#i will complain when people say something is canon when it goes very much against the intent but guess what

[fortemelody]

hot take: there aren’t that many “annoying” sonamy fans out there as some people think

i’ve been seeing more people complain about this kinda stuff recently than there are people actually doing the things they’re complaining about

it goes to show that obviously EVERY ship in the world will have annoying fans. i understand that. but like… if it’s not harmful (like pedophilia or something illegal) there is no reason to be advocating against it so much becus you’re accomplishing nothing 😭

i would say the main problem is that the few bad ones are obviously the most vocal. i’ve already ranted before about how bad “sonamy channel” on twitter is. but that’s literally one person. do not judge a whole fan base on one person and literally just block them. i also don’t see much of a distinction when talking about these “bad” types of people from twitter to tumblr. like the few times i have talked about it i very much stated in the beginning that sonamy channel was active on twitter. i haven’t seen them very active on tumblr as far as i know, meaning that others only follow in suit with their weird antics, including calling everything “canon”, ON TWITTER. like all i’m saying is if there’s negative things happening on one social media platform, don’t blame it on another. i’m sure tumblr has its problems too that i don’t know about but like it doesn’t seem to be as bad overall.

another reasoning behind why i think this is so prevalent rn is becus whenever sonamy fans get new content (like recently those idw panels) they obviously like to talk about it. which is inherently fine, but the fact that we usually get new content like at least once a month atp makes it so other people might see it as us just constantly shoving things down their throats. i mean yes, if someone’s spamming about it every two seconds on unrelated tags, MAYBE i can see a problem. but if that’s not the case… literally just let people be happy dawg omfg 💀 like i know this is sorta a weird way to phrase it but it’s not our fault if or when we get official content. sega decided to release something, so we like it. it’s as simple as that, it’s their choice to let our personal tastes influence on their franchise in any way. like we’re not storming their HQ to tell them to make more sonamy related stuff, it ain’t that serious and people just wanna enjoy what comes out. there’s nothing wrong with that.

idk man it’s late at night and i’m just straight up yappin so i’m not sure how coherent this all is but yeah

[nefastnefertiti]

WHY CHAPTER 431 OF MY HERO ACADEMIA SCREAMS CENSORSHIP

First let's start by the "afterword", the note Horikoshi left after 430 and before the extras, chapter 431.

Original japanese for those who understand.

The best traslation I found and most people are agreeing with.

Key sentences are:

1.The real final chapter is 429, 430 is more like a curtain call.

2. PS: For chapter 431, I turn off the cameras and free the characters from their dramas.

This note being left after 430 and before the extras is so important. . The clarification of "the real final chapter is 429" and 430 is the curtain call is screaming: the show has ended here. This is further stated by "i turn the cameras off" by the man who use to refer himself as the camera man, I leave you with an example.

(They're talking about Vol 37 cover)

And back to point number 2: "and free the characters from their dramas", which could perfectly be understood as "the characters are no longer tied to their previous plots and drama" no longer connected to the main story.

It may seem like a reach until here, we're just trying to convince ourselves that's not canon, right? They´re delusions, right?

The problem is how far away everything about 431 antagonizes the whole story, the characters doesn't feel like themselves, they even regress back all their development, the drawing style looks totally different and there are many irregularities that call for our attention.

Dabi, 431 and by Horikoshi

Toga and Ochaco in 431:

Toga and Ochaco by Horikoshi:

All Might's signature for Katsuki (Horikoshi would never mess this up):

Kirishima with 6 fingers lol, Horikoshi loves drawing hands, he would never.

Katsuki's odd teeth what the fuck. (His hand looks good to me)

Ochaco and Shoto just look, weird. It's clearly not Horikoshi's art style.

And this awful background (center) was the main giveaway.

Horikoshi's backgrounds are so professional:

At this point I'm getting tired since the difference is astounding, don't believe me, just check the manga.

I don't think Horikoshi would've allowed those mistakes had he have a role in the making, maybe he did, there's no saying about that, but clearly if he did his involvement was very low.

Character's development wise now.

Seriously? "Deku"? And Katsuki complaining for picking him up. He cried his eyes out when Izuku lost his quirk and now he's back at season 1?

Izuku would never in a million years turn down that offer. And if he did, it would never be like this, so devoid of emotion and empathy.

430 showed us an Izuku aiming for his dreams again and at 431 this Izuku ¿? It's okay with being a teacher? Ok. And if that's not the problem, why he outright rejects Katsuki out of nowhere? When their rivalry was one of the main points of the plots for 430 chapters and now just um over? Without justification? Ok.

Ok.

Now specifically about that ship canonization and bkdk.

Horikoshi has been doing this for 10 years. The choices he took the whole manga were incredibly intentional, all those romantic tropes given to bkdk, his interviews, all stand in direct opposition to what happened in this last chapter.

I, myself, don't know much about Jump but what I've heard is they end lot of shonens with the same heterosexual formula. I don't think all of this is a coincidence.

Something really important that needs to be adressed to is what happened back in June (I think), when suddenly MHA announced it was ending in 5 chapters could've something to do with this. The manga was suddenly rushed to its ends with unsatisfying resolutions and as if that was not enough, one month later (at most) the same happened to JJK and all of this came accompanied by a switch of one of the heads of Jump.

About 431 again though.

I was just thinking what would I do if I was pressured to write something that ruins the biggest project of my life and goes against everything I was hoping for? Refuse. Tell them to write it themselves. If I can't do anything to stop it and it'll be there, alright, but I WON'T DO IT.

And I think this could be Horikoshi's case.

I've never seen a shonen manga come so close to implying his male protagonist and his male deuteragonist are in love before. Yes, it was not EXPLICIT but it was so fucking clear if you knew how to read, all the way up to 430. All those cliches tropes he gave them, he knew, we know.

I thought I'll die trying to explaineverything that seems wrong with this with nothing to back me up but the fact that he added that note is clear for me. I'm surprised they allowed him to publish it, I thought we wouldn't even have that.

PS:

It's interesting this being posted the same day 431 comes out. Also "heroaca is pretty dark, huh?"

I'll not go into this anyways because it's kind of a reach but the conclusion is: I think it's a "soft" censorship and Horikoshi did his best to relay his message given what he had.

Thanks for reading!

[eri-pl]

Yes, and yes, whether it's Elwing or Feanorians (Yes they were wronger. Irrelevant) even if it's, of all people, Eol! Do not belittle or hate people for having a blorbo. Or for having a moral opinion, yes, even about the Silmarils and their ownership. And you don't hijack pro-blorbo posts to spread negativity. Even if it is Eol. (Yes, I should do less of the "but the book" in Doriath discourse posts, and more idk own posts about things that are in the book)

And even if it's Elrond, don't belittle or hate people for criticizing a blorbo. (I never seen anyone criticize Elrond tbh)

It's one thing to say "this is not in the book, because" or "this logic has a fault because" and other to say "you are stupid, insufferable, sexist, communist, whatever-ist".

Yea I'm still learning that.

It does get fuzzy though because sometimes criticizing/supporting the blorbo is done by generally criticizing/supporting certain behaviors and behaviors are real. People do them. And sometimes supporting a blorbo can read as supporting behaviors that are unsupportable, even if it's actually assuming the blorbo didn't do them.

But anyway, yes, don't call real people nasty names and don't be a jerk.

And also, nobody can be expected to remember all the Silm facts! I used to believe that Thingol wanted to wed Luthien to Celegorm. this book is very complicated. Or that Mim attacked Turin first. I did get the vague "people are so dumb and hateful" call-out for both and that hurt.

Do not assume bad faith, please.

cannot believe i have to say this, but if you are being rude or insulting towards other fans in your fandom because they committed the apparently atrocious sin of *checks notes* having different opinions (yes, even negative or insulting ones!!) on fictional characters, you really need to reevaluate your behavior. your fictional blorbos cannot be hurt by people having a bad take and seeing a bad take does not mean that you have carte blanche to call other fans stupid or make fun of their interpretations. your fellow fans, unlike your blorbos, are real people and absolutely can be hurt by your behavior.

[psychedelic-ink]

ㅤㅤㅤ✦ 𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐏𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝐎𝐍𝐄 ⸻ 𝐄𝐍𝐄𝐌𝐈𝐄𝐒

ㅤㅤjoel miller x f!reader

⌜HOW MR. MILLER STOLE CHRISTMAS MASTERLIST⌟

genre: enemies to lovers, romance, fake dating, minors dni

word count: 3.7k

chapter summary: hanging garlands around town goes horribly wrong when you decide to decorate one of the polls. luckily a stranger with a rather soothing voice talks you through it and helps you down. But much to your surprise, he doesn't seem to be a stranger at all but rather a reminder of the past you've been trying to escape from.

warnings: age gap, canon typical violence, reader having a fear minor fear of heights, some threats, a brief make-out scene at the end, drinking

**dividers by @saradika

Jackson is everything you never expected in such a cruel world.

