soul laid bare to the sweetness of your touch. 

 “Nobody feels unsettled by you. Nobody is afraid of you.”

His lips fall apart, anticipating the way you reach in to kiss him.

It’s a soft kiss. Lips dancing slowly, a waltz, noses bumping together a little, his horns grazing your hairline. Your heart soars at it.

When it’s over you sit there and breathe together. Sharing the same air, letting your blood thrum through you in an intertwined heartbeat.

“Will you come and join us? Will you come and dance with me?” you ask.

Wyll loses the argument with himself.

“Yes.”

taglist: @ghosti02art @sadandanxiouswtf @yeethaw13 @trappedinlimbo15 @infinitely-kate @dhampling @wereallbrokenangels @tilldeathdonugget

[swiftllama]

January Compliments ☀️🔍

[Compliments Masterlist]

Hello everyone and welcome to the first Compliments Post of 2024! Hope the year has started off well for you all, and if not, then I hope this post can at least provide a little bit of joy to your day 🫶

We may be only one month in but the boys have been delivering since the very first day 🙌 So let’s get into it shall we! :-

January 2024

Ian’s 2023 Wrap Up

So to start us off, first day of the year and Mr Sunshine was already tugging at our heartstrings with his wrap up of 2023, and who made his 2023 what it was? Well Anthony of course 🥹

STOP IT! RIGHT NOW! 😩

LIKE WHAT IS THIS??? IM MEANT TO COPE WITH THIS??? HOW???

The fact the WHOLE post is Anthony - from the photos to the caption! EVERY SINGLE PHOTO HAS ANTHONY 😭 Also don’t even get me started on the two unseen photos and the fact they’ve been kept from us till now. How dare 😤 AND the fact the first person he thanked was Anthony! Like yes he’s thanking and appreciating many people with this post but come on now, from the pictures alone it’s clear who made his year. This is just SO SPECIAL! Especially coming from Ian, who isn’t normally a big one for sharing his emotions (I think we’ve seen a change with that recently though), but this is BIG!

Anthony also in return left a sweet comment :-

“proud of you buddy.”

CRYING 😭 They kill me these two, couldn’t even go one day without being sappy to each other - not that I’m complaining. And as much as I would love to just sit here in this gooeyness, we’ve got a lot to get through so I must move on 🥲

LEGEND OF ZELDA RAP (Flashback)

So they reacted to the classic Legend Of Zelda Rap in this Flashback eps and got a few little compliments thrown in :-

-

[discussing the scene of Ian dressed as Link winking at the camera that spawned a viral gif]

Anthony: “That for some reason was a clip that went viral- or a gif that went viral.”

Ian: “Yeah, it’s like horny posters.”

Anthony: “Yeah.”

Ian: “Yeah.”

Anthony: “I see it way too much.”

[shoutout editor Kortney for this 😆]

Ian: “Gotta say, never looked better.”

Anthony: “That’s true.”

Anthony agrees 😏

-

Erin: [asking Ian if he had spicy time in the Link outfit like Anthony said about the Assassin’s Creed outfit in their 2 Truths 1 Lie eps]

Ian: “I did not have spicy time in the Link outfit because that outfit was very tight, there was not much of a range of motion in it.”

Anthony: “Right. Well you could be a pillow princess in that.”

Ian: “I’m not a pillow princess.”

Anthony: “Oh really?”

Ian: “Yeah.”

Anthony: “I’ve heard otherwise.”

[look at each other and Anthony laughs]

Ian: “Oh yeah, cause canonically we had sex for seven years.”

Anthony: [laughs] “In the Food Battle lore.”

Ian: “Yeah. Canonically in Food Battle, we’ve had sex for seven years. You know every crevice of my body.”

Anthony: “Of your anatomy.”

Ian: “Yeah.”

Anthony: “Anywho…”

Ian: “Wow, this went a weird place.”

Anthony: “Back to looking at Link in his prime.”

Ian: “Back to me looking freakin’ HAWT.”

Anthony: “Yeah.”

Just them casually discussing the fact they’ve canonically had sex for 7 years and then Anthony once again agreeing Ian looked hot in the Link outfit… I don’t think I even need to say anything.

-

Anthony: “Oh! And I just want to give a shoutout to myself.”

Ian: “Oh, [sings] shoutout to myself.”

Anthony: “I painstakingly added those fucking stars [in the scene] for some reason. I thought they were so necessary.”

Ian: “Yeah, no, that was sick.”

Ian giving Anthony a little compliment for his hard work 😊

…

Speaking of the stars it was also something Ian brought up again later when they appeared in the video again :-

Ian: “Stars. Stars.”

Anthony: “Oh yeah. Stars. We got ‘em in there.”

Very cute how he wanted to shoutout Anthony’s work again ☺️

-

Erin: “That’s Anthony?! [as Ganondorf]”

Ian: “Yeah.”

Anthony: “Shut up. You knew that was me.”

Erin: “That’s crazy.”

Ian: “You didn’t know that was Anthony?”

Erin: “Where’d your, like, jaw go?”

Ian: “What do you mean? He’s got an epic jaw.”

Ian got so defensive on Anthony’s behalf here, I love it! Reminded me of the moments from Who Meme’d It when Anthony was defending Ian 😌

And that was us for this video!

Moving on…

SOUP!

Gets a big title cause why not!

But yes, soup! So Ian has gotten into making soup this year and on that same Friday we got the Flashback, that evening we were blessed out of nowhere with these stories :-

THE WAY I SCREAMED WHEN I SAW THESE 😩

Like this is the cutest, most domesticated shit ever! They kill me!!!!

And okay yes when that first photo was posted I thought Ian was right then and there cooking it for him, Ian then responded with this :-

Let me live in my fantasies Ian! 😤

But regardless of Mr dashing-my-dreams Hecox, I’m still of the mindset they were hanging out that day and that’s when Ian gave him the container of soup.

Evidence :-

This photo only. That I believe Anthony took 😌

Also I try not to make these posts too shipper-heavy so that everyone may enjoy them if they’re just here for the friendship alone, so I’ll just leave this other little post I made here about some other thoughts I had on this soup situation that isn’t in the friendship realm 🤭 All cool if that’s not for you though!

VidConfessions

So 7 months later Vidcon finally decided to post this little interview they had with them lol. And even with such a short video we still got a few complimentary/cute moments :-

-

So Anthony was being his usual self and finding Ian the funniest person alive as always. There was a couple moments where Ian gave his answers and you just hear Anthony’s laugh in the background 🥰

Q: What are the last three things you Googled?

Ian: “Jared Leto cult…”

He’s a cutie ☺️

…

And it happened again!

Q: What’s the cringest thing you’ve ever done for views?

Ian: “I mean like our whole channel’s cringe.”

Anthony, once again: [laughing in the background]

Love him and how much he loves Ian and his humour 😊

-

This was just one wee last bit I thought was cute :-

Ian: [signing out the video] “This has been Ian from Smosh, that’s right, the channel that is 17 and a half years old that’s doing sketch comedy again with my best friend Anthony.”

Can never resist them calling each other ‘best friend’ so of course had to include it!

Making of Pokémon In Real Life 2024

So they brought back the classic Pokémon In Real Life sketch, and from that obviously we got the BTS. Only a couple little moments from this one but just wanted to include them cause they were silly 🤓

-

Ian: [sneezes] “Sorry. Your hairspray.”

Anthony: “Ohhh… he’s allergic to me [smirks].”

👀 Don’t know what that was about but alrighty, Anthony…

-

Ian: [cuts his finger and there’s a dot of blood]

Anthony: “Oh my god, dude. Are you okay?”

Ian: “No, I’m not okay. Trigger warning gore.”

Anthony: “Do you need someone to suck out the blood?”

Why did this just turn into Saltburn? Don’t know what Anthony was on with the these two moments but I won’t question it 😝 And despite saying ‘someone’, he was definitely offering to suck the blood from Ian’s finger himself 🤭

Pokémon In Real Life 2024 Watch Party

Of course with the sketch and BTS we got a livestream, which gave us some cute and complimentary moments 😊

To kick off this livestream I just wanna point out that they were wearing matching colours with Anthony’s jacket and Ian’s hoodie, plus matching Smosh Pokémon hats which is very cute 😊

-

Ian: [apologising for getting annoyed in the BTS due to the background noise messing up their filming] “Dude, this video. This Pokémon video. I apologise if I looked very angry in the behind the scenes.”

Anthony: [laughs] “You didn’t look that bad. Honestly, it amped up accurately.”

Erin: “The compilation of you getting angry, it was pretty funny.”

Anthony: Yeah, so it was justified. People knew why you were angry.”

Love the reassurance from Anthony here so that Ian isn’t worried about how he came across in the video.

-

[take their hats off]

Ian: “How’s my hair? Is it weird?”

Anthony: “Is mine weird? Yours is fine.”

Ian: “No, I feel like yours is like, yours has like a messy chic to it, you know.”

Them just complimenting each other’s hair - here for it! Also Ian’s added compliment of “messy chic” 😄

-

[playing Pokémon quiz]

I&A: “Jinx.”

Crew: [laughs]

Anthony: [smiles and points to Ian] “Jinx.”

Ian: “That’s our favourite. Favourite Pokémon.”

Funny because it’s both the Pokémon’s name and they said it at the same time 😝 Cute how Ian also got in that that’s their favourite ☺️

-

[complete the quiz]

Anthony: “Dude, 100 percent, bro.”

I&A: [high-five]

Of course always gotta include the highfives 😌

-

After the quiz they go on to play a Pikachu x Sonic crossover. Anthony plays a round and then Ian goes to play but can’t get the controls to work for him so Anthony’s showing him what to do 🥹 I don’t feel the need to include what they said here as it’s just Anthony saying what buttons to push but just wanted to include a little description of what was happening at this moment 😊

-

Ian: [completes the game]

Anthony: “You won the game.” [clapping]

Just another little cute moment I wanted to include of Anthony clapping for Ian 🙂

-

[playing Pokémon Among Us]

Anthony: [playing the game well]

Ian: “Alright, I hate that you’re like kind of eating.” [as Ian kept dying]

A begrudging little compliment from Ian there 😄

-

[signing the livestream off]

Ian: “Happy New Year, hope the holidays were a fun time for you and you had some eggnog and sat by the campfire…”

Anthony: “Roasting chestnuts.”

Ian: “Roasting chestnuts.”

Anthony: “Or chestnut. I’m not making any assumptions.”

Ian: “….What?”

Anthony: “Just if they don’t have more than one chestnut.”

Ian: “Ohh, okay. I don’t know if you could buy a singular chestnut but…”

Anthony: “I think there’s a way.”

Ian: “Go off king.”

Just a silly little one to end on because I wanted to include Ian calling Anthony ‘king’ 🤭

Can I Guess Who Slapped Me?

So the video of Anthony getting slapped finally dropped! And it was everything and more, especially when it came to moments between Ian and Anthony so let’s jump right in :-

-

Right off the bat we had this as the description for Ian…

👀👀👀

Now onto the actual slapping…

-

The moment that got us all was just before Ian slaps him he slowly started caressing Anthony’s face so obviously that had us all going crazy! Including the cast and crew!

Anthony: [after the slap] “Oh. Wow. Uhhh, this person thinks they’re hilarious.” [laughs]

Cast & Crew: [laughing]

Ian: [Trying not to laugh]

Anthony: “Uhhh, who would do that? Who would caress my face and slap me out of nowhere?”

Ian: [boops Anthony’s nose]

Anthony: “Uh, it feels like an Ian move to me… Did you just boop me? Um, that feels like an Ian move.”

Kiana: “That is correct.”

Everyone: [celebrating and applauding]

Anthony: [puts his hands out and Ian high-fives him]

Angela: “Friendship always wins!”

Ian: “Well done. Well done. Good job to you.”

Anthony: [bowing]

Ian: “There we go. There we go. That’s the only one you truly needed to get right.”

Anthony: [laughs]

So true Ian! That was the most important one he needed to get right! And I just want to point out how Ian was only the 3rd person Anthony got right, and of course he knew it was him right away with his cheeky little joke of “this person thinks they’re hilarious” 😝 he knew the second Ian caressed his face that it was him cause they truly just know each other that well ☺️ Live for Angela yelling “Friendship always wins!” after he got it right too! And can we also talk about the totally unnecessary, but very, very cute little nose boop Ian threw in there just cause he wanted to! Obsessed!

-

A little bit later in the video during Duran’s round of slapping Anthony another little moment happened that I just wanted to include cause I thought that it was funny and showed how silly of a mood Ian was in, I think Anthony being blindfolded was playing a part in that and he gained a little extra layer of confidence to just fuck about with Anthony 😆

Anthony: [standing with his butt pushed out waiting to be slapped]

Kiana: “The stance is great. The stance is great.”

Ian: [runs over and pretends to go in to slap Anthony’s butt]

Anthony: “Why’s there wind?”

Cast & Crew: [laugh]

Hehe 🤭

Anyways! That was it for the slapping video but I did also want to include something that came off the back of it and that was…

Bonus

Anthony dedicating a whole Instagram post to Ian slapping him :-

Obessed with this though! The fact he went out of his way to make a post specifically about Ian slapping him over anyone else, plus that caption! ‘only ian would slap me like that’ - truly the cherry on top of it all 😌

Jacksfilms Confesses His Biggest Regret

So they had Jacksfilms on as a guest for Flashback to react to some of his old videos and an old collab of his the boys had been a part of.

-

Jack: [talking about how he moved to LA after he graduated] “…And that’s when I started collaborating with some, then, very big YouTube channels.”

Anthony: [looks at Ian] “Yeah, back then we were big.” [elbows Ian and Ian elbows him back]

Them just being silly 😄 loved the little elbowing of each other too 😊

-

Jack: “I remember I was in college, I was like out hanging with my friends. I just got 50,000 subs on YouTube, baby. And one of my friends just like took the air right out of my tire, or sails, whatever, and was like ‘Uh, yeah, did you know that Smosh has like a million now?’.”

Ian: “Pffft.”

Anthony: [silent laughs] “Noice!” [high-fives Ian] “Noice!”

Again, just more of them being silly. Plus high-five!

-

I should have mentioned at the start of this section that Ian is in a tshirt-dress for this video as a reference to Jack as it’s got tweets of his printed on it. Anyway, as a result his legs are out obviously, and that’s relevant to this next part :-

Anthony: [talking about how there’s always an audience for every kind of content, it’s just about what kind of audience you want to have]

Ian: “That’s true. And you want this audience.” [pointing to show off his legs]

Anthony: “You want this.”

Ian: “You want the audience that accepts this.”

Anthony: “This is what you want. This is the audience that we have. And we are very happy with this audience.”

Ian: “Exactly.”

Anthony: “They’ve been begging for this.”

And we’re more than happy to be the audience for it! 😌 (As is Anthony considering how many times he was checking out Ian’s legs during this video 😉)

Anthony also had this to say about YouTube’s hate for Ian’s attire 😤

-

Jack: [talking about a sponsorship he done with other youtubers to test out a new workout program]

Ian: “Did you get Jaaaacked?”

Anthony: [looks at Ian with a smirk and high-fives him]

Second high-five for this video! Also Anthony just quietly complimenting Ian’s pun 😄

-

Ian: “Do you [Jack] have any regrets? Any videos that you regret making?” [smiling]

Anthony: “You look so happy saying that.” [smiling] “This is happiest I’ve seen you all episode.” [laughs]

Just thought it was cute how Anthony seeing Ian smiling made him smile and laugh 😊

And that was it for another Flashback!

No1 Ian Fan Strikes Again

So Anthony was back at it! The Smosh team was out celebrating one of the crews birthday - Erin posted this to her story. Now I’m sure there were probably multiple photos and videos taken this night but what was the only thing Anthony shared from it? That’s right! Ian of course!

He’s obsessed with that boy and I love it! 😌

Ian also reshared and replied to Anthony’s story which you can find here

Making Of “MrBeast Copycats Have Gone Too Far”

So the BTS of the MrBeast Copycats Have Gone Too Far sketch offered us a few little moments :-

-

So this seemed to be a very high-five, hand-hold heavy BTS. Think they were just in one of those moods where they want any excuse to touch each other 🤭😉

[Finishing off their little video introduction]

Anthony: [goes in to high-five Ian and grips his hand]

Ian: [high-fives Anthony back and also grips his hand in response]

I&A: [still holding each other’s hands] “Let’s go shoot this shit!”

