#ignore me i haven't been 'involved' in any fandom since.......

[fuckyndingus]

idk if anyone's mentioned this yet but in mythbusters, during blitz's hallucination besides the fact that his 'mark'(?) on his forehead is a broken heart [which i love how that mark changes based on who's 'viewing' him thru the series] but he also has a teardrop on his right side ik teardrop tattoos symbolize bodycounts in some situations, but i thought i was interesting that there's only one. blitz is obviously a hitman but to me that tear is symbolic of the only death he's ever caused that's affected him - his mom. wwwwwwwwwwwwwwhich also means to me that his dad is alive? and potentially may weasel his way into blitz's life as his business continues to take off.

[itsjustpoopeh]

"you can't have headcanons for someone who hasn't had much screentime!"

aight ignoring that I can do whatever TF I want for a moment, y'all get your hands off Karen Wilson then since she also hasn't had much screentime and we don't know ANY of her hobbies

we know that she has a mom, and she's a rocket scientist, and she's been in relationships that turn into sisterhoods before. we know she maybe feels like she worked so hard in her twenties she missed out on having fun. tell me one hobby the show has given her. an ounce of backstory that doesn't involve hen. I'd have to go back to watch the episode where they show their beginning but I don't remember a lot of personal details being given

and yet she is the undisputed queen of this fandom SO

y'all acting like we can't like characters where we haven't been spoon fed everything is really goddamn weird you know that right? like. it's just fucking strange.

[ladykailitha]

Look, considering I've only gotten involved in Stranger Things after season four and therefore haven't been around the fans during other new season filming starts, but my brothers/sisters/nb in fandom what the honest fuck is going on right now?

I have been a part of other fandoms when new seasons started filming and the worst I'd seen was BBC Sherlock. And you lot are behaving worst then they did.

And Jesus fuck, that's a fucking low ass bar.

(Again I am ship and let ship, kinktomato, and headcanon free for all)

But this is just what I've seen in my small deliberately secluded corner of the internet so forgive me if I get some things wrong.

Ronance fans have turned on Steddie fans.

Steddie fans are trying to eat each other over who tops and who bottoms between two horny, barely out of their teens, men.

Eddie is confirmed dead.

Dustin is trying to become Eddie.

People want Will dead because Noah Schnapps said some stupid shit regarding genocide.

And Argyle isn't coming back.

I'm going to give you my feelings on these so buckle up lets go:

1- Steddie and Ronance fans have turned on each other. And I know this because I doom scroll through steddie tag. That Ronance fans think Steddie fans are delusional and that they're going down after season five airs and there will be more Ronance fans because they're perfect for each other.

Where to even begin on this? First, never tell a shipper that their ship is never going to be canon because they don't care. Just ask all the Destiel, johnlock, and merarthur fans. Steddie fans are just going to ignore all but the most salient parts of season 5 if Eddie doesn't come back and write AUs for the rest of their lives. You know, like they have since the last scene on the Piggyback faded to black?

Secondly, I don't think I've seen much Ronance without Steddie. Granted I only read Steddie, but it seems that the two ships are tied pretty heavily together. The fruity four comes to mind. So maybe it's that they're getting tired of being a side ship next to a massive one like Steddie. Who knows. But apparently they're bitter.

And I say that because they keep tagging their anti-Steddie posts as Steddie to make sure we see it. Honestly, I just block them and go about my day. But seriously, I've never understood people's need to be shitty like posting hate on the tag for that thing. If you don't like it, fine. Block and move on.

Thirdly. Lastly. Maybe. I don't like Ronance. I saw the charms when I first joined the fandom and it was cute. Until the more I read and I realized that most of the time they don't bring up that Jonathan is even a person let alone Nancy's current boyfriend. That most of the time Steve is written wildly out of character about not caring that they're a couple and that he just wants them to be happy. Like, one Jonathan is severely under used in the fics I've read. Like Will doesn't have an older brother anymore. It's all Steve or Eddie. Which considering how you like your flavor of queer for Eddie or Steve (gay/pan/bisexual) Will talking to them about being gay makes sense, but Jonathan showed us in the last season that he is going to protect Will no matter what. Then blip! in fanfics, he's gone.

