#how am I able to say all of this you ask? Buddy the first fandom i came to tumblr with taught me to call out and disengage tabloids

[batmanschmatman]

Book Rec: Coming Out Under Fire, by Allan Bérubé

Occasionally I see some discourse on Tumblr from folks in the HBO War fandom or different historical/history adjacent fandoms about how there weren’t that many members of the queer community involved in WWII, and I’d really like to point them and everyone else with an interest in queer history to this wonderful book. Originally published in 1990, Coming Out Under Fire gets into all the different ways queer folks DID participate in the war. It’s from an American perspective, so if you’re looking for other Allied experiences, unfortunately there won’t be much here for you, but it’s exceptionally well researched, and crucially a lot of the content comes from interviews with surviving servicemembers. There’s also a documentary based on the book, which came out a few years later and includes video interviews with some of the folks included in the text.

One of Bérubé’s main points in his introduction – and for writing the book in the first place – is the American government, history textbooks, Hollywood, etc. is able to paint the WWII-era military as an almost entirely straight military force because many queer people who participated in the war effort were silenced during their lifetimes, and were unable or unwilling to reveal their true identities. Some of this was from societal pressure – the post war period saw a huge surge in homophobic rhetoric and persecution in the name of fighting Communism, not to mention the ever present heteronormative pressure to get married and have kids – but also because so many queer veterans died during the AIDS epidemic. Bérubé was inspired to preserve the voices of those who were still with us and shed a light on some of the folks we lost. (Note that this was also an intensely personal issue for Bérubé, who lost friends and his partner to AIDS and thus saw first hand how devastating this was to the community in terms of robbing us of our loved ones, friends, elders, and history itself.)

In the book, Bérubé makes the point over and over again that queer people were involved at basically every level in the American military during the war. There’s stories about guys lying when asked “Do you like girls?” during enlistment, lesbians in the Women’s Army Corps being brought to trial for fraternizing, drag shows in POW camps and in reserve, front line combat veterans discussing losing romantic partners to enemy fire or coming out to foxhole buddies, who were supportive allies rather than hateful. One of my favorite stories that’s always stuck out to me is a guy who came home and decided to come out to his elderly mother, who was fully accepting and supportive of her son’s sexuality. I see so many people speaking in absolutes that there’s NO WAY you could come out to your family and be accepted in the past, and while that was certainly true for so many people, it’s also not an absolute truth.

Please note I am NOT giving blanket permission to make assumptions about real-life people’s sexualities or identities, nor am I saying Band of Brothers fics where half the company is dating each other are historically accurate, but it’s really sad to see folks on here (unknowingly, hopefully) perpetuating the myth that there really weren’t that many queer folks in the military during WWII. We were there, we just couldn’t be out the way we might have liked to be. After the war, the Red Scare, societal pressure, and a literal epidemic silenced countless members of the community about their time in the service. There’s no way to know how many people who fought on Guadalcanal or worked at stateside bases or sorted mail in France were queer, but it’s a lot more than you were led to believe.

As a member of the community and a historian (brief resume: MA in Public History, BA in American History, have published stuff and created exhibits for dozens of museums), I just want to remind folks that we have always been here, and our lives weren’t always miserable and tragic when we came out to people or decided to live as authentically as we could get away with. It’s not completely historically inaccurate to write fic or original fiction where your queer characters can come out to their families and not be shunned, or live with their partners and not be immediately murdered. Being queer wasn’t invented at Stonewall.

[autismprotocol]

TMAGP Theory Board (S1 EP 7)

Dang that episode was a RIDE Hope everyone had a relaxing week because after the newest protocol episode I am screaming!! so lets get right to it

What Happened in Episode 7: Give and Take

Celia seems to know something about the powers with her references to the buried and the flesh in the opening conversation with Alice

Celia recognizes Chester's voice!! since the introduction of Celia's last episode, I wanted to see how she would react to hearing Chester and Norris and we got that in this episode. It's safe to say that Celia recognized Chester's voice as Jon. This piece of evidence makes me almost 100% sure that this Celia is the same Celia/Lynne from Archives

Jon is Back!!! after Chester's statement (more on that later) we learn that Sam has been getting emails from someone named Jon. He also mentions it in an internal email. This helps support the theory that Jon and Chester/FR3-d1 are fused somehow which is what I (and a lot of the fandom) have been thinking. This leaves me with a lot of questions how else can Jon communicate through FR3-d1 with the outside world? Are Martin and Jonah sentient as well? Also, my big question is if this is the first time Jon has been able to signal to the OIAR Staff or if he has been trying to get them to listen since he manifested in the world and Sam was the first one to notice him or is this his first attempt to make contact. I'm interested to learn more about how Jon will continue to influence Sam. I think he's either trying to warn Sam about the OIAR's true intention or is he looking for some way to escape FR3-d1 and needs Sam's help.

This week's statement involved a place called Hilltop Centre branch of the Oxford people's trust. if you were like me and my roommate all your lore alert bells started ringing the moment Hilltop was mentioned. for people who are new to the Magnus Universe Hilltop Road is a major location for avatars (usually web-aligned ones) and also was the childhood home to the desolation avatar Agnes Montague. Hilltop is a big deal in TMA. Hilltop Centre being located in Oxford also lines up nicely with where we know Hilltop Road is located. I'm interested to know if we will hear anything about the house at 105 Hilltop Road being student housing because if that is true then we can connect the statement giver Anya Villette From MAG 114 to being from protocol's world. if that's true there could be a way to get to the Archive Universe through the gap in reality (a wormhole that exists where the house was built) Anyways definitely will have to listen for any more mention of a place called Hilltop in Oxford 

Gwen was promoted by Lena to external liaison and is officially "In" It's time to learn the OIAR's secrets! after doing some research into the job title of external liaison it seems that Gwen is almost gonna be acting as a messenger between the OIAR and another party which is unclear at this time. my guess is it has something to do with Starkwell which was the private military contractor that was mentioned in Episode 4 but that's just a guess and me trying to fit in pieces that have not found a snug place in the lore yet. could be someone else (I'd love to hear your thoughts)

Remember our Buddy Klaus from Episode 4 who we thought was killed by Lena? turns out Klaus is still alive we learn through Gwen and Lena's conversation, that Lena was paid by someone to kill Klaus but failed.

Colin is more paranoid than ever! could be because of the eye or the institute but he does not want to be near technology right now.

Ooh boy that was a lot I'm still reeling from this episode so I'll leave it there for now. honesty I'm most stoked to hear Jon's back in the story and excited to see what role he'll play in Protocol.

Hope you guys have a wonderful week ask box and comments are always open and I'll be back next week for the episode 8 debrief/theory crafting

-Echo

[sevensoulmates]

Hi I just wanted to say I was on twitter and saw someone discussing and sharing your meta posts and I was genuinely intrigued and curious because you guys are obviously so devoted to the buddie couple and it's really endearing. And I was just really interesed about this perception of the couple you guys seem to have because is so different to the other side of the fandom I'm actively interacting with. I'm obviously a B/T shipper and only got into the fandom because of them but I'm really loving the show (currently I'm on season 5). I'm just curious about how is it that you guys see buddie as romantic when I think their interactions are clearly platonic, they obviously have a deep relationship, an intimate friendship but no more that that.

Again, I'm not trying to hate I just wanted to ask because it looks like the buddie shippers are settling themselves for disappointment just waiting for them to go canon. You all are obviously loyal fans and I think that's lovely but I honestly just don't see the show writing Eddie as queer now and I really think Tommy is here to stay (I think there's too many signs pointing to this fact like the buck actually episode and the old guy named Thomas). Again I'm not here trying to hate because I think you guys love the ship genuinely but I just wonder how is it that after all the things the shows portrays you guys are still rooting for buddie. Please feel free to ignore my question if I'm annoying you, I really don't want to come off as rude I was just really interesed in the topic.

There are a boatload of reasons why I and many other people ship Buddie. Most of them are far too long to get to in one ask like this because Buddie have had 6 years worth of material to sort through and it would just take far too long.