It’s been only a week since your arrival, yet you already feel fully incorporated into the community. Tommy and Maria Miller had surprisingly taken a liking to you. Later on, you learned that, especially Maria, wasn’t that keen on newcomers. If you had to guess why she decided to take you in, it would be the fact that you were half-dead and a mile away from their doorstep. It was cold, very cold. You still remembered how the wind sliced against your cheeks. When you came to, you met Tommy Miller. His smile was genuine and vaguely familiar for a reason you couldn’t quite understand. He had shown you around, then led you to your new home.

A home. Something you’d thought wasn’t possible anymore. 

Something that you would protect to keep, no matter what. 

It was a bit rundown, but solid nonetheless, like most of the survivors. Despite being only one person, the home they provided had three rooms and two bathrooms. You felt spoiled. You’d told Tommy about it, he had just laughed it off saying that after everything you’ve been through you deserve a decent roof over your head. 

The words had stung at the time. He didn’t know who you were or what you’ve done. Jackson was a small community so you knew that Tommy Miller had been somewhat involved with the Fireflies but not like you. Never like you. 

You feel slightly nauseous thinking about it. Snow crunches loudly under your boots as you make your way to Tommy’s. It’s lonely not being able to talk, not being able to say what you’re thinking freely. Most of the time it just feels like you’re looking through the other side of the glass, never truly comfortable around people that you frequently conversed with. 

Standing in front of the door you take a deep breath, your skin tickles as your lungs expand with crisp cold air and you smile faintly upon the exhale. It’s hard, but you shouldn’t be complaining. You don’t have to fight to stay alive anymore. You don’t have cuts and bruises, you’re not a soldier anymore—you’re free. 

Your mind drifts off only for a second, to that day when you made your escape. You would’ve been dead if it wasn’t for the man who spared you. His vacant gaze is still vivid in your head, waking you from sleep from time to time. 

You follow your first knock with a second one. Heavy footsteps reach your ears and the door opens with a loud creak. Tommy’s eyes shine bright as he sees you, a half smile tugging at his mouth. If you had to call someone a friend it would certainly be him. 

“Hey there Pecan,” he says. “Ready for some decoratin’?” 

“Can I get out of it if I say no?” 

He scoffs, “Don’t be a baby. It’ll be fun.” 

“How is labor fun?” 

You grin broadly and upon seeing it Tommy rolls his eyes. Stepping forward, he closes the door behind him. “You’re the goddamn second person to tell me that, you know.” 

“Who beat me to it?” 

“My pain in the ass brother.” 

The two of you walk to the back to get the garlands. Everyone in Jackson had pitched in to make them, including you. “I keep forgetting you have a brother. Why haven’t I seen him yet? Does he hate you or something?” 

“I’d say the opposite,” he huffs, opening the door of the garage. It’s full of boxes with “Christmas” written in bold letters. Luckily you don’t have to deal with those today. Only the garlands. “He’s like a mother hen. Too overbearin’. His name’s Joel and if you decide on gettin’ a tree you’ll see his ugly mug.” 

You doubt that anyone related to Tommy would be ugly but you decide to keep that to yourself. “Why is that?” 

“Maria appointed him as Christmas tree farmer. You can imagine his joy upon hearin’ that.” 

“All by himself?” you ask a bit surprised. 

“Nah. He has a couple of helpers but they work in shifts, everyone is pitching in chopping down the trees and getting them where they need to go. You’re free to help him out if you’re so worried.” 

“I’m not,” you say a bit too quickly when seeing Tommy’s grin. “It just felt a bit unfair for an old man.” 

“He might be old but he’s a fuckin’ beast,” he answers, leaning down and picking up one of the boxes. You follow, you take two since garlands aren’t exactly heavy. “I’ve never seen anyone as resilient as him. Honestly, it scares the shit out of me sometimes.” 

“You can say that about a lot of people here.” 

“You’ll understand what I mean when you meet him.” He heads out the garage and so do you, both of you leaving deep footprints on the snow as you head to the heart of the community. “And do please call him old man in person. I wanna see the look on his face.” 

“I’m not going to sacrifice my well-being so you can laugh at your brother, Tommy.” 

“You disappoint me, Pecan.” 

Damn, Tommy Miller and his stupid stupid garlands. 

You have no idea how long it’s been since you started hanging them all around town. You and Tommy had split up, deciding that it would be faster. At the time it made perfect logical sense but now, as your heart rams into your chest while decorating one of the polls, you decide it was a stupid ass idea. 

You’re not exactly scared of heights but you’re not a fan of them either. Every time the ladder creaks, you have a miniature heart attack. You’d feel much safer if Tommy were holding the legs, even though you know it wouldn’t help much if the damn thing collapsed. You hear the faint chatter coming from below. Some people staring as you wrap the stubborn garlands around the cylinder wood. You hate this. Hate it, hate it, hate it. 

When you’re finally done and about to climb back down, you can’t move. 

“Fuck,” you hiss loudly, knowing that no one can hear you. You glance down—big mistake. Your entire body freezes over, your fingers tight around the poll. You have half the mind to hug the damn thing. Your throat tightens and you look up. This is it, after everything you’ve been through, you’re going to fucking die while hanging fucking garlands—

A strong gust of wind blows, swaying the ladder side to side, a sharp scream rips from your throat, and this time you do hug the pole. You notice a small crowd gathering. Another blow of wind and the unstable surface ceases to exist, you barely manage to bring your legs around the poll. 

Screams and shouts that don’t belong to you reach your ears and you hope no one got hit by the ladder. Oh god. You can feel your heartbeat in your throat, sweat beading from every pore despite the cold. 

“Slide down!” you hear someone shout. A man, you register. A man with a deliciously raspy and deep voice. “Just slide down damn it!” 

“No!” you shout back. “It took me hours wrapping the damn garlands I’m not doing it again!” 

A weak excuse but still valid nonetheless. If you slide down all that work it rook the town to make these things would get destroyed thanks to your body. And even if it doesn’t, the damn things would slide down with you. There’s no way you’re climbing back up here. At least not until hell freezes over. 

“You’re gonna fall and the ladder is busted,” the man shouts back. “And from the quiverin’ of your legs, I don’t think you’ll last until Greg brings the other one!” You hug the poll tighter, he was right, your legs—especially your thighs—were about to give out. And as if he can read your mind, the voice shouts out once more. “I’ll hang the damn things myself and fix’em up, just slide your ass down before your legs fuckin’ give out!” 

You’re starting to get a bit lightheaded. Adrenaline and fear make your breathing uneven and quick. The disembodied voice is right. If you don’t slide down now your body is just going to give up and you are going to crack your head against the ground. A sharp exhale parting your lips, you finally start sliding down. You loosen your limbs, groaning every time you feel the needles of the garland ripping away and presumably falling above the snow. Fuck. You hope the stranger is good with his hands.  

“That’s it, atta girl,” you hear him say, ignoring the way your body slightly clenches at the praise. “Just go down, I’m right here.” 

More voices start to reach your ear the more you go down. You hear the voice of a girl, “I would’ve died if that happened to me.  Holy shit.” 

The man grunts, “Now’s not the time, Ellie. Keep your opinions to yourself.” 

By the time you reach the end, your breathing is ragged and you can barely feel your legs. The man who’s been talking you through it holds you gingerly from the waist and pulls you away from the poll. Your feet skip over each other and you end up tripping backwards, right into the stranger's chest. You feel the warmth of his breath tickling the back of your head as you both end up falling. His body breaks your fall, his large hands still holding you from the waist. A pleasant shudder runs up your spine and you find yourself relaxing. 

The crowd inches closer, a worried clammer coming from all directions. However, all you can focus on is the girl standing right across from you. She’s wearing a thick coat, her hair in a neat ponytail. She’s giving you a curious look, she also looks amused. 

Your brows furrow, the brown of her eyes familiar. 

“You plannin’ on gettin’ off me sweetheart?” 

You push yourself up, realizing you're still sprawled on top of the stranger. Heat rushes to your cheeks as you scramble to stand, muttering apologies. He chuckles, a deep, resonant sound that sends a shiver through you.

"Easy there, no harm done," he says, getting up as well. The crowd disperses now that the crisis is averted, leaving you alone with the man and the girl, who's still watching you with that curious expression. “You a’right? That was quite a journey down.” 

“I’m. . .” You turn towards him, still feeling disoriented, still feeling a bit shaky. You’re about to tell him you’re alright, and possibly thank him right after, but the words die in your throat. You hear the loud beat of your heart. Thud thud thud. The world is turning, spinning. You open and close your mouth, over and over again. His eyes meet yours. The same brown eyes you’ve seen in countless sleepless nights. 

You don't forget the face of the person who determines your fate. 

And in his case, you don’t forget the face of the person who spared you. 

Recognition slowly flickers across his weathered features. It’s so subtle. His lips part ever so slightly, eyes in the midst of going wide but keeping his eyelids neutral. He blinks heavily and snaps his lips tightly shut. You do the same. Your mouth now a thin line as you take each other in. 

Then you see the recognition, the surprise, turn into anger. You’re a brutal reminder of his past and what he’s done to get here. 

“Joel,” the girl hisses, nudging him with an elbow. “Don’t be an asshole.” 

You blink, eyes snapping to the girl. . . Ellie. . . the immune girl. 