And then the whole Steve being okay with Robin not only dating an ex-girlfriend of his, but the ex. The one he thought he was going to marry. The one he dreamed a whole fucking future on. That was still hurt by two fucking years later. You either think very lowly of Steve or you just don't care. Because if you think Robin and Steve are the same person/share the same braincell/ride or die for life, there is no way even if Nancy threw herself at Robin would she even consider it. (I can write a whole ass post just on this by the way, don't get me started.)

2- This is the most recent bullshittery due to a current event about Sub Eddie. This is the worst discourse in any fandom and the worst offenders on either side tend say the most homophobic shit imaginable.

And it's pointless. Whether you think Steve is a top or bottom, whether you think he's dom or a sub. Same with Eddie. Everyone has their own flavor they prefer and they won't always match up with yours.

Personally I write them whatever feels natural for the story. But here's the major crux of the matter. I don't believe a little nerd in Bumfuck, Indiana has any idea what flagging is. I'm sorry. Left pocket, right pocket. Doesn't matter. The likely of him even knowing what BDSM is is pretty slim. I grew up in a small town. There will be some people that know, but that's because they know adults in the scene.

Don't like, don't read. Seriously, guys. Let people enjoy what they want to.

My personal feelings on the matter is that Steve is a bottom/sub because he deserves to be taken care of and Eddie would absolutely want to be that person for Steve, in and out of the bedroom. Again, you do you, beau.

3- The tombstone. Sigh. It was hard to see that. Not just because it confirms he's dead, but because it's been defaced. Most likely like fans have said, "BURN IN HELL" the poor bastard.

Having a tombstone doesn't necessarily preclude Eddie's return. There are several ways he can still comeback Kas! theory not withstanding. But the wank here is people jumping on Steddie shippers and Eddie fans in general pointing and screaming "see!"

Like we didn't have campaigns for Barb and Bob and (Billy). If someone's favorite character has died, don't be dicks when they want them to be resurrected a la Jim Hopper. Because that right there is the main reason people will still hold out hope until the final scene fades to black, okay?

I guess this one is just be nicer to each other, okay?

4- *sob* like holy fuck. Dustin you sweetheart. The long hair, the torn Hellfire t-shirt, the rings. The horns and sticking out his tongue. That poor boy needs several hugs STAT! And of course, people can't leave well enough alone on Facebook, I couldn't tell you how many of the comments were "steddie fans are going to make this all about them, aren't they?" Even though there wasn't a single comment by a Steddie making it about Steve/Eddie. But so many eye rolls. The other half were death threats against Noah Schnapp.

Which brings me to...

5- Noah Schnapp said some really shitty things about Zionism and the attack on Gaza. There is no escaping that. He said them. He double downed on them. And while yes it sucks he said those things, let's not forget he's still young and stupid. He's barely 18/19 years old. I remember being that age and saying stupid fucked up shit, and hoo boy does this make me grateful I was well into adulthood when the internet became a thing (24ish).

There are a lot of reasons to be upset by his comments and I get that. But death threats and calls for his dismissal/boycotts just seems excessive to me.

One, because the story began with a kidnapped little boy and a runaway little girl. If you get rid of one of them especially this close to the end it would fuck up the story. Now if there was more than one season left, sure. But this is literally the end. And for all we know, Will's character may already be doomed by the narrative. So calling for it now isn't go to do anything. Especially since they already had all the scripts written and would have finished filming if it hadn't been for the strikes.

Two, one person on the cast said something stupid and hurtful and you want to boycott the entire show for it? Like, what did David Harbor, Joe Keery, Maya Hawke, Millie Bobby Brown and all the others do to deserve you boycotting their show? If the last season tanks it could seriously hurt their careers, but hey Noah Schnapp said something bad, so fuck them?

I'm going to stop there, because this is another one I can go on and on about, but yeah. Don't hurt other people in your rush to vilify an 18 year old.

6- Eduardo Franco recently said that he didn't get a call so he didn't think he would be back. He was sure that ship had sailed.

Fans are upset, naturally. Argyle was a sweetheart and deserves better than to be cut from the story like that.

But thanks to the incident with David Harbor and Jim Hopper supposedly being dead, a lot of fans are saying he's only saying that because it's a "secret" he's coming back. Which would make sense for Eddie or any of the other character died. Martin Brenner, for example, but not Argyle. There would be no need for subterfuge. Plus, he would already be out in Georgia if he was coming back.

It's sad that he was done dirty this way, but if they split up the filming like they've done before there is still a chance he might get to come back, but as far as the current filming is concerned, yeah Argyle isn't coming back.

