#idk other relevant tags idk how to tag shit

[m4yday-m4yday]

every time a cis person gets asked their pronouns and gives a very vague answer like "the ones in the english language" or like "cmon do i really need to answer that" or smth i just think thats like. the queerest shit. like that's the most genderqueer shit ive ever heard. like honey, that's the opposite of what you're going for just give the "nice" conservative man your pronouns so he'll leave you alone. or you know.. go off genderqueer icon.

[shikiimisaki]

*walks in, removes eye protective wear and hangs up labcoat after a long day of Observing One Piece Ship Discourse On Twitter fieldwork* so while it may appear strange that people really readily say "luffy is canon aroace/doesnt care about any of that" whenever someone makes a truther post about luffy/hancock and then those same people may turn around and share a bunch of posts about gay ships involving luffy, it's actually more of a symptom of the fact that while most people posting said gay luffy ships are completely aware that their ships will not/could not/probably even should not actually be canon and are deep in the hypothetical, many dudebro types who ship luffy with hancock are completely convinced that their ship absolutely should or even will become canon, simply because he is a male protagonist and she is an extremely attractive woman who is interested in him, and it makes "no sense" for luffy to not go with her, either because they think that is how Stories Should Work (heteronormativity) or because they want Coolguy Chad Luffy and think having a hot woman obsessed with him like, adds to his coolness points in some vague objectifying way, which got more and more misogynistic sounding the longer i tried to find a way to word that sentence. this last interpretation does disservice to both of their characters and frankly, completely doesn't comply with any of the reasons hancock fell in love with him in canon in the first place. if you look for more then a minute at either of their characters you can tell that in canon it would never work, not even just because luffy is completely and entirely disinterested and in all likelihood that will never change, but because although I would say hancock's love is based on real traits of his she respects and was deeply moved by, she idolizes him and her fantasies about being with him involve shit he wouldn't actually do or say. she loves him because he's, literally, the only man she's ever met- and in the current day, often only person she knows across the board besides literally her sisters, who doesn't immediately treat her like a sexual object- and he only doesn't because of his fundamental and absolute disinterest in her, romantically or sexually. they exist in a paradox, and that paradox is used as a source of comic relief. what they have going on would be LESS interesting if he liked her in that way. if he was interested in her she would not like him in the first place. this got really off topic sorry. what im saying is this is why 1 person posting about how luffy and hancock are Totally Canon Endgame because who could turn down such a bad bitch!!!!!!! is a mischaracterization statement that prompts response or backlash in a way that 20 people posting zolu making out sloppy style in a corner completely aware that they are indulging in a mirror dimension and He Would Not Fucking Say That is not

[e77y]

Trying to fix my resume ☝️🤓 Small problem: I sound like a loser no matter what

[waywardsalt]

hiiii i snapped again long rant abt totk's shit story under the cut

i hate totk's story so fucking much this was going to be a much longer post but i do not care i hate how it relies so much on the player already giving a damn and hardly does any work to make you care any more, i hate how link's sheer lack of any indication of how he feels about anything beyond basic reactions to his environment just makes him feel like a nothing character in the story, i hate how zelda was sanded down to be just perfect and inoffensive and dutiful, i hate how sonia literally existed to motivate rauru and zelda, i hate how ganondorf, despite having the most interesting animations and being the most entertaining character, had such nebulous motivations and lackluster connection to the actual world he's in, i hate how any character arc that existed was so vapid and shallow, i hate how it seemed so afraid to do literally anything complicated with its themes or characters, i hate how nothing important changed in any meaningful way, i hate how fucking insulting it feels when it's come after stories like ocarina of time, majora's mask, twilight princess, skyward sword, wind waker, pretty much any of the other fucking zelda games and is fucking $70 and yet its story and characters just feel worse than anything that came before it. i watched the scene of link and zelda meeting back up for the first time in skyward sword and the emotion from both link and zelda and the sense of history between them the dialogue manages to communicate and how it relates back to the rest of the story and while i loved it it also just made me so mad how this game's hd version came out before totk and totk just was so much fucking worse despite all of this proof that they could do otherwise

[miss-oranje-disco-dancer]

the handyman

pairing: neighbor! joel miller x f! reader

cws/tags: pure smut, DADDY KINK, oral m & f receiving, p in v (unprotected), an abundance of pet names, reader is under 21 but over 18 (for the plot), reader is kinda stupid, big dick joel, not beta read

summary: pwp honestly. basically a porn plot? idk joel comes over to reader's grandma's house to fix the smoke detector (which she broke) and he teaches her how to be a good girl.

a/n: don't ask why reader lives with her grandma, originally this was going to be longer and it was going to be more relevant

join my taglist!

wc: 2k

You open the front door to and see an unfamiliar man standing at your doorstep – 40 something, jeans and a t-shirt, progressively more handsome the longer you look at him. You size him up, trying to decide what his intentions are.

“Whatever it is you’re selling – I don’t wanna buy it," you say.

He opens his mouth, but you continue before he can say anything. “I don’t even live here anyway, and before you ask she’s not home, so you can’t talk to her.”

“I ain’t here to sell you shit.”

“Well, I don’t wanna sign anything either.”

“Good. ‘Cause I don’t want you to.”

“Then why are you here? I don’t have a lot of time before One Tree Hill comes back on, so make it quick.”

“I’m Joel. I live down the street. I’m here to fix your smoke detector.”

“Oh, in that case, come on in,” you say, changing your demeanor entirely as you realize that you really need to get in this man’s good graces.

“So, you’re ‘handyman’ grandma’s been talking about?” you ask, as you lead him to the kitchen.

“She’s been talking about me?”

“Yeah. She talks about you like you’re her boyfriend.”

“Oh yeah? What’d she say?”

“I dunno. I wasn’t really listening. I thought it might just be some dementia-induced delusion.”

“Well, she’s told me quite a bit about you.”

“Good things?”

“Better than the things she says about all of your other family members.”

“You know what they say, ‘if you don’t want people to talk badly about you, then you shouldn’t ruin Christmas.’”

“Uh-huh,” he says, only half-listening as he approaches the scene of the crime - a broken smoke detector, now just wires and plastic, lays on the kitchen counter. He studies it for a minute, furrowing his brows. “Jesus Christ. What happened?”

“It just fell off the wall.” You shrug, acting nonchalant and hoping he doesn't notice your shifty eyes from across the kitchen.

“No way,” he says – not with curious incredulity, but knowing disapproval.

He turns to you and crosses his arms over his chest, and engages you in a short staring contest.

“What?” you ask, feigning innocence.

Joel swipes the dish rag from the countertop and reveals the evidence you’d hidden under it like he's performing a magic trick.

He holds up the hammer, displaying it to you. He looks mostly disappointed in you - in an oddly paternal way, but also slightly amused, likely by how poorly you’d conducted this whole covert operation of yours. “Why’d you break it?”

“I didn’t break it.”

“Kid, I’m not an idiot. Just fess up, so we can fix it and move on.”

“Are you gonna tell on me?”

“You afraid of your meemaw’s wrath?” he teases.

“I don’t want her to be disappointed in me.”

“Should she be?”

“I didn’t mean to break it. I just wanted it to stop beeping.”

“It’s supposed to beep.”

You give him a pathetic pout that you hope works. It doesn’t. It only makes his gaze harden.

