#gender fuckery ensues as you all know it's me

[unsister]

rosamun.d pike is sooo older grey i don't even need to explain myself

[maraudingforflesh]

Here’s pt. 2 for steddie recs

https://archiveofourown.org/works/40966161

Cut and Changed and Rearranged (10,856 words); Eddie makes Steve a mixtape and Steve actually ends up liking metal

https://archiveofourown.org/series/2963205

kids in the dark (series); slice of life fics featuring sexuality and gender fuckery

https://archiveofourown.org/works/40632414

It’s Not a Big Deal (11,708 words); Eddie lost everything when his trailer fell into a rift and now Steve is acting as his sugar daddy

https://archiveofourown.org/works/40710231

this is your home. these are your people. (21,479 words); Wayne and Claudia are dating now and Steve is worried he’s being edged out of the only family he has

https://archiveofourown.org/series/3057165

S4 Rewrite (series); Eddie and Steve were dating before the events of spring break

https://archiveofourown.org/works/40965813

You can put it all on me, you can laugh and you can bleed (9,267 words); officer Callahan pulls the kids over when Max is driving after the tunnels

https://archiveofourown.org/works/39825660/chapters/99710445

He has no idea (54,675 words); Eddie takes to bothering Steve at work and they fall in love eventually

https://archiveofourown.org/works/39308787/chapters/98368332

sub-culture (60,702 words); Steve is worried that Eddie hates him. Eddie is in love with Steve.

https://archiveofourown.org/works/39795543/chapters/99633705

don't go wastin your emotions (51,650 words); Eddie, Steve, Robin, and Dustin end up having to navigate the upside down

https://archiveofourown.org/series/2995302

Stranger Things 5+1's (series); a whole bunch of 5 +1 fics and they’re all very good

https://archiveofourown.org/works/40598586

HEARING DAMAGE (34,280 words); Steve started losing his hearing after Jonathan beat the shit out of him. It got worse from there.

https://archiveofourown.org/works/40739877/chapters/102080964

for your eyes only (i'll show you my heart) (32,068 words); Steve wears glasses and Eddie falls in love with him

https://archiveofourown.org/works/40062102

pulling your strings (14,260 words); Steve is stuck in a time loop

https://archiveofourown.org/works/39974475

Calamity’s Child (3,601 words); apparently Steve and Eddie have been hanging out and Dustin wants to know why

https://archiveofourown.org/works/40870158/chapters/102417396

An Exercise In Denial (16,289 words); Steve is flirting with Eddie and Robin is begging him to just come out to him at this point

https://archiveofourown.org/works/40197249

a cinematic vision ensued (like the holiest dream) (5,226 words); Eddie and Steve are living a domestic fantasy coparenting their kids and falling in love

https://archiveofourown.org/series/2978118

Heroes End (series); Eddie and Steve: coming out and being seen by their friends and family

https://archiveofourown.org/works/40105140

Chateau (Feel Alright) (5,113 words); Steve knows what Eddie’s bandanna means bc he has one just like it

https://archiveofourown.org/works/40479057

head over heels (8,324 words); Steve makes Eddie a new battle vest

https://archiveofourown.org/works/39750945/chapters/99519819

'cause i don't know what i want (until i fuck it up) (26,335 words); Steve has a habit of taking walks when he can’t sleep which leads him to Eddie’s door

https://archiveofourown.org/works/40305039/chapters/100956954

Eddie Munson - Stepdad (8,138 words); Eddie becomes a stepfather to the kids before he’s even dating their mother

https://archiveofourown.org/works/40172040

Some Things Cosmic (12,442 words); Eddie is meant to be dead but Steve is seeing him in his dreams

https://archiveofourown.org/works/41220591

light my way (10,148 words); Wayne’s perspective on Eddie, Steve, and their friends

https://archiveofourown.org/works/39759156

family friend (2,051 words); Eddie watches as Steve Harrington visits his neighbor and worries about the implications

https://archiveofourown.org/works/39972600

you were warm when everything was cold (5,470 words); Lucas learns a softer, more open kind of masculinity by watching Steve and Eddie

https://archiveofourown.org/works/39818568/chapters/99691521

Mike's quest for information (15,279 words); mike doesn’t know how to handle will coming out and goes on a quest to ask everyone he knows about being gay

https://archiveofourown.org/works/40544163/chapters/101577102

With Demons In My Head (64,386 words); missing scenes to fill in the blanks where Steve and Eddie knew each other the whole time

https://archiveofourown.org/works/39597543/chapters/99122538

Hey Babe, Your Hair's Alright (Hey Babe, Let's Stay Out Tonight) (42,432 words); Eddie gets humiliated at graduation and it eventually falls to Steve to drag him back out of his seclusion

https://archiveofourown.org/works/40424202/chapters/101265807

I'll Paint It On The Walls (69,994 words); Eddie pulls away from the rest of the party but Steve and the rest are determined to take care of him and show him he’s loved even if it requires pretending to be a satanic cult

https://archiveofourown.org/works/40294356

Memories of Then (7,252 words); Steve gets vecna’d instead of Nancy and his connections to the party save him

https://archiveofourown.org/works/41856543

i wave goodbye to the end of beginning (goodbye) (35,240 words); 5 times Eddie sees Steve do something for the kids +1 time the kids do something for Steve

https://archiveofourown.org/series/3116940

A New Perspective (series); Wayne Munson learning new things about Steve

https://archiveofourown.org/works/41265690/chapters/103459785

The Rise of Corroded Coffin and the Fall of Steve Harrington (68,163 words); Steve becomes the roadie and bus driver for Eddie’s band

https://archiveofourown.org/series/3114102

King Steve Dethroned (series); the perspectives of high school outcasts on Steve Harrington

https://archiveofourown.org/works/40771722/chapters/102162234

and i know that you don’t, but if i ask you if you love me (47,195 words); Steve and his relationship with being loved through the years

https://archiveofourown.org/works/39840312/chapters/99748563

Lovesick in Loch Nora (62,603 words); Steve gets Eddie a job as a newspaper advice columnist

https://archiveofourown.org/works/41087259

four puffs of farrah fawcett spray (and a mouthful of UD pollen) (17,444 words); Steve gets magic rapunzel hair thanks to the upside down

https://archiveofourown.org/series/3023262

outsiders pov (series); fics chronicling Steve and Eddie from the pov of outsiders

https://archiveofourown.org/works/39672624/chapters/99318411

The Worst Mixtape Ever Made (17,999 words); making a mixtape is an art especially when you’re trying to pick songs your metalhead crush will hate

https://archiveofourown.org/works/39753459

my name for you (12,464 words); 5 times Eddie uses a pet name for Steve +1 time Steve uses one for Eddie

https://archiveofourown.org/series/3030999

4B ‘verse (series); the 4 young adults living in apartment 4B are definitely a little weird

Steve Harrington and His Kids (103,807 words); this is a collection of one shots. I specifically recommend these chapters

https://archiveofourown.org/works/18623980/chapters/49465622

Photographic; Steve has a photographic memory

https://archiveofourown.org/works/18623980/chapters/47113048

The Six Times A Kid Came Looking For Steve At School

https://archiveofourown.org/works/18623980/chapters/46873861

Six Times Nancy Saw Steve With the Kids

[scripturekiddie]

WEB 3 POINT NO HAPPENING (High Level Why)

World of Nerds, WinkleVi, & the Reality Challenged

By ScriptureKiddie

Disclaimer: If you offend easily (stop being a pu**y) TURN BACK

Do you ever wonder why you feel so disconnected and lonely while living in a world with eight billion plus “intelligent” beings? The fact that most humans buy into intellectual superiority over any other of God’s creations may succinctly recapitulate the sum of glaring historical failures in every facet of our existence on this planet. Humans decadently guzzle their homemade, flavorless Kool-Aid until they convince themselves it is top shelf quality hydration. If you are offended by that truth, then stop reading now because this pill is jagged as fuck.