***

Just... be kind to each other. Remember that the other people on the end of the URL is an actual person with feelings. That people can like what they like so if they aren't hurting you, don't hurt them, okay?

[fairlith]

TW: Eating disorders, unaliving ideation, abuse

My experience with fandom:

I just saw this on Instagram, and again the whole Chappell Roan discourse is really making me think of when the Portal musical went viral and derailed my career by making my self-esteem so bad I considered some options too triggering to spell out here.

I was attacked for my singing voice and my acting and my ideas and my writing... unless it involved cute boys. I wrote and directed and designed the cores, but people acted like they just emerged from heaven one day. GLaDOS was my fault and people hated me. Everything else that they liked was somehow separate.

Most of all I was AND STILL AM REGULARLY attacked for my weight. I haven't done more than skim the comments on the Portal musical in years. It's really bad for my mental health. Publicly, I've been like, 'she's a computer, who cares what she weighs, haha' and waved it off, but in reality it gave me a fairly bad problem with binge-eating and stopping auditioning for literally anything. I have not auditioned for one single thing since all that happened. I gave up. My self-confidence is shot. I go to therapy, I've just never gotten enthusiastic about putting myself out there again.

If I used the word 'queer', people invasively demanded I publicly declare if I knew I was using a slur, because they knew I was a straight lady, because I hadn't featured their favourite pairing in the musical. I don't like that pairing. It's not canon. There are no canon pairings in the game. People called me homophobic A LOT.

I have an ex-wife. I am queer as Hell.

I had been in an abusive relationship with my mother, and then with a series of men, so I wrote the show as an allegory about how being abused can make you a broken person who hurts others.

In my story, I worked hard on my mental health. In GLaDOS' story, she isolates herself so she doesn't hurt anybody anymore. Sad.

I was accused of being ableist for not including Doug Rattman in the original production. HE'S DEAD in the game... But rather than keep getting hate mail, I tried to accommodate and put him in the second production.

People started trying to reach me through personal social media if I ignored their nasty/weird messages. So ignoring didn't work. If I responded when tagged in hate, then I was also in the wrong.

Don't get me wrong, plenty of people were nice, but the YouTube comments especially outweighed those voices.

The wild thing was... the Portal musical has MILLIONS of views, and very few of its fans ever supported the company with a donation or buying a cast recording I saved up to make. People stole the ONE DOLLAR cast recording and put it on YouTube. So I was famous enough for people to CONSTANTLY tag me in hate and tell me I was homophobic, that the musical wasn't good, that I'm fat, ugly, can't act, and can't sing... But I wasn't famous enough to make almost any money off it, so it felt like the only way to encourage my career to change in a way that would help me survive off it was to make myself available to people.

The viral success never translated into any sort of monetary value, and eventually I couldn't afford to do weird fandom art for 80 hours a week for waaaay below minimum wage.

I saved up to pay for that musical and paid everyone who participated out of the profits. And again, people were attacking me over a for-fun art project. I don't mean that resentfully, exactly, but Chappell Roan has riches. I had nothing. I gradually retreated from the public eye and tried to post less to YouTube and disabled comments often when I did.

When I complained about how people treated me online, I was accused of playing 'victim'. People bullied me until I deactivated the theatre company's tumblr, then bullied me for doing that, so I deleted it, so someone took it so they could make fun of me on the old url. People tagged me in hate and when I responded, they would make fun of me for that. Someone started a Twitter impersonating me and putting nasty words in my mouth.

People were harassing a person who regularly has 80 bucks or less in chequing as an independent artist as if I was a 'real' famous person with anything else going for me. My resources were VERY limited. The Portal musical had seven performances (including one concert) in two years.

That every single piece of discourse on Chappell Roan hating fame has had TONS of comments about how selfish she is has been actually weirdly/very triggering for me. I know now that giving up on my dream and not trying to push Geekenders or my personal theatre art further was the right call, because, as I am very autistic, I'm very certain I would have hated even a lick of real fame. I sure hated what happened with my silly little fanfic musical.

I don't expect anyone to really see this, but it was nice to write it. The Chappell Roan discourse is triggering. It makes me really sad.

That's all.

...I really need a journaling outlet. Maybe this tumblr'll be that.

[thunder-shadow]

ive got many!!! 1, 4, 5, 8, 17, 21, 27, 28, 37?!

Thank uuu <333333

Do you daydream a lot before you write, or go for it as soon as the ideas strike?