“I’m sorry. It was just one cigarette, and I really, really didn’t want to get in trouble… so when it went off, I panicked and hit it with the hammer.”

He shakes his head and sighs. “You’re a piece of work, kid. Making me come out here on my lunch break-”

“-I’m sorry," you interrupt, "I won’t do it again, so just please, please don’t tell on me.”

“Why shouldn’t I?”

“I could offer you something… something to show my infinite remorse for my actions and my infinite gratitude to you for fixing the mess I made.”

He raises his eyebrows. “Okay. What’s your offer?”

His smirk makes you think you’re on the same page so you get down on your knees in front of him, but when you look up into his eyes, what stares back at you is complete bewilderment.

“Get up,” he says, offering you his hand.

“I thought…”

“I don’t think you were thinking,” he says condescendingly.

“You’ve gotta learn to listen to the thoughts up here,” he says, tapping you on your temple. “Not the ones down here.” His finger brushes against your clit.

The way he speaks to you only makes it worse, the throbbing, aching feeling between your legs. You can’t find a single thing to say that isn’t ‘please’ followed by some utterly depraved suggestion.

Joel turns back to his work, somehow unfazed by the interaction.

“Normally, I’d think this sounds a bit too chauvinistic to ask, but since you owe me, can you get me a beer from the garage?”

Oh fuck. Three strikes, you’re out.

“We don’t have any beer.”

“You sure about that? I just put a six pack in there last week.”

“Maybe my grandma drank them already…”

“Your grandmother said that Budweiser tastes like cat piss.”

“It does.”

“Yeah? And how would you know that? I thought you weren’t 21 yet. Who’s buying you alcohol?”

“I didn’t know they were yours.”

“Uh-huh, but I bet your grandma would’ve told you they were if you’d asked her. But she doesn’t know about your ‘habits’, does she?”

“No,” you admit weakly.

“Come here.”

You step towards him, and wait for him to give you an earful or to threaten to reveal your secrets.

“I’m reconsidering your little offer.”

Your face lights up at the opportunity to make things right, to expunge this from your record.

“So if I did that, we’d be cool, right?”

“Depends on how good you are, darlin’.”

For a second time that afternoon, you sink to your knees, but this time, Joel gives you the go-ahead. You try to balance the coyness you’ve seen women in the movies demonstrate with the eagerness you feel inside as you undo his belt.

With his jeans halfway down his legs, you place your palm over the bulge in his boxers and feel him twitch at your touch. When his cock is finally released from its confines, you try not to be too intimidated. Your confidence is falling but your arousal only rises.

You begin by wrapping your hand around him and stroking his length, setting a steady pace. Then, you tease the tip with kitten licks and hear his breath hitch when you flick your tongue across his slit.

There’s no way you can take him all the way down your throat – you’d probably bruise your esophagus. Still, you try, sputtering and letting saliva drip down your chin. You can’t help but feel a bit proud of yourself when he has to put his hand on the counter to steady himself.

“Hold on, sweetheart,” he says through heavy breaths.

You pull away, upset at what you perceive to be a failure. “You didn’t cum…”

“I almost did, baby girl, but I don’t want to yet.”

You feel a bit pathetic imagining how you must look from his perspective, with your teary eyes, begging him to let you go on.

“You wanna give me a good apology, right?” He nods slowly, looking into your eyes, prompting you to do the same.

“Then, I want you to come sit on the couch with me.”

He takes your hand and walks you to the living room, patronizing since the two rooms are connected. When Joel sits down on the couch, he pulls you into his lap.

“I was thinkin’ about what I said before – how you’re not using your head. You could be such a smart girl – a good girl - if only you could think with your brain. You just need a little bit of help.”

You can feel his hard cock poking through his boxers and rubbing against your pussy. It’s hard to resist the urge to roll your hips, just to get a bit of friction, a bit of relief.

His hand finds its way between your legs and he asks, “What’s gonna happen if I put my hand in your panties right now, baby? Are you gonna be wet?”

While you try to form a response that doesn’t make you sound too desperate, his fingers toy with your waistband. “Remember, baby, good girls are honest,” he whispers into the shell of your ear.

“Yeah, I am… wet.”

“For me?” His hand meets your bare skin and finds that you are, indeed, dripping wet. “Did I do this to you?”

“Uh-huh.” You arch into his touch, shamelessly using his fingers for your own pleasure.

“If you want more, you have to be a good girl.”

With the promise of a reward, you follow his implied instructions and still your hips.

“I’ll be good. I promise.”

He takes your word for it and begins rubbing circles on your clit. You could cum from that alone but he slips a finger inside you, curling it upward to meet that special spot.

Joel expects a response from you, but not the one he gets.

A single word: “Daddy…”

“Oh, baby. I get it now. Been needin’ daddy to take care of you.”

He’s right. You do need this. He can take care of you, you can be good for him. When he fucks you with his fingers, you swear you could fall in love with him.

But when he takes them away, you cry.

“Shh… It’s okay,” he says, wiping the tears from your cheeks. “I wanna do something else. It’s gonna make you feel even better.”

Before you have a chance to think, your panties are on the floor and his head is between your thighs. You can feel his breath on your clit when he speaks. “I want you to be a good girl and cum on my face – can you do that?”

“Yes, daddy.” The word leaves your mouth more naturally than it probably should, it's almost instinctual.

Joel wastes no more time talking, knowing his tongue can convey much more when it runs along your folds, and his lips can elicit a better response when they suck lightly on your clit.

The only thing you have for him is moans accompanied by breathless chanting of “daddy, daddy, daddy.”

He hums into your core, an affirmative, a reminder that you are a good girl. You can do this.

You can cum for him. You will cum for him – there is nothing that can stop the euphoria that rushes through you. It’s the kind that makes your legs shake and your eyes roll back into your head.

Joel was right – the orgasm clears your mind. But the realization that the situation you’ve ended up in – naked on your grandmother’s couch with her middle-aged neighbor who is supposed to be fixing your mistake, not helping you make another - is a precarious one. Being a smart girl seems to be a double edged sword.

Euphemistically, speaking.

In truth, it’s Joel’s cock that’s fully-sheathed inside you. Pain and pleasure mix as he thrusts in and out of you. You swear he might split you open, but even if he quite literally tore you to pieces, you'd die happily.

“You’re takin’ it so well,” he tells you, “knew you’d be a good girl.”

And maybe it’s the praise, or maybe it’s his thumb on your clit, but you’re rapidly approaching a second orgasm. All you can do is hold onto Joel, dragging your nails down his back. He bites your neck in response, and hopefully he doesn’t intend for it be a deterrent, because it only serves to heighten your pleasure.

He slows his pace, but his hips slam into yours harder, filling the air with the sound of skin slapping against skin in a steady rhythm.

“Whose pussy is this?”

You can’t breathe when the weight of his cock knocks the wind out of you, so he stops, allowing you to answer.

“Yours, daddy!”

His lips on yours are your cue to cum – or so you hope because it happens regardless of your will.

He has the sense to pull out and let his release spill onto your stomach.

You sigh, relaxing into the couch. “I need a cigarette,” you say.

“Did you not learn anything from today?”

“Mm-mm,” you say grinning dumbly.

Caught up in a daze – absolutely enraptured by his need to have you – he made the mistake of fucking you stupid.

