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zenonaa · 3 years ago

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'The conglomerate taught him a dozen languages and how to play as many instruments. They trained him to operate multiple types of aircrafts, earn billions of dollars and not bat an eyelid as a rival company begged for mercy... However, when it came to developing feelings, that was treated in the same way as stabbing a fork into a plug socket, or offering to wash the dishes instead of letting the servants attend to them. It was common sense not to do those things.'

Fandom: Dangan Ronpa - All Media Types, Dangan Ronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc, Dangan Ronpa 3: The End of 希望ヶ峰学園 | The End of Kibougamine Gakuen | End of Hope's Peak High School Rating: General Audiences Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: Fukawa Touko/Togami Byakuya Characters: Fukawa Touko, Togami Byakuya, Naegi Makoto Additional Tags: Togafuka Week Summary: Togami tries to prepare himself for his reunion with Fukawa.

Comments: Day 3 for TogaFuka Week! Fantasy/Kiss.

💗 Please like, share and comment if you enjoyed it! 💗

***

As the helicopter soars above the city, Byakuya visualises skyscrapers reaching toward the sky as if wanting to claim the blue expanse for itself, like that’s its God-given right. The buildings wouldn’t look out of place in a boss battle in a light gun video game. Makoto once compared them to the final level in an old zombie shooter that he played a few times at his local arcade.

Byakuya imagines the futuristic city, teeming with electricity and life, but the image lingers only for a couple of seconds before rusting, wilting, collapsing. In reality, Towa City is an industrial wasteland. Its railroad halo dips and splinters throughout, as if made from thorns, and the ghost of a bullet train explodes into dust that rains down on the city. Buildings have been amputated, leaving only stumps if nothing at all. Squinting, he discerns a car park that is now a graveyard, with graves instead of cars.

They land the helicopter in the concrete clearing behind a rundown hotel, the loud wailing of the rotorcraft’s blades slowing into pops before falling silent. No red carpet awaits them. A staircase unfolds from the helicopter’s doorway to the scarred ground. The sky is a red lipstick stain that fades into purple like a bruise.

And a short distance away from Byakuya stands Touko Fukawa.

Touko bounds toward him. “Byakuya-sama!”

Yes, he thinks, she would still call him that. Her wild mane of aubergine hair writhes with every step. Meanwhile, he glides over. His feet make no sound.

“I’ve missed you so much,” she says, stopping in front of him. She breathes in, filling her lungs with air. He brings a finger to her lips.

“Let me speak first.” Byakuya can feel her lips vibrate as words bubble in her mouth. After he lifts his finger off, her mouth hangs ajar but she stays quiet. Now it’s his turn to inhale deeply. “We have been on quite a journey. Before we met, I held the weight of the conglomerate and all the pressures involved, while you...”

The light against her lenses flashes warningly as her brow dips into a furrow.

“... had, and still have, your own,” he finishes. His teeth scrape against his lips. “When I entrusted you with Towa City, do you remember what I said?”

“No matter the distance, I will not feel a thing,” she recites.

“That’s right. You must understand that my creation was a business investment.” He swishes a hand through the air, maintaining eye contact. “Romance goes against my existence. At that time, though I had started opening up to the idea of relying on others, and letting others rely on me... I was not interested in... in romance.”

Her silence provides a clear sky that his voice fills with grey clouds. He coughs into his knuckles.

“Part of me rejected the idea of romance... And yet, to my surprise, during our time apart, where we could only speak in video calls, my heart grew fonder for you.”

Touko’s puzzled squint blooms into a wide-eyed stare. Its intensity burns his cheeks. Still, she doesn’t say a word. What if after she had drawn close enough, without the gleam on the computer screen on his face, she realised he is as cold as a monitor? Is that what is happening now? Aoi sometimes remarked that Touko was too good for him, and when Aoi became annoyed enough with something he did or said, she would add that Touko deserved better.

He used to never doubt himself, but for the first time in his life, he wonders if he is good enough.

It feels like he has taken his first step somewhere damp and mouldy, where the floorboards could give way at any moment. Without moving, his stomach drops as if he’s already falling. Byakuya’s tongue squirms in his mouth, as if trying to reverse the words that it already unleashed, but he can’t take them back.

Instead of trying to articulate his feelings, he decides to demonstrate them to her. He grabs her waist. Her head jolts back in surprise and a moment later, their lips bump together. For several long seconds, they stand stiffly, Byakuya’s hands on her body, Touko’s hands cupping air, until he needs to peel himself away to breathe.

She gazes at him, brow wrinkled, not smiling. Then she opens her mouth and asks, “Are you okay, Togami-kun?”

The voice does not belong to her. Byakuya blinks, fracturing the concrete, the sky, her body, revealing his true surroundings. Opposite him sits Makoto, the two of them seated in a helicopter.

“You zoned out there for a good few minutes,” says Makoto.

Byakuya responds with a grimace.

To bat away the encroaching silence, Makoto chirps, “I can’t believe in an hour, we’ll finally be reunited with Komaru and Fukawa-san.”

In response, Byakuya gives a solitary hum. Makoto’s smile wanes.

“Are you motion sick?” he asks Byakuya.

“No,” Byakuya says more harshly than intended, the syllable cracking the still air like a whip and making Makoto tense. He flattens his tone and adds, “I’m in thought. That’s all.”

“About the reunion?”

Byakuya nods.

“It’ll be fine,” Makoto assures him with conviction that puts Byakuya on the defensive.

“What am I supposed to say to her?”

‘Her’ being Touko, of course. The conglomerate taught him a dozen languages and how to play as many instruments. They trained him to operate multiple types of aircrafts, earn billions of dollars and not bat an eyelid as a rival company begged for mercy. With the matter of future heirs, they instructed him on what to look out for on female applicants’ forms while choosing potential mothers. However, when it came to developing feelings, that was treated in the same way as stabbing a fork into a plug socket, or offering to wash the dishes instead of letting the servants attend to them. It was common sense not to do those things.

And yet here Byakuya was, spending the journey to Towa City mentally rehearsing how he was going to confess to a woman who had gained the power to make his heart swell too big for his chest. The conglomerate could not have prepared him for such a woman. Such an intelligent woman. Such an empathetic woman. Such a loyal woman.

Most of all, a woman who drew strength from what the conglomerate called weakness. Love.

“I mean... you can say hello?” suggests Makoto.

Byakuya’s steely gaze clenches Makoto. “Then what?”

“Like... ‘How are you?’”

“I can’t treat this like a regular meeting, as if we had only last seen each other at the end of work the previous day,” says Byakuya.

“Why not?”

“This one is different.”

As Makoto’s eyes flicker, he drinks in the tension in Byakuya’s shoulders, the tightness in his fists, and says, “Ah. I see.”

Though Makoto must have known for some time now. He and the others had started alluding to Byakuya’s feelings for Touko before Byakuya was even in denial about them, back when Byakuya didn’t know what he was experiencing, or what was making his stomach flutter.

Evening has dyed the sky orange, darkness creeping in at the edges. Byakuya stares at it through the window. His unsmiling reflection leaves a faint imprint on the glass. Silence swirls around them, hanging over their heads like the rotating blades of the helicopter.

“Are you going to tell her?” asks Makoto, and he doesn’t need to elaborate.

“I should,” Byakuya replies.

“You can try a pick-up line.” Without having to look at him, Byakuya can hear the grin seeping into Makoto’s tone. “For example... Do you like raisins? How would you feel about a date?”

Byakuya’s reflection glares as Makoto carries on.

“If I could rearrange the alphabet, I’d put ‘U’ and ‘I’ together. Or - ”

“That’s enough,” Byakuya says with a shudder, raising a hand. “I aim for my demeanour to be calm and composed. I do not intend to act like a fool, throwing out hackneyed lines.”

“Sorry, sorry. But if you don’t mind me saying, you’re overthinking it, Togami-kun.”

This earns Makoto a look from Byakuya. The curve of Makoto’s lips is slimmer now, but still holding on.

“In these sorts of situations, it’s best not to use your brain...” Makoto taps himself on the head. “... but to follow your heart.” His hand shifts to his heart and pats there next.

Byakuya tightens his lips and returns his gaze to the window.

“Easy for you to say,” he mutters.

The helicopter lands by the hotel that Touko and Komaru have been living in. If not for the lit windows and neon sign, the dark column would have blended in with the night. Steel bars cage the building, mostly unbent. Byakuya’s attention fixes longest on the sign that flashes ‘TOWA HOTEL’, ‘TOWA HOTEL’, pulsing like his heartbeat, reminding him over and over where he is.

He balls his sweaty hands into fists. He can do this. ‘Follow your heart,’ Makoto had said, and his heart has been caged for so long. It’s time that he freed it.

As in his imagined scenarios, Touko runs over, her arms spread as if about to take. Byakuya tenses, for a moment thinking that he has to catch her before she flies away again.

Fortunately, she stops in front of him, her feet rooted to the ground. “Byakuya-sama!”

Byakuya swears he feels the spray of her spit, but it might just be his sweat. Makoto digs him gently in the ribs, quirks his lips, then walks toward Komaru. At no point does Touko’s eyes stray from Byakuya, who lifts his chin and adjusts his tie. Low laughter simmers in Touko’s mouth.

“I can finally smell you...” She hugs herself. “It has been so long.”

In the past, he would have told her to shut up after saying something like that, but that doesn’t seem appropriate now. Such a comment used to come across as vulgar, and maybe it still does, slightly, but he has grown accustomed to the vines that her existence has curled around him. His tongue feels thick in his mouth as he tries to think of a response.

“Well, I can smell you,” he says.

This prompts Touko to shrink back and worry her lip with her teeth. “D-Do I...? I showered earlier today. Argh, did Komaru swap my shampoo for dog p-?”

Touko cuts herself off with a groan and shakes her head. Byakuya reaches a hand toward her.

“I mean you smell good.” He immediately cringes. Good. He said, ‘good.’ Her brow creases, whether it be from confusion or from hearing such a lame adjective, and he adds quickly, “You smell like...”

Byakuya breathes in but finds himself unable to smell her, so he leans toward her so he can. She gasps. He straightens sharply.

Time ticks as Byakuya mentally flips through the scripts he had rehearsed on the helicopter.

“Romance goes against my existence,” he says.

No, wait. He hadn’t meant to say it like that.

“Went against,” he clarifies. “Remember when I said ‘No matter the distance, I will not feel a thing’?”

Touko nods slowly, frowning. His head fills with steam, rendering it practically useless, which leaves him one other organ to depend on. His heart.

“Do you like raisins?” he says. “I’d put ‘U’ and ‘I’ together.”

Her troubled expression gives way to concern. “Byakuya-sama...?”

Byakuya lets out a frustrated groan and slaps himself on the forehead. “What I want to say is...”

She springs onto tiptoe and pecks his lips.

In that moment of contact, time stops. No more than a second could have passed, but by the time she returns her heels to the ground, he feels like he has been flung up into the sky before crashing back down again, his head spinning.

While he stands frozen, she wraps her arms around him.

“I understand,” she says muffled into his chest.

He hesitates, then hugs her back, and presses his lips against the top of her head. She smells like strawberries.

#togafuka #togafukaweek #touko fukawa #byakuya togami #danganronpa #dr3 #fanfiction #one shot #makoto naegi

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fruitydiaz-archived · 3 years ago

Text

with the comfort of a billion stars (and you)

chimney and eddie get high in eddie's backyard and talk about what it means to be a good father

because of @hetheybuck's tags on this post about chimney and eddie being blaze buddies

drug use | sweet conversations | stargazing

1,691 words

AO3 link

Chimney wrapped his arms around himself instinctively as he slipped out into Eddie’s backyard, rubbing his hands rapidly along the tops of his arms as he breathed out, watching his air puff out into the cold like white smoke before quickly dissipating. The bite of the cold air against his skin was a welcome reprieve to the flush brought on by too many bodies in too small of a space.

He thought he was alone for a moment, leveling out his breaths and staring up at the sky, squinting as if he could stare just long enough to actually be able to make out some stars in the black of the LA sky—before he heard another sharp intake of breath from his side. He turned, staring down the line of Eddie’s backyard, surprised to find Eddie there, alone, curled up on a lawn chair, head tipped back as he blew out a soft puff of smoke, a joint dangling from his fingers. Chimney blinked, hesitating just for a second, before he stepped off Eddie’s porch and made his way over to the chairs.

“I didn’t know you smoked,” Chimney called out as he neared him. Eddie’s head tipped back forward, eyes wide, then squinting in the dark as he tried to make out who was approaching him. The corners of his lips curled up into a soft smile.

“Every once in a while. It was a bit much in there,” He explained with a shrug. Chimney smiled back at him before settling down into the chair next to Eddie.

“I hear ya.”

Eddie smiled again, glancing down at the ground and nodding a bit before stretching his arm out towards Chimney. He shuffled the joint between his fingers, holding it out in offering. Chimney considered it and then looked back at Eddie, eyebrows raised.

“You sure?”

“Course, Chim. It’s my house. What kind of host would I be if I didn’t share?”

Chimney nodded appreciatively, taking the joint and holding it up to his mouth, inhaling gently. It’d been a while since the last time he smoked and he struggled to maintain a cough, tipping his head back against the chair like Eddie had and releasing the smoke back into the air.

“God,” He said on the exhale. “It’s been a while.”

Eddie hummed in acknowledgment, taking the joint back from Chimney’s stretched out hand.

They didn’t say anything for a couple of minutes, both of them staring up at the night sky, trading off the joint every once in a while, in comfortable silence.

It was nice, Chimney thought, getting to have this quiet moment with Eddie. They didn’t get to do this often; always racing off to different emergencies or juggling conversations with everyone else on the team. This was nice. He felt loose and relaxed—and maybe that had something to do with the weed—but he was also pretty sure it had something to do with Eddie, and maybe something to do with how dark the sky was, and how instinctively he knew that staring up there were actually billions of stars in the sky, and how actually he wasn’t staring at some flat surface but rather the entire universe that expanded all around them, and how even though he couldn’t see any stars, light from those stars was currently traveling at speeds he’d never ever be able to comprehend, and how some of those stars that he couldn’t see but could see under different circumstances were actually dead, like long dead, and how some stars were dying at right this very second, and how some stars were being born this very second, and how all of that made him feel very small and comforted and insignificant and important all at the same time.

He was a little high.

When Eddie’s hand knocked against his, joint stretched out between his fingers, Chimney laughed a little and waved him off. Eddie smiled, taking one last drag before tapping it out on the ashtray next to him and setting it down.

Another moment of silence stretched between them. Chimney furrowed his eyebrows.