Oh boy, yeah I daydream a lot haha - usually I get an idea and write down the bare info for it (like the ship and maybe one or two scene ideas) and then I just let it marinate for a bit, usually listening to music or reading! Then ideas usually pop in from there XD I'm a daydreamer all the way

4. How do you choose which fics to write?

Usually it's just whichever one I feel needs attention at the moment? Or whatever my brain latches onto haha

Like yesterday I meant to edit the GHE chapter so it could be posted, but instead I wrote the Earthcury one-shot turned multi-chap (which I wanna finish b4 I post it)

It's very wishy-washy is what I'm saying LOL

5. How many wips do you have?  What fandoms/pairings are they for?

All of WIPs are for SolarBalls haha I can only write for one fandom at a time XD

Okay, so obviously I have the GHE fic, the Jupixturnus fic, the Vercury fic, and now the Earthcury fic (those are all multi-chaps); then I have my oneshots, of which I plan to write Vars, Vearth, another UraEarth, a fluffy Jupiturnus one, a Poly Rocky planets one, and I still have a Sol & Nemesis one with snippets, as well as the post-paranoia Luna fic that still needs its chapter two LOL (and then I have a titanearth smut + jupixturnus smut that i'm thinking abt but shhhhhh)

That doesn't even count the random ideas I've just jotted down in my notes app LOL

8. Post an out-of-context spoiler from a wip.

Oh gee, lemme find one I feel like posting!! I don't have any spoilers to be honest, bc i haven't written since i posted the ghe one or i would've used that 😭 so just have a snippet from my latest wip

I actually posted this the other day but deleted it like immediately LOL but here! from my earthcury college AU

‘Okay,’ Earth thought, narrowing his eyes. ‘First midterm is in 7 days. One week. You’ve got this,’ and he pumped his fist, ignoring the weird looks a couple of people threw at him. ‘Just need to study. Actually study for once.’ Then he looked down at the multitude of papers spread out in front of him, his laptop propped open to a chemistry video from a Youtuber he’d found on line, and groaned, letting his face fall onto the table. Across from him, Mars let out a laugh, flipping another page in his book. “Earth, I don’t know what your definition of studying is, but putting your head on the table and giving up is not studying as far I’m aware.” Earth looked up at him through his lashes, sending him as much of an annoyed look as he could muster before groaning again. “Organic Chemistry is going to kill me! Why did I decide to become a biology major?” “I don’t know. Why did I decide to become an Astronomy major?” “Because you’re weirdly obsessed with aliens?” “Wha-” Mars spluttered, putting his book down and looking at Earth. “No!” “Because you weirdly like math?” “No, Earth, because I enjoy astronomy! I like learning about it!” Mars rolled his eyes, taking a sip from his water bottle after a second. “And I know you’re the same way about biology because we’ve been roommates since freshman year!” “Ughh,” Earth whined in response. “Just let me melt into a puddle and evaporate away so I don’t have to take these midterms.” “You could just study for them, you know.” “That was my plan! But that involves studying…” “Oh, wow,” Mars said, throwing him a stare that just dripped with disdain. “Studying involves studying, I really didn’t know that, Earth.” “Fine!” Earth stood up, shoving his stuff haphazardly into his backpack. “I’ll go to the library! And this time, I’m going to actually study!”

17. Do you have a writing routine?

Nope! I literally just sit down and start writing oop

21. Do you prefer writing chaptered fics or one-shots?

I prefer writing one-shots just bc it feels simpler, like a one-and-done LOL but multi-chaps can be fun too!!

27. What area of writing do you feel strongest in?

Being able to write a lot 😓 and body language, I feel quite confident in body language LOL

Also my grammar and language use, despite my copious use of em-dashes, semicolons, and ellipses I otherwise really just innately understand most grammar bc of how much I read when I was younger ‼️

28. What area of writing do you want to improve in?

DIALOGUE 😭😭😭

37. What fic has been the hardest for you to write?

The GHE fic hands down, it just feels so complicated 😭😭 I'm slowly chugging a lot, we're nearing the last few chapters :D

[leikeliscomet]

Let's Talk About Thasmin

Intro Chapter 1 - Not Something I Usually Do [TW: SA Mentions] Chapter 2 - I Haven't Even Told Anyone, Not Even Myself Chapter 3 & Conclusion - I Wish This Would Go On Forever

Intro

I didn’t know how to write about Thasmin because I didn’t understand what Thasmin was. 