[mxtxfanatic]

I already explained the history of friction between different readers on Jiang Cheng’s character, but now I’d like to address the “neutral,” “idk what’s happening but why can’t we just get alone?” readers: mdzs may be a book with raunchy sex, comedic moments, an over-the-top drama queen, a group of cute ducklings, a cast of goofy-at-times adults, etc etc, but at the end of the day, this is a book about how a bunch of grown ass adults, victimized by a system of normalized injustice that orphaned most of them as children, got together to defend that very same system of injustice. If you are in this fandom and consider any discussion on how every adult save for like 3 actively aided and abetted the repeated massacres of innocent people that happens throughout the story to be “anti” or “negative” behavior, then why are you here? If you are upset that people enjoyed reading about a canonical villain and decided to discuss him and his canonical villain role in a public forum meant for that discussion, then why are you in the public forum???

Not everyone enjoyed the book because they wanted to get in on what roles this new set of characters would fill in a coffee shop au. Not everyone read the book just to figure out what new ship they wanted to obsess over. Some of us read the book because we liked the heavy themes, and we want to discuss said themes with others. The tags should be for everyone, regardless of whether or not you like a character in a “positive way,” but if you don’t want to see certain content that is relevant to the book, it is up to you to filter it out or form your own space. You don’t get to police fandom as a “positive vibes only!” space, especially not ones founded around a source material dealing with themes of war and genocide. Ain’t shit positive about that! This isn’t The Care Bears!

[isa-ghost]

(BTW I'm very down with wanting sapnap being dead for being sapnap I just wanted to be sure I was hip qirh the kids and pissed for the Correct reason)

DLSKFLSJFSKF SORRY I WAS OUT TOUCHING GRASS WHEN YOU SENT ME YOUR FIRST ANON.

Also in hindsight I worded this answer like you have 0 clue who Shartnap is but I'm gonna keep it that way for anyone who sees this and Doesn't Go Here At All.

Here's a good overview post abt Crapnap from my friend.

This Specific Instance we're wishing death upon him more than the default amount because he's participating in Squidcraft, a Latino-made/hosted and primarily Latino-played Minecraft competition with a big cash prize. (Aka that irrelevant ass sweaty ass racist Texan is literally only playing to win more money he doesn't need. He also won last year's SC 🙄). Last year there were a few non-Latino players (like him), but this year there were a BUNCH, most likely thanks to the existence of QSMP. There were Americans, Brits, and French just to name a few!

My mutual @pixiecaps has been the most outspoken on my dash about the dumbshit being in Squidcraft, so I'll tag them here and they can add any additional context they see fit in the reblogs or replies. They might have insight or perspective that I don't bc they're Latino and I'm not. 👍🏻 And this was baby's first Squidcraft for me purely bc QSMP members were in it, so idk much abt previous ones whereas Pix might.

It's annoying enough that Crapnap is in the competition at all, but yesterday a bunch of other previous DSMP members (Philza, Tubbo, Foolish, to name a few) all died in one of the games together and were thus eliminated. Shatnap's petty nobody poopy ass was literally CHEERING when they all died, which is poor sportsmanship for one (he has none tho let's be real here), and two: No Toxicity is one of the competition rules. So by all means, he should be investigated by the Squidcraft mods and (hopefully) disqualified for his bullshit.

And some additional context bc my guess is this all plays into why he was so outwardly toxic like that: Tubbo has outspokenly hated the Dr*m Team for a while now. He also had direct beef with Shatnap bc the dumbfuck tried migrating to Kick (basically Twitch for bigots & predators, to say the least).

AND, most relevant and recent: Philza was just on Tommy and Jack Manifold's podcast Shut Up I'm Talking about a week ago, and on the Patreon version of the episode the three of them talked about how Dr*m is a piece of shit, they all hate him, and how nasty and weird he was behind the scenes during DSMP, especially to Tommy.

Dr*m Team 100% knows this was all said, bc a) some of it was clipped ofc and b) Dr*m fucking posted the DSMP world download as damage control after people started talking abt what was said on the episode bc god forbid he look bad and get negative attention for 2 seconds. He's been begged by numerous people for LITERALLY LIKE 3 YEARS to drop the world download and only JUST did it to do damage control and make himself look all good and innocent or At Least distract people (spoiler alert: didn't work, he just made himself look even more pathetic. He basically gave the people who correctly hate him a gift in addition to clowning on him).

Shartnap literally lives with Dr*m, so there's no way he doesn't know Tommy, Jack & Phil have spoken some of the truth TECHNICALLY PRIVATELY. IT WAS ON PATREON BEHIND A PAYWALL.

Soooo yeah. As usual, Dr*m Team fucking sucks ass (many such cases, no one is surprised). Crapnap is the ""last remaining"" of the Dr*m Team to not have some Extreme horrific controversy and that's what keeping him able to be in competitions like this, rather than isolated to a shitty corner with the other two dumbfucks. (CLARIFICATION: He DOES have controversies. You can assume what some of them are based off of things said in that post I linked. Plus the Kick thing. But in comparison to Dr*m [a groomer, among other things], and George [sexual predator, among other things], Shatnap is ""the least awful"" of them, which is almost definitely why he's still ""welcome"" in competitions like this one).

Additional silly context: I'm calling him variations of shit because he openly admitted sometime earlier this year that he shit himself (or at least sharted) on stream.

[freddie-77-ao3]

sup yall we're vibing here

anyway. hey, my name's freddie, and i'm finally trying to write an actual intro/master post which... we'll see how this goes.

important stuff is highlighted in orange.

so, basic stuff:

as I said, my name's freddie. he/him pronouns. i'm a college student (majoring in accounting, might add a psych minor). not gonna say which college but i'm currently in california.

i've been on tumblr since 2019 i think? not under this account, this started as a fandom account and then spiralled out of control... really fast. um, my regular tumblr which i've not actually opened in ages is @chronicchthonic14 so. yeah.

not particularly relevant to this blog, but i might mention it at some point so, i have autism and adhd. and some other things but. like. that list is very long and those are the two most relevant because i promise if i come off wrong/mean, i didn't mean to, i just forget to make my words normal. but. those are the two most referenced. if for whatever reason someone wants to know more or has questions you can send an ask ig?

i'm scottish, born there. moved to US when I was four. finishing uni and moving back.

some quick warnings

this blog definitely contains cursing/vulgar language, whatever you want to call it, so if you're not comfortable with that, probably not the blog for you, as i don't tag cursing or anything for you to filter out.

if, for whatever reason, if i ever reblog something that contains a slur (against racial minorities, queer people, anything) i will ABSOLUTELY tag that though.

also if anyone has any trigger warnings they think any content needs, please let me know-- asks, dms, comments, reblogs

the cursing thing also applies for sort of dirty jokes? think that only applies to like. two posts and very not explicit. those aren't currently tagged but if they get any more explicit they certainly will be.

queer identity because the explicit reminded me, i'm asexual, and probably straight. maybe bi? dunno, don't particularly care. and i'm trans. ftm. this isn't the blog i talk about that on usually though, unless it relates to a specific ask or a fandom thing.

which, getting into what this blog is for because i can't think of anything else i need to add here (guys let me know if i forgot important stuff, please, i'm an idiot!!! i will forget the important stuff and write random shit instead!! i've already deleted three tangents from this!!)

