#i can't do it in text form; i don't enjoy writing meta like that.

[preseriesdean]

Let's pretend for the moment you're not entirely insane.

SUPERNATURAL 2.07 | The Usual Suspects

[galateaencore]

8, 14, 16, 19, 22.

Shoot.

from the hip:

common fandom opinion that everyone is wrong about

this is meta, not witcher, but really applies to witcher. you don't need to froth at the mouth about how your non-canon characterization is in fact canon in order to think it, write it, enjoy it. it's fanfic - do whatever you want! but when you go off about how your interpretation is the only correct one and everyone else is wrong, especially if your interpretation is directly contradicted by the canonical text, you look stupid. this psa is dedicated to everyone who is deeply committed to arguing that ciri is not bi.

that one thing you see in fics all the time

overexplaining. chances are, if you don't call attention to it, nobody is gonna notice!

you can't understand why so many people like this thing (characterization, trope, headcanon, etc)

this is probably arrogant of me, but i feel like i understand why so many people like this thing. as an example of a thing: writing a Ciri completely stripped of her fucked up complexities living in a lesbian utopia on a Continent completely stripped of its fucked up complexities is a very understandable form of escapism. but it's still a form of escapism that is no more moral or canonical or correct than any other form of escapism. that it happens to help a small proportion of traumatized people deal doesn't make it activism and doesn't make bullying other people in the name of lionizing and protecting this form of escapism an ethical thing to do.

you're mad/ashamed/horrified you actually kind of like.

tooth-rotting fluff

your favorite part of canon that everyone else ignores

answered here

feel free to argue, agree, or give a spicy pepper rating!

[96percentdone]

Fic Writer Interview.

thanks for the tag @juudaimes-true-form. the @ is. not working. sorry kjnbhvbhj

1. How many works do you have on AO3?

30.

2. What’s your total AO3 word count?

245,076, apparently.

3. What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

Oumasai Oneshots: 1,297

A Fragile Bridge of Trust: 710

Lost Souls: 593

History Maker: 433

Game Over: 417

All of these are old and older. One of them isn't even finished. AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA--

Please read my newer works o(╥﹏╥)o

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

Nearly always yeah. I like the people who read my work and overcome whatever anxiety they might feel to know that I appreciate anything they have to say, and I'm grateful.

5. What’s the fic you’ve written with the angstiest ending?

I enjoy angst a fair bit but rarely do I ever write something that ends with angst. Obviously, Game Over was expressly written as a bad end to a v3 au i was working on, so it's the easy answer, but there are a few in the oumasai oneshots that I think count, namely Chapter 22, Chapter 24, Chapter 26, and in more ambiguous turf Chapter 19 and Chapter 15. I still like the ambiguous ones a fair bit even now, the first 2 not-ambiguous ones just do not hold up with my interpretation of the text anymore (and also i wrote worse), but 26 is fine. Game Over could have been better, but hey I was a different writer then.

That said I have a lot of stuff I consider heavy on angst, but since they have happy endings I don't think they count for this. But I enjoy that kind of fic the most.

6. What’s the fic you’ve written with the happiest ending?

the ones I haven't finished yet--/gets shot. Nah, probably Le Chasseur et le Démon (The Hunter and the Fiend), because it's a fairytale. It gets a fairytale ending. But I like happy endings so it's pretty hard for me to pick.

7. Do you write crossovers?

No because I tend not to like them and find them obtuse, UNLESS said crossover is between dangan ronpa and Higurashi. No I could not explain why these two things in specific inspired me this much. But also I'm SO right and one day I'll get back to those. But mostly crossover concepts exist in jokes in dms with my friend Cass.

8. Have you ever received hate on a fic?

Yep lmao. A couple times. It's been pretty lackluster though like solid 2/10 hate comment y'all can do better.

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

No? Okay so I did orphan a series of fics that had smut in them, but that smut was kind of poetic and deliberately vague, and it's probably the most I plan on committing to in the future for the fics I'm working on rn.