I’m in a weird position with it. I watched the Chibnall era and barely thought about it. I knew about it in series 11, not minding if it became canon or if Ryasmin would instead. I thought Yaz’s attachment to Thirteen seemed stronger than Ryan and Graham’s in series 12 and it was interesting but not that exciting enough for me to go full thassie. I liked the Thasmin bits in series 13 like in Eve of the Daleks and Legend of the Sea Devils (even though I didn’t like the rest of it). But after my rewatch, several things started coming together. I started to see Thirteen and Yaz differently, even seeing parts of them in myself and essentially started looking at the Chibnall era a bit differently as a whole. It’s still not my fave era, but there’s things from it I can appreciate that I didn’t see before.

What interests me about Thasmin isn’t just the ship itself but how the fandom talks about it. Both praise and critiques. Thasmin is the first sapphic ship involving the Doctor, with one sapphic only realising her attraction to women recently, and the other essentially being one of the very few asexual sapphic characters in mainstream TV at the time. Thasmin was fresh with potential but as the essay goes on and from the fandom’s reaction, the potential didn’t fully blossom in the way a lot of fans wanted it to. Whilst I’ve stayed indifferent to it, this ship is somehow so controversial it’s torn the fandom in half, caused many YouTube videos, debates and articles (like this lol) and caused some of the wildest discourse I’ve ever seen throughout my time in the fandom. So this essay is basically an attempt at an asexual, lesbian and possibly bi interpretation of what Thasmin tried to be, how lesbophobia and compulsory sexuality shape the fandom’s ideas about queerness using Thasmin as an example and what Thasmin could've been if handled differently.

I need to make it clear this essay isn’t about proving whether or not Thasmin is queerbait. The discourse since 2022, to me, is unproductive, repetitive and only reinforces misinformation and ignorance towards other queer labels. Regardless of writing quality, Yasmin Khan and the Thirteenth Doctor have confirmed feelings for each other so in my personal opinion, I don’t consider the ship queerbait. I’m aware queerbait has expanded definitions like how the queer character’s storylines and how the queer relationship is carried out but to me, that isn’t proof either. Queerness is a large umbrella term of various identities that are outside of the norm, so not all forms of queerness depend on or can be ‘proven’ solely with a romantic/sexual relationship. These definitions to me exclude queer people whose queerness isn’t dependent on those things or doesn’t involve them at all. Lastly, I don’t believe the conclusion of bad queer representation is that it isn’t queer. It is. It just flopped. 

I’m not writing to prove Thirteen really loved Yaz because as far as I’m concerned, her feelings for Yaz are canon. I’m not writing to prove Thasmin is toxic or morally good because as far as I’m concerned, all ships involving the Doctor, a morally grey character, are all morally grey in their own ways and that would mean also critiquing the ethics of Thoschei, Tenrose, TwelveClara and DoctorRiver. I have no interest in doing this or singling out Thasmin as some unique evil because to me that’s performative. I’m not writing to prove that Yaz is ‘really gay’ or ‘gay enough’ because as far as I’m concerned she is a canon sapphic companion and I don’t believe in gold-star, lesbophobic or biphobic rhetoric to erase any sapphic character’s attraction to women. I’m not writing to prove Thirteen/The Doctor is ‘actually asexual’ because as far as I’m concerned they are, as confirmed by Tennant, Smith, Pertwee, other actors and the official account and I don't care for the validity or close-minded opinions of anti-asexual and ace exclusionist fans, the same way I don’t care for the approval or permission from homophobes, lesbophobes, biphobes, transphobes or any group of queerphobic people to exist.

If you’ve come to this essay for me to critique Thasmin specifically on the basis that the Thirteenth Doctor, Yasmin Khan and/or Thasmin the ship have failed to live up to some arbitrary measure of queerness and that they are un-queer, less queer, fake queer, queerbait or ‘cishet’ then basically… you’re in the wrong place.

With that out of the way, let’s talk Thasmin!

Chapter 1 ->

[mxtxfanatic]

Hi 👋. Saw your recent take on how fandom interpret MQ. And I would to here your thoughts about him being the tsundere people try to make him out to be.

MQ trying to make it up to XL when really FX was the only one still sincere. I've only read up to vol. 4 and reread vol. 1 and 2 to get a better look at details. But there are some concerning lines that even XL noticed. Like MQ seems excited at the prospect of XL becoming this mass murder during the Guoshi FangXin reveal. Even the first introductions in the book was him mocking XL's helpful nature.

