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bluedalahorse · 9 months ago

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on flaws as opportunities and organizing the beef

I’m in the place now where I have enough distance from Young Royals season 3 to think about what felt flawed about it for me, and it led me to some interesting revelations about how I understand the characters and the story.

And to be clear: this does not mean I didn’t love season 3 with every fiber of my being, or that I think it sucks forever. Even a great production has flaws. The wonderful thing about being in fandom is that we love our shows deeply but also like to pick them apart, and in picking them apart we come up with ideas for future fics and fix its and character studies. Writing flaws are always an opportunity.

Anyway…

Thesis statement: Wilhelm and Simon don’t actually have the same beef with August, and the show should recognize that.

Or, to put it more formally, August causes them different problems that need to be addressed differently. I think that by acknowledging that more directly, and leaning into the discomfort that creates between Wille and Simon as a couple, the writers could have cleaned up some of the Wilmon-related messiness I saw in season 3 and have been mulling over for a while.

Caveat: I still need to do a full, formal rewatch of the third season. But I’ve rewatched here and there these are my preliminary thoughts.

To start, let’s recap Wille and Simon’s conflicts with August in season 1. For Simon, August is a bully and a gatekeeper when it comes to the world of Hillerska. He makes fun of Simon for being “socialist” and puts Simon in a position where he’s bringing in alcohol and then drugs for richer students’ recreation. August doesn’t pay Simon back for the alcohol the first time, which also shows a profound lack of awareness of Simon’s financial situation. Despite bullying Simon, there are times in August’s mind that he probably thinks he’s done Simon a favor. I do think, as flawed as he is about it and as much as he’s making weird speeches and doing aggressive forehead kisses, August assumes he’s really helped Simon out by getting him on the rowing team. But from Simon’s point of view this is all just more gatekeeping. Simon sees Hillerska as his ticket out of Bjärstad, and he wants to succeed in his merits as a student and a musician. But the way August treats him reminds him that his talent matters less than how many favors he can do rich boys. It also reminds him that he’s expendable to Hillerska students—August is absolutely ready to let Simon take the fall for the drugs when he feels it threatens his position.

Wille, meanwhile, is not excluded or gatekept by August but rather included more than he wants to be. Prior to the release of the video, Wille mostly finds August’s “come here and let me play your surrogate big brother” antics annoying. The debate over whether to let Simon or Alexander take the fall for the drugs is something that increases Wille’s ire toward August and makes it more serious, enough that we see Wille out August for his money troubles. But Wille also entrenches himself further in the system as a result of their argument—he still uses Alexander as a scapegoat, and he offers to pay August’s boarding fees afterward as an attempt to restore the peace between them. Their relationship isn’t seriously fractured until August releases the video. This harms Wille in the sense that it sets Wille up to deny his authentic self and makes it hard for him to engage in intimacy without trauma getting in the way. In essence, it puts Wille in a similar position of trauma that August was put in when the Erik and the third years initiated him. (Much much much more publicly, yes, but let’s note that transfer of trauma, because YR is about cycles.)

The video also throws Wilhelm into a space where he starts to doubt his connection with Erik, because Erik told Wilhelm he could trust August. At the end of 3.4, Wille tells August that Erik would hate what he did, but I suspect he’s been wrestling with the uncertainty over whether Erik would really accept him and Simon for a long time. I don’t know if Wille really trusts Erik even though he says he does. In my opinion, it’s August’s release of the video that first brings this sense of doubt about Erik into Wille’s mind, and for three seasons we’re watching him slow burn toward actually voicing that doubt and grappling with it.

I think it’s tempting to believe that the trauma of the video release unites Wilhelm and Simon against August, and makes them feel the same sense of pain and loss, but ultimately I don’t know if that’s true. I’m not sure I see Wille and Simon as two boys in love against the world, at least not in a way that isn’t complicated. For Wille, the video affects his ability to express himself authentically and makes him doubt his relationships with his family. For Simon, the scandal of the video will now forever follow him when he wants to break free of Bjärstad and become recognized for his own merits. These are different harms from the same event that need to be dealt with differently.

One of Wille’s flaws is that he doesn’t fully realize that. I think he tends to center himself without realizing it, and sees the harm that happens to Simon as an extension of harm to himself. I actually think this is pretty interesting, and pretty in line with how Wille would have been raised as a prince. We see Kristina telling him that everything he does reflects on her and the family, so it’s natural that Wille might see a threat against Simon as a threat to himself without really thinking through how they’re going to be impacted differently. And the “prince” as a literary archetype has always been somewhat rooted in the “rescue” of others.

I explained this to @heliza24 and she said something really smart, which is, “the thing that necessarily gets lost when you muddy that is how much Wilhelm’s violations of Simon resemble August’s violations of Wilhelm.” And she’s right. I’d been trying to find a way to say that some of Wille’s actions in s3 remind me of August’s more toxic traits, and that part of Wille’s hamartia in s3 is he can’t see the ways he’s behaving similarly to August even as he shuts August out. When August releases the video, it puts Wille in a position where the royal court and Kristina are forcing him to conform more-more-more, and to hide his authentic voice from the world. Wille in turn inflicts that on Simon, acting as the royal court’s mouthpiece when they want Simon’s songs or May Day pictures deleted. We see Simon worn down to the point where he’s almost fading away. It’s actually pretty upsetting.

To that end: I also can’t help draw parallels between Wilhelm’s insistence on public gestures of affection with Simon and the way August and Felice walk arm in arm after they get together, the way he clearly wants to be seen with her. I also look at the way Wille craves Simon’s constant emotional support—especially on the night of his birthday—and see August reaching out to Sara as his emotional support lifeline.

Now, for what it’s worth, I still don’t see Wille as this awful, irredeemable person. (I don’t see August as this irredeemable person either, for that matter, and this is part of why I see Wille and August’s healing as intertwined and interdependent.) But I do think one place that season 3 fell flat for me was in the way Wille never got to recognize that his own issues with August and Simon’s issues with August weren’t exactly alike. And for Wille to recognize that some of the things he’s trying to do to heal aren’t equally healing for Simon. (Seriously, I almost tore my hair out when Wille joined the choir. It wasn’t a romantic gesture to me—I found it creepy! Let Simon have one space to himself!)

It probably would have helped to have one scene where Simon articulates that to Wille, and really point it out. I get it if we don’t have time for Simon and August to resolve their shit in one season, and since Wille is the protagonist, he and August resolving their shit is going to take precedence. But when Wille and August are still at odds in the first part of the season, I do feel this vibe where like, Wille assumes he’s the avenger for wrong done to both him and Simon. And I kind of wanted to see that reckless avenger vibe get addressed.

@heliza24 probably describes this better than I do, but season three does have a habit of obscuring Simon’s agency from the audience, mostly so the writers can manipulate the audience’s reactions to Wilhelm and Simon, and especially so they can keep us in the dark about the fate of the Wilmon relationship during the breakup cliffhanger between episodes 5 and 6. I don’t know if this was the greatest choice, to dangle the cliffhanger over our heads, because it ends up moving a lot of Wille’s development into the last 10-15 minutes of the season and creates an issue in pacing and character arc. I wonder if they could have spaced his character arc out a little more and infused the tension into other moments and ideas. I think that could have been more satisfying.

Incidentally, this is a season 3 writing problem that’s foreshadowed in season 2 with the way Felice and Wille’s friendship is written. Felice essentially becomes Wille’s confidant as Wille attempts revenge on August. This makes sense, as Felice has her own beef with August based on how awfully he treated her in their relationship, and she’s friends with Wille, so it’s a natural alliance. But once again, it’s different beef, impacted by Felice moving through the world as a Black girl with a rich white mom, and not a white boy prince, and Felice never gets a chance to say so. Maybe it shouldn’t matter, but it does matter because season 2 episode 3 ends with… Wille kissing Felice just to feel something!!! And at the beginning of episode 4 everyone’s talking about what happened and what might be a new relationship between Wille and Felice!!! Gosh does that remind anyone of Felice’s predicament in the middle of season 1? It sure does remind the random girl in the choir, who says Felice only dates bluebloods!

The thing is, I wish Felice had been able to make that comparison more explicitly in her conversations with Wilhelm. Things obviously don’t get as bad with Wilhelm as they do with August, and Wille and Felice talk things out. But Felice doesn’t get to express herself about that as much as I wanted her to, and we don’t get much of a sense as to whether or not this changes Felice’s views of Wille’s revenge plot. She forgives him pretty quickly, and I don’t know if she should have. Just a little more careful planning on the writers’ parts could have given Felice the agency she needed in season 2.

Anyway! Let’s talk about stakes. The stakes for Wilhelm in season 3 are that he’ll become August—or more accurately, that he’ll construct an armored facade like August has constructed to get through life, and that he’ll hurt other people in the process. (This is true for Wille even with him being queer, I think. Wille may be queer, but his whiteness and wealth and power and literal hired staff of PR-minded humans are going to frame how the rest of the world responds to that queerness.) Whereas for Simon, Sara, and Felice the danger is that, in order to maintain their place in the upper class system, they’ll become dependent on someone like future August or future Wilhelm, who has a lot of power and spends most of their life in armored facade mode.

Wilhelm and August reconciling is still important, because when they recognize one another’s humanity, they can actually be vulnerable with one another the way they need to be, and take that armor off. And I think by forging that relationship with one another, they have a space to really question the values they are raised with and act better to loved ones in the future. But we’re really just witnessing the first step. And there’s a lot more steps they need to take with one another, and with the other people in their lives.

What can I learn from this as a fan and writer?

Thinking about this actually helped me understand a point of view in fandom that I’ve always disagreed with. I still disagree with it, but I think I understand it better now. Periodically I’ll encounter points of view where August is seen as the worst kind of evil, the sort of person where you unite with each other to take him down once and for all. You know… Avengers Assemble! Or something. In some fan’s minds, he’s the kind of guy everyone at Hillerska should turn against at once and ultimately reject for the sake of narrative catharsis. A symbol of the corrupt system and nothing more.

And I never really saw August that way. He can be awful and annoying at times, and extremely harmful at other times. He often makes things much worse for our other main characters a lot of the time. Often times he is the most direct representative of the system that’s causing them problems. On the other hand, he’s also capable of really, truly caring about people and community, as much as he gets in his own way about it. We also know a greater extent of his trauma now and how it affects him. All in all he seems as human and as in need of liberation as all the other characters of Young Royals. It makes sense that he’s the one of five who hasn’t left behind the system yet, but I feel like one day he can maybe get there. I feel like those are the writers’ intentions, and the show’s intentions overall. Certainly this is also the version of August that Malte’s acting reflects.

I think I also understand now why I don’t always see eye to eye with others about Wille. I adore Wille, but I think sometimes the assertion others make that “Wille has one brain cell and it’s being in love with Simon” feels threatening to me rather than adorable. Wille is really really fascinating to me in that falling in love nudges him to question things about his position, but it doesn’t erase his relationship to his privilege entirely, and he can be pretty flawed in how he understands his power and how it plays out in a relationship. I think for others, they might see Wille as protective and caring toward Simon. Whereas I see him (and prefer to see him portrayed) as intending to be protective but definitely at times overstepping and putting Simon in a more negative place than before. I think part of this is caused by a writing problem in seasons 2 and 3. We see the negative impact the relationship can have on Simon—look it absolutely breaks my heart when Ayub mentions how Simon deleting his social media will make him sad—but I don’t know if Simon gets as much of a chance to articulate that to Wille or even to the audience as I want him to. And I also see Simon and Wille’s very different conflicts with August as part of that.