Long story short: in the same way that Buck was confirmed bisexual over the course of a single episode after years of many people saying Buck could never be anything other than straight, Buddie could be made canon in one single episode and it would be accepted just as easily even though it's been years and a lot of people are still saying they could never be together.

It's TV. The writers can do whatever they want. The second they decide to start bringing in more explicitly romantic things, people will suddenly start "getting" it.

To be more precise: I think it's easy for people to see a ship like Bucktommy and latch onto it because it's very clearly, explicitly queer. It's a lot harder for people to believe in or "see" ships where a queer couple hasn't done anything explicitly romantic like kiss or hold hands, etc. It's unfortunately due to heternomativity and the sad death of the slow burn. I can't really do anything about either of those things.

For me, the primary reason I ship buddie is because of the deep special bond and obvious family they've built over the years that feels different from every single other relationship they've had with literally anyone else on the show. That includes Tommy, Shannon, Abby, etc. You can view it as platonic if you want, that's anyone's subjective opinion.

You seem like a sweet person, but you're also coming into the show with a bias towards Bucktommy, which is fine. They're what brought you to the show, they're the ones who initially intrigued you, and they're also the only ones currently explicitly queer. I get it.

I am going to be so honest with you: I think the show has been writing both Buck and Eddie as queer men for many many years. But just like how Buck was only allowed to confirm it this most recent season, they haven't been able to confirm it for Eddie just yet. I could write essays and essays about how Eddie is so obviously deep deep in compulsory heterosexuality and has been almost since the beginning, but it would take too long. There's plenty of posts I and others have made all over tumblr and on my blog.

Slow queer burns featuring characters that aren't introduced in the first 5 seconds as queer are almost non-existent, they very rarely happen in popular media, and because of that it's almost impossible to ship something without someone coming at you saying "they don't see it". Fact of the matter is that Buddie is one of the easiest ships to "see", if you were looking at a man and a woman, but they're not. I can't really convince people to see what they don't want to see.

If you're curious about the specifics, I'd encourage you to go through my blog/meta or other buddie-positive blogs on tumblr to find many talented and intelligent individuals who will have a lot to say on why they believe in buddie.

When it comes down to it, I don't think the fandom at large is ever gonna believe it until they see it. That's kinda just human nature and the state of how we all consume media right now.

But once the show does go there, they're gonna be like damn can't believe I didn't see that until now while the rest of us sit here like "we've been trying to tell you this whole time."

In the meantime, I'm enjoying Bucktommy for what it is, for however long it lasts, and I'm gonna enjoy buddie just the same, regardless of if they go canon or not, or how long it takes.

[r3db3ans]

DAMN, BUT WHERE DID I GET MY MANNERS?

SUMMARY OF THIS POST :

WHO AM I?

WHAT IS THIS BLOG?

SUMMARY OF MY WORKS

Who am I?

First of all, I'd like to reassure you that I'm a completely normal person :') I say that because most of the time, when people come to talk to me or whatever, they tell me I look kind of cold. To begin with, I think an introduction would be good :D I've made a little info sheet, so you can get to know me better.

If you end up having any questions, don't hesitate to ask me !! Also, my native language is French, so I would like to apologize for any future English mistakes I may make. I still need to improve my English.

I came to this blog with the aim of taking a break from my initial account, and doing something where I could take my mind off things.

So if you end up finding my main account in other social media, please respect that choice of me wanting to create another account under a different pseudonym.

What is this blog?

I won't hide it from you, but this blog wil be mainly an Undertale blog. If i end up want it, maybe i will end up making content who might be suggestive or anything like these, so please.

I don't want minors to follow this blog.

Just in case.

don't want to create any trauma stuff and all

Maybe with a self-insert on it. Or maybe not, we will see it later :)

Of course, I'm just as happy to see people smiling on my fanart of their own fanworks, so really. If you've written a fanfiction or a AU and would like to share it with me, please feel free to do so!

If I had to share a goal in this blog, it would probably be to do official illustrations for a visual novel, or to be able to publish my own undertale-fancomic in this fandom.

I know this kind of project takes a lot of time, but you never know… right?

SUMMARY OF MY WORKS:

related to undertale and utmv/au

breans stuff

"BITTYBONES ARE BEING REAL?" Bittybones is not my work, i'm just drawing adventures of bittybones stuff in my pictures that's all and make it an adventure. :) Also the order of the chapters can change for various reasons, (mostly because of how unorganised i can be)

[PART 1] ; [PART 2] ; [PART 3] ; [PART 3.5] ; [PART 4] ; [PART 5] ; [LOADING...]

"Wanna have a SCULPTOR SANS and POTTER PAPS?" i should do more of this tbh

"Breans V.S the sh*tty life of fanfiction."

"BREANS SERIOUS ART"

"BREANS ADVENTURES" idk buddy, it's just Breans (so myself) moments, need to have some attention you know? :')

OCs

LOADING... THIS PERSON IS JUST LAZY FOR NOW...

[bonefall]

Ask Etiquette

HELLO sorry for the intimidating post lmao, I just need something to toss up on the masterpost because I feel bad deleting asks and then people will never really have an idea of why I never answered them

I get a ton of asks (usually anywhere from 10 - 20 a day!) and I'm not able to get to them all! I try to answer as many as possible but I'm still just one guy. So with that in mind, there are some sorts of asks I will simply not answer, and some 'requests' I have for people who send them in;

Please keep your asks short PLEASE try not to send me essays if you want a response; I still love reading them! But if you send me walls of text/analysis you are asking me to write a lot in response, which I'd rather spend on actually writing or designing cats. (On that note if you send a bunch of questions at once, the likelihood I respond goes down.)

Do not send me personal questions Listen... I'm a stranger on the internet. I'm overjoyed to see when my art connects with people and helps you realize things! But don't ask me sensitive questions like how to move out of your abusive parents' house!! PLEASE learn internet safety and get less comfortable with volunteering that kind of information to people you don't know!

Do not ask me personal questions you do not need to know what i study or where i work. get less comfortable asking these sorts of questions to queer people on the internet, especially when they talk openly about having previously been abused or stalked. (not that a person should even need to be as open about that as i am)

If I don't have a good response I won't answer Especially for suggestions I don't vibe with. I try to only say "No" if I have a particularly interesting "No" to talk about, if that makes sense! If I had to write a full explanation for every veto or idea I don't vibe with, this blog would be 90% what isn't in BB.

No AUs within the AU. "What if Hawkfrost survived his impalement? What if Firestar never joined? What if Tigerstar was never born?" Listen, buddy, you're creating an exponential distraction for possible ways the story could have gone and I'm not looking to write several essays for the literal hundreds of alternative ways Clan history could have been written. It takes you 5 words to ask "What if X never died" but it takes me paragraphs to answer. (This isn't about suggestions btw, I very specifically mean ppl asking hypotheticals for fun.)

Don't be rude. I feel like this should go without saying but please mind the parasocial gap. Especially if you're on anon, I don't know you, your backstory, or your cadence.

No "Fight Baiting" You're free to ask me to speak about fandom trends, or for my opinions on general ideas, character discussions, and popular arguments! But it crosses a line if you're linking someone's posts with their uncropped usernames, sharing unsolicited google docs, youtube videos, etc, with the intention of getting me to attack a third party. We can talk about ideas without making it a PVP battle.

And, lastly, CLANMEW ASKS!!

I make a hard effort to get to everyone!! Those are published on Clanmew Day (WHICH IS NOW JUST GOING TO BE THE 30TH OF EVERY MONTH SO THAT IT'S LESS CONFUSING) but PLEASE understand I get a ton of them.

As I write this I have more than 26 tabs open of unanswered Clanmew asks, a lot more in my inbox, and 9 already in the queue. So that you understand the sheer volume of asks I have there.

If I didn't get to you that month, chances are that I'll get to you on the next, but please understand why I ask for folks to not re-send asks

So here's Clanmew-specific requests;

PLEASE just try a translation on your own first! Don't just send me raw lists of OCs to translate, give it a go first using the Lexicon, just so I can see you tried. I will happily and gladly make more specific words for you when I see you try!