The world is loud, unnecessarily busy, riddled with red tape, wrapped in policy, with a policy to that policy on top of its policy, smothered in misinterpretation of misrepresentation and outright lies. Any of the few who fluently speak and comprehend reality (truth) feel the disconnect, the rest revel in the bro-ness of connectivity. The geeks and weirdos behind the wondrous blockchain and the idiocy that has ensued take this shit to a whole other level of fuckery, though. This is not a history paper so I will not delve into the faceless moron who started all this stupidity (I wouldn’t want anyone to know how big a failure I was either with this garbage). Well intended or not, the proof is in the Fonzarelli of Ponzi schemes known as crypto and Web 3.0 that click baiters from all walks of the lower rung of media can’t help but splatter all over the land of fake believe.

Meet The Fockers

I will not go deep, because TLDR is a waste of (y)our more precious than thou time, but let’s have a high-level gander at the cast of characters. It is pretty telling that some of the biggest names in nerdom have been handed or are awaiting lengthy (you think your juice box got jacked in high school) prison sentences. Names that I do not care enough about to research for recognition because who really cares? While they focus on the art of steady and firm grips on soap bars, we will cover the ones who will most likely practice the butthole pucker at a later date.

Let’s begin with the oddball, malnourished, (I am on the spectrum, so I get to dismantle others on it) Russian sheet stain, the godfather of gouging, ahem, gas fees, Vitamin Butterfinger. The aforementioned, faceless, Satoshi (I am probably not Asian but want a name that makes me appear wiser in the ways of merging tech and finance) Shamalamadingdong, who was gone like a fart in the wind upon learning what scalability meant. The familiar faces from the boomer gen of geriatrics that refuse to retire, gam gam and gampy who publicly criticize technology while privately having their grandchildren lace em up with streams of income directly from such, leveraging assets acquired by not having to pay 15 dollars a grocery item. And last but not least, Gen(der) Z, the 9th place ribbon wielding, everyone a winner, 10 billion gender bending, soft and oft offended by: lifting fingers, shit that’s none ya business, work, and business in general, plus anything that begins with re and ends with sponsibility. Honorable mention goes to the WinkleVi brethren simply because it is almost as humorous as it is sad to watch these lovable losers scratch and claw for relevancy in a world that wants nothing to do with them. Just because Hollywood portrayed you as such, you aren’t Armie Hammer, Bruhs. Not even if there was a special ed version. Not even if there was a fire. (Random but necessary Step Brothers)

Harsh assessments, maybe, but do your homework on any of them and you will understand that equalizers exist in this world to remind the wicked of who they truly are. Though I am not proclaiming I was sent, I will absolutely be dealt with by The Creator for the judgment of others, I am necessary. My sins versus any other person, are equal in weight to God but since humans have a different measurement system, at least I am not stealing from people by way of lies and manipulation. The sheer volume of Russian players and investors should be all the warning needed to steer clear of this insanity. That Russian in the shadows of the underbelly sure looks like a square businessman to me said no one ever.

By ScriptureKiddie

The Labyrinth

Smoke and mirrors, a boomer simplicity passed on as genius to a generation of identifiers of magical meows, void of gold royalty, and entrepreneurial owners of nothing. A “decentralized” web of dubiety, dumb contracts, and tens of thousands of fly by night, backed by jack “currencies” that have zero value to anyone trading tangible items. The exception being drugs, which, hey, you had something. Untraceable currency, until it was traceable. Hence, fail, fail, fail, and N FAIL T. Since we are now obligated to not hurt the feelings of those who fail, you get a pink ribbon of FAIL. Oh, but you are all wealthy, self-made (that word alone will spark my next blog as I school you on why you own nothing, have no talent, nor control a thing aside from the grace given of Whom you probably deny), and probably even conned some real humans into giving you nice things based on the ledger of lies you call a “Blockchain” huh? See how bought in they are when your system implodes, and they come looking for real things to collect to cover the debt for your Maybach bro. The point is, no matter how much complexity you wrap bullshit in, it is still bullshit. Nothing more, nothing less. The value of which is equivalent to the depths of your morals and ethics.

Why It Isn’t Expanding

So, you have this exciting new galaxy of anonymity and opportunity. Fundamentally based on a “level” playing field free from the oppression of Illuminatic (I identify that as a word now before you open your mouth Sir Poops with Kitty Kitties) dark forces and oversight by the blind, yet you are not growing at a pace commensurate with the lies of allure you are pumping into the ether. You woke though bro, so how is it not knocking you upside your mis-shaped/guided noggin?? Perhaps you had a realistic shot if you hadn’t outsmarted your own stupidity by creating a matrix of protocols too intricate for you to even explain in layman’s about how to send your “currency” from one shady entity to the next. This custodial wallet does this and supports this network of noncustodial sham dams which can bridge to that flatulent DEX to the one you can’t use in America but is being heavily promoted to Americans, so yea we are working on that, but you need to call Biden. Advise the poster child of confusion to fix it so we can share digital nothingness across invisible international lines of ignorance? You have the face and brain capacity only a mother could love. I won’t even mention, except I will, that Vitamin McForehead’s gas fees more oft than not exceed the transactional value being placed. Brilliance on levels of epic never before seen in the history of mental you know the R word. *** So as not to be canceled by the generation that ignores the fact that God is THE ONLY ONE who can cancel anything ***

Allow me a moment to google how to speak in idiot so I can break it down for all the “illuminated” minds who will more than likely be stuck at the first analogy wrapped fuck you I have placed throughout this un and necessarily pointed reality check. Suzie homemaker and simplistic business Bob aren’t down with it bruh. The seniority of Millennials are getting older and beginning to realize the massive mistakes made coddling you into the problem you have become. They do not have 35 hours a day to learn how to buy the drugs needed to cope with you on the dark web with the latest meme scam coin. Drug dealers do and will continue to exist in the flesh. Younger Millennials still buying in will begin having children that require resources bought in places that do not support Shima Uba Fluffy tokens. Biden gets confused tying his shoe and the boomers ultimately will fade into the afterlife for which they have prepared by faith and works (or lack thereof) during their lives (Trump is stuck on 2nd grade arithmetic so I wouldn’t get my hopes up). Gen X would rather send you to oblivion by way of banishing you to a nature preserve and placing bets on how many days (hours) will pass before corpses start surfacing. Do I need to elaborate any further?

By ScriptureKiddie

Novel Idea with Shady Intentions

The idea behind blockchain technology is sufficiently relevant and necessary. The problem is, you aren’t operating any differently than the evil scum that you claim to be building impenetrable walls against. The transparency is of paramount importance, that of which is the only protocol decently in place. Anyone with basic reading and comprehension skills can ascertain that financial, corporate, and government entities are nothing more than transparently in bed swapping syphilis, gonorrhea, and herpes amongst one another. Inserting complexity into elementary processes in an effort to line beneficiary pockets has been employed by bureaucrats since humans magically morphed into intelligent beings from tsetse fly excrement 200 billion trillion fillion years ago per the rocks and shit. Right after the bang that came from absolutely nothing. You are doing the same thing.

The cryptocurrency infrastructure is no different and it is a system destined for inevitable failure as referenced by every other innovation bred by human greed. You aren’t going mainstream with the status quo. Granted there are ways to profit with Bitcoin (at this point you need some money to play with), the Ether business model is a not so cleverly concocted Ponzi scheme staying glued together by a generation of creatively challenged copy/paste bloggers and untalented bags of douche known as influencers. It is not set up for the average Joe to do anything other than dump real money in and “HODL”, stake (scam), and mint (scam) NFT’s so the whales can gobble up the proceeds.

