#i honestly have no idea what i'm doing but i've seen other fandoms do stuff like this and it seems fun

[themthistles]

Have you ever wondered: which Beyond Evil characters are more powerful than others? No?.. Well, if you did, wonder no more because we’re about to answer that question. Democratically. With polls.

That’s right, YOU get to vote and decide who would win in a fight!

Each round will test something different.

ROUND ONE&TWO (RESOURCEFULNESS): characters are armed with whatever they can get their hands on + given time to devise a strategy for how to take opponent down. traps and trickery encouraged, scheming mandatory

ROUND THREE (STRENGTH AND SKILL): characters are armed with one object or weapon of choice. how and what to use is up to them  

SEMI-FINALS (WIT): characters must force their opponent to admit defeat using only words. lying, pleading, insulting, reasoning, blackmail, anything goes

FINALS (WILL): characters are armed with nothing but pure resolve, determination and perhaps some bloodlust 

Here are our WHO WOULD WIN? match-ups:

Notes:

· I’m not including characters who are no longer alive or capable of fighting at the start of the story. So no Yuyeon or Dongsik's mom, sorry.

· The Brawl starts roughly when Juwon arrives in town, so no character development has happened yet and no truths and secrets have been revealed.

· Before voting consider all: strength, intelligence, proficiency with weapons and tools, determination to win at all cost, moral code, what are character's personal feelings towards their opponent, do they have the element of surprise, etc. Are they allowed to kill without consequences, you might ask? Yes. Yes, they are. So consider that too.

REMEMBER! Vote for whoever is likely to win under circumstances, not for your favorite character or against a character you hate

Under cut you will find links to each fight of ROUND ONE once it begins in a bit. I will make separate posts for ROUND TWO, THREE, etc. when it's time and update this post with links to them. I’ll also tag every related post with #bebrawl

ROUND ONE:

KWON HYUK VS DETECTIVE KWAK

IM SEON NYEO VS SECRETARY JANG

HWANG GWANG YOUNG VS KANG JIN MOOK

KANG DO SOO VS OH JI HOON

HAN JU WON VS HAN KI HWAN

ROUND TWO

ROUND THREE

SEMI-FINALS

[cozy-cinnamon-roll]

A Princess' Guide to Interrogating a Radio Demon

Fandom: Hazbin Hotel

Pairing: Ler!Charlie, Lee!Alastor (strictly platonic)

Content/Trigger Warnings: tickling, interrogation (in the most playful sense). If there are any trigger warnings you'd like me to add in the future (and/or to this fic), PLEASE let me know! I am always happy to oblige.

This is a ticklefic! If that's not your cup of tea, kindly move along.

This is my first fic for Hazbin Hotel, so any feedback would be welcomed and deeply appreciated! (also, let me know if you'd like to be tagged in future work - I'm quite sure this'll be FAR from my last fic for this fandom hehe)

Hope you enjoy!

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Ever since he'd discovered glam metal, Angel has been blasting it nonstop from his room.

Unfortunately, his room happens to be directly beneath Alastor's... and the insulation in the hotel's walls leaves an awful lot to be desired. The Radio Demon's eye had been in a constant twitch for three days by the time he'd finally had enough.

"Alastor? Have you seen Angel's speakers?"

--------------------------------------------------------------

When Charlie appears in his doorway, the demon in question is sitting comfortably on his couch, sipping a mug of black coffee and reading a newspaper (though Charlie isn't sure how he acquired it - the local paper has been out of print for weeks).

"No. But I've certainly had the displeasure of hearing them."

"They've gone missing. Do you have any idea where they might be?"

"Far away, I hope."

Charlie rolls her eyes and leaves to go consult the other guests. The deer takes a long draw from his mug.

--------------------------------------------------------------

To Alastor's slight irritation, he only enjoys a few minutes of peace before the princess' voice echoes from the hall again.

"Oooh, Al...." Charlie sings.

"What is it, my dear?" the Radio Demon sings back absently.

"Nifty says she saw you with Angel's speakers yesterday."

"Did she?" He flips a page of his newspaper.

"Look, all I need to know is where you put them."

Long pause. "I haven't the faintest idea what you're talking about."

"Alastor."

"Whaaat?" Though his eyes haven't left the page, his grin has widened slightly. "You think I'm lying?"

"You're always lying. That's your thing."

"...Touché."

Charlie perches on the sofa beside him.

"Are you gonna tell me where it is or not?"

"Fine. I'll be completely honest with you."

She perks up.

"I would honestly die a second death before subjecting myself to one more note of that infernal garbage."

Alastor's eyes flick up from his paper for the briefest of seconds, just to watch the bubbly princess' face fall into a delightfully exasperated scowl.

"You can't steal someone's stuff just because it annoys you!"

"On the contrary. That's exactly what I did."

Charlie narrows her eyes. "Alastor. You tell me where Angel's speakers are or else."

Alastor chuckles in spite of himself - Charlie's attempts to be intimidating never fail to amuse him.

"What's so funny about that?"

"My dear, I say this with the utmost respect and admiration for your many talents: there's a reason I tend to be the one called upon to scare off demonic threats."

Charlie huffs and crosses her arms. "Just because you're creepier and... more sadistic than me, doesn't mean I don't have ways of making you talk."

"Oh?" Alastor arches a skeptical eyebrow at his paper.

"So you better watch your step, Mister."

"Hmm. You make a compelling case." He flips another page. "Maybe I should tell you where Angel's poor excuse for music is."

Charlie brightens. "Really?"

"No."

The princess deflates.

He's right, of course: even if Charlie figures out a way to make herself legitimately threatening to the Radio Demon... he's the fucking Radio Demon. She may be the Princess of Hell, but she doesn't want to have to rebuild the hotel from rubble all over again.

The two sit in impassive silence for a few minutes - Charlie glaring at Alastor, Alastor staring stubbornly at his paper - until she finally stifles a sigh and slouches against the cushions. He's enjoying this, she just knows it. Sitting there with that stupid grin. He's probably been laughing to himself all night, imagining poor Angel waking up and finding his most prized possession missing.

She finds herself wishing she could make the old deer laugh himself sick sometime, just to teach him a lesson.

...Which is a horrible thought! Charlie's eyes widen, her brow furrowing in self-disgust. She could never bring herself to hurt Alastor, even via laughter.

In fact, she quite likes his laugh - it's a little maniacal, sure, and certainly hard to truly enjoy amid the gory contexts that typically trigger it. But if she knew a way to make him laugh at something other than another person's expense, she'd probably do it all the time... it's just that the things that make him laugh also tend to make Charlie nauseous.

Once again, the princess finds herself completely baffled by her own subjects. How one could be so tickled by anything that goes on down here - the pain, the violence, the gore...

Charlie tilts her head. She may have just gotten an idea.

--------------------------------------------------------------

If Alastor had happened to cast a quick glance down the couch, the smile creeping across Charlie's face would've been enough to give him real pause.

But since he is instead stubbornly focused on his paper, he is completely unprepared for the fingers that suddenly begin crawling oh-so-gently up his side.

To her initial disappointment, Charlie finds at least three layers of fabric dampening her touch, and aside from a subtle flinch at first contact, Alastor himself remains perfectly still.

But then a low buzz of radio static swells around them. As she probes up his ribs, she can hear a soft crinkle of paper as his grip tightens.

"Charlie..." His voice is oddly clipped.

"Mm?" Charlie takes one glance at his face, and her smile deepens - even Alastor's signature grin can't mask the effect. He's still technically staring at the paper, but his eyes have gone wide and blank. He opens his mouth to continue just as her fingers reach his armpit - and his jaw quickly clamps shut. It's clearly taking everything in him not to squirm.

"Got something to say, Al?" She starts pinching back down his ribcage.

"Mmph!" The giggles start in his chest, bubbling up and fighting to escape through clenched teeth. Soon his shoulders are shaking with the effort of holding them in.

"...Maybe about the location of a certain object?"

No response. The radio demon just curls forward a little, hiding his face in his paper.

Taking advantage of this new posture, Charlie slips her other arm around behind him, and gives a good pinch to both sides of his slender waist.

The demon straightens right back up with an audible gasp and tiny squeak of surprise (that he quickly tries to cover with a cough).

"Charlie! Are you s-seriously trying to-"

"Are you seriously ticklish?"

"No!"

In response she delivers another series of pinches to the same spot. His posture crumples again, until finally he loses his grip on his paper and twists to face her.

"No?" she giggles. And squeezes him again.

"Stop that!" He fumbles at her fingers, trying to pry them off his sides.

Instead Charlie swaps her hands, wrapping her fingers around his waist with both thumbs resting lightly on his stomach... and begins digging them right under his lower ribs.

That finally does it. He flinches back with a little snort, followed by soft but utterly helpless giggles pressed shyly into his hands.

"Awww!" Charlie coos.