Moving forward… these flaws in seasons 2 and 3 don’t ruin my love of the show. They aren’t me saying the show is bad. They’re disappointing, because Young Royals is so good in so many ways that it sucks when it does let us down. But basically everything I like has a flaw one way or another, because literally no work is perfect. And right now I’d rather look at the flaws in YR and say, this is something I can learn from and play with in fanfic.

(And sometimes there are times when tumblr wants to explain all the flaws of a show away and idealize it and I wonder… can we not do that? Because sometimes claiming a show is perfect and flawless limits discussion and creativity. I get just as frustrated with people idealizing the Wilmon pairing and putting it on a moral pedestal, which has ultimately led to me blocking the tag from my dash. I like them a lot more when I think about them as complex teenage humans who fuck up a lot and not a godlike ideal of romance. I love them, your honor! But I think I need to love them independent of the tag.)

As for where this goes in fanfic, I think this once again leaves things open for fans to explore. Once again, I think there’s a whole interesting story to be explored in terms of how August and Simon work through their shit, and how that really has to happen in a space that’s in part independent of Wille. A shared relationship with Wilhelm might be the catalyst for why they’re working through their shit, but some of what’s going to happen has to happen without him there. (For what it’s worth, I think we see flashes of Simon and August beginning to understand one another throughout the series—Simon is running some really interesting mental calculus when he realizes August has an eating disorder, shout out to Omar’s acting there—but those threads always get dropped or interrupted. It’s infinitely frustrating to me as someone who likes both characters and wanted to see them talk honestly for once but didn’t quite get that.)

I also think this gives me interesting questions about where Wille and Simon’s relationship could go next in fanfic. Independent of the monarchy, I think Wille is still going to have to work through his instinct to be an angry avenger or reckless rescuer at times, and the part where he assumes he and Simon are harmed in the same way by the same things. Even in a world where Wille doesn’t have a title, he’ll still have wealth and white privilege that Simon doesn’t. And I don’t think that has to get in the way of their future happiness, but watching them navigate through that is something that draws me into a story idea.

So, you know. This has been an update on my fannish desires. At least, my fannish desires that do not involve the rest of the YR characters, various ships on Heartbreak High, and Interview with the Vampire season 2 finally airing today. There’s a lot going on in this brain and none of it is the work I need to get done.

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petiteclover · 3 months ago

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Lyle Menendez in the early 1970’s.

“He would say to fix the flaws that I seem to have with walking.”

“Did you have a problem with the way you walked?”

“I still do. I think.”

“What was wrong with the way you walked?”

“Just with the feet outward. He made fun of it. He would walk behind me and make quacking noises and say I walk like a duck and get Erik to make quacking noises.”

“Would this be done on a public street?”

“Yes.”

“Would that embarrass you?”

“Yes.”

— Lyle Menendez during direct examination being questioned by his attorney Jill Lansing about his father Jose’s bullying of him as a young child

#lyle menendez #menendez brothers #my edits #🥹#Lyle love

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cioud-berries · 2 months ago

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Just Can't Get Enough || Chapter 6

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Summery:

It was hard to believe that someone who was notoriously known as a bully, like Michael Afton, had a crush on someone that wasn't some cheerleader or popular girl at school. Y/N was a total nerd but that didn't stop him from crushing on her for years. After the grace of god, when he got the chance to ask her out she was skeptical but took it. But how would others react to the strange parring?

Category:

Michael Afton x Female Reader

Chapter Warnings:

Cussing

Word count: 6,120

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<- Previous Chapter || JCGE Masterlist || Next Chapter ->

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Babysitting

October 5 | Friday | 7:00 AM

The news of the notorious Micheal Afton dating a straight A theater kid spread around fast. No thanks to Michael telling almost everyone he came in contact with. Y/N should’ve known this was coming, but it was her fault for not mentioning she wanted to keep things a bit more private.

When she went to school on the monday after their second date, she slowly noticed more and more people looking her way throughout the day. Some eyes were full of jealousy, some other curiosity, but mostly confusion. When she asked Michael who he told, all he could do was laugh awkwardly, chuckle and rub the back of his neck, not knowing the exact number.

While most people just looked on from a distance, some people were brave enough to speak up. The most common question that was asked was- “Are you and Michael really dating?” Meant as a genuine question but it always comes off as an insult. Some people, mostly girls, would tell her- “He’s only using you to get a good grade, y’know?”

While it was all very discouraging for Y/N, she had Michael right there, confidently reassuring her by saying “They’re just jealous that I have such an amazing girlfriend, and they know they can never live up to it.” Most times, he’d swing his arm around her and give her a big kiss on the cheek afterwards. His physical affection was growing by the day.

Y/N’s goal was just to get through the week. Focus on classes, ignore the stare’s, and everything will hopefully calm down a bit by next week. Only one day left until the weekend. Her mother had just dropped off her and Erik off for school. It didn’t take Michael too long to find and berate her.

“Good morning my gorgeous girlfriend.” He walked up next to her, giving her a kiss on the cheek.

“You are way too energetic.” She replied tiredly. She turned to him with a slight smile, “But good morning.”

Just then, Malissa Miller walked by with her posse, scoffing at the two loud enough for them to hear. Michael just glared in disgust. “Bitch” He mumbled. “I don’t know why she’s scoffing. She’s literally in a relationship.”

“Whatever.” Y/N mumbled, starting to head towards her next class.

Michael was worried that this type of thing would cause Y/N to get fed up with him and break it off. “Hey, I’m sorry.” He caught up to her. He wanted to apologize for telling nearly everyone.

“It’s not your fault. I just don’t understand why people can’t mind their own business.” She huffed irritably Michael winced slightly, feeling like he contributed to her annoyance.

He still felt at fault because she’s taking most of the criticism over something that wasn’t her fault. He should’ve just kept his mouth shut. “So what are you doing over the weekend?”

“Nothing really.” She turned over to him. “What about you? Would you want to hang out?”

He sighed, obviously annoyed. “I would love to, but my dad is dragging me to another state to pick up something he bought.”

“Well at least you’re leaving town for the weekend.” She tried to come up with some positives to make him feel better. “That should be fun!”

“Yeah, in the car with my dad for hours. So much fun.” He replied sarcastically.Y/N wasn’t sure the type of relationship he had with his dad. But she assumed it wasn’t so great seeing how he was around his father.

“Well-” She was trying to find the right words to say. “I hope you at least find some sort of entertainment.” The five minute warning bell rang, signaling they needed to get to class.

“Me too.” He said shortly, knowing he wouldn’t.

12:34 PM

Y/N’s mother was spending her day off gathering groceries for the next week. It’s not something she’d really wanted to do on her day off, but she should save herself the time later, and just do it now.

Making sure to get everything she knew her kids wanted, she headed for the cereal aisle. She knew that they were running out of Y/N’s favorite cereal and wanted to make sure she got it for her.

She got to the aisle and walked down it, trying to find the type that Y/N liked. She was so focused on the shelf that she didn’t see the man standing there, lightly running her cart into him.

“Oh my, I’m so sorry!” She quickly apologized to the man. She recognized the man but couldn’t put her finger on it.

He moved away from the font of her cart, not wanting the possibility of getting hit again. “It’s fine,” He put on a fake smile. He put the box of cereal in his basket.

“Oh shoot!” She exclaimed, realizing that the man just took the last box. “My daughter loves that brand.”

“My daughter does as well.” His tone was slightly defensive, “Her babysitter quit, so I am trying to get her favorite foods to make the drive more bearable.”

“Oh well if you need a babysitter, my daughter could do it!” She quickly replied, always looking for opportunities for her kids.

“Well-” He went to voice his concerns, due to only meeting this woman less than five minutes ago.

“Don’t worry! My daughter is a straight A student and is great with children!” She chimed in, pressuring the man to accept the offer. “She doesn’t have a car but if there was an emergency, I could always drive for whatever reason.”

The man thought about it, weighing the options. The one that stuck out most to him was how badly he didn’t want to deal with Elizabeth. He was already having to bring Michael to help him and he knew Elizabeth would throw a tantrum the whole time. He really didn’t want to deal with it.

“Fine.” He stated through gritted teeth.

“Perfect!” She exclaimed happily, pulling out a pen from her purse, ready to write all of the man’s information down.

She felt very accomplished as she continued to shop. She knew it was going to be a good opportunity for Y/N, seeing as she hasn’t gotten a job yet, and most kids her age already do.

3:04 PM

Y/N and Erik got into the car. Y/N sighed, happy that the week was finally over. Hoping that by next week, everyone would forget or not care about her and Michael being together.

“You okay honey?” Their mother asked her.

“Yeah,” She sighed again, not sharing any detail as to why, “I’m just happy it’s the weekend. I can finally relax.”

Their mom gripped the wheel a bit, knowing that Y/N wouldn’t like the news she was about to give. She didn’t want her kids to see her questioning her choices so she put on a smile and told her. “Well I actually got you a babysitting job over the weekend!”

“What?” She quickly yelled while Erik snickered at the situation, happy he wasn’t the one to have a job forced upon.

“No need to be so dramatic.” She looked over at Y/N. “It's a good, easy way to make money. Plus most kids your age already have a job by now.”

“Ugh.” Y/N groaned, lowering in her seat. “Why don’t you ask me before getting me into something. What if I had something this weekend?”

“Well if it was important, I would’ve known about it.” She retorted, Y/N could tell her patience was thinning. “It was short notice but I bet you’ll get more money for that!”

“Who am I babysitting for?” She finally questioned. “The neighbors?”

“William Afton. He’s the owner of that pizza place we went to.” She said it as if it was no big deal.

“Oh my god.” Y/N whispered under her breath.

She knew that it was a small town, but the coincidence of her mom somehow getting her to babysit Michael’s little sister was kind of funny. But from what Michael has said about her, this will be a very long weekend.

“So you just told this stranger that I’d come over to his house for the weekend?” Y/N stated, obviously peeved. “What if he was some kind of creep and was lying to you?”

“Oh come on sweetheart.” Her tone was starting to show signs of annoyance. “I don’t think that’s the case. If it was, my motherly instincts would’ve kicked in. Plus I know his name, address and place of work.”

Y/N looked at Erik through the rearview mirror, knowing their mom had the motherly instincts of a Harp Seal. “How long is it for?” She finally gave in.

“From five until Sunday afternoon.” She pulled into the driveway. “I know there will be enough food for you to feed the girl and yourself but I’ll give you some extra money to order pizza.”

They all got out of the car. Y/N started heading up to her room to start packing, even though she has another few hours until she has to leave.

“Maybe bring some movies for you two to watch!” Her mom told her from the bottom of the steps. “The easiest babysitting can get is putting something on for them to watch and just leaving them to it!” She advised, remembering when she used to babysit.