I intentionally did not dive into Web 3.0 because every other point renders it useless as is constructed. A collection of Atari inspired landing pages offering more confusion into the madness will last as long as the blockchain it is built on. The concept has merit, but you mofo’s are way off right now. If you would just surrender your life to God, you wouldn’t have to trick people into thinking you are relevant and swindle them for money they actually earn, remove all value from it, then turn into a bag of magic beans. You have only managed to take something worthless and make it worth less. I will give you a first-place ribbon for that shit.v

[tomegnome]

2023 Book log: Monstrous Regiment by Terry Pratchett

Monstrous Regiment satirizes themes of gender, war, and religion in the fantastical setting of Terry Pratchett's wonderfully irreverent Discworld. Barmaid Polly Perks lives in the charmless and highly conservative country of Borogravia. Seeking her lost soldier brother, Polly disguises as a "Oliver" and enlists alongside a cast of colorful characters including teenage runaways, a vampire, and a troll...who all have secrets of their own. Wink wink. Hijinks and gender fuckery ensue!

🍄Ratings based on the five core gnomish literary values🍄

Characters - 🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻 Camp - 🌷🌷🌷🌷🌷 Queerness - 🌼🌼🌼 Style - 🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻 Feeling - 🌷🌷🌷🌷

I read this book 10ish years ago and remembered it being an absolute delight, and golly, it really held up. If you haven't read Terry Pratchett before you can totally jump in with Monstrous Regiment since it stands perfectly fine on its own weird little legs (btw anyone who tells you to read discworld chronologically is a teacher's pet and not to be trusted).

I have dog-eared the ever loving shit out of this poor little paperback. First of all this book is so funny, laugh out loud funny. But also has these poignant, beautiful little moments. It gets surprisingly dark in places, but in a way that feels necessary and is really in service to fleshing out the characters. It really grounds the book in the midst of all this absurdity and gives it this real life human quality.

Many writers write characters and then, quite separately, female characters. Pratchett just wrote interesting characters. He saw humans as flawed and weak, but also brave and hopeful and that shows in the way he writes these really silly, lovely characters.

Paul, Polly's brother, is BARELY in the book. He speaks maybe once. But through Polly telling you these little memories about him you become really come to adore him and by extension, learn about and appreciate Polly even more. And the books doesn't even need it! Paul could've just been a call to action, but instead he has his own little arc. Someone please talk to me about Paul and his birds.

And Jackrum. And Maladict. And Lofty and Tonker. Any of them really. Because my heart is so full of love for these characters.

Which is why this book works when there are more contemporary novels exploring gender much more seriously and doing a worse job, imo. I am probably biased, but ultimately it felt to me like this book was saying: Oh gender? What a funny little notion. What a silly little human invention. Grab onto it with your grubby gnome paws and do with it what you wish.

For more information and detailed content warnings I highly recommend thestorygraph.

🍄Sample passage - may be light spoilers🍄______________________________________________________________

"Bloody Jackrum left me surrounded by armed men!" Polly hissed.

"And?"

"Well, I… knocked two of them out," she said, feeling as she said it that this rather spoilt her case as a victim. "One went over the road, though."

"I think we got that one," said Maladict. "Well, I say 'got'… Tonker nearly gutted him. There's a girl with what I'd call unresolved issues." He turned round. "Let's see… seven horses, seven men. Yep."

"Tonker?" said Polly.

"Oh, yes. Hadn't you spotted her? She went mad when the man charged at Lofty. Now, let's have a look at your gentlemen, shall we?" said Maladict, heading for the inn door.

"But Lofty and Tonker…" Polly began, running to keep up. "I mean, the way they act, they… I thought she was his girl… but I thought Tonker… I mean, I know Lofty is a gi - "

Even in the dark, Maladict's teeth gleamed as he smiled. "The world's certainly unfolding itself for you, eh? Ozzer? Every day, something new. Cross-dressing now, I see."

"What?"

"You are wearing a petticoat, Ozzer," said Maladict, stepping into the bar. Polly looked down guiltily and started to tug it off, and then thought: hang on a moment...

"The captain looks bad," he said. "What did he try to do to poor little you?"

"Patronize me," said Polly, glaring at Maladict.

"Ah," said the vampire.

[thanks-mike-stamford]

Fics that inspire my writing - Part I

This is Part I. The other parts will be linked here as they are posted: Part II | Part III

When people ask "What's your favourite fic?" I can't truly give an answer. It depends on my mood! How can I choose only one? Sometimes you want to reread that one fic for emotional comfort, sometimes you want that other one for the hots, sometimes you want to suffer a bit with the characters and have the relief of the happy ending, and sometimes you love a fic so so so much, but it hurts and you don't pick it up again ever. There's no way I can choose a favourite.

So this is just a disclaimer that this list is not really about favourites.

This list is about writing.

I'm not as prolific as a writer than I am as a reader. I try to do my best, of course. The best way to learn a lot about writing, though? I have to say it's reading. I can attribute most of my vocabulary (in all languages I know) to reading. When talking about writing fiction, it's more than vocabulary, though: narrative, prose, dialogues, plot, characters, themes... It's a lot happening.

These fics I'm going to mention are the ones that I read and think yo myself: oooh, I wish I could write like that. So I use them to study! Perhaps I could try this type of narrative? Or I could build my characters to be complex in this way? Perhaps I could phrase things in a less mechanical way, like this author does?

I'm drafting a lot of stuff recently and in these new works I'm trying to improve the way I write. I'm a quick reader but slow writer, but I hope my future works can show I learned from these stories below.

So, here we go, 10 Fics That Inspire My Writing, in no particular order. This list is not exhaustive either, it was horrible to choose just 10.

Part I

Limping forward series by bendingsignpost

I absolutely love this series, which is a main fic from John's POV and a short prequel from Sherlock's POV, supposed be read after the main story. I'll refer to the main story from now on.

This fic is dialogue-heavy. The moments of description are usually very close to the POV, and while it's used to indicate actions, the main purpose is always to show what John is feeling by how he interacts with whatever and whoever is around him. Sometimes we are left with dialogues that are not explicit. The characters know exactly what they mean, by the described reactions, but the reader is left to wonder - or most importantly, to actually think about what they mean given the context. The fic feels almost like an intelectual exercise in which we practice how to read people's feelings. The climax of the fic doesn't come from a misunderstanding that can be fixed with a conversation, for example. It comes from an emotional misunderstanding, and it's brutal, because there's no way it couldn't happen. Both John, Sherlock, and the reader need to understand the meanings behind the actions - if you have a bias or trauma, it can be hard. Sherlock's deduction at the climax scene comes from an emotional perspective - he deduces how John felt, and that would finally explain John's actions, which weren't clear for him. Just like Sherlock says in the story - it's magnificent.

These two aspects - dialogue with implicit meaning and description with a purpose - are aspects I lack in my own writing. I struggle immensely with dialogue, and my descriptions are usually "Character A is here or there, talking to B or C, and they're thinking X or Y". I look up to how this fic works in trying to get better, and I did try to incorporate those "invisible conversations" into my works.

The Illusion of Control series by starrysummernights

Uuuh, omegaverse! Not everyone's cup of tea. I love omegaverse though, for two reasons: you can create completely different world dynamics and sex/gender dynamics, and play with it.

This series needed to be a series. Every part is important. We have alternating POVs of John and Sherlock. If you read the series as a WIP, as it was posted, you could have been under the impression that it was strictly porny. But it helps a ton to read it following the chronology of the story (the prequels and sequels to the original one were attributed accordingly). Because the trick of this series is John's character arc. We are immediately presented with John's life story since childhood until he starts a relationship with Sherlock. He has endured great emotional trauma, but at first he doesn't even recognise he has been traumatised. Lifelong issues build up and eventually will spill over. It's not quick to deal with it, that's why it needs a full series. His relationship with Sherlock deepens, he needs to make some important choices, he faces great struggles. And step by step, we follow John's journey. It's absolutely brilliant to get there. It hurts, but it hurts good. And it's nobody's fault, at the end. He's not reduced to his issues, he's an entire complex person, but we are always aware how said issues played an important role in shaping this character.