"Keheh- f-fuckin'- heheh! - quiet!" His voice cracks amusingly on the last word.

There are about fifteen different things Charlie is dying to say as Alastor goes to pieces with laughter, but she can't think of anything that wouldn't risk embarrassing the poor guy - and humiliating him is the last thing she wants to do. The fact that Alastor hasn't instantly dissolved into shadows (or cursed her across the room) hasn't been lost on the princess; she is NOT about to jeopardize this moment by making him uncomfortable enough to do so.

That said, she is conducting an interrogation here.

"What was that about not being ticklish?"

His clutching at her wrists becomes more frantic. "Don't-!"

Alastor hyperventilates a couple times, trying to get ahold of himself - but then she continues squeezing down the sides of his belly, and he can only collapse into even worse laughter.

"I think I know just how to get you to talk..."

"Nohoho- ahagh, Charlie! Shihihit!"

Charlie shifts onto her knees for better leverage, gives him a gentle push backward, and pins him (surprisingly easily) against the couch. Her snaggle-toothed grin looms over him...

For a split-second, Alastor gets a flash of what his victims must've seen moments before they debuted on his show.

But he's pretty sure this isn't quite how they felt about it. He's already shaking with anticipatory giggles, grinning back at her wider than ever. And the giddy panic behind his eyes quickly forms an unlikely union with defiance.

"Do your worst, my dear."

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To be continued... pt. II is already in the works, so stay tuned!!

Until next time - hope you enjoyed reading this as much as I enjoyed writing it! 💕

💜 - Cozy

[sizzlingpatrolfox]

I know you've been a fan of Jimin for a while and as someone who only became a fan in 2023 I wanted to ask you a question about this:

https://x.com/moonlightkive/status/1831725500626030765?t=4WIxob-Fc9xmk510LqQbmg&s=19

Even in the short time I've been a fan of Jimin I learned not to always trust what armys say about him. So I'm not sure what information is true and what is exaggerated or even completely made up. I've seen this dieting subject be brought up before when it comes to Jimin and it seems that the general concensus in the fandom is that Jimin struggled with that more than the other member, but is that actually true or is it just another case of armys's double standards when it comes to Jimin? Like, I've seen people mention him doing extremes diets, something about him not eating for 10 days, about him passing out multiple times, starving himself, being concerningly thin back in 2016 or 2017 (I don't remember what year exactly they were talking about and looking at him during time I didn't really notice it myself), and a bunch of other stuff. Is any of that true? What I'm guessing is that probably only some of it is true and possibly exaggerated, but I can't be sure. So that's why I'm asking you, cause I figured you'd at least know more than me. Cause some people seem convinced he had an ED, and I don't know how I feel about people diagnosing him with something serious like that.

Yes, it's 10000% an exaggeration.

Jimin never showed or gave anyone reason to believe that he struggled with an eating disorder. Everrrr. I want to give people the benefit of the doubt and say that maybe Jimin's talked about it the most through the years so everyone has the wrong idea, but I can't even say that. I can't even say that Jimin's talked about skipping meals more than the other memebers, because it's just not true.

The only thing that's happened is army being stupid, honestly. That's really it. Their tunnel vision and their inability to put two facts of someone together and make that someone a complex, real person. They look at Jimin (and all the other members) as if he's a fiction trope. And they keep talking about a nonexistent eating disorder because it fits the trope they've made up of him; frail, skinny, gay, cute, too nice for his own good, defenseless.

Yoongi has legs like toothpicks and he doesn't get eating disorder allegations. Why? Because it doesn't fit the musky-perfumed, whisky lover, smoker, granddad idea of army. I'm pretty sure last year he also said on live something about eating one meal a day.

You can see Jungkook literally binge eating in every BTS content ever filmed. After binge eating he starts talking about how he needs to lose weight and shouldn't eat anymore. Every. Single. Time. Eating disorder allegations? No, because he's got pecs and like two defined abs. Eating disorders go both ways. Binge eating as a habit is ALSO an eating disorder. And for the record, I doubt Jungkook binge eats like that 365 days a year for all meals, but if he did, it would be an eating disorder and army still wouldn't say anything as look as he "looked" healthy.

Some recents comments about food/eating that BTS members have made:

Jimin:

And I'm pretty sure there's one from last year too where he told a fan to not skip meals.

It really is just army's tunnel vision.

They've chosen this career and they've always known what it would entail. Dieting and fasting before schedules is something normal to them. It might not be normal for you, me, or some dumb armys but it is to them the same it's normal for bodybuilders and people like Michael Phelps to eat 12k calories a day -which also isn't normal for like anyone in the planet-.

If dieting is an eating disorder, then I think we should go ahead and say all idols have an eating disorder including the other six members of BTS.

[buddiebeginz]

The bt fandom is absolutely having a melt down of scary proportions

They had and posted a 4 hour Oliver stark Lashing video meeting just absolutely saying the most disgusting and horrible things about him because of last night and for not liking Lou

They are going through all of the pages Ryan follows on Instagram and looking for any post they can say is problematic and saying Ryan personally thinks and believes it and is responsible for them just because he follows the page.

They have been dragging Kenny’s name over some Paris convention that removed Lou’s name from a poll after learning about the issues he’s caused. And dragging Ryan into it even though the entire convention had nothing to do with 911. It was about swat.

I wouldn’t be surprised if Aisha is their next target at this rate.

I wish I could say I'm surprised by any of this but I'm not. I honestly think it's going to get worse with some of them once they realize B/T isn't going to be the big endgame ship they thought it was and even more so when they realize Buddie is happening.

I really think our fandom needs to try our best to distance ourselves from them. I'm talking about the more fanatical abusive people in their fandom. We really need to stop engaging with them. It just makes our fandom look bad and they're not worth the effort. They want to be pissed off because they saw Buck kiss a guy twice and think that meant they were soulmates let them but don't fall for the bait when they say something offensive online. I've been really guilty of that myself even making posts with their content trying to show how bad they've been but it's only been giving them attention so I'm trying to refocus on what matters.

I genuinely feel like this is going to be the season Buddie goes canon. I mean I don't know for certain 100% (I don't work for the show) but everything seems to be lining up that way. It's a really exciting time for our fandom and our ship and the show and we all should be focused on that and not some ship that won't even matter all that much soon.

---

Oh also about Ryan.

Putting this under the cut cause it got long.

The B*mmy's can say whatever the want about him but what happened was his ex fiance used the n word in some old tweets. When they were brought up and she was called out (after Ryan was on 911) he tried to defend her. But later issued multiple apologies :

At the time Oliver and Aisha were clearly upset about this because both of them put out tweets and there's other stuff that was going on behind the scenes to indicate Ryan had a falling out with them. But he's clearly worked to repair the damage because since then he's been a guest at Aisha's wedding and has spent a lot of time with the cast outside of work.

As for him being anti-vaxx or Republican, as those are other things the B*mmy's try to claim about him, I'm not even sure where they get some of that from. I think one of it was because he shared something about Covid from Joe Rogan (during Covid) but a lot of people were scared and confused during that time and there was tons of misinformation going around. The idea that celebrities are immune to that just because they're rich and famous is just ignorant. Also show me where he's shared other vaccine and or health related misinformation because sharing one thing during a really confusing time doesn't make him an antivaxxer.

Also during Covid no one could film on the show without getting vaccinated (this is why Rockmond Dunbar was fired he refused). And since Ryan was a big part of s3 and s4 he clearly was vaccinated. If Ryan was as staunchly antivaxx as B*mmy's make him out to be he would have left the show before getting vaccinated. He's a more well known actor than Rockmond he could have found work elsewhere.

They try to use accounts he's following on insta as proof he's far right but I haven't seen any that are blatantly far right. We also don't know when he started following these accounts or who followed them. His ex could have used his account to follow people when they were still together. I'm also following a ton of accounts on my insta that I don't even remember or interact with anymore this could be the case for Ryan since to my knowledge they haven't found likes by him just that he's following.

One of the accounts in particular they're using as a gotcha for Ryan is this one:

Ryan is following them but I haven't seen any posts of theirs he's liked. It looks like an account about home schooling and living off the land but they do have at least one transphobic post I've seen (about pronouns). Here's the thing though immediately when you look at the front page of their account they aren't marketing themselves as anti lgbtq. Ryan is not responsible for what they're posting. And given all of their other content he likely started following them for one reason and didn't know about their more transphobic views. It's also unrealistic to assume that a busy actor is on social media 24/7 monitoring every single thing that the accounts they follow are posting. If that was an obvious alt-right anti trans account I could understand but it's just not the gotcha B*mmy's are trying to make it out to be.

I'm not excusing that account or their transphobia btw. And I don't think anyone should be following them just that there is nuance to a conversation like this. B/T stans try to say Ryan following this account is the same as Lou having posted an obvious racist post about Nicki Minaj's skin color is the same thing. It's not.

