#fandom retreat

[baronaliswritingcorner]

And thus does my two-week retreat from fandom/social media begin today.

See y'all later.

[evebestt]

"Fuck me sideways." -Eve Best

What a way to go out like a queen, actress and character.

[halfhoursonearth-writes]

I try not to read anti-Zutara takes because like, help, I'm literally here to escape the dark divisive real world. But one point that I see over and over is that there's no time between when Katara forgives Zuko and the end of the series for the dynamic to shift between them.

I always found this kind of a surprising argument (leaving aside all the narrative and thematic groundwork already laid between these two characters, and also the in-show precedent for compressed romantic timelines like Sokka and Yue) because of the Ember Island of it all.

Between the scene where Katara forgives Zuko and the scene when he jumps in front of lightning to save her (both romance-coded visuals), they're living for weeks as unsupervised teenagers in beautiful beach house, emotions running higher than ever as they face down the end of the world as they know it, in a location the story has already told us "has a special way of smoothing even the most ragged edges."

It's kind of hard to imagine a setting or situation with more romantic potential. Except maybe the moment after Katara saves Zuko after he risked his life to save her.

I'm not saying the show cashed in on that potential, obviously. I just mean that one scene with the two of them having a heart-to-heart on the beach late at night or flirting in the surf would have been pretty much all it took.

[caustinen]

clegan drabble — chance encounter, first meeting, modern au

By the third time the guy makes his way over to the bar, Gale has to really work on not throwing his Coke bottle to the liquor shelf and start breaking stuff.

”Seriously man, are you sure we don’t-” ”No, we have not met before,” he responds as politely as he can through his teeth, “and no, I do not need company. And no, I will not go home with you. Excuse me.”

The guy’s drunken gaze falls to his lips as he talks, making Gale suspect he has not heard a single word he has said all night despite repeating himself over and over. The glassy eyes eventually turn back to his, and the man licks his lips as his expression morphs into a what he surely thinks is a seductive smirk.

”Come on, baby. Humor me a bit. Let my buy you a drink.” Gale exhales in frustration. The ick he gets from this man is ridiculous. ”I told you already, I don’t need a drink, I’d really just like to-”

He stops abruptly when the man takes a tight hold of his bicep. ”Hey, could you-” ”This hard-to-get act is getting old now, gorgeous.” ”I’m not-” The grip gets tighter, another hand reaches for his thigh, and Gale is about to get violent despite not wanting to get in trouble at their frequent spot when-

”Hi Buck, there you are! I’m real sorry I left you here all by yourself for so long, the queue to the toilet was insane.” A pleasant, carefree voice comes up from behind him. He turns to find a gorgeous smile on a gorgeous face he doesn’t recognize. The man’s smile is tense on a futher look, though, and his eyes are questioning as he lays a careful hand on Gale’s shoulder, clearly ready to pull back immediately if he gets any indication that the action is unwanted.

Gale exhales quietly again before covering the hand now on his shoulder with his own, immediately catching on. ”It’s okay.” It’s easy to slide away from the icky man’s grasp now, his surprise making him loosen his hold on Gale. Gale tries to avoid looking at him and accidentally leans closer towards the other man, his aura calming despite towering over Gale’s propotions in every direction. The man doesn’t seem to mind, still smiling from under his curls. ”Ready to go home, doll?”

Gale nods immediately. The drunk dude has been looking between them for a bit before his eyes land on the taller man. ”I’m real sorry mate, I didn’t realize he was-” The man’s face changes immediately when he looks away from Gale to the other guy, the youthful happiness turning into coldness that makes him look mature and strick. ”Yeah, whatever. Go home, sober up and learn some fucking manners, you fucking jackass.” With that, he’s gently leading Gale to the door.

He doesn’t let go until they are out of the other guy’s view, but he does drop his hand immediately as the door closes behind them. It’s probably the chill of the autumn evening and not the departure of the solid body against him that’s making Gale feel cold suddenly but it’s still unpleasent. ”Sorry,” the man says almost frantically, ”I didn’t mean to intrude but you were looking pretty miserable before he even showed up and when he got his hands on you-” The man sighs and shakes his head. ”Didn’t look like you were happy with it, somehow, so I just wanted to check on you. No clue where the fake boyfriend thing came from though, I’m so sorry if I-”

”Don’t be,” Gale says firmly, and the man immediately relaxes again, ”I don’t know why I froze like that, it was nice someone else de-escalated it like that. My friend went to argue with his boyfriend on the phone like 30 minutes ago and never showed up again so I was pretty pissed anyway.” The man nods, and the warmth Gale feels under his intense gaze shouldn’t feel this exciting, surely.