Despite her harsh warning, neither of you speak. You are eyeing each other like wild animals wanting to protect their territories. Your legs are still shaking, your body trembling. He looks different but at the same time not at all. There’s no blood on him, no weapons. And the vacant look you’ve grown accustomed to is now full of emotion. 

No one notices Tommy until he’s standing next to Ellie, his chest heaves as he tries to gather his breath. His gaze fixed on you, “You a’right there pecan?” 

You freeze once more. The familiarity you’ve always felt around him—

“He’s your brother,” you state. The hairs on the back of your neck stand up as he nods. You feel sick. 

“I’ve heard what happened are you alright?” 

“I’m fine,” You’re not. Joel is still staring at you, taking in every detail. You take hold of yourself and force some emotion other than fear to flicker across your face. “I’m fine thanks to your brother, the ladder collapsed and I had to slide down,” you turn to Joel, ignoring the taste of blood in your mouth. “Thank you.” 

“You’re welcome.” 

The playful lilt in his tone was completely gone. Ellie jumps forward, quickly taking your hand, everyone except you misses the way Joel flinches, jerking forward. “I’m Ellie and this caveman here is Joel.” 

You clear your throat, “Nice to meet you Ellie and. . . “ You meet his gaze once again and say carefully. “Joel.” 

He doesn’t say a word as you introduce yourself. Thankfully Tommy whistles and all eyes turn towards the ruined garland and the pine needles scattered above the snow. “Fuck. It’s gonna take days to fix this.” 

“We still have time don’t we Uncle Tommy?” Ellie asks. “Joel offered to help fix it and hang it.” 

Tommy’s head snaps towards Joel, a lopsided smile stretching across his lips as he shoots him an amused look, “Did he now?” 

Ellie’s look matches her uncle’s, “He did.” 

“Well then,” Tommy says, slapping his brother’s back. Joel glares at him, his brows knitted tightly together. “I’ll leave it up to you.” 

“We should go,” Joel says suddenly, grabbing Ellie’s arm and dragging her away. Both you and Tommy are left dumbfounded as you watch Ellie furiously waving. 

“Nice meetin’ you pecan!” 

“Good,” Tommy grins, prompting your sharp glare. “The nickname is catching on.” 

Alcohol buzzes in your system, making you grin like a fool as you lean back against the makeshift bar, enjoying the sight of everyone dancing and laughing. After a boring meeting of who would be doing what during the Christmas season, everyone had rushed out to get the bonfire ready. Faint music hummed in the background. Festive songs you’ve hadn’t heard since you were a little girl. You only recognize the melodies since you were a kid when you last heard them, the lyrics you can’t quite remember. 

You watch Tommy and Maria from the corner of your eyes, he had his arms wrapped snugly around her waist. They were happy. Deep inside you can’t help but be envious. You hadn’t met a lot of people since coming here, it was hard to make friends when you felt undeserving of the comfort you received. 

Your skin tingles as you remember Joel’s hands firm against your waist. You’ve felt something before recognizing him. Something sweet and playful. But it was ripped away thanks to your intertwined past. He was death. You can’t forget that. You wonder if Ellie knew what he’d done for her, you wonder if Tommy knew. 

Shaking your head you take another swig of your drink. All these thoughts were sobering you up. You can’t have that. You need to relax, to forget. But despite knowing that, a nasty feeling of worry brews in your gut. What if Joel tells them? What if he makes the case that you’re dangerous and did unspeakable things for the cause? Will Tommy and Maria throw you out then—or worse—kill you? Joel is Tommy’s brother after all. . . you. . . you are nothing. 

There’s a flicker of movement and a ripple amongst the crowd, lifting your head you see Joel giving Tommy a quick hug. He says something to Maria, a greeting you assume, and you notice Ellie heading off with Dina. Your heart skips a beat. You should go home, or at least stop staring at the man but you can’t. He’s the one you’ve been thinking about ever since you left the damn hospital. It was his eyes you’ve seen the nights you were jolted awake from the horrors the world had to offer. 

You can’t decide on what to do and because of that, you’re suddenly facing an icy cold gaze from him. His lips are downturned, shoulders raised. You think about smiling, maybe raising your drink but you decide it would only add fuel to the fire. 

A minute passes, a minute that feels like an hour, and he finally rips his gaze off of you, turning to Tommy instead. He squeezes his younger brother’s shoulder and quickly disappears. 

You feel an unwarranted rage at him leaving. Running away. And suddenly you’re on your feet, following him. You can see his footsteps in the snow. You’re not sure what you’re going to say to him but you have to say something. This is your home now too and he won’t be taking that away from you. You’re not leaving after finding some semblance of peace. 

You follow the footprints to a narrow space between two buildings. You notice moss in the cracks of the wood. You frown. Where the hell is he? There isn’t any place else to go from here, it’s a dead end. 

You turn on your heel, only to come to an immediate stop. 

His expression is dark, a harsh sneer on his face that makes you stop. You remember the stories, the ones about the things he’d done to survive. You swallow thickly and take a step back, but he reaches out and shoves against the wall. You gasp as Joel’s arm presses against your throat, your back hitting the wall with a painful thud.

"You’ve got some nerve, showin’ your face around here," he growls, pressing you harder against the wall. You can feel his warm breath against your face, his forearms causing you to struggle for air. But you refuse to back down, refusing to let him intimidate you. You stare right back into his angry eyes. “Tell me what you want.” 

“Nothing,” you hiss. “I just wanted to talk to you, clear the air.”

“Clear the air of what?” he leans closer, your nose almost brushing. “You’ll leave right now.” 

“No I fucking won’t,” you snap and claw at his arm. It’s getting harder to breathe. “Jackson’s my home too.” 

His eyes narrow and he presses forward, fully cutting the airflow. There’s a vicious throbbing in the back of your eyes and tears gather in the corners. “I should’ve fuckin’ killed you when I had the chance,” he says, voice barely above a whisper. 

Fuck. Fuck fuck fuck. You don’t know what to do, you can barely speak, only whimpers leaving your parted lips. You attempt to kick at his legs but he simply moves out of the way. 

How can this be the same man who held you so gently before? 

“Take this as a warnin’,” Joel loosens his grip, your lungs filling with delicious oxygen. “If I see you anywhere near Ellie—” 

“Oi Miller, what the fuck are you doing?” 

You should be relieved. You really fucking should. But seeing the panic flaring in his eyes, a similar emotion starts coursing through your veins. You both tense and you feel your skin growing taut over your body. Your eyes shift between him and the two friends standing. You recognize them, one of them is Marc, and the other Steven. Twins. Your eyes move gradually back to Joel, he meets your gaze, your eyes drop to his lips, a plan forming in your head—an ill-advised plan, but a plan nonetheless. 

You kiss him. 

You fucking kiss him. 

The arm on your throat immediately drops and you fist the front of his shirt, pulling him closer until he’s flushed against you. His body feels solid against your own. Strong and tall. He hesitates, his lips still as stone. Not knowing what else to do to make it more convincing, you tilt your head, lick the seam of his lips, and moan absurdly into his closed mouth. Joel starts moving then. His hands trail down the sides of your body and grip your hips, squeezing as he moves his mouth. 

Everything about the moment lingers. The kiss, the closeness, everything. His hands twitch and you find yourself rolling your body towards him, feeling the semi-bulge underneath his pants. When a second moan escapes you it’s not for show. Heat licks the base of your spine, your entire being screaming for him to come closer and closer and closer— 

He stops. It’s sudden and cold. However, you take the hint and with a lazy smile turn to the men watching you with dropped jaws. Joel doesn’t bother to look in their direction, he’s still holding you, allowing you to use his shoulder somewhere to lean against. His grip on you is tight. 

“Sorry guys,” you make an effort to slur your speech. “I might’ve had too much to drink and couldn’t keep my hands to myself. Love it when a man is a bit rough.” 

You don’t know why but his grip on you instantly loosens. Both Steven and Marc look at you with utter shock. 

“Jesus fucking Christ,” Marc blurts out. “Get a room you two. There are families out.” 

With that they both leave, grumbling to themselves something about young people you can’t quite catch. 

When both of you are sure no one is near, Joel shoves you off of him. “What the hell was that?” 

“A kiss.” 

“Don’t fuckin’ pull that shit with me, people are gonna talk. They’re gonna think I can’t keep it in my pants.” 

“Better than them thinking you were gonna kill me,” you say. “You should be thanking me for saving your ass,” you answer, trying very hard not to look down at the front of his pants. “Don’t worry so much nothing is going to happen. They’ll talk a day or two and then it’ll just blow over.” 

He doesn’t seem that convinced, “Fine,” he grunts and you start to take your leave. Your mind is swirling with unidentifiable emotions. You need time to think. “I was serious, stay away from Ellie.” 

As if you were the dangerous one here. 

“Joel,” you turn to face him one last time for the night. Not prepared to see how his eyes were glossed over, the anger and hatred drained from them. He looks startled. “I’m not leaving my home.” 