“I’m scared of being a terrible dad,” He said suddenly, no idea where the thought came from. He saw Eddie nod slowly from the corner of his eye, like he was fully expecting Chimney to say that.

“How do you do it?” He asked, turning to face Eddie, who turned back towards him, eyebrows raising. “With Christopher. How do you...how do you...not mess it up?”

Eddie snorted and took a deep breath before answering, the corners of his lips curling softly.

“I mess up all the time, Chim.”

Chimney frowned. That’s not at all what he wanted Eddie to say.

“You’ll mess up,” Eddie continued, turning forward again, his face serious. He looked back up at the sky and sighed, rolling his neck from side to side. Chimney waited for him to say more but he didn’t.

“That doesn’t actually make me feel better, Eddie,” Chimney pointed out. Eddie giggled a little. It made Chimney giggle a little, though he kept trying to force his face back down into a scowl. This was serious. He was serious.

“No, I know,” Eddie straightened up in his chair. “I think...I think the sooner you realize that you will mess up—the less you’ll...mess up.” Chimney blinked and Eddie frowned, face scrunching up like he was trying to work exactly what he was trying to say. “I mean. We’re in charge of this...little life, now, you know? Sometimes I still feel like a kid myself but—I’ve got to be responsible for my actual kid now. And...I don’t know what I’m doing most of the time. My parents weren’t...the best examples. So I’m just...doing my best. That’s all we can do.”

He nodded again, more confidently this time, solid. Eddie turned back to Chimney.

“I think Christopher’s okay, right?”

“Eddie,” Chimney said, voice stern. “Christopher is amazing. And you do this all on your own. I can’t imagine. I’m...so lucky to have Maddie.”

“I don’t really do it alone,” Eddie smiled. “Buck helps a lot. And we have Carla.”

“You're his dad,” Chimney felt the need to remind him. Eddie ducked his head, smiling wider, prouder.

“I am.”

There was a pause. Chimney watched, transfixed as Eddie dug the heel of his shoe into the dirt in front of him, dragging abstract patterns into the ground. It was fascinating.

“I think we’re too hard on ourselves,” Chimney said. Eddie snorted again.

“That’s what Buck says.”

“He would know.”

Another pause.

“I don’t want to be like my dad.”

“You won’t be.”

“Are you sure?”

Eddie sighed, flattening his foot and dragging it through all of the lines he had just made. Chimney was pretty sure he heard his heart break. Over the dirt art.

“Well, you will be, sometimes, in tiny ways. But you’re not him. You’re...parts of him, parts of your mom, and parts of you, you know?”

“I hope I’m mostly parts of my mom.” His voice sounded wistful.

“You’re mostly parts of you.” Eddie didn’t see the way Chimney’s face pinched in disappointment, still staring at the patch of dirt on the ground.

“I’m not sure that’s a good thing.”

“It is,” Eddie’s tone was determined and final—and with that he pulled his legs back up into the chair and leaned back, blinking back up at the stars. He looked strikingly childlike, loose and relaxed.

Chimney sniffed. He felt—he felt warm. It was cold out but he felt this warmth radiating from somewhere in his chest or maybe his stomach—somewhere in his core, he wasn’t really sure—and it spread everywhere throughout his body. He almost felt like it spread even further, encompassing Eddie and his backyard and his house along with everyone inside it and all of LA.

The last few months had been hard. The last couple of years had been hard. Hell—life had been hard. And sometimes it was easy for Chimney to get lost in that; to look at Maddie fighting to pick herself back up, to look at Albert pushing to become a firefighter, to watch the Lees take on his kid brother and watch him go through the same process their dead son had, to watch Eddie and Bobby recover from their shootings, to watch Bobby and Athena mend their relationship, to watch Buck fall apart and stitch himself back together, to watch Hen and Karen grow attached to Nia only to lose her when they had expected it all along and somehow that hurt worse, to pretend through it all that he could shoulder the responsibility of having it all together, to be the friend and partner and father that he knew he needed to be.

It wasn’t about him—but it was. And he felt heavy and tired.

But sitting next to Eddie, a little high, comforted by Eddie’s sincere words—Eddie who would never sugarcoat it, would never lie, who always chose his words with careful intention—he felt lighter. Looking up at the sky, feeling the presence of stars young and old, alive and dead, feeling but not seeing, knowing that just inside were all his friends and family, laughing and reconnecting and healing after months and years of trauma, knowing that all around them billions of lives were being lived. And while bad things happened and people got hurt—good things happened too.

Good things like his baby girl being born. Good things like his baby brother making it out of a terrible car accident.

Good things like survival and healing and happiness and love. Things that persisted.

It was all around him constantly. He didn’t feel it all the time—but he did then.

“Hey, Eddie? I love you.”

Eddie stilled for just a second before his face cracked into a wide grin and his shoulders started to shake as he giggled, again.

“I love you too, man.” Chimney swiveled around in his seat.

“No, seriously, I mean it. Family we chose, right?”

Eddie’s giggles died down and he studied Chimney’s face carefully, smile softening, before nodding.

“Yeah, Chim. Family we chose.”

#my fic #title *sounds* romantic but its not fjjfjd #haven't written in like a month and this is what just...came out #*shrug*#911 fox #i think eddie would be a v comforting presence while high #drugs tw #al talks

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king-finnigan · 4 years ago

Note

242. Soulmate Au and 27. Sick/Injured, geraskier.

Jaskier’s used to bruises. He’s used to the pain, to being littered with dark and yellowing spots. He’s used to waking up to another gash on his arm or leg or torso. He’s used to the scars that mark his once so clear skin.

He wonders what his soulmate’s skin looks like. Clean, probably, barely scathed. No scars, no regular bruises that take weeks to heal and hurt like hell the second they appear on their body.

Jaskier’s used to the pain, but even more, he’s used to the weird looks people throw his way when they see the healing wounds and yellowing spots. Who the hell is his soulmate? he can hear them whisper, Why would they do that to him?

He’s used to wondering, himself. Everyone knows about soulmates. Everyone knows that your wounds appear and heal on the other person’s skin and vice versa. Everyone knows that.

So why would his soulmate let him suffer like this? Why would they not actively avoid danger to spare him this suffering?

He gave up on being careful a long time ago.

Surely, if his soulmate was going to make him bruise and bleed and scar, was going to make him bear the burden of the healing process while their own wounds disappeared like a drop of blood in a stream - why should Jaskier try to be careful? Why should he not risk it all just for the sake of living a little? The world is full of people who live their lives carefully just to make sure their soulmates don’t suffer. Why should he be one of them, when his soulmate isn’t, either?

So yes, maybe he does sleep around with people he shouldn’t really be sleeping around with. Maybe he does get chased out of several bedrooms every month. Maybe he’s as careless with his heart as he is with his body. Maybe it gets broken once or twice or a billion times. It doesn’t really matter.

He’s used to the pain.

He decides to become a bard, at one point or another. He doesn’t really remember when, exactly, but he knows why - he’s so used to being stared at, so used to people’s gazes lingering on his bruises and scars and cuts, so used to the pity in their eyes and the indignant hurt he feels every time he sees it - might as well give them a damn reason to stare. And he’s always been rather fond of music, anyways.

So, he buys a lute, and sets out on the road.

And, alright, things go like shit. He gets food and insults thrown at his head, he gets kicked out of several establishments and even more bedrooms, people still stare at the injuries that aren’t really his. But he also feels more alive than he’s felt in a while. The adrenaline in his veins when he runs from an angry spouse, the lashing of his tongue when he throws insults back, the ache in his feet that’s entirely his and his alone - all things he cherishes and clings to, when he’s starting to feel hopeless once more.

And he still wakes up to new bruises, he still has to sit down at the side of the road when he feels a heavy blow to his gut or back, he still has to calm people down when they see a new gash appearing on his skin out of thin air, still has to say that yes, this happens all the time, don’t worry about it.

I’m used to it.

After a few lonesome months on the road, he finds himself in a tavern in Posada, once again getting yelled at, getting food thrown at him, the whole ordeal. Whatever. Free bread for him, none of his singing for them. Their fucking loss.

His eyes land on a white-haired man, sitting in the corner. Jaskier cocks his head, before stuffing some of the bread into his pockets. He stands up, sauntering over to the mysterious stranger, and he can’t help but admire the way the sunlight coming in through the dirty window bounces off those white locks, can’t help but marvel at the man’s smooth, even skin. A luxury Destiny never granted Jaskier - after all, his first scar appeared when he was barely a week old.

“I love the way you just sit in the corner and brood.” The words are out of his mouth before he can even think them. Careless with his body, his heart, his tongue. He’s used to it, by now.

“I’m here to drink alone.” The man’s voice is surprisingly deep, sending pleasant shivers down Jaskier’s spine.

“Good, yeah, good. No one else has hesitated to comment on the quality of my performance.” He moves so he’s standing in front of the man. He’s used to being ignored or even downright rejected, at first, almost everyone does. It’s been a while since that scared him away, though. “Except for you. Come on, you don’t wanna keep a man with bread in his pants waiting.”

Okay, maybe not his best line, but he’s definitely said worse things - downright insulting things, if he doesn’t watch what he says, sometimes.

The man merely rolls his eyes. Not a rejection, Jaskier decides, and sits down at the table. “You must have some review for me. Three words or less.”

It’s quiet for a while, until the man says: “They don’t exist.”

Okay. He didn’t expect that. Better than nothing, though. “What don’t exist?”

“The creatures in your song.”

“And how would you know?”

The man doesn’t reply, and suddenly Jaskier is struck with a realization. Oh, this is great, this is absolutely perfect. “Oh, fun. White hair, big ol’ loner, two very-” his breath hitches in his throat for a second at the sight of the weapons, something primal stirring in him “very scary-looking swords. I know who you are.”

The man- Witcher stands up, taking said swords with him, leaving Jaskier sitting at the table. He contemplates whether he’s going to stay there or follow the man. Sure, the Witcher isn’t going to appreciate his company, clearly, but there are some very good stories there underneath that unmarred skin that Jaskier can’t wait to hear.

For example, do Witchers have soulmates? Probably not, given how perfectly clear Geralt’s skin is, but still, are they born without them? Or do they outlive their soulmate? Ooh, or do they kill them? Now that’s a story.

So, he decides to follow. He hits his hip on the table as he stands up, and hisses in pain, before it immediately disappears again. I’d say I’m sorry, soulmate, he thinks, as he clutches his now painless hip, but I’d be lying. You’ve given me plenty of bruises, now let me return the favour.

He only now notices that Geralt’s stopped in the middle of the tavern, for some reason. He continues, though, and Jaskier pays no mind to the strange behaviour, as he follows the Witcher outside.

---

“Need a hand? I’ve got two, one for each of the uh... devil’s horns.” Okay, maybe this may be his worst line yet, actually.

“Go away.” He can’t help but smile at least a little bit in triumph at that - at least it’s an answer, it’s something, and something is always better than nothing.

“I won’t be but silent backup!” It’s quiet for half a beat, and he takes that as encouragement to continue, to explain himself. “Yes, I heard your note, and maybe you’re right, real adventures would make better stories, and you, sir, smell chock-full of them. Amongst other things. What is that, onion? Whatever it is, you smell of death and destiny, heroics and heartbreak.”

“It’s onion.”

Another reaction. Great, now Jaskier just has to convince Geralt fully to let him tag along on this- quest? Hunt? Contract? To let him tag along, at least.

Another idea dawns on him. An interesting one, to say the least. “I could be your barker! Spreading the tales of Geralt of Rivia, the Butcher of Blaviken!”

Geralt turns around, and hope flares up in Jaskier’s chest. “Come here.”

He smiles at that. Finally, now we’re getting somewhere. “Yeah?”

“I apologize to your soulmate.” Jaskier frowns. What?

It suddenly makes sense when Geralt lands a heavy blow in his gut, knocking the air out of his lungs. Jaskier’s still half on the ground, wheezing, when Geralt suddenly doubles over as well, hand on his stomach.

“What-”

Jaskier regains his footing again - after all, he’s used to the pain - and stares at the Witcher, mouth open in shock, as Geralt stares right back at him.

Surely this can’t be. He blinks, unsure of what to do, if what he suspects is truly happening. Only one way to find out. He reaches up, twisting his own right ear painfully.

And, well enough, Geralt hisses in pain, grabbing at the right side of his head in reflex. Suddenly, Jaskier recognizes little things, little scars and marks on the Witcher’s skin, that shouldn’t be there if he didn’t have a soulmate - a scar on his lower lip from when Jaskier had fallen when he was a kid and split his lip open, a small bruise on the left side of Geralt’s brow, when Jaskier had hit his head on the side of the door, due to his own clumsiness, last week, a small cut on the Witcher’s finger, when Jaskier had cut himself picking up a nice, shimmery piece of glass, this morning.

All injuries that Jaskier sustained, before disappearing like snow under the light of the sun, appearing on the skin of his soulmate instead, healing there.

Which means-

“You,” Jaskier breathes out, the numbness and surprise making way for joy and happiness and-

A surprising amount of anger.

“You!” He shouts, again, pointing an accusing finger at Geralt unconsciously. “So you’re the one who’s been-” he gestures up and down his own body, at the bruises, the scars, the healing gashes “been doing this to me!”

The Witcher visibly pales, swallowing thickly. “I didn’t know. We’re not supposed to-”

“What? Meet the person you’re doing this to?”

“Have a soulmate.”

It’s quiet for a moment, as they stand there, staring at each other. It makes sense, now, that Jaskier’s skin is littered with old and new wounds, it makes sense that Geralt barely has any. It makes sense, and somehow, that only makes it worse. A Witcher and a human - surely that can’t be.

“So...” Jaskier mutters, anger gone as soon as it came. “Soulmates, huh? Quite a surprise really, but now I do understand why I- uh... why-”

“Why you’re getting all these bruises and scars,” Geralt fills in for him. Then quieter: “Why you keep getting hurt.” The Witcher turns away, continues walking. “Go away. For your own good, stay far away from me.”

Jaskier frowns, feet glued to the ground, unable to put the things he’s feeling into words right now. He doesn’t want Geralt to go, doesn’t want to be left behind once again, as usual. Not by his soulmate. He’s used to it, but not like this.

“Make it up to me.”

Geralt stops, turns back around, amber eyes curious but cautious. “What?”

“You feel bad, don’t you?” The Witcher nods. “Then make it up to me. Let me come along on this little adventure or whatever, and if you- and by consequence, I- get hurt, make it up to me. Kiss it better, or whatever it is that you Witchers do with soulmates you’re not supposed to have. Make it up to me.”

“I’m not kissing it better.”

That’s not a full rejection, Jaskier thinks, and he smiles. “We’ll see, my dear Witcher. We’ll see.”