-

Ian: [messing up his line] “I’m having a trouble! I’m having a trouble…” [facepalms]

Shayne: “That’s so funny. ‘I’m having a trouble’.”

Anthony and Courtney: [laughing]

Anthony: [to Ian] “Are you having a trouble?” [puts hand on Ian’s shoulder]

Ian: “I’m having a trouble. Words.”

Anthony: [laughs]

I know they were (lovingly) poking fun at Ian here, but the wee glimpse of the shoulder touch from Anthony to Ian is what got me ☺️

-

I&A: [In character but joking around]

Ian: “There’s a twist. There’s a twist.” [puts hand out to Anthony] “There’s a twist.”

Anthony: “There’s a twist.” [takes Ian’s hand and grips it]

I&A: [still holding hands whilst lightly pushing/tapping each other and repeating “there’s a twist”. They then start scissoring their fingers together, before gripping each other’s fingers and pulling the other in closer to them whilst now repeating “getting twisted” and manically laughing]

Well… that was… something… 👀

Told you they were just looking for any excuse to touch each other. But hey, wouldn’t be a Smosh BTS if Ian and Anthony weren’t flirting with each other 😜

-

And to finish off this high-five heavy BTS, I’ll leave you with this :-

Ian: [talking about how Anthony injured himself by dropping a laptop on his foot and how he should take an Advil but Anthony doesn’t take Advil so he doesn’t know if it’ll help]

Anthony: “I don’t care about the pain, I just want the throbbing to stop.”

Ian: “He doesn’t like throbbing.”

Anthony: “I don’t like throbbing. I like pulsating.”

Ian: [laughs] “I hate both of those words.”

Anthony: [laughs] “Yeah, usually I say throbbing or pulsating member…”

Ian: [acting disgusted]

Anthony: “Speaking of members thank you so much being a Smoshtastic or Smosh Royalty member!”

Ian: “Yeah! Thanks for being our throbbing members.” [laughs]

Anthony: “Our pulsating members.”

Ian: “Yeahhh, throbbing members.”

I&A: [high-five]

Um… thanks boys, I guess… happy to be a throbbing and pulsating member… 🥴🤦‍♀️ They high-fived so I had to include it, don’t blame me for what they said! 😩

-

And on that’s note that brings us to the end of January! Hope you all enjoyed reading - I’d say it was a very good start to the year in terms of content, and the boys very much delivered in terms of complimentary moments so can’t complain 😌

Thank you all again for reading and I shall see you next time! 💖

[ne0politon]

It Hurts

I have never experienced a hate crime (and probably won’t). I am white and straight passing. The only way people would know any different is if I tell them. I  will never experience the full extent of the damage a single story can cause, but I think I have a small idea of some of it.

I am asexual and aromantic (I only recently figured out the latter and am still in denial at times). The world has created this single story of what love is and looks like and it sucks (for me at least). You find someone, date them, get married, spend the rest of your life with them, they should be your best friend since everyone talks about how their partner is their bestfriend. This creates a narrative that your partner/ romantic relationships  should be valued more than your friends/platonic relationships.

It hurts.

I am terrified that my friends will move on and I will no longer be a priority in their lives and that I will be alone—all because I don’t experience love the same way (despite what some people believe aroace people still love and are not robots. Although, being a robot would be nice at times. Everything would be so much easier.).

Now, I know it probably sounds like I’m complaining for no good reason. Tons of people have it significantly worse. 

They do.

I am extremely lucky. 

However, I am going to continue to complain, because despite the fact that people have it worse.

It still sucks. 

My parents are fine with it, but they don’t really understand. 

No one does.

That's why I don’t talk about it. I don’t want to have to explain it to someone every single time I’m asked if I have a crush on anyone. Instead I just say “no I don’t”. Then sit there awkwardly as the person asking me tells me that “it's ok you’ll find someone” (with a patronizing smile) or worse they don’t believe me and just think that I do and am too embarrassed to tell them(and they tell me so, also with a patronizing smile). 

It hurts. 

I feel like it shouldn’t hurt. They are just trying to be nice/make conversation—they don’t know any better or different. 

And yet, it does.

It is a constant reminder that I am weird, worthless different.

Now, going back to why I don’t talk about it. Another reason to put it plainly is I am scared.

I have never been a victim of a hate crime and I never want to be (no one does). I’ve heard horror stories from others online who have experienced a-phobia first hand (I’m not going to go into detail but a decent amount of it boils down to rape in order to “fix” what is “broken”).

 It’s terrifying—so I keep quiet.

Part of me wants a “romantic” relationship, but I am too scared to put myself out there like that. Also do I really want that or is it just that I feel like I have to who knows (I certainly don’t at this point in my life). 

So I am left to just…

Hope I figure it out.

Hope that people will begin to understand.

Hope that I find someone who feels the same way.

But until then,

It hurts.

[xxnomadsxx]

Nomads AU! that before timeline I’ve been procrastinating but now I have to finish…Sorry

Once all the bros (plus Poppy) get on Rhonda Branch immediately regrets coming along. His brothers immediately try to get to know him, which starts out wrong as they ask him a bunch of very personal questions but over the trip he starts to actually get along with his brothers (he could do without the babying) but he starts to relight that hope of getting his brothers back as he and them are getting along!(finally)..until he finds out how Floyd is trapped

He didn’t actually hear the plan on how to save Floyd, all he heard was “Floyd in danger” but now he has to sing?!?! He quickly denies singing and says he will get Floyd out of there and they can sing and save him. The bros are shocked why is Bitty B acting like this he loves to sing. Poppy makes the situation worse because she keeps questioning him on it and why he is grey (and lowkey kinda insulting him) She then says stuff like “your a pop troll you have to sing it’s who you are!!” or “why are you being so grey about this come on can’t you just try and be happy.” The bros don’t interfere in the two fighting as they are talking amongst themselves on what they would do since Branch isn’t going to sing…Eventually they decide “Hey if we practice as a family I bet bitty b will realize how good it is to sing as a family again” then John breaks out the Brozone stuff they get there band gear together…John immediately tries to have Branch wear a diaper and Branch threatens to hit him (yea not the best move Johnny) so the band tries to practice but Branch just sorta sits to the side. Then John stops the song and gets on everyone’s case then complains that branch needs to start singing which Branch denies (this looks bad but to be fair he hasn’t sung in years because of his grandma and him thinking his singing is the reason the band broke up he doesn’t want anyone to leave because of it) Then Clay would speak up call John bossy blah blah blah say branch is scarier and taller now blah blah licensed cpa blah blah then the argument ends with the brothers saying “after we rescue Floyd we go our separate ways” this absolutely smothered whatever hope he had at the brothers coming back in his life. I mean they had the audacity to beg him to perform with them then once he thinks they can be a family again they want to…. TO ABANDON HIM AGAIN!!???!!!?!!! He absolutely loses it on them (rightfully so) they left him and didn’t come back, they left him to die ,they left grandma to die by the very thing he hates, they left him to be outcasted to be forced to fight to SURVIVE every single day, to be scared of EVERYTHING to lead a village to make acts he’s ashamed of… them leaving CAUSED EVERYTHING..when he tells them what he went through that he’s “sorry” he wants his family back the only family he had left and that he honestly whishes they just never showed up on his doorstep, that they should just pretend he is dead like they’ve done for 20 years so he can leave there lives completely…

Branch leaves the bus to get promptly chased down by Poppy (who currently got slapped in the face of reality and how bad Branch’s life is, and currently is having her world shattered that he LIVED IN THE VILLAGE!! And no ever talked about him how he and his suffering was forgotten and ignored by EVERYONE!!) she chases him down asking him if he is ok and Ned’s to talk about it (she’s learning!!!!) Branch immediately tells her to leave just like everyone else has in the past.. and Poppy was surprised by his answer. She said she wouldn’t leave him that she needs to make this right for what her people did and that he needs help to get Floyd. Branch (reluctantly) agrees with her and they go to save Floyd

After they did a bunch of cool breakin stuff they would get to the dressing room lo and behold Floyd!! immediately Branch goes down to greet his brother …….who didn’t recognize him (to be fair Branch looks completely deranged and wildly different) at this point I wouldn’t blame the guy if he just started crying, I mean I would. Poppy trying to fix the situation would tell Floyd it was Branch (who currently look distraught and reeeelllyyy sad) Floyd was shocked to say the least and quickly tried to push down his many MANY burning questions as he tried to hug his brother through the wall separating them, Branch does hug back! but then Velvet and Veneer come in and quickly break up the moment as Branch quickly tackles Poppy off the table swinging them to the vent before they where spotted.

At this point Velvet and Veneer had the brothers and were going to kill them at this rate with how much they were being used! Until- Branch came out of nowhere attacking Velvet (Branch can fight, we know he can fight why didn’t he fight during the actual fight in the movie it was basically a game of keep away!?!?) he would get the diamonds out of Velvet as Poppy and Viva get veneer (I forgot to mention viva showed up) Gristle and Bridget weren’t at the show since the whole Bergen thing hasn’t come up yet sooooo… Anyway Branch knows the only way to save his now dying brother from his diamond cage is to sing so he does for the first time in 20 years he sings so do the rest of the brothers (Branch actually feels happy for the first time in a while) He gets more vibrantly colorful as he sings feeling loved by his family(still grey just lighter) anyway harmony was harmoning and they saved Floyd..,,till he dropped to the ground and looking very translucent. The brothers go to Floyd. Branch confesses that he built the bunker just without the waterslide and Floyd woke up saying “but..how will we shower!” And day saved Booyah!!!

The timeline goes the same as whatever happens after the movie with the nomads au besides a few changes Poppy doesn’t leave Branch alone about singing (he goes immediately back on his vow of not singing) the brothers are very overprotective of Floyd (because he u know.. died!) and now Branch as well (he replaced them twice and has suffered for years because of them they feel pretty bad and try and make up for it anyway they can) Branch went back to the village and has less of a hard time leaving. Overall the rest stays the same.

[coolingrosa]

Hi omg hi I don't know if this is too long sorry I'm gonna rant but: Ur RoseVerse is literally so inspiring u urself are literally so insanely inspiring. I'm sugarcoating it when I say what you're doing in RoseVerse is revolutionary for this community, I love every single bit of it so much, and you've inspired me to expand and change things for the better with my own upcoming utmv series for an original multiverse. Haha ok now on to an actual question: Was Killer aware of the Multiverse before Nightmare brought him in? It kind of seems like it since at one point he complains about how Nightmare tells him about the date/time, like it's obvious how you don't use a mortal system for it, or how when they first met Killer was all like "I know you're a killer, you're a bad person" etc etc.

Hello!! This is one of the sweetest messages I’ve ever gotten, and please don’t ever apologize for the length! I LIVE for asks ns every time I get one, no matter the size, I get giddy. Messages like this motivate me to push through the monster that is chapter four! (I’m trying my best to get it out fast, but that thing is 20k words rn and only at the climax, so it’s gonna take a little bit longer! But I swear to you all you’re gonna love it! I’ve been putting my college writing classes to work, and I’m already preparing the accompanying animatics to go along with it!)

I’m so glad my work can inspire you to create and make wonderful things, as I believe that the Undertale multiverse is something so fun to mold into whatever you want. My friend Null, the official VA for Orchid Frisk (who will be used in memes and promotional material), has equally amazing multiverse and the ideas spanning in that is awesome.

Don’t ever give up on your creation, as I’m sure it’s going to be other people’s comfort someday too. People out there may read your fics on a bad day and feel utterly warm. I had that with FTFOS, and now I, glad to hear I can do that with others with my own content.

As For Your Question….

Killer was unaware that the theories of a multiverse existing was true. He had heard his father speak about it, and also dug into some of the studies he did, but he never got to have the standard lab experience most Sans’s do since he was so young. Therefore, he never got to dive too deep into the findings and make his own theories. However, Killer isn’t stupid. He’s only seen as the least smart in the gang because he is the youngest with the least experience in school. The others have college level knowledge while he only has highschool, so naturally, he’s unable to be as aware as the others. He is incredibly emotionally smart and perceptive, tho. He plays his own game that will be covered more in chapter four, and once Nightmare brought him in, he could put two and two together that Nightmare being gentle towards a mass murderer didn’t bode well for his own past. People like that don’t look such dark individuals in the eyes with confidence unless they have blood on their hands too.

As for the time and date, Killer was more annoyed that they didn’t HAVE that system. He understands why they don’t, and it makes sense given what they have to work with, but he’s still peeved about it because he’s peeved about EVERYTHING at fifteen LOL! He’s bored out of his skull and a rebel teenager! Give him at least a solid clock to track his days for Fate’s sake!

[asshlyyyy]

Besides You

This is for all my people who are having a rough day. I've had this in my drafts for quite some time and didn't know where to take it. I hope you enjoy this, and I can't wait to get more out to you guys! Hopefully I'll have some one-shots coming up while I continue work on the multi-part fics.

If anyone knows why my posts have been doing terribly also... let me know. My posts have been... not doing quite as well as they should be. I'm not complaining it is just frustrating when you look at your follower to like ratio. My posts are showing up in tags... I just don't know what's happening.

Masterlist

Pairing: Elvis (or Austin!Elvis) x gn!reader

Warnings: Slight sexual themes, swearing, spelling and grammatical errors most likely. If I missed anything please let me know.

Word Count: 1.1k

“Hey darlin’, everything all right?” You heard Elvis speak from the door frame. You hummed and looked over at him. “Ya haven’t come down yet.” You gave him a weak smile. 

“I know… just… I’m just having an off day is all.” You replied back with a simple shrug. Though it more looked like an awkward movement due to you laying down.

You felt so bad. God… you felt so so bad. It wasn’t fair to Elvis. You were extremely happy with Elvis. That wasn’t the issue at bay. Your depression just made everything worse. You had these episodes now and again. These could appear at any moment, so you could really never prepare for them, which is why it wasn’t fair for Elvis. He shouldn’t have to deal with your… illness. 

“Mind if I join ya?” He asked with a slight smile on his face. 

You smiled softly and nodded, “though I don’t want to hold you back, Elvis.” 

“You can never hold me back, darlin’. I always want to be beside you.” He said softly and laid down on the bed next to you. You let out a break and shook your head.

“I just feel like I’m constantly holding you back.” You confessed to him. It was the first time you let those words come out of your mouth. You never told him about this. You didn’t want him to worry about you any more than he did. He looked at you confused. You brought your hand up to his shirt and played with his buttons.

“What do you mean? You’re never holding me back.” Elvis shook his head. 

“Remember all those things you wanted to do? Those that you wanted me to join you with? I would say no sometimes… and then you just wouldn’t do them. I… I don't want you to not do something just because I’m not in the mood.” You explained to Elvis. He brought his hand up to your head and ran his fingers through your hair. 

“Do me a favor, sweetheart. Look at ya ring finger there. What do ya see?” You looked at him confused but brought your hand up to your face. You looked at your engagement ring and wedding band. 

“The engagement ring you gave me, and the wedding band that binds us together.” You answered him. You looked past your hand and towards his blue eyes. 

“Exactly,” he used his finger to caress your cheek. You blushed lightly and pressed your face against his chest. “I married you because I love you for who you are. Just because ya have a few flaws don’ mean I don’ love ‘em. I love every single inch of you. From the top of your head to the ends of your toes.” He poked your stomach.

You let out a small giggle and looked up at him, “you’re so silly.” 

“Only for you of course.” You rolled your eyes playfully and pulled away. You pushed yourself up into a seated position and faced him. 

“Thank you.”

“Why are ya thankin’ me for?” He rubbed your thigh gently. 

“Because you’ve done a lot for me.” You grabbed his hand and interlocked your fingers together, “From putting up with my mood swings, joining me on my off days, holding me when I’m crying and not forcing me to speak about my feelings… to not ask why I’m crying. You don’t see me as a crybaby. You see me as a person.”

“I see you as the most perfect person I’ve eva met.” Elvis rested his forehead against yours. 

“Oh stop,” you giggled lightly as you slapped his chest lightly.

“‘M being serious,” he chuckled lightly and pulled away so that he could look at you. Your e/c orbs rolled in playfulness and pulled yourself far away from him. “Without you, I don’ know where I would’ve been in ma life. As cliche as it sounds… ya shaped me into who I am today.”

“Well… you shaped me into who I am today. Without you… I could've been dead, who knows.” You shrugged and got out of bed, feeling much better than you did beforehand. 

“I have a feelin’ God made it so we found each other. I believe in every universe… or different timeline… we would have found each other. We complete one another.”