[shut-up-danny-kun]

I've read hundreds of Star Trek TOS fics by now and it never ceases to amuse me how many different ways there are to fuck up Spock's characterization...now hold on just a minute - this post has a more interesting point than “fanfic writers stupid”, I promise you.

Every time, it's a spin on the massacre wheel. It's kind of amazing. Will he be overly emotional to the point where he's not himself anymore? Will he be so cold it's unpleasant and kind of hard to understand how he's lived to this point? Will he be extremely horny for no good reason? Will he speak in a way that sounds complety wrong?

I chuckle and shake my head. Of course, I KNOW what Spock is like, and MY interpretation of him is the most perfect and correct one. Obviously. He's just a very nuanced character, formed by many people in an unconventional way, with traits that seem to contradict each other at first but ultimately form a rich and unique character that so many people fell in love with specifically because he's so complicated...

Or...is he?

Let's entertain the idea that there isn't one correct interpretation of Spock, that all of these messy bits of characterization are not part of a bigger picture, but...just what they are: a product of many people with starkly different visions, working on a show that refuses to properly develop its characters. What then? Well, then Spock is a Rorschach test. Each viewer connects the random dots in their own way, and ignores the ones they don't like.

Let's use an example: me! In my interpretation of Spock (the most correct one, of course) he is, first of all, gay and on the asexual spectrum, reserved, largely uninterested in casual flirting or sex. When he is interested in the aforementioned things, he tends to be quite ashamed of it.

Makes sense, right? I can show you plenty of evidence for why that could be true. However, in the beginning of the first bloody season, Uhura sings a song about how Spock is actually kind of a heartthrob who likes to drive women insane with how hot he is, and Spock smiles. He smiles at her, as if agreeing and being very amused by all this! This interaction goes against pretty much everything I think about Spock. So what do I do? I explain it away in the most bizzare fucking way possible. See, Uhura and Spock are friends (there is no evidence for this), and Uhura knows everything I've just told you about him (through telepathy I guess? Not like he'd ever tell her!) and she's just trolling him (why would she do that? That is NOTHING like Uhura!). I need to do some Olympics-level mental gymnastics here, the opposite of Occam's razor.

“But Danny,” I hear you say, “it's just the start of the show! They hadn't figured out his character yet!”

To which I say: you can say that about anything! You can blame it all on a bad writer for that episode, and ignore virtually any scene that doesn't jive with your headcanons. It's there, and I can't ignore it.

So...how am I different from the people that want Spock to be thar heartthrob Uhura is singing about? That evidence is as much a part of canon as my favorite lines. Well, I'm not any different, that's the thing. And all those writers I complained about also have a point.

It's kind of a nihilistic take, I know, but maybe the reason Spock is such a cultural icon is because he is...whatever you want him to be: just concrete enough to spur on your imagination, yet vague and contradictory enough to let your brain fill in the gaps.

Don't get me wrong: I absolutely do not believe in this. In my mind, it just so happens that I'm one of the, like, 5 people ever who truly understood Spock (and one of them is Jim Kirk himself). But I still think it's something worth thinking about next time you're mad at a fic.

[piosplayhouse]

I don't know if you'll answer but I need to know the lore behind sexy times with Wangxian, like is it a fanfic? why do people hate the author??

It was the longest mdzs fic posted during its time in 2021 and gained extreme notoriety for its absurdly long tag list, frequent update schedule that consistently forced anyone scrolling any of its tags to see it at the top of their page, and escalating poor, racist, and trolling authorial behavior that ultimately culminated in the author virtual1979 being suspended from ao3 for a month because she posting an author's note saying she hoped that all her haters would contract covid and die. She deleted the fic from ao3 a little while after this happened, ig bc she wasn't getting enough attention anymore, but allegedly the thing's still up on dreamwidth under strict friendslock. The fan lore article goes pretty in depth about it:

The best summary for why it pissed people off so much is really just showing you these screenshots of what the fic looked like towards the end of its life on desktop and mobile (be warned opening the full image):

From my personal experience:

from 2019 up until around 2021 the fic really was just a normal-ish, if very strangely written and kinky, wangxian porn fic about them basically just fucking around post canon and enjoying day to day life. It updated pretty frequently and had a fair amount of tags because the author was literally just tagging anything that she wrote. But like the first few hundred, maybe even a thousand tags were pretty accurate to what the fic was because of that, and were relatively manageable for the first few years that it didn't pick up any attention really.

At some point in 2021 when cql was really starting to blow up online and the tag count was starting to pile up to the point of annoyance, the fic started receiving some comments that were just like "hey can you try to cut down on tags, I don't think it's necessary to be so specific as to tag 'Korean food' or 'eggs' or whatnot". The author did not share this idea, evidently, and instead built a grudge against commenters who would tell her to delete tags, subsequently adding more and more as time went on.

As the tag count and updates increased, the content of the fic did too-- it got a lot, lot weirder. I'm sure someone's saved it all somewhere but for reference it spun out into what I can only describe as like if Rick and Morty's plot was cut to be just the parts of the show with underage/incest plotlines with All Tomorrows level sex dystopian world building exclusively to elicit the most visceral audience reaction possible. Around this time is when more people started to notice the fic and its escalating tag issues, leading them to leaving more comments complaining about it, leading to the attention seeking author spitefully adding more tags. Around this time is when she also started adding fake tags that didn't apply to the story whatsoever (sorry to disappoint, "talking vagina" was one of those. I did check) just to boost the count, take up more space on people's screens, and bait people into commenting hate for attention.

By this time, it had become a fandom-wide annoyance as she had begun to tag entirely unrelated ships, therefore putting the near-daily updating titanic of a fic at the top of any mdzs-related tag. People were outraged about this, and calls came for ao3 to step in. Ao3 waffled around for a bit as there was no official rule at the time that imposed a tag limit, so there wasn't established ground to ban virtual1979 (who btw many people suspected of being 40 whole years old due to the username and allegedly some other internet sleuthing on Facebook or something). Meanwhile, she began to tag other fandoms-- tgcf, svsss, BTS, basically anything that would get a lot of attention and draw hate with the advent of The Monstrosity suddenly drowning out all other recently updated fics of the targeted fandoms.

People had been trying to retaliate without ao3 action, though, by coding their own themes/skins that would allow someone to block a user or work and other fic writers made their own parody, the "bland times with wangxian" collection, which were minimally tagged sfw shortfics typically featuring wangxian just doing laundry or things like that. A good amount of them were actually like just fics where wwx would explain to lwj how to install custom ao3 themes and block fics that were taking up too much space on his screen. Imo it was pretty funny, but these also sparked some controversy as people disagreed with fighting annoyance with more annoyance to people trying to find content.

Either shortly before or after ao3 staff said they'd step in due to an insane amount of reports and backlash, I forgot which atp, virtual1979 began perhaps the worst tagging spree of the fic's life by changing the title, many of the tags, and the summary to a slew of racial slurs, sexually explicit imagery, and other generally offensive statements. I'm pretty sure this came after the fic was temporarily hidden once, as this update gained considerably less attention than the rest of the tagging saga, but people were still rightfully pissed about it. Ultimately, like I mentioned before, the author was then suspended for a month for wishing covid and death on her haters, and attention seemed to die down during this time to the point where she didn't really fight much more when her suspension ended and deleted her account and the work shortly after. Again she seems to have moved to dreamwidth, but most have forgotten her and I'm not sure if her presence is public at all on there. But that's the story of the worst mdzs fic ever written

[relatableblorbopoll]

Round 1 of preliminaries, group 14

The first two places get a place on the bracket

Little reminder: there will be 2 more rounds of preliminaries, the losing blorbos of this poll still have 2 chances of getting in the official bracket

Propaganda under the cut

Oz Vessalius (Pandora Hearts)

"Struggles with self-worth, adores books, ADHD (though that’s not canon—but he fits the diagnostic criteria), his strongest/most important relationships are platonic"

Sound (My School President)

"Lonely gay teenager who tries to be cool and sauve but gets adopted against his will by a group of losers and then falls for one of the losers who gets on his nerves a lot because he was nice to him once and then he gets all awkward and flustered around the boy and tries to avoid him and antagonize him but the boy sees through it and they eventually end up together and he becomes the most annoying person in love ever"

Luz Noceda (The Owl House)

"adhd. possibly some autism too. a weird girl who got outcasted by being herself and sure has some WACK coping mechanisms to deal with it. self worth is IN THE DRAIN. gnc and not straight. writes fanfic. artist. goes through a depression era when at her moms house. loves her mom also. this is canon stuff i'm saying"

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA she is so ASDHSUJD. Okay I started watching the owl house because I knew there was a WLW couple, so obviously I had to check it out. But upon watching the show, I got so emotionally connected to it, or moreso the protagonist, Luz, that it could go beyond some people's understandings... I remember that almost any scene showing her neurodivergent traits would hit SO. CLOSE. HOME. It would be unbelievable. I literally rewatched the show more than seventeen times one summer. She is just so goshdarn relatable man. She's the weird kid, has no friends, loves making anime edits, is OBSESSED with a book series, loves witches and magic and stuff, has ADHD, an attention span that is so high when she's engaging with something she likes doing and so low when she's bored. She's just so lovely. I know a lot of people found her annoying in season one but she hit close home to me. Season two was amazing as well and she started getting even MORE relatable!! She started showing her people pleasing, how much she blames herself, it was so sad but I was glad to see a character I could relate to so much on screen. I mean i personally didn't experience the loss of my father and I personally do have one friend whom I'm able to share my life with, but she's still super relatable. She can be so silly and so cool. And her impulsivity and the way she realized she doesn't know what she wants to do when she grows up also hit close home. Mwah"

Gundham Tanaka (Super Danganronpa 2)

"Goth autistic theater kid"

Saiki Kusuo (Saiki Kusuo no Psi Nan/The Disastrous Life of Saiki K)

"He's very dead inside, especially in the English Dub, and introverted. But even so, he cares a lot for his friends, even if he never says it to them and he finds them annoying most of the times. He also be nosey and just insert himself into others' situations that don't involve him (obviously, he makes it so that nobody knows he's there and, obviously, he's also complaining about this all the time). He's canonically aroace, or at least aroace spec He's canonically trans. He was born as a girl but he didn't like it so he immediately turned himself into a boy with his psychic powers. An argument could be made about him being on the autism spectrum."