When you send OCs you've translated, ask me for a new word at the end if you didn't already in your list. Just in case I can't think of a witty comment or a word suggestion, you will help me a lot

Please try to format with lists like this one Folks will send me double or triple-indented lists and it will take up my entire screen when they've only sent like, 5 names. Remember that posts you send to me go on people's dashes, be considerate please You can open a list like this by starting a new paragraph, typing -, and then an immediate space. Hold Shift + Enter to indent without adding another bullet.

If you could put "Clanmew" somewhere in your ask, like even if you open up with "Clanmew: Here is my question blah blah," it would help immensely I physically can't get to every ask I receive on Clanmew Day, so if you have "Clanmew" in your ask somewhere, it makes it a lot easier for me to find it when I can finally answer! I really wish Tumblr had ways to sort asks, but currently, I've just gotta make due with Cntrl + F.

[moonyandrice]

Midoriya Should've Stayed Quirkless.

So i haven't been active in the MHA fandom for quite some time, but nostalgia brought me back to it. And along my nostalgia-fueled binge I've noticed a lot more stuff narrative wise that i kinda wanted to talk about.

That being, of course, that Midoriya (i'll be calling him Deku since it's easier) should NEVER have gotten a quirk.

The narrative theme that MHA pushes (or wants to push i should say), is that "anyone can be a hero" which would be fine and dandy if Deku's entire existence didn't destroy that. What do I mean? I'll tell you.

Literally the very first thing we find out about the world is that quirks are given to 80% of the population, and that little 20% group of "quirkless" people are pretty much shat on in every way, as demonstrated by Bakugou and the entirety of Deku's flashbacks. He's seen as a failure and a wannabe, his mother breaks down sobbing after they get news of his lack of quirk, and he's in utter shambles as well. Despite being able to get into UA on grades alone, it's believed he'll never make it far, and that he simply doesn't have the means to do so. Sound familiar? It should if you're disabled.

Deku is disabled in an allegorical sense, and he honestly doesn't make a bad allegory. It can be interpreted as either physical disability, or neurodivergency due to the broadness of what "quirklessness" entails, along with his overall personality. Things seem to be looking up in this sense, and it would pretty intriguing to see how this kid with no powers makes it by in a school with superpowered kids. Or it would, I should say.

The entire allegory along with the theme completely falls in on itself because Deku, after receiving a speech about how "anyone can be a hero! Even quirkless kids like you!" Immediately becomes allegorically abled a couple scenes later. The entire message becomes completely void after this, as Deku loses pretty much what made his character interesting to begin with.

"But if he did stay quirkless, how would the story even progress?!" I hear you ask, and i can answer that.

See, I am of the opinion that the story would’ve been ten times more interesting had Deku never gotten a quirk. I mean- c’mon. We have Batman don’t we? Sure, we have plenty of characters with downright useless quirks that have made it into UA, so why wouldn’t Deku be the same?

Simple! Just have Deku be the first to join the hero class. A quirkless kid getting by on nothing but his brains and downright insane attunement with his surroundings? And maybe some gadgets from his buddies over at the gear classes? That sounds awesome as fuck! Not to mention nearly all of his relationships with the characters become way more interesting.

Bakugou instead of being threatened by his fantastic new power, instead is witnessing the kid who he bullied for years on end completely dominate any competition thrown his way, and grow his skills at an incredible rate. Not only does he feel threatened, but he’s being proven wrong. Quirkless kids can be heroes. And they can be better than him. Now who doesn’t love a good bully getting their just desserts? And in what is arguably far more satisfying and empowering than just, “Wow Deku has better powers than me”. It also makes his sports arc moment with Todoroki feel far more satisfying as well.

“It’s your power not his” feels strangely more impactful when you realize Deku had to get his “power” from the ground up. He used what he had to get by, despite everyone saying he was nothing. It’s not Bakugou’s, it’s not his parents, and it’s not Allmight’s, it’s his.

Speaking of Allmight, where would he even fit in all this nonsense? Well, who said he had to give Deku a quirk to be his mentor? It was already pre-established that Allmight was thinking of giving Mirio his quirk. If we could have Allmight have already given his quirk to Mirio, it would not only give us a foreshadow of his character, but also give Allmight a reason for Deku to not have his quirk. Allmight used to be quirkless himself, so seeing a little boy in a similar position to himself when he was younger, and wanting to give that kid the chance to prosper for who he is? Not only is that super sweet, but honestly makes Allmight look like a better person.

There were so many ways in which the story could continue as we see it with the omission of Deku’s quirk. And I’m my eyes, a far more satisfying and empowering story that keeps its narrative.

[wenellyb]

Tommy was definitely racist to Hen and Chim. It seems like in season 2 they all moved past it though. Fans don't have to forgive Tommy. He's not owed forgiveness but so far it doesn't seem like Hen and Chim are bothered anymore by his past racism and horrible behavior. In season 2 we saw a change in Tommy and the dynamic at the 118. In season 2 we saw Hen, Chim, and Tommy being friendly together. That doesn't mean he wasn't racist but it seems to imply that they all moved on or at least were able to be okay with each other. This show is known for bad behavior happening onscreen and then we don't see apologies, people just seem to move on so I don't know if we'll ever see Tommy apologize to Hen and Chim for being racist to them.

We haven't seen Tommy being racist or sexist towards Hen and Chim or anyone since season 2. I guess we'll see what happens in season 8. Personally, as long as Hen and Chim are okay with Tommy then I can be okay with Tommy but if they bring up his old behavior and feel like they need him to address it then I am right there with them. When it comes to shows sometimes I feel like if the victims are okay and have moved on then so can I and that's how I view Tommy. If we see Tommy being racist, sexist, or horrible again in anyway then I'll have problems with him again but so far we haven't seen that. He's come back and been nothing but helpful to everyone at the 118. Nothing excuses his past behavior though, not even him being better now.

I think you should definitely block shippers and stans if they impact your enjoyment of a show or character. Please don't let stans ruin things for you.

Hi Anon!!! Thank you for sending this! And honestly I have no problem with people liking Tommy, far from it, I hope I didn't imply that in my previous posts.

My problems are:

1) people who say that Tommy wasn't racist because Hen and Chimney were civil with him when they were working together. As if it's some kind of evidence...a lot of people have been civil and polite to racist coworkers, for various reasons (for exemple: they weren't in a position where they would afford to jeopaedize their job).

2) people who act like the fandom should forgive Tommy because Hen and Chimney forgave him. Racism is a complexe issue that can't be summarized in a Tumblr post. But it's not as simple as Hen and Chimney were the "victims", in the case of racism, the victim isn't only the person it's direct towards, but a whole group of people.

Let me give a stupid example, but just to explain what I mean. Let's say A says the n-word to B. Later, A apologizes and B forgives A because he was drunk or didn't realize what he was saying or for whatever reason, it doesn't mean that other Black people should forgive A. That slur wasn't only directed at B, even though B was the victim in that scenario, that slur targets every Black person who witnessed or heard about that conversation.

(I apologize I'm bad at giving example I hope you understand what I mean😭)

If Hen and Chimney, have fogiven Tommy it doesn't mean that other fans should "get over it", unless they want to.

If Hen and Chimney forgiving Tommy is enough for you then that's ok, more than ok, but it might not be the case for everyone, especially non-White fans.

Side note, I also don't like when people assume the only reason other people dislike Tommy as a character is because they ship Buddie. Some of them do, but not all of them.

Thank you for the ask, I really appreciate your input.

And you're right, I'll start blocking some people, at first, I thought I shouldn't be blocking some people because we're part of the same fandom but that's obviously the wrong strategy.

[fanficsandfluff]

Squealing Santa 2k23: All the Maybes in the World

Fandom: Peacemaker (DCEU)

Characters: Peacemaker (Christopher Smith), Vigilante (Adrian Chase)

A/N: Happy Holidays, @fluffy-lee-boa! It has been a hot minute since I've actually watched the show or seen Suicide Squad, but I sure did try my best. Peacemaker is a comfort character of mine, I love him to death, and I just want him to be happy.