sooooo

fandoms!! ones i write and/or post about or will potentially post about

percy jackson extending to hoo, toa, tkc (definitely post way less about this), mcga (again, way less). haven't read TSATS or COTG yet, but spoilers are fine. i post way more about minor characters. write fanfiction for and have some posted (both on here and ao3) and a bunch of snippets.

dcu-- films, comics, animated shows, all of it. personally, my favorites are young justice (the comics, not show version), new teen titans, and batman inc (batgirls, nightwing, and red robin esp). late 90s yj run is my favorite, and i loved the DCeased event. favorite batman comic is definitely court of owls run. no fanfics posted, but some on docs.

mcu-- way less so, but have a stucky oneshot. slowly making my way through in timeline order.

throne of glass. i'm an aedion and chaol apologizer because they do a bunch of dumb shit but then WHO DOESN'T in this series. fanfics in doc, not posted.

this would go on for ages if i listed everything so instead, here's an ask i answered on my fandoms/genres and everything. feel free to send me asks about anyone. if you send me something about radium girls i may cry though (tears of joy) so there's your advanced warning.

main things you'll see on my blog are incorrect quotes, snippets, and the occasional fic

this^^

my... idk, contact policy? seriously what do i word this

asks are always open, anon is on.

if you send hate... whatever. i'll probably delete it.

unless i find it funny. then I'll post it. there's really little you could say to me that would hurt.

when i say asks are always open, you can drop anything you want.

literally anything

you need to vent? want advice? want to request headcanons? request a fic? give me a prompt? ask random things about me? something else I've forgotten? go right ahead

if you want to ask me to update my fics? go right ahead. sometimes i forget i didn't post something.

send as many asks as you want, i don't care if it might be spam

i can't promise i'll respond to asks in a timely manner, sometimes i open my inbox and forget they exist for months, i'm sorry. if it's something you really want answered you can send another one

dm's are alright? if you want to be friends or something, go right ahead.

anyone can reblog any of my posts/comment/heart, i don't care. you want to heart 50 things in a row? i adore you. if i had kids, you would get my firstborn

if we're mutuals you can ask for my insta/give me yours.

now, other accounts:

anyway, i think that's it?

[unhingedlesbear]

Okay fuck it yeah I'm making the post idc abt backlash. First of all the hidden agenda fandom doesn't exist anymore so whos even gonna have an issue. But if you do feel called out um. Maybe thats ur problem idk bc I'm not aiming at anyone in particular here.

Anyway long ass ramble abt the tiny dead Hidden Agenda fandom below the cut

This is mainly something I noticed looking through the very limited amount of Hidden Agenda fics on ao3, but it's VERY obvious on there. The vast majority of fics on there are centered on Adam and Finn, which I can understand more since they have an interesting backstory and are well written characters, sure. But then you look at the others and the other characters that are centered are... Riggs and Calvary?

In the actual game ofc Becky and Felicity are the main characters. Both of them not only are pretty objectively interesting characters on their own, and even more so together. On top of this they have the most shipping potential of any two characters in that game, it's literally basically canon, it's not even subtext atp it's literally just text. NO other two characters have that amount of chemistry in the game, and yet there is a noticeable lack of gravey fics in that tag. And I'll stress again bc I know how defensive people got last time I made this kind of observation, I'm not pointing fingers or calling anyone misogynistic/racist/homophobic BUT. but. When the two mcs are women, one of which is poc, and they're implied to be lesbians, and they get sidelined by the fandom despite being the focuses of the game... it's kinda hard not to assume there's some kind of bias there.

And on another point, it's similar when it comes to supporting characters too. In a way I'm disappointed but absolutely not surprised that Adam/Finn is prioritized in fan works over Becky/Felicity, but when characters like Riggs and Calvary are also given more attention than them it becomes way more suspicious to me. Riggs is a fine character, I like him enough and I can see why others might like him more, but wbk he doesn't really have all that much relevance. Calvary is even more confusing bc he basically JUST exists to be a creepy misogynistic asshole and as unlikeable as possible. Thankfully I haven't seen him getting a lot of attention but the fact that I've seen him getting any that isn't entirely negative is... hm...

Now there ARE in fact male characters that can be both relevant and likeable: Tom and Karl. (I talk shit abt Karl bc it's a joke I started with friends, I'm gonna drop that for this post obv bc we're being fr here) these two are pretty obviously more relevant than Riggs or Calvary, they're literally Becky's partners (Tom can even replace Riggs' entire role lmao, and if he's replaced himself it's by Karl) and I'd say they're also both likeable characters on their own too. And yet I'm pretty sure I found maybe one??? fic with them in it? Probably should have mentioned this earlier but yeah, they're both poc.

So like... I feel like it all comes down to what Becky/Felicity/Tom/Karl have in common and then what Adam/Finn/Riggs/Calvary have in common. It strikes me as questionable. But like maybe I'm just an annoying snowflake though idk🤷‍♀️ /s

This turned into more of a ramble than anything and I'm aware i'm also yelling into a void bc I'm posting entirely for a dead fandom that barely existed to begin with, but tbh this stuff applies to most if not all larger fandoms as well, i'm just looking at it from what I've seen in the remnants of the HA fandom. Again I am not attacking anyone here, I am making observations. If you're like mad or something I'm just gonna assume you didn't even read the whole post. Yes ur allowed to like characters, but I am also allowed to address what I've noticed about what characters seem to be more liked than others.

[crippleprophet]

hi, i just ordered my first cane n wanted to ask some questions about how to. idk not be too self-conscious about it/handle people asking about it (esp older folks)?

ik the main thing is to just. ignore people but i struggle with not paying attention to ppl who wanna be weird/intrusive

congrats on your first cane!! i hope it’s helpful for you & you have as easy an adjustment as possible 💖 i’ve answered some similar asks in my cane user & faq tags so you might find some other relevant info there :)

there are a few things that were helpful for me when i was adjusting to new mobility aids & the ableism people often meet that with –

planning my response ahead of time. i’d often feel bad about myself for not defending myself or whatever when people asked invasive questions, but if i had a plan like “okay i’m gonna just be like ‘oh yeah i have knee problems, it’s been super helpful!’ & disengage as quickly as possible” then i didn’t feel bad about not directly addressing their ableism or whatever bc i’d already decided it wasn’t worth my time

surrounding myself with as many other mobility aid users as possible, on social media & in art & in the theory i read &, when i was able to, in person. knowing that other people are going through the same thing (& talking shit whenever possible) really helped me feel less alone

if academic writing is accessible to you, rosemarie garland-thompson’s staring: how we look is a great starting point for disability theory around this topic imo! there’s also a lot of community knowledge + theory around (hyper)visibilized disability, which has only grown more robust in the wake of ableist responses to wearing masks

in this kind of situation i firmly believe that whatever response best helps you survive in an ableist society is the right one. whether that’s cursing somebody out or pretending you didn’t hear them or pacifying them with as polite a response as possible depends on the circumstances & the people involved, & all of them have different risks. in my experience it gets easier over time to get a feel for weighing those decisions

self-care afterwards in whatever way(s) you prefer. my senior year of undergrad my go-to after an obscenely ableist class was taking my mobility scooter on a fast ride through the park next to campus, blasting an angry playlist; the best response for somebody else might be a bubble bath or getting high or gay sex or listening to a disability podcast or all of the above or something else entirely – whatever makes you feel like you have a right to exist.

i also started a (18+) bitter cripple discord server when i was overwhelmed by the ableism i was experiencing a few years ago, which @cane-you-dig-it & @autismnep now moderate, so if you or somebody reading this want to join that just shoot one of us a dm!

i hope some of that was helpful, i’m wishing you the absolute best of luck & feel free to lmk if you have any other questions! 🖤🖤

[bromcommie]

Helloho, for the ask game:

🔪 ⇢ what's the weirdest topic you researched for a writing project?

and

🧩 ⇢ what will make you click away from a fanfiction immediately?