And when Jaskier gets a bloody nose from a blow landed in the Witcher’s face by a she-elf, later that same day, he can’t convince Geralt to kiss it better.

And when he gets a slash in his upper arm from a Kikimora the Witcher was fighting three miles away, a month later, he can’t convince Geralt to kiss it better.

And when he gets a bruise on his forehead from a rock some little shit threw at the Witcher, half a year later, he can’t convince Geralt to kiss it better.

And when, a year after their first meeting, the Bard slips and falls, and a few seconds later, the Witcher’s lip splits open, Jaskier finally convinces Geralt to let him kiss it better.

#aj-that-person #squish answers #geraskier #drabble #ask game #geralt of rivia #jaskier #not my best work lmao

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snlangford · 4 years ago

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Let’s Talk About Trackers...

Because of the major talk about them yesterday and how an anon tried to throw me under the bus, I want to make an informative post about the specific tracker I use and certain others do too (assuming they still use these). This will also go under a keep reading so you don’t have to scroll in case you read it and then don’t wanna scroll past it a second time.

I personally use a site called statcounter. What is stat counter? Well, let me explain with an excerpt from Wikipedia!

“StatCounter is a web traffic analysis website started in 1999. Access to basic services is free and advanced services can cost between US$5 and US$119 a month. StatCounter is based in Dublin, Ireland. The statistics from StatCounter are used to compute web usage share for example. As of May 2019, StatCounter is used on 0.9% of all websites. StatCounter statistics are directly derived from hits—as opposed to unique visitors—from 3 million sites, which use StatCounter, resulting in total hits of more than 15 billion per month. No artificial weightings are used to correct for sampling bias, thus the numbers in the statistics can not be considered to be representative samples.”

Statcounter I find has some cool features too if you do run a business site, which I aim to do in the future, here’s some of the cool analytics stuff they have if you’re a business marketer:

This above is a capture taken for the tracker on my OC blog @ / barashikki-dialoversoc

This tool here provides where the majority of your people come from, so it will help businesses to have features such as this, so StatCounter is cool to use for business and marketing.

But that’s not why we’re here, are we?

StatCounter says they provide you with IPs in hopes of blocking/banning them from your site and/or stopping fraud on your website.

Sure, that’s useful as I personally use that to block people’s IPs if they send me hate anons. But here is how it’s an issue... This specific tab, which I know M/C uses quite often from my former friendship with her: Visitor Activity

Now, let’s go there and break it down. I will be censoring sensitive information like people’s locations and IP addresses to protect them.

I want to also address the “xxx is now using 100% of its log space” too.

It may be hard to read, but it says the following

“Your Project Bara Shikki is now using 100% of its log space. This means that your website traffic data for detailed stats older than 7 months* will be overwritten to make room for new data. You can upgrade for $9/month to increase your log to 10+ years*. If you don't mind losing this old data for detailed stats, then no action is required on your part. Summary Stats are included with all plans and are unlimited.

* Estimated based on your current traffic”

For my other blog @ / dialoving-lemons, it deletes this info in 7 days due to the high demand traffic (it is a LOT more popular than any of my other blogs despite me being on hiatus there).

So while that is good, this information stays for a while. If someone is paying for this service, they can keep this info for a long time.

Now onto the part we are mainly addressing, addresses and IPs. I will use my own visits for the example (the white censor). And yes, you can appear on your own tracker as it picks anyone up who visits the URL.

I color coded this so we can do a breakdown.

Yellow is my city. Green is the state (will be providence if you are in another country). Then you see “United States” as the country it says I’m from. Your country’s flag also appears before your location.

^^^This here is already pretty accurate and sensitive information, and we haven’t even gotten to the second line yet.

For the second line, we have these: Purple is your internet provider. White, that’s your IP. See that tag next to it? You can click on that and make notes in it for when that person returns to your url. You can even sign up for notifications to get emails or alerts on your phone (if you have the statcounter app). How do I know this? This is how:

Incognito doesn’t have dark mode, so sorry for bright image lol

Idk about you guys, but that’d make me uncomfortable to know someone could just get a ping saying I’m visiting their page. Again, I don’t know what features M/C uses, so I can’t say if she has this or not.

So not only can you find someone’s location, internet provider, and IP (which I think is enough for someone who hack or screw you over somehow, idk. I’d want to look that info up) but you can also stalk when they’re on your blog. This is a big YIKES.

Now back to the breakdown of the image from earlier...

You can learn what device they used, their browser, get a timestamp, and also how long they were on your page. I personally don’t care sharing this info, many of us use the most updated browser of our choice and most of us are on windows 10 for computer users.

So... yeah. While I use statcounter myself to block haters and redirect their IPs so they can’t get on my page anymore, I feel this site does give out too much information. On top of that, the one we all know who uses this software also has some software that checks who unfollows her. She uses these to get dirt on people and to expose them, it is not for her safety.

Now some tips on how to be safe if you don’t want to be tracked thanks to me testing things out:

Use the tumblr app.

The tumblr app uses coding for mobile usage. It does not rely on urls, but another form of code. StatCounter cannot log this code, so you will not appear on the visitor activity tab.

View blogs in side view

This is side view for those that don’t know. Side view acts a lot like the app in terms of the coding. So viewing like this is safe for you to not appear on trackers.

StatCounter relies on you typing in and clicking on urls on someone’s tumblr page (if installed on a tumblr).

As long as you are on a way that doesn’t rely on url systems, you are safe from appearing in someone’s tracker.

And a final note, if you are going to use one like I do, for blocking haters’ IPs, then I highly recommend putting a disclaimer in your description. I immediately did that when I installed mine so people knew they’d get rerouted if they started crap with me. I personally feel that keeping it secret that you have a tracker is violating someone’s consent as you are gathering info without their permission. By saying you have one, them being able to use ways where they won’t be tracked is very useful and helps them feel at ease knowing they can decide if they’re fine popping up on your tracker or not. Here is an example disclaimer you can put if you do put one in. Feel free to copy and paste too!

"Disclaimer: I use a tracker that allows me to see visitors’ IPs so I can block them if they cause problems for me, proceed at your own risk"

#gravedigging #trackers #ip tracker #stalking #ip info #statcounter #discourse #information about trackers

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elesmuseshub · 3 years ago

Text

multimuse blog started on October 28th 2021.

This will be a long post because it's also my Rules Page: I'll try to shorten it as much as possible so if I sound stern it's just because I don’t want to write a billion words, I'm not only friendly but very chill and stupid, no worries!

Some shows I know are at the end of this post, as well as a mobile-friendly link to the carrd with the muses bios, while the thread tracker is here! I added a ‘name of the tags’ line in the descriptions, so for example if the name is ‘princess Emma’ you could look for ‘princess Emma starter’ for opens, ‘princess Emma wishlist’ ‘princess Emma headcanons’ ‘princess Emma thread’ ‘princess Emma plotting call’.

If you aren't up for reading "long posts" like this consider it a sign we wouldn't have fun and you shouldn’t follow me, no harm done, good luck with your rp!

-I'm Ele, Italian, born in '89, selective especially with smut, most of the time I'll fade to black and if not I use read-more and tags. Mutuals only, won’t follow back for several reasons (like I don't think our muses would work well together, uncut threads, sexual stuff without the ns*w tag) but nothing to do with you personally! Respect it or I’ll block you/ignore your attempts to rp. I’m also all for having multiple threads, dropping them, developing relationships jumping back and forth, and having multiple verses. If we rped before I’m not following you first only because I don’t want to make you feel pressured to keep rping with me!

-I followed you, you read my pages and followed me back? This is your permission slip to rend memes, reply to things, whatever, and if I have questions I’ll ask, or if YOU have questions go ahead and ask!

-I CANNOT STRESS THIS ENOUGH: READ MY TAGS especially under memes, opens and starter calls: if I say "this meme is just for X character" and you send it to another, at this point I will ignore it.

-I have more inspiration for some muses than others, even if I put all the ones I can/could write in this blog, and I’ll give them priority. By the way, if you are a Doctor Who writer and your character is canon, chances are that I’ll love him/her but also that while Rose is restricted to Doctors only, if you are open to write with “oc”s I’ll throw princess Emma/Emma Nolan at you (the very first muse listed here) because I think they could be great friends with any Doctor and companion (and yes, I love shipping, but frankly that’s not a requirement, it’s the friendship that makes it for me, whether it’s a base for more or it stays that way), and that it could make for very funny / hurtful /hurt-comfort themed threads. -I've rped for 9 years now (hence long rules, I know what puts me off), I never had bad experiences but had to leave because life got messy, now I'm in the calm before the next storm and want to try again. Point is: while I want to rp, it’ll only be like a couple of hours per day and not every day. I'm chronically ill and used to spend 13 hours straight rping, but now I cannot anymore.

-this also means I'm never going to expect you to be fast, to match length of what I write, to forceship even if a couple is canon, especially since my muses take a canon divergent turn at best or are au: basic rules of 'respect people and the fact that this is a hobby and meant to relax us' apply. I’ll post memes and starters etc to help you interact, because I’ll miss most of what’s on the dash. Don’t feel forced to send memes or do anything though! -for the reasons above I do expect you to have read this post and the bio of the character (or multiple characters) you want to play with before we interact. I don't have a lot of time to plot, so even less to re-write their bio in chat. Which is why unless you state in your rules that if I follow you first I should start interactions AND that you read people’s pages before following, USUALLY (unless I have extra time) I will wait for you to approach me, for example by liking starter calls, plotting calls (made specifically so people can tell me that they are ready), or sending memes, and now you also have the option to LIKE THIS POST as soon as we are mutuals to let me know you are ready, so pick your favorite. This way things won't get awkward with me going 'did you already read the bio?' 'nope' 'okay let me know when you do' and then you never contacting me again or having to restart much later. I know it can seem unfair, but 99% of the time people haven’t read my pages, and things only work out when we actually want our muses to interact: we can’t want that, nor rp, if you haven’t read my about because I write au, oc and canon divergent characters only, and you don’t KNOW them. I’ll read your pages before I follow, I always do.

-oh but I will come plotting whenever I can, especially if we don’t know each other? Don’t take my lack of time for lack of interest: when I can, I happily will!

-If you ask me to plot please either have already some idea OR respond to me with more than one word? It’s totally fine if you have no idea of what we can write and want me to come up with something, but if I start plotting and the answers are only 'haha' 'ok' 'cool' I will lose all that enthusiasm right away. Same if you never EVER start a conversation or try to interact unless I ask you something. It’s embarrassing to be the only excited one! I’m not saying you have to change your entire personality or make a job out of it, obviously, but if it feels like you only send a meme because you “have to” and never continue them into threads, and never have anything whatsoever to say ooc in the tags even if I write something, and always drops threads after two replies, I'll just stop.

-I don’t follow a schedule like ‘I must reply to the first person who replied to me, then the second’, I can’t write on command. Priority will go to people I click with the most and plots/genres I’m extra into at the moment. -if something in a bio triggers or makes you uncomfortable and it’s not in your rules, TELL ME, I’ll do anything to get around it or if it's impossible tell you so. Otherwise I'll assume it's all cool, especially because anything could be a trigger or not be. I’ll tag it as #something tw. -please tag your gore, sexual images/text, and daddy k*nk references even if ooc? And I keep away from ‘mafia’ aus, mafia is very real and horrible. Imaginary criminal groups are okay. -I adore shipping if the muses click! I don't write toxic relationships of any kind between our characters. Also most of my muses don’t interact with villains unless they are redeeming themselves and haven’t crossed too many lines: it’d be ooc for them to do so. Someone like princess Emma would try to kill the bad guy right away, not waste time chatting, others like Jemma provoke and insult until murdered. And so on.

-I’m character-driven, I can’t plot their specific reactions to everything, because just like in real life the words we choose to say something can change someone’s feelings. Actual dialogue is different from a vague ‘they’ll talk about this thing and then do this’ while plotting. -Most of these muses had their own blogs running for years so for now I will link their specific About Page instead of rewriting it here, while I slowly work on the blog itself, up to you if you want to read au verses too! In some cases I write muses I only specifically want to play with 1-2 characters, because I'd like to explore those relationships, so when unsure double-check! It will be written in the very first description of the muse. -Some muses will have no icons, sorry! And speaking of icons, just a little thing: please don’t rely on them to communicate expressions to me IF they are very small, or even worse if they only show a BIT of the muse’s face. Like when people use two icons for replies, one with an eye or so, one with the mouth? I really cannot tell what I’m looking at, sorry!

Some shows, games or movies I will interact with, so it’s easier for you if you have a multi to know; I’ll bold the ones that usually works extra well so you know they are *extra* welcomed lol If you are a multi and one of your shows isn’t here I may not know it or, possibly, dislike it or be legit made uncomfortable by it.

btw when doable I’m always up to rp with the Doctor from Doctor Who, characters from legends of Tomorrow and Galavant. Agents of SHIELD Angel but only the tvshow Avengers movies

Aquaman

BBC Merlin

Brooklyn 99 Buffy but only the tvshow Captain America - marvel movies Captain Marvel

Community Chuck

Dragon Age - videogame - specifically Origins and Inquisition Doctor Who (only New Who) Downton Abbey

Elementary

Final Fantasy 8 and 9 though I don’t remember them by heart

Firefly

Flash but only first seasons

Friends Galavant Good Omens Guardians of the Galaxy 1 and 2

Hulk - the one present in Avengers 2012

Iron Man - marvel movies IZombie Legends of Tomorrow

Loki the series Lord of the Rings Lost Lucifer

New Girl

Once Upon a Time

Parks and Rec Pirates of the Caribbean 1-3

Spiderman - most Marvel movies? Suits Supergirl the 100

the Falcon and the Winter Soldier

The Marvelous Mrs Maisel

The Office

The Witcher (only season 1 of the show)

Thor

Wandavision

Wonder Woman pretty much any famous sitcom like Friends, the Office, Parks and Rec, b99.

my mobile friendly bio page

#rules page

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thickenmyblood · 4 years ago

Note

I love how you really put a lot of thought into how you regard and read fanfic as well as how you respond to questions about how you feel aout it. Can I ask what are some parts/ideas in fics that really made you go wow, this is well planned or like I never would have thought about this or I forgot that this plot point and device were even a thing! I hope this makes sense

I love you, kind stranger. Thank you for reading my delirious posts and giving me the chance to scream about fics, which is always a pleasure.

Note: If your fic is in this post and you don’t want it to be, let me know and I’ll take it down.

Zeitnot by thereshaegoes

I love the idea of time travel, so when I read this fic’s summary I bookmarked it instantly. At first, I thought it was going to be eight chapters of Laurent waking up the day of the battle of Marlas, but the author really surprised me.