I think people who write pwp or other hard smut are very impressive and have a set of skills I lack, namely....the ability to express physical intimacy in any capacity, including through words! I honestly like. Still struggle with kiss scenes sometimes, but for me all this comes down to my visceral irl discomfort with people existing within 3 feet of me, nevermind touching me.

10. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

I sure the fuck hope not. 

11. Have you ever had a fic translated?

I don't remember if this happened with a fic, but iirc I think someone translated that long ass DR meta I wrote about Ouma and Komaeda into...Russian? I don't remember very well. Also that meta is being majorly overhauled spoilers I guess.

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

Not for fic no. All my fic belong solely to me, as do my original works, and its what I prefer. I've done volunteer writing on other people's original projects however, even right now. @clusterfuck-au is something I work on with my friend Wren, but I do all the writing, and they do art stuff, so its not the same lmao.

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

Idk how I'm supposed to have one of these when I can't really pick a fandom over a fandom. So I'll just name some fandoms I like, and the ship I currently like the most for it.

Ace Attorney: narumitsu (there are a couple close runner ups tho)

Dangan Ronpa: komahina

AITSF: ryudate

Higurashi: keimii

Spy x Family: Twiyor

There are other I fandoms, and other ships, but it'd take forever so take these.

14. What’s a WIP that you want to finish but don’t think you ever will?

I HAVE SO FUCKING MANY MY GUY, AND I REALLY WANT TO FINISH THEM, BUT I HAVE NO IDEA WHEN IF EVER I'LL GET TO EM. HERE WE GO. I will not be including the WIP I'm working on right now! That's happening! fuck you @ self

The Long Way 'Round: This is supposed to be an extremely long narumitsu Ace fanfic about their relationship through the years from their time together in childhood to after Apollo Justice. I have a lot of thoughts and feelings about their relationship, its ups and downs, and the character development they undergo together and seperately. The fic would not feature anything actually shown in canon, and doesn't include DD or SoJ because I hate them and think they're bad and disowned them from canon. This fic is next on my list of things to work on.

Exoneration AU and the LCC rewrite: aus that only makes sense to anyone who has ever read the visual novel Chaos;Child and is in fandom (maybe 100 people) and ALSO is gay enough to ship Takuru, the main character of a bishoujo game, with Shinji (his token best friend). Also has to be gay enough to ship the girls together. also has to be based enough to think Kawahara deserved better and are mad about the writer's gaslighting. I'm not going to explain the plot of these any further; y'all aint gonna get it.

The Cries of Hope's Peak Academy: AKA, clusterfuck AU. What if I took the higurashi cast and put them in a pre-despair dangan ronpa setting (also the v3 kids are here too). Also. What if I shipped. Mion with Keiichi, Hinata, and Ikusaba, Keiichi with Ouma, Kamukura and Saihara, Ouma with Kamukura and Saihara, Kamukura with Komaeda, Komaeda with Hinata, and Hinata with Saihara. This is the titular clusterfuck; they are a polycule in progress. Its not even the only ship. The plot though is inspired by all that I wished Dangan Ronpa 3: Despair Arc was, with Enoshima taking advantage of vulnerable people via manipulation and HPA's inherent powderkeg, but with higurashi's thematic core.

Higurashi: When They Cry - Uso (Lies) and what would be its answer arc counterpart I haven't named yet: The other crossover fic. This one is just. What if I yeeted Ouma into the Higurashi setting like it was where he belonged. What would happen. It's Higurashi, so it borrows a lot from its overarching story and arc ideas, but every arc would be a unique twist based on the existence of a new guy in there! I still like this a lot. I still think of every character in dangan ronpa, Ouma feels the most like the one who would belong in Higurashi, and stands the most to gain from it.

The Klav/Seb enemies to lovers fic: it's exactly what it sounds like. I just think they have a lot in common but their themis years would absolutely be filled with PETTY beef because seb is a nepotism baby which pisses Klav off, and seb doesn't know he's a nepotism baby so he doesn't understand what the fuck his problem is. Also Apollo is there later. Klavier has 2 hands.