Thank you! :)

Hi hi, thanks for the ask! <3 🔪 ⇢ oh man, not sure if this is that much of a weird one (or I just don't know what's normal anymore), but I do have several leaked CIA manuals saved as PDFs on my computer?? mostly just bc it's informative & horrifyingly eyeopening in general. I like to research a lot of sociopolitical stuff, or at least I try to, so a lot of highly specific Cold War/WWII/present day intelligence apparatus things tend to end up in my search history. Other than that not to go the "winter soldier + red room umbrella" cop out route, but...winter soldier + red room umbrella. Lots of layman's psychiatry & neuroscience, accounts of drug effects/use, lots of "asking for a friend but theoretically what would happen to your body long term if you had XYZ happen to you and walked away", waaay too much on JFK/other assassinations, lots of stuff on weapons specs and indoctrination and "gangs in St Petersburg in the 1980s?" and stuff like that.

Also like... which kinds of birds were native to NYC in the early 20th century and the relevance of catholic socialism in working class circles and medical papers on the side effects of the use of stramonium in asthma cigarettes, lol. (That might be one of the more specific ones, objectively.)

Again, this all feels pretty typical for Cap fics so idk how weird it is (and it's just a fun learning experience overall and mostly doesn't even end up in the writing) but I feel like my IP's on a lot of very confused yet suspect government lists at this point.

🧩 ⇢ oof, this one is rough. I try to always give fics with a good desc & tags benefit of the doubt, but I've also been around long enough that I can kind of tell if something's going to put me off, y'know? I guess I'm not a big fan of infantilizing adult characters or coddling relationships, especially if it's presented as an unproblematic given. I like softness as much as the next person, and I'm all for protectiveness and loyalty and comfort being at the core of both friendships and romantic relationships, but I like when it's a mutual thing that was arrived at after some time or even after it being a point of conflict/misunderstanding bc people deal with this stuff in many weird, differing, sometimes counterproductive ways.

In stevebucky fics esp while I love that element between them, I'm really not huge on Bucky bundling pre-serum Steve up to hide him away from the mean mean world, primarily because I think it would make Steve want to bludgeon him with a shovel for it repeatedly and Bucky would know that, and vice versa for them post-CATWS + dealing with each other's guilt (+ even and maybe especially the Sam-Steve relationship as it pertains to that as well). Which is not to say that I don't love to read about these conflicts being explored or a good "I want to help you PLEASE let me help you"/"you shut the fuck up and sit in the corner and hold my hand while I deal with my shit on my own" dynamic even if it's borderline unhealthy or codependent at a point - I just think it takes a bit of friction to make it interesting to read about and for it to arrive at a satisfying point in the end.

[brainwashed-klarkstella]

‧꒰ა Welcome One and All Proshippers ໒꒱ ‧

About Me!

Klarkstella or Klar | it/he prns | 18

In case you couldn't tell, I'm a proshipper because I don't care what people like and dislike in regards to fiction, nor how people choose to engage with fiction and fan content. I repeat, I don't care, so don't ask me if I'm for or against XYZ in fiction and shipping because I'm not.

Remember: don't like, don't interact. Also the block button exists for a reason, just block me and move on.

You can consider this a roleplay blog, though it's really a kin blog (that's right, I'm Klarkstella). My posts will be in a mix of third and first person in regards to Klarkstella because I simply don't care I'll post how I feel like posting. It should be obvious, but I ship the Stella twins because I love Louter and he loves me :3 Also, I won't be posting exclusively Stellacest / Klarkstella content, I just decided to make my blog Klarkstella-themed.

Some of my posts may be triggering, so here are topics I may post about and the tags I will use (in addition to relevant ship tags and #dead dove):

- Proshipping, obviously (#proship and all related tags)

- NSFW [block these tags if you are a minor] (#minors dni, #mdni)

- Incest (#incest tw, #twincest tw, #stellacest)

- Age gaps, often with minors (#age gap tw, #shota tw)

- Rape (#rape tw)

- Grooming (#grooming tw)

- Other "dark" topics will be tagged as such and this list will be added to as I think of more

Not much bothers me but dni transid

All blinkies and userboxes were made by me and are f2u as long as you don't claim as your own! (omg ignore how shitty the blinkies are the quality died when I uploaded them to tumblr idk why fuck this shit)

[exeggcute]

there's a developing story in Australian media about Tiktok pixels collecting unauthorised data in an aggressive manner via their ads on thrid party websites, and I was wondering what a Professional like yourself made of it

ooh reading into this now... full disclosure that (1) until/unless I get another job in adtech I am technically not a Professional anymore lol and (2) pixel tags weren't a big component of my last role so I only have a fairly basic understanding of how they work. but from what I'm seeing here it sounds like the main issue with tiktok rn isn't the data collection per se, since these pixel tags are functionally identical to the ones employed by facebook and others, just that tiktok isn't obtaining user consent the way other companies are ostensibly do. although even that seems like a convenient lead-in for the whole Oh My God A But Chinese Company Is Doing It thing.

and tbf I kinda can pull that in both directions—on one hand facebook in particular has gotten in a lot of trouble before for bad data collection practices and putting that data in the hands of people who used it to (maybe, allegedly) sway public opinion, so the general fear underpinning this thing is like, not unfounded right. (even though I don't think the issue behind the cambridge analytica scandal was centered around tracking pixels specifically?) on the other hand the very nature of facebook's rocky history re. data and privacy proves that western companies can and will spy on their users and it's for sure disingenuous to act like ~shady foreign governments~ are the only ones with any incentive to do so lol.

I guess you could argue that facebook's incentive for all the spying was simply Making Money, even if they took money from people who did use that spy data to spread propaganda; like, to the parent company, the propaganda wasn't the goal. whereas many will obviously argue that with tiktok data some undefined form of propaganda is the goal. but seeing that tiktok ads are a multi-billion dollar enterprise(!) I'm way more inclined to believe that tiktok is also spying for the sake of Making Money. clearly a whole fucking lot of money!

this is something I've for sure said before but I also wholeheartedly believe (and to some extent, know, although again pixel tracking isn't my exact wheelhouse) that advertising data is a lot less granular and therefore less useful than most people imagine it to be, which severely limits the kind of compromising shit you can pull under normal circumstances.