Y/N made sure to bring some things she’d think Elizabeth would like, from Michael’s description. She was dreading this weekend already and it barely even started. At least she’d get to meet Michael’s notorious sister, even though she couldn’t tell if that was a good or bad thing. She wondered if that meant Michael would be there also, though she doubted it as he seemed certain he was going on that trip with his father. Or maybe I’ll deal with a miniature version of him. She thought humorously, wondering if his sister was just as troublesome as him. She was just dreading to face their father overall, unsure if he’ll recognize her from before.

4:53 PM

Her mom pulled into the driveway of the Afton household. Many questions started to flurry around in her head. What if Elizabeth doesn’t like her? Would Michael find it weird that she was staying in her house while he wasn’t there? Does he even know it’s her babysitting? Is this going to be the worst weekend of her life?

“Now if you need anything just call, you remember the home phone number right?” She asked, wanting to make sure she had everything.

“Of course I do,” She grabbed her bag of stuff out of the back of the car. “And if I didn’t, I know they have a phonebook.”

“Okay, well I left some money in your bag if you guys want to order pizza.” She gave Y/N an encouraging smile. “Good luck! Have fun!”

Y/N got out of the car, stopping before closing the door. “I’ll try my best. Love you”

“Love you too sweetie!” Y/N shut the car door, heading towards the house. It didn’t take any time for her mother to quickly pull out of the driveway and leave.

Y/N grumbled, thinking that her mother could have at least waited until she went inside before leaving. She turned back towards the house, now realizing how creepy it was. It was an old plain looking house, but the thing that made it creepy was how secluded it was. It was about a quarter of a mile to get back to the main road, and even with that, it's a few miles until you get back to a populated area.

With a deep sigh, she walked up to the front door, hesitating before knocking. Slight inaudible yelling could be heard from inside the house, followed by a more clearer “Yeah” that was clearly from a younger girl. Elizabeth.

Small footsteps can be heard running towards the door. A few clicks later and the door opened to a young girl with red hair. Y/N didn’t know what to expect she’d look like, but she definitely didn’t look like Michael or their father. She guessed that she got most of her looks from her mother. Or maybe she just got the wrong house.

“You’re Y/N, right? My babysitter?” The girl asked while keeping the door mostly closed. She peered up at Y/N with her curious green eyes.

“Uh yeah I am.” She said unsure.

The girl’s attitude immediately changed to a more welcoming one. “Come in then! You have the same name as Michael's girlfriend.” She said bluntly, like most children do.

“Oh what a coincidence.” Y/N awkwardly commented, now realizing that Michael in fact does not know that she’s babysitting. “I guess it could be a common name.”

They were both standing awkwardly in the living room, Y/N still clutching onto her bag, just in case she needs to leave for some reason. She felt bad for feeling so awkward and uncomfortable in Michael’s home. But it wasn’t Michael that caused it, it was his father.

The combination of the rumors surrounding Fredbear’s and the one time she met face to face with him made her skin crawl. She wishes she could be mad at her mother but she was just trying to do what she thought was best for her daughter.

The silence between the two was starting to get unbearable. Y/N didn’t know what to say or talk about. Thankfully enough, Elizabeth was focused on the kids show on the TV, but it was still awkward for Y/N. She would’ve been relieved if anyone but William walked in, but it was bound to happen sooner or later, she was taking care of his kid. He laid his suitcase on the ground before walking towards her.

It was obvious that William instantly recognized her from the back alley of Fredbear’s. He wondered if Michael somehow orchestrated this, but there was no way he would know Y/N’s mother. Michael was the type of boyfriend that girls hid from their parents, and William knew that.

“Your mother said you were a straight A student?” He asked in disbelief. Y/N sharply turned to face him to answer his question.

“Yes I am.” She replied, intimidated by his demeanor. “I have my report card.” She reached into her bag to search for it. When her mom forced her to bring it, she thought it was insane. At least it came in handy.

William snatched it from her, looking over it carefully. Either she somehow forged her report card, or Michael somehow managed to find a smart friend for once. William just couldn’t believe it, he handed the card back to her. “I can help Elizabeth with her homework if need be.” She believed that Elizabeth’s homework or grades would be the reason he cared about Y/N’s grades so much.

William ignored her comment, not caring about that at all. He walked towards the kitchen, before beginning to list off the rules to her. “Michael and I should be back by mid Sunday. I have locked all of the doors of the room’s you’re not allowed to go into. If they’re locked, don’t try to get in anyways. There should be enough food for the both of you, if you somehow eat all of it, you’ll have to pay for food. You’ll be sleeping on the couch, or floor, whichever you prefer. If anything happens, call the number on the fridge, but only call if there’s an emergency.” He finally finished, mumbling the next part under his breath. “I don’t care otherwise.”

Y/N only nodded, trying to keep note of everything. William turned towards the hallway before yelling for Michael to hurry up. Michael snapped back in response, in a room nearby.

“Hold on old man, I have to make sure I have everything!” Y/N was surprised that Michael had the guts to yell at his father like that.

Michael rushed to his father with two luggage cases in his hands, obviously too much for this very short trip they were going to be on. It took a bit too long for him to notice that Y/N was in his house, but when he did, he stopped in his tracks with a look of disbelief on his face. She wanted to laugh at how his jaw seemed to drop like a cartoon character from Looney Tunes.

“You’re Liz’s babysitter?” He asked, still clearly in shock.

William was not paying attention to the conversation between the two, only the amount of things he’s bringing. His eyes scanned over to Michael, noticing the two luggages with him. “Michael! You don’t need that much stuff. Go put some stuff back. And hurry up, we need to leave now if we want to get to the motel by eleven.” His voice was stern and angry. Y/N assumed that Michael was getting on his last nerves even before she had arrived.

Michael looked down at his bags, debating which bag to take back to his room. “Y/N you can sleep in my room, if you’d want!” He offered in a hopeful tone Typically, knowing that babysitters take the couch, but he was willing to bend the rules especially for her. “If you follow me I can show you around.”

“Well only if Mr. Afton is okay with it.” She politely responded, turning towards him.

William opened his mouth to respond but was quickly cut off by Michael. “Why wouldn’t he be?” He answered for his father as if he wasn’t right there.

“Fine,” William replied through gritted teeth. “Just be quick.”

Y/N followed Michael down the hall. With his hands full it was hard for him to open the door, so Y/N got it for him. She thought that Michael’s room would’ve been one of the ones that was off limits and was surprised that it wasn’t.

The room looked like any teen boys would, and smelled like it too. Clothes were thrown everywhere, most likely from him packing. She felt like she shouldn’t be in there and stood awkwardly in the middle of the room as Michael threw his two luggage cases on the bed and opened them both to see how he could consolidate it all into one.

“Why didn’t you tell me that you were the one watching Liz?” He asked, trying to strategically stuff everything into one case.

“Because I didn’t know until I got in the car with my mom.” She finally laid her stuff down on the carpet, still standing in the same spot. She watched as Michael huffed aloud and forced all the clothes into one case and managed to push the luggage down so he could zip it up.“She somehow got this job for me today.”

Once he finally figured it all out, he leaned on his case to make sure it shuts all the way. He then turned to her, leaving his suitcase on the bed. “Well I’m glad that I’m able to at least have a few seconds of alone time with you.” He walked up to her, his hands drifted over towards her hips, gently pulling her closer to him.

She was very startled by his sudden closeness. She’s now realizing that this is the first time that they were alone, not in public or the car. Even though William and Elizabeth were down the hall, it seemed like they were going to be staying there.

She could tell with the way Michael was looking at her that he wanted to kiss her, but was trying to find any signs that she felt the same way too. She put her hands up on his chest, trying to create some sort of border between the two of them.

“What should I know about Elizabeth before spending the next two days with her?” She desperately tried to change the subject. She was nervous from his sudden move, but didn’t want him to take offense to her moving away.

Michael immediately backed off, sitting down on his bed. His gaze shifted from a loving one to a more darkened look. “If you don’t want trouble, give her everything she wants.” His tone changed to a more serious one.

“Oh lovely-” She realized that this weekend was going to be hell.

“Michael!” They both heard the scream from down the hall.

Michael didn’t even bother in responding to his father. “Well you have free range of my room. Just-” He paused, getting up and kicking some of the clothes on the ground into a pile. “Ignore the clothes everywhere.”

“Alright, we'll have a safe trip.” She silently wished him luck, especially with those hours in the same car as his dad.

He walked over to her, giving her a kiss on the cheek like normal. “I’ll try. No promises with my father driving.” He joked, giving her a soft smile afterwards.

Michael grabbed the suitcase off the bed and headed towards the door. Y/N followed but grabbed his arm before they left the room. He turned back to her in confusion before she quickly gave him a peck on the cheek. She said nothing else, but her face heated up in embarrassment.

He went from a surprised expression to a cocky grin real quick. He walked out of the room with a new found confidence, strutting down the hall with one suitcase now. William looked beyond upset at how long it took. He didn’t even say a word to Michael, only grabbed his luggage and walked out the door.

Elizabeth got off the couch to follow her father out the door, going to wish him goodbye. She stopped in front of Y/N and Michael, looking at their faces. “You guys are gross.” She commented before walking out. Y/N and Michael exchanged a glance at this comment.

The two of them also walked outside, Michael went to go put his suitcase in the trunk while Y/N stayed on the porch. Elizabeth hugged her father goodbye. She started walking back towards Y/N before Michael jokingly whined out to her. “Not one for me?”His comment was met with an ugly glare from Elizabeth across the driveway.

The two watched from the porch as they drove away from the house, Y/N giving a polite wave. The second the car was out of sight, Elizabeth turned to her.. “So how did my dumb brother end up with someone like you?” She blurted out.

Y/N awkwardly chuckled, not knowing how to respond. “What do you mean by that?” She walked back into the house with Elizabeth following behind her.

“Someone smart!” She stated like it was obvious. Once they walked into the house, Y/N closed and locked the door. Elizabeth still stuck to her side like a thorn. “How did someone failing highschool get with someone who has all As.”

“Oh well-” She still didn’t know how to answer the question. “I guess it’s his persistence?” She said with uncertainty.

Elizabeth laughed at how Michael’s ‘persistence’ could be seen as anything other than annoying. “He makes you do his homework huh?”

“No he doesn’t.” Y/N was quick to defend him. “Yes I help him with it but he does it for the most part.”

“Uh huh.” Elizabeth replied, knowing that isn’t the case. Elizabeth plopped down onto the couch while Y/N stayed standing next to the TV.

Michael told Y/N a lot about Elizabeth’s sass, but experiencing it first hand was a different story. She was surprised about it, especially with how young Elizabeth is. “Do you really think he’s only with me for my smarts?”

Y/N was slightly scared of the answer to that question. Elizabeth is his sister. They’ve known each other for so long. So of course she knows him better, and would know if he was just using a person.

“No.” She said shortly. “But it definitely is a good benefit.”

Y/N inwardly sighed in relief. “Well that’s good at least.” She awkwardly replied, not knowing what else to say or do. Elizabeth seemed pretty interested in the random kids show that was on.

“Have you eaten dinner yet?” She asked, thinking that it was the next best course of action.

Elizabeth kept her eyes on the TV, focused on her show. “No.”