Pewter in a timeloop for aitsf and he gets a buddy cop dynamic with Iris on his looping quest to save renju. yeah that. that's the jist. also includes REHABILITATING THE OKIURA HOUSEHOLD AAAAAAA

I have some oneshots I haven't written yet, but those don't count. If you're aware of a long fic/series I was working on that isn't listed here....sorry but I think I've grown past those ideas.

I have two WIPs that are original, but I still work on those. They're both visual novel concepts I came up with, and they both mean everything in the world to me.

15. What are your writing strengths?

Fanfic specific strengths, I'm great at being in character. Translated more broadly, strong dialogue and internal narration coupled with actions and behaviors that reflect their emotional core.

I think my narration is at its best when it's just sitting inside some messy bitch's head and living out their entire thought process, and I think my background in poetry really adds to that. I like using line breaks and font sizes/alignments/effects to express intensity or disarray, etc. I do that for dialogue too. Also I'm pretty fucking funny in both places when I want to be. I think it adds to the charm, and I think my authorial voice adds to that.

Also tbh I'm so good at structuring and pacing frankly I think I'm a natural at it. I think my scenes are as long as they need to be, my stories hit every necessary beat, every scene and story ends and begins on the correct note, and readers learn things when they need to. Pacing and structure is not really something people think a lot about when they get asked this question, but I think it's the most important element to any story. If your pacing, your narrative structure is broken, no amount of metaphor and poetic description can save you.

16. What are your writing weaknesses?

God forbid I have to describe a physical thing. Forget it. Not actions per se (although sometimes yeah those too, but more like clothes, settings, sounds, smells, tastes--that's a real struggle. I always think its the weakest thing I have to offer, and a lot of my writing process is desperately trying to put the image in my brain into words that make sense and sound good. Definitely the biggest weakness I have no fucking contest holy shit.

Other smaller struggles is a tendency to overuse words like just/maybe/really/still/etc; the problem with having a strong voice is that some of the quirks from my way of TALKING don't actually add anything to narration or the dialogue, so I've been training myself to cut back and cut things out. It can lead to things being repetitive.

Also, while I believe I have a lot of killer ideas that slap 10/10, and I'm a very creative person, the ADHD makes it hard to keep working on ideas even when I love them. The smallest thing stumping me, or boring me, or just kind of draining my sole, can get me not writing for weeks. I guess this is an ADHD problem, but it affects writing, my one true love, and in some ways that makes it the real biggest issue.

17. What are your thoughts on writing dialogue in other languages in a fic?

I think it's fine depending on how you do it. If you put a note at the end translating all the lines in other languages, or fit the translation smoothly within the narrative, I think that's completely legal.

With that said, I do kinda cringe when instead of writing Japanese someone types out just. romaji. I get that you want your audience to know how to read it, but they're likely not to know what it means anyway even IN romaji, so just commit. Go for authenticity. You can put the pronunciation in your footnotes too.

18. What was the first fandom you wrote for?

Pokemon in my spiral notebook in 5th grade. It's still pokemon online cause I made an illegal ffn account and moved it there at age 11. You can't read it; I literally don't even remember what the account was.

19. What’s a fandom/ship you haven’t written for yet but want to?

Mmm....I guess spy x family? I haven't written full fic for it yet, and it'd be nice to. The list of ships is longer, and I'm not going to bother with that, but needless to say I have a lot of passions lmao.

20. What’s your favorite fic you’ve written?

The ryudate fic I'm revising right the fuck now. No, okay, that's illegal, it doesn't exist in full yet, although you can read its revised first chapter here <3. That said, I find this decision kind of hard, so I'll give you a few that I've finished: Yours, Le Chasseur et le Démon (The Hunter and the Fiend), A Rational Man, The "Death" of Prosecutor Miles Edgeworth and a fic for a Pandora Hearts zine that hasn't come out yet!