Drew (The Music Freaks)

"I don't like him actually I hate him and love him st the same time in fact but. This man is so real and such a horrible jerkwad to everyone around him. I mean I can't relate to THAT but I should mention he also gets jelous easily, he is in love with his best friend who does not like him back, he's all moody and grouchy and bratty. And so am I and I hate it lol."

[samisadeangirl]

I read a post that said Dean was clearly physically abusive to Sam pre-Stanford because of how Sam is never surprised when Dean punches him when he's angry (when Sam said Dean was replacing John with Gordon, when Sam took the Impala, when Soulless!Sam confessed something was wrong with him, when Dean finds out he was using demonic powers) and how Dean took out his anger on Meg!Sam by punching Unpossessed Sam and how Sam is clearly very used to it to be able to say that Dean can hit him more if it makes him feel better. What do you think about it?

Hi Anon,

Ugh, this nonsense again?? Frankly, I file the "Dean is physically abusive" BS in the same trash can as the "John is physically abusive" BS because both bad takes are coming from people who have an agenda (i.e. Dean or John haters) and/or are projecting their own issues onto the character.

Yes, Dean does punch or even beat up Sam a few times, particularly in the early seasons, and obviously that's not good. I tend to blame behavior like this and Dean calling Sam "gay" in the early seasons on Kripke basically being a dude-bro who thought it would make Dean seem more "macho" or something, particularly since we don't see it happening much under the other showrunners. Regardless, Dean's crappy childhood and overall crappy life clearly left him with a lot of issues, including not knowing how to handle his anger well sometimes, which most of us will agree is one of his flaws.

However, I don't believe this ever reaches the level of Dean being abusive to Sam because Sam is clearly not afraid of his brother and has no problem with punching or beating up Dean on occasion too (just like neither Sam nor Dean act afraid of John or have a problem physically confronting their father). We know how Sam behaves around an actual abuser--just look at his fear and hyper-vigilance when he's near Lucifer post-Cage--and he doesn't behave that way around Dean. (Flinching when Dean knocked the books off the table in 13.18 Bring 'Em Back Alive doesn't count because anyone would flinch at a sudden loud noise--Sam also flinched when Mary slammed the Bunker door in an earlier episode, for example.)

Trying to extrapolate that this behavior means that Dean was abusive during their childhood is especially nonsensical because there's no actual evidence, just projecting. We've seen repeatedly that Sam has no compunction against complaining about how (legitimately) shitty his childhood was, including the moving around, being left alone, enforced training, overall danger, and so on, yet he never once in 15 seasons mentions being hit or otherwise physically abused as a kid by either his brother or his father, and I can't see Sam keeping quiet about something that significant if it had ever happened. This goes back to the basic rules of canon: If it didn't happen onscreen (words or actions), then it's not canon, and if it's solely based on "interpretation" or "subtext" or "coding," then it's just head-canon.

As I mentioned before, the "fans" who come up with this sort of "X is abusive" BS tend to be stans/haters who want everyone to believe that their fave is a poor widdle meow-meow and/or perfect cinnamon roll who can do no wrong and is totes abused by mean ole X, and so they try to interpret both characters' behavior to fit this agenda. They completely miss that one of the appeals of both Sam and Dean is that they're complex characters with both admirable and negative traits, not boring cardboard cutouts. Their narrative not only does a disservice to Dean, whose anger issues are far outweighed by his caring, empathy, and selflessness, but also to Sam, who is a BAMF who stood up to Lucifer and God himself, not some helpless victim--and who loves his brother more than anything.

[sirellas]

prodigy s2 thoughts after watching the whole thing. got kinda long :/

good: i love solum and the vau nakat. they were the shining light of this season. i wish there had been more. i was prepared to be meh on their storyline which was also gwyn's, just because last season was kind of meh - a recycle of that aos movie plot with the sole survivor who comes back to genocide the federation, etc etc. but this season added so much needed depth and interesting visuals! that planet is so cool!

GWYNDALA! her story and her arc this season!!! very good. child of a destroyed world who goes back in time to save them, only to find her time nemesis already there poisoning their minds against her because she's an outsider to her own people! girl what!!! and she meets her pre-evil dad who has a man bun!! and she goes through a sacred ritual to prove she belongs there and be able to save them but she can't even speak the language!!! she is probably one of my top favorite new trek characters, no joke. her being captain at the end felt earned and GOOD (i mean yeah silly too. these are criminal children who have never read a starfleet manual lol why are they getting their own starfleet ship)

on the flip side, i hate dal <3 truly the purple jack crusher.

not good: solum was at the beginning for an episode or two, and at the end for a bit. the in between episodes lacked a lot of direction from beginning to get to the end. very walkabout way when they're supposed to be solving the universe's time existence or something. i really think they found starfleet too soon in this show. they needed more time to develop as characters before the introduction of real federation people and places that are already well known to the viewer. i just found it boring when almost every "new" thing they encountered was actually just a callback to another show. prodigy has some really interesting new ideas in the context of trek but they're so few that they get overshadowed by the nostalgia bait.

not good, but to be expected [SIGH]: it's nostalgia bait but it's also new trek canon compliance bait. episode 20 of this season was basically just a prologue for picard.

okay another good thing because i told myself not to be too negative: such a pretty show omg. the landscapes of alien worlds and the space shots and the cool new aliens and monsters!!! literally this is the highlight of this show. it's so creative with alien worlds in a way other trek that's not animated can't be, but with more care for details and beauty than tas or lwd.

bad: the humanoid character animation is very bad. when people say prodigy's animation is bad, this is what they mean. which is a shame because it's such a beautifully animated show for everything besides normal people lol. another reason i think they should have spent more time away from the federation in s1 is because their human models are so bad!!! this show relies on a lot of character speech, closeup dramatic moments. and it's bad. i'm so sorry to invoke st*r w*rs in this write up but they were making 3d cartoons in 2014 with better character animation than this.

wonderful: maj'el the azula-coded vulcan hotshot pilot who makes out vulcan sloppy style with the they/them non-corporeal being

very bad: jack crusher.

bummer: wesley, beverly, jack crusher reuinion in meh animation. it's disheartening!!! those people deserve better (not jack) than this.

bummer, continued: sooo many good character moments in this show. but the character animation is bad. i love the vau nakat because they move within the limitations of this animation style because they didn't exist before, so it feels like a natural part of them. same with the other new elements designed for this show. THOSE are the characters and story elements that should be focused on, not these random starfleet people that die left and right. seriously i think all of chakotay's crew and most of janeway's just die. or get erased from time.

i've complained enough about chakotay already but one last time: why do we keep trying to make chakotay work. why do we keep trying to make robert beltran work. one is founded on racist stereotypes and the other is just a fascist. chakotay doesn't have to be here!

saw someone else say they should have dropped 5 episodes at a time and yeah. dropping 20 at once sets it up for failure tbh. i mean this whole season was obviously set up for failure, but i think its only shot is longevity among fans. which i don't see happening really. and telling people to watch it in rude guilt-y ways like i see dominating the prodigy tag on here isn't going to cut it tbh.

i think ultimately my issues with prodigy are the same with as most new trek. they present some hit-or-miss fucked up ideas they don't seem to fully understand, and then sandwich them between super heartfelt toxic positivity "we can achieve anything if we try hard enough and also love our friends enough" messages. star trek needs strong character-driven plots and intense acting to make their weird stories work and that's still prodigy's weak point.

the tragedy is i think this show WANTS to focus on the aliens and the new things it introduces instead of the nostalgia bait, but it has to sell out and put janeway in a tanktop to get adult fans interested, the same fans who yell at everyone to watch this show or else. this season would have been better with more time spent on solum, more time developing the individual characters new to this show, and less federation.

overall rating of prodigy s2: still better than any season of picard. and very pretty.