Tried my best to take inspiration from your prompt: "Maybe Character A discovering he’s ticklish for the first time and wanting to bond with the Character B so they ask about it."

Thank you @squealing-santa for your organization and hosting another year of this fantastic tradition!

It's been a pleasure being able to provide you with your 2023 Squealing Santa fic!

"Is it bad?"

"No."

"Is it good?"

"If it wasn't bad, wouldn't you then assume it was automatically the opposite?"

"Is it cancer?"

"Adrian, what the fuck."

Christopher Smith pinched his temple between two fingers, letting out a very drawn-out sigh. When he came to his friend about his... well... discovery, let's put it, he had no idea how dense Adrian would be nor how difficult it was for him to actually explain himself.

"Well, you're not giving me the best clues, you know. You can make this clearer and stop beating around the bush if you just admitted you loved me," Adrian said in his oh-so-oblivious yet sincere way, pushing his glasses further up his face. This admission gave Christopher another reason to groan, this time into both hands that now shrouded his face.

"That's-That's not it, Adrian."

"Yeah, okay," Adrian scoffed.

Christopher finally looked up from his dejected position and furrowed his brow. Just come clean. Why was it so hard? He wanted to talk about it in the first place and now that the moment was here, he was too fucking embarrassed.

"Em did something to me that no one's done in a really, really long time and it was... surprising? It just--"

"Who's Em?"

Christopher turned his head to look at Adrian and gave him the benefit of the doubt, knowing the nickname had been pretty new to him and her, "Emilia, sorry."

"Who's Emilia?"

Benefit fucking obliterated.

"E-Emilia. You've worked with her for the past month."

"I have?"

"Harcourt--"

"Oh! Why didn't you just say so! Jesus, dude, here I am thinking Emilia was Eagly's other name or something."

Christopher was just about ready to walk out of his own goddamn trailer.

"So..." Adrian scooted a hair closer to Christopher on his buddy's couch, grinning, "What'd you two get up to?"

"She tickled me."

Adrian was still grinning, still nodding his head, tongue poking out like he was hearing some sick story about his best friend and teammate getting it on together, until, "Huh?"

"I know... I didn't know what was happening at first. And I just-- reacted! Then I shut down, she asked me about it, and pssh, I barely knew what the fuck I was feeling so I booked it out of there."

"Why'd you run away?"

"Because..." Christopher's mouth was fully ready to continue speaking, but his brain stopped him short. Why did he leave the situation so quickly? From what he'd heard about it, tickling wasn't too bad. But every part of his body wanted to flee the scene the moment it happened.

"Did Keith ever tickle you?"

In a rare moment of sincere clarity, Adrian hit the nail on the head with that unidentified trauma.

Of course. When the brothers would sneak around to avoid their father, the two would do anything they could to keep their spirits up. And that definitely included a tickle fight here or there, ones that young Christopher would lose more often than not. And if dad ever found them, he'd hurl the homophobic and incestual slurs. So, yeah, Chris never thought about that in a really, really long time. Until today. Until his fight or flight kicked in because of one stray touch along his ribs.

Christopher ended up nodding slowly after what he was sure was many moments of silence as he was taken back to decades ago. Adrian even let him have these moments, which was another big win for his character.

The realization dawned upon Adrian in a heartbeat later, and he was smiling wide, "You're ticklish?"

Chris felt an unfamiliar flush build in his cheeks and he glanced at his friend, "Yes, but don't get any ideas, Adrian, I swear to god."

"Wouldn't dream of it," not, "I just can't believe the Peacemaker is ticklish! Who would've guessed?" even Adrian let out a small, excited giggle.

"And you aren't? Why's it such a big deal? I bet you like it, too, you sick freak," even though Christopher came to Adrian to confess and get some advice about his predicament, he couldn't avoid hurling insults as his defense mechanism. Can't get too close now, remember.

"Oh, I do," Adrian thumbed his glasses again, nodding and possessing a very matter-of-fact look about him, "It's one of my favorite torture methods."

Chris made a face, knowing in that moment Adrian definitely meant to torture and to be tortured.

"What's there to like?" he asked more genuinely.

"It's so much fun, dude! The tingles, the nerve endings, the effortless laughter," Adrian was smiling just thinking about it, and Christopher was squirming at just the mention.

It was then, in basking in the beautiful memories of being involved in tickling, that Adrian reached out and pinched at Christopher's side without abandon. Chris shot off the couch completely, screaming a, "What the fuck!"

Adrian giggled with pure glee coursing through his body at the discovery his best friend laid out before him, "Stop fighting it!" he bolted off the couch and ran straight at Christopher.

They played a brief game of cat and mouse, Chris hurling every kind of insult at Adrian in his avoidance of the inevitable. The ever-determined Adrian wound up cornering Christopher in his bedroom, avoiding objects that were hurled at his head in the process.

"Go fuck yourself. Fuck you, fuck your mom, fuck your aunt--"

"What's Aunt Kathy got to do with this?"

"Well I know you don't have a sister, otherwise I would've banged her already, dipshit."

Adrian grinned disturbingly at the thought. He wouldn't want any part in that intimate affair, of course, but him being able to say that Peacemaker was his brother-in-law was too tempting to not daydream of.

Christopher was genuinely considering jumping out his window once he ran out of small throwable objects. That split second of decision cost him big, as Adrian roundhouse kicked him directly into his bed.

Knowing he had nowhere else to go, nothing else he could do to prevent this, Christopher threw up his hands, "Wait wait wait wait! Adrian, wait!"

"Yeah, buddy?" Adrian straddled Chris and rested his own hands on his hips just waiting for whatever his idol and friend was going to say to him.

Christopher shut his eyes and took a few deep breaths before continuing his thought, "This is still new for me... I'd appreciate it if you, you know..." he swallowed, "took it easy."

Adrian couldn't believe his ears. Had he already converted Christopher into being okay with tickling? Not fighting back as much as his traumatized brain probably wanted him to? Adrian now felt he had a duty to uphold. To take a step in reversing whatever repressed, fucked up memories and feelings Christopher had towards tickling.

"Of course, dude," Adrian assured. He wiggled his fingers in quick anticipation and softly touched down on Christopher's belly. He could feel his friend tense beneath him and watched Christopher's hands land on his own face to cover up.

"No anti-torture techniques now, Mr. Military Man," Adrian chastised.

Adrian did take notice of Christopher making himself more vulnerable by lifting his hands like he did. And the Vigilante was not one to turn down the opportunity, so he clawed at Peacemaker's ribs, not pressing in too hard at the behest of his friend.

Christopher's arms immediately shot down and squeezed to his sides as laughs huffed their way through. When Adrian vibrated his fingers more quickly, that amped up Christopher's laughter, the much larger man rocking from side to side.

"Awesome," Adrian had a smile a mile wide at this discovery, at seeing his best friend and idol laughing this carefree.

Adrian tested out a few more spots on Chris's upper body, all earning him a variety of laughs. When he'd had his fill of exploiting his friend's weakness, he unhooked his legs from atop Christopher and knelt beside him on the bed. Chris took in deep breaths to recover and was rubbing his hands along the parts of his torso that still felt tingly.

"That was so much fun," Adrian decided to pitch in his two cents, smiling broadly.

Christopher was still processing what just transpired. He did think he should be feeling way more self-conscious after being so vulnerable like that, laid bare with all his emotions and his body. But no, he was actually feeling pretty good. Like the tickling was a stress-reliever. He would never admit any of this, however, of fucking course not.

"Economos is gonna die when he hears about this," Adrian seemed to be still in his own little fantasy world post-tickling, giggling at the idea of their teammates face when he tells him of Peacemaker's weakness.

"Oh, fuck no. You're not selling me out to Economos! I trusted you, man!" Christopher, fully on the rebound, saw the glint in Adrian's eyes behind the kid's glasses and the anticipatory smile on his stupid face, and, well... don't look a gift horse in the mouth.

Adrian was squealing and laughing before Christopher even laid a finger on him. And yeah, it was clear to Christopher just how much Adrian enjoyed being tickled. Which was actually kinda cute.