Um. I will tag. @generalherasyndulla, @queenshroorn, and anyone else who reads this whole thing and considers themselves a writer.

[dirty-droid]

So I believe you asked this in good faith and I want to answer in good faith, and write a bit of a long form essay. I don't quite speak for every shipper or even each of my own friends in this fandom, some are a bit more open than I am but I digress. You've posed a much shorter list of more abstract questions, but I've seen other questions and speculations throughout my time in this fandom and I will answer those as well to build my point. It's also just been a while since I've gone on a rant publicly, especially since I had to remake my account recently, and I've always wanted to go on a point by point rant both about this discourse and my own love for this ship, so this might be overkill but less is not more when it comes to having fun analyzing fandom.

First and most important point being that we don't believe that we're denying or bypassing any canonical familial relationship between Hank and Connor. I don't believe it exists in the first place. I do not see it in the text or the subtext of the story, I believe such an interpretation runs counter to the storyline and the characterization within it. Simply stated, it's not obvious to us because it's not there.

Canonically, Hank and Connor begin as strangers, become acquainted with one another through sharing a workspace, become coworkers, and maybe they develop a friendship, and maybe they cause each other to die.

There's a few intertwined reasons that I think the father-son interpretation falls flat, so in no particular order, this is where it gets messy: the storyline only takes place over the course of a week and I can't realistically buy that a familial bond could be forged that fast when- Hank spends half, if not most, of the game questioning if he even believes Connor to be a person and Connor doesn't believe himself to be a person and is still juggling how much he prioritizes Hank's approval of his actions. On top of that, I buy into the meta analysis that Connor is manipulating Hank throughout the story in order to achieve his mission, as he can even state that he's being friendly with Hank in order to make this mission run smoother and achieve success.

In regards to those points, I don't believe the storyline has room for a paternal type relationship arc, by the time the Eden club arc is over, Hank has explicitly threatened Connor's life at least twice, the threat to burn Connor in a dumpster and the threat of pointing a gun at Connor at the bridge are both unavoidable, and Connor's had the chance to threaten to report Hank, presumably to get him fired, about three times. They're warming up to one another, they've had some warm moments, but they're still butting heads, arguing, and not treating each other very well at the halfway point of the week and the story. Personally I feel like this is unacceptable in a familial dynamic, parents shouldn't be threatening the lives of their children, and while that happens all the time in real life and in fiction, I don't tend to enjoy those parents as parents, I don't want those people around their children, whether it happens in real life or is being depicted in fiction. So, if Hank were truly meant to be, or be acting or feeling as though he was Connor's father, I wouldn't like him very much anymore, I wouldn't want their relationship to continue, and I wouldn't be invested.

So because they canonically aren't considered family members, I see no reason to think of them as being parent and child when their canonical relationship is full of so much violence, plausible hatred, and lack of communication. If I were to be thinking of them as family members, this would be a very dark situation, one that holds fear and trauma and possible resentment. If I'm going to enjoy a familial relationship in my fiction, bitch should either be acknowledging how painful that relationship is, or it should be actually, truly wholesome. I hold much higher standards for character analysis then I do shipping. And I put my money where my mouth is on that one, I adore the relationship between Markus and Carl, I find it to be very realistic, I find it to be very relatable, the relationship holds real genuine affection, but it also acknowledges and leaves room for the pain that Carl has caused Markus in his pseudo upbringing, as well as the pain that was caused with Carl replacing Leo with Markus in his life. They don't ignore it and they don't brush over it, Carl loves Markus and has put time and effort into guiding him but he's also a bit of a blundering asshole who doesn't know what he's doing, and I love it. Their feelings toward one another are explicitly stated, it's well written, and it feels real to me. I have rarely, if ever seen the same energy given to Hank and Connor's relationship by father-sonners.