[myers-meadow]

Okay, so, I hate to slam this down on you my dear writer, truly, because this is just, so self indulgent.

but I have something called hypersomia, which is basically the opposite of insomnia. I’m always tired, no matter how much I sleep, and for the past couple of weeks I’ve been absolutely Zonked out, like sleeping through the whole day, only waking up to eat or use the bathroom, and then falling right back to sleep (that’s why I’ve been gone for so long, so, I apologize!!) so, how do you think Otis handles this with his S/O?

cause, his S/O isn’t lazy! They can’t help it, really!

do you think Otis would understand, or would he be one of those people like “….just..don’t fall asleep?”

anyways, you don’t have to do this, since this is such a self indulgent ask, and as always, feel free to take out/dilute any part of this if you do choose to write it.

hope your having a great day/night! <3 ❎-

My friend, so glad to hear from you again!

Never worry about being self-indulgent - that's all I'm doing here too ^^. I hope I'm doing this justice! Hope you're alright these days and that you had a good (restful) weekend <3. More explicit thoughts are below the read more.

Otis is an interesting case, since he isn't as overtly doting and sweet as some other slashers, and complains easily - without meaning much by it. His complaints come from a place of missing you, and of concern for you. So yes, he's an asshole sometimes - but he is that regardless or not you sleep very much. If it's not that, he'll find something else to bitch about. (ah how we love him <3) When Spaulding or RJ or anyone else says something like "just don't fall asleep" he's jumping to your defence though!! No one says a bad word about you, or they'll come to regret it.

As for other situations: expect to be dragged out of bed at random times; either to look at his art, or when he's going to the store or picking up take-out so he can ask you if you want anything, or because there's 'visitors' and he needs you to be aware of them. If you explicitly ask him to let you sleep, he won't wake you for the stupid silly shit, but he's not one to be gentle.

Otis comes to your shared room after he's made food, sinking down next to you on the bed, already talking to you as soon as he entered the room, waiting for you to wake up properly to give you food. Other times a plate will be waiting on the nightstand. I head canon his main love languages to be acts of service and quality time, so this is just a given of living with him. Cooking duties are shared between the family members, but he makes sure to always keep food you like around so you don't wake up to empty cupboards.

Quality time counts sleeping together, with arms and legs entangled. When you're asleep and he's awake, he's often working on art, or reading or writing in the same room, glancing over at you every so often - enjoying that he can do his own thing while still being close to you. Him reading in bed, leaning against the headboard, chest bare, your head in his lap, fingers playing with your hair as you sleep, pale early morning light filtering through the cracks in the curtains... 🥺 He has sketchbooks full of drawings of you, part of those drawn while you were sleeping so he could really take the time to study your features.

Sure, he may complain sometimes he doesn't get you awake as much as he'd like, but his eyes turn soft every time he looks at you on the bed while he's skinning some poor guy at the other side of the room.

Imagine getting out of bed at three in the morning, hungry and groggy, and he goes down to the kitchen with you, you sit at the table while he makes you something, yawning, scratching at his shoulder, just wearing boxers, but he doesn't say a word about you woking him up in the middle of the night.

He'll bend you over the kitchen table too, making you promise to be quiet, but teasing you until you're screaming his name and frigthening the sleeping dog.

And I don't know how explicit I can be, but... have you heard of somnophilia? I'm sure you can imagine how this'd go ^^. It's really his thing, and this way he makes sure he doesn't miss out on much. If you wake up sore, he'd enjoy it even more. If you had a wet dream, he's gonna tease you relentlessly and he'll be annoyingly smug about it if he makes you cum in your sleep.

And umm... try telling him you sleep better after an orgasm and see what happens... 😳

This got SO long I'm sorry adlkfjskldjf. I hope that some of these brightened your day and were fun to read! Thank u for always being appreaciative of me and understanding of my limits, it truly goes a long way and I always look forward to seeing the ❎ pop into my inbox <3333

xoxo

[thestobingirlie]

where do you stand on steve's parents? there's been this trend recently of ppl saying steve is just being dramatic/spoiled when he complains about his dad but considering almost everything we know about his parents is Not Good i can't buy that. like his dad cheats on his mom, his mom is paranoid about it so both parents ditch him when they go somewhere (which doesn't seem uncommon from the way steve talked about it), they didn't try to hide this from him (?) and it made cheating a literal berserk button for steve, steve is paranoid about his dad's reaction to things, steve thought he could work w his dad but this offer seems to have been rescinded, his dad wanted to "teach him a lesson" for not getting into college by having him work a minimum wage/customer service job (his parents seem like the type to consider that embarrassing imo), steve consistently says that his dad is an asshole/talks about him negatively, steve's mom is well respected and steve put her down as a reference, and when he was a baby he crawled backwards and fell down the stairs which was his first head injury. so what we're left w outside of verbal statements is zero implication that steve is close to either of his parents (outside of maybe his mom if you pushed the job reference thing), no indication that either of his parents were concerned w their son disappearing for extended periods of time and showing up seriously injured multiple years in a row, and an implication that that lack of concern/attention on their part has been the status quo since steve was a literal baby. like idk to me that seems complicated and distant at the v best.

(i got another ask very similar to this one, so idk if you accidentally sent me it twice or if someone else just has a very similar thought process, but this is me answering both)

i have so many headcanons about steve’s parents that it drives me insane. i won’t bombard you with them all, but just know, that i think about them a lot, so this post’ll probably be long.

yeah, i’ve been seeing this growing trend where people write steve as having brillant loving parents, because “canonically” steve parents aren’t bad. but i disagree. i think writing steve as having good parents goes directly against canon. and that’s not me saying you can’t write them! i love fics where steve’s parents aren’t total pricks. but i’ve seen a lot of these people also acting like they’re writing steve’s parents correctly, and that is very dumb.

the fact that steve (and his mates) know all about steve’s dads cheating, and the fact that he mentions it rather flippantly, means that it’s just a fact about his life, and something he’s likely known about for a long times. now i think this cheating directly informs his relationship with both of his parents (but again, i won’t talk too much about it, trying to keep this thing short). and nobody goes quite so insane by cheating as steve does. he goes full, burning this relationship to the ground, at just the possibility, like he doesn’t even actually witness any kissing, it’s just an arm over the shoulder, but that’s enough for steve. which means that the cheating, while steve treats it casually, is something that affects steve very deeply. and if steve goes this crazy about the possibility of him being cheated on, i can’t imagine he reacts calmly when it’s his mother getting cheated on.

i see the working for his dad thing exactly like you. i think it’s likely steve has been told his whole life he’ll work for his dad one day, and when he didn’t get into college, his dad took that promise away. people look at steve’s speech in s3, and say like “oh boohoo, he had to get a job” which isn’t what he’s saying! in s2, steve says getting into college really isn’t that important, because he can just work for his dad. then in s3, he’s saying that his life is over, and he has no future. those ideas didn’t come from nowhere. to me, it only makes sense that that’s the shit his parents told him when he didn’t get into college, and they made him get a minimum wage job where he’d be forced to serve his friends, to embarrass him. his parents, as upperclass, absolutely see that job as below them, which is why they see it as a punishment.

yeah, steve has only ever spoken of his dad in a negative light. his mom is seemingly slightly better, considering he’s only ever spoken about her in a neutral light. we know that she chases his dad around, and she’s well respected around town. none of which means she’s actually a good and attentive mother.

and omfg, that falling down the stairs thing drives me crazy. the way that it’s treated lightheartedly in the show?? at less than a year old, his parents let him crawl around, (either unwatched, or they didn’t care enough to be near him, which is insane because when my nephew is crawling around in the room i’m in, i am constantly keeping an eye on him, he could crack his head open on a side table! to think that steve’s parents allowed him to fall down the stairs honestly makes me sick) at the top of the stairs. and the worst thing is, steve wouldn’t remember that story. that story had to have been told to him, in a funny way, over and over again. he literally blames the reason he is stupid in him falling down the stairs as a baby. like what the actual fuck? that alone tells me that they aren’t good parents. and again, little steve isn’t just hearing that story and thinking “wow, that must be why i’m stupid” someone gave him that idea.

everything about steve’s parents spell out that at best, they aren’t close. and even then, that’s only when looking at what steve has directly said about them.

because people don’t just grow up in a vacuum. if you look at steve as a character, one who thinks he’s an idiot and has no future. one that is desperately searching for love and affection, one that time and again has allowed himself to get hurt, and near die, with seemingly no care about his own physical and mental state. well. he has to have gotten that from somewhere.

i definitely think some fics write steve’s parents as over the top abusers. but that doesn’t mean he has good parents (and honestly i think writing them as extremely terrible parents is more in line with canon then writing them as wonderful parents). and, with people considering he’s dramatic or spoiled, think about this. steve is one of the most family-oriented characters in the show. his ultimate dream in life, is a big, happy family that loves each other and spends time together (specifically travelling, which is interesting considering one of the few things we know about steve’s parents is that his dad travels for work, and his mom follows). this character would not believe the worst in his parents. he would not call a loving, well-meaning father a ‘grade A asshole’ or douchebag’ and to think he would, is to fundamentally misunderstand his character.

i think steve’s parents are probably at least partly neglectful, i think they probably don’t show much outward love, and they’ve allowed (and maybe even encouraged) steve to grow up incredibly insecure. steve’s felt he had to perform a certain way for love and acceptance. i think his relationship with his dad is probably worse then the one with his mom, but i doubt he has a good relationship with either.

so, yeah, if you want me to go more in depth about what i think steve’s relationship with either of his parents is like, i totally will! because i have basically developed a fully-fleshed, timeline of events for this family lmao.