Writing such a long story, posting it out of chronological order, and not losing sight of the character arc is what makes this fic stand out. One of my published fics specifically took great inspiration in this one while building a character arc for John.

Trying to Find The In-Between by NoStraightLine

Later on this was re-posted as a multi chapter fic, but I originally read it as a series when it was a WIP, and personally I think it works better this way.

This amazing work taught me a lot about causes and consequences. I think the entire series can be grouped in three parts. First part is the beginning of their relationship. They are learning about each other, playing piece by piece like a puzzle. Then second part is around Reichenbach Fall, they separate and emotional fuckery ensues, up until Sherlock comes back, the pinnacle of angst. Third and last part is them relearning each other from scratch. The relationship needs to be completely different - and they don't even know if they will get together after all, if it will ever work again. And here's the main point: it's not a single decision that warrants consequences. They had a super intense relationship at first - but if you go too high, the fall is worse. Everything is borderline unhealthy, but it could easily be attributed to love. The author doesn't shy away from showing us it's a bit of both: big love can be a bit unhealthy. To put up boundaries between them so they both keep sane you also need to limit how you treat each other, and what you expect from each other.

This fic made me think I need to estimate the consequences of how I build up characters' interactions. The reactions need to be accordingly to that measure. In one fic I tried to play with this intensity ended up being borderline unhealthy. Not something you'd want in real life, of course, but in fiction... anything is possible.

This is the end of Part I. Stay tuned for Parts II and III!

[here-there-everyfuckenwhere]

obviously (more than anything) I want to see Stede and Ed reunited and fuckery to ensue. I don’t much care how they play it (happy, sad, angry, silly) I just want more of them onscreen together. Rhys and Taika have such great chemistry. But I also want to see backgrounds for more of the crew (how they became the men they are). Particularly Izzy Hands. What made him like that? what made him worship Blackbeard so much? I also want to see a good sword fight between Izzy and Jim. (and more Jim backstory in general.) from the actual history of pirates of that time, I’d love it if we met Benjamin Hornigold (Ed’s former captain) and Samuel Bellamy (aka Black Sam aka “the Prince of Pirates” or the “Robin Hood” of pirates. He was known for his mercy and generosity to those he captured on raids. I think he’d get along well with Stede! Black Sam also had a mysterious relationship with a “witch” from Cape Cod named Goody Hallett. I’d love to meet them in season two! also the lesbian pirates Anne Bonny and Mary Read! (I’d love it if we found Anne and Mary were behind the mutiny aboard Calico Jack’s ship. And they are now co-captaining it happily. Out on the open sea! Being gay and doing crimes!) I hope we deal thematically in season two with toxic masculinity and intergenerational trauma. And forgiveness. and lord I hope it’s totally bizarre and super funny. imma be pissed if they lose any of the humor in season two and go too sappy. There’s so much potential! fingers crossed?

Woah okay lots to unpack here!!! I gotta say; I agree with pretty much everything you just said OP!!! Very well put!!!

I keep going back and fourth about how I want The Reunion between Ed and Stede to go down; whether it should be super romantic, or angsty, or a full-on sword fight, or if they should make it more comedic and lighthearted and tbh any route they decide to go with would be fine by me! I just wanna see them together again because i really do believe that one of the biggest (if not THE biggest) strengths of this show is Taika and Rhys together.

I would LOVE some more background on Izzy, but tbh I'm really interested in Stede's crew too!! I was wondering about this earlier actually so it's funny you bring it up lol, but i wonder how/why they agreed to be a part of Stede's crew? Like, maybe it was because he was offering to pay actual wages? Or maybe it was because they needed to hide somewhere (well, we know that is probably true for Jim and Olu, but what about everyone else..?) I would also be interested in Blackbeard and Calico Jack's past, and their experiences on Hornigold's ship

I definitely want to see more female pirates in season 2 as well!! As I mentioned in a previous ask, I'm not totally sure how they'd work it into the show yet considering the cast of characters is already pretty large and spread-out just in the first season, but it would lowkey feel like a missed opportunity if they didn't at least lightly feature Anne Bonny and Mary Read at some point

I definitely think we're gonna get more storylines about gender and toxic masculity in season 2, just judging from where episode 10 left us off. Like, idk if this is me just projecting my nonbinary-ness onto another one of my comfort characters lol but I just feel as though Ed taking on this "Kraken" persona at the end of ep 10 feels a lot like.. a transition? A changing of identity? And most of it is rooted in toxic masculinity and pressure placed on him to present/act a certain way (enforced by Izzy in ep 10 but probably taught to him when he was a child) because in the very beginning of episode 10, i think Ed was really beginning to embrace a more conventionally "feminine" side of himself (the pink nail polish, the floral robe, being very open and vulnerable emotionally with the other men on the ship and encouraging them to do the same, ect.) and I think a lot of season 2 is going to see Ed sorta struggling between these two identities a lot..

woww that was long lol thank you for all the suggestions OP!!

Tell me what you're most excited to see in season 2!!

[svtskneecaps]

vic’s portfolio

𝕤𝕖𝕧𝕖𝕟𝕥𝕖𝕖𝕟

soulmate au (main series)

→ READ THEM IN THE LISTED ORDER YES I’M SERIOUS

»  Seungkwan - Dream mark

Whenever you sleep you see through your soulmate’s eyes. It’s great, because he’s in a band, and you get to hear him sing all the time. It’s also not great because the universe won’t let you see his face LET ME SEE HIS FACE UNIVERSE-

»  The8 / Minghao - Body swap mark (pt 2)

You and Minghao swapped bodies and the universe is doing everything in its power to keep 95% of Seventeen completely in the dark. All that’s left to do is touch to switch back. Except you don’t live in the same country. Great.

»  Hoshi / Soonyoung - Shadow swap mark

All you wanted was a definite sign, and instead you get a fucked shadow and a foreign language. At least your soulmate can make some bombass shadow puppets.

»  Junhui - Doodle mark

Body art (specifically painting) is your SHIT and Jun loves seeing your art. He just never expected to see it at a fansign (AKA you’re oblivious and he’s losing his mind).

»  Jeonghan - Move mark

Your soulmate lazes about. Cool, sometimes you need to chill. They also dance really energetically. Also cool. Sometimes you need to get up and moving. You just wish he wouldn’t do ONE RIGHT AFTER THE LAST WHAT KIND OF PERSON-

»  Joshua - Talent sharing mark

You know how to do a lot of things you logically shouldn’t, like speak Korean, and play guitar. Good thing you did all that research or you’d be clueless right now.

»  Mingyu - Mirror mark

You avoid your mark for years, and then meet your soulmate within a week of embracing it. Wonder how that could happen.

»  Vernon - Injury mark

You need a break. The universe decides not to give you one.

»  S.Coups / Seungcheol - Matching emotion tattoo mark

You knew who your soulmate was for a while. Problem is, he’s famous. And you’re trying to be subtle.

»  Wonwoo - Time loop mark

fate is feeling down for some fuckery and you? you are so fucking tired of fridays.

»   Woozi / Jihoon - Singing telepathy mark

in a shocking twist of fate, the climax isn’t meeting your soulmate–it’s meeting their band.

»   DK/Seokmin - Emotion Colors mark

you go to a concert as the emotional equivalent of a cat walking on the keyboard. this has consequences.

paragraph one shots

(listed in order of posting)

✷ -> warnings; ☆ -> AUs; if unspecified reader is gender neutral

→  Make Amends - Jihoon x fem!reader (requested)

✷ mentions of past abuse, panic / anxiety attack

A Woozi angst / fluff where he gets in a huge fight in the dorm with his girlfriend. The fight gets really heated and brings up something that reminds her of her past. She runs out of the room. Woozi starts telling the others about the fight, and thinks he did nothing wrong, but Jun tells him about her past. After that realization he wants to make things right.

→   Camping With Seventeen - no reader

✷ the song Enormous

Seventeen goes on a one night tent camping excursion. Shenanigans ensue.