So I don't think it's a great found family dynamic, I think it's a very flawed one, if I would even acknowledge it as a family dynamic in the first place. Hank's affection for Connor is very conditional, though he is naturally protective, he does not hold back on being aggressive when Connor has pushed him or disobeyed his orders prioritize the Cyberlife mission over Hank's personal priorities and preferences. He certainly wants to care, but that goes out the window when Connor disappoints him enough. He'll go as far as to kill Connor. I don't buy that as fatherly behavior. Regardless of what David Cage says, Cage has also been reported saying that all the women in his games are whores, and that he doesn't make games for fags, so I'll take his opinion with a grain of salt, and I think it's relevant that he stated that he thinks of Hank and Connor as being father and son after he'd caught wind that people were shipping them, and didn't explicitly write it into the game as it was done for Markus and Kara, It's very easy for me to believe that he's taken that stance as a homophobe upset that the internet is doing gay things, and not as a writer who wants his work viewed a certain way.

So we're starting to get into the Hankcon support, and I will make the point that found family also isn't strictly familial dynamics, and is often simply platonic, which I'm sure you already know but is becoming a bit of a rampant problem in fandom I'm finding. The things we're typically replacing in a found family when we are young adults that we're not getting from our relatives is support, so the relationships themselves don't have to be strictly platonic. I do think of Hankcon, as a romantic and/or sexual relationship, as a found family situation, as I understand that our romantic partnerships, long-term serious relationships and marriages, are typically the first things we think of when we think of the family that we've found and made ourselves. My fiance is the first on my list. Friends, and friends with benefits is typically next, I've been intimate with the friends I hold the most dear in my life, these people are my family, and this is what I think of as being realistic in speculative fiction, this is what feels normal to me. One can fuck one's friends and still call them family, ex-partners can stay in one's life and still be called family. Family in this sense is best defined as Who Shows Up when you call for help, and the people that you show up for, the individual relationships and how they function emotionally aren't what's important. Just because I love you, need you, doesn't mean you're my brother or my sister or any other relation now.

I did see in your tags that you didn't mean the 'kid' comment literally, but I do think it is worth saying that shippers tend to only view Connor as young in comparison to Hank, and otherwise see them as equals in regard to their partnership, and typically the light in the balance of their power. While there is undeniably an age gap, which is a valid reason to not enjoy a ship though I don't think that makes it problematic, we typically fervently believe that they're quite well matched in power, there isn't an imbalanced power dynamic, where Hank might be experienced, Connor is programmed with the experience of others and has the world's knowledge at his fingertips, they are both incredibly strong, they're strong willed, stubborn, they both carry some aggression, neither would be able to easily take advantage. Connor is just as mature as Hank is, sometimes it even feels like more so, and he drags Hank through the game, he's not a rookie and he's not in need of guidance.

Which actually leads me to another point, I actually think the father son dynamic is a misinterpretation of a mentor/student dynamic between Hank and Connor that, while usually present in buddy cop stories, doesn't actually exist in Detroit become human, it's not a part of the plot. Connor is not technically a rookie, he comes in with his own mission that has nothing to do with whatever Hank was doing in homicide, he's using Hank to get into crime scenes he should have no clearance into, and Hank is not teaching Connor the ropes, he's typically watching Connor excell from the sidelines because he's curious about how well Connor was built. And Hank doesn't act as a mentor to Connor, Hank has his own priorities and morals and ideas about how their job should be done, and he does not teach Connor what these are, he expects Connor to meet them without guidance. He values life, both their own and that of others, and expects Connor to do the same, and they can bond when Connor does align with Hank and it causes a rift between them when he doesn't. This isn't typically how mentor/student relationships work, the mentor is typically invested in the student's learning in a way that Hank isn't, he's accepting of the fact that Connor might fail and leave, if their relationship progresses to friendship, he won't want that to happen, but he certainly thinks of it as being out of his hands and accepts that there's only so much he can do.