“Do you want me to cook something?” She asked, heading to the kitchen that was right next to the living room. She wanted to see what all there was for her to cook. “Or I can just order us some pizza.”

She perked up at the suggestion, turning her full attention to Y/N. “Pizza. As long as it’s not Fredbear's, I am sick of their pizza.” Her nose scrunched up at the thought of Fredbears pizza.

“Do they even deliver?” Y/N was pretty sure they didn’t but since Mr. Afton owns it, she might have known something Y/N didn’t.

“No, but if you called and told them it was for me-” She stated very privileged-like. “They would have someone come and bring it. It would be free too.”

“Free pizza? Why would I pass up that chance?” Y/N joked.

“No, I don’t want it!” Elizabeth whined loudly, it was almost a shout. It nearly pierced Y/N’s ears at first and she winced.

Y/N was startled by it. From how smoothly everything was going, she almost forgot about all the horror stories Michael has told. “I was only kidding…” She tried to defuse the situation before it got worse, like it always does with Michael. But in Elizabeth’s defense, Michael does antagonize her. “How about Sun’s Pizza? I’ve had it a few times, they’re pretty good!”

“If you say so.” Elizabeth turned back to her show. “I’ve never really had any other pizza than daddy’s. He always says ‘Why would I buy pizza when we can just make it for free.’” She mimicked in her best William impression.

Y/N chuckled at her impression. It was very on point. “Alright, I’ll call and order it then.” She grabbed the phonebook to find the number. “What toppings do you want? I’ll just have whatever you have.”

“Just cheese.” Elizabeth replied, her eyes seemed to light up at being able to choose what she wanted.

Y/N finished typing the number into the phone to order the pizza for them. “Alright, and what’s the address?” The worker, who was a bit too preppy for someone working on a friday night, asked.

Y/N realized she didn’t know the address since it was just her mom that drove her here. “Uh hold on.” She gently let the phone hang by its cord off the wall while she went for the fridge, remembering seeing some sort of envelope being held up by a magnet.

She ran back to the phone, giving the pizza place the address. The worker gave her the estimated time of delivery and total. Y/N thanked the worker and hung up. “They’ll be here in about forty-five minutes.” Y/N informed Elizabeth.

A simple “Okay” is all she got back.

Since Y/N had some time to spare, she thought that it would be the perfect time to get her homework out of the way. She grabbed her bag out of the living room, bringing it to the kitchen. She set herself up on the kitchen table and started getting to work.

“Hey Elizabeth?” She asked to get her attention. “Do you have, or need any help with your homework?”

Elizabeth scoffed as if she had just been insulted. “I don’t need help with homework. I’m not stupid like Michael.” Her cockiness had surprised Y/N, but she simply shrugged it off.

“Alright then…” She went back to work. The mood swings with Elizabeth were hard to predict. She can see how Elizabeth’s constantly changing mood and Michael’s ignorance can cause them to clash a lot.

6:11 PM

She finished her homework just in time for the ringing of the doorbell. She quickly grabbed the cash her mother had given her. She opened the door to the delivery man, handing him the cash in exchange for the pizza.

She closed the door, making sure to lock it before heading to the kitchen. Elizabeth was already up and getting plates for the two of them. She placed the pizza box down on the counter. “I don’t know how your family does dinner, but we eat in the living room and watch a movie. Or you can continue watching your show if you would prefer.” She quickly added that last sentence to avoid any possible outburst from her.

“My show already ended.” She stared blankly, grabbing the biggest slice.

Y/N took that as her saying yes to a movie. She went over to her bag grabbing out the movies for her. “I brought these with me, but now I’m realizing that some of these might be a bit too mature for you… But I have Grease, Jaws, Sta-”

Elizabeth immediately spotted the one she wanted to watch. “Grease.” Is all she said before walking into the living room, waiting for Y/N to follow with the tape.

Y/N put the other movies back and grabbed her plate of pizza. She kneeled in front of the VHS player, putting her plate on the floor before opening the VHS tape’s case. She took the tape out and put it into the player. Elizabeth already had the remote, ready to start the movie.

Y/N decided to stay on the floor, but she scooted back towards the couch so she wasn’t so close to the TV.

“Michael loves this movie.” She told Y/N, knowing that it would embarrass Michael. “You didn’t hear that from me though.”

“Really?” Y/N asked, turning back towards Elizabeth, mouth full of pizza.

Elizabeth looked at her disgustedly for talking with a full mouth. “Yes. But he’ll pretend like he hates it.” Y/N laughed, imagining exactly how he’d react. “It always starts with ‘You’re watching this shit again?’.” Y/N nearly choked on her food at his lack of filter around Elizabeth.

Y/N swallowed her food before scolding Elizabeth. “Hey, language.”

“I’m just quoting Michael.”She defended herself. “And then he’ll sit down and watch the whole thing. I’ve also heard him singing Hopelessly Devoted in the shower a few times.”

Y/N laughed, wishing she would be able to hear that some day. “Now that I’m thinking about it, Danny Zuko and Michael have a lot of similarities.”

“Ewww!” Elizabeth exclaimed in disgust. “Don’t compare them!”

Y/N only chuckled in response. She turned back towards the TV as the movie started to play.

8:07

By the time that the movie was over, Elizabeth had fallen asleep. Y/N had to lightly shake her to wake her up. When her eyes sluggishly opened, Y/N whispered softly to her, “Hey the movie’s over. You should go to your bedroom.” She must have been sleeping deeply because she slowly got off the couch and made her way to her room without complaining.

Y/N went to clean up everything, wash the plates and find a place in the fridge for the leftover pizza. She picked up her homework supplies and put them back in her bag. She made sure that there was nothing else in the kitchen or living room that needed to be put back in the proper spot.

She headed down the hall towards Michael’s room. She had forgotten the mess Michael left behind. One suitcase full of clothes open on the bed, and even more strewn all over the floor. She felt awkward being in his room, especially without him there. She felt like he was invading his space even though she knew he didn’t care.

She wasn’t tired and didn’t really have anything else to do, so she thought to clean up his room for him. She knew she was going to be bored out of her mind if she didn’t have something to do.

As she started cleaning, she had a realization that not everything might be clean. Disgusted at the thought, all she could do was hope and pray that it was. Putting all of his clothes in the drawers and closed made the room look a lot better and spacious.

Once she was done, she closed the now empty suitcase and put it in his closet. She didn’t know if it went there or not, but just wanted to put it away somewhere. While cleaning some things up along the desk, she noticed a few cassette tapes of ABBA laying around. She smiled softly as she remembered their listening session to ABBA in the car together. She went back to her bag, bringing out her own pillow and blanket that she was expecting to use on the couch. Having something familiar would help her sleep.

She was getting ready for bed, she noticed a small teddy bear on his bed. She grabbed the bear, admiring how worn down it was. Michael must have had this and slept with it since he was a young kid. She found it cute.

She placed the teddy bear back down in its spot, settling down into the bed. The sheets smelled like Michael, whether that was for better or for worse, but also had the strong smell of cigarette smoke. She was just hoping that it won’t stick to her and her mother starts questioning why she smells like she’s been smoking.

The pillow was uncomfortable. She tried to position it in a different way but her hand brushed against something that wasn’t fabric. She pulled it out, wondering what it was. She could tell it was a magazine but nothing else in the darkness of the room. She leaned over to turn the lamp on.

Once her eyes adjusted she was met with boobs barely covered on the front of a playboy magazine. It took her a minute to process everything, but the second she did, she loosened her grip and held it with only the tips of her pointer finger and thumb, keeping it far away from her. Her nose scrunched up, trying her hardest not to imagine what reasons Michael could have this for.

She quickly got up from the bed and headed for the closet. Swiftly chucking it in and slamming the door shut. She looked down at her hands in disgust, then the pillow it was laying under as well. She grabbed it, throwing it in the closet with the magazine.

Leaving the room, she looked for the bathroom. Just now realizing that she doesn’t know which door led to the bathroom. She started going down the hall, trying to open the doors, all locked, even Elizabeth’s. There were only a few doors in the hallway but surprisingly all of them were not the bathroom.

Sure of the next one being the bathroom, she grabbed the doorknob and this time it actually opened. Expecting the bathroom, she was met with a dark stairwell. It was very eerie, but what basement wasn’t? She looked down into the dark abyss, wondering if the bathroom was down there. There was one more door to check so she thought to look at that one before taking a risk with the basement.

Opening the last door she was met with a small bathroom. She sighed in relief and walked in to wash her hands. It was weird that all doors except that one were locked. Mr. Afton must have left it unlocked by accident. Or maybe there was extra supplies down there that might be needed. Either way, she wasn’t going to go down there unless Elizabeth needed something.

After drying her hands, she walked back to the room. She looked back at the closet door, a shiver running up her spine. She really shouldn’t be so surprised, yet she was. Maybe she was more surprised by the fact that he keeps it under his pillow of all places.She decided to lay her pillow at the foot of the bed, not wanting to put her pillow or head near where that thing was laying. As she drifted off to sleep she started to think about the next few days here. She thinks that Elizabeth likes her. She knows Elizabeth likes her more than Michael, but was that really saying something? She was hoping that they could become somewhat friends.

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

Overall Masterlist

Discord link

#fnaf #fnaf x reader #michael afton x reader #michael afton #elizabeth afton #william afton

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stereax · 2 years ago

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Can you explain the erik-canes drama please 😚

Yeah, no problem, anon! Meet me under the read more for the details :)

So last night we found Haulzy wearing a "Canes Suck" bracelet -

(let the record show I posted this FIRST before the Canes fans found it because I am speedier than them and also much better in every single way 😉)

Now, you may be asking yourself, "why is a grown, 32-year-old hockey player of a man wearing a bracelet that says Canes Suck on it?" That is a WONDERFUL question. First, let's look at Haula's career.

Erik Haula was drafted in the seventh round by Minnesota. He played for the Wild for a few years before, well, the Wild essentially sold him to the Golden Knights in the expansion draft - they basically sent Vegas Alex Tuch (one of their better prospects) for a third and "expansion draft considerations", meaning the Knights would choose Haula in the draft and not a player like Matt Dumba or Marco Scandella, who were more vital to the Wild's core.

Haula plays for the Knights for two years - he's part of the team that wills itself into the Cup finals in 2017-18. In 2018-19, Haula goes down early, getting injured in a game against Toronto that keeps him out the rest of the season.

Vegas trades him to Carolina three days before his wedding. It's a Kelly McCrimmon move - and if you know the Knights, you know what that means (trading fan favorites for better returns). By all accounts, Haula loved Vegas, so he's going into this Carolina thing with some apprehension, especially because this is the last year on his contract. If he puts up good numbers, he's going to get a payday. If not, well, probably not. Remember, he had a career year in 2017-18. He wants to prove he's got what it takes.

Alright. He gets there, gets hurt for a few games with an LBI, comes back, gets hurt again and is out for a few weeks. At the time he gets his second injury, he's got 11 points in 16 games, with 8 goals, one less than team leaders Svechnikov, Aho, and Hamilton (all of whom played more games). So the dude's playing stellar, but then gets banged up. He slots back into the lineup just before Christmas.

And here's where things go south. You see, Haula and his wife, Kristen, were planning to start a family. Kristen got pregnant probably around August, given that when Haula posted the baby announcement on his Instagram he noted a May due date.