→   Where Is Your God Now - Vernon x reader

☆ high school & non-idol aus

✷ brief christian religion mentions

Sleepover night is your favorite night of the year. The entire church opens up to your youth group, and that means only one thing: War. Or, capture the flag. Whatever you want to call it.

→   that damn need to please - Jun x reader (requested)

☆ Hogwarts au (Slytherin Jun & Hufflepuff reader)

You got assigned to patrol with the strangest most stereotypical Slytherin you’ve ever met. Now all that’s left to decide is whether or not you want to spend the energy to break through the facade. Is there even a facade? Do you want to find out?

→   See You When I Fall Asleep - Wonwoo x reader

☆ soulmate au w/ guardian angel mark

When you or your soulmate fall asleep while the other is awake, you appear near them looking like the person last on their mind. You can interact with them, but no one can see you while you’re sleeping.

→   in the rain - Jeonghan x reader

☆ non-idol au

nothing says summer like spending hours upon hours in a car together. at least nothing’s boring with jeonghan

(posted as day 6 of A TCT Summer Collection, check out the full collab masterlist here)

→   Number 17 - Vernon x reader

☆ non-idol & neighbor & childhood friend aus

you’re feeling the summer listlessness. vernon helps you find something to do

(posted as day 35 of A TCT Summer Collection, check out the full collab masterlist here)

→   you mean the world to me - Wonwoo x reader

you didn’t see wonwoo at all on the morning everything changed

→   crew and cast - Jihoon x reader

☆ non-idol & high school theatre aus

You loved your high school’s theatre crew. From freshman year they’d been a staple in your life. Except, there was one thing about theatre you couldn’t stand: Lee Jihoon.

→   3:48 am - Seungcheol & / x reader ; timestamp

You find yourself stumbling into the communal kitchen, bleary eyed and just looking for a glass of water, only to find Seungcheol sitting on the counter, pouring a red liquid into one of Minghao’s fancy wine glasses.

→   sunset in a bottle - Seokmin x reader

☆ non-idol & horse camp aus

You wanted to be mad about being shunted to some godforsaken horse island, but the view and a stable boy aren’t making that easy.

texting one shots

→   Sunflower Frog - Minghao x reader (requested)

two short text scenarios

» Part 1: established relationship fluff

» Part 2: reader interviewed seventeen and reader’s friend stuck their number in minghao’s bag

social media aus

→   Stop Loving - Seungcheol x fem!reader (completed)

☆ hanahaki & school & non-idol aus

You’d caught the disease no less than six times in the past year alone and gotten over your crush every time, but this time was different. It felt different. More dangerous. You were playing with fire and flowers, and you knew soon you’d get hurt. But love wasn’t just something you just ‘quit’.

→   Walls Could Talk - Jun x fem!reader (completed)

☆ superpower & high school & non-idol aus

✷ abuse, references to suicide, and anxiety; for a full list see here (minor spoilers)

(admittedly not my most inclusive story; the reader has an ‘ulzzang’ face claim twitter pfp i nabbed off pinterest and i don’t have the time to remove or change it, and you may run across several lines that remained unedited after the shift from the initial oc-focused draft that probably distance certain people from the character)

You’re just a high school kid trying to survive your senior year. Seems simple enough. Problem is, you landed a major crush on a good looking transfer student, and unfortunately, the both of you are hiding some abilities that are a bit less than normal, and there’s a ghost you thought you buried in your past that’s rearing his ugly head. So… maybe this won’t be as easy as you were hoping.

→  i just see you - Minghao x fem!reader (completed)

☆ youtube & college & non-idol

When an artist begins to frequent the café you do murals for, you know your life is going to get interesting. What you don’t know is that he’s also your favorite online artist. Shenanigans ensue.

→  play it again - Chan x reader (completed)

☆ college & time loop

Every day is Friday, again and again. Time resets with the sunrise, leaving you stranded in a single day, over, and over, and over. Good thing you’re not alone.

𝕠𝕥𝕙𝕖𝕣 𝕤𝕥𝕦𝕗𝕗

AU prompt lists (masterlist)

my AO3 and my Wattpad (where i post writing heavy fics for both kpop and non-kpop fandoms)

[thebellwitchblog]

Reasons why my life is a fanfic

I dated my roommate fall semester freshman year of college. I was literally the “And they were roommates” vine.

He was set to inherit part of his father’s manufacturing company, so I would have been pretty comfortable if we stayed together.

Said roommate then started dating the Resident Adviser (an upperclassman over our hall for those of you that don’t have them)

I then got said RA fired cause I'm petty and found out they started shit while I was dating the ex in question.

I got engaged early 2018 to someone I'd been in love with since I met them. But we were only marrying so I could have his health insurance. He didn't know I was in love with him. But then drama happened, so it got called off. 

I'm now engaged to the same friend again, but this time I'm not in love with him. (Edit: still in love with him just in denial)

New years eve party 2019 I finally got with someone I was interested in two years before and then realized he wasn’t that good.

While my mother was in the hospital I found the cute charge nurse for our floor on Grindr and hooked up. Then he caught feelings and I bailed.

Because of my mother being in the hospital among other reasons, decided to do the semester online rather than go back to campus, and a whole lot of fuckery ensued.

Such as reconnecting with three people I've almost dated in the past and finding out they're all still in love with me.

But not being on campus for a semester meant drifting from a guy I had been really interested in dating eventually. Still feel bad about that.

I once dated someone that went on to get... third place in a season of American idol? Then got blamed for them losing 😒😒😒 cause we broke up partway through the contest cause they were cheating on me. (I'm not gonna put their name or even gender out cause I'd rather not be connected to them.)

Also dated another person that a few years after we lost touch went on to be the bassist for a band that became reasonably popular for a bit before fading to obscurity.

My mother's family used to own all of the land that would become Austin, TX. And that was the poorer side of the family.

But because of cousins cheating my side of the family out of inheritances through the generations and then my mother's poor decisions we're now the poor family.

My grandmother's maiden name was Towles, which was originally Towle, as in Towle Silver. And that wasn’t even the main part of the family’s wealth.

A bit further back in my mother's ancestry are the Bell family. If you've heard of the Bell Witch of Tennessee, you've heard of my many times great grandmother Elizabeth "Betsie" Bell.

My mother was engaged to the then-heir-now-owner of Johnson & Johnson at one point.

Mother was a serial fiancee. She was engaged more times than years shes been alive (she's in her 50s) and hardly remembers any of them.

I've been engaged to... 3 different people? Only cause I usually jump ship before they get the idea in their head to propose.

My maternal grandmother found out that my grandfather had two different wives in other states (he worked for the railroad. Ended up being a multimillionaire before he died) and told him never to step foot in her city again or she'd take him to court for every penny he had (she was the first wife and had two kids by him) but refused to ever divorce him.

His horses were mentioned in his obituary but not my mother or her brother. I think only the two daughters he had by his most recent wife were mentioned out of all of his kids.

My mother's godfather was a hitman. And a few of her cousins were part of the drug side of the mafia. But we don't have anything to do with them anymore.

My mothers first husband was abusive. She hit him so hard with a frying pan that the vibrations in it caused her to drop it. The handle broke when it hit the floor.

She repeatedly beat the same husband's head into the bar of a fold out couch so hard that the bar went from bending slightly upwards to downwards.

Mentioned this in another post, but when I was kidnapped by my own father at the age of 6, my mother called said cousins and had new identities, jobs, and housing set up for us as well as transportation and an extraction team set to kill everyone and rescue me. Thankfully it didn’t have to come to that.

Going back to the Bell thing, supposedly my mothers family have been a long line of mediums, psychics, etc. At least one person in each generation is born with an innate ability to see/commune with spirits or get visions.

It's probably partially because of that I ended up practicing magic as well. Being a witch counts as a reason my life is a fanfic right? Lol

First time I went to a beach (while kidnapped, but before it was revealed I wasn’t going to be returned home) I got lost in the ocean. I was underwater for 10 minutes before washing up on shore perfectly fine.