And as Christopher was getting his footing being the giver of tickles, not the receiver, he was quickly seeing how much more he preferred this side of it. Doing the tickles. Being a younger sibling first, then only child, he was only ever on the receiving end or receiving nothing at all. Adrian must have been used to this kind of treatment being Gut Chase's kid brother, so maybe that's why it grew like it did within him.

Either way, Chris was fine taking pointers from Adrian on how to tickle him more effectively, which was all kids of fucked. And Adrian swore not to tell anyone else on the team about this. While Adrian and secrets was a ticking time bomb, Christopher knew he needed the time to fully anticipate what was to come. Maybe the team knowing wasn't a bad thing. Maybe he avoided the situation with Emilia too quickly. Maybe there was still a chance for him to feel more grounded day by day, surrounding himself with loving people and loving acts. Fuck, he was getting soft... and maybe soft wasn't a bad thing, either.

[silenthillmutual]

my buddy @doomednarrative tagged me in a fic writer's ask game so ^_^ let's do this!

1. How many works do you have on AO3?

on my current account i have 154. being unemployed and hypomanic during lockdown will do that to you.

2. What is your AO3 wordcount?

895,907. i can't tell if that's a normal distribution for my fic count or not.

3. What fandoms do you write for?

at the moment: silent hill, bloodborne, and pathologic. most of what i have up there is for pathologic. i've got other fandoms up there though.

4. What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

eight, thirty-one - 1899 kudos (danganronpa)

to quote mika, age 35, of beirut, lebanon: "where have all the good (gay) guys gone?" - 1066 kudos (danganronpa)

(they long to be) close to you - 1021 kudos (mob psycho 100)

all jotaro wants for christmas is kakyoin (and he screws that up) - 810 kudos (jojo's bizarre adventure)

anticlimax - 796 kudos (danganronpa)

5. Do you respond to comments?

i've responded to most comments i've gotten, though it's always months late because i tend to read the e-mail first thing in the morning, head to work, and completely forget to respond. responding feels more personal. i know i'd be more likely to comment on someone's fics if i knew they appreciated it, so i try to make the effort, even if i struggle to know what to say.

6. What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

god this is old as hell but probably life in technicolor/the end of all things. they're life is strange style aus for one punch man and genos dies at the end of one of them, and at the end of the other the city is destroyed. the fics are connected, but i won't say how.

7. What is the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

so tired, so tired, my heart and i (pathologic) is probably the sappiest i've ever written a fic so i'm guessing that one!

8. Do you get hate on fics?

occasionally. i got transmisogynist hate for when you finally get inovlved, face to face for writing chihiro as a trans girl, and it made me stop writing for danganronpa altogether. i got a guest user on some burakhovsky nsfw i posted (idr which one) who said "jesus christ, tag your trans shit". and someone who went off on me years ago called vita in motu (pathologic) "borderline mpreg" and they very much meant it derogatorily. so if i seem a lil paranoid about interacting w people there's a reason why lol.

9. Do you write smut? If so, which kind?

i do! i actually write more smut than i post because i am not showing everyone my oc/canon smut. like some friends will be able to see it but i'm not brave enough to show the whole world that. also a lot of au smut recently that has no context and i'm not posting it to ao3 without context.

10. Do you write crossovers? What’s the craziest crossover you’ve ever written?

i did moreso in the past than currently. we're not gonna talk about the craziest one though<3 love and light

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

nah. i've had people write fic very inspired by stuff i've written but not copy-and-paste stolen, to my knowledge

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

people have asked but as far as i know it never happened. always thought it would be cool!

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before?

yes!! w my buddy dj :) also published rps in the past that i shaped up into fics.

14. What’s your all-time favorite ship?

mulder/scully is The Ship Of All Time to me. the blueprint.

15. What’s a WIP you want to finish but doubt you ever will?

oh there's a few!!

a rebel without a case rewrite that i started because i wanted to fix what i saw as timing issues in the film.

an akira/mob psycho 100... crossover? au? both? i had some real ideas for that one but it's not going anywhere

a silent hill au for mob psycho 100 that apprently someone was interested in enough to try and make their own while referencing mine. it was an audience participation fic and i'm honestly upset that i lost steam on this one because it was a lot of fun!

a magnus archives statement from artemy burakh. the idea behind that one was that he saw daniil die, and then be replaced by another actor... but artemy's the only one who noticed the different actor.

literally dozens of pathologic fics that i have started like you have no idea just how much i have started for that stupid game.

16. What are your writing strengths?

i'm not sure! my partner says i do vagueness well, and the unease that comes with that. i think i do decent at introspection in general

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

action for sure. i tend to do better with thought than with action, so i can write really long scenes where absolutely nothing hapens. kind of an issue!

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language in fic?

i don't really do it because i only know like...extremely basic german and i feel it'd be a disservice to other languages to just google translate. i will occasionally describe characters using sign, but again... not knowing it, i don't feel comfortable just saying shit, you know?

19. First fandom you wrote for?

i wrote something like fanfic as a like, eight year old? for a book series i can no longer remember. but for first published fanfic it was either bones or soul eater. those fics might still be out there, who knows!

20. Favorite fic you’ve written?

i don't really have one! i'm still really proud of o tempora, o mores (pathologic), vita in motu (pathologic), and my mind has changed my body's frame (bloodborne) <- less sure of that one bc not much feedback but y'know!

who shall i tag.... @stvlti, @brodyliciousbooty, @loudmound, @go-go-devil, @shogoakuji and anyone else who writes, consider yourself tagged :P !

[elismor]

Okay. This is wild.

I was curious about the rise of Reader-Insert fic because it was really not a thing that I was exposed to until recently and, at least in my current circles on tumblr, seems to be a pretty big deal.

So I went to fanlore to see if they had any indication of its history (which, of course they do and, spoiler alert, it --like most things in fandom -- actually dates back to Trek) and, as typically happens to me on fanlore, I went down a rabbit hole where I found reference to FF.net banning it in 2005.

This is the reasoning:

There are two prime reasons that 2nd person (you) based fics are not allowed.

The first, and most important reason is because it can be considered a form of child porn. Say, for example, you're reading a "You based fic" that goes along just fine for a few chapters, but then comes to a part with a lemon (sex scene), that story is having someone run their hands down your buddy, exploring your more intimate attributes, removing your clothes, laying you down, you get the idea, yes? Now lets say that you're 13 years old reading this story. The person responsible for writing said story is now guilty of child porn, and if an angry parent found out they could not only sue the site itself but also prosecute the writer and have them labeled as a sex offender for the rest of their life.

The other reason that Second person (you based) fics are not allowed is because they are often used for interactive stories. As in people send in reviews asking the author to write what they want, rather than going off of the actual authors own "imagination"

I am...dubious about the child porn argument holding up in court, but I can see why a fear of that would cause a provider to just flat ban the content.

But the second one?

people send in reviews asking the author to write what they want, rather than going off of the actual authors own "imagination"

Uh. News Flash: all of this has happened before and all of it will happen again.

People do that ALL THE TIME in comments and if that were reason enough for banning an entire genre, none of us would be able to post anything we write. How very ODD.

Also? Major shade to whomever put imagination in quotes. But, anyway.

I have been reading a lot of Reader-Insert lately because I am fascinated by it in an anthropological sort of way. And I have one burning question for those who write and read it.

Do you actually mentally replace the insert with yourself while consuming the story?

[leothil]

“You gave the person more fuel”

LMFAO you legitimately cannot stop victim blaming, and the fact that you got more upset about someone’s comment about the Buddie fandom than the harm the troll has caused to SA survivors, says so much about you.

Alright, I'll answer this once and then leave it be since I don't think you deserve to get more attention at this point. I assume you're the same one who sent me this too?

So. I'll do you the favour of assuming you've never encountered proper internet trolls before. First of all, victim blaming would be me insinuating that the people who received those messages deserved to see them, which isn't something you'll see me say because I am a normal person that doesn't wish harm on other people. Second of all, me publicly making posts lamenting what happened would help the situation how exactly? I don't have to inform everyone that I find this person's actions disgusting because, again, I am a normal person and that's how normal people react. I don't want to know what kind of sad world you live in if you don't go in assuming that being upset is the baseline reaction for everyone when something like this happens.