It's pretty hypocritical of them to say we should excuse Lou's old insta posts but yet we're going to hate on Ryan for accounts he's following but isn't even interacting with.

And again I don't know where B/T stans are getting that Ryan is a Republican. He's repeatedly posted anti Trump stuff:

This is from 2016 ☝️and it's because Trump has repeatedly talked about deporting Mexican people.

And like everyone has the right to see feel however they want about what Ryan said in the past (especially bipoc people). But knowing that Ryan is no longer with his ex who I think wasn't the best influence in his life. Seeing him take accountability for what he said and did. Seeing the cast forgive him. That's all enough for me to continue to be a fan of his.

B*mmy stans don't have to like him but they don't get to keep attacking him for stuff he's done in the past. Lou on the other hand has never apologized for his insta stuff even when called out about them. You'll also never get me to believe he was hacked when he responded with that spitting on blind children thing on twitter. Plus him minimizing T*mmy's racism and homophobia down to teasing.

If Ryan was still doing messed up stuff I'd call him out too and expect others to do the same. The problem with B/T stans is no matter what Lou does they'll defend him. It's part of why they attack Ryan. They want to get the attention off of Lou. But they can't sit there and say how dare you defend a racist and then defend every single thing Lou did even just this year.

Sorry this got so long anon. I've just been seeing people (one account in particular) attacking Ryan on twitter recently and I'm so over it. If you made it down this far I love you forever. ❤️

[gilbirda]

what are your thoughts on watcher’s new announcement?

So.

I've been watching the Boys since they started back in 2016 (i think around that era), and honestly I'm very conflicted about the decision. I've read so much stuff in favor and against the announcement and I don't know if my answer will satisfy you.

I have managed a community and I have the blessing and curse of being somewhat of a Name, experiencing the ordeal of being Known, and I can tell you that 1)you can never please everyone 2)people will always rush to crush you the second you do something they don't agree with 3)people will always twist everything you do with the worst faith in mind and 4)fandom forget very quickly that at the end of the day you are just human.

I think they made a calculated risk based on a purely economical viewpoint. I think they considered their loyal fanbase and how willing people have been so far with spending extra cash to support them — The live shows, the exclusive streams (like the Valentine's Too Many Spirits) and Patreon. How much of their fanbase was the "broke students" tumblr claim they are and how much was people with spending money willing to pay extra for them.

I also think that the decision seem stupid if you look at it from the perspective of "why the hell would I pay $6 to watch such little variety of content?" and that's a Correct Assumption, but Observe — they have been very slowly pulling everyone that made Buzzfeed famous and enrolling them in. Very recently they gathered the Worth It boys, the second show that kind of carried Buzzfeed back in the day (apart from the Try Guys). I think they can't talk about it right now, but the goal is to relaunch Buzzfeed but without ads and without making it the soulless content machine it became. I think their dream and goal has always been making what Buzzfeed could have been with better management, kind of like "If I was the Management in this company, things would have been better" dream fulfillment. That's why they made the direct jump to a streaming service instead of the logical steps of Patreon-exclusive content or even jumping to Nebula like other youtubers. It was never meant to stay one single channel, it was supposed to be bigger.

Is the projection of making a "better Buzzfeed" worth risking this step? Time will tell. I don't know. I personally never cared about anyone except Buzzfeed Unsolved. I still watch Unsolved on repeat. Is my comfort show. Maybe they are overestimating how much people care about other shows not hosted by them.

Although they did hint that "we want shows not hosted by us". This tells me that they are settling down, they want to ramp down a little bit, do the hook with Ghost Files aka Unsolved Supernatural Lite for the streaming service, and once people are hooked, launch more shows by the old-school Buzzfeed people. Won't be as big as a show hosted by Shane and Ryan, but it will still make people feel like they are getting their money's worth.

I would forgive all of this if only they didn't use the excuse of "if we want to do Netflix-level productions we need money". I'm sorry but that means nothing to me. We loved them when it was a powerpoint slide show with 2 idiots in a set. We didn't fall in love with the toys or the trips or the high tech. We didn't fall in love with the fancy animations at the beginning of Ghost Files episodes that they are so proud of. That was all their idea.

I've seen this trend of content creators ramping up their creations to an unsustainable point, completely crash and burn and then having to apologize about having to step back. Then making it the moral trap of an argument that they have been doing their best to bring quality content to their audience, and of course making it impossible to argue against. If you speak up and say "well we never asked you to break your back" then you are ungrateful audience. That's exactly what's going on in here with the Watcher announcement — "true fans" criticizing people who point out the fact that they created this money problem on their own. Is not the fanbase responsibility to cater to a company's bad money decisions. Is not our fault that they decide to scale up their operation to a point they "haven't been making a profit for 2 years". It's unfair that the fans are at each other's throats for daring stepping back and saying "I don't want to be part of this".

I don't think Watcher Entertainment is actively wanting to collapse their fandom like this. I don't think this was a calculated move. But I do think that they are a group of adults trying to make a career of something they enjoy doing. I think they made this move with the perspective that fandom is not end all and they can always rebuild it.

— And that they are planning on making a machine that can work without them, and that requires breaking something in the fans, it requires kicking themselves out of the pedestal fans have put them on. They know they won't be allowed to have a normal life until people stop looking at them waiting for them to say their phrase.

In conclusion I think they made a choice that made sense if they are planning on separating Watcher Entertainment from "The Ghoul Boys" fame, and it makes sense if they are aiming at something bigger than what they've been doing now. Money of course is the goal and the reason presented, but there's a lot that they are not saying and we will not know until it happens.

Until then, it does feel like they have just shot their careers in the foot.

Also I'm salty that I can't join the service because I'm outside the US.

[klbwriting]

Surface Tension

Chapter 4: Like Real People Do

Fandom: Aquaman

Pairing: Ormxfemale!Reader

Warnings: none this chapter, next one will have some, this is more fluff

Summary: Y/N introduces Orm to her friends and they take a next step

Notes: more good stuff! comments/critiques are appreciated! Song is 'Like Real People Do' by Hozier

Taglist: @gabrieleskywalker @philiasoul

"You are so into this guy!" Aria laughed as she sat at her kitchen table with Y/N the day after Halloween. "What is his name again?" She was multitasking, feeding her infant. Y/N hadn't said his name, knowing that if she did Aria would know who it was. Orm wasn't exactly a common surface dweller name and Aria still had contacts in Atlantis, she had just been telling Y/N that the previous king Orm had escaped his prison cell and was presumed dead in some attempt to retrieve the Black Trident from the Lost Kingdom. Although, according to Aria, that sounded ridiculous, Orm was in hiding somewhere. And Y/N had paled a little, thinking about how he was in hiding, right next door to her.

"His name is Oren," she said, thinking as fast as she could. It could work, not like Aria was going to meet him any time soon if Y/N could help it. "He's from somewhere in Europe."

"Tell me more about him, I've heard he's hot, and that's he's funny, what else does he have going for him?" she pressed and Y/N regretted bringing him up. She hadn't meant to tell Aria, but she was her best friend and just like most best friends, she knew when Y/N was infatuated with someone and Y/N was bad at keeping secrets from her.

"Well, funny thing, you know who he reminds me of?" she said, figuring if she told her he reminded her of Orm maybe if they did stumble across each other it would set up the idea in her mind that he was some kind of surface dwelling doppelganger. Aria nodded for her to keep going as she spooned more baby food into her daughter's mouth. "King Orm actually, he's got the same exact kind of royal way about him. He also is blonde, sometimes things he's the greatest thing to happen in the world, and he's charming as hell." She had rambled a little more than she meant to and didn't realize Aria was now staring at her.

"If he's anything like that prick Orm you should leave him be, that asshole was a genocidal maniac who didn't care about anyone but himself and that stupid crown," Aria said, voice dripping with venom. Y/N bit her lip.

"I said he's like Orm, but he's also so kind and I can't imagine him being a genocidal maniac or not caring about others. He's been nothing but sweet to me and anyone I've seen him with. You should have seen him with his nephew yesterday, that man is nothing like Orm was," she said. Aria narrowed her eyes, assessing her friend for a minute before finally nodding and offering a small smile.

"Well, I hope he comes to your birthday party tomorrow, Dean would love to meet him," she said, looking a little guilty now. YN's eyes widened. Her party, at her house, that Orm would definitely notice, and be really hurt if she didn't tell him he could come. Aria was supposed to be there, but she had said only Dean, her husband, would meet him.

"Why is only Dean coming?" she asked. Aria sighed.