I've fallen through two ceilings and been perfectly fine. One time I fell right next to a set of stairs. Is this plot armor?

Honestly the sheer amount of times I’ve come within a hair’s breadth of dying or, logically, should have died is insane and many of my friends now believe me to be immortal.

I wasn’t supposed to have been born. My mother was prone to miscarriages and due to scar tissue shouldn’t have even been able to conceive anymore. Plus she went into labor with me at 18 weeks, but they managed to stall it till I was born at 32 weeks. 

They thought I had cystic fibrosis when I was a wee baby and thus didn’t expect me to live. Turns out I just had really really bad allergies. 

Some people believe me to be the reincarnation of my grandmother. I look and act just like her, even have the same taste preferences for the most part, am named after her in two ways, was conceived a week or two after she died, and my original due date was her birthday. Which, just like when she was born, fell on mother’s day that year.

I was born in the middle of March in the American South. What began as rain turned to snow as I was born, and even accumulated enough for my elder siblings to go play out in it.

I have a collagen disorder that, while making me extra flexible, also means I'm prone to injuries, have a poor immune system, could spontaneously have an organ rupture, have spinal issues, bad knees and hips, etc. Also causes migraines and could be a possible cause of my mental illnesses.

Almost every best-friend I've had growing up had admitted to being in love with me. The other two or three admitted to crushing on me.

Despite being the exact opposite kind of person you would expect to be, I was at the top of the social ladder in high school. I was openly LGBT, an art kid, and one of the nerds, but because I was fairly charismatic and great at manipulating authority I had the backing of almost everyone both in the student body and the faculty. Anyone that had a problem with me couldn't act against me without having almost everyone turn against them. It was nice.

I have an unhealthy addiction to coffee. Surely that's a requirement for relatable fanfic protags.

[oheyitscryssi]

I had my "first boyfriend" when I was in kindergarten. Jeremiah. Never remembered his last name. I was six. It wasn't important. He was cute af with blonde hair, blue eyes, and overall just too adorable. I dumped him when he wouldn't share the Lincoln Logs. He moved right at the end of kindergarten and I didn't see him nor hear about him after that.

Smash cut to freshman year, high school, circa 2003. Fresh off the struggle bus of what my future therapist would say was the worst case of bullying he had ever personally heard. Brutal levels of fuckery were tossed my way. I'm pretty fragile at this point, let's put it that way. I miss the first day of school because of who I am as a person. I overslept then faked an illness. I'm already behind the eight ball that is high school. I get to chemistry class day two and see we have assigned seats. Dread fills me. Teacher has put the literal captain of the basketball team, JJ, next to me. CAPTAIN. OF THE VARSITY TEAM. AS. A FRESHMAN. We're officially in teen movie territory here.

***Important note: EVERYONE calls him JJ. Staff included.***

I'm expecting Mr. Jock™ to jump on the HateTheWeirdChick train pretty quickly... Except he doesn't. He's chill as hell, funny, talks to me like a - gasp - human and that class becomes my oasis. We're also strangely comfortable with each other, which his asshat of a cheerleader girlfriend does NOT LIKE. AT ALL. Two people of opposite genders and social classes being jUsT FrIEnDs?! Weird girl not crushing hard on ~her man~?! UNHEARD OF. *insert eye roll here*

One day about three weeks into the year, I get to class early (no social life means easy hallway navigation, my friends). Our teacher has placed our graded quizzes from the day before on our desks, face down. I'm nosy af so, therefore, cannot resist peeking at JJ's grade. Then. I see it. On the top of the paper. His name. Jeremiah.

"No," I think. "It can't be... But mayyybe..." He's a lot taller than 'my' Jeremiah but 'my' Jeremiah was also a kindergartener. He has the blonde hair. A couple shades darker now, but undeniably blonde. He has the blue eyes. Holy fuck. Could it...?!

JJ walks in. Cheerleader-From-Hell Inc. is hot on his heels. This isn't even her class, but she's telling him a story about whatever the fuck and goddammit she's going to FINISH. I interrupt her. This is important. She can stuff it.

me, back of the class: "Yo! JJ!"

JJ, by the door: "What's up?"

me: "Where'd you go to kindergarten?"

girlfriend: *glares*

JJ, confused: "Heights. Why?"

me, excited: "Who was your teacher?"

JJ, more confused: "Miss S...?"

me, smiling VERY wide: "Who was your first girlfriend?"

JJ: *thinks* "Crys- NO FUCKING WAY."

girlfriend: *grabs his arm, pulls him to the hallway - argument ensues*

That, my friends, is how I reconnected with a very old friend who could've, for the sake of social hierarchy, brushed me off or joined in on the fuckery because it was the easy thing to do. Instead, he just acted like I was his equal instead of his punching bag. All before either of us knew we already had a long standing connection. It takes nothing to be a bully or an asshole or to just fall in line with others to fit in. It takes just a little more to be an actual good person when those you are friends with are not setting the same example. My life didn't change in some big way because of that interaction. The bullying stopped on its own. Being in a high school with roughly 4,000 other kids will do that. I grew to brush off the nonsense. But JJ definitely helped me start to see myself as normal when for years I was told I was an 'other'.

Just be fucking NICE to people. You never know who they may be to you or how much it may be appreciated.

A group of rough looking boys walked past me today and all I heard of their conversation was “he’s got that anxiety disorder bro so I went with him so he’d be more comfortable” and it made me realise the world isn’t all that bad

[dahoodsie]

ROHBITW TV, Lowell 6/24

If you don't realize that there may be some inadvertent SPOILERS here, I don't know what to tell you.

Not a recap. Just chatty.

Doubtless many references to NXT Lowell, considering it was the first time I & sometime rasslin' compatriot Badger had gone to an event together since and it was in the same place.

Also it tickled me that Mark the mark had made a reference to us being there in the same place at the same time again, so WHAT STARTLING TITLE CHANGES WOULD OCCUR?!!

So it had been A. WEEK. for me. Let me be clear, I love my stressy job, I love where I live. There had just been too much needless fuckery -- not, indeed, that fuckery is generally needful by nature. My boss was all "wow, you got so upset you started shaking," which you may be sure did not make me self-conscious AT ALL. I would have preferred to have met Marty Scurll after I was done having a meltdown, BUT THERE WE WERE.

Ran out of work on fire an hour early. (D'ya think I could get a religious exemption or sumpin'? Yknow, "mocking worship at the altar of the squared circle"? It hasn't previously come up, suggestions appreciated.) Poor Badger's ears filled not just with lemme ketch-ya-up on this stuff but here is who I am sending anthrax to next week (note to any interested intelligence agencies: I am not, in fact, sending out anthrax to anybody. BUT YOU CAN'T TAKE THIS PRETEND COMFORT AWAY FROM MEEEEE).

As a side note, it occurs to me that maybe I don't get to make the judgment "wow, rasslers have a weird job," considering that I do too. Just with a lot less travel & kicks to the head.

I was so sadface not to be in Lowell this time last year, but srsly, I and Badger were both so skint last year as it was aaaand had spent the $$$ on NXT. So, alas. Schedules & varying ability to drive (I cannot) also meant no PPV this year. Saturday's the best day of the week anyway!

It was my intention to meet an IPA, Marty, and the Young Bucks, in that order. The very charming young lady in the Cheeseburger shirt (I believe next seen mugging him while wearing a cheeseburger hat -- no, seriously, she had a plush cheeseburger on her head) approached and asked what we were looking for. I said "Beer, and Marty's line." She pointed, "Beer is all the way around the other side," then pointed where I was standing and said "and Marty's line is here." "Oh. Uhh." Look, it was confusing, what with everybody and their dog lined up to meet Cody. Let it be noted that Marty was perfectly lovely and ended approximately every sentence with "luv."