“Okay lover boy, get out of bed.” You pulled the sheets off. “I have to clean these.”

“They can survive another night.”

“Elivs… these need to be cleaned. Especially after what happened yesterday morning.” You pointed out to him as you rolled the sheet over your hands.

“I have no idea what you are talkin’ about,” he said as a smirk found its way onto his lips. You rolled your eyes and walked over to the basket. You had to use whatever energy you had currently and get these chores done.

“Why don’ I help ya?” Elvis suggested. You looked over at him confused. It wasn’t like he never offered to help before, but when it came to laundry he tended to… shy away. He didn’t want to end up fucking something up. Like… accidentally shrinking his clothes, or turning his whites to pink.

“Are you sure? You can go ahead and do other things, I don’t mind.” You answered as you continued to peel the bed sheets off. 

“‘M sure. I want to make this day easy and enjoyable for you.” You smiled at his kind words and looked over at him. God, you were so lucky to call him yours. You always viewed him as the poor boy you met. The fame and fortune… it was something you never saw. You viewed it more as… he got a raise. It was silly but…

You knew how stressful Elvis got when it came to fame and fortune. You also knew that he loved to spend his fortune. Especially when it came to you. He loved to shower you with new things, and you loved every minute of it. Yet, you made sure he knew that you didn’t need anything. You had him, and that was all that mattered. He was all you needed.

“You’re all I need Elvis,” you whispered, “being near you makes everything easy and enjoyable.” 

“Oh darlin’,” he smiled and made his way over to you. “You’re all I need also.”

Elvis pressed his lips against yours and pulled you down onto the bed with him. You let out a light squeal before you kissed back. You brought your hands up to his face and smiled. Elvis was all you needed on a bad day. 

Sorry this was so short. Sometimes, there are certain things that need to be short. Just because they are short don't mean that they don't have meaning. I know I love writing longer things, but sometimes I can't force it out of me to write longer fics.

Mutual Taglist: @babyhoneypresley, @emmymaehereeeeee, @venus-haze, @austinstyles

[alaskan-wallflower]

Oh don’t get me started on the tiktoks complaining about Jason or Brody not stagedooring or being in the show 🤦🏼‍♀️. Jason literally commented on one of the videos apologizing! He should not have to do that! Also saw another comment on another one where they were like he typically doesn’t come out on weekday shows. Not true I’ve never seen the show on a weekend & Jason has come out every single time. Then Brody doesn’t have to give reasons either for not being in a show or stagedooring. I’ve seen the show 3 times and I was lucky enough to meet Brody last month at stagedoor and he was so nice and gracious with his time!

People need to stop demanding things of the whole cast when they have lives outside the show!

Poor Jason tbh…if he actually felt guilted by those Tiktok’s for not doing stage door then that’s just sad. He shouldn’t have to apologise for not doing something his contract doesn’t even require him to do. The fact that it’s grown ass women too is just so sad. What Jason and Brody choose to do is up to them. It sucks. I’ve heard Jason and Brody are both so so incredibly sweet and will listen to whatever you have to say and that’s genuinely so heartwarming to hear because it’s rare people will actually listen. but if they are gracious enough to come out then people should be respectful when they do (going off on a tangent) but some of the things i’ve heard happening to these poor people is so disgusting. people realize that verbally sexually assaulting some poor man isn’t like…good, right? Like they do realise that is VERBAL SEXUAL ASSAULT? And then these same disgusting people wonder “WhY dOeSnT jAsOn sTaGe DoOr” like gee, i fucking wonder! And then these same people look at him like dogs look at a steak and openly yell vile things to him (DURING THE SHOW TOO) and then wonder why he doesn’t come out. And I’ve also heard a handful of stories where people have grabbed Brody like in what world is it okay to grab a man who is on his way home? Like how entitled can you get? I heard he was like visibly shaken too like that’s just gross. If you can’t have the brains to be decent at stage door you don’t deserve to see these people at stage door. what do you gain from guilting them anyway?

I have heard wonderful stories about people who’ve met brody and jason and other cast members (which PLEASE SHARE WITH ME i love hearing about it 🥺) but if you can’t be decent to them then you don’t deserve to meet them.

also i find it funny how these people claim these actors are terrible people like you don’t even fucking know them what-also for the record you can have an opinion and not like someone but i’m not gonna take you serious if your reason for hating someone is ‘i hate that they don’t show up on vlogs” or “they’re a terrible person” and you don’t even know the people. give me a break.

[grits-galraisedinthesouth]

Sussex Brand VICTIM

Follow the link Rebecca is tweeting...

Prince Harry was quiet and sounded nervous as he stated his name “Prince Harry” and swore an oath on the bible in the witness box

I’ve never heard a barrister have to explain to the court the protocol on how to address a witness… “Your Royal Highness” in the first instance, then “Prince Harry”

Prince Harry says decision to “reluctantly” step back from Royal role was in large part “due to the constant intrusion, inciting of hatred & harassment by the tabloid press into every aspect of our private lives, which had a devastating impact on our mental health and wellbeing”

Prince Harry writes in his witness statement “How much more blood will stain their typing fingers before someone can put a stop to this madness.” He explains the comment was directed more broadly at the tabloid press rather than specific Mirror Group Newspaper journalists.

Prince Harry’s witness statement is 55 pages long. He writes… “What I complain of here is illegal or unlawful, and that is something which I feel incredibly strongly about.”

I genuinely feel that in every relationship that I’ve ever had – be that with friends, girlfriends, with family or with the army, there’s always been a third party involved, namely the tabloid press.”

It created a huge amount of paranoia in my relationships. I would become immediately suspicious of anyone that was named in a story about me I felt that I couldn’t trust anybody, which was an awful feeling for me especially at such a young age.”

I feel somewhat relieved to know that my paranoia towards my friends and family had, in fact, been misplaced, although feel sad for how much it impacted my adolescence.”

In his witness statement #PrinceHarry makes several references to his late mother #PrincessDiana “There are even eight private investigator payments made in relation to my mother, which I have only learnt of since bringing my claim. This makes me feel physically sick.”

The Duke of Sussex singles out Piers Morgan for criticism

The thought of Piers Morgan and his band of journalists earwigging into my mother’s private and sensitive messages (in the same way as they have me)…

and then having given her a “nightmare time” three months prior to her death in Paris, makes me feel physically sick and even more determined to hold those responsible, including Mr Morgan, accountable for their vile and entirely unjustified behaviour.”

“As a consequence of me bringing my Mirror Group claim, both myself and my wife have been subjected to a barrage of horrific personal attacks and intimidation from Piers Morgan, who was the Editor of the Daily Mirror between 1995 and 2004

presumably in retaliation and in the hope that I will back down, before being able to hold him properly accountable for his unlawful activity towards both me and my mother during his editorship.

The problem is that, over the last 15 to 20 years, there are now incredibly powerful media companies who masquerade as journalists and who have, quite literally, hijacked journalistic privileges for their own personal gain and agenda, It’s an unbelievably dangerous place.”

I am bringing this claim, not because I hate the tabloid press or even necessarily a section of it, but in order to properly hold the people who have hijacked those privileges, which come with being a member of the press, to account for their actions.”

I feel there’s a responsibility to expose this criminal activity in the name of public interest."

Prince Harry attempts to lighten to mood by quipping “you’ve got me doing a work-out” as the defence barrister repeatedly asks him to pull out the huge bundles of documents involved in this complicated case.

Prince Harry has been asked to raise his voice in court. The barrister for Mirror Group Newspapers, Andrew Green KC, jokes “not in anger I hope!”

https://www.itv.com/news/2023-06-06/prince-harry-in-high-court-in-case-against-mirror-publisher#Echobox=1686047163

[cheeriecherrymain]

(5 of 5) #21 - listening to them rant (OH GOD PLEASE, please please please give the reader just listening to Viktor just talk up a storm about his inventions. The whole type of scene where he might start to apologize and stop talking - only to have the reader ask him to keep going and his face just lights up. Gah, I would die)

man i love listening to people talk about things. like hell yeah bby infodump at me!

Viktor x Reader

-So listening to him talk extensively is probably a habit that actually deepened your friendship (and eventual romance). 

-You weren’t more than classmates and occasional lab partners at first. You were on good terms, often choosing to work with each other whenever pairs or groups were required - he thought you were reliable and creative, and on top of that, you always treated him kindly. You listened to his ideas, and he didn’t have to fight to be heard by you.

-But he never sought you out. If someone were to ask, he would say that you were on friendly terms, though he wouldn’t outright call you a friend.

-At least not until one chilly winter night in the library.

-He was up late trying to gather as much information as he could about his next project - surrounded by towers of books that were filled with tabs he’d stuck to the pages that held relevant facts. He’s got his notebook open in front of him, hastily scribbling his thoughts and observations. But he’s growing frustrated.

-He can’t figure out where he’s going wrong. He’s triple checked all his math, gone over every inch of blueprint that displayed drawings of every single part. And…nothing. To add insult to injury, the snow-filled winds from outside must have been getting in through gaps in the building - the library was frigid, and it was making his leg ache something fierce.

-He feels like giving up for the night, even though he knows he’ll be behind on the project if he does so. He’s addled and distracted, and he’s not getting anything done, so…

-Until he hears a quiet utterance of his name.

-He turns in his chair, glancing around for a couple seconds before his eyes adjust to the change in brightness, and he sees you standing by one of the nearby bookshelves.

- “I thought it might be you,” you say, with a soft smile. “I saw the lamp when I walked in, and you’re the only person I could think of that would be here at two in the morning.”

-You wander over to him to stop beside his desk, and it’s then that he notices the large object in your hand, dangling by your side.

- “What are you doing here so late?” he wonders, eyeing the contraption in your grip.

-You follow his gaze, and offer him another smile before dropping into a crouch beside him. “I work part time here,” you explain, pulling a panel off the object to reveal what looks like a single-bladed fan. “But because I’m a student, I get stuck with the worst shifts. Technically I’m not supposed to be in for another four hours, but it’s downright freezing in here. I thought I might try and warm the place up a bit before the rest of the student body comes in.”

-You press a couple buttons on the top of the little machine, until it quietly hums to life. The fan starts spinning slowly, and he almost complains when you turn it towards him. Until he realizes it’s blowing blessedly warm air, instead of chilling him.

-He sighs, and melts into his seat, slouching back while he soaks up the heat.

-But you don’t leave after that.

-Instead, you pull up a chair beside him, and situate yourself to stare at him expectantly. “So?” you prompt, “What’s got you looking so ready to rip all your hair out?”

-He can hear the amusement in your voice. Usually such a thing would annoy him, but your sweet little smile only serves to relax him, and make his stomach fill with flutters.

- “It’s the project I’m working on,” he admits, his features pinching into a perturbed frown. “I’ve done everything correctly, looked over every possibility, and still! Nothing is doing what it’s supposed to!”

-You cross your arms over the back of your chair, and rest your chin on them. “Explain it to me,” you tell him. 

- “What?”

- “Explain it,” you repeat, nodding at his work. “Sometimes saying it out loud can help you find the error. Plus, if I know what you’re working on, maybe I can offer some insight.”

-He seems dubious by your plan, but you look so earnestly happy to be there with him, to help him. And he knows you’re smart, even if the two of you have vastly different working styles. It might help to have a different point of view, he thinks, and starts to walk you through his work.

-It takes a good half an hour for you to fully grasp the complexity of his project, and understand every little niche and function, but you’re patient. You let him talk your ear off and prattle through every section of his notes. You even write your questions down for later instead of asking them outright, just so you don’t interrupt his flow.

-He’s never met someone who has just…let him speak. Not only that, but let him speak and genuinely listened to what he was saying. He thinks for sure that you’ll be impatient by the end of his impromptu lesson, but you only present him with your list of questions, asking about things he’d mentioned all throughout his speech.

-It makes him feel weird and squishy, so know that you see him.

-The two of you figure things out by five in the morning, much to his relief. You’re both fatigued and about to fall asleep, but…you figured it out. With his formulas corrected and his design altered to fit them, his final creation should work as intended. It wouldn’t even take long to make! He could sleep for the rest of the day, and he’d still have ample time to finish putting everything together-

-His silent celebration is interrupted by a quiet snore.

-He glances away from his notes, over to you…and his heart melts.

-You’ve fallen asleep in your chair, your face mushed into your arms. He never thought he’d ever see your sleeping face, but now that he has…you’re cute. Your cheek is squished in just the right way to make your lips form a pout, and…

-His stomach flutters again, and he looks away. It’s just because they helped me, he thinks, trying to convince himself that nothing else is coming into play.

-Joke’s on him though, because three months later you ask him on a date, and you spend the entire time helping him talk through another project. It becomes a routine over the years - every couple weeks, he seeks you out to ask for your ear, and you happily let him talk until his throat gets sore.

-You genuinely love seeing him so passionate about something, and you love being able to get a peek into the way his mind works. Even if the two of you are tucked into bed together, in the dark, and you’re thirty seconds away from sleep - he’ll start talking about something that he can’t figure out, and you’ll stave off your drowsiness so you can listen. Your replies are usually useless at that point of the day, but he appreciates you nonetheless.

[notar1ana]

TW: homophobia, slurs

Okay so this is going to be more of a serious post.

I’m currently in high school which isn’t the best time for anybody, but the thing is, I’m full on considering going back in the closet. I’ve heard so many people say that schools are so liberal and they’re trying to indoctrinate our children to be gay. Which is not at all true or even correct. No matter how many times I get harassed nobody at the school will bat an eye at myself hurting. It’s gotten so bad to the point where I want to go into hiding again never to be seen until I graduate. I feel disgusted by the amount of people who harass me on the daily basis, I would rather just go into hiding then be harassed for “being myself”. I know that being out and proud is what people want queer people to do but I’m just not in a safe enough place to do that. I feel like theater and listening the musical falsettos on repeat is my only safe space at my school. I want to go back to being “normal” again even though being out and proud with past girlfriends may have been the happiest I’ve even been, I can’t do it. It’s like the world is caving in on me and I still hear people complain about “kids these days” and their “liberal agenda” even though I hear f-ggot and d-ke on the daily basis. I’m on the edge of going back to the person I was so many years ago, I don’t know how to find myself anymore because I’m repressing so much of myself down into my head. William Finn has made such an impact on my life that he didn’t even know he had, that musical is my only queer and safe place I can run to in the hallways packed with thousands of people like sardines in a can. I want to be out and proud to make other queer friends but now it’s starting to feel like the days of Judy Garland (if you know, you know). I feel like Marvin in In Trousers currently because I like the rain, I like the snow, but I don’t love, touch, drink, or screw men and I feel like I have to prove to others that I am socially acceptable in life even though I want to be “saved” by other queer people. I can’t wait until I’m able to make the choice of the people who I want to surround myself with instead of other people choosing for me, but at the same time I’m terrified of growing up. I’m sitting here writing this in my room next to my pride stitch plushie feeling like I’ve disappointed my people by giving into the societal norms of what love should look like. I’m counting down every single day until I can finally let myself be free in the summer time which is currently 95 days of school left which doesn’t sound like much but it sounds so disgusting to have to spend 95 days surrounding myself with people who bring me down. I know this is kind of a stupid question to ask on tumblr but should I go back into the closet?

[bitletsanddrabbles]

HOW THE ACTUAL F*** DOES THIS SITE WORK?!?

I swear, ever since I’ve gotten on here, I have poured hours into art, into fiction, into deep, thoughtful posts, and I’ve been lucky if I get ten responses!

But if I make an observation or a comment or even a bloody joke that can possibly be taken as ‘wrong’ or ‘misrepresentative’ or ‘hurtful’ then somehow, without a single reblog, I suddenly have people coming out of nowhere and jumping all over me!

WHY ARE YOU HERE NOW?

Why were you not here when I was writing fiction about your favorite character/ship/trope? Why were you not here when I was having an in depth back and forth character analysis with another fan about the very thing you love?

I’ve written ESSAYS on how wonderful Edith is, but the second I point out that she screwed up at the breakfast table in S6 and that Mary can’t read minds, suddenly people who have never said ‘boo’ to me are all how dare you side with MARY you awful Edith hater!!!!

God alone knows how many Thomas/Richard fics* and posts stating ‘Yeah, multishipper here’ and ‘dude, guys, ship and let ship!’ I’ve made, but I make a couple sarcastic comments about the members of the Thomas/Richard ship that I’ve personally dealt with** and a commuting joke, and suddenly I’m being told off for being nasty and snide and not respecting other people’s ships.