"Mu Qing’s eyes were glimmering, however, and his restrained shock contained a faint underlying excitement." TGCF Vol. 2 chapter 18

"Since his third ascension, there could only be one phrase to describe the way Mu Qing treated him: passive-aggressive. It always felt like he was waiting for Xie Lian to get booted for the third time so he could make snide remarks. Yet now that Xie Lian might actually get booted that third time, he suddenly became pleasant—he even came specially to deliver medication. This complete reversal in attitude made Xie Lian feel quite disconcerted." TGCF Vol.2 chapter 19

Even XL was freaked out by MQ acting nice to him.

"Mu Qing suddenly asked, “Was everything Lang Qianqiu said true? Did you really kill those Yong’an royals?”

Xie Lian looked up and met his gaze. Even if Mu Qing had been forcibly hiding it, Xie Lian still detected a trace of uncontrollable excitement in his eyes. He seemed highly interested in the details of Xie Lian’s massacre at the Gilded Banquet—he followed with another question.

“How did you kill them?” TGCF Vol. 2 chapter 19

And after XL half lied about his involvement.

"Feng Xin paled. Mu Qing loathed that expression of his the most and said in annoyance, “All right, put that face away. After everything, for who are you looking so pained?”" TGCF vol. 2 chapter 19

I'm not reading this wrong to think MQ is just a very entitled b****** that got high on his position of power and is looking down on XL for coming from a place which is lower than what most people would go through? Is it appropriate for me to interpret him being downright hostile and reveling in XL's disgrace? Because the stans take for MQ questionable character is bothering me a lot. He is not some prickly cat with a soft heart. He is sharp thorns all the way inside and a heart colder than most.

Unless something changes in further volumes I haven't read which is unlikely. Considering MXTX penchant for consistent character writing.

Thoughts?

Something does change about Mu Qing’s character near the end of the novel, but it’s just character growth. You aren’t misreading any of his actions in the earlier parts of the story. What kills me is that yes, Mu Qing is a terrible person who is petty and jealous and insecure and thinks that the only problem with hierarchy is that he isn’t at the top, but he changes and people ignore that! In the best interest of not introducing spoilers, I will say that Mu Qing does explicitly, using clear language, acknowledge his mistakes and how wrong he was about how he viewed Xie Lian and his treatment of the other man. He acknowledges this on his own under no threat and with no prompting. And people ignore this because it does not fit into their perception of Mu Qing as either right or at least well-meaning. He is neither of those things. He knows it. Xie Lian knows it. But he can be those things if he puts effort into it, and for all people call me a hater about his character (which, yeah lol), I for one think he tries by the end.

So no, Mu Qing isn’t a tsundere because he’s not being mean or rude or petty to those he loves to hide a mushy middle. He’s doing it because he thinks he is right to and that eventually people will see that he is right. The story does not agree he is right and duly punishes him for his fuckery, and he changes into a better person who is actually nicer to his friends because he wants to be their friends and not their superiors. That’s his character.

[esprei]

have recently learned there's a bit more hate around trainwreckshipping than i was aware of so i guess i just wanted to talk about it a bit and give my two cents on the ship, how i see it and i guess my perspective on things. i've kind of always wanted to talk about it, but i just haven't been brave enough until now haha (sorry, i am not super eloquent when it comes to writing things like this so my apologies) ((also throwing it under a cut because it may get long and might also include some slightly sad-ish things so i don't want to just throw that in everyone's face you know))