Finally got a beer & my breath, while telling Badger what I stated for the Chyna documentary that is going to have people wanting to come to my house to beat me up. Now is a good time to mention that Dalton & the Boys were actually all dolled up for their portion of the meet & greet, because about then they came swanning down the hall towards the backstage equivalent. That was awesome enough, made more awesome by the incredulous reaction of the cheerful chubby guy across the hall.

"Did I just-?!"

"Yes. Yes you did."

"Did they just-?!"

"Yes. Yes they did. You know... just hangin' out of a Saturday afternoon... I mean, I know that's what I wear around the house..."

(All three were extremely generous with their time & attention throughout the day.)

We finally went the rest of the way inside and everybody was given a Superkick Party 2 DVD. Whaaaaaaat? THANKS! It really strongly needs to be noted that NXT could learn A LOT about how to light this building from ROH. Then we had to get sad and mourn all the glorious lost footage that the WWE is probably too vain ever to show us. Mainly we really REALLY want to see Ciampa vs His-Name-Was-Girard-That-Night again because it was fucking amazing. Dammit!

Speaking of which, I asked Badger "Is that the same kid sitting in the same seat who was LOSING HIS GODDAM MIND when Balor lost the belt?" (While I've always been fuzzy about this kid's gender, I became clear quickly that this was the same kid. Henceforth known as Fat Kid.)

(That's the one)

Then we are told that we will be filming four episodes, also Women of Honor. OH. Oh, my. "What the fuck'm I gonna watch for the next four weeks?!" I demanded, laughing. (Okay really we know the answer to that...) So you know, we were there for siiiiiix hoooouuuurs.

Furthermore, we are all invited to 'upgrade' our seats to face the hard cam. Badger has a good point that if I'd had signs I'd probably be all over that, but I prefer the better view. Cheerful chubby guy is one of the first on it (I'm telling you, I love this guy).

Being that this was the Bataan Death March of spectatorhood -- except, yknow, not in a bad way -- I need to cut the shit on being quite so chatty. If you just want to know what happened, that's easy enough to find out. If you want to get some feel for what it might have been like were you there, I'm your girl. Also, we started having to get super strategic about breaks -- tho as I murmured to Badger at one point "I desperately need to pee, but I am GODDAMNED if I am going to do it during a women's match."

SOME STUFF:

We got some really excellent promo stuff, particularly from Daniels and Cody (as is only proper). Daniels was very up in our shit about loving Bullet Club. "mmmm are we having a bit of a worked shoot?" queried I. "ehh, ehh, I hope the Young Bucks say 'SUCK IT' to me," sez Daniels. "IT'S DAMN TRUE," yell I. Cody got ALL THE LAHV. He eventually said something along the lines -- considering nobody was permitting him to speak -- of "we can do this all night, if you like. Yknow they're gonna edit this, right...?" I told Badger that I've just been really happy that Cody seems so much happier. I mean, sucking chest wound because of WORST CLUB EVER -- that's losing a parent, not Bullet Club, so's ya knows -- but generally in life. Daniels was all "I didn't see that any of you guys were cradling his balls when he was STARDUST!"

Fat Kid was impossible to ignore, tho folks did initially try (at least while on camera). If he had a thought, he yelled it. He was weirdly obsessed with the rip in the shirt of one of the camera guys, it was in his ARMPIT HOLE. Eventually there was a mass decision of FUCK IT. While he was abusing Daniels in particular, Daniels came over to yell "you've never won anything in your LIFE, fat boy!" While I myself would not enjoy this, FK was in his glory. No, seriously, best day evah. (It occurs to me that I really ought to write about the weirdly adversarial relationship between shall we say performers & observers.)

Is FK the Boston-area equivalent of Izzy...? More obnoxiousness, far fewer tears...? It may be so.

I was rilly, rilly happy to see Motor City Machine Guns, who are on the (the) elite list of those who I would watch when I wasn't otherwise watching rasslin (a story of its own).

Rarely have I heard so much primarily soprano cheering since the early Hardyz (OK EdjanChrischun too) as there was for the women's matches. This both ruled and didn't. Srsly guys, are you gonna deny this shit is awesome?! If so, you are cordially invited to suck my dick.

Quoth Badger of Kris Wolf, "The tail was killin' me."

"Oh I get it. If she weren't so EARNEST, I don't know that I'd be in. But she has WHISKERS, for cryin' out loud!!"

(Also I adored that some people were doing little howls for her.)

There were occasional, scattered, funny but sad "awkward silence" chants. These were outright sad when during Martinez's entrance. Ooooouuuuch.

When the crowd would yell "twoooooo" after a near fall, some people started chirping "sweet!" Guy next to me groused "Oh great, we're gonna be hearing that all night." Said guy is a sourpuss. Yet said grousing guy is wearing a Bullet Club shirt. OTAY.

There was a super-friendly Australian (?) ambassador to the smoking patio engaging pretty much each and every one of us in conversation. We had to talk about my shirt.

"What, you haven't heard of Panda Panda, wrestling panda...? Shockingly agile in the ring, easily distracted by bamboo shoots...?"

"Do they have that shirt here today?"

"?!! Noooooo. Really, I just didn't want to leave anybody out."

-----

"So are you with the show?"

“HAH yeahno."

"I'm pretty sure if I ask you, you have to tell me. Like with cops."

"I am positive that's not true. Nor with cops. Also, I'm not."

A fellow who was, shall we say, more petite than Cody came out, wearing a ginormous new Cody shirt.

"Cody gave me this shirt!!!"

Story that ensued was that Cody came out, wearing this shirt, and threw it but it hit the announcers' table. This guy asked for somebody to throw it to him, and somebody did. This is not, strictly speaking, my own personal definition of "Cody gave this to me," but I was weirdly charmed.

......Have I mentioned that there were twooooooo (sweet!) meet & greets? Cos there were. Badger mentioned that Senor Ray was not as large as he'd thought he'd be. None of this kind of thing had ever occurred to me before (but let us be fair, that happens a lot). I said "welllll when I got a picture with him [and D'Von] he was seated. Also [SHRUGGY MCSHRUGPANTS] I've met a lot of wrestlers smaller than me." To be fair, I am a strappin' lass -- the Medium-Sized Red Machine, if you will -- and certainly taller than Badger. Also I don't give a fuck about anything other than "are you awesome & can you rassle?" Allow me to be clear: for ex., Guerrero was TEENY (and all heart).

Marty took part in a match that had us peeing our pants. Badger laughed, "Okay I LOVE this guy, he's a great heel." But I am not the sort to say I TOLD YOU SO. Newp.

Speaking of peeing, entertained that at ONE OF THE FEW TIMES I had company in the bathroom -- srsly that amuses me in and of itself, and I darkly loved that at NXT Boston the boys, for a change, had a serious line whereas I was able to swan right in & right out -- I suspected that this meant there was a match on that I myself might not much care about. This happened to be true.

Silas kept coming out with a sign that it had been ___ days since Jay Lethal had been in the workplace. Certain people kept yelling "IT'S BEEN ONE! DAY!" which was kind of funny, but also a dick move. Look dude, no one thinks you think it's true, no need to prove it. Work with us here.

Got beaned with a mostly-rolled streamer, it was inevitable. I told Badger "Clearly, we are the only LARPers here, cos not that many people understand how to throw a streamer."

Digression: so after NXT Lowell, this girl bummed a cigarette off of me, then inquired:

"So who did you guys come here to see?"

This was such a novel concept to me! Rilly, there are people who go to all this bother, and it isn't "mostly everybody" but instead is just one person or two...?

"Mostly everybody. Well... not 'which one's Dawson, which one's Dash,' haha... not the Drifter... for cryin' out loud not MOJO, but he was pretty good tonight."

With that said, what better way to end an evening than with a hearty FUCK THE REVIVAL?

(This still makes me giggle every time. I know I will reach saturation, but for now I am still giggling.)

On the way home, Badger was all "SWEET CHEESES. I agreed to let you treat me cos I thought it was gonna be like THIRTY DOLLARS!"