"The hospital had another flu breakout among the nursing staff, I've been called in for 3 12's," she said. "I'm sorry, I promise we got you an amazing present! And once I'm done with these horrendous shifts I will take you out for a proper fun time." Y/N nodded, putting on an upset face, but inside she was doing a cartwheel. If Aria wasn't there and Dean talked to Orm, then he could report back to Aria instead of her seeing him for herself. Dean had no idea who Orm was, he was a surface dweller who barely understood anything about Atlantis and honestly, didn't care to know once he heard how horrible they were to the lower city. She knew sooner or later Aria would meet Orm but she could warn her first, actually talk to her about him and tell the truth before then.

The day of her party, after getting the supplies and starting to make some of the food she had planned she walked to Orm's door, knocking on the wall as she went. She frowned when didn't answer so she went to the back porch and towards the water. He was swimming again, just a few hundred feet out and back. She took a deep breath, walking slowly down to the beach. She could stay on the shore, it was too cold for a human to be swimming, he would make the excuse he always did, he was used to these temperatures, family of swimmers, blah blah blah, a human would have been still suspicious, but she would pretend what he said made sense. She got to where the rocks started and stopped.

"Orm!" she yelled, hoping he heard her over the wind. He didn't seem to so she took a couple steps forward, heart starting to pound as she pictured a drop of water getting onto her shoes and somehow sending word to her mother that she was near the water, ready for capture. She knew how crazy that was but the fear in her mind didn't care. "ORM!" she yelled, this time louder, and with a little more panic in her voice. She took a deep breath, trying to calm down. She saw him freeze, looking at her. She wasn't sure what he saw but he swam, faster than any person would be able to, back to the shore, running over to her.

"Y/N, are you alright?" he asked. Orm had heard her voice, hearing thinly veiled terror in her tone. Then he saw the look on her face from the water, she looked pale, like she was going to pass out. He knew he had swam too fast, but he was worried about her, had to get to her as fast as he could.

"I'm alright, just scared of the water," she said, but he felt that was a lie. Why did she lie about the ocean? He couldn't understand it, but he would accept it. "Are you finished? I wanted to ask you something?" He nodded and she forced a smile. He took her arm gently and started to lead her back towards the house, seeing the worry melt away the further they moved from the sea.

"What's going on?" he asked once they were safely back on their porch.

"Well, um, I'm having a party tonight, its my birthday party and I wanted you to come. Its nothing big, just a few friends. We'll mostly eat, play some board games, nothing crazy," she said. Orm stared. The last birthday party he had been to was his 18th and that had ended terribly, he hoped all birthday parties weren't so bad. He swallowed the memories of that night down and nodded.

"Ya, I'll come, what time?" he asked. He had to know how much time he had to find her a present, if he knew one thing about birthdays here it was that gifts were required.

"At 8, and no gifts required, we're all saving for our own lives, so no one ever brings any," she said. He frowned, not liking that. She deserved a gift for just existing and making his world infinitely better over the last 4 months. He nodded anyway and smiled.

"I will see you at 8 then, now I'm going to shower, its freezing out here," he said, realizing he should have been shivering. Y/N just nodded, a knowing look in her eye that he could never place and headed inside.

Orm did in fact shower, go out to a small boutique in the town, and get ready all within the time frame and was knocking on her wall at 8 before heading to her door. It was thrown open by a strange man before Y/N pushed him out of the way to greet Orm. She came onto the porch, closing the door behind her, but he Orm noticed several faces peering out the front window.

"Alright, this is a little out of control, but um, I have never invited anyone outside of this little friend group to a party before," she said. Orm didn't hear her at first, staring instead at how beautiful she looked. She had dressed up in a green dress with blue pearl accents around the neckline, her hair was down and longer than he realized, and her face was made up in soft golds to bring out her eyes but not hide her freckles. She looked more amazing than any woman on land or in the sea. He shook himself and blushed a little. "They think we're dating but you know, I've been trying to tell them we're friends, but they, they don't believe me." She was blushing also, glancing from him to her friends and trying to wave them away from the window.

"It's...its fine, hopefully they like me," he said. They were friends, but were they? He knew he didn't feel like she was just his friend, he was starting to feel like she was more than that, more than everything to him. She nodded and then noticed the small bag in his hand. She took it gently as they walked inside.

"I said no gifts to him, I promise," she said, setting the bag down on a side table, out of the way and safe from the festivities. Her friends just smiled, all looking like they were anticipating something. Orm now understood the scrutiny he normally placed on others. They were watching his every move, trying to read how he felt about Y/N.

"Hi, I'm, I'm Orm," he said, unsure what else to do, he looked to his neighbor and she seemed to be coming out of a trance.

"Ya, um Orm, this is Vincent, his husband James, Amanda, her husband Nick, Colleen, her fiance Erin, and this is Dean, he is my friend Aria's husband. She's a nurse and couldn't be here tonight," she explained, going down the line. He noticed that her voice hitched a little when she spoke and Dean and Aria and Orm knew those were the ones he was trying to make a good impression on. The others all came over, introducing themselves and talking at once at him. He felt relief wash over him when Y/N suggested they play a board game, something called Horrified, and they seemed to lose interest in Orm.

The party was great, food amazing, music soft but still fun and celebratory. Y/N kept asking people to dance with her but no one did and Orm can see it was bothering her. He would have if Dean hadn't cornered him a little, asking him questions about himself and then dropping a bomb on him.

"Aria thinks you and Y/N should be together," he said. Orm looked at him surprised. "O come on, you are all Y/N talks about anymore and you haven't taken your eyes off her all night, you two should just kiss and get it over with." In that instant Dean reminded Orm a great deal of Arthur and he thought he much he wanted to talk to his brother. He never thought he would be wishing for Arthur's perspective on something but now he craved it. Arthur had dealt with all this before, the feelings, the desires, Orm hadn't really dated anyone ever. Mera was supposed to marry him, so he may have found someone to warm his bed from time to time he never had actually felt like this for anyone. He wanted to hear Y/N tell him her secrets, he wanted to taste her skin and her lips, he wanted to hear her laugh, wanted to feel her body against his, he wanted everything with this person. He didn't know how to react to that.

"Ya, well maybe," was all he could offer Dean, but the other man just smirked some and nodded, before saying goodbye to Y/N and heading out for the night. It was getting late and her friends were all starting to leave. Orm hovered in the background, getting glasses and dishes to clean up and find some time to be alone with Y/N. She got the last guest out of the door and turned to face him.

"Hi," she said softly, noticing he was still there. He set down to dishes he was carrying to walked over to the side table, getting the present.

"Would you like to open it?" he asked. She blushed and took the bag. She opened it slowly, inside was a necklace with a silver chain and a single pearl. She stared for a moment, mouth open a little.

"Orm, this beautiful, its too much, but thank you," she said. He smiled and offered his hands. She handed him the box and he took out the necklace as she moved her hair. He gently put it on her, fingers thrilling at the touch of her skin. He was tempted right then to kiss her before stopped himself. He wanted to know that she wanted to kiss him back, wanted to see it in her eyes first. He heard a song playing, soft and perfect for a dance.

"You said you wanted to dance, well, shall we?" he asked. He had never danced before on the surface but he had seen a couple movies, he knew the idea and he wanted to see her smile. She nodded, taking his hand and pulling him to the center of her living room. She put one of his hands her her waist, hers on his shoulder and she held the other. They started the song a foot from each other but as it progressed they moved closer until they were nearly nose to nose, whispering to each other about the party, about anything really.

She could hear the songs words and now was glancing from Orm's blue eyes to his lips. She noticed him doing the same and despite knowing that this would open her up more, would make her vulnerable, more than she had let herself be with anyone since she ran away from Atlantis, she nodded at him. He didn't need any other signs, leaning in and taking her lips with his. They had stopped dancing, now just in an embrace. Her hands went into his hair, his to her hips, pulling her even closer to him as his tongue pressed against her lips. She welcomed it, meeting him as they deepened the kiss. When they parted she took a deep breath.

I will not ask you where you came from

I will not ask and neither should you

Honey, just put your sweet lips on my lips

We should just kiss like real do

"Would you like to stay the night?" she asked. He nodded and she led him upstairs.

[outrunningthedark]

The way I read your post, guessed people were claiming the RG bts stuff was because Buddie is going canon, went looking and yup. That's the current theory lol.