Now comes the real Hankcon textual support, and while I don't believe that shipping requires canonical, textual support, the nature of shipping is that it's merely a thought experiment for the purpose of fun and games, shipping is not an interpretation of a story or of a relationship between certain characters, shipping simply IS, I do think that there's some good subtext for Hankcon in particular that guides us in that direction of thought, that it's a little more than just them being friends and looking good together, and I think it's pretty juicy stuff. Shipping is also a bit different than an interpretation in that the basis of, "what if this character was attracted to this other character? What if those feelings were reciprocated?" comes with the understanding that people and characters can be sexually attracted to one another without doing anything about it, sexual attraction can fly under the radar of a story because it doesn't need to be acted upon, there are other things that are more important emotionally and logically for a character. It's part of why I think Hankcon undertones work so well throughout Detroit become human, because it doesn't matter if Hank and Connor are attracted to each other, there's no conflict of interest when it comes to throwing a man you think is handsome off a roof because you're busy fighting him to the death, him being handsome or sexy doesn't interfere with being on opposite sides of a war, (in short, the shipping goggles don't interfere with the machine path the way I think the father-son goggles do, not a lot of folks seem down for patricide and filicide, although I'd love to hear more about that arc from that perspective, but as a shipper... Characters fighting to the death is hot, characters being violent towards each other is hot, even if it is a tragic situation that they're killing each other instead of coming together)

Ultimately, I put a lot of stock in the Eden Club arc as a whole. Because it's more than just the one chapter, I'd say it really starts at Russian roulette, but there's foreshadowing for it as early as Partners. I think that whether the player has interest in it or not, Hank is actually being pressured by his society to view Connor as a sex object or a romantic companion, without agency. I'd go as far as to joke that Hank is being sexually harassed by the narrative.

It starts with the set dressing of the magazine on Hank's bedroom floor that Connor can find, the first article is about companionship androids, in-home sex bots that will pretend to be your spouse and do anything you ask. And we see twice that he's got companion androids on the brain, first he gets teased by Ben for showing up with an android in Partners, which is obviously less explicit, but I don't think it should go unstated, and then there's one of my favorite things in the game, Hank's monologue about companion androids in the back room of the Eden club.

I LOVE this monologue. It's loaded with subtext, a lot can be implied from what Hank isn't saying, as he rants and raves about how disgusting he thinks it is that humans use androids for sex, that they would rather buy an android to play house with instead of investing their hearts into another human being that has needs and is imperfect. The thing that I love about this, is that the flip side to these statements looks like it ought to be Hank expressing disgust with androids and a preference for humans when it comes to being in a relationship, but the longer he goes on the more you can sense that that's not what he's really saying. It's not necessarily a human being that he wants, it's a Person. And as the game goes on he understands deviants to be people more and more, especially after seeing the Tracis express their love, romantic love, for one another not five minutes later, and it weighs heavily on his mind in the next chapter. So what he's really expressing isn't a species preference, it's a need to be in a relationship of equals, he's inadvertently describing a marriage, caring for someone else's needs, being asked to show up as a man and have something to offer a potential mate, He wants to worry about how someone else feels, he wants to cater to an extent to have someone else feels, he says that pretty explicitly, "-they cook when you want, they screw when you want, and you don't have to worry about how they feel." Having an android sex slave is disgusting to him because he WANTS someone to make room for themselves in his life, he wants the hard realities of loving someone, true intimacy. As it stands in that moment, he believes that only a human could fulfill that, but as time goes on, deviant androids, with their own feelings and their own opinions, wants and needs, start to look like they could feel that role.

And then he asks Connor if he's a man or a machine. And it's hard for me not to feel like he's also asking if Connor could ever love him, if Hank were to love him first.

Because they're not in love at this time, Hank isn't falling that fast, Connor hasn't quite unlocked that ability yet, that we know he has it in him, but Connor answers that he's whatever Hank wants him to be, and it's hard for me to believe that doesn't or couldn't have a sexual tilt to it, after Connor teases him about going to a brothel together, after we hear the club owner heavily imply that Hank should fuck an android, after we learn that Hank is thinking about being in some fake relationship with an Android, after learning that deviants can feel romantic love, Hank demands to know if Connor can feel, and Connor replies that he could choose to fake it for Hank if he wanted.