I loved that someone died at the end of each chapter (at first, at least) but what really made me go ‘oh’ is when Lauret realizes the Damen from “this new reality” is, in fact, his Damen!

Damen not being with Jokaste was weird to me, but I shrugged it off as a personal choice the author had made. Then, when Damen was talking about abolishing slavery, I was still in denial. ‘Oh, well, some people don’t like to write Damen as a slave owner, which is cool’. And then, when the big reveal finally came, I was just… amazed. I literally put my phone down and went, ‘okay, this person really knows what they’re doing when it comes to writing’.

I love the little plot twists. In my head, a plot twist most basic example is ‘oh, X is a traitor’ but… this? This is so much better.

Between the Shadow and the Soul by Anonymous

This work was… insanely refreshing, innovative, transgressive, and outrageously good. It does feature a lot of sex scenes, but at the same time, it felt like sex was the least important part of the story. I don’t know how to explain myself when it comes to this fic (and God knows I’ve tried) but… The sex scenes aren’t there just for the smut of it all, if that makes any sense.

Auguste as a narrator is so unusual, and yet it made the fic so painful and enjoyable! I loved the way it left you wondering just how accurate his POV was. I loved the sex scenes with actual characterization. This author never, not even for one second, stopped focusing on the dynamic between Laurent, Auguste, and Damen. It could be argued that the Laurent/Auguste bit weighted more than the overall OT3 bit, but still… I had literally forgotten what sex scenes were for until I read this fic.

Sex scenes, especially in this particular work, are not parentheses in the story. They’re not there for the reader to take a break from the “actual plot” or “narration”. They are what holds the story together, and they’re opportunities for the reader to learn more about the characters

Cherry Wine by SteeleStingray

Yes, I’m back on my bullshit. Yes, I’m talking about CW again. But I’ll make it short because there is no way you don’t know how I feel about this work. If you don’t, check out this comment (which, by the way, is not even a fraction of what I wanted to say to the author when I read the fic).

What I found innovative and made me go “is this allowed?” about CW is not the idea of an OT3, but rather this particular take on a relationship that consists of three people. I’ve read a few published books that feature similar couples (all of them suck, and when I say they suck I mean it) so I was very hesitant to read this because of that reason.

Usually, when people write OT3 they pepper in a lot of stuff I don’t like to read about: extreme jealousy, misunderstandings, cheating, weird dynamics that feel stilted, awkward sex scenes where one of the three just sits in a chair and watches the other two like some voyeur from Juan José Saer’s stories. Guess what doesn’t happen in CW?

Another thing I liked about this work is that it reminded me that themes in fiction aren’t limited to one specific work. This author really likes nicknames. At the time, when I had only read CW, I thought it was just a one-time thing. Turns out, it’s not. An emerald-coloured nightmare also features nicknames. I like this idea that you can tell who wrote something based on little details and narrative choices. It’s like the author is winking at you, going ‘ha, did you get it?’

Ink on Paper by deripmaver

I don’t usually like fics with non-linear narrative because I’m a lazy bitch who can’t keep up. I’d never really seen the point in using flashbacks, scenes from the past, or anything like that because my writing style (oh, fuck off, my writing style, who the fuck do I think I am) is more about references. And then I read this fic. And I was like, ‘okay, I’ve seen the light of not writing everything linearly like an idiot’.

The Mannequin Gallery by marrieddorks

Yes, I realize I’m talking about all my favorite fics. I feel no shame.

This fic is a Modern AU. Everyone who has ever written a Modern AU knows that one of the trickiest parts is finding characters professions that make sense with who they are/what they like/what they’re good at. This story features Damen as an influencer. That’s it, that’s my whole tweet.

It reminded me that even when you’re writing a Modern AU (or any sort of AU, really) it’s important to know what the essence of the characters you’re writing is. The way even Jord’s job makes sense… And how it feels like the author didn’t just steal the characters’ names and use them to create a random story (which is valid, too)... and… Okay, this has nothing to do with a plot twist or a narrative device but have you read this Nicaise? Have you? You haven’t read Nicaise until you’ve read this fic.

(and that's why) you're so beautiful now by iwasgonegonegone

This fic is 612 words. It has no plot. One of the tags reads, “listen they're in love and they're cute and that's all i have to say” and I… yes. This fic inspired me to write plot-less stories again. Not only that, it made me enjoy writing them.

Lately, I’ve been talking to a friend of mine about a new pairing we both like a lot. We go back and forth for hours sometimes just talking about what they’d do, details about the worldbuilding, a billion ‘what-ifs’... and I love it. If one of us sat down to write a story based on all our conversations, it would be a character study fic. It would have, maybe, some plot to it, but… Plot would feel like an excuse to talk about their relationship. And I love that. I fucking hate plot, I hate it, and this… Yes. This fic is like a little slice of life. The author has mentioned before that they enjoy writing poetry (more than longer pieces of fiction) and this story reads like a poem. You know when you read a poem and you get this weird tingly feeling? Read this and feel that, you’re welcome.

The Life We Live by homewithyou

I’ve said before that I don’t go looking for mpreg. Sometimes, mpreg has come looking for me, and I’ve closed my door on its face. I read this fic mainly because I never pay attention to the tags on AO3 (healthy, I know) and I was too busy making myself toast to read the summary.

I was five paragraphs in and this bit hit me like a fucking electric hammer to the head: “...which had been going haywire more often than not since the pregnancy began five months ago.” I was like, ‘wait, did I—am I reading—why am I—’ and then I just shut my mouth and continued reading. I’m glad I did. I’m glad I didn’t let my narrowmindedness stop me from giving this fic a try. I’m glad people out there are writing stories that they enjoy, about topics a few others would deem controversial.

This also applies to the Lamen/Auguste fic I mentioned above. What’s the point of writing if you’re not going to take risks and be honest about what you like to write about? It takes honesty and commitment to write anything that strays from the norm. And so I’m glad this person posted this story, because it changed me in a small way (‘what if I shut the fuck up and read more mpreg instead of instantly clicking out?’).

This is another perfect example of how plot is poison and you don’t need it in your life (unless you enjoy poison. In that case consume the plot, write the plot, sniff the plot. And die). A morning in bed, just nuzzling and talking… living life… Again, this made me realize that you can say a lot about two characters just from a morning in bed. It made me want to write 25 pages of dialogue in bed (this and Manuel Puig’s book titled Kiss of the spider woman, which I recommend fervently).

Plot? In this house? We don’t know her. You’re a strong, independent writer. You don’t need no plot.

For a more general response, I’d say that Steele’s worldbuilding is impeccable and made me look at the setting of stories differently.

Foreshadowing is always amazing, but I haven’t read a lot of fics where it’s a prominent element (which is not to say authors aren’t good at it, I just don’t read enough fics to give you a good example of this).

I really like oxymorons and when writers use funny adverbs. GallaPlacidia’s adverbs are to die for, so definitely check out her stories if you’re interested in that.

I also love the way xlydiadeetz writes archs. She does this thing where she divides the story into different… timelines? archs? I… don’t even know. Amazing.

I hope this answer made sense.

#anon #thereshaegoes #steelestingray #deripmaver #marrieddorks #iwasgonegonegone #homewithyou #this is my trying to tag #i... suck at it as you can tell

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cinematicnomad · 4 years ago

Note

1, 7, 25 for the fanfic end of year ask :)

001. favorite fic you wrote this year i have a soft spot for take my hand (take my everything) which was the first fic i wrote this year! and kind of the first step back into writing creatively on something new that wasn’t the 7 year monster sterek fic. also my first foray into 9-1-1 fic and was just a lot of fun!

007. longest completed fic you wrote this year the longest fic i wrote was my second for the year! so show me (family) wound up being around 16k+ for 9-1-1 which kind of burst out of me over the course of one 48 hour window unlike take my hand which took a few weeks to crank out.

025. a fic you read this year you would recommend everyone read SO MANY FICS DUDE!!! i’m gonna rec a couple, some that i re-read this year and some that i discovered for the first time, all from a variety of fandoms. BUT heads up, you didn’t specify a fandom so it’s gonna be a little scattered. also someone else sent me this same question but specified 9-1-1, so i’m gonna reserve those recs for that ask. GET READY!!

and this, your living kiss by opal_bullets (7/7 | 84k+ | M) destiel; AU: college/university; john winchester’s A+ parenting; angst with a happy ending

only a very few people in the world know that the celebrated and reclusive poet jack allen is just kansas mechanic dean winchester, a high school dropout with a few bucks to his name. not that it matters anymore; life has left him so wrung out he never wants to pick up another pen.

until, that is, a string of coincidences leads dean to auditing a poetry course with one dr. castiel novak. the professor is wildly intelligent, devastatingly handsome...and just so happens to be academia’s foremost expert on the poetry of jack allen.

note: i discovered this fic back in the pre-pandemic times of feb 2020 and i’ve read this fic TWICE since, leaving a lengthy comment each time. the poetry in the fic itself is stunningly gorgeous and i have a habit of reading it out loud to myself while reading bc it begs to be heard. this fic is seriously beautiful and makes me want to read all the poet!dean au’s out there in the world. unfortunately there aren’t that many so i just keep coming back to this well. i don’t think i can express enough how much i love this fic.

lost time by ARCurren (105/105 | 350k+ | T) bransonxsybil; AU: canon divergent; outsider POVs; original characters; slow burn

the story of a free spirit who was asked to give up the man she loved for a system she didn’t believe in and what happened next. AU after 3.04.

note: did i think, when i stumbled across this fic years ago, that it would wind up being one of my all time favorites that i return to time and again to re-read? never. did i re-read it for like the dozenth time this year?? 110%. this fic is everything i want from fanfiction—it’s beautifully written, expands on canon, and shows me all the hidden moments the cameras never did (not to mention it’s historically accurate and delves deep into irish politics of the time). the first third or so of this fic is all about tom and sybil’s slow burn romance at downton, but the fic really bursts into its own when we follow the two to dublin and get introduced to all of the author’s deliciously detailed oc’s. heads up warning: this fic was never officially completed, though the final chapter is a beautifully written summary of the final arc of the fic. even so, it’s fucking worth it.

misfire by mothlights & unpossible (6/6 | 28k+ | T) sterek; time travel; angst with a happy ending; alive hale family; magic; alternating POV

“the debt must be repaid,” she says, and it has the weight of a vow. the words resonate through him, ringing through his ribcage and the bones of his jaw, and stiles loses his breath and maybe his grip on reality because she draws herself upright and where there had once stood a supermodel-level MILK now there is galadriel’s much hotter older sister, a presence of unmistakable power in their ordinary, smells-vaguely-of-thai-takeout hallway.

“oh shit,” stiles says.

note: this fic is the first in the misfire ‘verse and i need you to understand that it literally broke me when i binge read these fics a month or so ago. i am a sucker for a solid time travel fic especially bc there are such few good ones in fandom. but this gets at the heart of it all by exploring the idea of stiles getting the chance to save derek’s family and taking it...after he and derek are romantically together in his true timeline and then actually dealing with the ramifications of how that alters everything and how stiles survives in this new present where he and derek are virtual strangers. everyone should definitely read this, but you should also know that i fucking sobbed while reading the sequel (which also has a happy ending, but really digs deep into the nitty gritty angst of the repercussions).

map of the world by seperis (11/11 | 154k+ | M) destiel; end!verse; alternate universe; canon divergent; original characters; slow burn

the world’s already over and they’re already dead. all they’re doing now is marking time until the end.

note: look, if you don’t know about down to agincourt by @seperis, what are you doing with your life?? the series is over 1M+ words so far, the fic author is on book 4 out of a planned 8, and it’s fucking phenomenal. i know i’ve tagged a couple of these recs as slow burn but...this is the slowest slow burn to ever burn. canon!dean travels back into the end!verse timeline just as lucifer kills dean and somehow cas made it out alive and has to keep dean safe while he learns to become his end!verse counterpoint. the world building in this series is intense and i cannot recommend it enough. i’m still in the midst of my re-read bc it’s SUCH an endeavor but i highly recommend it to everybody.

invictus by ellanasan (116/116 | 355+ | M) hayffie; au: alive abernathy family; pre-hunger games; canon prostitution; slow burn

“so then, before i can even think about doing something stupid like trying to stab him with his fucking golden paperknife, he gives me a choice, see?” haymitch continued, almost detached. “either i play nice like all the other victors or he’ll kill my family. i could either become his puppet—greatest punishment he could give me, according to him—or i could become the example.”

AU in which haymitch’s family lives.

note: hello, have you ever wondered what the hunger games series would be like if haymitch’s family were alive? i fucking hadn’t until 2 years ago when i stumbled across this fic and fell head over heels in love with this ship. @ellanainthetardis is my go to hunger games fic writer for anything exploring canon and i’m obsessed with anything she writes about the OG victors pre-canon (finnick, joanna, chaff, etc). this fic is just 300k+ exploring that world and all the intricate details of how cruel the games could really be. HIGHLY recommend. i definitely re-read it this fall when i needed a pick me up.

don’t know what i’m supposed to do (haunted by the ghost of you) by crazyassmurdererwall (1/1 | 30k+ | T) sterek; canon divergent; angst with a happy ending; ghosts; stiles POV

stiles sees dead people. yep. seriously.

(he’s got this. he’s totally got this. so what if one of them is derek’s mom?)

note: did you know that @crazyassmurdererwall is one of my all time favorite people? and that she’s wicked talented? and that in our spare time she’ll send me a billion fic ideas that are amazing and i get to hear all the intricate details of her plot bunnies? but i digress. this fic is one of my all time fave sterek fics i’ve re-read it sooo many times. there’s just something about the heartache and stiles’ insecurity and the way he tries to shoulder it all on his own. and then there’s alli’s brilliant writing, the way she weaves through a scene and paints a picture just so and manages to tug at your heart strings with her precise word choice. there’s some amazing world building in this fic as it explores this other facet of the supernatural that canon teen wolf never touched upon, and i’m so grateful for that bc alli is the only one who should be allowed to write about ghosts and teen wolf together.

lagavulin and guinness by snarfle (10/10 | 163k+ | explicit) hartwin; slow burn; PTSD; suicidal thoughts; graphic depictions of violence; domestic abuse

plenty of people had looked down on eggsy throughout his life. he had gotten fairly used to it. didn’t mean it was fair, but he knew how these things worked. what really sucked was that the new arthur was worse than the old one.