The baby is found without a heartbeat 12/30/19.

Erik Haula plays the next day and pots a goal and an assist.

It's a second-trimester miscarriage, which means it's likely Kristen had to deliver a stillborn baby.

He points to the sky after the goal, honoring his lost daughter.

It's around this time that relations between Haula and the Canes begin to take a nosedive.

(Fun fact, contrary to what Canes fans will tell you, Haula's play only suffered significantly after the miscarriage. In the four games in December he played before the miscarriage, he got 2 goals and 2 assists, so in 20 games he had 15 points which is nothing to scoff at for a middle-sixer. Despite being tossed around a bit in the lineup, he was still producing very well.)

Reports of exactly what was going on are incredibly difficult to find and are generally tainted by the biases of whoever writes them. It's stated that Haula was, in some way or another, "forced" to play the day after the miscarriage and never given time to emotionally recover from it. He gets scratched a few times (and again, it's a contract year for him, so ice time is exceedingly valuable). There are rumors of a "shouting match" between Haula and head coach Rod Brind'Amour. Supposedly, he's not participating in after-game workouts that Brind'Amour makes the team do (for recovery) and thus "doesn't fit the culture of the team", "has no respect", and "is a jerk". (Which... we'd prefer him do work on the ice, thanks???) Other rumors say he's "bullying" the rookies on the Canes (which have never been corroborated by a reliable source nor been backed up by similar actions anywhere else). Kristen makes vague posts on Instagram that Canes fans interpret as being derogatory towards the team - Reddit widely quotes one as "Don't allow your loyalty to become slavery. If they aren't appreciating what you bring to the table, let them eat alone."

So Haula gets dealt at the deadline to the Panthers as part of a deal for Vincent Trocheck, after playing only 41 games for the Canes. And he journeys around the NHL for a few years after that before finding his home in New Jersey.

Ever since then, the Canes have absolutely haunted Haula. The "1-14" thing Canes fans put on pictures of him? It's because, since leaving the Canes, he's won once at their home rink (PNC)... and lost 14 times. In three consecutive years, his teams have lost to the Canes each time in the playoffs (Predators, Bruins, then Devils, respectively). He's the first player that happened to, where he played for three different teams and each year lost to the same team.

Canes fans boo him every time he touches the ice - for them, he's a traitor that shit-talked Raleigh and the team and backs it up by playing like a goon when he's against them.

So if there's one person on the whole Devils roster who deserves to wear a Canes Suck bracelet, it's Uncle Haula.

Go off, king.

📿👑

~ [ Addendum 1: Pasta ] ~

David Pastrnak, much like Erik Haula, also lost a child - his son died only six days old. I'm sure, when Pasta accidentally ran into Antti Raanta on the ice during the 2022 playoffs, they didn't go on his socials and make disgusting comments about his child's death...

Oh? They did? Well then.

Canes fans will tell you they only had the utmost of respect for Haula during his miscarriage and never used it against him, both during and after his Canes tenure. Somehow, I doubt that.

But maybe that's just me.

~ [ Addendum 2: Signs ] ~

When Canes fans make signs like this about you, it's understandable why you get upset.

The sign reads "It's me. Haula. I'm the problem. It's me. Hi everybody agrees", with cutouts of Haula's former teams' logos pasted on top.

What's so strange is that no Panthers, Bruins, Knights, Predators, or Wild fans seem to have a problem with Haula. It's only the Canes fans calling him "locker room cancer". Jack Hughes disagrees with this assessment.

Coincidentally, the "locker room cancer" charge was also famously said about Dougie Hamilton...

Oh, hey, look, some Canes fans behind the Devils' bench, just behind Jack, made a sign! I'm sure it's nice and respectful :)

Wait, is that Ellen Weinberg-Hughes next to a man whose face is photoshopped to be Sebastian Aho?

The sign says "Jack Your Mom's A Ho", by the way.

And several Canes players signed it.

"Bunch of jerks" is right.

So if you wonder why Jack Hughes beat the shit out of Sebastian Aho... look no further.

~ [ Addendum 3: Culture ] ~

Once again, I point you to this post by eugeniosuarez -

1 is about Jordan Staal, 2 and 3 are about Tony DeAngelo, if you're unsure.

Yeah, I think I see the culture problem here. Just to be clear, this one, right?

Glad we're on the same page 👍

#stereanswers #stereanalysis #stereducation #not your typical analysis but still #uncle haula #erik haula #nj devils #new jersey devils #carolina hurricanes

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anonymousredactedconfessions · 1 year ago

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To everyone saying it seems like Erik is unmotivated to move the story along or that he’s just getting stuff out lazily, why do we think that is? Here’s my thoughts:

-big story driven stuff gets crumbs in terms of views. Everyone says how much they want story but when it’s not packaged in the perfect pretty bow told by your favorite character you don’t touch it with a ten foot pole. Huge example: Vega. He drops so much lore and is about to step into a huge storyline but y’all don’t watch him. So of course he gets no movement. Putting all the hard work Erik does into things just to see it get shoved aside and not touched, yeah that’s probably a motivation killer.

-y’all hate angst. Everyone says they want it but if he did it, hell would break loose. If a character died that was important to the fandom, Erik would be crucified.

-if a listener is the antagonist or even remotely complex you all lose your damn minds.

-so many are expecting HIS story to be whatever they’ve written or read in headcannons/fanfiction, that’s not how this works but y’all will complain anyway.

-some of y’all are also so fucking demanding its horrifying. Like I’m not even the creator but I’m stressed out. I can’t imagine how he feels. He’s just a guy with a job and a life, not your content machine. Chill.

-there’s a problem with everything. Most of you are never satisfied.

-some of y’all are just straight weird towards the man, invading his privacy and shit. Weird.

-the constant complaints that he doesn’t listen to his fans anymore. Have you all seen how you fucking act? You want him to see and interact with that? I wouldn’t interact or listen to y’all either sorry.

-spewing just pure hatred and cruelty under the guise of “criticism” Criticism in art is absolutely necessary and should be done (people also shouldn’t be bullied for criticisms) but there is a line between critique and just being a total dick for no good reason

Plus so much more I’m probably forgetting. But yeah I wouldn’t blame him for losing the joy and motivation for story telling. I’d feel the same way. The fun is being completely sucked out.

#redacted asmr #redacted audio #confessions

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pencilofawesomeness · 1 year ago

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Hello!

*Taps fingers together* I come to bug you regarding the Secret Santa exchange!

I saw your character prompts and decided to try and mix all three. I wanted to ask if there was any Laxus + Cobra brotp, or Cobra + Thunder Legion friendship headcanons you'd want to see added?

If not headcanons, then anything in particularly you would like to see regarding the five of them?

Hahahah hello there, mystery person~

Oooo you bring to the table a tantalizingly interesting prospect. I do have waaaaaay too many thoughts, and many of them are admittedly steeped in my own AU because I accidentally sold my soul to it (as authors do) so by all means, do not feel encumbered by my thoughts/ideas. Treat them as a buffet to pick and choose and take inspo from, because unfortunately you just gave me license to ramble :D

(and this is going to be rambley; too tired to make this cohesive beyond bullet points)

(I love these idiots very much)

—Laxus and Erik brotp is so real to me, fam. It's the "hey we got a lacrima bestowed upon us, whoo" bonding, for one, but beyond that, the sort of....quiet mutual understanding of what it is like to have a "father" figure who is just treating them like a weapon, making them *stronger*, with a faux sort of affection. Beyond the trauma, though, they are both deadpan assholes and I love that for them. If Erik (and this is the htryds coloring) spends a good deal of time having the braincell, then with Laxus he can channel the little-shit-little-brother energy and bully him a bit, and Laxus can be grouchy back and know that Erik can parse through the emotions and figure out what's genuine or not without him figuring out how to put in the effort.

—Also, depending on the setting, they both have the tendency to pull the ~too good for you~ bad boy vibes as a defense mechanism, which makes it utterly unusable on each other, which is fun. Mostly, though, Laxus and Erik have the ability to enjoy a mutual quietness, so to speak; not trying to prove anything, but just leaning back and being normal young adults (with a little salt on the side) and doing whatever. That said, Erik is a bit too much of a dark mirror of how things could have been worse for Laxus, if Ivan was more involved, and this leads to Laxus winning the "big brother instinct" award of the two, which is an experience Erik is not used to but....does not necessarily hate.

—This is a fun headcanon that I haven't had the chance to incorporate into my series yet, but they have fun little music debates. Laxus got Erik into the magic of using music to calm the overstimulation, but they have wildly different tastes. Laxus loves rock and roll and metal, and Erik turned to liking types of bluegrass and straight up classical music. They meet in the middle at alt-rock. They are both always trying to win each other over on certain songs or genres. It works surprisingly often but it's part of the fun to swear undying rivalry to the other's favorite.

—For more Cobra-specific vibes (aka the canon edgemaster), I can see them being a bit more competitive with each other. Which quickly doesn't work when they have completely different specialties, but an effort is made.

—Also something I haven't had the chance to capitalize on outside of the scenarios in my head, but Bickslow and Erik definitely have a fun "we perceive you but we don't care" vibe that I love. Your secrets are obvious but not their business. Sometimes they people watch together for the fun of it, because all of the thoughts they *do* have regarding the things they know have got to go somewhere.

—Evergreen, being the queen of gossip, really really wants in on this. They tease her for it though, and purposely dangle that tea on a string. (Though sometimes Ever *does* get in on it, mostly when it comes to roasting anyone who was particularly rude or annoying, or the silly speculation at the expense of friends, like figuring out what job Nab will eventually go on or what animal Bisca will adopt next.)

—On this same note, Bickslow and Evergreen both have insufferable little sibling energy amongst the Thunder Legion squad, nevermind that Bickslow is the second oldest. Mostly it's just really fun to tease the more serious ones.

—Though Ever and Bickslow are also the most keenly aware of what it is like to be feared. Truly feared. Having eye magic that isn't quite controllable (as a kid, especially) will grant that experience. It is their unspoken agreement never ever to speak of this, of course.

—On an individual note, it is worth it now to bring up that I am an avid fan (read: it's canon to me and sometimes I forget it's not real canon) of the theory that Bickslow was one of the kids experimented on by the Bureau of Magical Development. He's got that unhinged flavor that comes from straight-up trauma, and it does add more context to his otherwise creepy magic. I also hc that the babies are all deceased test subjects, and that is why they have stuck with him all this time. (I am very passionate about the babies as characters, unfortunately, and my little mini series I'm doing for them on tumblr is proof. I am soooo normal.)

—Another theory I love, and that I have somewhat brandished into my own spin, is that Freed is half demon. He sees this as an awful thing, raised by his human parent (mother, in my case), without any real context for demon culture other than the fear of it, so that's why he's super edgy and has locked all of his demon traits away into a single form he swear never to uses unless things are ~Dire~ or whatnot. It's really not that bad though lol.

—The fact that Erik will Know Freed's secrets bother him immensely. Freed is, unfortunately, *just* a smidge too dense to realize that Bickslow has also known all along, just because Bickslow is strangely very good at keeping things to himself, whereas Erik's magic is more obvious. In my au, Laxus knows too, and is literally just waiting for Freed to admit it, because it's not that big of a deal, really.