Now I understand Hank being pressured by his society and the people around him (specifically that sleazy club owner) to view Connor not as a romantic interest, but as a sex object, can be distasteful, but I think it's just as important as Hank's initial insistence that he hates androids and wants them all destroyed. He's only adopted these beliefs, they aren't how he truly feels deep down, and he grows throughout the game to accept deviants and see them as his equals, and he lets those beliefs and pressures go when they stop making any lick of sense. In the world of D:BH, androids are not viewed as human, and because this game is directed at adults, it touches quite heavily on the concept of humans using androids for sex, and a possible counter to that as the setting evolves is androids occasionally choosing to consent to romantic and sexual entanglements with humans, with informed consent. So maybe Hank starts off knowing that he could use Connor sexually, that it would be socially acceptable, and as the relationship evolves he could either completely do away with that thought, or put it in his back pocket because once Connor's a deviant, with his consent, intimacy could be on the table. We start to get into the what if's of speculative fiction and shipping.

But moving on, maybe Connor keeps impressing Hank. Maybe he keeps saving his life. Maybe he keeps choosing to prioritize Hank's morals, and saves and preserve lives the way Hank wants him to, and he keeps finding out that Hank is easier to please than Amanda and freer with his praise, more accepting of failure, Maybe he understands that he'd be safer fighting for a chance to be free than by completing a mission for cyberlife, who doesn't care if he lives or dies. Maybe he deviates.

But I think Connor pushes Hank to want to live again not because he's deciding on his morality and deciding that it aligns with Hank's values, I think it's because Connor's, well he's kind of an asshole to Hank. Connor demands Hank be as mature and focused as he is, Connor's asking Hank to act as his partner, and not be dragged like dead weight. He's not walking on eggshells in regards to Hank's grief, he's asking questions and not making excuses and worming his way in closer to Hank by doing so. He's not letting Hank slack off, he drags him out of his drunken stupor, Hank gets no breaks from Connor barging into his life for a week straight... And I think he likes it. He likes it when Connor disobeys him a little, he likes it when Connor thinks for himself, he likes it when Connor kicks ass, but I think he mostly likes how Connor refuses to leave him alone.

It reminds me of this story my dad told me about when he was in basic training for the army, he writes home to my grandfather, complaining and bitching about how rough the training is, how awful the Sargents are, how bad the food is, how strict the standards are, how tired he is from all the PT, bitching and moaning about how he fucking hates it, and my grandfather writes back, "Well, it sounds to me like you're having fun!".... And it pissed him off at first, of course it's not fun to get pushed around like this, bossed around... But ultimately he realized he did kind of fucking like it, that he enjoy the challenge of having his ass kicked.

Maybe it seems like a silly comparison, but I think that's Hank's vibe. He likes his job... But he LOVES a challenge, and he hasn't had one in a long time, He hasn't had anyone to fight for or anyone to fight with. Connor walks in with these interesting cases that he's never seen before, makes him rethink his entire worldview, the adrenaline is running high because Connor thrusts them into dangerous situations, and saves his life over and over, and sure, Connor's annoying Hank, he's poking and prodding at Hank until he snaps, but fuck, he's having *fun* for the first time in a long time. He has a partner who gives a shit about him getting off his ass and putting some effort in.

By the end of it, they've grown to admire each other for their strengths and they're covering each other's weaknesses, they've learned to work together, as partners, they've seen each other at their best and at their worst. Hank's opened himself up to the mortifying ordeal of being known so he can receive the rewards of being loved, and Connor's finally figured out what that means. He's found his personhood, learned to put himself first and stop asking cyberlife to protect him, those strings are cut and they can come together as equals. They can be grateful to one another while also learning or relearning how to live.

I think also ultimately I think with them being equals, with them having gone through this journey together and found themselves in the places that they have, with Hank and Connor both kind of apologizing for their actions, now that they understand each other, It's a lot more reasonable that they would be able to sort of forgive and forget, live and let live about what assholes they were to each other. They were both dicks, so now they're square, they're even, and they've got shit to do.