“eggsy grimaced. he didn’t know how to explain to harry—who seemed like he hadn’t been discriminated against a day in his life—that the new arthur kept giving him what amounted to suicide missions, and that he was currently bleeding out in a warehouse because of the deliberately bad intel she had given him.”

also featuring: dean is harder to get rid of than eggsy thought, his mum is going off the deep end, there are way too many nefarious plots in play, and eggsy is really beginning to wish that harry would stop holding his hand and kiss him instead.

note: look, i know i recced this literally less than a week ago but i ALSO stayed up til 5AM re-reading this last night and it was a-m-a-z-i-n-g. i was on a bit of a kingsman kick earlier this year, so i’ve actually re-read this fic TWICE so far in 2020. i will give you a serious warning in that this fic delves deep into domestic abuse through the lens of a variety of different relationships. it also explores the potential for abuse in hartwin, bc this fic is one of the few that actually commits to the fact that they’re literal spies who murder people. actively. a lot. but seriously, this fic is one of my fave in the fandom and i STRONGLY recommend it.

waste of breath by bryrosea (1/1 | 22k+ | M) loganxveronica; canon compliant; missing scenes; navy; past child abuse

logan echolls, the nine years, and the navy.

note: bryrosea has an obscene number of amazing logan and veronica fics (her canon divergent series stay with me is another i re-read this year), but i’ve found myself returning to this fic a lot over the years. i’m a sucker for canon compliant fics that explore the missing scenes in between canon and this fic hits all the right buttons by diving deep into how logan echolls went from being a trash fire at hearst college at the end of s3 to being a decorated navy pilot by the movie. it explores logan seeking out therapy and making a life for himself that he can be proud of, all while pining after the girl who got away. and bc this author is amazing, she followed it up with a sequel from veronica’s point of view in the series done by only me.

the law of equivalent exchange by awed_frog (8/8 | 60k+ | M) destiel; POV castiel; pre-canon; post-canon; canon compliant; immortality; reincarnation

“and what’s the point of it?”

“of love? there isn’t one. loving is its own purpose.”

note: i mean??? i don’t really know what to say except that this is one of the truly most beautiful fics i have ever read. it follows castiel through time as he meets different reincarnations of sam and dean across history and falls ever more deeply in love. it is achingly tender and so ecstatically written that i die just thinking about it. and that summary? i mean. holy fuck break my heart why don’t you? i don’t know how i missed out on this fic for so long since it was published in 2015 but i only learned about it for the first time back in july and it was. life changing?? when the fic finally reaches the canon timeline and he meets THIS dean it’s peak yearning. 10/10 will read again.

ahead in the count by elisela (17/17 | 50k+ | E) sterek; AU: sports; pitcher!stiles; teacher!derek; long distance relationship; getting together

“yankee fan,” derek says, laughing when stiles makes a disgusted face. “the bronx bombers, stiles, you can’t be a new yorker and—”

“stop talking right now,” stiles sighs, shaking his head. “i can’t believe i still want to kiss you after that,” he says, pulling derek in by his coat. “this is making me rethink everything.”

“i’ll never watch them again,” derek promises, and stiles laughs against his mouth.

or: stiles is a starting pitcher for the NY mets when he meets and falls in love with derek. derek doesn’t know.

note: i read SO MANY of @elisela’s 911 fics this summer, which i loved, and then she got into teen wolf and started writing sterek and i just about died. this fic is amazing, one of my fave sterek AU’s that i’ve read in years. it’s just the right amount of drama and angst and fluff filled with all the joys of miscommunication and character relationships that makes reading sterek such a joy. reading this fic and finding out eli needed fic recs pushed me to dive back in to reading sterek fics for a bit this fall so i can say with the utmost authority that this is one of the best i’ve read in a long time.

i used to think one day we’d tell the story of us by notequitegucci (2/2 | 32k+ | M) gendrya; alternate universe—modern setting; outsider POV; friends to lovers; friends to lovers

9 times a stark encounters gendry + 1 time he meets the starks.

note: again, this is the first in a 2 part series titled love me like you do that explores arya and gendry’s dynamics together through the point of view of her family. game of thrones ended last year with a whimper but i keep returning to the gendrya tag on ao3 to seek out new, amazing content and also to re-read some old favorites. i can’t remember if i came across this for the first time last year or this one, but i’ve read it and re-read it more times than i can count since and i love it more than i can describe. i’m a total sucker for outsider POV fics and my biggest pet peeve in canon is the fact that none of the stark’s ever found out that arya and gendry had a history together. this modern au fic almost makes up for it by giving me a gendry encounter with every family member and then the big reveal. it’s peak content.

theeeeeeese recs got a little away from me. i wasn’t originally intending on adding lengthy notes to each entry but ... oh well!! these are all amazing so please enjoy.

fanfic end of the year asks

#lilolilyr #ask #if i knew an authors tumblr i tried to tag them in this #seriously my reclist got away from me for a bit #also if you're looking for 911 recs #like i said they will be in another ask where someone specified!!#fic rec #about kat writes

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turning-dreams-into-chaos · 5 years ago

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Rules:

1. Reblog this post (You don’t have to be following me to participate (but I’d appreciate it), I just would like this on your page 😊)

2. Send me an ask (not into my messages because they will get lost) with the name of the person you want to write for as well as the prompt you choose from below (Limit 2 people per prompt and 2 prompts per person) (First come, first serve by asks)

a. I’ll cross out prompts that are unavailable if people choose them, so always look for the most updated version of this post.b. If your writing account isn’t the one you’ve send an ask with, please include the name of your account at the end of the ask!

3. Use the hashtag #Riaswritingchallenge and tag me so I can see what you created! (make sure you use the correct tag because that will be how I am looking for posts)

a. I will reblog all the posts you write and if I don’t reblog within 3 days, send me an ask to make sure I see it

4. If it’s more than 1.5K (no word limit, go for it), add a keep reading option please so we don’t have pages and pages of pieces

a. If you can’t, that’s fine, I don’t think you can on the mobile

5. Don’t Stress and Have Fun! We aren’t comparing works to anyone; we’re just sharing what we wrote!

6. I’m not putting an end date on this challenge until I see activity! I’ll reblog with a date when I have one.

EDIT: So I’ve decided not to take requests for myself off this list and just leave these prompt to you guys, SO PLEASE DON’T SEND ME REQUESTS FROM THESE LISTS! CHOOSE ONES FOR YOU TO WRITE! 😊 Thank you!

Characters (Pick ANY character from a fandom):

The 100• Marvel• Harry Potter• Flash• Walking Dead• <- those are examples, choose what ever you’d like!

Prompts (specify which list in ask):

Fluff:

1. “Just hold me close and never let go.”

The One by @with1love1anu (Sirius Black x Reader)

2. “You may be good, but I’m better.”

@abysshaven (Draco Malfoy x reader)

3. “You know, I’d go through hell for you.” “Really?” “Yeah, or well, really hot weather.”

@abysshaven (Draco Malfoy x reader)

@fridasfantasy (Zuko x Reader)

4. “Well you’re fun.” “And you’re annoying.”

Sirius Black x Reader by @valiantartwritingweasel

Just my Type by @writeseasonally (Fred Weasley x Reader)

5. “You’re drunk.” “I’m not drunk.” “Then what are you?” “…I’m not dead, right?”

@nekoannie-chan (Brock Rumlow x Reader)

Truth under Moonlight by @approved-by-dentists (Sirius Black x Reader)

6. “You’re a lot more interesting in my head.”

Hoax by @seiraswriting (Hermione Granger x Reader)

7. “You just have to trust me.”

Proud of you by @fandomscombine (George Weasley x Reader)

8. “Time flies when you’re a prisoner.”

9. “You’re my home.”

Home by @capsheadquaters (Bellamy Blake x Reader)

10. “Thanks for not killing me.”

@wonderful-writer (Sirius Black x Reader)

11. “I’m going to choose to take pride in that.”

Freedom of Innocence by @summer-writes (Draco Malfoy x Reader)

Gone by @moony-writes-stuff (George Weasley x Reader)

12. “You’re my second chance.”

@bad268 (Draco Malfoy x Reader)

Second Chances by @shaynawrites23 (Bucky Barnes x Reader)

13. “Take me by the hand and hold me tight.”

If it Hurts by @oingo233 (Daryl Dixon x reader)

14. “I’m proud of us.”

15. “Will you get off me?”

Snowscape by @kalimagik (Fred Weasley x Reader)

16. “I didn’t think it was possible, but I just fell more in love with you.”

@they-write-once-in-a-blue-moon (Remus Lupin x Reader)

I Love you by @theonly1outof-a-billion (Mob!Tom Holland x Reader)

17. “You are everything I dreamed of.”

@the-moon-and-the-book (Remus Lupin x Reader)

18. “Here, let me help you.”

@dreamer821 (Sirius Black x Reader)

19. “Can I have a kiss? Please?”

Can I kiss you? by @bad268 (Julian Albert x Reader)

20. “Your hand is so soft.”

Gentle Hands by @johnmurphyisbisexual (John Murphy x Reader)

21. “I’ve been thinking-“ “uh oh.”

A Beautiful Dream by @missmulti (Remus Lupin x Reader)

22. “But you love me anyways.”

@leah-ravenanne (James Potter x Reader)

Secret Admirer by @shaynawrites23 (Sirius Black x Reader)

23. “Want a back rub?”

24. “Can we cuddle?”

Gentle Hands by @johnmurphyisbisexual (John Murphy x Reader)

25. “You realize how insane you sound, right?”

Crazy for You by @writeroutoftime (Sirius Black x Reader)

@wonderful-writer (Sirius Black x Reader)

26. “Stop making that face. It’s too cute.”

Proud of you by @fandomscombine (George Weasley x Reader)

27. You are perfect for me.”

Party Revelations by @angelinathebook (Sirius Black x Reader)

28. “You’re so warm.”

Snowscape by @kalimagik (Fred Weasley x Reader)

29. “I love you more every day.”

30. “Where’s my morning kisses?”

31. “Wanna go for a walk?”

Comfort by @iliveiloveiwrite (Sirius Black x reader)

32. “I’m here when you’re ready to talk.”

Comfort by @iliveiloveiwrite (Sirius Black x Reader)

33. “Stop stealing my food.”

34. “Wow, I almost forgot how beautiful you were.”

@hollands-weasley (Fred Weasley x Reader)

35. “There’s an open seat on my lap.”

Party Revelations by @angelinathebook (Sirius Black x Reader)

@stiles-o-dylan24 (Bellamy Blake x Reader)

36. “Please just look at me.”

@horsegirly99 (Remus Lupin x Reader)

37. “I want to spend the rest of my life with you.”

Star Crossed Lovers by @missmulti (James Sirius Potter x Reader)

@horsegirly99 (Remus Lupin x Reader)

38. “Netflix and cuddle?”

39. “I can count to ten.” “You can barely get to 3.”

40. “My best friend is an idiot. Awesome.”

Angst:

1. “Despite everything, I still care about you.”

Blind Love by @hyperion-moonbabe-art3mis (Bellamy Blake x Reader)

2. “I should go…”

Never Leave Me Again by @with1love1anu (George Weasley x Reader)

@they-write-once-in-a-blue-moon (Remus Lupin x Reader)

3. “Joke’s on me, right?”

To Love and Be Used by @the-moon-and-the-book (James Potter x Reader)

4. “Break my heart, I’ll break your face.”

5. “Fuck you and your promises.”

Promises by @masterofthedarkness (Fred Weasley x Reader)

6. “Remember when I asked for your opinion? No? Me neither.”

7. “I’m not worth dying for.”

A Beautiful Dream by @missmulti (Remus Lupin x Reader)

8. “There’s still good in you.”

All for You by @blisfvll (Draco Malfoy x Reader)

9. “I thought you died.”

Home by @capsheadquaters (Bellamy Blake x Reader)

@screennamealreadyused (Jason Todd x Reader)

10. “Don’t touch me.”

@screennamealreadyused (Jason Todd x Reader)

11. “I’m fine.” *Passes out*

Can I kiss you? by @bad268 (Julian Albert x Reader)

@dreamer821 (Sirius Black x Reader)

12. “I was hoping you’d save us both.”

Never Leave Me Again by @with1love1anu (George Weasley x Reader)

13. “I’m invisible.”

14. “I don’t even know who you are anymore.”

To Love and Be Used by @the-moon-and-the-book (James Potter x Reader)

15. “You’re not you.”

16. “What do you want me to say? That I’m sorry? I’m not.”

@novellaquill (Barry Allen x reader, The originals crossover)

17. “Okay, fuck you.”

18. “You wanna play hero? Be my guest.”

Drama by @obsessedwithrandomthings (Remus Lupin x Reader)

19. “You’re an asshole.”

20. “I hope it was worth it.”

21. “Trust me, it could get a whole lot worse.”

22. “The only mistake I made was you.”

@acciomarauders (Regulus Black x Reader)

23. “Prove to me you’re different, then I’ll believe you.”

@stiles-o-dylan24 (Bellamy Blake x Reader)

24. “No one blames you.” “I do.”

All for you by @blisfvll (Draco Malfoy x Reader)

25. How come you’re still here?”

26. “This is when you stop talking.”

27. “How am I supposed to say goodbye to you?”

@novellaquill (Barry Allen x reader, The originals crossover)

28. “God, just let me fall apart.”

Gone by @moony-writes-stuff (George Weasley x Reader)

29. “Just let me die.”

John Murphy x Reader by @johnmurphyisbisexual

Duelled by @teheharrypotter (Sirius Black x Reader)

30. “You got to let go.”

Star Crossed Lovers by @missmulti (James Sirius Potter x Reader)

31. “Why can’t you look at me like you look at her?”

Fool’s Gold by @marauderswhisperer (James Potter x Reader)

32. “You don’t get to die today.”

If it Hurts by @oingo233 (Daryl Dixon x reader)

33. “I’m spiraling and I can’t make it stop.”

John Murphy x Reader by @johnmurphyisbisexual

34. “You’re never too broken to be fixed.”

She’s a Survivor by @eleven-times-lively (Remus Lupin x Reader)

35. “Fun? Is that all I am to you? Fun?”

36. “I would’ve given my life up for you, but now? Now I don’t even know you.”

@shatteredlovesick (Steve Rogers x reader)

37. “I haven’t been the same since you left me.”

Charm-ed by @nekoannie-chan (Steve Rogers x Reader)

38. “You were supposed to protect me.”

39. “You gave me the world, but it wasn’t enough.”

40. “Give me another chance to prove I am still in love with you.”

Smut:

(Sorry I couldn’t find or come up with more smut ones lol)

1. “Ruin me.”

2. “Lose the shirt.”

3. “You know we’re in public, right?”

4. “Be good.” “Or what, you’ll punish me?”

5. “I can’t wait to get you alone tonight.”