—Laxus is also the only one who (at first) knows about Bickslow's past, among the team. Mostly because of some variant of Laxus having seen/met him when it was all raw. Depending on the au flavor, this either is what gives the chaotic dude and the stoic dude a sort of mutual respect (closer to canon) or makes them the og best friends (htryds style). In the latter case, they are each other's impulse control and/or voice of reason, which is probably unfortunate because they're not great at it. This is why Bickslow has doodled drawings on half of Laxus's furniture and why Laxus gets away with avoiding his problems a little longer than he should.

—Freed is simultaneously the most responsible and the most edgy and ergo reckless of the crew. Everyone agrees he's got to value his safety just a little bit more. He's also the only one who consistently remembers the schedule/to-do-list.

—Erik shares the "living itinerary, doesn't have executive disfunction problems" braincell with Freed, and in the right conditions, they work very well together. Bonding over the experience of herding cats, that is their teammates.

—Not a headcanon but I want to whack all of them with sticks. The Sad Boi Stick, the Whump Stick... All flavors. Getting the ones who never fess up to their trauma a good thwack makes the trauma spill out, and I enjoy the possibilities that entails. Put them in Situations. >:D

—I do also appreciate them being silly-goofy, too, of course. No need to be angry all of the time, in some of their cases. (They all need affection so bad. The hurt/comfort allure of it all. Just sit down and admit they need it, etc etc.) Something that is conveniently done after a good physical and emotional thwacking— *gets dragged away forcefully*

#ask #secret santa #server gift exchange #anon #idk how to tag this so that you might see it #headcanons #a bit of htryds flavor #team thunderstorm #thunder legion #erik #cobra | erik #this is just me scratching the surface of ramble #it's almost 5am my thoughts quit and I need to go to bed #but I'm not a quitter #feel free to ask for more clarification if I did not fulfill what you were hoping for #also feel free to ignore me if you have ideas in other directions #I may have my biases but I appreciate all flavors in this house #that said I'm not fond of any of them being overly mean #outside of their villain arcs I guess?#doesn't seem to be sustainable for them anyway #also freed's obsession gotta be dialed back a bit #or addressed #that aint healthy bruh #he needs a gentle head bonk #most of them do for various reasons actually #but I will stop rambling now #thank youuuuuuu #good luck have fun

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echoes-lighthouse · 2 years ago

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7 for the choose violence ask game, I want to hear some TEA today

You got it!!!!! ('choose violence' asks for all who want some fandom complaints)

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

Oh yeah I can absolutely answer this one off the top of my head because these are stuck in my brain at all times. This will mention characters from BNHA, Homestuck, and Marvel.

1- Bakugou from BNHA: I enjoyed him in the series but then heading into fandom and seeing how everyone treated his anger and bullying as 'quirky,' including the way his mom yells at him?? I made a very quick 180 on the character

2- Eridan Ampora from Homestuck: I thought he was a fun character but I have seen way too many terrible takes about him and also people who want to make him soft without acknowledging the whole genocide thing

3- June Egbert from Homestuck: great concept but oh my god the discourse is so rampant and for what???

4- Steve Rogers specifically in 2012-2013 when his whole character in fandom spaces was 'goody two shoes' because the MCU hadn't gotten The Winter Soldier yet, I fucking hated him at the time and I still have to draw lines around 'my steve' and '2012 steve'

5- Magneto/Erik Lehnsherr: X-Men was one of my foundational moral quandary medias and seeing the politics brought down to 'Magneto Was Right' never fails to make me feel absolutely pissed and my darling Erik has gotten caught up in that whole situation and I don't quite hate him because he is my meow meow but also I do not post about him at all anymore because of it

#choose violence asks #negativity #okay this one felt good to get off the chest i will admit #asks

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nysocboy · 1 year ago

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Mike and Dave Need Wedding Dates: Not enough biceps, bulges, or plot

Mike and Dave Need Wedding Dates (2016) gets a 36% on Rotten Tomatoes. A reviewer says that "It's definitely a movie to watch when you don't want to think too much."

I always want to think while watching a movie; structural analysis is the fun part. But it stars Adam Devine, whose jaw-dropping gorgeosity makes almost anything watchable, and his bromantic partner Zac Efron, who is also sort of cute, so here goes.

Scene 1: Mike (Adam) is trying to sell his brand of tequila to a bar owner, using Dave (Zac) as a plant. Except the bartender knows him -- they hang out! And the guys try this every couple of weeks. He buys the tequila anyway. The guys hug. Zac is established as heterosexual in Minute 1.

Scene 2: Montage of the guys frolicking at parties -- trampoline, fireworks, kissing girls.. Beefcake shots of both. . Cut to them returning to their apartment to find two heterosexual couples -- Mom and Dad! I'm guessing Mom and Dad got divorced and married other people, so there are four parents.

They complan that the guys keep going to parties stag, htting on girls, and ruining things. Wait -- in the montage, everyone was having fun. Nothing was ruined. Mom and Dad are being unreasonable.

Uh-oh, the montage was an unreliable narrator. A lot of those parties turned into disasters. So Mom and Dad lay down the law: at the upcoming wedding, they must each bring a date (they specify a girl). How will that keep the fireworks from destroying a camper, or grandpa from being pushed into his birthday cake?

Oh, and it turns out that the second couple is their sister Jeannie and her fiance Erik (Sam Richardson)

Character development: Mike is aggressive, easily-angered, and a schemer, while Dave is quiet, stable, and has to be talked into the craziness. Mike saved Dave from bullies when they were in school. Shouldn't Dave be saving Mike? Zac Efron is about twice as muscular as Adam Devine, and has a bigger dick, and everybody knows that you need a big dick to fight bullies.

The full review, with two nude photos (not of Adam or Zac) is on Righteous Gemstones Beefcake and Boyfriends

#Adam Devine #Kelvin Gemstone #Zac Efron #Mike and Dave Need Wedding Dates #gay subtext #buddy comedy #Hawaii

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honey-minded-hivemind · 10 months ago

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Okok, so my list goes as follows:

Erik is my first choice for sure, not only are there endless possibilities for angst, but he's also one of my favorite marvel characters in general.

Charles is second, I honestly imagine him being such a sweet dad, and I don't see enough work with him being a parent it's a crime.

It's impossible to pass up on classic feral dad, so Logan gets third, uncle Viktor is an added bonus in that one.

I'm curious, which yans are higher on your list?

Lamb Anon

Those are good choices! And I see the points you've made! Erik has so many choices, not to mention if he was Reader's dad, you have Wanda as Reader's sister! And then eventually, when the kids get caught, Pietro finds out he's Reader's brother... Aaand it doesn't help the situation. At all. Because wow, he and the others had just watched Reader die, but it turns Reader was his sibling. His younger sibling. And they never knew, not until they were dead (which he isn't sure is possible, because they are alive then? He's confused on what's going on and why they're still around)...

Charles IS an underrated dad! And he would likely be the most understanding, tied with Hank/Beast! (The parents are all understanding to a degree, but those two are the most understanding of Reader and their... "situation"...) To be fair, he'd probably be a good dad, checking up on Reader, reminding them if they forget something, letting them interact with his other adopted children and friends, going on small adventures... He'd just... maybe keep an eye on them. At almost each waking second. Because that's his child, thank you, and he does not need or want them getting hurt or getting into trouble... (He also wants to make sure they don't turn to Erik... they are exes (friends, partners, etc. )) (and he does not want Erik to steal his child, or worse, convince them of his anti-hero ways...)

And one can never say no to Logan as a dad, because that is what he does best (besides kicking the *ss of every evil human or mutant in bothering the X-Men). He's dad-coded. He's protective, he handles any problems his kid has (especially bullies, he does NOT like those, and what better way to handle them than him?), he'll keep an eye on them, he let's them and his other kids be friends and hang out, and he doesn't mind if they're not perfect. So, he is a pretty good choice, too.

Okay, my top three favorites? Okay, let's see...

I'd say Logan, Victor, then Hank.

Logan because of the above reasons (I can't help it, he's a comfort character of mine, and he always comes with a kid in whatever media he's in) (it's also fun, writing for him)

Victor, because it makes sense for Reader to be his kid, due to their specific shape-shifting mutation (they can only turn into animals), and because I like him. (And he would also have a bit of trouble losing Reader, a lot of trouble, so that adds to the story, too) (he's also a comfort character)

And Hank, because he's nice, he's sweet, he's gentle, and he's underrated. He would be a great dad. Would accept his kid despite what mutation they have (or if they seemed to not have one), makes sure they're healthy and would make good meals for them both to eat, he's fun with his teachings, he's pretty gentle, he's an avid literature reader, the list goes on (why is he so sweet?? he's like a blue, extra fluffy marshmallow of goodness!)...

So... those are my top three😅

I'm okay with hearing your preferences, I just want to figure out which parent would be the best for Reader and the story of the 🖤Dark AU. I enjoy making it!😊 I just have to get in the specific mood for it to write about it. So that means a bit of action/chase music, some sadder songs, and perhaps a few dark ones (plus re-reading the posts about and for the 🖤Dark AU, to make sure I'm sticking to its theme!)

All in all, this IS for fun, so there's no pressure about any of this. I do want to make sure I think it over, though. What do you think of my choices, 🐑 Anon? Any thoughts on them?

(P.S.

A few songs I've listened to, to imagine and write to while I've been working on this AU:

• Black Betty by RamJam or Spiderbait (it's good for chases) (try it the regular speed or slowed reverb way)

• Pump It by Black Eyed Peas (2nd choice for chase scenes) (slowed reverb, or regular speed)

• Americano by Lady Gaga (it's fun, and it's also chase somg number 3) (regular speed or slowed reverb)

• My Demons by Starset (it fits the older platonic yans and how they're handling things) (slowed reverb)

• Summertime Sadness by Lana Del Rey (it works better with the older teen platonic yans, or with the four younger ones) (this can be sped up, slowed reverb, or regardless speed)

• Daylight by David Kushner (probably the older platonic yans trying to come to grips with their choices and how they're handling them) (slowed, possibly slowed reverb)

• Immortals by Fall Out Boy (it fits the theme, and it counts as a chase/contemplation song...) (sped up, slowed reverb, or regular speed, but I recommend slowed reverb)

• Down Under by Men at Work (it kinda fits how the four feel out of place. Surprise, they're about 3 to 5 years in the future, the world's pretty weird, aaand they're all out of place) (slowed reverb)

(Hopefully this helps, if y'all wanted a few songs to listen to for this AU!😊 Stay safe, drink plenty of water, and get some rest, okay?)

#honeycomb thoughts #platonic yandere marvel #platonic yandere xmen #platonic yandere marvel x reader #platonic yandere xmen evolution #platonic yandere xmen evolution au #🖤dark au

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flameontheotherside · 3 months ago

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Again...ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME?! PT. 2

Part 1 here

🚨😒 If you can't handle someone needing to vent or let off steam, keep scrolling! 🫢🚨

I'm so sorry for the depression gravy train but I need to get this fuckshit off my chest. I literally feel like my heart was ripped out of it, stomped on and fed to a fucking crocodile in a pit.