TBH, I wasn't planning on being serious about this ask, but it's motivating me to get something off my chest. (Nothing to do with anon, just a general overview of where things stand.) I'm about to say something that might come off as (unintentionally) mean? (I cannot control how anyone will interpret this), but I also don't know how else to describe what I've been feeling. I know that recently we (collectively) discussed sunk cost fallacy as a big reason for why people cannot let the idea of Canon Buddie become go, but to me...it's become deeper than that for some, and it's honestly...alarming. You know how it's common for people to use social media sites as an "escape" from real life/the real world? Yeah. I think we've reached that stage with a fictional ship. Some (not all!) fans are, IMO, using Buddie as an "escape" from whatever's going on in their lives outside the internet. (Real life putting your mental health in the gutter? Just ignore all of that and focus on the happy stuff instead. In this case, Buddie.) Their happiness has become dependent on being right about a ship going canon. So they can have this one good thing. And while I can sympathize with the motivation behind certain actions (look at me with WWE and other sports - sports make me happy), I worry about those who don't want to face the fact that the joy over Buddie (possibly) going canon will be short-lived in the long run when real life doesn't get better as a direct result of what happens in fiction. There's also the flip side of the coin, the darker side. If someone's happiness is dependent on Buddie ending up together in canon, what's going to happen if/when they never get together at all? How will fans cope? (I think we've already seen some of the above, though. The longer it takes Buddie to go canon the more people we find are on "hiatus" from the fandom or have deactivated their accounts entirely and gone MIA. They don't know how to find joy in the show or the fandom experience unless they're getting exactly what they want.)

[somegrumpynerd]

walks in with hands behind back YOU, YOU YOU YOU, you, sir, are one of the most creative heckin' people I've ever seen in my life, and i know a lot of people eueue like oh my god, every idea you pop out has my attention absolutely HOOKED, I am INVESTED, my ears are open and my eyes are listening, i'm over here eating the crumbs of your art and ideas like a lil goose rat thingy your art style is literally therapy in lines, like it's so unique, adorable, wholesome and yet just so fucking awesome, it reminds me of like, a really comfortable cabin in the middle of spring every time i see one of your posts i'm like, waddling over like a penguin to see what blessing awaits my eyes and head you inspire me to mars and back like AAAA you're a really heckin awesome person and i love your art and ideas so so so much SO UH, THANK YOU FOR BEING YOU EUUEUE

*runs out but faceplants at the door of the askbox*

UM HELLO POLICE SOMEBODY'S BEING NICE TO ME EVEN THO THAT'S ILLEGAL????

Akhdkjvdkvsh this is the longest sweetest message I'm going to explode into butterflies thank you!!! ;-; I'm honestly really really glad people like my silly ideas and doodles for these guys, it feels like it's been a long time since I've been so excited to make stuff for a fandom and I'm so thankful for it. Thank you guys for being so cool and sweet and giving me a place to make things and the motivation for it too <3

And you!!!!!!! (Pulls out an uno reverse card dramatically, drops it, fumbles around, when I stand back up I'm holding a yugioh card by mistake) YOU have such cool art!!! Your one from the other day about Killer and Nightmare giving him a chance to start a new life is so beautiful I swear it belongs in a museum. I love the way you draw Killer too, it's something about the expressions you give him and the way you draw the smudges from his eyes it's just, like I want to reach into my computer and touch your art! Also I went to your art tag to double check and I didn't realise you did the cosplay of Dust where you drew the eyes over it, I love that!!! I've never seen somebody do cosplay with drawing over it but it's so cool, especially with the kinda cartoony eyes you give Dust, it's such a cool idea! ^^

[stoopid-turtle]

On the Acceptance of Unsteady Ground

Throughout this whole dive into turtle world, I've been very conscious of just how LITTLE access to information I have. I'm relying so heavily on English translations and platforms, and most of these are from turtles, so I'm fully aware I'm getting a biased perspective.

I've tried to read stuff from solos or even just neutral third-parties. The neutral parties don't have much depth of information, though, and I found solos heavy on accusations and declarations but light on actual...evidence. And they sometimes use some really nasty rhetoric against the idea that gg and dd might be gay.

Don't get me wrong, turtles get weird too. There's plenty of clearly false rumors, deceptively edited videos, silly stretches of logic, weird ideas of what how people in a relationship would act, etc. But there's at least enough English-speaking turtles that I can find some who are giving open and, as far as I can tell, accurate information (honestly, I find tumblr turtledom better at that then other platforms). I haven't really found a similar pocket of solo fans.

I'm also aware that there's always going to be a limit on how much I can know. I don't speak the language, so I'm always relying on translators. I have limited access to Weibo (even putting aside the language barrier, I'm in text confirmation limbo in actually getting an account), and I have little familiarity with the culture. I don't get a lot of the jokes or references, and stuff may strike me, an English-speaking American, differently than it would someone in China.

Add on top of that the fact that I'm trying to find out purposely obscured information about two celebrities, and, yeah, I'm fully aware that I'm on unsteady ground here. I can do my best, but I'm never going to know anything for certain.

But I've become okay with that.

It took a while. The dissatisfaction with the unknown (and unknowable) is what drove a lot of my early fixation and subsequent fall into the turtle pit. But now, especially after laying out my thoughts, I've reached a zen place with it. I'm 100% certain ggdd were together during filming/promo, and I'm 95% certain they're still together (I had this at 85% originally, but then the whole dd being sick and gg changing his schedule thing happened and I'm just...welp, guess I'm in this confidence interval, then).

Just having that certainty means I can enjoy updates from them without anguishing about "proof" or uncertainty. Oh, gg took the day off on dd's birthday? That's really sweet! I'm not gonna fuss about if it's coincidence ENOUGH to convince me, because I'm already convinced. It's a good place to be.

I typically don't care about celebrities. In fact, I've long been bewildered by celebrity culture here in the US, and I've often been actively annoyed when people assume/expect me to have opinions on things celebrities do. I'm the nerd who doesn't get why the actors get all the attention when the writer or director would be much more interesting.

So the fact that I've gone all fangirlish over two celebrities is bizarre to me, and I appreciate the irony. Well done, me. I attribute some of it to just being able to watch the bts and see their early interactions play out like a story. I find stories compelling, and both gg and dd are charismatic, attractive and have great chemistry. Whatever disdain I have for celebs, I do love a romance.

In my foray into the ggdd world, though, I've also had to learn more about c-ent, and y'all. It's nuts. Like, US entertainment is nuts too, but c-ent ratchets it up to 11. I've been in fandom a long time, and I thought I'd seen some weird stuff, but it's got nothing on c-ent. Just wrapping my head around the culture these guys are in took a lot of learning.

But I appreciate being able to dive into this culture and this country, because I knew very little about China beyond the antagonistic politics. It's been refreshing to get a view on life on the ground in China to humanize the folks there and get a clearer picture of the country.

I started this thing bc I had been spending so much time on Youtube watching clips, and I had thoughts and opinions and nowhere to put them. I already had a tumblr that I use to lurk on some fandoms and I had started following turtles too. I figured tumblr would be a decent place to splurge out my thoughts, so I set up a throwaway account to do so.

I get the vibe that a lot of new turtles come to bjyx through the same route I took? They watch The Untamed on Netflix. They get curious about the show and start watching some clips on YT. Next thing you know, they have 3 playlists full of purported "proof of love" and they need a whiteboard to connect everything together and their wife thinks they've gone completely bonkers supports them in all their oddities.

Like, I was really confused by turtles at first. I was just trying to watch bts videos on YouTube and I didn't know what bjyx meant, but the videos with the label were weird and had strange disclaimers that they were "only for turtles" and I had no clue what that even meant.

My confusion continued as I tried to read more. The fake story disclaimer convention is hella confusing as an outsider, and my first impression was that turtles were kinda crazy. The videos I saw gave overviews of candies without context, and some of them explicitly said they were proof of Yizhan love while still having that fake story disclaimer. Basically, it was a big confusing environment, and it's why I resisted buying into bjyx so hard for so long. It all seemed delulu.

But in reading more, I guess part of that is the point? Recognizing that gg and dd are in a vulnerable position should their relationship ever come out, having so much noise to muddy the waters makes a twisted, clownish sense. I don't know who came up with that convention or if it just kinda happened (is it a normal thing in c-ent? I don't know enough about celebrity fandoms), but hats off, I guess.

With the supertopic recently hitting 4 million active fans, there's something heartening about such a depth of support for the guys. I'm not naive enough to think all 4 million (plus international fans) are allies to LGBT folk in general, but it surely means something to ggdd to have that sort of support for their relationship. Honestly, it means something to me, as a random gay chick on the other side of the world, to see a gay couple get that kinda of support behind them.

I started watching the bts because I was afraid there'd be a lot of cynical homophobia on the set or some evidence of all the male cast being icked out by the whole thing. Instead, I got gg, who was so passionate about WWX being gay. I love that everybody knew they were telling a love story with as explicitly as they could get away with. I love that the guys wanted more Wangxian scenes and that the cast and crew made "everyday is everyday" jokes in a non-mocking way. I'm glad that the whole shoot seemed like such a positive environment for the cast and crew to being themselves and tell a type of story that they may not be able to be involved with ever again.

So, yes, this is my zen turtle place. When I set up a soapbox for myself, I didn't think too much about the fact that people would respond, but I'm so grateful to have had a chance to talk to some other turtles! Everybody is lovely and thank you for sharing my enthusiasm.

Like I said in the beginning, I don't have the time to keep super-active in the long-term. I had intended to write up my thoughts and poof away. But I do also plan to keep up with gg and dd and turtles, so instead I'm just gonna leave off with the potential for further posts down the line.