----

i think i'll just preface things by saying i've always totally understood why trainwreckshipping has gotten so much flack since its inception. or hate, because maybe flack just isn't strong enough of a word. but i do understand. there were mischaracterizations of emmet by portraying him as violent to volo because it was assumed that volo was directly responsible for ingo's disappearance. i was guilty of it. suuuuuper guilty. and i can understand why that put the ship in such a position for many people. toxic, unhealthy, etc. but... i think what i'm a bit confused on i guess is the fact that it's still viewed so much this way to this day. viewed as one of the worst ships because of how toxic it is. how unhealthy it is. all because it started that way in fanon only. but you know, from a canon standpoint, it has nothing. nothing at all. so really, this ship could be anything because it's based in fanon only. no canon interactions of emmet and volo exist yet. there is no official basis on how these characters would interact with each other. and yes, while there were misunderstandings of both characters early on, that certainly doesn't mean it's still that way today. that doesn't mean that people haven't studied and looked at these two characters a little closer to understand them better and to try and make them more realistic to their canon portrayals. to make more accurate depictions of these characters and how that fits in to a healthier perspective with them. i dunno. it just kinda baffles me that with the variety of trainwreckshipping content out there now, some still call it toxic and unhealthy as if we're perpetually stuck in that time period of when it was. like it's not allowed to be anything but that ever just because it started that way. and what makes me the saddest about it all is now seeing so many friends and people in the community of the ship start to get disheartened and discouraged from enjoying something they really actually enjoy because there's still such a bad stigma to the ship. personally for a long time i've just ignored that stigma because i try not to let that stuff drag me down. but i will admit that yes, it has made me more reluctant to post any art i do of it. i've definitely had my periods where i've questioned uploading my emmet/volo art, usually as wholesome as it is, because it does have such a dark cloud around it fandom wise. it's why i made my side blog, in fact. because i just didn't feel very comfortable uploading mostly emmet/volo art here to my main because so many people dislike it or outright hate it.

and in regards to the ship itself, i think i've always thought of it in a slightly different way than most. not so much enemies to lovers but rather through the lens of how volo might could change, be redeemed, see the how his actions in the past inadvertently affected others (and by that I mean his involvement in opening the rift... like yes, that could be what caused ingo to be sent to hisui, but we don't know that for sure... and even if that was the case, volo didn't do it specifically to target ingo. volo was only ever interested in trying to get to arceus and build a better world in his vision).

or how volo could look at emmet after getting to know him and potentially see the beauty and value of the current world through him. you know, seeing someone like emmet and admiring that he can still find a reason to smile and be kind despite all of the pain and suffering he must have gone through since ingo's disappearance. volo starting to see a different perspective than he did before (aka wanting to build a new world because the current one was too full of pain and suffering) because of emmet. i dunno. that's just me personally. because since actually looking more at volo's character and his dialogue in game i've been real interested in redemption paths for him. exploring those possibilities. i just enjoy exploring said possibilities mostly through the dynamic i have in my head for him and emmet because it's fun. it interests me. i see cool potential in it. i enjoy it a lot. and while i don't think i ever portray volo super accurately, or even emmet for that matter, i still think i've come a long way since first finishing pla and ever looking at emmet/volo interactions. but regardless of all of that, that's the beauty of a ship of this nature. a ship that has absolutely no basis in canon. because it really can be anything you want it to be. it can be enemies to lovers, it can be more wholesome, it can be whatever. it's not locked into a specific dynamic because the characters have never officially met each other, let alone had a conversation. and even if that were the case... AUs are still a thing. :D

anyway that's pretty much all i had. just wanted to talk about it a bit because i've seen a recent uptick in people mentioning all of the hate and dislike for the ship etc and i dunno. i enjoy the ship a lot. it's just sad to see that there's still so much hate around it even though a lot of the content now is not like how it originally started. not from what i've seen, at least.

and while i don't expect anyone who hates it to ever warm up to it, i just wish it could be understood that the more toxic, unhealthy dynamic is not the basis of anymore. there are healthier portrayals of it now.

[elvisabutler]

happy we'll be beyond the sea

summary: elvis is a selkie, just like his mama was. colonel parker has been in charge of keeping his skin safe since his mama died. the colonel uses it to have elvis do whatever he wants him to do. until one day the colonel isn't the one who has the skin. someone else is. fandom: elvis ( 2022 ) | elvis presley | austin butler pairing: elvis x reader, past elvis x priscilla rating: m for a brief smut at the end. word count: 10, 727. i don't want to talk about it. i don't wanna talk about it. warnings: death mentions. mentions of elvis's poor health. mentions of seal skin. mentions of turning into a seal. really a lot of mentions of skin, because regrettably that is the basis of a selkie myth a lot of the time. me playing fast and loose with selkie myth to suit my own needs. elvis being a himbo. threatened violence toward the reader. overall bad things involving the international. gambling. period typical-ish misogyny implied. fingering. implied/fade to black p in v sex. author's note: so, welcome to the first of four creature au's i'm writing in october in addition to kinktober. i started off with selkie elvis because the international being a trap/tomb/prison is bookended with the vampire fic i'm ending the month on. i am not expecting a lot of y'all to read this because selkie aus are not massive in fandom but i've been a part of enough that have had them that i wanted to make one with elvis. you do not have to picture austin!elvis as i left it vaguely mismash-y between him and actual elvis. but i wanted to write this so i did. next week is mermaid austin, third week is gonna be incubus elvis and then halloween is vampire elvis. enjoy! also the jumpsuit i mention is a real jumpsuit that yes has a green/blue beaded version and a red beaded version, look up the spanish flower jumpsuit if you're curious about it. the green one has a scarf. i am now a sucker for elvis giving his woman a scarf. and this is set late '73/early '74-ish. fudging dates just a little to make things work for me. also do not come at me for inaccuracies with the myth, i have enough celtic blood running through my veins that i can do whatever i so desire with the myth, thank you very much. also if you want mood music, a lot of the time i listened to the navajo version of beyond the sea it's very relaxing. no pressure but i discovered it while writing this and i love it a lot.