Third of all. As I have repeated many times in tags and posts: this person wants attention. They want to cause harm, they want to sow discord, they want a lot of people to be loudly upset and spread their work around. And when people play into this, they get encouraged and the risk increases that they'll do it again. We already saw this happen: people interacted with their "apology" post (with the best intentions, I'm absolutely sure, but nonetheless) where they said they'd remove themselves, posted asks they (at least presumably it's the same person) sent, and today that person went and published more fics again. I know it sounds like advice on how to deal with a school bully, but it's quite literally the best thing to do: starve them of what they want, don't give them attention, don't play into their hands. This has been widely understood on the internet since the gosh-darn 90's and I quite honestly can't believe there are people to whom this apparently is a foreign concept. Do. Not. Feed. The. Trolls.

Warning people that this sadly is a thing that's happening is obviously good. I've seen several of those posts, written in a neutral tone with just the relevant information (i.e. no triggering material visible), and I appreciate that people have wanted to look out for others in the fandom. But you won't be able to convince me that e.g. posting asks containing csam or violent fantasies is helping anyone. Putting potentially triggering material out there for anyone to see is NOT doing a favour to anyone. And that's without even taking into account that that's exactly what this person wants you to do.

Also fuck yes I'm upset that someone openly in their tags say "nice to know the buddie fandom is okay with csam material" because that's an absolutely insane and incredibly cruel thing to say. Besides nobody even knowing who is behind this, how the hell are you making a sweeping statement like that, effectively blaming hundreds of people on here for one deranged person's actions and insinuating all of them are okay with csam? Sorry but if you don't see how fucked up that is, you need to re-evaluate your life a bit. I also don't appreciate your insinuation that I care more about this than the hurt other people have experienced. It's possible to care about and be upset about several things at once since, once again, I am a normal person.

Have the day you deserve!

[scoops404]

Tagged by the very lovely @amoxilwrites who i love dearly <3

1. How many works do you have on AO3?

Under the Scoops pseud, 23, but 30 total

2. What's your total AO3 word count?

967,370 as of this morning (HALP)

3. What fandoms do you write for?

DNF primarily, but i've written for Dan and Phil and Teen Wold and One Direction

4. What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

I'll do just the DNF fics (because the highest one is for Teen Wolf)

Put Your Money Where Your Mouth Is

I've Never Fallen from Quite This High

The Curse and Cure of the Internet

5. Do you respond to comments? Why or why not?

Yes, absolutely. I've made some fun acquaintances in my comment section, and even some friends. I like discussing my stories and comments are a great place to do that without being annoying or bragging or a million other things my anxiety likes to yell at me for. I love answering questions and talking back about theories, etc. I think I've really done a good job of fostering a good comment section!!

6. What's the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

Um, it's a Scoops guarantee that my fics will have happy endings, but the angiest I would say is The Mushroom King and The Nightmare but I have other stories with angstier middles lol

7. What's the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

Lol, literally all of them I am such a sap

8. Do you get hate on fics?

I saw someone talk about me on tumblr once and they said I should drown, so? Not directly, but sorta? I dunno, it just makes me laugh. Sorry you didn't like my mpreg story, it was never that serious

9. Do you write smut? If so what kind?

Yup. I write all the things, with varying degrees of success. My smut is usually really emotionally focused with um lots of strange metaphor and a sprinkle of humor.

10. Do you write crossovers? What's the craziest one you've written?

No, but never say never. Does Deep in Dream count?

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Not that I know of! *fingers crossed*

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

I had someone do a very bad podfic of one of my teen wolf fics--I say bad because it's a mechanical voice and half of it doesn't even work

13. Have you ever cowritten a fic before?

Nope.

14. What's your all-time favourite ship

DNF, sterek, drarry (I know... I hate that JK Rowling ruined everything), Merthur, Phan

15. What's a WIP you want to finish, but doubt you ever will?

Currently? Hits Different, but I know I'll finished that one. Of my old WIPs, there's a dan and phil one I'd like to finish

16. What are your writing strengths?

HAHA, bro, I don't know. Tension? Dialogue? realistic angst? Making unrealistic tropes seem extremely plausible. You tell me, buddy

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

Setting. I always forget about the setting until the last second. Um, I'm not sure what else? Ask Alison

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language for a fic?

I'd prefer that if I can't figure it out in context, that it's written in italics or something and said to be that language. Unless the point of me as the reader not being able to understand is that I'm not supposed to understand along with the character, then that's fine.

19. First fandom you wrote for?

Big sigh, Harry Potter. Then Teen Wolf

20. Favourite fic you've ever written?

Is anyone surprised? Deep in the Dream of a Game

Thanks for tagging me, Vesp!! This was very fun! I'm tagging @bottleofchaos @jestbee @sageafk @lucithornz I can't remember but I think Vesp tagged everyone else I would have tagged, but feel free to do it anyway <3

[inevitablemoment]

“what’s the bad news?”

Word Count: 673

Warnings: Past possession, past dubcon due to identity issues, nausea, dizziness, fainting, hospitals, vomiting, pregnancy

Fandom: Ghostbusters

Pairings: Marie Spengler x Julian Matthews (OC Pairing)

I’m sorry that I’m a little late with this one, but I had some writers block, but not to worry. Here I am again, writing a new pairing, but this time, it’s one of my OC pairings; Marie Spengler (Egon and Cathleen’s second daughter in the universe were Cathleen didn’t get cancer) and Julian Matthews. If any of you want me to get into their backstory in an ask post, I’ll happily do it. I’m also introducing another OC-- Natalie Stantz, Ray and Willow’s middle daughter.

Enjoy!

————————

Marie took a deep breath as she laid down a wrench, hoping that it would help her stomach settle.

For the last few weeks, she kept having these bouts of nausea. Though she had only truly thrown up three times, she hated feeling like she had to vomit and yet nothing actually came up.

Even though she was afraid that touching her stomach would make the pain worse, she did so anyway. A small groan was able to escape from her throat without her having to move her lips.

Upon hearing her friend, Natalie looked over her shoulder from where she had been working on the Ecto with Trevor. The teenager followed suit, seeing his aunt visibly in pain.

“What’s wrong?” he asked.

Marie turned in her chair to look at her nephew and friend, only to feel as if something had shifted in her stomach-- even if there was barely anything in there.

“Nothing,” she tried to lie. “I’m fine, Trev. I’m fine.”

“You don’t look fine,” Natalie pointed out, setting her tools down and wiping her hands on her pants as she walked over to Marie. “You look a little peaked-- and when was the last time you slept?”

“I slept last night-- we all need sleep,” Marie snapped.

“When was the last time you were able to sleep through the night?” Natalie asked.

Not for a while, Marie wanted to say.

Not since she had gotten the call that her father had died.

Not since she had to return to the town where she was a pariah.

And certainly not since some Eldritch dog took away all of her bodily autonomy.

The nightmares were came every night like clockwork-- for both her and Julian. But she was the one overwhelmed by guilt of dragging Julian into this mess in the first place.

If she had just ignored him that day when she and Callie were dropping the kids off at the summer school, then they would never have gotten mixed up with each other again, and he wouldn’t have been possessed, too.

“I’m fine,” Marie instead repeated, leaning by her hands against her worktable to help herself stand up.

“What-- where are you going?” Natalie asked.

“I just need to grab something from upst--”

Marie stopped talking; she had barely even taken a step and she was beginning to stumble. The words coming from Trevor and Natalie were indistinct and echoing in her head.

The acid in her stomach was beginning to creep up her throat, with the acid remaining in her stomach seeming to curdle up like spoiled milk. Her hand flew to her mouth, but it didn’t stop vomit from escaping her mouth in her stifled retches.

“Marie! Oh, my God!”

As Natalie began to instinctively take hold of her friend, Marie tried to reach for the table for support again. Before she could grab it, she began falling. Natalie caught her before she could reach the floor.

“Trev, buddy, call Julian and your mom and your grandma-- I’ll call an ambulance,” Natalie instructed.