Now we get to Erik...Fun fun fun...

So my mom ruined my childhood, I get literally fucked over by a predator, bullied to the point I couldn't go to the mall and bullied at school for letting the predator near me because my "best friend" had to tell everyone that he was married and gave me herpes which wasn't true. Had just overall shitty and predatory bfs because of my lack of education. Mind you I'm an autistic bipolar ADHD tourretic CHILD\YOUNG ADULT so of course I had no idea these men were bad. I had one relatively decent relationship and I'm still close with him today.

Then Erik died. I knew he was dead and I LITERALLY FELT THAT SHIT. Even though a psychic warned me about it just months before it happened, I bawled my eyes out, I shoved it under the rug and forgot until I felt his presence and it freaked me the fuck out. I'm not going to get into the details of that night I felt he was gone for the millionth time.

I had a fucked up shitty upbringing. My mom NEVER said "I love you". During all that abuse and shit I went through (explained in pt 1) at the end of the day all I wanted was Erik since I was 11. I didn't know why but it made me anxious. I was always intuitive. It runs in my family apparently. I saw dead people, pets and spoke with my late grandmother but I didn't understand why I needed the Internet so bad to find him.

Not getting the love I needed, I still held on to the hope that my life would get better. All I had to do was find him. Heartbreak after heartbreak. The hope was still there but when he died and I felt that in my soul, I just knew everything I had done was for nothing and my life was over. I remember thinking back and completely falling apart over it. There was no way it could be explained because I couldn't believe it myself so I dealt with it with drugs and alcohol and 3 emotionally abusive relationships spanning 10 years.

Erik told me about why he killed himself.

I sort of new it already and didn't want to address it in the open. Since I can hear him now it felt and hit differently. He said that he had a series of dreams about my higher self. She visited him and he fell in love with her. She was who he met with after he died. I didn't really believe it at first but I thought maybe it's plausible that maybe there are some things I still haven't learned. It hurt because it felt like the stupidest thing I've ever fucking heard.

Irregardless he killed him self after Ive had my own suicide attempts from the abuses. What completely fucked me up and tore me apart was that my life was a constant living hell and I spent so much time looking for him. Which doesn't matter because I wasn't supposed to find him anyways. Fine, whatever but still. It's the fact he fucking killed himself over something so fucking trivial.

I was in constant and consistent heartbreak and it didn't stop after his death. It got worse for 10 more years. He visited me in dreams and I just ignored them because there was no benefit in it. All the abuse and being taken advantage of, losing my friends, being bullied by my own family, have no guidance for all my problems, I NEVER felt loved by someone who was supposed to love me and protect me. All I got was gaslighting, blame and coldness from my own "mother".

He killed himself.

He FUCKING killed himself.

It pisses me the fuck off because he didn't have to do that. It's not about the fact I couldn't find him because it wasn't supposed to happen anyways (what was the point then?), it's the fact I had gone through LITERAL hell and he sought it to end his contract his damn self and despite everything I've gone through, I have not.

I'll be fucking damned.

So yeah today hasn't been a good emotional day. I understand why I had to go through this. I need to understand why I have so much anger and hatred for myself in order to "believe" in myself which is apparently so important when working with the other side. I had to really look deeper at why I'm so heartbroken about Erik and I guess I hear his side of the story that I'm not completely sure about.

He ended his contract himself. That's it. That's the reason I've been so heartbroken. He's dead and my traumas have ensured that my life was hell for 32 years. Sure things are good now. I have a family and a good fiance but every time I see a happy couple it chokes me up. I can't help but wonder what my life would have been like if my mother would have just loved me.

😘💕Hada

#channelingerik #channeling #twin flames #twinflame #mediums #twinflames #psychic #mediumship #lessons #spirit guides #abuse #parental abuse #asd #adhd #actually autistic #spiritual team #spiritual development

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dreamytfw · 6 months ago

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I'm going to go through this in chunks that start with quotes because that's kind of the only way I'm able to keep focus and organize my thoughts. My intention is not to do the thing bad faith people online tend to do of taking a quote and then responding to it as out of context as possible. I feel like I need to make this disclaimer because I think people see that formatting as, like, inherently antagonistic and I am NOT trying to do that. My poor unmedicated ADHD brain is just fighting for its life out here lol Also cut because it's long. Sorry about that 😅

the key point is that fanfic is written for fun. For the vast majority of us it is a hobby, not necessarily something we want to improve on.

No one is saying fanfic isn't written for fun, and tbh it always confuses me whenever someone brings this up. Isn't improving your craft part of the fun? Why wouldn't you want to get better at the thing you enjoy? Especially since getting better opens up new avenues of expression and experimentation.

Also you can improve through practice and reading other people’s writing.

Right, but those are only two tools in an artist's arsenal. Critique is another, very essential, one. Like, in visual art, looking at others' works and practicing what you know can only get you so far. You need critique to know what works, what doesn't, where you can improve, what techniques or colors to experiment with, etc. (I just finished rewatching Blue Period btw, so this probably isn't going to be the only time I draw parallels to art or painting lol) If we put it in writing terms, getting critique on your work can tell you what is and isn't working about it, and from there you can gather not only where you can improve, but how you can improve.

So, for an example: when I was about 14 I started writing my 2nd or 3rd multi-chapter Phantom of the Opera fic, and I wanted to do something different than what I normally saw on the forum I hung out on. So I started a new fic and made Erik the villain. And I got feedback that I was writing him VERY ooc. None of it was abusive or bullying, no one made it personal, it was just simply critique on how I was writing this pre-established character in my opening chapter. From there I was able to course-correct and write him more in line with how he's normally characterized while still keeping him antagonistic. And it taught me to pay attention to characterization and how what I tried was the wrong way to go about trying to subvert audience expectations. I wouldn't have gotten that from just re-reading the source material, reading theory, and practicing.

Like as a writer if I want critique on my writing I will go to professionals. Some rando on the internet who I don’t know has credentials or not .

This just full stop doesn't make any sense to me. No one needs credentials to have a reaction to art. And since when is fan fiction, writing or reacting, about having credentials? Why is it anyone can write and publish work, but only "professionals" can have a reaction that isn't unalloyed praise? And who qualifies as a "professional" anyway? Professional editors? Published authors? Literary critics? Fellow fan fic writers? Writing professors? More importantly, how do you know the person saying something like "I see what you're trying to do but I don't think it's working" isn't a "professional?" For all you know, they could be.

And I don’t think people are conflating any critique with bullying or being negative. I think that’s a conflation you are making.

No, it's really not. idk if you read my previous tags or not, but someone legit called me abusive and entitled for voicing my stance of "critique is good and necessary for creatives." (providing specific receipts for this one because I'm kind of paranoid about people not believing me due to personal reasons 🙃)

I've also seen people compare receiving MILD critique (like, literally it was couched in SO many no hates and praise) to noncon, assault, an attack, bullying, and a targeted harassment campaign (yes, from ONE comment). I think I might have seen it referred to as slander or something to that effect a few times, but I couldn't be certain. I've seen people assume those who leave mild critique are abusers IRL, called misogynistic and/or ableist slurs, have targeted harassment campaigns levied against them, get ostracized from the wider fandom, and get sent death threats and suibait. I'm not assuming these things are happening, I've seen them. Hell, I've been on the receiving end of it, and I only defend people leaving critique. There VERY much is a problem in fan fic spaces of over-stating harm when it comes to this subject.

Fanfic is work that we get to read for free that is made for pure enjoyment

So are a lot of YouTube videos, particularly in the video essay sphere. So is A LOT of visual art. So is indie music like in the vocal synth community. So are a lot of podcasts. No one in those spaces is making this argument of "only say nice things about my work because I made it for free." There's also a BUNCH of writing we read that is deemed okay to critique anyway. It also needs to be pointed out that a staggering amount of professional writing is done just for exposure, and I'm not talking about non-fiction pieces like articles. Now I think those artists should be paid for their labor, but if I really got into that point we'd be here all day/night/whatever time it is for you.

Therefore I don’t think you’re owed anything from the author.

No one said anything about the audience being owed things by the author and I'm honestly not sure where this point is even coming from.

I grew up in fandom in the era of don’t like don’t read.

Don't like, don't read comes from the same era as "if you post something online, don't expect nothing but praise." These two ideas aren't mutually exclusive. And it should be pointed out: critiquing something or critically analyzing it does not necessarily mean that person doesn't like it. There's plenty of media out there that people will critique to the ends of the earth and back solely BECAUSE they love it. Case in point: I run a Supernatural blog lmao.

Sorry you’re encountered a bunch of “drama llamas” but I don’t think that’s the issue being discussed here.

I disagree. It is, at the very least, an element of what is being discussed. Because there are writers out there who do, have, and will weaponize this idea of "all critique is bad critique." And no matter how many times people like me go "maybe we shouldn't gatekeep what reactions people can and can't have about art" or neurodivergent people pointing out that the "rules" around this topic have led to other them being bullied because they didn't do the socially correct thing, almost everyone says "no, that's not what we're talking about/that doesn't ACTUALLY happen/why do you want to ruin peoples' fun" and it gets swept under the rug. And it allows for a much more insidious type of toxic/abusive person to hide in communities. It's VERY easy to report and block someone who's being verbally abusive to you and delete their harmful comments. It's much more difficult to point out someone is using this mentality to manipulate people into bullying others for them, especially since no one wants to believe that someone who created a piece of art that meant a lot to them can be an abusive, toxic person.

The issue being discussed is being open to critique and who is even actually qualified to give it.

Did they consume the piece of media? Then they're qualified. I'm aware my anarchism might be showing here, but I don't think there should be rules about who does and doesn't get to voice their reactions to the art they consume.

Feedback is a skill, even experts can give bad criticism.

Earlier you said you'd go to a professional to get critique, implying professionals/experts are inherently qualified to give critique because they're good at it. But here you're saying that even experts can give bad criticism, implying experts/professionals AREN'T always inherently qualified to give critique. So which is it? And does a bad criticism or critique (by whichever metric that goes by) nullify someone's expertise/professionalism in the field. Does it disqualify them from giving further critique.

I am acutely aware I'm being very annoying - I'm sure Meletus is going to accuse me of impiety and corrupting the Athenian youth any day now - but these are the implications that need to be explored in this argument of "only some people can give critique and who those people are is vaguely defined."

I suggest you read through the tags and comments and see the discussion going on, it’s productive and bringing up a lot of good points.

I have, and tbh they're all the same arguments you're making or that I've encountered before.

No hate to this person

And I have to say, it's VERY frustrating to me that you need to put this. You shouldn't have to. Just because we're disagreeing over the philosophy of criticism in fan fiction spaces doesn't mean we're, like, mortal enemies, and no one should take it like that. But tbh this topic is SO emotionally charged because people wrap things like their ego (/neutral) and personal trauma into things like receiving feedback. And since hurt people hurt people, there are people who have trauma specifically around this conversation from those bad faith actors and toxic people I've mentioned (like, low-key, I'm going to go pop a panic med after posting this because of those trauma reasons. And to be as clear as I can, that is FULLY on the people who were abusive towards me over this topic, not you AT ALL). And I hate the idea that anyone would take that emotionality and use it as justification to belittle, abuse, or harass me, you, or anyone else that might have a different outlook than them. We should be able to have a conversation like adults without anyone jumping to the role of white knight.