LOOK, I’M SORRY, BUT THE BEHAVIOR OF ***MOST*** OF THE THOMAS/RICHARD SHIPPERS ***I’VE PERSONALLY DEALT WITH*** HAS BEEN STRAIGHT UP NASTY AND HAS MADE ME QUESTION IF I EVER WANTED TO RISK WRITING THE PAIR AGAIN, LEAST I HAVE TO INTERACT WITH THEM*** - MEANWHILE I’VE NOT HAD A SINGLE BAD INTERACTION WITH THE THOMAS/GUY CREW!

I get that I have not dealt with every single Thomas/Richard OTPer out there. I won’t pretend I have! The Thomas/Richard OTPers I do get along with I absolute adore and if they left, I would straight up cry. Seeing a post from one of them makes my bloody day!****

I get that there are people out there who have had the exact opposite experience, but this is mine, okay? If you have Thomas/Guy fans being nasty to you, you have every right to complain about that on your blog, in your private Discord servers, in your knitting groups, wherever! That’s why they’re there!

Hell, we might not even know the same people at all!  Not a single one!

The point is, you don’t know me. You’ve never paid attention to me before when I was doing things that you’d approve of and maybe even enjoy. You don’t have the background info to begin to know how to take what I’m saying.

SO HOW DID YOU SUDDENLY FIND ME AND WHY ARE YOU PAYING ATTENTION NOW?

*okay, God and anyone who bothered to count, which isn’t me.

**I mean, I suppose it would be good of me to put a note in my blog header warning people that I’m naturally sarcastic and not to take it seriously but....oh. Wait. I did that.

*** So far the answer has been ‘yes, I do’, and believe it or not, I’ve even started a couple, but those are WIPs and it could still change.

**** Especially the one I’ve not heard from in MONTHS who just posted and OMG YES GONNA GO READ NOW WHOOOOOOOOOOO!

[hollythehills]

Chapter Five: Sounds Like A Date

The date!! Writing this was so so fun that I’ve already begun the next two chapters :)))

Notes:

AHHHHHHHHHHHH

when I tell you I love every single one of you from the deepest depths of my heart.

thank you all for the love and support, and I hope you enjoy <3

Also I’m so sorry for disappearing… I kinda deleted tumblr on accident and forgot it existed…

ANYWAY HERES THE CHAPTER

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

It was colder than you thought it was going to be. You clung your light sweater, while you walked down the sidewalk to the cafe. You knew the place, and you were delighted to know that Oak did too.

After grocery shopping yesterday you had gone home and gotten some gardening done, you knew that the first frost might come soon, and you were glad you did considering the goosebumps running down your arms.

You knew today would be interesting, you hadn't known Oak had a brother until yesterday and your mouth lit in a smile when you thought about meeting him. You'd admit, you had a lot of fun. More fun grocery shopping than you had in a while. He was sweet, despite his gruff demeanor.

The coffee shop came into view and you found yourself grinning. You didn't see Oak and his brother yet, but you were a little early. You didn't mind waiting a little.

Just then a light breeze wept your skirt into the wind and sent chills down your spine.

Maybe you should wait from inside the cafe.

~

"Brother!" Oak heard his brother call him from the first floor of their home. He fingered the beanie in his hand, hating that he had to wear it. The material aggravated his skull, but he knew he'd get even more stares if he didn't wear it. He tried not to care, but he knew his injury made him look down right murderous. Even his housemates sometimes flinched when they looked at him, not being able to catch themselves in time.

The only people who were able to look at him without flinching were his brother. And you.

He thought of your face then, a light blush taking over his skull. He was so excited when you accepted his invitation. Some of his old personality floated back to him, and words came to him so easily. He felt like himself around you, in a way that he had only ever felt with his brother. And occasionally with Red. Never really with Classic. 'Prime Sans'. He hated the way that was how he thought of him.

'Prime', like he was somehow the first, and all of them came after. That wasn't how the multiverse worked. Classic was just lucky enough to be the first of them to start working on that machine.

Though, he thought bitterly, he'd probably never have the chance to work on that machine back home. He never would have made it to the surface anyway.

He closed his sockets and felt the air shift, and the floor drop from his feet. Then the floor was back and he was looking at his brother.

"hey bro."

"Sans!" His brother looked exasperated. He wore a smart turtleneck with a black overcoat, that didn't quite reach his calves because of his height. "We Cannot Be Late To Your Date! It Is Incredibly Uncouth." He looked at his brother's beanie for only a second but didn't say anything.

"it's okay bro. i know a shortcut." He grinned a little and right when his brother was about to complain about the laziness of 'short-cutting' Blue walked in, with Stretch only a moment behind.

Blue looked at them, "WELL DON'T YOU TWO LOOK ALL DRESSED UP! WHAT'S THE OCCASION?" He smiled, and seemed to be starting his breakfast, though it seemed a little late for him to only just then be awake.

Stretch, who looked much less thrilled to be awake than his brother, went to the couch to promptly flop onto it.

Poplar smiled gently, as to not cause any ache in his teeth. He had only just gotten his braces tightened a couple of days before, "We Are Going To That Attractive Little Cafe I Told You About," he looked at his brother and Oak was very grateful he didn't mention you. He didn't need the teasing or interrogation from anyone.

"THE ONE DOWNTOWN?" Blue asked.

"yup. want anything?"

Stretch answered from the couch before his brother could, "honey-buns please."

Oak looked at him, his sockets were closed and he looked absolutely exhausted.

Poplar said, "Are You Alright?" The concern in his voice was obvious and Stretch perked up a bit to sooth Poplar's nerves.

"yeah, I'm alright. was just up a little late working on a project."

"Ah." Poplar muttered, glancing at his watch before looking at his brother. "Well! We Can Pick Up Those Honey-buns, But We Will Be Heading Out Now. Have A Nice Day, You Two!"

"YOU TOO, POPLAR! SEE YOU BOTH LATER." Blue saw them leave with a wave, Stretch thanking them and doing the same.

Before they left Poplar quickly grabbed his cane, which was a sophisticated maroon color that matched his brother's magic. He wanted to be careful, getting tired and not having his cane would be very painful. He knew his brother would not hesitate to shortcut to their home to get it for him, but he didn't want him straining himself. Short-cutting had only just gotten easier for him since. Well. Since the accident. He also made sure to quietly grab the small bouquet of purple hydrangeas that he had grabbed from work the night before. After all, there was no second chance to make a first impression.

When they got outside Oak grabbed his brother's hand and they both closed their sockets. When the air shifted they could smell bread and coffee, they both opened their eyes and saw the cafe in front of them. It really was an attractive little place.

"Okay! Are You Ready, Brother?"

Oak looked at his brother, who looked so hopeful and felt a short moment of anxiety. He realized all at once that his brother's injuries were much more difficult to hide than his were. He really had only just met you. And he trusted you enough to meet his brother, the only thing he really cared about in this entire universe.

But he tried his best to shake that off. No, he didn't know you. But he trusted his gut. He was a good judge of character. After all, He was a judge.

He nodded at his brother finally, who nodded back at him and they stepped into the cafe, Poplar ducking slightly so as to not hit his head in the doorway.

They didn't see you at first, but you absolutely saw them. It was hard to miss the eight foot skeleton ducking through the doorway.

You stood up and waved to them from your booth, and you were glad you picked a booth now. You didn't want Oak or his brother to have to squeeze into one of those tiny seats in the front. You had a smile on your face, you had thought Oak was tall. His brother dwarfed him.

They spotted you and quickly walked over, though it only took Poplar a couple of steps to do so. He was suddenly very thankful that this cafe had such high ceilings, it would have been an awkward walk over while crouching.

You stuck your hand out to Oak's brother and introduced yourself, "It's so nice to meet you!"

He grabbed your hand excitedly, "Yes And You As Well! I Am Poplar," he had a soft voice that you found absolutely lovely, and another tree name too! In his other hand he held a gorgeous hydrangea bouquet and he handed it to you, "For You, Dear." He had a sweet look of hope on his face and you blushed deeply at the pet name.

"Thank you!" You gasped, "These are gorgeous."

He waved you on with a deep smile, a rust red blush lighting his cheek bones.

You chuckled a little, turning to Oak, "It's great to see you again," You opened your arms up a little for a hug and you watched while his face changed from surprise to delight and his face was painted a soft maroon blush. He pulled you in, crouching a little to give you a proper hug.

His hands rested at your shoulders in a friendly embrace and your eyes widened when you realized that you wanted to stay in his arms a little longer than you did. You pulled away and found yourself missing the warmth that was there. He was surprisingly soft for a skeleton, and his arms felt solid.

Though you shouldn't be surprised, you reminded yourself. You saw his arms yesterday, and his bones were much thicker than a human's. Skeleton monster anatomy wasn't identical to a human skeleton, that much was for certain. Oak was much more 'big boned' than his brother, who was thinner and much taller.

Oak was wearing the same beanie you had seen him in before, except now he didn't have his gardening pants, he had on some worn jeans that fit him surprisingly well considering how tall he was.

His brother had glasses similar to yours in shape, but they were much thicker. And his eyelights! They were beautiful, and a little fuzzy. They reminded you of Oak's yesterday when he asked you to this place. His brother wore a large sweater paired with a black overcoat and a smart pair of slacks. He also used a cane, and it was a deep red, almost burgundy color.

They were a very dynamic pair, the two of them. And already you could feel the stares of some of the human cafe goers, however you paid them no mind as you sat down.

~

Oak looked at his brother, who immediately understood the predicament. Where were they going to sit? On one hand, they both would love to sit next to you, and on the other if they sat across from you they would have a much better view.

A true crisis.

However they quickly decided to sit across from you, so as to not make you uncomfortable. Oak already got a hug from you, and with the table against the wall he knew that he would probably squish you a little if he sat next to you, anyway.

"it's good to see you too, shortcake."

"Shortcake?" Poplar looked at his brother from across you, and you saw Oak's grin get wider.

"yeah, bro. shortcake."

Poplar looked from you to Oak, a short look of confusion on his face before he whispered to his brother with a dramatic gasp, "Brother! Are You Commenting On Your Date's Height?"

Oak chuckled, "of course not, bro. i would never stoop so low."

Poplar gasped again. "Brother!"

You put a hand over your mouth to smother your laughter at least a little. But Poplar just looked so genuinely offended, you couldn't help the giggles that did escape. Your eyes were bright and you said, "Aw Poplar, it's okay. You don't have to be so down about it."

Poplar mouth hung open and Oak looked at you with bright eye lights and a goofy grin. You swore for just a second Oak's swollen eyelight turned into a heart, but you blinked and it was gone.

"Please, Not You Too. I Don't Think I'll Be Able To Stomach This Date If You Do."

Oak looked at his brother, his face suddenly serious and said, "but bro. you don't have a stomach."

You watched Poplar facepalm and both yours and Oak's giggles grew. You looked between the two of them and felt your face warm. You hadn't had this much fun at the cafe in ages. You met Oak's eyelights and you could tell he was thinking the same thing.

"so," Oak started, his quiet chuckles finally stopping, much to his brother's relief, "how've you been, doe?"

Your eyebrow rose, "Doe? That one's new."

"yeah you got these big doe eyes. figured it fits."

"Oh She Does Have Large Eyes, Doesn't She?" Poplar joined in, suddenly looking very interested in your eyes."

Their stares had you blushing a little and you laughed, "I've been good, Oak. It's getting cold out there though, I'm finally getting around to getting all my garden stuff into my greenhouse and into my pantry."

His eye lights widened, "you garden?"

You nodded, "Yeah, I've got some veggies and a couple of herb planters too, but I usually keep those inside." You held your finger up, remembering, "except my lavender, I keep that outside 'cause of my cat."

If it was possible, Oak's smile got brighter and Poplar glanced at him, his quiet laugh escaping him. "Goodness, Brother You Look Like A Kid In A Candy Shop."

Poplar turned to you, "He Has A Garden At Home Too, Though I'm Sure He Hasn't Told You About It."

"Really? I'd love to come see it! Here," You pulled out your phone, "I have some pictures of mine. And I can show you some pictures of Stella too."

You grinned while the brothers looked at your garden. There was impressiveness in Poplar's gaze, and he even made a few 'oohs' and 'ahhs'.

Oak looked downright adoring. Before you thought you had imagined it, but you saw that his eyelight was definitely shaped like a heart looking through the pictures.

You described where and why you kept all of your plants, telling them about the sunflowers in your front yard, as well as all of the bird feeders that fed your crows so they would stay away from your actual crops.

"And if you have strawberries you can paint some rocks red and just keep them around the berry bushes, because crows don't like hard fruits so they'll learn that the strawberries there aren't good."

Oak nodded, and looked at his brother, "we didn't plant any berries this year, did we?"

Poplar shook his head, "We Did Not," He turned to you, "We Tried To Plant Them Last Year But We Planted Them In The Spring."

You nodded in understanding, "Yeah, did that my first year too. Ended up drying out no matter how often I watered them. I ended up moving them to my greenhouse this year and they actually did a lot better than I expected them to." You offered, "If you guys like you could come over to my place after this, I can send some home with you."

You watched as they both were taken aback, and confused you said, "You don't have to, of course! Don't feel pressured just because I offered."

Poplar looked at his brother, who looked back at him and they softly smiled. Poplar said, "No! Please, We Are Not Offended In The Slightest. Where We Are From Offering Food To Someone Is A Large Show Of Trust."

Oak nodded, his face lit in that burgundy glow, "we were just... surprised."

Your eyes widened in understanding and you nodded back to them, "I didn't know that at all, is that a tradition for all monsters?"

Poplar shook his head, his brother letting him take the lead, "No, My Brother And I Were Rather Isolated In the Underground, And Only Those Who Were Close By Carry That Culture. It Is More Of A Provincial Tradition."

You smiled, "Well the offer still stands if you'd like to take it. I have way too much to preserve, I was planning on trying to sell some at the market, anyway."

Poplar sat back in the booth, relaxing his back into the soft seat. He watched your face, he saw complete trust. It was a little foolish, he realized. To let these two monsters into your home after just meeting them. But he did not take you for a foolish person. Perhaps a little too trusting. But you were very intelligent, he could tell.

Oak had a soft smile plastered on his face, and he didn't remember the last time he had smiled so much. From your cheesy jokes to the way you were so trusting of him and his brother, he found you absolutely adorable. And you gardened too, you even offered him something from that garden. Something that you had raised from the ground.

You pulled out your phone, saying that you completely forgot to show them pictures of your cat, "Her name's Stella!"

Your phone showed an elegant black cat with one patch of white fur on her face. Poplar cooed at the screen, letting out a soft 'aw'. Oak melted at the sight, she looked absolutely adorable. "stella. like stella maris."

You looked at Oak, "Stella Maris?"

"the constellation." Oak surprised himself. It had been a while since his memory was good enough that he could remember a constellation so easily. His brother looked at him, and his face was proud but just as surprised as his.

"Brother, Have You Been Studying Constellations Again?" Poplar asked, his brow bone raised a little.

"no." Oak answered honestly, he hadn't been. He was afraid that he wouldn't be able to remember any of the constellations he studied, and didn't want to be disappointed when he didn't.

"I've always loved the stars," You said. You had a dreamy look on your face, which peered out the window of the cafe. "On the mountain is the best view. You don't even need a telescope to see all the stars up there."

Oak said, "you've been up the mountain?"

"I live on the mountain. On the west side."

Poplar's eyesockets widened, "Do You Really? We Live On The Mountain!"

"Really?" You looked at them, "I didn't know anyone else lived up there! I figured after the opening monsters would want to get as far away from that place as they could."

Oak was stunned, she had been this close the whole time? They lived on the west side too, though he was sure they were a little further up the mountain than she was, since they had never seen her. Or even traces that another person lived so close.

"yeah. a lot of monsters did. but we have a pretty big family." Oak looked at his brother, who understood what he was doing.

"Yes! We Live With Our Cousins, And The Homes In Town Are Not Nearly Big Enough To House All Ten Of Us."

You whistled, "Good god. That is a lot of people in one house."

Oak chuckled, "yeah. it definitely is."

This was not good, Oak realized. Sans had moved onto the mountain for the seclusion, just in case the machine got out of hand. Just in case something happened, he didn't want to be the cause of mass panic. And then something did happen, they all arrived and they were just thankful that Sans had built such a large house up there. But you were there, probably the whole time.

Sans was not going to like that.