even in the article I linked, where they talk about tiktok pixels being able to track the shopping/browsing habits of users, basic device info, and occasionally some PII like phone numbers and email addresses... like, okay, so let's say tiktok knows that junglejim4322@yahoo.com used an iphone to look at a website that sells orthopedic shoe inserts. or even maybe something more salacious like, idk, questionably legal gas station dick pills. from a "let's use tiktok to spread propaganda" perspective I really struggle how that information would be valuable or what you'd do with it other than emailing that person outright to taunt them about their fucked up feet and/or dick? (if the goal is to show people certain kinds of content in tiktok's app then certainly you have both the means to do so and plenty of behavioral data to draw up on in the app itself. it's a literal video platform lol.) otoh from a "let's use this data to create advertising segments" perspective then you can easily monetize this info by telling advertisers that you know a guy who's a prime target for ads about podiatry treatments or whatever, in which case advertisers are more eager to spend money on ads because they think they're talking to a relevant audience. and in that case advertisers don't really care what the guy's name or email is, just that he ticks certain boxes that make him a worthwhile use of ad dollars. and even in cases where bad actors do want more specific data for shady purposes, it's pretty difficult to collect it and even harder to propagate it across different platforms; one thing I think gets overlooked a lot with cambridge analytica in particular is that it happened on a platform where users willingly share their full name, birthday, gender, relationship status, political leanings, job title, etc. outright, and then create connections between other people who also willingly share all that info. in some ways I don't think it could've happened anywhere but facebook, because this is a situation where you really didn't have to squeeze anything out of users—they just came out and told you! (it's also part of why non-shady facebook ads are so lucrative; you don't have to guesstimate audience data when you can literally just specify that certain ads should only be shown to people whose profile says they're between the ages of 35 and 55.) and as far as I'm aware tiktok just does not have anything remotely approaching that kind of profile data.

anyway lol. as far as I can tell I think this is a GDPR-y consent issue first and foremost, which will probably turn into a thorny battle over whether tiktok can/will be held to EU data standards or similar statues with a good helping of Chinese Company Bad mixed in for good measure. also side note but remember the whole thing about tiktok data transparency but the american company they put in charge of it is fucking oracle?

[latentspaceofficial]

research tangent! scp x wh13

so this is something a little bit different than what i normally talk about. i'm putting on a different cap today. ok little nerd moment thats been living rent free in my head for days. ive got an antistatic bag on my desk thats been sitting here for a while and i noticed something familiar

that sure as hell looks like the scp foundation logo

which got me really thinking. so its very obvious to me that the scp logo takes inspiration from this iso or ansi symbol. but whats even more odd was looking at the timeline of the scp wikis birth. im a zillenial (god i hate that word) so my childhood was watching markiplier play scp:cb, scrolling the old wiki, fucking with cleverbot. fun stuff like that. i was still a drooling idiot. when sci-fi renamed to syfy. but i remember the switchover and not being allowed to watch eureka because there were some "goddamns" in there. but i was allowed to watch warehouse 13, in spite of steve's existence. i was way too into the steampunk and lore of warehouse 13 when it was relevant. so much so i had a fucking farnsworth ringtone on my lg shit phone and i thought it was the coolest thing. i'm also still gay as hell for h.g. wells and her fit.

but anyway anyway. the premise of warehouse 13 was finding dangerous "artifacts" that imbued special status affects on people and to neutralize them with "neutralizer grid polyethylene static bags" as they say. their motto being "snag it. bag it. and tag it." or something to that effect.

what im getting at is that warehouse 13 has a similar premise to the scp foundation, but more mainstream comedy and less psychological horror. there's a tangential link between wh13 with scp via anti static bags and the symbol. so i looked into this a bit. through cursory searches, i didn't find anyone really talking about this other than a similar premise. so i looked at timelines. in july 2008 the scp foundation wiki (idk which one) was started, while wh13 piloted on july 2009. with a year delta, it seems clear "who stole from who". but wait. writing, pitching, and filming takes quite a while. is a year really enough time? i can't find any trademarks registered by universal nor any evidence of a canadian filming license. so this is where i stopped typing on my phone and started researching. the waters are a bit muddy, so bear with me. wh13 was co-written by a handful of people and rewritten as well. but the original plot was announced by sci-fi here in october of 2007

according to wikipedia (the free encyclopedia), inspirations for warehouse 13 include the x-files, raiders of the lost ark, something called moonlighting, and this show from the late 80s and early 90s called "friday the 13th: the series". i'd never heard of it, but it shares the vaguest premise with both wh13 and scp to keep bad artifacts away from harming people.

well what about the scp wiki? when did it form? well it's complicated. (i'm sorry for my poor cropping, it will happen again)

the scp wiki itself states that the original scp came from 4chan and that a lot of original organization happened on 4chan. indeed 4chan is the source of famous scps such as 173

posted on june 2007 is the original lore post about 173 and can be seen as the beginning of scps. which pre-dates the announcement of wh13. i don't know about you, but how fast you could go from trolling 4chan to a pilot script? at this point "some government authority retrieving dangerous magic embued items" was not a previously done idea and was indeed original. the x-files kinda did this before with balancing larger plot arcs with mini plot supernatural occurrences, not all aliens. but nothing about being an authoritative group that comes in and cleans up super natural mishaps. nah, mulder and skully just stayed in the basement or took an occasional road trip to see a whistleblower. i honestly love scp far more than wh13, but i'm going to be the devil's advocate and not give the new era spin on an old idea to the scp wiki just yet. 173 is an scp, but the idea of scps is not fully laid out yet. the thread was also deleted days later and thus only lived in the minds of active forum users of the time as fan derivatives were made. so there was a period of time where the fandom had started to form, but no official wiki existed. the semi official scp wiki formed in january 2008. later than the announcement of wh13 but before the pilot of the show ever aired in july 2009. so it's always possible the writers were 4channers and yoinked the idea. again, it's so fascinating how close in time and narrative the scp wiki and wh13 are. i personally doubt the writers were on 4chan at the time, but neither the wiki nor the show writers exist in a vacuum. i think it all warrants scrutiny and there's no smoking gun saying who inspired who, or if it's absolute coincidence. that is unless some ogs from the scp wiki or the writers of wh13 are able to speak on it. i'm curious what other people think.

[simmonsized]

Idk about other people but I’m always a slut for that old man and I think you got amazing taste so pls rec anything you like anywhere

I think you will find that my taste is actually kind of garbage but like, in a fun way that makes you go "wow really???" rather than being so embarrassed for me that you can never look at me again. of course that would be fine too haha you know, don't yuck my yum etc but I will try to put together my unfuckable old man rec list right here, right now, and we can all just live with that

(mostly because titling a post makes me cringe it's too much attention, and I'm a stereotype)

These come from a section of my actual Fic Rec List, which is massive (by my standards), lives in a googly doc, and is much more embarrassing. this list generally won't include any ship stuff and if it does, i will say so. mind any and all tags.

This section is titled: The Redemption Narrative (lol)

1. Empty Nester - egomaniac (THE WHOLE REASON I MADE A NEW LIST. BRO AND NANNA!!!!!!!!!!!! also bro/grandpa, aka “he fucks that old man”, but not the most important part to me, because as good and tragic and hurtful as their relationship is in this fic, it is dwarfed, to me, by the kindness shared between Nanna and Bro, which once again, to me, is the Crown Jewel of the whole story. PLEASE read this please if u have time A++ endorsement)

2. dualshock desertbloom (the whole fucking series. i hardly need to say why, you should just know by now. i call dd dirkfic, because it is The Dirkfic, u know??)- geometrician (🔶)

3. sun’s angle - dellaluce (they can orphan it all they want but i never forget. very old, but never GETS old, u feel)

4. Hexadyne Meetings - Saesama (the rarity of bro and nanna fics could absolutely destroy me but i really like the interactions between all of the guardians in this one)

5. Flop, Flutter - cthchewy (technicality, big nasty soulless bro yikes sorry)

6. The Estrangement Thing - NoBrandHero (there’s a theme here listen to me don’t be doubtful it’s worth the trouble, there is brojohn in there, which is not my thing at all, but it is NOT relevant to what i like about this fic, and i think if u read it, u will realize that immediately lol (*i am not including second best even though that fic is literally my favorite ds fic ever because it is NOT bro centric))

7. cold front off the pacific - drow_sy (i actually read this bc geometrician bookmarked it lol but it punches down on u and i like that)

8. insect clockwork - SORD (aka, if it was written pre-2013, i’ve read it)

9. Flashing Lights and Raisins - RadioMoth (the strider manpain tag exists for a reason)

10. Hide - Plajus (OG post-sburb type shit. we love to see it)

11. Blackout - lantadyme (bro strider sick fic. Wrow. old shit. I don’t even know how i have held onto these for this many years.)