I'm not gonna be incredibly active, so please don't expect frequent updates or interactions from me. But if I have more Yizhan thoughts I'll pop up again with a post (I mean, I do have lots more thoughts, but nothing energizing enough to write about), or I'll leave a comment somewhere if I have something I simply must say. I'm also open to responding to asks about the timeline or anything else. And if I ever do stumble across anything groundbreaking with regards to the timeline, I'll probably add that in, because I'm particular about things being complete.

So thanks for being so welcoming! It's been a joy to clown around and make up completely fictional stories with everybody here. 🤡🐢🙇🏼

[blakenation1]

Introduction Post

Hello, I've seen a lot of active tumblr folks make these things so I am too! Keep reading under the cut.

Name: Blake

Gender: male 🏳️‍⚧️

I don’t label my sexuality? Sexuality labels are not for me 👍🏻

he/him pronouns!!! please!!!

INFJ

Sagittarius

Unfortunately American

I’m 18!! If you’re under 15 I don’t mind if you follow but I probably won’t interact with you a ton

Also if you’re under 15, please don’t interact with me privately 🙏

Current fixation: Dead Boy Detectives/Dead Poets Society

random fandom thoughts (that rhymed haha)

reblogging

me yapping about whatever my current fixation is

I do not shut up about what my current fixation is...

and uhhhh just me hanging out and talking with people who are also obsessed with the things I'm obsessed with?

maybe some poetry and other creations?

mainly fandom thoughts. random fandom thought. say that three times fast.

Fandoms: Dead Poets Society, Dead Boy Detectives, Good Omens, Stranger Things, Percy Jackson, Adventure Time, Welcome Home (by partycoffin), Umbrella Academy (or anything Robert Sheehan), Misfits, anything Super Mario Bros, Studio Ghibli, Over the Garden Wall, Haikyuu, FNAF, Heartstopper, Sports Night, RWRB, and honestly a lot of others I can’t think of right now.

Music I like: too much. Literally can get behind almost anything. ALMOST anything. Not everything. I love jazz, classical, indie, folk, rock. I love Papooz, berlioz, Beyoncé, Queen, Fleetwood Mac, Henry Mancini, Piero Piccioni, Jamiroquai, Alex G (🏳️‍⚧️), TV Girl, and SO much more. Please talk to me about my favorite music and fandoms I will talk nonstop.

My favorite animals are sharks, I will also talk about them nonstop. 🦈

Reading and writing are also hobbies of mine

Please send me scenarios to write or something I think they're so fun 🙏🏻

SEND ME HCS TO WRITE I WILL DO (almost) ANYTHING

I sew a lot, I like turning my clothes into random stuff or something new

Or making clothes

I love art, literally any kind of art.

Oh! and I'm pagan, I currently worship Apollo, Aphrodite, Artemis, and Athena. I also practice witchcraft so that's a lot of fun. If you’re also pagan we should so totally talk!!

If you wanna follow me on other stuff (insta, tiktok, letterboxd, Twitter, WHATEVER!) My user is also blakenation1 on most things :)

Fair warning though I never get on Twitter so 😭

DONT BE SHY TO TALK TO ME IF WE HAVE STUFF IN COMMON!!! I’m so nice and friendly and awkward and cool.

Here’s a little picrew of me so you can kind of put a face with a name?? And get a rough idea of what I look like? LMAO!!

[thedragonagebigbang]

Bang Creator Interview: Tumblr: @blarrghe  |  [AO3: blarghe

The Collaboration period has begun! In these quiet months before works are due, we want to foster a sense of excitement, camaraderie, and celebration among our participants. To that end, all participants were given the option of a formal interview by our mod, Dema, or an informal “ask-game” survey. We hope you enjoy getting to know our phenomenal creators as much as we have!

Tortured Man More Tortured by Having To Endure the Best Week of His Life

Blarghe and Dema talk art imitating life writing, romantic foils, and the Platonic Ideal Dorianmance 

Dema: I'd love to begin in OC land with you. As someone who is both an artist and a writer, do you find that making art of your OCs informs your process? Or are those pretty separate for you?

Blarghe: Hmm. That's a good question.

Dema: Why, thank you!

Blarghe: My feeling has always been that I'm a better writer than I am an artist, so maybe the writing informs the art, more. I am always getting very visual ideas, like maybe some comic-panel type storyboards in the brain, and I can't really illustrate that to the degree that I want, so it can be like it is in my head. But I can more easily make words do that.

I'd very much like to do some illustrations for my own stuff, and I love drawing my OC and some things have helped in the other way, like designing his vallaslin on paper did give me something better to describe from in writing. I'd really love to reach the point of being able to do a few comics. There are a few scenes I really see that way. I try to be quite visual in my writing in the meantime I guess, haha.

Dema: That makes sense! I have the same dream. Comics are very intimidating. So it sounds like you write your OCs before you draw them?

Blarghe: Yeah, generally. I think since we're going from a video game and I already have seen the characters that way, there's that. Though I have OCs I have not made in the character creator. I haven't invented a ton of non-canon side characters but there are a few. I think I can picture them pretty well. I wind up drawing them after falling in love with them through writing them, rather than like, designing a character visually/on paper/in the cc before putting them in a story. Honestly, I put down DA:I for a looong time while still writing da:i-inspired fic with my OC and other canon characters. So I guess I don't have to look at him that often.

Dema: I have asked several of our writers if they make all their OCs in the CC, and if that's step 1. I'm curious, too, at what point you knew you were going to make fan content of your OC and participate in fandom. Did you finish the game first? Did you come in with a foot already in the fandom?

Blarghe: Ok long answer: I was into the games first. I started playing in maybe 2015, shortly after Inquisition came out. My partner already liked the games and was excited to play it, so I wound up watching some of that and being intrigued. But I started with Origins, loved it, and wound up loving and playing all three, all of them with more than one OC, to varying degrees of completion. When it comes to writing fic, I had ideas, like, little comics and some additional fill-in-the-gaps scenes written into notebooks and stuff for all three games. Mostly expanding on the personal relationships and romances, as you do. I'd done that kind of thing for other media I liked, but never really been in "fandom" about it for anything. I've always done creative writing and original fiction as a hobby and it was just a way of getting back into that on a personal level. I wrote the most after finishing DA:I for the second time... I kind of did a playthrough I wasn't super happy with, then made a new character specifically for a romance (Dorian's) then... wasn't super happy with that character either, THEN made Taren who is my current OC obsession, and wrote like 30K words of canon-divergence fic with a whole other OC companion inserted and just had fun with it. I forgot about that until 2020, when I found it in my docs and re-read it and decided it was actually pretty good and that I could maybe try to post online, find community, etc. I've since completely scrapped and deleted that fic from AO3, but getting out there got me into doing writing prompts and writing other stories, and now here I am. (I still haven't actually finished my Taren playthrough. I will before Veilguard lol) I was definitely motivated by COVID, thought I might go insane without community, so I picked a couple things I was already into (writing and dragon age) and went looking.

Dema: I'm guessing most of the art and writing you've done for DA has been DA:I?

Blarghe: Most, yeah. If only because my long fic is a DA:I inspired modern-au. Honestly it's fairly divorced from canon lol. Most of my canon writing is for DA:O actually. And I'm obsessed with Taren, I've drawn him more than anyone ever. He is very pretty, you see.

Dema: He is very, very pretty. Is DA:O your favorite game in the franchise? Everyone hates this question but I GOTTA KNOW hahaha!

Blarghe: Yeah it is! I love them all for different aspects, but it's got that first-game start of the obsession nostalgia. I also love a finicky, strategy-heavy RPG so to me the usual combat complaints aren't really a thing. I like the pause-every-two-seconds combat hahaha. I do really love running around through the scenery in Inquisition though, and I like the characters, and the fun flashy rogue stabbing too. But I have a soft spot for Origins for really gripping you into that story and world. It's a great balance of silly and funny and dark and difficult choices.

Dema: I haven't asked anyone else this yet, but are you finding the Veilguard announcements and previews are refreshing the inspiration? Or are you avoiding all spoilers and pretending it does not exist until the release? Or some secret, third thing…

Blarghe: Somewhere in between. I've been here the whole time lol, I don't know that it hyped me up any more, but it's nice to finally have news. And I'm excited that it will mean new people in the fandom and a resurgence that way. I am not totally avoiding spoilers but still kinda keeping my distance for my own sanity. I'll definitely lock down the spoiler tags once it's actually out.

Dema: So valid. I am feeling very inspired, myself, but I think it may be more the energy of the fandom around me reaching such a fever pitch. We're like a flock of ducks getting a whole loaf of bread after years of crumbs. 

Blarghe: So true haha. I am really excited about how it looks. Can't wait to play it!