You thought about Blue and Black. They were skeleton monsters too. Maybe they were their cousins! But... is that racist? How common are skeleton monsters? Just because they're skeleton monsters doesn't mean that they are related. You decided to just leave it be, not wanted to risk being offensive to your new friends.

"Wow. Well I guess that makes it a lot easier for you both to come over, doesn't it?"

Poplar and Oak chuckled softly, Poplar letting out a soft 'Nyeh Heh Heh' that made you smile. You all decided to finally get something from the shop, Oak getting an Americano, Poplar and you getting lattes and some small cakes for the table.

You all talked among yourselves for a bit, and you learned that Poplar actually worked as a florist at a flower shop downtown, one that you had seen on your commute to work before. You promised to send him home with some flowers from your garden since he had been so sweet to bring you some.

"That Would Be Lovely, Dear." His eyelights were a fuzzy white that had you fawning, and you looked at Oak who had a similar dreamy look about him. You all had finished your coffee and cakes some time ago, but you really didn't want this date to end.

It seemed that they felt the same, because they stayed in their seats, all of you looking at each other. After a little you smiled, "Do you guys want to come over for dinner? We can make something together, or I could just make it and we could watch a movie." You looked at the time, "It's still really early, we can just make this an all-day kinda date."

Poplar looked at his brother with a soft smile and a hopeful look in his eye that Oak hadn’t seen in a while, "What Do You Think?"

Oak grinned, "sounds like a date."

[buglymcbugson]

found some old writing from 2021 - how beautiful is it to look back on old feelings and know how far you’ve come. trigger warnings on this one for sexual assault xo

“he keeps saying the c word, and it isn’t ‘cunt’”

i’ve started leaving the house now that lena is here

nowhere crazy of course

the other day i walked to yoga class 15 minutes away

alone

this might not seem like a large feat to some

but 6 months ago i had panic attacks leaving the house to walk the puppy

i even said hi to acquaintance yesterday at the grocery store

and i didn’t want to slit my wrists

lena being here brings me out of my shell

she met me without my hardened shell built to protect me from the toxicity of my hometown

she reminds me that i am more than the people of this place perceive me to be

i see this place through her eyes

last week i looked up to the mountains

and i saw mountains

beautiful mountains

i didn’t feel like they were moving in on me slowly until they squeezed all the air out of my lungs

because of my newfound ability to leave the house i’ve also been socialising more

mostly with my cousins, and with jayden

who i guess is one of the closest things to a brother i have (outside of my own brother of course but that’s an extra note in itself isn’t it)

we have naked baby pictures together

he can recount all the bad family fights at thanksgivings we had together

he even complains about my father in the same way i do

most nights jayden invites his friends over to hang with us too

this is another thing my anxiety would prevent me from doing 6 months ago

but jayden’s friends are cool

they all just smoke weed, play music, and tell dumb jokes

they weren’t the kind of people to keep tabs on me in high school

or call me a slut for who i slept with

or kept up to date on who i slept with for that matter

just a few nerdy stoner guys

jack was there tonight

the son of my 8th grade spanish teacher

i hadn’t seen him since middle school

he’s always been chill

no drama

and he was chill tonight, as usual

but then jack said the C word while we were walking down the street

and i had to stop and pause, unnoticed by the group who kept talking and laughing

and repeating the C word

and god how much I wish the word was “cunt”

but the word wasn’t “cunt,” the C word is his name

and as i soon as i heard it the mountains started moving in

it was a little harder to breathe

and my hangnails looked a lot more appetizing for my chattering teeth

i’ve been gone for so long

and isolated for so much longer (due to my severe anxiety first and a global pandemic second)

that i forgot he existed outside the person he is to me

he exists as a friend, a teammate, and a lover to others

but to me, C**** will always be my rapist

and it’s not like hearing jack say his name reminded me about him

there’s not a single day that goes by that i don’t think about him or what he did to me

but it was a reminder that in this place

he doesn’t belong to me or to my story

he’s not simply a character in the story of my life that i retell when i connect with someone in a foreign country

i am no longer the main character

because people perceive him apart from me

apart from my rapist

they perceive him as a jokester, an athlete, and a bit of a party animal

when they see him all they see is his long hair that frames his gap toothed smile and eyes i used to think looked kind

people tell stories and they aren’t about him fucking an unconscious child

they’re about the funny jokes he’s told and the gifts he had to buy for his girlfriend when he fucked up

and about a faaaaaatty bong rip he took one time

i have forgotten what it feels like to be silenced by his name

have my strength and power i’ve developed over years of self discovery pushed back down my throat

because i will never be able to say it here

i couldn’t while it happened

i couldn’t after it happened

and i can’t now

the only thing consistent in my life is the silence that traps me every time the wheels touch down at the Juneau International Airport

i wonder if i’ll ever get to the point where his name doesn’t make me stop in the street

i honestly doubt it

but i walked to yoga alone so i guess anything is possible

[ecstilson-blog]

Throughout my life, I’ve written letters, addressed them to God, and dropped them off at the post office. I did this when my first son died, when I got divorced, and when I finally attained my bachelor’s degree after being a single mom. I never included a return address or a clue to my identity. This was just my message in a bottle, so I felt like Heaven heard me…

Today, I thought about this at the pharmacy. Mike had tried getting my prescription, but there are national shortages on many medications—and mine are some of them. “They ran out,” Mike said, coming back to the car. “Sorry that took forever; there’s a huge line.”

“But… my oncologist called yesterday. They have just enough for 18 days.” And then I did something I rarely do in front of Mike; I cried.

We walked back into the pharmacy to see six people in line, and as we stood there, my right leg began to shake. “You should go sit down.”

“It’s okay,” I told Mike. “I don’t wanna miss when it’s our turn.” They hadn’t listened to him. Maybe they would listen to me.

At different points, each person in front of us glanced back. They all seemed around my age (40) or younger, healthy, probably doing some Christmas shopping. Then, I had the audacity to think, “Why don’t they offer to let us go ahead? Mike was just in here. And I can barely stand this long.”

One man in line called his mother and complained while we waited. “Hi, Mom.” He paused. “Yes. Just at the pharmacy. There’s a huge line.” Another pause as he glanced back, listening to her reply. “Right?! He said he can’t even face his friends unless he gets a new gaming system this year.” He exhaled with such force that I clocked it at 50 mph. “Oh! And you know I take Nicki on a shopping spree every year? It just never seems to be enough. I hate this time of year. Are all women that needy? No wonder men joke about marriage.”

Mike looked at me and smirked. I plastered a smile onto my face, but it felt subpar. I thought of this woman, “Nicki.” Meanwhile I’m just praying for another week, another day, another moment with my family.

After a bit longer, they called us up and my leg shook so badly that I held the counter in a death grip. “I have terminal cancer,” I said, my eyes pleading with the pharmacist and my knuckles turning Porcelain 10.

“It’s for Magagna, right?” He looked at Mike, remembering him from earlier.

“My oncologist called yesterday and said you have enough for 18 days,” I begged.

“But like I told your husband, we can’t fill this for the full 30 days. We don’t have enough for this prescription.”

“My doctors’ office is closed for the weekend, and I’ll be out of this tomorrow. If it’s not too much to ask, can I please have the 18 days?”

He typed something into the computer, and my breath stopped. He practically held my life in his hands. “This’ll take about 15 minutes. I’ll come get you when it’s ready? You can take a seat over there.”

I noticed then how stressed the pharmacist looked. “I’m sorry about the line,” I suddenly said. “This must be a stressful day for you too. Thank you for your help.”

His peered at me and Mike, his eyes widening with disbelief. “What you're both going through is so much worse. I’m sorry you have cancer.”

“Well, let’s just say I didn’t ask for it.” I tried to laugh, but it came out like a hiccup. Then I turned away.

Mike decided to shop for some ice melt, and as I walked toward the chairs, I fought falling into the throes of irony. A private corner seat, behind a display of reading glasses, seemed ideal. I felt secluded as I mulled my thoughts. Why had this hit me so hard? Then it came to me, the thing I’d said to the pharmacist: “Let’s just say I didn’t ask for it.”

One of the hardest things about cancer is knowing it can affect anyone. I’d gone from participating in marathons to barely being able to walk to my mailbox. I faced the pharmacy’s northwestern wall and tears flooded my cheeks. I have terminal cancer. And there’s no denying it. Every moment in pain is a reminder.

God, not this! Not here. Wiping my face with my scarf, I dug a medical bill from my purse and flipped it over. “Dear God,” I wrote, hoping to calm down.

Dear God,

I didn’t choose this situation, and right now that’s hard. I don’t want to have terminal cancer anymore. I want a day where I don’t feel sick at all. Even ONE day. Just to remember what that was like. I’ll appreciate it so much. God. I feel trapped in my own dying body.

I hate knowing that without certain medicine I’ll die. I hate that these are my fears while some man’s wife is upset that she won’t get as much STUFF as she did last Christmas. Seriously?! I need strength. Strength to stop judging people.

Strength to keep getting cancer treatments. Strength to not complain and let this turn me into a bitter person with a curdled soul. No one can uncurdle milk! (Well, I guess YOU can.) But anyway…

Another person called last week and said I should quit getting treatments because I don’t have a quality of life. I laughed at first, but on my hardest days, I remember their words and it’s hard to keep going.

God… I’m sorry to be so judgmental. I really am. I’m working on it.

AND… if it’s not too much to ask, can you please give me strength? I know you’re gettin’ a lot of requests though, so if you can’t, I understand.

-Elisa

—

At that moment, I glanced toward the counter and spotted a woman who looked 10,000 times worse than me. She’d lost her hair and probably weighed 100 pounds—even with her walker. She could barely walk and hunched so badly; I wanted to pick her up in my arms and hold her tight. Why hadn’t I looked back when I was in line? Why hadn’t I offered to trade HER places? Screw my aching hips and shaking leg. Why hadn’t “I” done more? Then the answer came: Because I was too wrapped up in my own problems. And that’s exactly why other people hadn’t offered to help me…

Woah. Mind blown…

I suddenly felt sympathy for the man whose family always wants more. I felt bad for his wife who doesn’t know what really matters. I felt even more compassion for the pharmacist who’d just been yelled at and wiped sweat from his brow. And I felt a bit of strength come with every second that I stopped focusing on myself.

“You wanted to swing by the post office?” Mike asked as we walked out of the store.

I looked at the letter I’d written on a medical bill. It simply had my first and last name above all of the numbers. For the first time, I’d broken my one rule: to never write a letter to God that included personal information. “No, it’s all right. We can just go straight home,” I said.

With one hand, I crumpled the bill and threw it into a big garbage can at the front of the store. God had already answered my prayer. He’d given me strength AND empathy. I guess He really can hear us anywhere, even in a pharmacy in southeastern Idaho. Plus, He didn’t charge for same-day delivery or anythin’.

For more posts like this, please follow my page at https://m.facebook.com/realecstilson .

[destinygoldenstar]

While I don’t have context for everything you’ve said here, I just want to say that this is why I’ve been hesitant and practically avoiding trying to talk about the show again.

I am not going to take either side, as I really don’t want to. I am not the type of person to be openly happy all the time, as when I feel any emotion at all I will say it. And I am not going to hide my emotions to make other people happy. That’s not who I am.

But I also don’t want to be seen by the public as a hardcore complainer for that. Spending all your time whining is just exhausting and tiring and unrewarding, when you could be doing literally anything else, and healthier stuff, with your time. I should know. I used to criticize Dhar Mann videos. While those were worth critiquing it cause multiple mental health problems for me. So I stopped and did other stuff with my life.

So really, if I were to pick a side, either one, it would be doing injustice to my character. And the fact that people have to be split in fandom sections for a single show is insane. I’d be harassed endlessly no matter what.

And harassment like this over a cartoon is just not worth it. Even if you try to calmly explain yourself and defuse a fight, you’re not gonna be heard. They’ll just keep arguing until you reluctantly confess to their side. Which is gaslighting.

And this is a both sides issue. So you know. Again, I’m not picking sides when I say this.

At that point it has nothing to do with the show itself, or a rewrite of said show that some people made. (A rewrite that I actually HAVE seen for myself) If anything, it stops being about the show and more about throwing around accusations on people as though you personally know them. News flash: ten to one, you don’t.

This is why if you go to my blog you see me more often than not making posts about other media. Not because I think these shows are better than RWBY (I’ve criticized them plenty as well, criticisms that I think are deserved), but because I feel more welcome in their fandoms…? I’m not gonna pretend they’re perfect, every fandom has some nasty people, but at least I’m not gonna get barraded for every single opinion I have as though my opinions over cartoons are a judgement of my real life character. Yes people have disagreed with me and given me criticism, but at least it’s focused on what I’ve written and the flaws in my logic of writing style. An IMpersonal critique towards me. That gets more through to me than personally insulting everyone and treating everyone that isn’t you like they’re pure evil.

Even when I try to look at RWBY related tags, it’s just this exact stuff.

You say an opinion that isn’t 100% positive? BASH.

You like something about the show? BASH.

You make art of a ship someone else doesn’t like? BASH.

You try to make an analysis post? BASH.

You write a fanfiction? BASH.

You like a fanfiction of the show? BASH.

You don’t like a fanfiction of the show? BASH.

You dare title that fanfiction ‘fixing’? BASH.

CLEARLY everyone who doesn’t agree with you are dares to say why and how they personally would’ve done it is a PURE EVIL HUMAN BEING GOING OUT IF THEIR WAY TO SPITE AN ENTIRE COMMUNITY. Never mind actually getting to hear the person out or letting them say why they feel this way or why they changed it, (like they DO in streams btw) NOPE. PURE EVIL. SOLELY BECAUSE YOU MADE A REWRITE.

It’s not like rewrite fanfiction as a concept is all about people reimagining someone else’s work into their own vision, and multiple fandoms do this with varying intents, whether it’s out of fixing a critique they had or trying a different tone or ‘what if’ scenarios or whatever. And again, multiple fandoms do this. (Hell, I did it with Total Drama’s Season 2. I don’t think that show is perfect, either. Far from it.)

It’s so unwelcoming and I just… can’t.

I can’t take that.

No one deserves that level of harassment over something so not worth it at the end of the day. It’s just a show guys. This isn’t real life propaganda. This isn’t Election Day. This isn’t school. It’s a product designed for entertainment purposes. You can feel whatever way you want to about it. You don’t deserve to be shut out for however you feel.

I am not a perfect person. That much, I will admit. I will admit to my mistakes when I recognize I make them and try to improve myself. Just like the rest of you, I’m just a normal human on the internet talking about stuff I find interest in. But I will also admit I need to get better at defending myself when I recognize something is just plain bullshit.

So… yeah. Maybe I will try to talk about RWBY again one day. Explain my opinions fully. As honestly as possible. But I know no matter what I’m gonna say, I will not be welcomed with warmth, instead with guns pointed at my head. To that I’ll just say, ‘Hit me with your best shot’

Lilith Fairen, Canonseeker, Dishonest Discourse and Fixing RWBY

Preamble

I'm going to preface this by saying I'm not directly part of the RWBY community. You could say I'm a genuine 'hater', or whatever, and that's fine. I'd be considered a legitimate one; though I'll disagree with you about what constitutes hate, as I'll discuss below. Had it been my choice, I'd have only ever interacted with RWBY after a friend showed me the first two volumes and I, an animation student and aspiring novelist, disliked it. I moved on with my life. But circumstances led me to seeking out critical content that soon led me into the Tundra Discord server where I eventually met my boyfriend. I don't interact with RWBY spaces because I don't (didn't?) consider myself a fan, but I do have a morbid fascination with it and all the issues I have with it and how frequent issues crop up. The only time I've ever interacted with broader RWBY fandom directly was when discussing Fixing RWBY on reddit (and that one time where I commented when someone compared RWBY to Digimon Adventure 02. But Digimon is my fandom so I commented as part of my space).

I have had many discussions, mostly negative, but also positive about the show itself and while I never cared to watch further in, I eventually watched V3, and V6-8. V4-5 were skipped due to a migraine one week and group watch party exhaustion the next, respectively, but reviews and criticism videos allowed me to know what goes on in them.

Note that I enjoy critical content as a creative myself, and dabbling in critical content is important for someone learning how to write and create. It's just as important to know why something does not work from a critical perspective to understand why other elements do work while also keeping in mind there is a level of subjectivity. Someone is always going to disagree with you. I lurk the r/RWBYcritics for critical discourse, and occasionally r/RWBY, though the actual discourse there is fewer and far between by comparison, and unless I come across someone mentioning Digimon or FRWBY, I don't comment because I feel it's not my place.