6. “Spread your legs for me.”

7. “Remember. You’re mine.”

8. “Stop the lip biting, you’re driving me crazy.”

9. “Tonight, you’re in control.”

10. “I’m not wearing anything under this.”

11. “Try to stay quiet for me. Can you do that?”

Learned your Lesson by @johnmurphyisbisexual (John Murphy x Reader)

12. “Aw, is somebody jealous?”

13. “If you wanna fuck, just say the words.”

14. “I forgot how much I missed seeing you beneath me.”

@shatteredlovesick (Steve Rogers x Reader)

15. “Oh, fuck you!” “Your place or mine?”

16. “Was the sex really that good?”

17. “Like what you’re seeing?”

18. “On your knees.”

19. “Handcuffs? Sounds fun.”

20. “Touch yourself for me.”

Learned your Lesson by @johnmurphyisbisexual (John Murphy x Reader)

21. “Try not to ruin the sheets, I just cleaned them.”

22. “Why is your dick out?”

23. “Boobies!”

24. “I think the condom broke.”

Oh, baby by @grounderxbellamy (Bellamy Blake x Reader)

25. “Cute underwear.”

166 notes · View notes

fbaccountsselling · 3 years ago

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Facebook

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Why It Matters:

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Twitter

What It Is:

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sneezypeasy · 4 years ago

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“Also, your blog post would just be an explanation of why YOU don't like it.”

- NAR user, on the subject of “Knowing what you’re talking about before you make assumptions.” Ok, so those of you who follow me because you know me from NAR, will probably know what I’m talking about here. In the past few weeks or so, there have been a considerable number of posts that users have identified as coming from Reddit. The community reaction to this has been mixed, ranging from pleased:

This is the quality content I come here for. Lots of juicy payback.

to disgruntled:

Another story taken from reddit. Sorry, if I wanted reddit stories I'd go to the source or one of the 20 billion other sites that steals and compiles stories from reddit.

The last three stories came straight from Reddit. Is no one submitting content here anymore?

and of course, to complaining about the complainers:

COULD YOU GUYS JUST LET IT GO PLEASE? SOME OF US ARE SICK AND TIRED OF PEOPLE LIKE YOU COMPLAING ON EVERY SINGLE STORY FROM REDDIT!! BUILD A BRIDGE AND GET OVER IT, DROP, IT, MOVE ON, LET IT GO, SOME OF THE NAR DON'T READ REDDIT SO WE DON'T MIND THE STORIES ON BEING REPOSTED ON HERE

Okay, so it’s been a bit of a clusterfuck. Now, some commenters have said that NAR has been doing this for several months now, and while I have nothing to dispute this claim, I don’t think I’m the only one who noticed the influx of Reddit stories has seemed to increase dramatically in the past few weeks.

So I decided to take a closer look.

I went back through the “Newest” pages of NAR, and noted down every story that was outsourced from Reddit. I wanted to explore several things:

1. Just what percentage of NAR stories are outsourced

2. The "method” of outsourcing

3. Community perception of outsourced stories (their quality, their value on NAR, etc)

One of the earliest complaints commonly brought up was that the eds, while obtaining permission, did not clearly credit or attribute their sources.

The crossposting without attribution to properly give credit, or some tag or mention at the beginning, to allow people to skip previously read things is getting ridiculous.

It is really beginning to smack less of "its not really an issue and don't need to/can't be bothered to do it" and far more of "we'll do anything at all to increase our site traffic and ad revenue, as long as we can get away with it."

The eds, clearly listening to this feedback, uploaded the first clearly-sourced Reddit story to NAR on December 23. The community was quick to notice and deliver positive feedback, on this and subsequent stories:

No comment on the generic stupid customer story, but let me say how much I appreciate the new habit of specifically crediting the original Reddit post in the story. I would have been happy with a #Reddit tag as well.

Yay! They do read the comments.

Though this one really needed it. As the stories here are unattributed, someone saying they are varying from their usual style makes no sense on NAR.

I was pleasantly surprised in my “research” that the eds had also gone back and added credits to the stories published before December 23. This made gathering the data a little easier. However, not all stories had been properly credited; this one, for example, made the rounds on reddit before showing up on NAR a month or so later. As of today (December 27), this story has not been credited.

(Before anyone digs up the original link and points out that the Redditor requested their username to be kept anonymous, I would just like to point out that Reddit has credited users anonymously before. So I assume this one was just a genuine mistake.)

So, all in all, I counted back from December 7th to December 26th. (I probably could have chosen an earlier cutoff point, but I had enough tabs open already). Out of a total of 382 stories, I found 53 stories (about 14%) that were clearly from Reddit. Keep in mind that this is a conservative estimate, because I only counted the stories which were clearly sourced, and a couple of stories which I or other users had dug up the original Reddit link for. I didn’t carefully check every non-sourced story to see if it was cross-posted. That 53 also includes the “Are You Sure I Can’t Suck Your Succulent?” story which was deleted a short time after it was posted (likely because the community response to that story was overwhelmingly negative).

Once I had tallied up all the stories and had about a gazillion tabs open on Chrome, it was time for some slightly deeper analysis. The first thing I noticed was that the most “saturated” week was from Dec 7 to Dec 13, where about 1 in 4 stories (at least; remember, these are conservative figures) were from Reddit.

From what I could find, the earlier stories were only submitted to two categories (either Not Always Right or Not Always Working). If we just isolate these two categories and examine the percentage of outsourced stories, the “saturation level” is even higher; almost 30%, or 1 in 3:

As annoying as some commenters found the “whiners” to be, they did have a point in all their frantic alarm-raising; the frequency of outsourcing had spiked dramatically. Now, as mentioned before, not everyone considered this to be a bad thing. Several users brought up the point that “not everybody reads Reddit”, and, essentially, what’s wrong with having more content for the site?

You aren't the first person to tell people these things and I'm going to say the same to you: I don't read reddit, this is new to me.

Stories like this should be on as many forms of media possible. People need to be aware of these nightmares.

However, a significant number of users brought up concerns aside from the typical “seen this already” grumblings. A common thread of complaint was that the quality of the content was not to the standard users had come to expect from NAR. On stories where the outsourcing was obvious, (either through Reddit attribution, or other users posting links to the original source), users directly blamed the poorer quality on the crossposting itself:

It seems to be the worst of Reddit that's coming over here. Idon'tworkherelady used to be a really good comm over there, but lately it's been flooded with over the top posts that have some completely irrational Karen assaulting the OP, or screaming OP assaulted them, and law enforcement being involved.

I don't Reddit, but I do find it irritating to suddenly get an influx of stories written in that style, generally of a lower quality than the ones we used to get.

On stories that hadn’t been properly attributed, criticism still abounded, and was generally harsher as users had no reason (until informed by other users) to assume the OP hadn’t posted the story directly to the site. As such, when a story was perceived as embellished, exaggerated, tonally inappropriate, or which did not exactly paint the OP in a good light, users did not hold back:

This reads like the real life version of a video game exploit...

Yes the people made bad decisions, but OP’s company saw this, evaluated the risk and thought hey, we can make some money off these people.

And OP is enjoying delivering the consequences of the predatory contract.

Everyone sucks here.

This is awful, and the fact that it's written in verse makes it obvious that this is not what was actually said.

This read like garbage, you only seem to have asserted yourself once unless I missed the second time in the poorly written jumble, and you basically didn't do anything to management at all because they aren't the ones who have to learn the new skills and stuff? Though I imagine your post-its would've been taken down and tossed by cleaning crew anyways after you left, stuff like that isn't generally kept around.

So basically this story just showed your poor writing skills ... I don't think even the editors could butcher a story that badly, so it had to be poorly done from the start.

As previously mentioned, the “Are You Sure I Can’t Suck Your Succulent” received so much backlash that the eds quietly removed the story within a few days of it being posted (at least, I assume that was the reason). Unfortunately, not expecting it to be removed, I didn’t save any of the dozens of comments critical of that story’s tone, and of the petty, vindictive attitude its OP appeared to relish in. The only comment I have from that dumpster fire is a reply that I got in my email shortly before the story was taken down:

This is a story that I don't enjoy reading. It's just... strange :p Trash Room is even way better than this "story".

Overall, of the 53 stories I found from Reddit, at least 13 of them had received a significant amount of negative feedback or backlash. I counted negative feedback as comments that were critical of the story’s tone, style or content, which other users had upvoted or written replies expressing similar sentiments (excluding comments that were drowning in downvotes and thus clearly did not reflect community perception). Again, I didn’t scour every story super carefully, conservative figures, you know the drill.

More interesting (to me, at least) was the discovery that a significant proportion of stories had been, in my opinion, heavily edited in its cross-posting. The majority of Reddit stories were either entirely non-dialogue, or contained only a few lines of dialogue. I wasn’t able to compare every Reddit post with its NAR version (some had requested anonymity, and others I’m sure I just didn’t find), but the ones that had a source allowed me to compare the two posts directly, and note a curious observation: at least 13 (not necessarily the same 13 that got backlash, though there was significant overlap) were originally “non-dialogue” on Reddit, and had been “translated” to dialogue form when the NAR eds cross-posted it.

Here is an example of a story which, in its original telling, did not post exact quotes but rather a summary of an exchange, but when the eds published it onto NAR, dialogue had replaced what was originally paraphrasing.

In other words, original Redditors were posting outlines or recaps of interactions they had had with bad customers/coworkers/bosses/whathaveyous, reporting conversations in a manner which clearly suggested some level of paraphrasing or condensation of what was said, which the eds were then using to “reverse-engineer” the dialogue in the story.

Now, those of you on NAR are likely aware of an implicit assumption of NAR stories, that being the details (including dialogue) presented in these stories is generally assumed to be, to the OP’s best recollection, an accurate report of what events took place and what words were exchanged. I’ve mentioned this before on NAR - NAR is a place where judgement is dispensed as earnestly and passionately as support, and as such, users tend to care deeply about precision and context. What details are omitted can be just as important as what details are included. Such a culture does not tend to exist on Reddit to nearly the same degree (more on this later).

It is perhaps not surprising at all, then, to see the number of comments in these crossposted stories picking apart the OP’s phrasing, their choice to include or omit certain details, taking the dialogue presented as verbatim. Examples include:

This could all have been handled much simpler, if OP had just said “Hello, sir. Since you ended up having fewer children than expected, I’ve been able to get you a discount on your package.”

As soon as I saw "you've been downgraded" I knew exactly why the customer would pitch a fit. Doesn't matter that the only difference was cost, downgrade makes it sound like you're getting less, so it makes sense he got upset.

OP was kind of the jerk here. What does "if you want me to make it stronger, go for it" even mean? Is OP doing to distill it further or something?

I don't see any explanation of how much the bottle would cost? Saying that you can only serve double strength drinks, or that you're not allowed to sell bottles at all, is not at all the same as saying "This will cost you £170."

But more importantly, why did OP tell the bouncers to prevent this guy from leaving without paying? I guess it's not specifically mentioned, but it doesn't seem like he'd had a chance to drink any of the vodka from the bottle yet, so I don't see why OP couldn't just cancel the sale and let him leave. Sure, he's obnoxious and OP was annoyed, but a lot of drunk people are obnoxious. Wouldn't it be better to just let them leave?

One user replied to the last comment in that list, providing some much needed context:

This story is one of the ones the editors took from reddit, I recall the original having more details.

To which the original commenter replied,

That would actually explain a lot! If they're going to steal stories from reddit, I wish they could at least do it well.

In essence, the OPs of these stories were taking the brunt of the blame for “poor word choices”, or omission of key details - things which, in this case, were arguably not their fault. Their original posts made it clear that they were not posting direct quotes but a summary. But in the process of making the submissions “suitable” for NAR, the eds had “refined” the posts in a way that stripped away this context, and exposed the OPs to criticism that was therefore, quite undeserved.

On top of all that, there is the issue that I myself had brought up several times in the past; that of the cultural differences between NAR and Reddit.

I hope you don’t mind if I quote myself for a change, here:

There's a bit of a difference in the tone of Reddit stories vs NAR stories. Reddit is a culture that is a lot more tolerant to silliness and editorializing; they are also more tolerant of exaggerating tales for humour purposes. This is because Reddit is more of a humour/entertainment site, so the approach to storytelling is much more casual and people are more willing to suspend disbelief to enjoy stories there.

NAR, however, started more as a place to vent and air grievances about entitled, rude, nasty jerks. It is still an entertainment site, but with a much more critical approach to detail, nuance etc. This is a place to dispense judgement on "bad guys" just as much (if not more so) as it is a place to laugh at funny anecdotes. As such, NARians care more about context and precision. We scrutinise extraneous details like what a customer was wearing or their race or accent, if we feel like they are not relevant to the story and could be affecting partiality or fairness. Users are usually aware of this and will tailor their stories to suit these sensitivities. You will never see that sort of thing on Reddit - on Reddit, things like dress sense, speech patterns, hair colour etc are all free game to mock and ridicule.

Other users may disagree with me on this, but I contend that overall, Reddit has a more “casual” vibe than NAR. There is a greater tolerance for silliness and/or embellishment. Users often mention, in an almost off-handed way, the tacky appearance or fashion choices of the bad customer/boss/x. “Cringe comedy” is perfectly permissible if not encouraged. This, having an obvious effect on the style and delivery of Reddit stories, meant it didn’t take long for these cultural differences to cause some eye-twitching among NAR users, many of whom had grown accustomed to a much more formal and objective form of storytelling:

Anyone else wondering what "several of them wearing attire representing a particular political figure" has to do with the rest of the story?

To whoever thinks about writing stories in verse: Don’t.

The OP needs to look up "readability." I got the gist, but it wasn't a very fun read.

Several users correctly identified Reddit stories simply based on the sillier style, with varying degrees of acceptance:

I don't mind if it's taken from Reddit. Halfway reading through it, you can definitely tell it's from reddit. They tend to be written in a more dramatic and exaggerated flair.

I much prefer the more casual, whimsical and occasionally totally unpredictable anecdote-type like stories that are submitted to NAR directly.

Yes, and a lot of us would rather they [the eds] didn't [take stories from Reddit]. If I want a reddit-style story, I'll go to reddit. I come here specifically because I don't like reddit.

Occasionally, the “informal” writing style that was typical of Reddit stories could not (or was not) translated properly to NAR at all. Though I wasn’t keeping an eye out for examples like these, I stumbled across a story in which OP had received a “written verbal warning”. Several users, including myself, questioned the apparent contradiction or redundancy of the phrase. As it turned out, the original post made it clear the OP was being sarcastic:

they decided to give me a wRiTtEn VeRbAl WaRnInG

What a Redditor had written and intended to be irony (by use of alternating caps), in a forum where such an informal writing style was entirely normal, the eds had (again) refined and stripped of all context, and then presented to a completely different audience who had no reason to suspect it had ever been intended in any other way.