"I DON'T MESS AROUND."

[softly-speaking-valkyrie]

Want To Know What Bad Mental Health Looks Like For Bisexual People?

You wanna know what it is to live with people who don’t see your sexuality as real?

You wanna know what it is to live with people who think you settled for being ‘straight’ when you date someone who looks the opposite gender?

You wanna know what how bad it is when those people are your parents?

Alright then, buckeroo, I’ll fucking tell ya. And when I’m finished, and you’ve read this, don’t ever fucking think that bisexual people don’t suffer another layer of discrimination and ridiculous trauma that the other queers don’t have to suffer. 

I’m a pre-transition transgender woman who is bisexual (has known for 6 years) and is currently dating a pre-op transgender man. 

So to the outside uninformed world, I look like a dude just dating his girlfriend. And in case you need clarification, I’m not.

In the summer of 2017 after splitting up with my previous ex-girlfriend and following the worst argument with my drunken mother and father (back when they both used to drink) I came out to both of them as a bisexual, after confiding in both my grandparents who were incredibly more accepting than both of them combined. 

My parents were both, and still are both, typical conservative and right-wing thinking people who make homophobic remarks at times, don’t really ‘agree’ with people being transgender and transitioning, and have never been accepting of queer people in general. Yes, I still told them, still came out and tried to explain everything. They’re the kind of people who would say they can’t be homophobic because their friend is gay. But nevertheless, I told them I was bisexual.

Immediately my mother announced her views that bisexuality was not a thing at all, that I was going through a phase of thinking I still liked girls and that I was secretly gay and would eventually come out as gay (remember, they don’t know I’m trans, and I can never tell them following this) and date men exclusively. I told them I had slept with a man before getting with my ex (at the time) and that I still liked men equivalently to women. My mum still was not having anything of what I was saying. It was still a phase, or I was confused, or the typical bullshit ignorant fuckery parents and assholes spout because they’re too fucking stupid to listen to the people who are talking about it. No, she was right and I was wrong. Soon, I’d realise I was straight and it was a phase, or I would realise it was gay. 

The next thing she said was that no matter what I shouldn’t be telling anyone else about it, because it would then spread around the whole area we live in and everyone would be talking about them and how they had a gay son. 

Yeah, you read that right. My mum was purely, exclusively and only concerned with how this was going to affect her and her precious family dynamic. On that note of ‘family’ - my Dad had cheated on her sloppily and she forgave him and took him back, they’re raising my currently 7-year-old brother to be just like they are, they hate everyone around the area, don’t go out and neither currently speak to either of their parents. So, y’know *Vin Deisel’s voice* ‘Family’.

Oh, and if you’re wondering what my Dad thought on the subject of my being bisexual, he didn’t have an opinion. And given that he spends all day working or playing stupid mobile games that aren’t Pokemon GO, had cheated on my Mum when said brother was only 3, and is an all-around baby boomer ape, I saw that as a positive. 

But I digress. 

Skip forward to this time last year, late June of 2018, and I reconnected with an old friend who is my current partner (the transman I mentioned at the beginning), and we fairly quickly got together. My mum was really happy, like really happy, because she’d seen my previous two exes and how fucking maniacal and psychotic they both were and deemed this new ‘girlfriend’ as a good influence on me. We hadn’t really talked about me being bisexual at all in the year that had passed, and I’d never brought a man home because of course I fucking couldn’t, but I’d just been the same me as always. So when I brought ‘her’ home, my mum must have... you guessed it - “Oh yes! He’s straight!” Because remember, adults know fucking everything and if you haven’t brought a member of the same sex home to meet the family even though they don’t want you to, then goddamn it, you’re as straight as a ruler buckeroo. 

So now we’ll skip ahead to say this year, 2019, and I’ve been slowly trying to influence the family into being more accepting of other people, other cultures, and other identities. I’m being a little harsh about it because, I’m a sarcastic fuck and cannot stand ignorance, which is really ironic when both parents think I’m ignorant myself. They really like that word ‘ignorant’, which makes this cautionary tale down-right Oscar worthy. Anyway; I have a rainbow flag in my room at this point, which my Mum also put away/tried to hide from me at one point. Not only that but I have a bisexual flag pin, a rainbow flag Valkyrie pin, and a rainbow Royal Post Box pin all on my leather jacket (because being futch is beautiful) and as well as that I have rainbow suspenders. It’s pretty obvious as well from my room and all that I do, that I’m a feminist and I really really really love and cherish women. I’ve dropped hints about queer culture as well over that year gap, but my Mum is starting to get really annoyed at how ‘progressive’ I’m being around the house. She’s taking offence to how much I’m championing women’s rights, queer’s rights and people of colour’s rights, especially when we both watch The View and talk about all the horrible injustices happening in America and around the world on marginalised people. 

Then, she starts to watch Gentleman Jack (and I’m actually embarrassed to say she’s watched it all and I haven’t even started because I’ve been writing my book lately), which really fucking surprised me given at how sapphic it is. 

And then we get to today’s football match of the Women’s World Cup. England vs Cameroon and I had watched most of the game at work but got home as the second half came to a close. And here’s where you’ll find out just who my mother is. 

Mother: Look at the ref, he can’t even keep them under control! Me: Mum, she’s a woman. You can’t have a male referee in a women’s football game. Mother: What? Look at it! It’s got no tits, it’s a man! Me: Have you seen what a sports bra is? Mum, you can’t have a male ref for a women’s game! It wouldn’t be right! Mother: Well the managers are men! Seriously, look at it! Look at it! It’s a man! Its got no tits and look at its face! It’s a man!

A small loud-voiced debate ensues because my little brother starts copying my Mum and claims the referee is a man or a male. I keep saying she’s a woman, because not only is she that just by looking at her, the goddamn announcers said she was. Moreover, I was just trying to correct my Mum from using ‘it’ as a way to describe a person. I even told her outright you shouldn’t use ‘it’ when talking about a person or someone you don’t know. 

Having none of it, my mother kicked off louder than a steam engine at me. After about a minute of me and Dad talking about how good the match was to watch and how Women’s Football is amazing to see, my Mum starts to hurl abuse at me and points the finger, even so far as I was fearful to get beaten. And I have been before, even at 22. But this is not me saying I get routinely beaten, nor am I saying that my experiences are the worst kind and that I suffer more than any other queer. That is not what I’m saying nor insinuating. I’m only telling you what I get and why other queers might not get this verbal and emotional abuse for the same reasons, and here’s why. 

Mother: I am sick of you fucking having a go at me for all the gay shit! You’re not the only one who supports the gays! You’re not the only one! No one is allowed to have an opinion around you are they! Not when it comes to this gay shit are they? Fuck off! You’re horrible! You’re a horrible little fucker just because you support the gays! Well you’re not the only one! You think you fucking know me! Yeah well you don’t know me as well as you fucking think you do!

For the record, once again. I came out in 2017 as bisexual, and my Mum thought it was a phase and that I was confused. 

And some more disclaimers - this isn’t the only case of this shit, and there’s worse that I don’t want to put in here. I’m only writing this because it literally just happened. But this is why queers of other sexualities might not get this. Ace people and pan people would get this too, and we can all attest to the fucking fury and hurt it instills. 

Even after coming out, I’m still considered straight. 

EVEN AFTER COMING OUT, I’M STILL CONSIDERED TO BE STRAIGHT.

And not only that, I’m fucking punished for not acting straight. Even after coming out, and affirming for two years that I’m not, I’m still considered straight and punished and seen as lesser for not acting it. What the fuck?

And yeah, I realise now just how stupid it is writing this, but adults are fucking horrible and this is what it’s like. 

I actually wish these people were not my parents and were just dead. It would be easier. Or maybe if I was just dead it would be easier for the world as a whole? Can’t even tell anymore. 

Who cares? No one cares. Sorry for making this. But this is what shitty mental health looks like. 

I fucking hate this world.