Dema: Same! Returning to Taren a bit because, well, he's pretty: you said you went through a few iterations of OCs for a Dorian romance before him, and then were hooked. What is it about Taren that makes him a favorite? Was there a particular inspiration for him?

Blarghe: Oh boy. Not a specific inspiration. I played DA:I three times, counting the Taren one that I'm not technically finished, and the first I completely missed any romance (thought I could get Harding until it was too late) but I loved Dorian's character and his personal arc hit so hard that I immediately made a new character just for him. He was like a sassy Trevelyan who didn't really wanna be there, trying to pull kind of a rogueish charming sarcastic irresponsible pretty boy to hang with Dorian but I really didn't like how that clicked. I know it's a pretty common character archetype esp in a Dorian romance to do sassy x sassy so no hate but I found the Inquisition storyline and dialogue options just wouldn't let me be that irresponsible and funny, which makes sense. I really liked the themes of how the game pushes you into this impossible role where the only thing you can do is become a big responsible hero figure. I'm sure there's a compelling story there for the kind of character I'm talking about, but since mine fell so flat to me I decided to lean the complete opposite way. And Dorian inspired it too. The more I played and considered it the more I felt like I wanted him to have kind of a counterweight romance, you know. Opposites attract kind of thing. So Taren started as this very responsible, serious character who has always been prepared for leadership, being a First, and takes all that really seriously. He's also very Dalish and has reason to distrust and argue with him, which is great for Drama, but very very sweet and genuine and wholesome, which is so fun to contrast with all Dorian's trust issues. Dorian's quite emotional and idealistic, really, so they match in that way and it's very romantic. Taren's also a bit aspirational. Part of why I like Dorian so much is that I relate to him a lot, and I was struggling with trying to become less arrogant and more genuine, so Taren embodies a lot of that for me. Part of what makes him my favourite is probably the blank-slate of it all, too. Not having the Origin and getting to make stuff up. The whole romance plot is really compelling. I stuck him in some AUs and got carried away by worldbuilding, too. And after so much time spent with him he's just the fave now. But yeah, he's not my usual archetype. I think I've made a lot more sarcastic rogues than genuine sweethearts. He has like, anxiety and trust issues and I keep throwing him in situations to give him Trauma, but that sort of, happy, sweet, genuine, and healer-class character was all new ground to me and I wound up just loving the different-ness and challenge of it.

Dema: I did want to tell you that your "This is a story about trauma and relationships and socioeconomics and questioning belief and searching for balance. It's also about finding your soulmate on grindr" summary absolutely sent me.

Blarghe: Thank you, I'm very proud of that.

Dema: Speaking of which, can you come up with a clickbait title for your bang fic?

Blarghe: Something like Tortured Man More Tortured by Having To Endure the Best Week of His Life [[REDACTED]] you can cut that last part because it does make it obvious.

Dema: A+. Thank you for the lovely interview, it's been a treat chatting!

Blarghe: Thanks! It was very fun.

[maybemoonout]

if you were to put together a milex starter pack, what would be the top moments you’d include?? love your blog btw! 💗

Hi there anon! I'm so sorry it took me so long to answer this, there's just a lot going on right now for me so I only really found the time to answer this now! I hope you don't mind and still see this T_T

A starter pack sounds like such a fun idea! I want this to be sort of a bite sized post that allows new people from the fandom to find a little bit of everything they need to know. I think that's a good idea, so I decided with that!

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To get started, I wanted to link this post by @i-m-a-leaf-on-the-wind who made an AMAZING full blown post proving milex and it's wonderfully detailed and full of interview moments that start from the true beginning. A GREAT read if you need something to get you started!!

Some of my favorite moments that I got from that post are:

— Alex Turner on ‘Hot Press’ (x)

— Miles Kane, Les Inrocks Magazine 2016 (x)

And many many more from that post, it's also a great place to collect gifs since it has a lot, just remember to credit @i-m-a-leaf-on-the-wind !!

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Another GREAT post to read about their relationship is this post by @paperlovesadness that discusses Miles and Alex's relationship as the definition of Twin Flames. It's INCREDIBLY detailed and has sources for all the interviews mentioned. It's honestly such an interesting study, the definition of twin flames, even outside Milex, so please do give it a read!!

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More great reads for this fandom are song analyses! You can find tons just by searching, but personally I have read all the song analyses of @yellowloid and @paperlovesadness, and I love them A LOT. I also have a few of my own, just check out my #ask !!

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@puppetsspace started a Milex Timeline of events but it only ever made it to 2007, I don't know if anyone else made a bigger timeline but this is still a great blog to check out for the early timelines! My favorite one there has to be this post where Miles sees Alex for the first time and he looks in awe. Very sweet!

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@yummilexhub created a full blown collection of the entire EYTCTE Tour!! A great place to get sources and clips!! please check it out here!

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Now for some more fun stuff, if I had to choose my favorite moments it would be really... difficult. I have A LOT in mind and I honestly can't pick just a few so I'll try limiting it as much as I can.

---

1. The Iconic Øyafestivalen 2016 hug

Need I say more? Miles HIMSELF posted this moment, so it's not surprising everyone loves it, including meself.

2. The Iconic Coachella Kiss

This is honestly my favorite for 2 reasons:

[edited] I was unfortunately a slave to the internet but I originally said here that they were really banned but really its just a rumour!! I hears the guy handling coachella really wasn't happy with the whole thing thoigh, still funny lmfao

It was the one of the few moments that were the closest to a kiss, there are a few others but this one is the most popular and most iconic because again of said reason in #1.

3. Sharing Clothes

This ones not really a moment but a collection of moments. I find it EXTREMELY FUNNY that whenever people do those "boyfriend style" things on Alex, you see the regular array of ex girlfriends or current girlfriend, and out of nowhere, it's just Miles HAHAHAHHA. LIKE IT'S FUNNY AS HELL. I find it kinda sweet that Miles is somehow the... consistent out of all of the styles, like no matter the era of Alex there's gonna be a moment where he shares clothes with Miles, compared to the others who obviously only ever share with him in one period. I guess that's the perks of being the best friend?

Some examples:

Striped Shirt

Leather Jacket

Fred Perry Cardigan

4. The Albums being called "their baby"

This one is a little more of a stretch because I've only ever seen it one time. In this interview Alex says "for the past 8 years we've considered...trying for another baby" then they both start laughing hysterically. It's funny and cute :)) If anyone ever sees a different moment where Alex and Miles call the albums their babies, please do let me know!

5. I Want You (She's So Heavy)

These gifs explain themselves I think

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I honestly can't think of more on top of my head right now, if anyone wants to add more please do! I'll definitely add more later but for now, this is my starter pack!

I hope this is a good little collection of stuff for you guys to see a little bit of everything!

[conkers-thecosy]

My ask about asks I forgot to send you.

I've seen many posts about people missing how common asks used to be so I have been trying to send about an ask a week. Now I send this ask first anytime I follow someone as I really don't want to bother anyone, so I'd love to know if you enjoy receiving asks and if so what kind of asks. Not having energy for asks or being comfortable with them is perfectly okay.

The categories I have in my ask notebook that I file under are in colour. Please feel free to make your response as long as you want or private (the asker cannot directly respond to private responses).

Self, Job/Work: please let me know what you are comfortable with from eh idk just ask it to nothing personal at all.

Baggishield/Tolkien, Dragon Age, Johnlock/Sherlock, ineffable spouses, other fandom: Please let me know what fandoms. I think my main fandoms and ships are Bagginshield/The Hobbit, Sherlock/Johnlock, Dragon Age Inquisition, {Pippin/Faramir Merry/Eowyn}/The Lord of the Rings and I dip my toes in a few that I currently can't remember but ships I don't engage with the canon of at all are: Good Omens but only for Crowley/Azirapheal, Stranger Things but only for Steve/Eddie , The Witcher but only for Geralt/Jaskier.

OC's you want to talk about

art/drawing do you draw and like to get asks about it?

your writing

blog specific only is your blog specific to a fandom or something that you only want asks about related things

Story snippets ideas and prompts: Do you like receiving them?

Pets: I'd love to know all about them

Garden and Hobbies: What type of gardening and/or hobbies?

Like being tagged in things: If so what kinds of things?

*Asks are sent for fun, no pressure to answer.

Hi there!!

I'm sorry this took me so long to answer - I know there's no pressure (which I appreciate immensely!) but I really want to answer them, I'm just super slow!