”Well then…” The guy lifts his arm and scratches the back of his neck, ”I don’t wanna take more of you’re time, I hope you’re oka-” Gale doesn’t think, in an unusual manner to him, when he interrupts him. ”I, eh, actually… I’d love to thank you somehow? Maybe buy you some late night dinner?” The man’s face lights up again, and Gale feels silly in a way he doesn’t often do.

”I’d love that. I’ll go tell my friends I’m leaving and meet you up here after?” ”Sounds good.” They stare at each other for a beat despite the words, and Gale swears he’s not blushing when he sticks his hand out jerkily. ”Gale Cleven.” The man smirks, his eyes turning to lines as it overcomes his face. ”John Egan,” he introduces himself as he reaches to shake his hand, ”but you can call me Bucky.”

[2hoothoots]

impromptu dungeon meshi posting because i think the new orc lady is really cute

[aroaceleovaldez]

Here is a link to the Cherokee Nation's official site. Here is the Visit Cherokee Nation youtube channel. Here is a playlist for learning Cherokee (and here's one for learning Ojibwe, as a bonus cause i'm biased). Here is a link to Daybreak Star Radio, which is a radio station based in Seattle dedicated to showcasing international first nations and indigenous music that you can listen to online. Here is a pdf of various recipes, including references to which tribes they originate from. Here is a link to The-aila-test's buy native tag, and here is a link to Beyond Buckskin's buy native list (though some of the links are broken). Here is a link to the Cherokee Phoenix newspaper's official site.

now go take a minute and come back once you've done some research so everybody can stop being weird about Piper.

[impcarcass]

Detective Sun

[image ID in alt text]

Ugh it took me a million years to even start on these refs but!! Here’s Sun!!

My basic and vague description for this au is: you, y/n, are a shadow demon who sets out to find a more effective way to disperse your Dream Eaters. Dream Eaters are a species of imp you created that take bad thoughts and dreams, eat them, and supply whomever they protect with new ones. But in order to do this, you need a vessel.

You find one. A human. But he had just got hired at a detective’s office. Chaos ensues. (More info will come as I post more about it uwa) ALSO FEEL FREE TO ASK ME QUESTIONS ABOUT THIS AU!! MY ASKBOX IS OPEN!!

Closeups vvv

[stevens-pastrami-sandwich]

HAPPY 17TH ANNIVERSARY TO THE SHOW THAT CHANGED MY LIFE!! 🎉🥳🎂

So maybe I'm a bit late to the party.. but that's not important 🤫🫶

[yujeong]

Ok, but seriously. Give me an inexperienced Vegas who doesn't know what the fuck he's supposed to be doing in bed to please Pete. Give me a Vegas who's nervous about performing well. Give me a Vegas who can't get it up due to how nervous he is. Give me a Vegas who's a little *too* eager to serve, always down on his knees to eat him out because he remembers how much Pete had liked it and it's a guaranteed success, right? Pete loves it, he won't fail at giving him pleasure if he does this every single time. Give me a Vegas trying to follow a checklist to make sure Pete is having a good time. Give me a Vegas who couldn't fuck Tawan properly half the time, but Tawan was so smitten (delusional) that he didn't mind. "It's ok, Vegas, I wasn't in the mood anyway." Give me a Vegas who thinks his cringe attempts at flirting are effective, even though Porsche wanted to crawl out of his skin every time he used them on him. Give me a Vegas who's never properly dommed anyone in his life. Give me a Vegas who's clueless about proper domming, about safewords, about aftercare. Give 👏 me 👏 Vegas 👏 not 👏 being 👏 good 👏 at 👏sex 👏 And then give me Pete not giving a damn anyway.