Saw this comment on a booktok YouTube video and I'm wondering what y'all think. I take issue with the idea that if you do want criticism on your writing then you shouldn't post it online. Not everyone writes, especially fanfic, to improve. "Most of these fic authors want to be published authors" no I don't think they do actually, writing fanfic can be about improving your skills to become a professional author; but it can also be about engaging in community or IDK putting your fav characters into situations???

"I get these fic writers are writing for free" yes, so you're not entitled to anything from them... if you can't read fanfic without wanting to give criticism then you either aren't reading fics that are right for you or you shouldn't be reading at all.

#whoops I wrote an essay #long post is looooong #reply #fan fic #fan fiction #discourse #hopefully when I hit the reblog button #tumblr doesn't freak out and eat my reply

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bluedalahorse · 1 year ago

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Unsolicited August backstory headcanons (plus a bonus tangent about Blue’s undergraduate initiation)

Ahahaha well, I left my work laptop at work by accident. I guess that’s my subconscious is telling me to take a break and post the August headcanons I’ve been drafting on the bus each morning so…

There are a few posts floating around my dash right now that ask questions about what August would have done in certain hypothetical situations. The discussion has all been worthwhile to watch, but I’ve refrained from jumping in as of yet, in part because work has been busy and in part because of personal headcanon reasons. The thing with personal headcanons is that they just kind of live in my head and influence the way I write fic. They’re not really the kind of thing I can prove or argue for, they’re just… vibes? But vibes are still worth talking about in one’s fandom spaces so I may as well ramble.

One thing I believe as someone who spends too much time writing from this garbage boy’s POV is that August did not show up to his first year of Hillerska as exactly the person we see onscreen in 1.1. He was a full two years younger, which is significant for a teenager, and he would have been more recently impacted by the loss of his father. Moreover he would have been entering as a first year and would not have been immediately afforded all the at-school privileges the third year boys enjoy. Now, this does not mean he was a morally perfect angel—far from it, given that being landed gentry with generational wealth can still do a number on one’s psyche. However, if I assume that August came to Hillerska as the very same Full Titled Asswipe he is as a third year, I don’t get to explore systems of privilege and how they radicalize young men into toxic and harmful behavior. Which is something I’m interested in as a writer, both in my fanfic and my original fiction.

With that in mind, here are some of my personal headcanons for August’s pre-Hillerska and pre-season 1 life, with some Horn family headcanons mixed in…

August’s relationship to the royal family—or not—was a big source of conflict between his parents. Carl Johan wanted him hanging out with the royal family and getting to know his second cousins while Louise did not. For the most part, Louise won this argument when August was a child. In August’s early childhood, Carl Johan would frequently go off to visit the palace on his own, and came back with fun stories and various presents and the like. I base this on the fact that August doesn’t seem to have hung out with Wille or Erik as a child, and seems to have some seemingly “insider” knowledge of the royal family, but with like, weird gaps about things. He also tends to idealize royal life in a way Wilhelm doesn’t, given that Wilhelm has lived royal life. I feel like this is consistent with a backstory where August was mostly told about the royal life from his dad’s perspective. Like he’s got a lot of details but he doesn’t have all of them and he’s still got rose-colored glasses.

August before the age of twelve or so was one of those kids who was pretty bad at interacting with kids his own age, but was “better” at interacting with adults. He’s an only child, so he wouldn’t have grown up around siblings, and would have probably had to play alone a lot. I don’t know if I believe school or his local area would have been an easy place for him to make friends given what @sflow-er was saying about children of the nobility and what it’s like for them when they go to their local schools. I wouldn’t go so far as to say August was bullied. (I mean, maybe he was, I don’t know. From my experience of working with young people, it’s not uncommon for kids who are bullied at one school to become bullies at other schools they transfer to. On the other hand, I think we’ve seen enough of August’s personality to know he could potentially be prickly and arrogant and push other kids away. Regarding that question, I think I’d go with whatever the fic needs. Anyway!) I also feel like, with the growing tensions in his parents’ marriage, he potentially would have coped by trying to put up a mature facade at a young age, which would mean lots of convincing adults he can handle everything. By the time he gets to Hillerska that all comes crashing down on him.

Because I’m such a gothic lit weirdo I insist that there were rumors Årnäs was haunted. Young August probably got asked about that a lot.

Maternal backstory headcanons: Louise’s parents were diplomats or in international business or something similar, so she spent periods of her youth away from Sweden, and sometimes away from her parents, often in international schools or international boarding schools. I have nothing to go on here canon-wise, except there’s that line where August says Louise is off traveling when the Headmistress can’t reach her. It’s very much an excuse, of course, but I like to imagine a grain of truth to it. Louise’s youth abroad gave her a yearning for international travel, and it’s her favorite way to escape the pressures of life when they get too great.

Paternal backstory headcanons: perhaps one of my more… spicy? controversial? … whatever… headcanons is that Carl Johan and Kristina were one another’s Unfortunate Romances in their youth. But Blue, you say. They are cousins! Ew! Which, yes, but they are also royals, and that sort of thing isn’t completely unprecedented I guess. There’s also a neat little chiasmus in my head where Wilhelm’s “unfortunate romance” shakes up the royal court because they feel like he’s trying to pull the monarchy into the future too fast, whereas in Kristina’s day she was that the monarchy needed to modernize, and that sort of thing was less frowned upon centuries ago but these days it Isn’t Done. ANYWAY Carl Johan’s feelings for Kristina remained sort of unresolved for most of his life, and this was something he ruminated on as his addiction got worse. Louise and Carl Johan never spoke about this piece of his backstory, but it was sort of always hanging awkwardly in the air between them. This also fueled Louise’s desire to keep August away from the palace and the royal family stuff, and the fights between her and Carl John about that. None of the kids’ generation knows about the Unfortunate Romance. Well, maybe Erik did, but he’s dead.

You may be asking, if Louise was opposed to August going to the palace and hanging out with his second cousins, then why did she send him to Hillerska? That, my friends, was an act of resignation, and of her not knowing what to do. I imagine puberty was already making August pretty irritable and difficult to deal with. And, with things growing worse and worse between his parents and his father’s addiction growing more problematic, August was probably just… not in a good place. No one in the family was a good place. I don’t see his parents as fully divorced in the year or so leading up to his father’s death, but I do think they were separated—maybe in an obvious way, or maybe they were pretending not to be. So, when Carl Johan took his own life, I imagine August’s anger and grief got even more explosive, and was often directed at his mother. Louise was not in a place where she knew how to deal with the situation, and sent him off to the school her husband had been pushing her to send August to. Sort of like she threw up her hands and went, “you know what? Fine. If this is his final wish, so be it.” And so August was sent away.

August showed up to his first year just sort of… quieter at first, with a lot of anger and grief simmering underneath. I mean why talk about feelings? He was also desperately, desperately in need of something that gave him a feeling of purpose. And then Erik found him. I think this was in part orchestrated a bit by Kristina behind the scenes; I imagine there was a call or text message where she nudged Erik to check up on her cousin’s kid, because even as complicated as the past was, Carl Johan was at one point Kristina’s favorite cousin. So what Erik did was appoint August as his first year lackey who takes care of everything for him—the one who knocks on his door in the morning, the one who pours the drinks at the party, and so on. Basically, August was in the Alexander role for Erik, and ended up taking it very seriously. This was the purpose he had been looking for, the sense of meaning.

I think August’s initiation would have played a role in helping him to feel a sense of purpose and community, too. Wait, what the fuck, Blue? That’s probably what you’re saying right now. Well… a lot of people talk about what the initiation sequence was or wasn’t for Wille, and how Wille’s initiation would have been worse than that of other students. And people usually only talk about that in terms of what Wille experienced. As someone who has attended a school with initiations (and who has even been initiated myself, albeit in a milder way because it was at a women’s college with traditions that differ from Hillerska’s) I actually don’t know if I think that’s true. I also think August’s initiation was probably a more… well, probably something he thought of as positive? Exciting? Seemingly helpful? (I mean, not helpful, but you know.)

EXTREME BONUS TANGENT: I can say that as someone who has been initiated myself, it’s certainly not a fun experience for everyone. That said, it was fun for me at the time, and remains important to me in a way. Speaking from the perspective of someone who enjoyed my initiation experience, it’s… well, it’s kind of weird. You’re in this strange state of torture for a while, like intense mental and physical discomfort, and everyone around you seems to be determined to contribute to that, and you feel very constrained and stretched to your limit. But then once you pass your initiation and you’re welcomed into your new community, it’s like this sudden switch over to an intense euphoria and a whole flood of endorphins. Like, I’m here, and they’re cheering me on, and I belong here, and these people are my family and I love them now. NOW, THAT SAID: initiations are not a good practice generally, because they are generally done en masse and there is a lot of potential for peer pressure and institutionalized abuse. I view my college’s initiation traditions differently now than I do when I was eighteen. That said, my college had also at least put some infrastructure in place as far as consent and contracts, to keep things from going wrong. You could opt out of any task at any time. Still—it’s not a perfect system, and Hillerska is far from perfect, so. You know. Personal memories I have complex feelings about.

Back to Hillerska… August seems to be someone who responds to extreme sensations, so I think he probably was someone who would have felt that intense endorphin rush from his initiation. (We frequently see him chasing other highs in the show, too.) And he would have gone through this at a time when he’d just lost his father and was Achilles-level angry at his mother, when he desperately wanted to feel like he was part of something and belonged somewhere. He probably came out of the ordeal worshipping Erik and ready to die for him, and I imagine Erik responded to that loyalty in kind. I expect that they grew close, but it was also definitely a relationship where Erik called the shorts and August followed his lead. This is, in part, why I struggle to buy into fanfics where August betrays or harms Erik, and why I can’t really sign onto the idea that August would have released a video of Erik. Or at least—he wouldn’t get there without multiple steps leading up to it, and multiple perceived trusts being broken, the way things were with Wilhelm. One of the steps, too, in August betraying Wilhelm, is Erik’s death putting August into a state of volatile grief. So there’s that. Like I cannot stress enough how much I don’t think he’d randomly turn on Erik like a mustache-twirling villain.

One more innocuous headcanon: Erik taught August how to dress, because August showed up to school with no damn idea, his first year. To be fair, so few sixteen-year-old boys know how to dress themselves, even when they can afford nice wardrobes. Some of August’s clothes are his father’s old clothes. I mean, definitely the outfit he went shooting in feels like something that could have belonged to his dad.

One less innocuous headcanon: August kept some pretty serious secrets for Erik. I still kind of think this is true in canon and that we could get a big secret revealed in season 3.

That’s all for now! I hope you enjoyed reading if you got this far. I don’t expect too much engagement but I am making an effort to be more real and honest about my YR enthusiasms in these posts.

#young royals #yr headcanons #august young royals #august horn of årnäs #formatted this whole post while listening to the fun home soundtrack #which despite being quite Midcentury Butch Lesbian is also simultaneously very August vibes at times #the same way Sara vibes are Into the Woods and my Felice writing soundtrack is all Jake Blount’s folk music

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