Julian had rushed to the hospital as soon as Trevor had called him. Cathleen and Callie weren’t too far behind him. And both of them wasted no time asking Marie why she didn’t tell them how she was feeling, and numerous other questions.

And as much as he wanted to ask her the same things, he knew that she just wanted him there so he could hold her hand.

“So... what’s the bad news?” Marie asked the doctor.

“Well, your test came back from malnutrition and anemia,” Dr. Jasons began. “How long has it been so you’ve eaten something?”

“I... I’ve tried,” Marie answered. “But I... I keep feeling so sick that I can only get a few bites down at most.”

“Well, there’s an answer for that-- you’re pregnant.”

Pregnant? Marie wondered as her eyes widened. How can I be pregnant? Julian and I haven’t--

But the Gatekeeper and the Keymaster did, that familiar voice that had followed her since childhood reminded her.

[aestheticsfandomsandmore]

In defense of Wai

PART 1. EPISODE 1.

Hey there, Bad Buddy fandom! No, I am not about to write a 10k words long post in which I will justify Wai for what he did to Pran (and Pat) at the end of episode 8; what he did is unjustifiable, so I won’t even make an attempt. All I want to do is to—maybe—let you all see him in a different light—especially those who have either never rewatched the show or who have only rewatched the PatPran/InkPa scenes (understandable tbh): there are so many little details spread all around the episodes that may go unnoticed on a first watch. 

I also read many people talk really bad about Wai as a friend overall, even before what happens during (and after) the curtain drop scene; and I heavily disagree, so here’s my personal perspective on this character.

[NOTE: I do not like Jimmy’s acting and the only reason I’m able to ‘stand’ it in Bad Buddy is that most of the scenes in which he appears are pretty light-hearted, or meant to be comic relief, so his cringey acting does not look (that much) all over the place. Despite this issue, I still believe Wai is a well written character who has layers to him and I would love to explore them.]

The show literally starts with a close up of Wai’s feet [EP1, part1, 0:44], introducing his character while he tries to run away from his bullies—yes, Pat and co. are acting like bullies and I do not care about how amazing of a person Pat actually is, I don’t care how goofy and likeable Korn becomes later in the show: they are introduced as assholes who are willing to resort to violence the moment someone gives them a middle finger. That is not okay (yes, I will be talking about Wai and his tendencies to resort to violence as well, don’t worry about it), especially when you watch the show in retrospect and know what they’ll do to Wai in his workplace (but we’ll get there).

We are immediately given some info about how much Pran cares about Wai: when Safe tells him [EP1, part1, 2:29] that Louis is in trouble, Pran only retorts ‘He gets himself into a fight everyday’, but when Safe mentions that Wai’s there too, Pran changes his mind and decides to go to his rescue. This is important because a) we’ll get to know Pran over the episodes and we’ll realize he doesn’t like violence at all and is way less inclined to piss people off as well, favouring manipulation and politeness to get what he wants; b) Pran is not about to help Wai because he believes he’s innocent, considering what he asks him [EP1, part1, 8:31] after the fight: ‘What did you do to them this time?’; Pran goes there fully aware that, despite Wai being the victim in that specific situation, he probably did something that led things to go the way they did. And yet, he still puts himself in danger to help him, and assists him [EP1, part1, 8:02] in getting up before running away, making sure he’s safe and sound. 

Wai is therefore introduced as a troublemaker, as someone who doesn’t shy away from a fight, who’s quite immature and doesn’t know how to read the room; of course, it’s not his fault Pat and his guys decided it made sense to chase down someone over a middle finger, but all I’m saying is that Pat had a well-known reputation, and Wai still decided to provoke him and his friends well aware of that. Safe even tells him (EP1, part1,9:08): “I just don’t get it, Wai. Why did you have to mess with that guy. I heard he’s the boss of his faculty. Even our seniors don’t want to have problems with him. Who are you to dare?”, to which Wai replies: “I’m not scared at all.” and then suggests to take revenge on the Engineering gang as soon as they can. So, he didn’t learn much from what just happened, but I can’t say I blame him entirely, to be honest: I never liked giving in to bullies either. The mature and wise thing to do would be to report them: to have them act like bullies in front of a camera, then show the video to their professors and get them all suspended or expelled. But as we already established, Wai is everything but mature, or wise. 

When Pran refuses to help them in their plan for revenge (<3), he then turns to Wai and reccomends him [EP1, part1, 9:36] to be cautious (he doesn’t give the same advice to Safe or Louis, focusing entirely on keeping Wai safe). You can then see Wai thinking about Pran’s words and nodding, as if he’s actually giving it some thought (in other words, Pran’s opinion is important to Wai, and since he actually doesn’t seem to be plotting anything against Pat and his friends later in the episode it’s fair to assume he realized Pran is right). 

We don’t know the circumstances in which these two met—we only know it was before they started Uni. My personal headcanon is that they became friends when Pran was transferred, in his boarding school; on the other hand, it’s likely that they met Safe and Louis during University (therefore these two friendships are still very new to Pran, which explains his blatant favoritism towards Wai). Wai must have done something to earn Pran’s trust and affection—and I only wish the show dived more into their past—, we don’t know what, but he must have done something! Pran isn’t a person who makes friends easily (we have canon confirmation of this in ep10, but it was pretty obvious from his personality alone), so for him to be this attached to Wai something huge must have happened. We do know, though, that Pran never talked to Wai about liking Pat, or liking boys as a whole; so we do know that, while theirs is clearly a deep bond, Pran never really managed to fully open up with Wai; then again, we also know that Pran doesn’t easily open up to anyone, that he has issues doing so even with Pat; and being transferred somewhere else must have been a trauma for him, to the point that he may have just wanted to forget all about his previous life, never mentioning anything concerning Pat or his family situation to avoid thinking about them. 

Next time we see Wai [EP1, part2, 4:44], he’s hanging around with Pran, Safe and Louis, and they’re being cute together, laughing and smiling without a care in the world. They’re walking in pairs, and Wai is—of course—standing next to Pran. After they get an interruption by another Architecture student, they split up, Safe and Louis heading to the canteen, Wai and Pran to the workshop studio. But before they go, Wai catches Pran’s attention and shows him a flier on the wall [EP1, part2, 5:50], the one that’s spamming the Freshy Day Music competion. When Pran points out that the layout isn’t great, purposely ignoring the real reason why Wai showed him the flier, he seems amused [EP1, part2, 6:01]—actually, he looks at Pran with a fond smile the entire time, clearly looking forward to his reaction. 

Now, I know most people will probably say that this is the first time Wai tries to guilt-trip Pran into doing him a favor, but Wai doesn’t even mention anything about how much he wants to take part into the competition, or how great it would be for him if Pran agreed, he just points out he knows Pran wants to do it, and spurrs him into action. He doesn’t even pressure him, simply stating [6:35] that he’ll go get an application form, which Pran can decide whether or not to sign later. I genuinely believe Wai was doing this with the best intentions. Did he want to join this competition? Sure. He obviously likes to play guitar, considering he’s got money issues but still owns one of his own. But he also mentions he knows Pran wants to. What does this mean? It means Pran told Wai about his love for music. He didn’t bring his guitar with him when he got transferred: we know Pat is currently holding it in his closet; therefore the topic must have just popped out at some point during their friendship, and Pran must have felt comfortable enough to talk about it. 

The scene that follows is very light hearted and fun. Pran points out it’s for the best if he’s the one getting the application form, since Wai likes to slack off and the last time they went to get a coffee they ended up getting no work done at all. It’s a little detail that tells us Wai is not really the most diligent person in the world (who would have thought?) but also that these two really enjoy spending their time together, to the point that hours can pass and they barely notice. 

The next scene that’s important in terms of Pran and Wai’s friendship is the conversation Pran has with Pat in his room (EP1, part3, 6:29). Pat asks Pran to stop protecting Wai, to back off, and—despite the feelings we know Pran has for Pat—he refuses to do so. “Wai has been my close friend since before I transferred here.” 