[baronaliswritingcorner]

Regarding Fandom Gift Exchanges

(UPDATE - 10/10 2024 - With the Felannie Exchange under its new management, my boycott has come to an end. While I still abstain from fic exchanges for the reasons entailed below, this means an end to my fandom vacations as well as my being able to read exchange fics again. Do note, however, this'll still come with caveats -- please read this post for more details.)

Regardless, for context, I'll be leaving much of the following post intact. Updates are applied where applicable.)

Hey, all! Fair warning: there's fandom drama afoot in this post, but as I'd like to elaborate upon a leave of absence next month, it's kinda an unavoidable subject. If you'd rather skip all that, just know I'll be gone from 2/7-2/21. Hit me up on Discord if you'd like!

So, for those not in the know, I'll be taking a two-week vacation from fandom beginning next Wednesday (2/7). About twice a year or so, I disengage from the hustle and bustle of fanfiction to recharge my batteries, annnnnd this'll be one of those times. For clarification, this means I won't be around Tumblr/Bluesky during this time, so in case you notice I've dropped off the face of the internet, well, now you know why.

For those wondering, yes, this means I'm not participating in the Felannie fic exchange; actually, I'll be upfront and admit this timing's no coincidence, because you won't see me participate in any fic exchange events. Ever.

Why's that? As it happens, I entered said fic exchange some years ago -- my very first one, in fact -- and it was nothing less than an unmitigated disaster that not only completely destroyed my faith in the exchange process but very nearly ruined fandom for me. Having come off a miserable year-long adjustment period to fandom -- wherein I felt unappreciated and unwelcome in the unfamiliar realm of AO3 -- it became apparent I had to set some hard boundaries if I were to continue writing fanfiction; unfortunately, this is one such measure, and I don't foresee it going away anytime soon.

I'm sure some of you are curious about what happened; honestly, I'm hesitant to get into the "why" if only because I'd rather not ruffle any feathers on old grudges (as you'll see below, I hold an certain opinion that I know has set people off in the past), but as there's certain layers to this particular boundary, I feel it's necessary to provide some context. To summarize in three points:

1. I'm Not Being Ghosted Again. During that exchange, I spent two whole months writing a gift for a recipient I'd never met. This piece -- Waking Dream, which I still consider my Felannie masterpiece -- grew beyond my wildest dreams. It was like I was possessed: I could only watch as my fingers danced on the keyboard, typing out idea after idea, cracked gag after gag, illustrated metaphor after metaphor -- all breathed into life as a three-chapter 15k fic.

An epic fake-romance-turned-real. My very best work. Penned even under the rigors of my father's (thankfully treatable) cancer diagnosis. Meticulously designed word-by-word with, to their blessing, alterations to the recipient's original request. Daydreaming day and night of how much they'd love it. All this for someone I never knew, and my recipient responded to my passion by ghosting me.

Given the whole "year of misery" thing I just mentioned, you can imagine the heartbreak I endured.

Writing fanfic is already a stressful risk -- no one idea's guaranteed to find an audience, and it's a huge struggle molding any idea into the written word. With that in mind, the gift exchange's additional burden of expecting someone to express the basic courtesy to thank you is too unhealthy of an ask, and I'm absolutely not risking that outcome again because some asshole doesn't know when to cut ties with fandom fatigue. It's one thing to say there's little one can do about it, but regardless of the circumstances, it magnifies loneliness/rejection in what should otherwise be a celebratory event and that's just an unacceptable outcome no matter how you slice it.

2. Anonymity and I Are A No-Go. (Warning: Hot Take Alert!) While I respect the idea of post-reveal anonymity on the grounds that it provides private writers an "in" with these events, I personally don't care for the practice and I'll be quite frank in how its general treatment as an unspoken rule directly contradicts how these events are marketed. (Putting it this way: why bother with the guessing game mystery when such cases slip through the cracks after the fact? Just rip the band-aid off and be open about it so people know what they're getting into.)

To make this absolutely clear: people's reason for privacy are their own, and I don't begrudge them for that choice. But as someone who regularly struggles with fandom anxiety, I view the appeal of such events as natural avenues to bond with the community -- be it solidifying familiar bonds or making new friends -- and it's only natural to expect as much given how all that's baked into the concept. (Not to mention the thrill of the mystery.) I recognize how cold and entitled this may sound, but I simply can't meet that goal with an anon gift.