So... what can we make of all this?

If you’ve made it to the end of this post, first of all - congratz. This was a lot of rambling to slog through and I appreciate you sticking through it with me. But second of all, I hope I’ve made it clear that the case against the recent cross-posting craze is, in my opinion, more complicated than just “Ugh, they’re stealing content again” or “I’ve seen this already, boo”. I, like many users now, acknowledge that this is not “theft” as the eds have been explicitly seeking permission before posting Reddit content. However, I would like to argue that the Redditors who give this permission are, likely, 1) not fully aware that their stories might be heavily edited or “refined” in the cross-posting, and 2) unable to anticipate that their style of humour or storytelling, even after this refining (or sometimes especially because of this refining) could garner them significant backlash from the community the story will be “repackaged” to. As such, I would argue that the consent they give is not fully informed consent. I would argue that if they knew the intricacies of NAR culture and how it differed from Reddit culture, a good portion of them would not give permission at all - or they would likely want to edit and submit the story themselves, so that if they are going to be on the hook for their storytelling choices, at least they can be on the hook for something they had creative control over.

I’ll end this rant with one final quote from me:

The Eds are doing the equivalent of taking jokes that were funny to one audience, and just telling them verbatim to an audience with very different sensibilities, but not providing that context when they tell the joke, so everyone unfairly hates on the original comedian.

I hope that if nothing else, even if this post doesn’t persuade people of the problematic aspects of this trend, at least the knowledge of how many of these stories have been altered by the eds, or how they were originally written for very different expectations or standards of humour - might encourage people to be a bit more careful or sympathetic when criticising these OPs.

ETA: A friend of mine pointed out to me that the problem of eds "butchering" NAR stories has always been a problem on NAR, and isn't endemic to the Reddit crossposting issue. While I certainly cannot deny that, based on user testimony over the years - I would still argue that the situation is a bit worse for Redditors. One, users submitting to NAR, from NAR, are more likely to be aware of this issue (and are thus in a better position to provide informed consent), and secondly, their familiarity with the site means they are more likely able to format and tailor their submissions in a way that better survives the editing process. And finally, being from a different platform means Redditors are less likely to witness the birth of their story on NAR, robbing them of the opportunity to defend themselves from an angry commentariat in a timely manner (if at all), in the event their story does get misrepresented by the eds.

#Not Always Right #Reddit stories should probably stay on Reddit

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phroyd · 5 years ago

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Just how badly has American capitalism failed? Consider the following.

The White House backed out of a deal to manufacture ventilators because the price tag was too high. Go ahead and guess. Ready? It was…one billion dollars. Sound like a lot? Too much? For ventilators for…the entire country…in the middle of a pandemic…that’s already spiraling out of control?

Then think about this.

Jeff Bezos is worth $113 billion. Zuck, about $60 billion. Warren Buffett, about $70 billion. Are you seeing my point yet? Let me make it clearer. Either Bezos or Zuck or Buffett — or any number of penny-ante mega-billionaires — could pay for all the ventilators America needs right now, and not even blink. Not even think twice.

Take Bezos, for example. That one billion dollars to supply the country with ventilators is less than one percent of his net worth. The net worth of the average American household is about $100K. That’s like the average American spending…a thousand dollars. The net worth of the average millennial is about $10K. That’s like the average millennial spending…one hundred dollars.

That’s how trivial it is for a Bezos to literally supply the entire country with ventilators. It’s pocket money. To call it chump change would be an overstatement. He could do it and he’d literally never even notice the money was gone. It would take his accountant a lifetime to even begin to care.

Is your head spinning yet? What on earth? It should be.

All that, my friends, is an object lesson in the profound and surreal failure of capitalism. Let me now put it in simpler terms.

Capitalism is adding disaster to tragedy, by way of needless scarcity.

Suddenly, a society experiences a catastrophe — in this case, a pandemic. That would be bad enough. But because a tiny number of people in society have hoarded all the resources — in this case money, which really just means foregone ventilators — a society cannot respond to its catastrophe well at all. What happens next? What happens is what’s going to happen.

People are going to die. In fact, they already have. Perhaps you read about the poor kid who was turned away from an urgent care center for a lack of insurance. That’s not a ventilator, but it’s not exactly hard to see how a lack of ventilators is going to start killing Americans en masse very, very soon, if it hasn’t already.

Capitalism is adding disaster to tragedy…by way of needless scarcity.

How much is one billion dollars, anyways? The American economy is worth about $20 trillion. One billion is a vanishingly small fraction of that. How small, exactly? One twenty thousandth, or .00005%. It’s so small, I might have missed a decimal place there — and it doesn’t matter, because it’s that miniscule.

And yet the government can’t raise one twenty thousandth of the size of the economy in order to provide society with the one resource it needs most to survive a pandemic — ventilators.

Think about that math for a second. Really just think about it.

What would it say about you if you couldn’t raise one twenty thousandth of your income to, say, give your kids life saving medicine? That’s a flawed analogy, but I struggle for anything — anything at all — to express the magnitude of this failure well. I literally can’t think of anything remotely close to it, so let me simply try to express it again, even more concisely.

The government can’t raise one twenty thousandth of the whole economy’s income to pay for a critical resource during a pandemic — ventilators — while it would cost a Bezos maybe one hundred of his wealth to provide them for the whole country.

What on earth? My head is spinning. Is yours? It’s so grotesque, baffling, obscene, it’s literally impossible to process. How is it that in the richest society in human history, apparently — pennies can’t be found for ventilators? And yet it’s wealthiest man could single-handedly provide them, and never even notice?

Now, here’s the even more distressing part. Bezos (or Zuck, Buffett, etc) can’t spend all that money anyways. There is simply no way that you can spend a hundred billion dollars. What would you do? You could buy up all the luxury properties and mega yachts, and you’d barely have made a dent. You’d have to buy entire cities, nations, and whole social systems. Which is effectively what a Bezos has done. Americans don’t have ventilators because Bezos has hundreds of billions. Americans don’t have healthcare because billionaires have all the money in their society.

When I have more money than I can ever spend, then there is no real cost to me to supply you, say, with ventilators. Do you see how grotesque that paradox is? That is what “artifical scarcity” means. Jeff Bezos having a billion less wouldn’t actually cost him anything, because he can’t spend it anyways. All him having those billions does is cost everyone else life-saving resources, like ventilators in a lethal pandemic.

So let’s put this epic failure in more technical terms.

Capitalism has misallocated capital on a truly stunning and surreal scale in America. It’s created a system where an entire nation goes without the critical, life-saving resources they need, in the midst of a lethal global pandemic — while the wealthy could literally buy Americans those resources single-handedly, and doing so wouldn’t make a dent in their fortunes. But the wealthy can’t spend all that money to begin with. It’s literally just sitting there, going to no good use. Like, say, the critical one of ventilators. The result will obviously be needless death on a massive scale.

Economists call all that a “deadweight loss.” If American economists were actually good ones, they’d immediately understand that capitalism is a colossal and tragic failure. Consider the Soviet Union — Americans used to make fun of it for breadlines. But now Americans are the ones beset by artificial scarcities. What’s scarce in America? Yesterday — healthcare, retirement, decent work, education, good food, and so on. The basics.

Today? The critical, life-saving necessities. Ventilators, masks, protective equipment.

Capitalism — as an economy — literally cannot supply these things to society. It is more interested in billionaires hoarding as much wealth as possible — and then crafting political mechanisms to protect that wealth. And yet that wealth is too much, in the simple sense that nobody can even spend it.

But when I have too much money that I can never spend, of course you will go without — because the economy slowly grinds to a halt, as my money simply sits there idle, instead of being invested in the things you need. That is what “artificial scarcity” means: ventilators aren’t really scarce, we just can’t make them because only Jeff Bezos can afford them, since he’s now as rich as…a whole healthcare system, which Americans now go without, since those resources belong to him.

What we see at this dire stage of American capitalism is a kind of evolution, backwards, devolution. Yesterday, basics were in perpetual, artificial short supply — money, retirement, healthcare, etc. But you can eke out a life without basics, still. Just one without dignity and meaning and happiness. Yet today, the situation is much worse. Critical, life-saving resources are now artificially scarce. And you can’t live without those.

The result? People will die — needlessly, on a staggering scale.

I can’t think of an economic system failing in a more disastrous way than that. A truer way than that. You don’t have a ventilator that might save your, your kid’s, your partner’s life — meanwhile, the wealthy could buy them for all, for every single person in society…at literally no real cost to themselves. There is literally no better example of what Marx famously called “exploitation” than all that: you dying, during a pandemic because the super rich have such an absurd amount of resources in society that they could literally buy everyone life itself, and not even notice, yet won’t, because, well…why care? Americans are being exploited and abused by capitalism now not just into poverty and overwork and social disintegration — but into lethal illness and death itself. Yes, really — in hard, cold, absolute, unforgiving terms.

Let them eat ventilators? It puts Versailles to shame.

I have few word left to express how I feel about all this. But I am not the point. You are. Some day, the world hopes, Americans will understand just how badly capitalism has abused and exploited them. Because the world is made of good people, who want the best, still, even for Americans. The question is whether Americans want that for themselves.

Umair Haque March 2020

Phroyd

#captalism #covid #failure

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firelxdykatara · 5 years ago

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I think if fiction didn’t matter we wouldn’t be rallying for better representation. But at the same time, there’s plenty of fiction that so clearly doesn’t try to impose a moral. Are you of the opinion that any fiction that displays objectively horrible things in a gratifying lense should be banned? Would you call people who liked the saw films monsters? What about first person shooter games? Any porn that features power imbalances as a kink?

Short answer, to all of those questions: No. Absolutely not.

But of course, as it’s me, have a much longer answer:

Here’s the thing that the ‘FICTION AFFECTS REALITY’/’IF YOU LIKE DARKFIC YOU’RE A MONSTER’ crowd fails to realize: when we say ‘fiction is not reality’ we are not saying ‘fiction doesn’t matter’ or ‘fiction has no affect on reality whatsoever’. What we are saying is that fiction does not have a direct, 1:1 affect on reality. ‘Normal’ people will NEVER read a piece of fiction and suddenly become a pedophile. Normal people will not read a piece of fiction and forget about boundaries. Normal people will not read a piece of fiction and suddenly think that societal taboos which used to disgust them are A-OK and then try to enact them in their real lives.

Antis really love to cite the Jaws Effect when talking about how fiction affects reality, but they miss one crucial point--Jaws was playing on the pre-existing fears of the movie-going public. (And also the fact that Jaws had millions of viewers worldwide and reached a far greater audience, and therefore had far greater impact, than some niche darkfic on ao3 ever will.) It’s the same argument that’s been trotted out again and again by the ‘violent video games turn normal happy kids into school shooters’ crowd. Can playing violent video games temporarily heighten someone’s aggression/make someone already prone to violence even more aggressive? Sure. Will playing violent video games (or watching/reading violent media) make someone with a normally healthy emotional responses to stimuli suddenly become a violent person? Absolutely not.

Like, I love games like Assassin’s Creed: Odyssey. I love slipping into Ancient Greece and running around, merrily hacking and slashing my way through Athenians and Spartans. I’ve never once gotten the urge to pick up a sword and go outside and start sticking it in people. I know plenty of people who love Grand Theft Auto and don’t have a violent bone in their body. I greatly enjoy taking head shots as a sniper in Mass Effect, but I’ve never picked up a high-powered rifle in my life. (I go to the shooting range sometimes, with my grandad’s old .22, but I certainly have never wanted to shoot anyone with it.) My taste for video game violence has never translated to my reactions or interactions with other people in real life. Because I’m not a violent person, and while I can’t say I’m mentally healthy, I can say that I’ve never wanted to hurt other people. (And I have one of those ‘scary’ mental illnesses that get demonized all the time in popular media.)

So like, here’s the thing: first of all, the argument that video game or media violence (or abuse, rape, incest, pedophilia, etc) creates violence (or etc) in otherwise normal people is absolute bullshit. You may hear antis trotting out the Slenderman killings as another example, but they again fail to take into account that even if the game was the trigger, it was not the cause, and if it hadn’t existed, something else would have set them off. (And that was 2 people out of the, I’m gonna guess, millions of people who’ve played the game or watched let’s plays or whatever else. Not exactly terrifying odds.)

Secondly, you have to remember that while fiction and reality do have a relationship and do have an affect on one another, that affect is far more noticeable from the other direction. Fiction informs reality--it is often a direct reflection of it. This is why Greek tragedies became so popular--because people saw in them the human condition, in all its ugliest parts, and found extreme catharsis in watching it unfold. And this is part of why, yes, representation is so important--because, right now, most fiction is not an accurate reflection of reality, and that creates an unbalanced dynamic that’s going to take a very long time to fix.

Which leads to my final point, that is most often overlooked by antis who insist that fiction cannot be separated from reality: mass media reaches a far greater audience than fanfiction. Yes, it’s bad that so much of Hollywood fare is white--because Hollywood has reach. Billions of people tune in to watch the latest blockbuster. Your average niche darkfic on ao3 will never reach that kind of audience, not in a million years. The effect of that reach is simply not comparable. If someone who is already prone to violence plays a game or watches a movie or tv show that glorifies it, sure, it may heighten their violent response, but that’s because it’s playing on something that’s already there. The fiction itself is not to blame for whatever the person who viewed it chooses to do.

One last thing, since this is something that I feel doesn’t get mentioned enough in these debates: if you’ve been following me long enough, you’ll probably have seen me rag on Twilight or 50 Shades of Grey. I hate both of those series’ with a burning passion. I think they’re badly written tripe, one of which began as fanfic of badly written tripe (and if 50sog had languished in the annals of internet obscurity as Master of the Universe and not become a multi-million dollar hit, I’d probably never have heard of it--again, the difference in reach between niche fanfic and a mass media sensation), and I hate the way the abusive relationships in both of them are glorified. I think the ‘themes’ Twilight spoonfed preteen girls who ate it up are harmful. I think the racism involved in its depiction of the Quileute tribe was despicable. I think everything 50sog had to say about BDSM and the kink community is horrific, and deserves to be called out.

But you know what else these books did?