And because I can't leave well enough alone, I do also enjoy the positive authority figure vibes that Hank gives off, I just think it's sexy.

If folks wanna judge me for being a kinky, perverted shipper, I get it, I dabble in the taboo from time to time, but honestly I've found solace in the world of kink, I've found solace and friendships on the sexy side of things, and I'd rather live in a world of romantic bliss. Please don't fall into the trap of believing that just because someone sees two characters and thinks they have chemistry, with not valuing or respecting platonic or familial relationships. Preferences are ever evolving, they're not static, and we don't see the reasons behind everyone's sense of taste.

I guess the thing that confuses me most about hankcon shippers is why y'all would pass up a great found family dynamic? Or why romantic love is better to you than familial? Personally, I find great joy in the idea that Connor has a positive authority figure in his life who actually cares about him, and that Hank has this kid android following him around who reminds him what it's like to find meaning in life again. That's what they mean to each other in game. I don't understand why that's lesser to some of you, or why you'd over look obvious signs of it in the game for the sake of a ship.

[stagefoureddiediaz]

If we were not going to get Buddie or stuff then I gotta ask the writers of episode 14 why did you choose to make Buck and Chris draw hearts. They could have easily just drawn Brains but you had them draw hearts and then Buck gave his heart that he drew to Eddie. I mean come on now. There's subtext and then there's TEXT.

Hey Nonnie

So the show has been slowly building up to Buddie - its a slow burn and that means they will use multiple tools to get the audience from A - B. Those tools will involve all the different show departments - the script itself, sets, props, costumes, lighting, direction, camera angles audio - all will be chosen to get certain messages out at certain times - so text and subtext are used to lead the view in the direction the show wants you to go - but it has to be done with care you can't just use text - there are different levels of both text and subtext.

The main thing you have to remember is that the general audience is not fandom - we are a separate species - the GA will tune in to the show, watch it, go to bed get up the next morning and go to work - they have a brief chat with their friends or co- workers about the show, but its all of a level - then they continue about their lives until the next week. They might think about things in passing - for example the might think about the heart drawings - remembering that Bucks had that cute little smile, and they'll start to connect the dots - but they have to be led there through the build up of whats being said and what being shown - they are being slowly clued in in a way that feels natural - so when Buddie does happen - they won't be left feeling like it was random - like a bolt out of the blue - it will happen and they will sit there and go 'huh' think about it and go 'oh yes I see now they've been building to this.'

Then theres fandom - us. We watch an episode and then analyse the hell out of it. We are actively looking for all the subtext and text that the show is putting in there - noticing the costumes, looking at the way a scene has been lit, directed, framed. The way the actor has chosen to quirk an eyebrow t a certain moment, or throw heart eyes out left right and centre. Fandom discusses things - we get to write metas and respond to those metas, we get to view the awesome gif sets that can show the same scene in 50 different ways - we are all looking for these things to pick up on what the show is putting down - and yes sometimes we read too much into certain things - coming up with theories that make sense, but weren't what the show intended but may actually spark the writers and the show to change course a bit or adapt what they were doing - they did it with Shannon because the audience didn't like her because she was ableist - so they killed her off - Tim has spoken about it. We'll never know if and when they changed course on the Buddie of it all - some people believe it was always the intention, others that the start of S3 was the turning point but thats the great thing - we don't need to know because the fandom gets to spend time discussing it and analysing and generally having fun doing it.

I can assure you each department working on a show already has the bigger picture so they can lay the breadcrumbs for fandom to enjoy finding and picking over for months on end while at the same time increasing those breadcrumbs in a way that the GA will come along for the ride as well even though they'll never pick up on 3/4's of what has led them to getting on board the ride!

its why I love long form storytelling - especially when its as well crafted as 911 is. But never forget - we were all being led there all along- its just some of us get to figure it out early and enjoy the ride a different way!