So as you can see, I've been on the outside looking in at aspects of this community and considering where my interests are focused, (Fixing RWBY being an interest) found myself overlooking a clusterfuck of nonsense.

The concept of "Hatedom/HTDM"

I'm old guard. Old fandoms and old engagement from a time when the internet was a wild west and niche anime communities were tiny. The days of geocities and fan shrines and webrings. Never in my life have I come across a fandom that shunned a big chunk of itself, gatekeeping being part of the community and saying that aspect of the fandom wasn't valid. Perhaps I was lucky in that regard, but considering I dabbled in quite a few communities, I doubt it. Digimon Adventure has been around since 1999 and there were a lot of hot-button topics that split the fandom back then. More than 20 years later, you tread these old, rusted buttons and under your feet a sinkhole will open with a warm, bubbling lava plume of strong opinions will greet you as you wake the sleeping beast. But not once was there any sniff of a concept that someone wasn't a 'true' fan because of their opinions and outlooks on the show, and that is just a single example of many.

So to see the RWBY community simmering in barely contained venom over the "critics" is certainly an unwelcome sight to behold, and one that has alarming implications. There has been elements of gatekeeping in all fandoms, sure, but this feels on a new level. To think that it would get so bad that it was even considered to ban an entire related reddit group for having critical opinions is frankly shameful, and yes, I was around for that. Anyone who thought that was correct should feel embarrassed.

This idea that having a negative opinion equals a hateful person is patently absurd. It has been stated time and again that having a negative opinion on something doesn't mean you hate it. There are many different types of people in the world, with different mindsets and different ways of engaging with the things that they enjoy or engage with. Some people do art or fanfiction. Others dissect or criticize. It can be a combination of these things and whether or not the criticism is positive or negative does not negate the passion behind the words. Labelling someone who criticizes the show, even if that is all that they do, a 'hater' or part of the HTDM, comes across as punishment for engaging in fandom in a way you don't approve.

The internet as a whole, and fandom space, doesn't just belong to you and people who think like you. It belongs to everyone who has passion enough to engage with the media they've consumed and there are plenty of options available for those who don't wish to engage with certain methods of fandom discourse and immersion. To dictate who can and cannot participate in the fandom and who is worthy of hate and derision for being an "other" or "outsider" is frankly disgusting. If you think that someone cannot engage in "your" space because you don't like what they have to say, get over yourself and for once in your life, look past your own petulant selfishness. Seriously, we got taught to share space in preschool.

Criticism As Art, Engagement, Growth and Study

Criticism is an invaluable tool in creative spaces, both positive and negative, and there seems to be a growing idea of what constitutes valid criticism or not as simply whether or not it is positive and the thought of that is quite disturbing. You'd think that I wouldn't have to talk about this, but there are quite a number of people who don't fully understand there is more to criticism than being nice and gentle - which can do more harm than good, by the way.

There can be an art to criticism, and there is no one way to criticize something as being the ultimate 'correct' way. Just like there are different art styles, brush stroke techniques, chord progressions, building methods, etc, there are different styles of critique. It's up to the personality of the individual what form that critique manifests and there is no right or wrong way to critique like there is no right or wrong way to paint a painting. But there is something to be said about whether or not the messages you're trying to get across are being understood properly; whether the critiques are in good faith and can be understood to correspond accurately to the work in question, and with that in mind, we can gauge whether or not the criticism is good.

Critique and criticism, whether good or bad, can open up someone to a piece of media they may never have seen or heard before. It is then that they can decide for themselves, as individuals with their own minds and relative free will, whether or not they want to further participate in the consumption of the media being criticized. To get defensive over the idea that negative criticism exists because it influences the sheeple, dimwitted and easily swayed as they may be, is insulting to the intelligence of others, Eren. Individual people can look at a criticism of a work and decide for themselves whether or not the work is something that does not interest them, or is something to look into for themselves and decide whether or not they personally like or dislike it.

On the more creative side, criticism, even - and I'd say especially - negative criticism, is an essential tool to help the growth of the artist. It helps you grow and learn the many mistakes and errors one can have in a piece of media and teach someone to grow past and learn to avoid those pitfalls.

When it comes to criticizing a piece of media like RWBY, some individuals within the RWBY community view the criticism not only as an attack on the quality of the work, but harassment of the writers themselves. This is patently absurd for the simple fact that these men (and woman) are professional writers and criticism goes part and parcel with the job. To show yourself as a professional in the industry you'd want to put your best foot forward, show that you have the skills to write, and be humble enough to take criticism when given and seriously reevaluate your work, no matter how difficult it might be. The concept of 'kill your darlings' applies to beloved concepts and scenes in a story that, while loved, might hinder the story you want to tell. When you are putting something out there, even as a job, the goal should first and foremost be to entertain the audience, and to do that, strive to create the best version of your work that you can. Passion for what you do is such a hard thing to describe, but most can see it when it's there and can point to when it's not.

I don't doubt there are a couple of individuals that do legitimately harass the writers and others directly. We've seen that with other franchises, and individuals like that can be in more than one fandom. But I specify individuals because there is a trend to lump everyone that some people (like Lilith Fairen and Canonseeker) dislike and disagree with as one and the same, as though the 'critics' are a hive mind, and that everyone is connected to every other critic and knows what they do or say.

But dissent allows an honest writer or artist to grow from where they are, a community who strive to help others to make everything better so that the media we consume is better and the artist will be more satisfied and fulfilled. That is the goal. That is what critics strive for, because they can have as much passion for that work as the artist, if not directly for that work itself, then for the desire to see a fellow creative flourish.

Canonseeker's Logical Fallacies

Eren is someone that I consider to be fairly innocent in intent. At least I don't consider him to be outright malicious, unlike Lilith, but the results of his actions in trying to rectify what he considers to be a toxic situation is in fact toxic in and of itself. Eren is someone who views the situation of the critics as being outright harmful, as though fans voicing their dissent is bullying. Fans have no power and very little means to influence the media they're passionate about.

Therefore, when someone criticizes a work, the main audience for their criticisms are other fans, people whom they can engage with and share in their frustrations and worries. There is always a chance that the writer or some creative can see their complaints, but it is a low chance, and often little in the ways of rectifying the situation other than in the future. When Eren criticizes the 'critics' he attacks their character rather than the ideas they present. When called out on it, he never acknowledges his own faults, instead doing a what-aboutism to deflect from himself.

Just because other people are assholes doesn't mean you aren't also a problem. And considering the fact that we can see you being a problem right now, and you haven't named individual people for us to also slap on the wrist, we focus on you as a problem community member. Critics attack ideas and competency, not the writers as individual people (for the most part. If the situation calls for it, then how the writers are seen in the public eye becomes fair game for scrutiny).

He puts Miles Luna and Kerry Shawcross on pedestals, saying that they created RWBY. They did not. Monty is the sole creator and he picked them to fill in the blanks between his fight scenes. Personally I don't envy that situation based on what I've heard and I feel sympathy for that. But being 'hand picked' by Monty doesn't mean anything other than the fact that he was personal friends with these men. That doesn't speak to their skills as writers, as the romantic, lofty wording would suggest, and it doesn't mean anything beyond they happened to be available to do the job. Monty wanted to work with friends, that's all. Rooster Teeth runs on nepotism. Fact of the matter is, RWBY is now owned by a corporation, not an individual person any longer and when owned by a corporation, can be used and abused for whatever the corporations needs. If fans think that corporation shouldn't have the product any longer, then that's their opinion that they are allowed to hold. When they criticize RWBY for being the mess they think it is, they're criticizing Rooster Teeth as a company, its practices, and its willingness to allow or even encourage incompetence within the production through various means, some more terrible than others.

Eren's understanding of Death of the Author is tenuous at best and nonexistent at worst. Barring people's misunderstanding of the concept in question aside... The concept that once a work of media exists out in the public, it is out of the control of the owner how their work gets interpreted is something that Eren struggles with. An author or creator can do their best to convey their ideas to their audience as best as possible, but that doesn't guarantee that someone will see it in that exact way. Whether a member of the audience understands what the author is trying to convey is up to the individual person, and their understanding or lack of understanding is valid to their own experiences. Of course there are dishonest ways of interpreting a piece of work, such as misdiagnosing a theme of a work (especially when the theme is stated) and then saying its bad for poorly handling that theme. The themes should be looked at on their own and judged how well they're done.

Anything else that I could say about the man has already been talked about in a different document by SYTOkun, barely anything of which I am interested in talking about, as I'm currently more interested in the misunderstandings and mistakes that lead to someone who wants positivity in a fandom to become a poster child for anti-positivity.

Lilith Fairen's Dishonest Motives

Lilith is such a curious person, and I've tried to understand her mentality and see where she's coming from and where the misunderstanding starts. The main issue seems to be that she came into the fandom with dishonest motives from the start and has admitted to it. Her motivation for coming into the RWBY community was strictly to bully people whom she had ideological issues with, or people she deemed 'critics'. She was mocking people while having never watched the show herself, something that many people pointed out. She's claimed to have since watched RWBY and still finds no issue with it. I have no reason to disbelieve her and thus will not accuse her of still having never watched the show. But considering her starting point, either likes it more for ideological reasons or likes it to spite the haters. While her enjoyment of RWBY may be genuine, due to this history, it's very difficult for me to see her desire for this show as anything but sociologically political.

Lilith herself is a very caustic individual with a large chip on her shoulder. She has a preference for female-led stories, and ones that don't require the girls/women to have motivations surrounding men. While I think there's nothing wrong with that conceptually, it becomes a problem when viewing certain stories one has little preference for as problematic for not fitting into what she personally prefers. For the most part, women and girls are more motivated by social aspects of life, whether it be friendships or romance, and that's not inherently a bad thing, but Lilith has some issue with it due to said aforementioned chip labelled 'misogyny'.

She throws accusations of misogyny around like it's candy going out of style. Rarely does she back up her accusations with any factual evidence, randomly accusing this, that or the other of being misogynistic as though one should just accept or already knows it as fact when in reality is quite odd. Guns, for example, are considered masculine representations in her eyes, and not gender neutral items that can be used by either gender, and thus unsuitable weapons for magical girls, like in Madoka Magica, to use.

I've never seen Madoka. But I don't think I have to in order to see how silly this concept is. Girls can like guns and that doesn't make them less girly. I've never heard of guns as being a gendered item.

While I also don't necessarily disagree there's issues in anime and female representation, tropes and cliches can be overdone and become outright tired and boring, I believe Lilith takes it a step too far when she starts going after other people for their acceptance or ambivalence toward the things she's personally not a fan of. In attacking something like Madoka or other so-called 'deconstruction' anime, she infantilizes female characters by saying they shouldn't be subject to the same challenges and difficulties male characters often are, because they're women. She also claims anime shows girls as hysterical and overly emotional. As though teenagers - which most anime feature - is a foreign concept to her. Also stuff often gets turned up for drama. It's called fiction and literally all media around the world does this.

She's also a negative, salty, bitter person in general despite her preferences for happy, saccharine and light-hearted stories. It makes me wonder if she seeks out these fluffy tales because she has such a dark mentality that she desperately wants to get away from, but has the delusion that what she likes isn't respected for what it is, or liked. As though Sailor Moon or Pretty Cure aren't incredibly large, successful franchises in Japan. As though Sailor Moon isn't still beloved in the west. People in different countries can have different tastes and expectations outside of the niches of anime lovers who already understand and cherish these properties. That doesn't make them disrespected. Madoka was enjoyed by (some) people who had no concept of magical girls outside of cursory knowledge of watching Sailor Moon as kids and praised it as being the best despite likely never having watched before or since any magical girl anime. And these people are the ones she hates, but conflates all Madoka fans as these individuals.

Because of her perceived notion that magical girls are disrespected and dismissed due to misogyny, her attitude toward her original stories can also be quite cynical at times. Maybe if she took a step out of her self-loathing and victim mentality she would realize that a prospective reader seeing something like this on her blog might be a turn-off.

It's not like there are other factors that contribute to your story's relative obscurity like poor marketing on your part or the fact that superhero novels (which magical girls count as) in general are not very popular. Yes, even ones that feature male leads. You find more success with more visual mediums like comic books, movies and television. Girl. From one author to another... There's more to putting your work out there than simply writing and publishing it.

I'll get to Glints Saga another day, but from a cursory glance (at an old version, mind you) I can already tell that if you had gone to a writing meetup and got the story critiqued and they found little issue with it... you should find a better critique group because they were seriously doing you a disservice.

Gotta wonder if Faye said Monara's name often enough she'd eventually remember it. There's also a lot more wrong here, dialogue-wise and prose-wise. But that's more for a comparison between the old and new version if this section had been cleaned up.

But her bad attitude doesn't end there. She also has spite for anyone else that seems to have more success than her that she knows is 'touchable'. Instead of looking at a piece of inspirational messages by a writer trying to encourage others to keep going, she dismisses the critique because they're popular and it's so easy for them. Because it's not like an artist or writer could be popular because they've worked hard for it and were able to market themselves effectively in order to gain an audience and conduct themselves in a manner that wouldn't turn prospective fans away. No, it's just that they only got lucky. That somehow makes their altruistic encouragement meaningless.

Also notice how she never actually engages in arguments when people call her out on anything. Because she either knows she's full of crap or she wants to appear like a tough beotch on the internet and hide the fact that she has no counter argument and treats childishly typing out her laughter like some cartoon buttmonkey is a rebuttal instead of some obvious attempt at trying to hide her discomfort.

You know, completely missing the point of the original post that said if you create for the main purpose of getting recognition and acknowledgment, then you'll soon hate your writing and become miserable when your expectations aren't met. So the advice was to create regardless of whether or not you get any attention because you love to write, not because you feel owed anything for writing. But if she did that then she'd actually feel good about herself and her work and not bitterly lash out at everything and everyone. It's enough to make one wonder if part of the reason why she goes after critics is because she's jealous many of them do get attention and engagement and the main thing she manages to attract is people calling her out for her shitty behaviour.

By the way, both Lilith and Eren think that people going to their public blogs, where they post things that other people can see is somehow stalking. On a website where the whole point is that your posts will likely travel, especially if you talk about a franchise (even if you don't tag). Or that people responding to them at all is somehow stalking. They want to be able to say any kind of vile garbage about other fans they don't like and not have to face any repercussions for it.

One final thing because I know it's going to bug me...

"Critics" do not compare autistic people to robots. We compare ourselves to robots because when they aren't written to just be humans straight up are neurodivergent. They do not think like neurotypical people and in some ways even like humans do. That is the definition of neurodivergence - thinking and processing in a way that is outside the norm. Allistic people accept this and also headcanon many robots the same way in order to be inclusive. Lilith, if you aren't going to properly understand why people say things in relation to mental health and neurodivergence just stay out of it entirely.

Toxicity of FNDM, RWDE and Anti-RWDE

Here's where I'm going to get a little controversial, because members of all sides have done shitty things. Anti-RWDE is obvious, as they're just a salt tag dedicated to complaining about people who have negative opinions because how dare. But even the side I "agree" with more, I think have said some ridiculous and toxic things. Never mind anons here.

Accusations of "fascist", "white supremacist", "racist", "terf", "transphobic", "homophobic", "sexist", "ableist", basically anything under the sun that is a pejorative you can think of it was probably spewed out of the fingers of some member of RWDE or FNDM/Anti like a child throwing insults on the playground.

You have passions and societal issues that you want to address, and that's perfectly fine and understandable. But to accuse someone of being any flavour of 'ist' or 'phobe' over disagreements on whether a character in a cartoon does this action or interacts with that character in such and such a way muddies the waters, dilutes the impact the word has and even makes it easier for people to casually dismiss accusations and even real life and serious instances of these things due to how low the bar has been set for being labelled as such. You aren't engaging honestly anymore, you're trying to shut someone down by calling them names. Attacking someone or a work for miniscule things they do or say that you interpret as being bad without considering that there might in fact be a different reason why they said that thing is dishonest and harmful.

Hey Lilith, you wanna, maybe, define what an alt-righter is to you? Or are you just going to call out anyone who is right-of-far-left an "alt-righter" so that you can feel good and justified for shitting on someone else for literally no reason other than you had a temper tantrum at the concept that someone is unsatisfied with a cartoon? It's not like you have any evidence that Celtic is an alt-righter or anything you just made that shit up.

I've seen both sides do this, and I'm not calling out specific individuals because I've seen many act this way.