They started conversations. Conversations that may not have happened to such a wide degree had these books not become famous. (Not that I’m saying it’d be any great loss if they’d never seen the light of day, but hey, they did, and we have to live with the fallout, so at least something good came out of it.) Conversations that desperately needed to be had--about red flags in abusive relationships, about what is ok and not ok to do or say to your partner, about what consent is and what healthy relationships are, and what a healthy BDSM/kink relationship should look like. (I swear to the gods if any anti kinksters start crawling all over this post, I will eat their toes. Stay out of consenting adults’ bedrooms for the love of all that is fucking holy.) Conversations about safe words and how to use them, and how it is always ok to use them please dear lord do not let things progress past the point of your comfort. Conversations about the real life Quileute tribe who has been trying for years to talk about the realities of tribal life, which were so butchered by Twilight, but that hopefully brought more awareness and helped show what not to do when you’re incorporating a real life culture into your work.

These are important conversations, which may not have been had to the widespread degree that they were and are were it not for the cultural phenomena that sparked them. So no, I don’t think it’s wrong to point out if an author is, for instance, glorifying harmful things in their works--however, I do think that the reach of the work in question matters. If you’re targeting a work with a few thousand hits at most, ask yourself: why? Why this work, and not an actual cultural powerhouse like, say, Game of Thrones, which features such hits as the showrunners openly admitting they waited for a teenage actress to turn 18 so they could film a scene where her character is brutally raped on screen? Why is it so important to draw attention to some niche work of darkfic (especially if it’s properly tagged so that it can be avoided by anyone to whom it would be harmful; and by the way, these tags don’t exist for things like, oh, VC Andrews novels, which any kid can pick up in a library without warning; I think that even a glorified/romanticized rape scene that is tagged as rape on ao3 is less harmful than similar themes occurring without warning in a book I picked up because it had pretty flowers on the cover), when you can easily find the exact same things in published, popular fiction?

Just something to think about, before trying to insist that fanfics that reach an audience of a few thousand at most are anywhere on the level of ‘affecting reality’ the same way that mass media that reaches billions is capable of.

#ao3 #rape mention #darkfic #fiction is not reality #Anonymous #asked

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selfcareparker · 4 years ago

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(lovely anon) ok so this may sound so dramatic but; let me paint you a picture: i’m responding to your latest message, sitting on the edge of the sofa. i type in “lovely anon” into the search and see this longgg post come up and i’m like uhhh... i scroll down and see the people you tagged and literally. when i saw @ lovely anon. i . cried . like full on tears. my brother goes “what are you doing” “she tagged meeeee” and he continued what he was doing and didn’t care LMAOO but i was so emotional? i love and appreciate you too and aAH IM CRYING!! you’re just really sweet and i didn’t expect it at all and it was really lovely to be a part of something :’)

the kermit pic sent meee but yes yes yes!! when you start uni let me know, lol i’m so excited for you!! let me know how it goes cuz i’m literally hype hahah & yes we will be in our sad corners of the world, missing england but you’re right it’ll be sooooo worth it in the end!!! and oH i’m glad you talk to them lol i truly thought you like haven’t seen them/haven’t spoken to them this whole time😭 that would’ve been awful!

also i totallyyy get what your saying about the english speaking thing. and idk why you’re insecure (well i *knowww* bc it’s not your first language and you’re studying it in college so yuh) but your english is great :)))

lol yeah that makes sense.. my mom took french in college and she remembers NOTHING HDJSHSJ (the fact that you wanna learn MORE languages i- ahh i so admire you.. you literally know so many languages🥺) yea i mean you know a bunch of languages bc you know the base of words lol, but i wonder if because you know latin it’ll be easier for you to learn french? oh- oh wait you said it’ll be easier HAHHAHA

THERES SO MUCH EXCITING STUFF TO TALK ABOUT HDGSJSJSL it’s so wild to me that you can’t watch chaos walking :( i’m a professional hacker tho so i’ll try and find a way for you LMAO (by professional hacker i mean i literally have gotten multiple free trials and i’m pretty sure the hulu police are after me bUT ITS THEIR FAULT BC WHY IS IT SO EXPENSIVE???) i mean the movie was good? and cute? and funny? but yea don’t think it’s gonna be the most fantastic thing haha AND THE DOGGO AWWW (i saw it again today- or my today lol, saturday, aND THESE OLD PEOPLE CAME AND SAT IN FRONT OF ME AND MY FRIEND LIKE ITS A LONG STORY LMK IF YOU WANNA HEAR IT)

SHARK FILMS?!?!! PLEASE READING THIS I HAD NO IDEA YOU WOULD LIKE SHARK MOVIES TOO FHSKSHSHDJDJGAJAYSJS ok so i haven’t seen any of the classics (i’m working on it) but i would probably watch jaws to laugh at it? not like that lmao but like comparing it. OKAY BUT HONESTLY I BARELY KNOW ANYONE WHO LIKES SHARK FILMS AHHH OKAY im adding “the shallows” to my watchlist bc it sounds super good AND SAME AHSJD ANY BODY OF WATER IN A MOVIE I JUST KNOW ITS COMING LMAO watch me not go in the water anymore after seeing that picture HHDJSJ

WHEN I READ THIS I JUST GOT DONE TALKING TO MY MOM ABOUT THE MEG AND THAT SCENE WHERE THE SHARKKK JUMPEDDDD AND ATE THE OTHER ONEEEE AND THEN JONAS HAD TO DO- bro i cannot (i think that one is my favorite because i love me a bit of romance and the subtle romance hAD ME) 47 meters down PHEW could you imagine?? i try not to think too hard about it i’m like “don’t be dumb catherine, don’t put yourself in a dumb situation” (not autocorrect having “dumb bitch” ready i am not lying) and i literally understand... there is no other way to explain 47 meters down

i CANNOT watch horror movies, can’t can’t can’t, i literally hate them i cannot do it!!! the thrill is tempting and it’s cool in the moment but i cant lmao. i don’t have nightmares about scary things (for the majority of the time) but going to sleep i’m like oooohhhhhh shit 🥲 literally what you explained

music !!!! music !!!! music !!!! (u ever write a word and now it looks weird lmao) MY BROTHER DOESNT LIKE MUSIC AND ITS SHIT IM LIKE WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU- anyway, my music taste is all over the place i mean......... it’s crazy. earlier today i was listening to meghan trainor’s album “title” oUT OF NOWHERE, but just a few minutes ago i was listening to fall in love with me by earth wind and fire soooo lol .. megan is *chefs kiss*, i’m not familiar with stormzy🙈, harry styles.... IM SORRY IM THAT PERSON but i don’t listen to his solo music EEK i only listen to adore you... and not that frequently... the music video freaked me out... i like niall’s solo music a lot more, which i listen to a lot more. now. one direction. favorite. please & thank you. i have a playlist called “boy bands” and it consists of one direction and the vamps (obsessed with cherry blossom btw) but as you can see my taste is all over the place!! fr fr if i sent you what apple music has as my “favorites” it went from ariana grande to carrie underwood to glee (OBSESSED DONT LET ME TALK ABOUT IT) i mean please if you let me i will nonstop (hamilton HDJSH) talk about music all day😩 & NOOO UR MUSIC IS GREAT HAHSK IM NOT A BIG RAP PERSON BUT DOJA CAT IS MY FAVORITE!!

okay good, i’m glad :) i was just nervous that you did feel that way <3 and GOT IT HAHAJ healthy pressure is always good :’) my friend got me these pens cuz i love stationary and school supplies lol and was like “now you have to write something” soooo yea i feel that! and i saw you posted the ficcccccc literally so proud of you 🥺🥺 i’m trying to decide if i read it tomorrow or tonight..... sleep or a literal beautiful creation made by the sweetest person and is v v nice smut and college!peter and 4.7k...... sleep aint really calling no more.

GIRL ALL OF MY SENTENCES ARE TOO LONG HAHAHAH IN FACT THIS IS TOO LONG SOOO (also why am i 3 days late..😑) anywho it’s 1 in the morning so <33 lovely anon

🥰

oh my god the fact that you cried nearly made me cry too😭😭🥺🥺 (also, your brother LMAO), i wasn‘t even sure if you‘d see it but i immediately thought of you so of COURSE i included you <333

the hulu police lsjsjaiaik, girl i was ready to get a hulu membership when i wanted to watch big time adolescence and i couldn‘t find it anywhereee, and when i got to the payment it said i need a bank account that‘s based in the US or whatever. like bro i was about to pay you!! but i was forced to find it somewhere (and i did, on levidia,— not that i‘ve ever used it because it‘s illegal 😤 i would never!!! i‘d rather support billion dollar companies and spend my money on watching films that i can find for free 🥰🥰🥰 not

i‘ve found chaos walking online so i‘ll watch it som time this week!! also YES TELL ME THE STORY

okay so idk if you watched/are planning on watching falcon and winter soldier but i watched the first episode the other day and they were speaking french (just a few seconds) and I UNDERSTOOD SOME WORDS DLDJDJ and i was so proud of myself. i‘ve only ever learned french with duolingo lol (i only do like 5 mins a day and that‘s why i was so surprised that i understood some of it!!). and yeah apart from latin i feel like italian, german, french and english are all similar in a sense.. i mean obviously they‘re completely different languages but for example there are some grammatical constructions in french that i think i wouldn‘t understand if i only spoke english? so when i translate those things into english you can‘t directly translate them bc you say things differently, but when i translate them into german then it makes more sense to me. idk that‘s something i noticed so i feel like if you already know multiple languages it‘s easier to learn another language compared to if you only know one language and are trying to learn a second one. even if the languages aren‘t similar then i think you get the hang of it easier.

ikd slsjsjs also i don‘t want you to think that i‘m a linguistic genius or anything lmfao, like i‘m only fluent in english and german and i‘m just a wannabe (ew that word) polyglot sksj (yes i had to google polyglot— i do think learning ancient greek would be super cool tho? like imagine studying latin AND ancient greek, whew). and honestly i don‘t think i‘ll ever be fluent in another language bc i don‘t plan on living anywhere other than germany or possibly england and i‘m not dedicated enough to properly learn any other languages esp if i don‘t have anyone to speak the language with. but i still try my best and i just love language/languages as a whole so yeah i‘m happy & just learning as much as i can dkdjh🥰

(I guess language/linguistics are/is my passion (which sounds sooo lame lmaoooo) and the word passion comes from the latin word pati (i think💀) which means to suffer, and in german passion is called Leidenschaft which basically means suffering too, idk why i‘m telling you this maybe you know it already. but ok dumb fun fact, in german you can make compound words with as many words as you like, and the longest official german word is Rindfleischetikettierungsüberwachungsaufgabenübertragungsgesetz which is a law for the monitoring of labels on beef... this is such a dumb fact but i think about that word like once a day idk why dodjsjsj so... 👁👄👁)

but i‘ll stop boring you with my linguistics talk because truly i don‘t know much about languages but i am interested omg i‘m gonna shut up now.

now water + sharks. (so in non-covid times i always go to croatia with my dad during the summer, and even before ever watching a shark film i was always kind of scared in water.. but after watching so many shark films wldjdj HELP Like you know when you go deeper into the ocean and you can‘t see or feel the ground/floor? anymore.. then i just start imagining sharks. like i can‘t help it i just imagine a shark sneaking up on me or feeling something graze my foot ABD I JUST START FREAKING OUT SSKJSHSJ. idk. anyway kdkdh i do love the ocean/swimming though but the older i get the more i realise how fucking scary the ocean is ( even if we’re gonna disregard sharks)

your brother... what‘s wrong with him? HOw CAN YOU NOT LIKE MUSIC LIKE WHAT THE FAWK

OKAY BUT SAME ABOUT THE ADORE YOU MUSIC VIDEO DLDKDJSJSKSLSLKSKSJSHSH and yeah i have to say harry’s style (styles lol) as a solo artist isn‘t reaaally my cup of tea, and i only like the popular songs from his second album and the first album is only good when i‘m in the right mood (haven‘t actually listened to it in a while though, but kiwi is one of my all time favourites along with only angel but i hate the start, like it takes 40 seconds to actually begin properly). i like mgk and because of him i watched the dirt which is a film about motley crue, and now one of my favourite songs ever is same ol situation and i‘m into rock now lol. +++ justin bieber. I had a justin bieber cardboard cutout thingy😭 i was the biggest Belieber on earth when i was 13-16, but i didn‘t like his last album and tbh he‘s become a bit weird lately, BUT OH MY GOD. i Listened to his new album yesterday and i‘m in LOVE with the song hold on

i really like niall‘s music toooo!!!! And doja cat 😌😌😌😌 And THE VAMPS OG MY GOD. i got to see them live bc they were the opening/support act for little mix and ajdsjskslslsjsjsj. (Also i love concerts, some of the best memories of my life are concerts, i‘ve seen nicki minaj live 🥺🥺🥺🥺🥺🥺🥺 and justin twice and my heart fills every time i think about how excited i was, it was my first concert ever (16th of September 2016 😌) and i was the happiest person alive seeing justin drew fucking bieber (even if i‘m not tooo sure about justin nowadays)

i have a confession? Idk what hamilton is. I mean I‘ve heard about it and i keep googling it but i‘ve never watched it (is it even a film???? or like a proper musical? also pls tell me you grew up with high school musical. i have a few friends who didn‘t and it makes me so sad 😭😭😭 hsm is the best thing to happen to my childhood , the sooooongs— i still listen to some of them every week or month lool they make me so happy)

(Okay wait i was about to recommend some stormzy songs but you said you‘re not that into rap so i won‘t dksksjl)

What you said about my fic AHSLSLSJB (i wasn‘t sure if you sent an ask about it earlier? idk that might have been someone else, so if it was (and you‘ve read it already) i hope you liked it sksjsj i was...... unsure about it. and i have this reeaaallly long peter fic that i started writing in december and that‘s the only peter thing i currently want to write but also i can‘t because idk how to continue kddjj.) but I’m definitely getting back into writing i have a few blurbs that i want to write so 🥰🥰🥰

Oh and pls as soon as you read this let me know: violet or yellow? (it‘s just a tiny thing for my new theme slsksj)

#lovely anon #BY THE WAY: do not feel bad or apologise for not answering straight away #you can take your time i know it can be exhausting (not bc its anything bad but just because its so much and so long) to answer to my shit #all at once*#so really i don‘t mind if you take a few days or a week or whatever to respond #or if you want to you can respond bit by bit/topic by topic whenever you feel like it #so you don‘t have to concentrate on an ask and my post for like AN HOUR DLSKJ but rather do it in smaller chunks #if you want <3 #btw i‘m always so scared that i‘ll type lonely anon instead of lovely dldjdjsksk so if i ever do that i‘m just being #(cue your autocorrect dldkdj) a dumb bitch #its 1 am now sorry if there are any mistakes (i‘ll stop apologing from now now lol but i still am sorry you have to read my word vomit lmao)#*apologis #*from now on #omg

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