Pat and Pran come to an agreement: Pran will avoid Wai getting hurt by asking him to apologize, and Pat will be the one backing off consequently. Wai agrees to this, and I firmly believe it must be because of something Pran told him, otherwise he would have never apologized to them (especially since, sure, he gave them a middle finger, but they’re the ones who resorted to violence, so they’re really the ones at fault).Things don’t go the way they planned, because Pat’s friends are complete assholes, but at least they gave it a try; the trade-off scene is so fucking cringey—seeing University students acting like mobsters gives me chills—, so I won’t dive into it any further.

So, what did we get out of episode 1? 

- Wai is Pran’s closest and most important friend and Pran cares deeply about him;

- Wai gives credit to Pran’s words and opinions; 

- they truly enjoy hanging out together; 

- they most likely had some personal conversations over the years, in which Pran opened up to Wai about his love for music, and Wai remembers what Pran told him. 

[akaisenhatake]

okay i feel like this needs to be said more in the hphm fandom.

[ and before you're gonna come at me after reading this do know that im giving my own opinions and im not good with words too so if i said something wrong just lmk without being mean ]

so first of all, i know yall haven't been getting attention or noticed for your works and yeah honestly i get it buddy, i think almost everyone has had this happen to them at least once while staying here, and its been happening for a while now

it just sucks when you know you've spent so much time from days to weeks to get your character's profile done only for it to be eating dust, or spending sleepless nights working on an art piece or a story writing that you're proud of only for it to barely get any likes or reblogs, boy that definitely hit deep in the feels

another thing i noticed is popularity

its pretty normal to get jealous of someone who got popular for their art though, some of them started off pretty strong.

i guess what i didnt like most was how some of the people who became mutuals with the popular bloggers only to get their art but not because they like them as a person

as petty as im gonna sound now, the underrated bloggers are just gonna get pushed further and further away but no one is to be blamed for this.

but do hear me out fellow hphm bloggers

i am here to remind you that its okay to feel petty about it, its okay to feel down because your content isnt getting the attention you wanted it to have. as they always say, a human's needs are never enough, you would constantly give yourself higher expectations.

but also remember that the amount of attention you get dont always determine your talent. its hard to accept the fact people may not like reading your writings or art or edits, and that makes you think you're bad at what you're doing. but i promise you its not.

for as long as you put effort into your work, there will always be someone that appreciates it. who knows, someone might keep coming back to your blog to admire your art or read your stories to sleep, you might've even made someone's day better because of a fluff content you posted months ago. the amount of notes you get doesnt tell you how many people saw your work, because like me, im lazy to like or reblog everything i see.

so, just keep doing what you do best, dont stop putting effort into your stuff, because in the end you're mostly doing it for yourself. once you're happy and proud of it, thats what matters.

oh and another thing

do interact with each other more fellow hphm bloggers

it wont take too long to send them a compliment, or ask them about their characters, or even ask them how their day went <3

well im gonna stop here

please do reblog so the people who may need this will be able to see it. stay strong buddies

here's avery to make your day/night a little better :)

[dreamingcloudie]

⭐In the midst of stars, I see you twinkle from afar - Venti x gn!reader🌠 (OLD)

Fandom: Genshin Impact

Character(s): Venti x gn!reader

Summary: In which you danced under the stars with our favorite bard <3

Word count: ~1k

Warning(s): Fluff, it is implied that the reader has low self-esteem(?), I can't write poems lol

A/N: First fic on this blog WOOHOO! This is kind of a comfort fic actually. I thought of this during class and I can't resist writing it. I'm pretty nervous to post this. I don't think it turned out how I wanted it but that's okay, or else how am I supposed to learn, hm? Gotta start somewhere y'know

Anyways, I hope you like it! Also, English is not my native language so I apologize for any grammar mistakes. I'm an amateur writer so any constructive criticisms are welcomed!

The tiny dots in the night sky were something you have adored ever since you were little. Always begging your parents to tell you the tales of the constellations. The shining stars were like a glimpse of hope guiding you through the night. You longed to be like them, to be someone's hope.

The traveler, however, also known as the honorary knight. They have what it takes to protect the city. Hack, they were able to take down a dragon without even batting an eye. You wished you have that kind of strength.

For now though, perhaps helping people around Mondstadt with small errands would be enough to fill that satisfaction. You wanted to be able to do more, but biting off more than you can chew was not always a good thing.

Today was like any other day. You went around the city, asking if anyone needed a hand. Fortunately, Margaret needed help with something. One of her felines, Nelson, went missing again. Finding him was pretty easy. All you need was to carry some food on you and this little cutie would come to you.

"There you are, Nelson," You muttered as you kneeled down to pick him up. He meowed and tried to get out of your grasps, wanting to go back to his meal.

"Sorry buddy, you can have more when you're back at Cat's Tail. Your owner is pretty worried, y'know."

You brought him back and Margaret was relieved to see him purring contentedly in your arms.

"Oh, you little rascal! Don't you go running off and scare me like that again!" Despite being scolded, Nelson only responded by looking at her with a pair of innocent eyes, effectively striking both of your hearts.

"Thank you so much (Y/n)! Mondstadt needs more people like you honestly, it would make our lives so much easier." To others, that sentence doesn't mean much. But to you, it means the world.

You nodded your head, as your way of saying "My pleasure." And with that, you went on your merry way.

Time went by pretty fast today, you finished helping people with little tasks and it was already nighttime.

You went to Starsnatch cliff to take a break from the crowded city. The breeze today was gentle. Winds blowing against your face was a pretty relaxing sensation after a day of hard work.

"The wind is pretty nice today, don't you think?" A voice could be heard from behind and it startled you. You turned around and prayed to whoever it was to not hurt you-

"Woah, calm down! I'm just a humble bard. No need to get so alarmed!"

It was a bard in green. You've seen him wandering around the city and playing on his lyre near the church. The songs that he played were always so calming.

"You're a jumpy one, aren't cha- ah- aCHOO!" He let out a sneeze and backed away for a bit.

"Ah- you've been around cats, haven't you?"

"Huh, how did-"

"How did I know? Well, you see, I'm allergic to those furry creatures."

He proceeded to sit down at the edge of the cliff, dangling his feet in the air.

"Come sit down, you came here for a reason, no?" You moved from your spot and sat down next to him as he let out a hearty laugh.

Silence fell upon the both of you. You wanted to say something but didn't want to be awkward. Instead, you gazed at the stars.

"My name is Venti. What's yours, fair lady/gentlmen?"

Taken back from the sudden question, you uttered "(Y/n)."

"(Y/n)..." he repeated.

"That's a really pretty name, ehe!"

============================

It has been a month since your first meeting with the bard.

Meeting him at Starsnatch cliff every night has become a regular thing between the both of you.

You were seated on the grass and someone came up to you. You didn't need to turn to know who it was. The two of you have formed a strange yet close bond.

Little words were spoken, and yet, you feel comforted whenever his presence was near.

Today was a little different though.

As usual, the both of you met up on the cliff and just kept each other company. There were barely any clouds in the sky, making the stars shine brighter than ever.

Venti let out a hum as he was thinking of something.

He stood up abruptly and held out a hand.

You looked at his hand with confusion written all over your face.

"Let's dance (Y/n)!"

"But I don't know how to..."

"That's okay, it's pretty simple. Don't worry, I'll guide you."

You stood up and hesitantly took his hand. His hand felt warm. Such a nice feeling.

Slowly, he put your other hand onto his shoulder. And like that, the both you swayed from side to side, with the only audience being the stars in the sky.

You looked at him in the eyes and they were mesmerizing. Behind those green irises, you felt as if you could see through him. After all, eyes are the windows to one's soul.

"In the midst of stars,

I see you twinkle from afar.

I can't seem to fathom though, my dearest,

How you shine the brightest."

The little poem he composed made you giggle. Oh, how you longed to stay like this forever. Feeling such love under his gaze. But for now, you shall enjoy the moment.

"You know, I never thought I would get to experience this feeling, you really are special, hm? Out of every star in the sky, you're the brightest one."

There you two, waltzing into the night and shall dawn grant you a brand new day.