Needless to say, having just come off the ghosting sh*t, I wasn't thrilled this wasn't divulged beforehand. I'd elaborate on how things escalated -- I don't think I need to describe why "I'm not interested in sharing that rule and I'm sorry you didn't consider that beforehand" is a hollow, unempathetic apology displaying a shocking lack of humility and responsibility -- but while I won't pretend I handled that fiasco perfectly, there are reasons why I can't get into detail.

We can argue all day over what, exactly, a fic exchange entails, but the point here is that like anyone else, I'm not one to enjoy having the rug pulled under at the very last minute. Call me invasive if you must, but it's not my job to deduce unspoken caveats and I don't apologize for feeling misled.

3. The Feeling's Mutual. In case this wasn't obvious, I maintain strong objections to how the moderator runs things, and I'll leave it at that. (UPDATE - 10/10 2024 - this was in reference to the prior moderator.)

So, that's that, really.

Since that whole mess, my approach to fandom is that I approach projects that I can control. For instance, the variables involved with fic exchange events proved themselves too risky or incompatible with my tastes, but could there exist a compromise? You betcha: I'm always up for gift exchanges or fic collaborations between friends! In fact, I've done two since then -- Love, Elusive and One-Hit Knock-Out. With receptive partners eager to join hands, there's next-to-zero chance of anything going wrong, so I can happily write fics at my leisure. (Helps they both made a big splash, too! Some of my fondest memories.)

To clarify, yes, this unfortunately means I won't be reading anything from the event. I want to make perfectly clear that while the fic exchange is a huge sore spot for me, I don't begrudge anyone for entering it; seriously, go off and have fun. Really! I encourage it. My problems with the exchange are my own and the last thing I want to do is ruin everyone's fun. All I ask is that you respect my boundaries in turn and please, please don't take this personally.

Really, I wish things were different -- honestly, jumping through these hoops to stay engaged with fandom can be exhausting, and you'd be correct in assuming I'm still wrestling with some serious emotional baggage (enough, even, that I still wonder if it's all worth it) -- but I know this is my own problem to tackle and this is the healthiest method in handling it. In case you want to reach out to me, I'll still be on Discord, so hit me up or message me for my information!

[anti-fandom-brainrot]

Changed the title because I need this space for different things, and I refuse to make a different blog. This blog will still critize the MCU, but also everything, because I am a hater girl.

Quick clarification about my personality: I am a proshipper, by definition. I literally couldn't care less what people do with fictional characters. Fiction can affect reality but not in the way those anti bitches think it does.

Also, sending people death threats over fandom things is childish and I hope people like that act that way in real life too, so they can get punched in the face.

Peace. ✌️

[kubeesart]

Trick Retreat Costume WIP

━━━━━━━━ ✦❘༻🖤༺❘✦ ━━━━━━━━

✎ | Halloween has passed but the Trick Retreat event hasn’t ! I’ve been meaning to draw some of the characters’ costumes and here’s a quick sketch of Miss Nurse’s costume!

━━━━━━━━ ✦❘༻🖤༺❘✦ ━━━━━━━━

[lettherebemonsters]

Hopefully I can get on soon. Regardless of what's happened, I'll still do my best to keep bringing hope after this bullshit fiasco situation in the fandom.

I'm glad Viv is focusing on herself and getting away from the chaos of Twitter. I may get frustrated by her decisions but she never deserved this happening to her.

Hope is all we've got left. And unless all confirmed seasons team up to really crush the mood, I'm doing my best to keep going on.

[paperstorm]

If you have the stomach for it there is a post responding to yours from earlier in the show's main tag. A lovely person talking about 'whipping out the race card' and whining that people are too scared to criticise Carlos, all because of 'the mean girls of this fandom'. Useful for knowing who to block though!

Being labelled a mean girl for extremely politely asking that people be mindful of the optics of their criticism of a character of colour is a badge of honour I wear quite proudly.

[thresholdbb]

Got a pocket watch today and immediately only had one thought about it

[punctuation-completionist]

might not be responding to things as much over the weekend, i'm just saying this now so no one thinks i am sulking about some people are being weirdos. i just am in cram time because i have a lot of writing things i need to do & a lot of books to read. anyways. the queue will still run i'm just saying. if you send an ask i probably won't get to it immediately