There are even certain people within the fandom who say it's your fault that you're upset with the show because you dared to have expectations that the show didn't meet. As though this is somehow a gotcha, that it's somehow wrong of you to have desires to see something you think is being presented in the show, only for it to fall flat with something you don't think is good in its place. You're a bad person for having an opinion that isn't positive about the cartoon. The show has either somehow done the impossible and achieved perfection or there is no amount of problems with the writing or anything else that can justify you expressing your opinion about it. It's best for you to shut your mouth because it personally inconveniences them.

It's gotten to the point where it's almost impossible to have certain discussions without devolving into a slobbering screaming match, because even the characters aren't saved from the pejoratives and some even attach characters and liking certain characters to certain mentalities and mindsets. If you dare like the wrong character you will be seen as x toxic thing. If you want to discuss a certain character you'll be dismissed as y type of toxic person. You also better watch how you dress your characters in redesigns or else you're z type of bad people because somewhere out there someone may or may not make a connection to a real life group you may or may not have taken a couple of design elements from and that is evil because there are 100728 different negative ways you can portray a marginalized group to the point that it would probably be better to forget those groups exist at all and only keep your fantasy series based on the standard big cultures and that's somehow more progressive despite also being a problem. Always watch your step. Always be ready to be seen as a monster, or fight a monster. Absolute lunacy.

On top of that, it makes you no better than the people you criticize. How hypocritical to call someone out for shitty behaviour, complaining about toxicity in the fandom and turn around and do shitty behaviour yourself.

Don't think I didn't notice when Judgmental Critter calls out Lilith for calling her misogynist for criticizing RWBY, saying that she just hates women, then turns around and casually accuses people who criticize High Guardian Spice (or some things about RWBY) for the exact same thing with no basis. I love Critter's sass, opinions, views and her work in general, become one of my favourite youtubers even. I can't wait for when my boyfriend shows me Madoka so I can watch her magical girl series and other videos. But I don't fail to notice when she blanket statements groups of people because she doesn't/won't understand their arguments.

Honestly there are many examples like this but I wanted to highlight an example from each "side" to emphasize my point and to show that I'm not just pointing to any particular side as being the problematic one. I think the worst example of toxicity has to be in the tags of this one post I found on tumblr ranting about hbomberguy's video. It's actually disturbing.

I was so flabbergasted by the idea that someone could actually say this, not because they disliked what was said, but because a video that didn't praise RWBY existed at all.

Backtracking a little, I wanted to talk about how quick people are to make connections and accuse others in the fandom of being something terrible.

We are pattern-seeking creatures and our pattern recognition is exceptional. But it also produces false positives in the pareidolia effect, the phenomenon where you see things that aren't actually there. The most benign and silly of the pareidolia effect is 'faces in places' and likewise, you can see patterns of behaviour, thought processes and ideologies in conversations out of context to the wider behaviour of the person. This is why I'd studied up on Lilith and Eren before writing this to make sure that there was a noticeable, repeated pattern of behaviour before writing all of this up. Lilith, Eren, and their ilk also suffer from this when it comes to criticism of rewrites that they have particular issues with, and I'll talk more about this in the next section.

There's an example of a man whom I'd had an argument with in a server I moderate for. I hadn't meant to get into an argument with him, more genuinely wanting to get his thoughts on a rewrite-heavy AU-turned-original-story idea of my own, as someone who liked RWBY. I thought I could have a fun, creative conversation, getting insight into how I did handling the characters in an AU setting and what I could do to expand on my interpretations. I find the idea of setting characters in different scenarios while still maintaining their personalities a fun exercise. Instead I was met with defensive vitriol.

I wanted the focus to be friendship between the girls rather than a mishmash of family and romance, which he hated. When asked why, it was because I said I didn't like feeling as though I was being lied to with the premise of the story, which was meant to be about four girls who became friends, and I felt it personally didn't satisfy me in that department. Then we got off on a long argument about lying to your audience, which eventually revealed a sort of sad element to the guy that I was talking to: that basically he felt that he had no right to be upset over anything that happened to him. If he was lied to, he shouldn't be upset at it. Not that he didn't want to be upset, but that he felt he couldn't, and eventually admitted to a deeper underlying issue with self confidence and worth he struggled with that seemed to manifest in being upset when anyone voiced dissenting and negative opinions.

While I think looking on the bright side is all well and good, there's a limit my dude, and trying to explain to him why I felt being lied to was a negative thing that I had the right to be unhappy about was such a foreign concept to him due to not feeling like he should ever be upset when people treat him poorly. Then he accused me of disliking him for liking a show I disliked. The whole exchange left me spiraling

But that interaction was telling, and while I can't apply that to all the members of FNDM who feel threatened by criticism and dissent, eyes can be opened about possibilities into the reasons why they find critical engagement so offensive. On some level, at least for some, it might feel like they get personally attacked because the show they love is picked apart, and in turn, picking them apart. RWBY is fundamental to who they are as people, and if you attack it in any way, you are threatening them, their worth and self-esteem.

What is 'Hate'?

Hate is a strong word, and one that, like all the above pejoratives, is used far too liberally. It's a strong negative emotion of loathing and disgust, and if kept too long can cause negative effects on one's mind and body. It takes some amount of derangement, I feel, to legitimately hate something passionately for a long period of time. Hate is usually such a strong emotion that it is temporary and fades quickly.

There were a lot of people who hated Twilight when it first came out. Those people quickly faded away after their rage subsided and the main people who stuck around on the Twilight 'hate train' were people who disliked it, but thought it was fun to mock rather than outright hate. It was silly, after all! Who wouldn't love making fun of something ridiculous and harmful and boring and dumb. Many critics of Twilight even pointed out aspects of what they liked in the book series, namely the side characters of the latter books. The vampires and werewolves helping the Cullens and the inter-species political struggles were more fascinating and interesting than the teen melodrama forced love triangle going on between Bella, Edward and Jacob. There were many more still who enjoyed Twilight knowing full well how trash it was, acknowledging it for its camp and bad writing but enjoying it for being bad.

Twilight is still criticized to this day, broken down and dissected to see what makes it tick, and why it ended up being as bad as it was. But it's not for hate for the most part, though there is dislike. But mostly if you're going to deep dive, pick apart or rewrite beyond an anger-filled review, that takes a certain level of passion for what you're doing. You see the good inside it and want it to be better. If you're going off youtuber's opinions you do have to be mindful that some of them play up their emotions for entertainment. Youtubers are entertainers, after all, and while those feelings might be genuine, there will be elements of hamming it up. Even positive youtubers do this and there's nothing wrong with that.

It's the same with RWBY and a lot of RWBY criticism. Most people who genuinely hate the show have moved on to bigger and better things. Those who stuck around either do so because they genuinely love it, or hope that it will get better, or at the very least need to see it to the end because it's been a part of their lives for so long.

Hate, ultimately, is a negative experience that can't birth anything creative. Hate does nothing but tear, break down and destroy. It's tearing down someone else directly to fill a void, or to make yourself feel better.

Hate, ultimately, is what many in the Anti-RWDE does to the part of the FNDM they don't like.

Fixing RWBY

Now comes the lengthy part of my post! Fixing RWBY or FRWBY is a project started by Raymond McNeil, as most people likely know, and started as a passion project due to his love for RWBY and his dissatisfaction with elements of how RWBY has been handled. If anyone says that he hates the show, you know that it's in bad faith and they haven't watched his content. He's said multiple times how much he loves the show, he's just frustrated it doesn't live up to the potential he thinks it has.

This section is voicing my rebuttals to larger criticisms of the show by people who admit they don't properly watch and engage with the project and purposefully look for things to pick apart, regardless of if it's true. While there are legitimate criticisms to be had about the project, they are harder to come by as they get drowned out by a flooding of this low brow shit flinging.

Some people think being dissatisfied is wrong, as I've previously mentioned

They, for some reason, think that having expectations for a show is invalid. I've already discussed how terrible that mindset is. But the main recurring criticisms of Fixing RWBY are mainly perpetuated by Eren and Lilith and a handful of their friends, which get spread around to others who think like them. We know Lilith is dishonest because she, by her own admission, skims his content and doesn't properly evaluate it, looking for things to take out of context or at face value to shit on. EngineGear at least has the decency to honestly summarize without comment. So let's go through some of their criticisms, shall we?

Special mention goes out to EngineGear, who had been one of the people throwing around the idea that Raymond kept Fixing RWBY behind a paywall simply because, as a youtuber, he had his discord as a patreon reward. When I calmly explained why his discord had nothing to do with FRWBY, and how his criticism cannot be put against Raymond without also demonizing non-critic youtubers and other artists who get paid for their fan content, he deleted the reddit post from his little saltmine, r/RWBYCynics. I appreciate his honesty in recognizing his mistake and deleting the post.

We're certainly off to a start here. The implication of this post is implying that Celtic Phoenix, and to a larger part his volunteer team - the Sketchy Huntsman - are racist.

Okay, so, there is practically no information about Oscar in terms of background or creation information to confirm anything other than what fairy tale character they could graft onto him. Who knows, there might be some obscure podcast or interview or tweet or however many different methods the writers have used to supplement their poor writing skills. I'm not about to go on a wild goose chase for something that might not even exist. His concept art says he has sunburnt skin. That makes sense, he's a farmer. He's out in the sun all day. So it stands to reason he has a farmer's tan. Even if he doesn't, the guy has my skin tone and I'm not what you would call non-European in origin.

Let's nevermind for a moment that this is incredibly American-centric thinking. This is an ancient relic of the past where we divided ourselves up into Reds, Whites, Blacks, and Yellows (... huh. I... didn't mean to sort them like that;; ) and sometimes Browns. It still has its uses in the modern day, and of course there is just acknowledgment of visual differences, but it should also be acknowledged that the terms are arbitrary descriptors of shades of the same colour (brown). All humans regardless of how much melanin is in your skin, is a shade of brown. Skin can have an underside of red, blue, green, yellow and determine whether their skin looks cold or warm. Europeans can naturally get pretty dark, being born with natural olive skin and there are non-Europeans who can be born with light skin. Europeans (or descent) can run between Type I-IV and non-Europeans can range from Type III-VI. What's more, we don't know anything about the migratory history of Remnant or whether skin types are random like faunus apparently are.

The main RWBY characters have ridiculously translucent, even glowing skin lighter than Type I that no actual human being would have. Blake and Weiss are beyond even anime pale, so someone looks at a character who has realistically coloured 'white' skin and all of a sudden they're poc. There's no problems with headcanoning that. But that's what it is. Your headcanon. And you're accusing Raymond of racism for getting rid of a character you headcanon as being poc. The same goes for Lionheart, who looks to have an (albeit sickly) ashy grey skin tone. Not dark enough to definitively be poc. It's a headcanon that you can choose to have, but should not weaponize to vilify someone you disagree with.

This is gonna be a general onsen post, one that is going to have some overlap with the faunus heat cycles section below. Mistral is meant to have vague connections to Asian culture. Onsen, or bathhouses/hot springs, are a very important part of Asian culture. Not only that, but they were and are also important to the Ancient Greeks, Ancient Romans, Turkish, and many other societies as places of community, healing and relaxation.

From a meta standpoint, an onsen episode, like a beach episode, is easy on the overworked animators to create, and thus become a staple of anime. But they aren't used purely for fanservice.

Fruits Basket used the onsen episode as another way for Momiji to pay back Tohru for the Valentines chocolates, further establishing his bond with her, for the characters in general to bond, another way for Tohru to show how much she thinks of her mother in everything that she does, and as foreshadowing to Ritsu's arrival by meeting his mother, who owned the facility. Ritsu's mother is one of the few zodiac parents who has a good relationship with their child and was able to give Tohru some insight into the family. Plus, another moment of Yuki showing his affection for Tohru and growing desires to see her as happy as she made him.

Outlaw Star's onsen episode is very raunchy to the point where American syndication cut the episode entirely from television. And because of that the American audiences missed out on an incredibly important plot detail. The episode was heavy in many establishing things, generally being wacky, but also an important, unskippable element to the story.

Blue Seed is an anime that I never got to watch, though my old video store had the sequel OVA Blue Seed 2, which featured three episodes. One of those episodes featured an onsen, and a bomb rigged to explode once the water level got too high or low or the timer ran out. It was a thrilling episode featuring a tense plot and showed the cultural differences between the characters and their one (American) gaijin friend.

There are other examples of onsen episodes in anime that aren't just for fanservice, so to suggest that they only exist in this way is absurd. The female members of the Sketchy Huntsmen, particularly the Asian members advocated hard for this scene, practically twisting Raymond's arm to put it in because it was thematically important, and culturally, for the character moments the cast (especially Weiss and Yang) would go through. By ignoring all of the context to what went on in this scene to say it was purely for Raymond to be gross is to wave away the cultural significance of onsen to Asian culture as being reduced to nothing more than stripteases and ignore when characters do have important moments between one another.

Roman also didn't say anything about Weiss being a man. He said she was flat-chested. He thought Ren was a woman because he was beautiful and had a gentle, feminine face and thin physique and justified it by talking about how women are varied. The joke is making fun of Roman for being an unobservant ass, not at Ren for being feminine and certainly not at Weiss. How badly did you not pay attention to this scene to get so offended that you had to make it about you and your expectation to be slighted. Again, pareidolia. Trans people, rest easy. Not every joke involving gender and being seen as the opposite gender is about you specifically or meant to slight you specifically. And I mean this genuinely. If you think that it is, kindly take a chill pill and reduce your ego before you hurt yourself. Your blood pressure will thank you.

Does this screenshot of a Rated T game upset you?

Faunus heat cycles were treated more or less the same as the onsen scene. Subverting the expectation that this sexual concept can only be used for cheap hentai games and anime. Realistically any trope or concept can be used in a more serious story setting, including sexual concepts like heat cycles. There’s no rules that just because something is used often as one thing that it cannot be used serve a different purpose. That’s the beauty of writing. In this case, Raymond used the heat cycles as one of many minuscule differences between the species to further exacerbate racial tensions and drive xenophobia, which would in turn affect the world on a global scale. Wow that kinda sounds like stuff that happens in real life! What a concept!

To those of you weirdos that think heat cycles are gross still, chew on this: Real life humans have evolved the ability to have sex and get pregnant 365 days of the year. If you think about it, our heat cycles never turn off. And the reason why we have periods is presumed to make sure that if we do get pregnant at any time we can attempt to abort a dead foetus before it potentially goes septic and kills us. Fascinating stuff, but that’s not all. Humans might actually have a heat cycle on top of that after all. There are days during the reproductive cycle where women are more receptive to the idea of sex, and finds normally unpleasant bodily odours more pleasant and men are attracted to the odours of women during this time.

Basically this means that women have periods of subtle extra heat that make them more receptive to sex on top of the fact that humans are basically horny all the time. This is something that is a biological fact within human beings and it can influence society of a variety of ways in the wider context of the world, so why is it so far-fetched and disgusting that a faunus would have a more non-primate mammalian estrus?

Now this is a new one. Ilia did turn away from her destructive spiral. Just like in real life that doesn't mean you get off scot free. She got a reduced sentence and some privileges for her help. She’s being rewarded by getting to go out and have fun at the festival and she said she’d rather be in the (presumably) solitude of a jail cell than have to deal with Sun (and his loud, boisterous energy). What’s offensive about that? Also hmm... 3 poc faunus. Well, faunus are all Remnant's version of poc so you can't mean them specifically do you mean... these three?

Those two on the right are looking pretty damn pale to be poc could it be that you're lying, Eren? And maybe that even if it weren't the case it wouldn't matter because it's a legitimate police technique at the very least seen in procedurals on television and are used regardless of the suspects' skin colour? You trying to slither the idea that Raymond is racist because he dares to have something at all happen to a non-white character is rather slimy.

A lot to go over here, so let's get started shall we? First of all, it absolutely tickles me that changing Shay D. Mann into Shiloh would cause Eren to go into such a big tizzy. Like, it's such a small thing and yet it's one of the main complaints they had about V5, which in my opinion means that Raymond was doing something right. Apparently upgrading a character from a tertiary to a secondary position if there's a need for it is blasphemy.

Okay, so let's go over the concept of character hierarchies. Primary Characters (which there is 8), secondary characters (which there are at least 15), and tertiary characters, which outnumber the stars. Honestly these could be broken down further into Main Characters (Ruby, Weiss, Jaune, etc), Primary characters (Nora, Qrow, Oscar, etc), Secondary characters (Raven, Ironwood, Ace-Ops, etc), Tertiary characters (Whitely, Willow, etc) and then Quaternary characters (Henry Marigold, Dust Shop Guy, Background people).