[outrunningthedark]

Maybe it’s just me but I’ve never really had hope for buddie to be confirmed in the first place. Like I do ship them and if they did I would be happily surprised but really it’s just never something I’ve entertained as a possibility and I don’t know where the people who believe it will happen have been but we just don’t get ships like this imo.Maybe there’s a few exceptions even if I can’t think about this right now but when a character’s introduced as straight or nothing has been said so we assume straight and then fandom ships them with an equally assumed straight person the show and networks and all that don’t want them together because they’re ‘normal straight people’. Like in LS from the beginning TK’s introduced with a bf he wants to propose to, they don’t lose their normal character since that was him from the start. Also if it’s acknowledged that all the buddie moments were building up to a romantic relationship then it sheds light on other similar relationships in other shows or films that we were ridiculed for shipping when really it’s not so different. I really don’t know if I got my point across here and I’m sorry this got so long winded, maybe I’m just a cynic but I think my buddie dreams will have to be contented with fanart and fic.

It's definitely not just you who has felt that way, lol. We hear it all the time, just more aggressively. To expand on what you said, the biggest piece of "evidence" in favor of this argument is that it's been six seasons and neither one's sexuality has been altered or allowed to evolve in the slightest. And it's not the opportunity wasn't there, right? Maddie and her "boy crush on Eddie" remark or saying she wouldn't want Josh to date her little brother. Then TK (falsely) assuming Buck was being flirtatious. Tim (he was the main show runner those years) could have said any of that meant something moving forward (maybe a "Buck is canonically bi, but we haven't explored that part of his story...we're waiting 'til it feels appropriate"), but the only part he addressed was the TK thing, and he connected to Tarlos since Carlos wasn't physically present. Compare that to Nancy becoming the first bi character of the 911verse. She came out while in a relationship with Mateo. She is still in that same relationship now. The show isn't trying to "prove" she's bisexual by having her hook up with or date a woman. It's just a part of who she is. And then there's the fact that all four (technically five, with David) queer men of the 911 verse (Michael, Josh, TK, Carlos) are written as gay, not bi. Tim & co. appear to have some *opinions* (thus far) about bi men, it seems. If they date a woman? Straight. Date a man? Not into women (never were). I will continue to say, though, that people are giving the network too much grief. The canon couples very rarely do anything intimate as the seasons progress, with Henren as the outlier because 6x06 was a flashback, so *if* anyone with influence was concerned about the optics, Tim has an "excuse" not to push things too far - that's not what the focus is anymore. And even *if* someone at the network was all "idk about this :/" that's still on Tim for dodging the discussion six years in. Get out ahead of it and the message would have been received much sooner - if you're against even one of these guys getting with a dude...this ain't the show you should be watching. Move along. (Tim has no problem putting LS fandom down, so I don't see why he'd act different with OG. TBH, it's either his own biases about Buck and Eddie as men that is keeping him from making them canon or it's similar to his reaction when the Tarlos fandom "complains" - he knows what's gonna happen if Buddie goes canon; they will dominate the discussion - he doesn't want the fandom giving their opinions or asking for content more than they do already.)

[kimium]

(For the fandom meme!) 1, 12, 14, 22

(From this ask HERE)

Thanks for the ask, Shreedle! I'm so excited to answer!

Also, spoilers for the following series: SDR2 and Fruits Basket.

The character everyone gets wrong.

Teruteru Hanamura from SDR2. Look, everyone focuses on his perverted nature, which I do not blame them. The series goes out of the way to focus on that part of him quite heavily in the introduction and beginning part of SDR2.

What people neglect to see is the tragedy of Teruteru's backstory. All he wanted to do was cook and make his mother happy. He wanted to ease her burdens and pain. Sure, he embellished his accomplishments but he's a teenager. Of course he's going to hype himself up to be "cooler" because he's afraid of his peers rejecting him. Heck, adults do the same thing, so I do not hold that too much against Teruteru.

Canon also seems to ignore the potential Teruteru holds as the Ultimate Chef. Yes, they used it for Ch. 1 and the Trial, but there was so much more they could have done with it.

This has led me to form my Secret Teruteru Agenda. Every time I write him I write Teruteru as someone whose love language is food and cooking for his friends. I write him as a little flirty but as he grows older he realizes the errors of his perverted teenage self. Basically, I'm secretly 100% advocating Teruteru in my stories. I'm not sorry.

12. The unpopular character that you actually like and why more people should like them.

I'm not sure if I should read this as "a character that people find polarizing" or "a character most would not say are their favourite." Regardless, I'm going to answer both.

A character that I like but is polarizing is Akito from Fruits Basket. I'd never, EVER try to defend Akito's actions through majority of the series. What Akito does to the Soma family, particularly the Zodiac + Tohru is unacceptable. Akito is an abusive, horrible monster through the entire series and I'm perfectly fine with multiple characters not forgiving Akito in the end. What I can say about Akito however is, I find the parallel of Akito's backstory to the Zodiac fascinating.

The Zodiac in Fruits Basket ultimately represents "immortality" and "never changing". Change is a part of life and the Zodiac not allowing relationships to organically grow ultimately makes it a curse.

Akito is a victim of parental abuse and neglect from her mother. Studies show that victims of abuse are likely to continue the cycle, thus creating something that never changes.

Again, not trying to excuse Akito's actions. Just saying I find the parallels to Akito and the Zodiac very fascinating. I also think Akito has a lot of character depth to explore, which I'm glad the series tried to touch upon.

For a character that most wouldn't say is their favourite but I like, I pick Hirotsu from Bungou Stray Dogs. I love older characters who are badass. I also love that he's had to deal with a lot of BS (from Soukoku) yet he has survived that era of his life.

14. That one thing you see in fics all the time

Well, this ask is called "choose violence" ask game so I think this means I can complain about the main thing that turn me off from a fic? If so...

Dialogue not on a different line. Please, I already have to suffer through this pain at work at least twice a year. Don't do this to me during my free time.

22. Your favourite part of canon that everyone else ignores

My favourite part of canon that most ignore is when I see regular characters in a fantasy/shonen/magical power setting and I think "I wonder what they think of the situation?" It doesn't matter if they don't know or know if the main characters have powers or not. I'm just so into Outsider POV as a writing trope that I consistently think this. Bonus points when the magic is a secret though. I love that with all my heart.

[queen-scribbles]

For the OTP asks, #1, 19, 29, 41, 50 for Vikkari and Arue?

1. Who wakes up first?

Vikkari, but not by much. They like to have tea/coffee and watch the sunrise together, so they're both early risers.

19. Who puts their cold hands/feet on the other?

Well, since it's canon that Arue runs really hot, and I countered that by making Vikkari run cool, this one goes to my boy. He's not super cold, but to her it feels like it. He also doesn't do it much on purpose, but it will happen unintentionally in his sleep sometimes.

29. Who licks the spoon when they’re baking brownies?

Both. Vikkari's usually the one doing the baking, mind you, but Arue is a ready and able kitchen helper, and he's happy to share that step with her. It usually turns into kissing the chocolate off each other's faces, which takes a while. Chocolate is stubborn. Neither of them is complaining, though.

41. Who is the big spoon/little spoon?

See, this one's tricky, since Vikkari's on Azata path, so they both have wings and spooning is kind of a pain. I'm very close to saying his can go intangible/incorporeal for precisely this sort of scenario, but in the meantime... What they usually do for cuddling is Arue leaning against something with a low back, like the arm of a sofa(since her wings join at her shoulders and Vikkari's are mid-back, so she can do this without it hurting) and Vikkari laying with his face on her chest/stomach. She likes to play with his hair, he likes to listen to her heartbeat. Win-win.

50. Who gets overwhelmed by small acts of kindness?

Oh, that's Arueshalae, for sure. Vikkari is in the habit of doing small acts of kindness for people anyway--the figures he carves, doing a chore for them he knows they don't like, baking favorite cookies on bad days--so he does them more. Since it's a habit of his, he'd be appreciative but not surprised if someone did some small kindness for him. Arue never really stops being delightedly surprised by small acts of kindness people do for her.

OTP Asks

[clonewarsarchives]

COMING OF AGE (#123, FEB 2011)

Ahsoka Tano has grown immeasurably since she first became Anakin Skywalker’s Padawan, actress Ashley Eckstein reveals how her time on the show has been a learning curve and why it’s time for Ahsoka to get tough! Words: Jonathan Wilkins

Star Wars Insider: You’ve got a new costume and a new look on the show. As a successful clothes designer yourself, did you have any input in the designs?

Ashley Eckstein: I didn’t have any input, but I thought they did a fantastic job. I’m in love with her new outfit and I hope to be able to sell pieces based on it because it looks fantastic. What girl would not want Ahsoka’s new tights?