Things that don't quite fit into the category necessarily but It's MY List Not Yours:

12. signs at sundown - geometrician (I don't need to say it, do I? I think we understand, I do think that. Imagine being canon together with you favorite author. Imagine it. Wow.)

13. No Homo - Laurasauras (bro/dennis. yes, dennis from gamebro. yes, it's good i've said it before i'll say it again. i'm into it, i think you should be too.)

14. flash - problemsloth (this shit is just. absolute chef's kiss to me. i don't know how else to explain it. young bro. he's perfect, and perfectly dreadful)

15. play ball! - spacepuck (this is a johndave fic but it has this very stressful atmosphere around bro and dave that kinda fucks me up and also, delights me beyond reason. it tastes like summer to me. sandlot lookin ass. an old favorite)

[jo-harrington]

Jo, love of my life, star that lights up my skies, can I get Werewolf for your blurb game?

Ashley my sun and stars. I have a thought you may or may not like. Keep an open mind here.

In terms of werewolf...I think lets keep an open mind for this one. What even is a werewolf? This might be relevant to some kind of plot in some kind of story later...idk...

TW: Billy Hargrove (he is a trigger warning in and of itself), minor aggression, violence, threats, allusions to difficult family life, foreshadowing(?)

Thoughts of Eddie's looks in this chapter are inspired by this and this by my beloved friend @hearsegrrl. You can buy her prints here.

Find other Hymns of Heaven here.

And find the Master List for As Above, So Below here.

Halloween 1984

Halloween was Eddie's favorite holiday.

A momentous occasion filled with ghouls and frights and candy.

This year, he'd done everything to make it a special one. For himself, his friends, and for you.

The Halloween one-shot on Friday had gone off without a hitch. Jeff, Gareth, and Dave were about to shit their pants when the boss was revealed five hours into their game, right at the stroke of midnight.

You, of course, had joined just like you promised Eddie you would; a little hesitant with the roleplaying, but you tried, and it made him proud.

Then last night, he and the guys planned a special Halloween show at the Hideout. To fit the Corroded Coffin name, Eddie insisted they all dress up as vampires, complete with costumes, fake blood and fangs, black nails that you helped paint, and a fog machine that he borrowed from the theater department at school.

It was no different than any other Tuesday; the same five drunks showed up at the bar plus you and a handful of your coworkers from Bradleys that you convinced to come. They were certainly not the typical audience for the music they played but they enjoyed it nonetheless.

And Eddie showed how grateful he was when he drove you home, fangs still glued on as he nibbled love bites all over your neck. Your squeals were music to his ears.

Tonight, Halloween itself, Tina's "epic" party raged on. The music was bad, the food was worse. The booze was acceptable--someone had picked the lock of Tina's parents liquor cabinet--but the company made it all some big headache.

You and Eddie were huddled in a couple of lawn chairs, solo cups in hand. Jeff and Dave had tagged along, finally upperclassman and eager to be invited, but they had disappeared a while ago, only to be found once it was time to leave. Eddie's lunch box that was filled with pre-rolled joints and tiny plastic bags was slowly emptied and refilled with handfuls of candy and a growing roll of cash, and it was safely trapped between his feet until people decided to approach while you "enjoyed" the party.

The music at these things was always bad but Eddie enjoyed people watching. At the homecoming afterparty, he'd cracked joke after joke about what couples would break up by the end of the night, and which ones would hook up. Tonight the two of you were trying to figure out what everyone's costumes were.

"I think they're supposed to be a horse..." You tilted your head to the side. "Half of a horse."

"A horse's ass," Eddie chuckled.

"Wait! A centaur!" you gasped and grabbed Eddie's shoulder to shake him. "Oh my god."

"That's a really shitty costume for a party," he grinned and sipped at his drink.

Not that either of you were really dressed up.

Eddie had considered reusing his vampire getup from the show but it was a little chilly, so party be damned he was bundled up in a hooded sweatshirt and his battle vest. You had tried to put in some effort and had shown up at his place in a belted white dress with a basket and mannequin's head from some display at work.

"Judith," you grinned. "And the severed head of Holofernes."

You'd dressed the part of some vampiric acolyte for the show the night before and he thought it had been hot but this? He was speechless.

"You look...I...weh...it's pretty badass baby," he agreed as he gave you a once-over.

Parts of the dress and your fingertips were stained red with leftover fake blood and there was a knife on your belt. Where had you gotten that?

"I...uh...don't think anyone's gonna know what that is though. Knife's pretty cool; use it to keep the creeps away."

"But that's what I have you for."

You had gotten cold about a half-hour in and had gone to the van to get your jacket and ditch the basket.

Eddie scanned the crowd for another ridiculous costume but he was simply annoyed by all of the Madonnas and people in their Star Wars bed sheet togas and--

"31...32...33..." the crowd over by the keg started chanting louder and louder, and party goers abandoned their conversation to see what all the hubbub was.

Eddie got to his feet to try and get a good look at which douchebag was marking their territory and immediately fell back into his seat when he recognized them.

"Not this fucking guy," he muttered with a roll of his eyes.

"Who is it?" you asked. "That Harrington guy you told me about?"

"No it's this other guy," Eddie shook his head. "Just started at Hawkins High. Been here a grand total of 3 days and already acts like everyone's scum."

"34...35...36..."

"Maybe he's scared, looks like he's trying to show off," you offered. Eddie knew you were too nice, too good...you gave people the benefit of the doubt.

"No, he's a real piece of work," he explained. "Parked next to me on Monday. Slammed his door into the side of the van and when I tried to say 'hey pal,' he slammed it again, told me it was a piece of shit anyway, and then flipped me off."

You pursed your lips and looked over at the crowd.

"37...38...39..."

"I think he almost ran a bunch of kids off the road earlier too. Saw it as I was driving home."

"What the fuck?"

"40...41...42..." The crowd started cheering and a spray of beer soared over heads and rained down on the concrete of the patio. "Billy! Billy! Billy!"

He howled, hands curled into triumphant claws at his sides, head turning up to the sky. He called out to the stars and the moon as the remnants of beer foamed at the corners of his mouth.

"That's how you do it Hawkins," Billy Hargrove then roared amidst cheers of his name. "That's how you do it."

He and his entourage passed the two of you as they made their way into the house, and Eddie felt the hairs on the back of his neck stand on end when Billy's eyes stopped on you for the briefest of seconds.