A quaternary character being upgraded to a tertiary character... what a terrible concept. I also don't understand this predilection for playing up the severity of Shay's actions, acting as though he's straight up assaulted her. He was drunk and tried to flirt. When she ignored it, he tried touching her hair. I've had a more eventful night in real life at a bar dealing with drunk guys who didn't mean any harm and one of them stuck his fingers in my mouth (I had on vampire fangs and that blew his drunk mind). He returns, bruised from his punch and worse for the wear with friends and Yang makes him lead her to camp.

He's not a good guy, obviously, and Shiloh is still not a good guy. But he's more human. He has people he cares about and his own set of morals, even if they may be looser than our protagonist's. If you don't think terrible people can't also have people they care about, I don't know what to say. You're mad because a criminal character, along with the rest of his tribe, got nuance beyond 'bandit'. I do not see the problem.

Shiloh is also not married to Raven, Eren. You do know that people can have children out of wedlock, right?

Gotta ask how Vernal was ruined in FRWBY. He says a lot of basically nothing and doesn't explain himself, acting as though his incoherent rambles are meant to be enough.

Oh yeah, Vernal was such a unique character all right with how... there she was. Existing. I'm supposed to be impressed? Ohhh. Ahhh. Her hair is very pixie cut. Such non-feminine (except it totally is Eren you silly), much discount bargain bin Yang outfit. It's not like Raven isn't literally a palette swap of Yang anyway so I don't know why you clowns complain about Lily, who has different features than both her mother and Yang while still being unique and yet sleep on this.

Raven also didn't dismiss Vernal's death in FRWBY. She refused to outwardly express her grief or accept that her poor actions got her daughter killed. That whole scene with her trying to destroy and then hide the relic was her focusing her feelings because she's not a very mature person. Sorry, that bit of character writing might be a bit subtle for those who are used to blunt-force character writing so it's understandable if you don't get it.

Now this is a weird claim. Let's look at it shall we? Zooming in for the visually impaired on Ruby's face, we indeed do see her looking at Roman and she has a very light amount of colour on her. There's also a white shine that was popular about 7 years ago with a lot of artists. You know, the artists that would put what I like to call blushies/sunburns on cheeks, shoulders, breasts and knees all had this style of redness for parts of the body that are naturally darker in places or have redness. Though with some artists the breasts were a weird one, I've always thought. It's not a style I go for in my own work, but I'm not going to care if that's what an artist likes to do.

Also most blushes, even ones by the artist herself go over the nose to differentiate between a blush and healthy cheeks.

But they claim that Roman doesn't have the blushies so the idea that this artist puts them on everything is false! So let's have a look at the Clockwork Reject.

Well, how can you tell he has no blushies when his hair is covering his face?

Could it be...?

Darker discolouration right beneath his eye that lightens up by his nose? It's almost like... a blushie hidden in shadow!

That settles it for anyone still furiously grasping at straws, desperately looking for any tiny little thing they can twist and warp into being something problematic.

Also one final point that these people are implying that Ruby is being shipped with either Roman or Ozpin. As far as I'm aware RubyxOzpin is kind of a popular ship (heck... RubyxOzpinxRoman was featured in a recent fic we read in the Tundra). It's not Rosegarden or Whiterose, but it's still fairly widespread. Why you gotta ship-shame?

So there's this idea going around that rewrites always sideline the heroines of the story (as though canon RWBY doesn't do that already). I can't speak for all rewrites, because I don't follow any except for FRWBY and I'm starting to get into Remnants. So for all I know every single other rewrite out there features Jaune or some other male character as the protagonists instead of RWBY.

Roman effectively replaces Oscar in FRWBY. A criminal who has found himself in unusual circumstances and now has to work with his former adversaries to complete a common goal.

How does this lead to Roman taking centre stage? Beats me. The fact that he... technically does things, unlike Oscar, I guess.

Now, I happen to like Oscar. I think he's a cute little muffin that wound up in a bad situation. But I also don't deny that he's been squandered as a character and as much as I've given Raymond shit for removing Oscar from his place in the plot, I won't deny that at least he's done something with the character he's put in farmboy's place.

Also Ruby being "reduced" to Roman's sidekick is very interesting phrasing by Lilith here. She tries very hard to manipulate language to give the most uncharitable interpretations as possible. The context for the scene is that the characters are being proactive in searching for leads and Roman is going to go check with his sources and connections in Mistral. Ruby goes with him to keep an eye on him.

She's his handler, not his sidekick. There's a difference.

You... ever get the feeling that Eren doesn't actually understand RWBY or it's characters?

Like... I think Ozpin did nothing wrong in V6. Jinn had no right to air out his dirty laundry like that just to show that Salem couldn't be killed. But while he may be supportive, I don't know if necessarily I would call him kind. In some aspects, sure. But Ozpin is meant to be a calculating character, striving to do what he can to hold back Salem at all costs. He is meant to be a morally grey character, not quite as good of a character as Dumbledore, but he does have that theme of leading pigs to the slaughter. Except these 'pigs' signed up for this job and know how dangerous it is unlike Harry until the end so the analogy doesn't quite work for Ozpin. (By the way, notice his contradiction there by saying Dumbledore is made morally grey by making him evil. Those are two distinct concepts, Eren. Maybe you should look up what morally grey is.) But the terrible way the characters treat him and Oscar's body afterwards makes many of us more sympathetic to him than to be against him. He's morally grey, but we don't mind it, and view him as being someone who is still ultimately good.

"They removed another poc character"

Sweetheart... Gretchen has to actually be a character. She's just a name said on the lips of a couple of characters. We don't even get to see anything of her. Summer got the same treatment, but at least she got a gravestone and characters sort of talked about how great she was, attempting to characterize her post mortem but doing it poorly. Eventually she got a cheap palette swap model. We at least were interested in Summer and who she was and how she disappeared even if we might have only cared because Ruby did and she's the main protagonist. Is anyone interested in Gretchen? And I mean truly, genuinely interested in Gretchen to the same degree that we are interested in Ruby? What about Raven? May Marigold? Even Summer? Gretchen is a fridged tool who only exists as justification for Hazel to be a relatively nice guy but still align himself with the villains. She is not, in and of herself, a character. At least with Magnus, we see the shell that Osma resides in and it hits us that this used to be a person. A person who had family who loved him and miss him and that is why Hazel is here. Do we know anything about the body in canon other than he'd once been a farmer?

The concept that an organization has to be single minded in a goal, no matter what it is, or else it is no longer that thing, is funny to me.

No, Eren. The White Fang is still a faunus rights group in FRWBY. It's just that there are people within the organization who have very strong opinions about how to go about achieving their goals and don't mind stepping over their fellows to get to that goal. That's what we call politics.

I don't even know why this is an issue when the White Fang and the racism plotline were not well done in RWBY and that is an undisputed fact that M&K admitted to. There is nothing wrong with trying to bandage that up and adding human elements to behind the scenes stuff - things that M&K themselves tried to implement but were just too inexperienced as writers to be able to pull off. It really shouldn't be that controversial to say that they reached beyond their means with what they wanted to do with RWBY, which is partially why it's such a mess. And I want to emphasize that I don't think they're incapable of pulling it off just because of the colour of their skin. They didn't do their proper research or think about a complicated topic well enough and rushed through it because they didn't know what they were doing as writers. They also admitted to not knowing what they were doing in the writing department for the first several years of the show so it shouldn't be controversial to criticize them as inexperienced writers pushing out a subpar written product.

While we're on the subject...

In a big ol' rant titled "The Problems with Fixing RWBY" you would think there would be a lot more pointing out the problems with FRWBY and not... pointing out the differences between FRWBY and canon. There's no explanation for why these things are an issue. He just presents these as though they speak for themselves, but they don't. And most of his points are like this, by the way. I could be lazy and answer 'why is this a problem?' to most of them. But I'll do the work for Eren since he's so bad at argumentation.

I'm going to assume here that Eren is trying in a very roundabout and sloppy way to accuse Raymond of saying 'the N word' without actually saying it. One of the fans of his project had been the one to suggest 'Critter' as a slur for the faunus, and due to the similarities between the two words, Raymond thought it would be a clear parallel as being the harshest, dirtiest, derogatory term in his version.

Jockey makes sense as a mocking, derogatory euphemism for someone who is for faunus rights and is faunus friendly as someone who might not themselves be. We know what a jockey is so the imagery that invokes speaks for itself. That's how language works and we have non-offensive examples of it in real life of 'white whale' and 'foxy' and 'bought the farm'.

As for the claim that Raymond said there's no racism in America, that's quite the accusation. You better damn well have a link to a sound clip that isn't out of context or else it's best to just forget about the idea of that. Saying that as a throwaway statement to just hang there without any evidence to back it up leads to speculation and witchhunting. I strongly oppose anyone, even you, being accused of anything of the sort without strong evidence to justify it. Innocent until proven guilty.

Moving on to Cardin and Velvet. Again, I don't see what the issue is. As someone who partook in some Dramonie back in the HP days, I enjoy a good story about a racist getting humbled and humiliated by the fact that he falls in love with someone he considers beneath him. Though that isn't the case with Cardin and Velvet.

Cardin's whole arc is that he was a racist and held certain viewpoints and beliefs. Being forced to work with Velvet and spend time with her on a school project, and the lack of evidence to support his biases led Cardin to begrudgingly break out of his racist mindset and come to respect Velvet as a person, and eventually a friend. By the events of the Fall of Beacon, Cardin is no longer racist for the most part and views Velvet as an ally and companion.

Starting from that point, it's no wonder we can see these two growing close and eventually getting into a relationship. It's all in how the ship is handled, not the ship itself. However, it's not confirmed they'll even get together in the first place. Raymond has only talked about his approval of the idea.

If I can go of on a slight tangent for a moment... like, holy shit, Eren really has it out for the concept of smaller bit characters getting any kind of development. As though the very idea of characters being more than cardboard cutouts is a grievous sin. He claims that small bit characters getting any time to flourish at all takes time away from the main cast.

That isn't the problem, nor is that the ultimate problem with canon RWBY. (Like it's so very transparent what these people are trying to do is to criticize Critic Rewrites by saying the exact same things the critics say about RWBY. But the thing is that criticisms of both aren't 1-1 and so instead of engaging with the rewrites in good faith, they just regurgitate argumentative points of critics without understanding why we make these criticisms in the first place as a sort of 'gotcha' to try and shame critics into silence. A sort of 'how do YOU like it' thing. Nevermind the fact that most creators don't read the majority of the criticisms they get online and will never see it and the complaints are mostly for other fans to consume and agree or disagree with. Nevermind that critics are just fans with as much power and influence over the show as everyone else - which is none.

They don't want to see critics as fans because that means they can't build a boogeyman for themselves. It's a bullying tactic, straight up.)

The problem with RWBY's character bloat was that the main girls weren't being handled properly in the first place. People thought that if there were less characters to juggle, then there would be more time to focus on the characters that mattered. But I don't think that would solve the problem, ultimately. We've seen when they cut the cast and they still struggle with properly implementing character stuff. It gets better, for sure, but the problems persist.

Finding a balance between proper arcs for your main cast while sprinkling in quality of life things for your other characters is the goal. Not focusing on your characters doing basically nothing other than having technical screen time and bloating the rest of the time with splotches of cardboard zooming past.

A lot of people are interested in the side characters, Eren. It shouldn't be an issue for them to get a little attention on the side as a treat to the main plot and that should be the goal for RWBY.

The final point to touch on is the injuries the characters sustain. All I can say is... why is this a 'problem'? Yang lost her arm in canon. The presumption was the Fall of Beacon was a situation that was more than the students in training could handle, and many people (presumably) got injured or killed. But all of that is off screen and swept under the rug and forgotten about. It's hard to take seriously as something that is supposed to be the greatest challenge the students ever faced, even more than they can handle when we see no one struggling, no one getting their aura broken and having to fight differently, getting hurt or anything. All of that storytelling happens off screen and that is bad writing. Telling us people got hurt instead of showing us is bad writing. So again, I ask, if it's okay for characters like Yang to get injured, why is it a problem for Velvet, Neptune and Cardin who had been more prominent characters in Fixing?

Eren didn't understand the concept of volunteer work and how that differentiated between being exploited. Many of the artists came out in defense of Raymond on this, so thankfully, I don't think this argument is used anymore. From the look of it, this argument was the only time people who make these arguments tried to be nice to the artists. Now they're just fellow 'haters' who Raymond collected like Pokemon cards to work on his project. And I'd show a screenshot of calling the artists haters, but honestly I'm running low on my picture limit. You'd think there wouldn't be so many 'haters' but when anyone who voices any dissent toward the show can be considered a 'hater', they exist in abundance. The victim mentality knows no limits.

There were other criticisms about art, legitimate ones, and they were sorted out.

"The entire Brunswick Arc ... is now devoted to Roman."

Did Raymond say that? Or are you just pulling shit out of your ass? I've noticed a lot of people make baseless assumptions like this. Like how someone thinks Emerald is going to be killed by Ironwood when FRWBY V8 rolls around. Which is absolutely stupid. You guys comprehend that the point of the project is to stick as close to canon as he can, correct? That is a thing that can be understood by your goopy goblin brains? My goopy goblin brain can get that, so if not, what's your excuse?

Like yes, things are going to be different from canon. But they're not going into wild AU territory.

Changing Ozpin's host to Roman doesn't affect the trajectory of the story because Oscar was a thing in canon. Emerald isn't going to be killed in FRWBY because Emerald is going to be a thing moving forward that he needs to account for. Understood? Okay good.

As for the Brunswick arc, yes, a lot of it probably will focus on Roman. But that doesn't mean he's going to lean RNJRWBY against a wall to collect dust. This is a leap of logic that I can't comprehend, it's as if Eren thinks that scenes and scenarios that last an entire episode can only exist for one character. Maybe that's because that's what canon does.

I already actually ranted about Eren's apparent dislike of the side characters. So I presume that one of his so-called complaints that he says he does have about RWBY, but from my recollection he's never talked about because that is VERBOTEN, is the fact that RWBY has character bloat.

I think this is all that I really wanted to address, so I'll close this out on the, frankly nothingburger criticism that is 'How dare you title your project a thing I don't approve of'.

Some people like to argue that Raymond wouldn't get hate if he just titled it differently. But I hope that I showed you that with how they attack any and all rewrites, including SYTOkun's RWBY Remnants and other, usually unnamed, "Jaune Main" rewrites, that argument holds no water. These people dislike the concept of rewrites entirely and think it's okay to harass and criticize the work not based on how it functions, but for the fact that it exists at all. Ultimately the message is that this fan content is not Approved to be within their holy space.

They call Raymond arrogant for thinking he' better than other fallible human beings simply because they happen to hold jobs working at a company and Raymond does not. As though that is supposed to magically make them better as writers. Fact of the matter is, there are plenty of writers out there who are likely better than MKEK, and their personal credentials of whether or not they worked for Big Company XYZ doesn't matter. At the end of the day, this is opinion. Opinion that you're free to disagree with and it doesn't make anyone arrogant to think their skills are better. He put his money where his mouth is. But also no one is holding a gun to your head to consume fan content that you aren't interested in. If you feel that you have to because it appears on your dash and that just makes you the big mads, then maybe turn off your screen for a while. Read a book. Go for a swim (or don't if you're in the Northern Hemisphere right now it's December. Go skiing). Do something.

Its not arrogant of Raymond to call his work Fixing RWBY. Its merely a statement of intent with the work. If you have a problem with that then you are saying that is a problem with you. No work is perfect, no work is untouchable. There is always going to be something wrong with it and someone will always be unsatisfied and wish something would be different. That is the value we have as individual people.

Ultimately I am not saying they cannot dislike FRWBY. The work can be criticized. But it does need to actually be engaged with properly in order to be criticized. Critics engage with RWBY, but we aren't afforded the same courtesy.

It says a lot about a person who tries to control another fan into how to think, act, speak or consume content within a fandom space. If you want positive content in the fandom, then don't go after other fans with vitriol, and if you have issue with something they create, then look at it from a constructive standpoint and critique it with the desire for it to get changed. If an artist does not accept every single criticism, that is something you have to get over. They have the ultimate decision in the end.

I'm an old. I'm tired. I've said my piece. Thank you for reading my novella-length complaint and goodnight.