So could we see something like that in the Her Universe line at some point?

Who knows? It’s not even in planning stages, but it’s on a wish list of things I’d like to do. I joke with Dave [Filoni, supervising director of Star Wars: The Clone Wars] that he actually is quite the fashion designer. Not only did he knock it out the park with his Plo Koon and Ahsoka T-shirt for Her Universe, now he has designed Ahsoka’s new look.

And she has two lightsabers.

Two lightsabers are always better than one! I thought that was awesome that she got a second lightsaber. One of them is shorter, almost like a lightsaber dagger, which I thought was really cool.

Do you think that’s a sign of her toughening up?

She’s definitely toughening up. She’s spent so much time with Anakin, Obi-Wan, and Plo Koon that she’s taking on their fighting skills, especially Anakin’s. Ahsoka has no fear, no fear at all. She just goes right at it. Sometimes Anakin is so spontaneous that he doesn’t think about the Jedi way of doing things. Obi-Wan is more by the book. Ahsoka is definitely a combination of them both.

Is Anakin a bad influence?

I wouldn’t say Anakin is a bad influence, but he’s not necessarily the best influence for promoting the Jedi way. Anakin does things his own way, so Ahsoka has definitely become more like Anakin. At times she acts in ways that would be against what they would teach at the Jedi Temple. But thinking outside the box like Anakin and Ahsoka do is sometimes the best way to accomplish what you want. You have to take the good with the bad.

The upcoming Mortis episodes are very different from what we have seen to date. What was your reaction when you first read those scripts?

The scripts of the three Mortis episodes really blew my mind. I couldn’t believe that they were allowing us to tackle that storyline. There are some heavy questions about Anakin and who he is. It really affects the movies and ties them into our series. I think that’s what so nice about our show—as we go along, we help explain things that happen in the movies and answer people’s questions about why things are the way they are.

When we first started, some fans complained because our show would be part of Star Wars canon, but now I think they welcome the fact that they’re getting some answers they always wanted.

How did you approach these episodes as an actress?

I had to approach them differently because Ahsoka goes through many personality transformations during this story. She grows up, and she goes through some extremely tough times. Just having to explore those different personalities, but still keeping them true to Ahsoka, was quite difficult for me.

There was one scene I wasn’t quite hitting on the first try. Usually when we record an episode we only do three takes of every line, and then we move on. It’s rare to do more than three takes of something, but this one particular scene we were doing over and over again. I was getting really frustrated that I couldn’t nail it. I was so blessed to have James Arnold Taylor [Obi-Wan] in the studio with me. He came over and said, “Okay Ashley, calm down, you can do this. Try it this way,” which was completely different than how I was doing it. It worked and that’s the take they ended up using. It’s like going to school every time you go into a recording session. I’m constantly learning from the cast.

The animation in that particular scene just blew my mind. The animators continue to raise the bar, but they really went to town for the Mortis episodes. There’s some stunning shots that we truly haven’t seen before.

Would you like to explore other aspects of Ahsoka in the future?

As an actress you always look for challenging opportunities and roles. Now that the cast have all become so familiar with our characters, it can become routine because playing your character becomes second nature. We’ve been working on the show for five years, so you automatically know how your character would say certain lines. To have opportunities that are challenging and [that] give you the chance to stretch your talents is definitely something that I look forward to. Putting Ahsoka into different situations, whether she seems evil, or whether she grows up, or whatever might happen to her in the future, is something that can be very rewarding to perform.

Does it really seem like five years since you started working on the show or has it gone really quickly?

It has gone by very quickly. Where we [the cast] really notice it is in our friendships. We’ve gotten to know each other really well, and we’re like a family. It’s surpassed just a professional relationship where you arrive, shake hands, and say, “Hi, good to see you again,” to where you walk in and give that person a hug and say, “How’s it going? How’re your wife and your children?” That’s where I realize we’re creating a family here similar to our characters and how close our characters are. The Jedi might not like attachments, but we’ve definitely become attached to each other.

What sort of direction did Dave Filoni give for these episodes?

Dave’s direction was imperative for these episodes. It always is, but [especially for] these in particular because they were such a stretch for our characters. We were coming out of our element and we had to give more dramatic performances, so we had to rely on Dave to paint that picture for us. We also went to a new location that we’d never been to before, so it really was uncharted territory! There was certainly a dramatic, intense feeling inside the studio for this story arc! Everybody was very serious, and we were all very into our characters. Matt Lanter, who is such a fantastic actor, takes his character acting very seriously. I like to watch him before he starts recording getting into character; that’s really cool. These are huge episodes for Anakin; he’s the centerpiece of these episodes. Matt has the weight of the story on his shoulders, so to see him get into character and go to that place was amazing to watch.

Did you expect the show to be so challenging on a dramatic level?

I certainly didn’t expect this level of drama. We knew that we were going to be tackling storylines that were set during the Clone Wars, but I don’t think I ever imagined that we would play such an integral part in the overall story of Star Wars.

You have said that Dave is your master and you’re his Padawan. What’s the best advice he’s given you?

To trust my instincts. That was one thing he wanted from the very beginning. He wanted me to bring a lot of myself to Ahsoka, and he still encourages that. The fact that he trusted me to help him create this new character for Star Wars is something I feel honored about. That Dave and George would be open to listening to my opinion is great. They let me bring a lot of suggestions and my own personality to the characterization of Ahsoka.

Dave leads by example. To see how far he’s come professionally over the course of these five years has been incredible. I think he’s just tapping into his talents—he is such a talented man and to watch him, he won’t take no for an answer. If George Lucas says, “Dave you need to go create this,” even if it seems against all odds and has never been done on television before, Dave will find a way to do it, and he’ll do it the best he possibly can. He encourages me to do just that. He’s really a fantastic Jedi Master for me to follow—I’ve learned a lot from him.

Nika Futterman said that she’d like to see Asajj Ventress in a rematch with Ahsoka. Why do you think Ahsoka would win?

Well, Ventress is pretty tough, but Ahsoka’s come a long way since they first fought. I think that it would be a tough battle, but Ahsoka’s got two lightsabers now so it’s definitely more of an even match. I can imagine my tears if Ahsoka lost, because I’ve become so emotionally invested in her that the thought of her not being around is very sad. But what’s the exact quote? “Always in motion is the future?” Who knows what will happen?

Ahsoka’s come a very long way since the Star Wars: The Clone Wars movie. Where would you like to see her go next?

I don’t have any say in the storylines, so I don’t really know her overall story. I think she’s truly going in the direction that I think the fans want her to go in, and she’s maturing in ways that I think they were hoping. I like that she has more responsibility and she’s getting tough. I have to say we have such fantastic writers and obviously Dave is such an amazing supervising director, so I trust where they’re going to take her. They haven’t made any mistakes so far and I don’t see them ever making a mistake with her because they’re truly invested in the character of Ahsoka. I’m honored to be a part of the ride.

[bunybunn]

At this point I became allergic to people in this fandom saying that a character 'had so much potential' because what they usually mean is 'character didn't behave the exact way I wanted'. Three easy examples are c!Niki, c!Philza and c!Technoblade.

When you hear that about c!Niki character it comes from the people who are L'Manberg stans and who believe that actually there was no reason why she would go against L'Manberg and why she would be mad at c!Tommy. For them c!Niki is basically the citizen of L'Manberg who always stays loyal to that country and goes against people who are against it. The Manberg arc is where they saw the potential. The thing is c!Niki is an amazing character and cc!Niki did a great job with making her character. If you look at what her character went through her decisions make sense. She felt abandoned by c!Wilbur and was trying to deal with his death only for L'Manbergians to ignore her voice and not listen to her. After L'Manberg was gone she was still full of sadness and anger and c!Tommy became her scapegoat because let's be honest most of the problem on this server during L'Manberg time was somewhat connected to him. Luckily for her she found a place where she matters. Syndicate was the thing she needed to heal and she was willing to give them the same loyalty she once gave to L'Manberg.

When you hear that about c!Philza there can be few reasons for it. First one that seems to die down is the need for SBI to be canon family, those people just wanted to see c!Phil acting like a father to c!Tommy and when that didn't happen they got upset. That a very weak reason. Second are those who claims that c!Phil just does whatever c!Technoblade told him which is untrue but it's easier to complain about that then try to understand his character. The last reason I will show you here is when they didn't really listened to lore crumbs that cc!Phil gives us. He is really good at explaining his character and reasoning behind his actions so if you did understand something during lore it's good to listen to the guy who makes this character. Unfortunately a lot of people prefer to just complain about what cc!Philza is saying.

When you hear it about c!Technoblade it's usually just because he didn't reacted how they wanted him to. Just think about stuff like his reaction to c!Tommy death or his apology to c!Tubbo. Another even dumber reason is when c!Technoblade isn't on the side of their favourites. I think the best example of this is the way there is many Bedrock bros fans who started hating on c!Technoblade after he no longer was with c!Tommy. They could see that c!Techno is an fun character but they never bother to see his motivation and reasoning

Basically none of them are waisted potential in anyway they just didn't acted as you wanted them too.