Self, Job/Work: Honestly I'm super happy to talk about anything like this! With all my social links on my pinned posts it wouldn't be too difficult to find out a lot of stuff about me and my life anyway! Baggishield/Tolkien, Dragon Age, Johnlock/Sherlock, ineffable spouses, other fandom: Okay so while I enjoy all of these fandoms, and more besides, I get real single-minded about my special interests. Right now it's Bagginshield, and that's really all my brain has room for! OC's: I would genuinely loooove to talk about my OCs, so very much! As I said above, bagginshield is really my main focus right now, but I have two half-written original novels that I really hope to pluck up the courage to share one day. Honestly I would love so much to have the opportunity to talk about them more here, but I know there's not a lot of interest. Folks are here for the bagginshield stuff, and that's totally fair! But, I'm going to write these stories either way and I really would love any excuse to gush about them and my OCs! art/drawing: I don't draw, I'm afraid! I wish I did, I'm always in so much awe of people who have that skill! I paint a bit, but not often and just for fun, and it's always some weird abstract stuff, haha! your writing: Love to talk about writing! It's all that keeps me going some days, and any excuse to chat about what I'm doing, what I'm planning, ro even giving advice to other writers is just so much fun to me! blog specific only: Nah, this blog is a mish-mash of everything! Happy to talk about whatever! Pets: So I have a dog! His name is Wilfred, and he was a rescue! He's my boon companion, and I love any excuse to show him off, haha! Garden and Hobbies: So I do garden, but I'm new to it! I never had a garden before until about 3 years ago, and it's been super fun to learn as I go! Other hobbies are funny, because I do a bit of everything. I'm fairly crafty so I've done pottery, sewing, jewellery making, painting as I mentioned, a bit of knitting, etc. I also used to have my own small business, running a perfumery, so I've made all sorts of bathing products, soaps, bath salts, candles, etc! Like being tagged in things: I do, but you may have noticed, I'm a bit slow at responding! I do try to keep on top of them and I never mind being tagged, but it ebbs and flows, for sure!

Okay, I think that's everything!!

Thank you so much for sending this! I will answer your others at some point, but my alarm has just gone off and now it's writing time, haha!

Thanks again for these lovely asks you send to people, it's really such a wonderful thing you're doing!

[whositmcwhatsit]

I’ve only recently become a fan of Elvis. I’m ashamed to admit it but before my opinion of him was based on grotesque caricatures in the media. I didn’t appreciate his insane musical talent, and I definitely didn’t realise what a wonderful kind and humble man he seemed to be. Everyday now I listen to his music. I watch his interviews on YouTube and I try to cram every bit of information I find of him into my brain. Honestly I feel like I have regressed into a starstruck teenager…and I am loving it.

From what I have seen, the Elvis community seems so warm and welcoming; and it is blogs like yours that reaffirms this belief of mine. You just seem so lovely and it’s reassuring to find others who love this flawed but hugely talented and wonderful man who, all these years later, inspire others. I was in a dark place, but finding Elvis’s music has really helped me.

Basically I wanted to say thank you for helping to fuel my obsession with Elvis. I have been devouring your blog, reading it on my way to and from work (even with my phone battery hating the tumblr app) and smiling all the while.

Sorry for the random message, but I felt that I needed to say thank you for creating such a wonderful blog. So thank you!!

Hi! What a truly sweet message! I'm glad you're enjoying my blog, since honestly, I'm mainly just babbling to myself the way I usually just do in my head anyway.

And I love the idea of fuelling your obsession because it was older, OG fans that did the same for me, sharing their pics, records, videos and memorabilia (turning a blind eye when some of it "went missing") and I think one of the most amazing things about Elvis was that he was for the fans and by the fans. We discovered him, we cultivated his career, we kept him successful when, quite honestly, it seemed like the people employed to do that job either had no idea what they were doing or were actively sabotaging him, it's hard to tell! And he knew that. It was a mutual love affair.

It still is.

And, yeah, the caricature stuff is pervasive and so damaging. It began when he was alive and exploded when he died. It's dehumanising in the extreme and I lay a lot of blame at the feet of EPE, but that's a whole other rant!

But yes, from what I've seen the Elvis fandom community on here is lovely, warm and positive, and you're going to fit right in!

What's your favourite Elvis song so far? Feel free to reach out any time!

[oodlyenough]

aa5 update while i'm thinking of it:

finished 5-3 turnabout academy the other week and honestly i enjoyed the hell out of that entire case, lol. i thought the npcs were all funny (robin is the MVP), a lot of the reveals were hilarious, i am dual destinies klavier's #1 fan apparently.

assigned prosecutor at birth

the lore of Law High School was something i'd seen mentioned in fandom sometimes and i always rolled my eyes at how stupid it was but in true ace attorney fashion it was in fact SO stupid it came all the way around to being hilarious. themis pumping out under-educated self-described prodigies who only know how to eat hot chip, forge evidence and lie. funny as hell. junie and apollo's weird oedipal moment right in front of klavier and athena's salads was hysterical.

i love the idea that japanifornia has stricter age limits for being a crane operator than for being a lawyer or a judge. hugh the 25 year old deciding to go to themis instead of ... regular law school.... so he could experience the triumphs and defeats, the epic highs and lows of high school mock trials is funny as all hell

athena's ptsd sprites are pretty haunting looking, i have to say.

have since started 5-4 turnabout cosmos and so far it's not quite as bonkers fun but i'm enjoying it ok. more under the cut:

it feels like we're finally going somewhere and building to something, with athena lore and apollo lore and blackquill lore, etc. i remain ambivalent to simon but i am thrilled to have finally met his hotter meaner gayer sister and i can't wait for more of her. truly what dual destinies has lacked to this point is a mean woman. deliver me, aura.

unfortunately all the clay-apollo lore is goofy as hell to me, but "goofy" is still more enjoyable than "boring" so i'll take it. the "i'm fine!!!!" thing is IMO a classic example of when a prequel tries to explain something that never needed explaining. it's just not that poignant of a phrase to make the crux of this relationship, and clay never being mentioned before is so mels pond/Jack Black in that one episode of Community-core.

ah yes, we all remember that classic scene from ace attorney 4: apollo justice where apollo talks to his best friend clay.

finally: this is the funniest thing they could possibly have written to follow up on a game that ended with apollo's long lost mother knowing exactly who he and trucy are ...and fucking off out of the country to sell albums without ever telling him.

why do we bash deadbeat moms for not being there for their kids and never question if the child has bad vibes or is unpleasant to be around

a lot of my earlier complaints about DD stand -- primarily and foremost that it's ridiculous how much this game doesn't want to be a game. we are skipping so many opportunities to investigate, to present, to connect the dots ourselves as a player, even fingerprint minigames and stuff like that just get auto-completed by athena. i like athena as a character, but i have to wonder if part of the "mary sue" criticism i've sometimes seen is just misguided frustration about how much she autonomously solves puzzles for the player instead of letting the player participate lol.

but considering how much i really thought 5-2 monstrous turnabout was just. like. absolutely brutal. a devastating low point for the franchise ... at least 5-3 and, to this point, 5-4 are more interesting. thank god

[mewtwoandme]

Also, you can answer this privately if you'd like, but I really love how you hold your ground with your ideas. I've seen plenty of creators kinda change their mind on ideas because a few people were offended or just didn't like the concept and it bums me out because while yes sometimes you should listen to critism, other times it's not actually criticism but just people being dumb.

You know honestly, I'm convinced I'm a 40-50 year old stuck in in a 24 year old body XD I'm such a hardass. I just don't have the patience or mental strength to deal with people who are like that, especially the younger generations. Even some people who are are my age or slightly older.

What I'm about to say below is not directed towards anyone, but how I feel generally on the matter. Read more if you want to

When something like cancel culture exists, you know you're not going to please everyone with what you do or what opinions/ideas you have. There will always be people who hate them regardless of what it is or what it's about. Whether it be fandoms, storytelling, art/character preferences, dare I say political views, etc. It goes on and on. But just because they don't like something, it doesn't mean I have to change things to appease them. And that's what a lot of those types of people can't stand. If I don't agree with them or abide by what they command me to do, suddenly I'm the asshole? XD God forbid they hold any accountability for themselves in their decision-making. They can just... not view my content. Scroll over, block whatever, but no, apparently, that's just too hard, and it's easier to bitch about and/or blame the creator. Like honestly my thoughts are I don't give a fuck how offended someone is or if they don't agree with my personal choices on a matter. It's my blog, I run it how I want to, I create what I want to create and I tell a story how I want to tell it.

I'm not going to cater to every individual who thinks they're holier-than-thou and entitled to say I need to change this or that just to fit their views or so it appears less offensive to them. Damn right I hold my ground! It is not my obligation to appease people by having my art/story/characters dictated by their every whim and what they think it should be. If they feel so strongly about what I do, they can easily write or draw their own stuff and make it more ideal for themselves, but if they claim, "B-but, I'm not good at doing that." Well, that ain't my fault, nor is it my damn problem. Don't come to my blog acting like you can manipulate me to draw or write things you want to happen or how you want things to be. You ain't my boss, you're not paying me to do your bidding, so until you somehow become my boss and actually obtain authority over what I do, leave me to write my characters and stories/make my art in peace!