And it truly was only a second. Hell, he might not have even looked at you, there were plenty of people there. Eddie already didn't like this guy, already made his mind up about him, but it was though he could sense something inside of Billy, and it ignited something inside of him.

Danger. Protect. Hide. Fight. Run.

He wanted to ask if you felt the same way, but your attention had already drifted away from the commotion as you scanned the crowd for another silly costume. So he just pushed it down.

After a few more hours, sales started drying up and Eddie announced it was time to go. You agreed; it was a school night for Eddie and the guys and you had work in the morning. Eddie tossed you his keys and the lunchbox and told you to get the van started while he found Jeff and Dave.

Jeff had been easy to find. Tina's parents had a great home theater in the rec room in the basement and Cinephile that Jeff was had made his way down there once he saw that the party life wasn't really for him. It was a cozy little spot with sodas and a bowl of candy, and Jeff was settled on a cozy couch to watch The Wizard of Oz with a girl actually dressed as Dorothy, sparkly shoes and all.

"Alright, time to go," Eddie announced and he flipped the light switch. "There's no place like home."

"Come on Ed," Jeff whined. "Just a few more minutes. They're about to melt the Witch!"

Eddie sighed; these kids were lucky that he liked them so much.

"You have 10 minutes while I find Dave," he grumbled. "Then you better be in the van or you can walk home."

Dave took a little longer to find. Eddie checked the makeshift dance floor, he checked all of the bathrooms, and then he got to a corridor of bedrooms and walked in on several scenes he wished he would rather not until he came to the last door in the hall. Pretty and pink and carved with the name "Tina" on the front of it.

It was the only place left...and Eddie didn't know whether he should be a dick to his friend or proud of him. Especially for possibly bagging the popular party host herself.

He banged his fist on the door.

"Dave, stop your smooching," he hollered. "Jeff's mom said curfew was midnight." A wet smacking sound of lips separating emanated through the wood and then Dave's soft "oh shit" and Eddie had to hold back his laughter.

When the door opened, both Dave and Tina looked a little drunk and a little embarrassed as they straightened out their clothes. Eddie slapped a hand on Dave's shoulder and let him back through the house.

"Call me Davey," she called after them.

"Don't worry, he will," Eddie laughed. "Thanks for the party."

The crowd had already died down but there were still some stragglers. People milled about in the yard, bodies gyrated on the dance floor, Tommy Hagan and his girlfriend were horizontal on the couch and it was getting pretty heated.

"Get a room," he hissed at them. "Tina's is free now."

But as he and Dave passed the kitchen on the way toward the door, Eddie caught sight of a familiar white dress splattered with fake blood, crouched on the floor helping someone.

He had told you to wait in the van, but of course he took too long...hopefully whoever it was that you were with wasn't hurt or anything. Damn it.

But it wasn't until he noticed who you were leaning over that the uneasy feeling that had been ignited in Eddie earlier flared up again and his throat clenched.

Danger. Hide. Run.

The leather jacket, the sticky shirtless chest, the hand gripped tightly around your wrist that you kept tugging and tugging to get out of his grasp.

"I don't want to be here, they t-took me away from the only home I've ever known and it's not my fault," Billy whined to you, heaved. "And now I'm here and I can't go. I'm stuck."

"I know," you said sympathetically.

"I just wanna see the beach again," his grip on your wrist tightened. "The water and the clouds and the sun. And there's this diner where she works and I'd always go to get a burger and a malt."

"Yeah?"

"And she'd call me Silly Billy."

His eyes wrenched shut and he tugged you closer, enough that you lost your balance and had to steady a hand against his chest, right over his heart.

You froze and gasped in pain and Eddie saw red.

Fight. Protect.

Eddie shoved Dave towards the door with a quick "waitinthedamnvan" and then stormed into the kitchen.

"I think she was one and I'll never--"

"Get your filthy fucking hands off my girlfriend Hargrove!"

Eddie reached over and pried Billy's hand from your wrist, and then tugged you to your feet and into his arms. You were shaking.

"Are you ok?" he asked frantically, looking over every inch of you. "What did he do? Tell me. What did he do?"

"N-Nothing, I just saw him there on the floor," you stammered, eyes distant. "I didn't know...I didn't know..."

Eddie ran his hands over you, cradled your face for a second to make sure you were alright, and then once he was sure, he turned his sights on Billy.

He crouched beside him on the ground and grabbed the lapels of Billy's jacket. He hoisted him up enough so he could slam him back down onto the floor again.

"You don't get to look at her," he warned through gritted teeth.

"E-Eddie," you called softly. He ignored you and did it again. Up the slightest bit, and then forced back down again until he could hear the breath wheeze through Billy's mouth.

"You don't get to touch her," he growled.

"Eddie stop, he didn't do anything, he's just drunk. He's empt--" you reasoned but Eddie ignored you. He listed Billy one last time, up and up and up, until both of their noses were touching and glassy, vacant blue eyes had nowhere to look but murderous brown ones.

"And if you ever get near her again, I'll kill you."

"EDDIE!" Eddie dropped Billy onto the floor and straightened himself up. He turned back to you and faltered at the sight of your wide, fear-filled eyes. He looked down at Billy again, who was on the ground again but curled in on himself.

Eddie looked at his hands and then back up at you.

"Please, let's go," you shuddered and held out your hand to take his, and then you tugged him through the house and out the door.

Jeff and Dave noticed the tension between the two of you but didn't say anything, instead just silently sat in the back until they were dropped off. Eddie vacantly drove through Hawkins all the while caught up in his own thoughts.

He was only trying to protect you, he wasn't trying to hurt Billy, Billy was hurting you, you were scared, you were hurt...

But you were still scared and hurt. Your breathing hadn't returned to it's usual evenness and when he looked over your hands were shaking. You kept pressing into the palm of the hand that had touched Billy's chest and Eddie wondered...

What did he wonder? He had so many questions. Questions he knew you weren't going to answer. But he couldn't just let it go.

At the end of the night, after Jeff and Dave were dropped off at home, and Eddie had parked the van outside your apartment, he clenched his hands on the steering wheel and gritted his teeth.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to scare you," he apologized softly.

"You didn't scare me," you replied and relief washed over him. "You didn't do anything wrong. You thought I was in danger...and I'm grateful that you stepped in Eddie. I'm just...I'm...I don't know...shaken. He felt...wrong."

"Felt?" he cocked his head and narrowed his eyes. You had said something like that before about people. How they felt. He just thought it was...what you thought of them.

"There's a lot of anger but also a lot of pain..." you started and then your eyes got distant again. "And then...a great, wide void..."

What did it mean? A void?

Eddie felt the panic build inside him again and your eyes immediately darted to his. The smile that suddenly appeared on your face was soothing but Eddie could tell it was forced.

"I think I had too much punch," you explained. "I need to sleep it off."

You leaned over to kiss him goodnight and mutter a soft "I love you" but before you could get out of the van, Eddie stopped you.

"Listen," he began. "I know...I know I took it too far tonight. And I'm sorry again. But...but if you ever see Billy Hargrove again...you put as much distance between the two of you as possible. Something's...wrong with that guy. He's bad news."

"Eddie, that's...you know how that feels when someone says that about you, I don't think--"

"No, I'm serious. You keep your distance from him," Eddie warned. "Not because of me, but for your own safety. Hargrove...he's dangerous.

"He's a beast."