"I wanna give you something, 'Cilla. Something that's gonna prove to you I won't stray now that we're together." Elvis says more excited than Priscilla's ever seen him.

"Elvis- we've been together-" And you've still fooled around but she ignores it because short of Ann-Margret no one else really has held a candle to her. "What's this gift you want to give me that's so important?"

"My skin." He answers without missing a beat before his eyes widen and he realizes what he said. "My seal skin, satnin."

"Your seal skin." She repeats slowly the words sinking in. He's told her about how he isn't human on more than one occasion, warned her that there's a possibility any kids they have might be that way but to hear him talk about a skin she's never seen is strange. "It's an actual-"

"Skin. Looks like a pelt- you- darlin' you haven't seen me as a seal, mama always said I was majestic. Like ink from one of those squids or whatever." Elvis is practically bouncing on his feet, looking every bit of an excited boy and not a man over thirty. "You're my wife, it's supposed to be yours. My daddy used to keep mama's until she- died, and she kept mine while I was on the road back in the day. She thought I was gonna lose it. I-I gave it to the Colonel after she died, told him he had to keep it real safe for me, that if I ever got married- if he wanted me to be that All-American man, I needed that skin in one piece."

"To give to me." She finishes his thought, knowing that's exactly where it was going. She's- it's not that she isn't flattered, she is, but Elvis had told her those myths so long ago that she figures just maybe she might need a refresher. "Why?"

"Sailors and fisherman, they used to bind selkie women to them by stealing their skin when they took it off." He starts, rubbing at his lower lip. "Made them be their wives even if they hated it. But sometimes if they got lucky they could give their skin to the person they loved to protect it and protect them. I won't stray if you got it, baby. Wouldn't be able to."

"At all." That sounds like a dream come true, actually, an Elvis Presley completely faithful to her. "The Colonel's going to give it back to you?"

"He's- Of course he is, Cilla why wouldn't he?"

"Because he's a- he reminds me of those fisherman you talked about just now."

"Nah, he- he knows I've been waiting to give it to you. Or whoever I got married if it wasn't you. Wouldn't dream of not letting me have it back. Ain't like I won't work for him without it."

"If- Alright, baby, if you say so, I'll- I'd love to have your seal skin. Your selkie skin? Kind of want to know what it feels like now."

Hawai‘i is never really a breeding ground for his type. Something about the water being too hot and the climate being too hot for his kind to thrive. But Elvis- Elvis finds that it’s one of the few places he feels at home, one of the few places he feels safe to be himself, to swim in his own skin. Maybe that’s why the Colonel had chosen there to make it so he was fully trapped, fully under his control. His mama had always told him to watch over it like a hawk because that’s- not watching for someone stealing it had gotten her into trouble even if it had all worked out in the end with his daddy and her. They might not have been in love maybe- Elvis doesn't like wondering- but they loved each other through his daddy being in jail and up until his mama passed. He hadn't minded the Colonel keeping his skin safe, after all he was just another father figure and Elvis figured he could trust him. In hindsight maybe that was a mistake.

Honestly Elvis has lost track of the last time he's actually seen his skin. Maybe it was that ill fated Hawai‘i trip when he was gonna show Priscilla how he looked as a seal, maybe it was the glimpses that the Colonel lets him see every so often to remind him that he was under his thumb, under his control because I've got your skin, my boy. He is a grown ass man who has to ask to go places that aren't just Vegas or the tons of cities he goes to on tour, sure he can go home, but he can't go to Hawai‘i without a fight and he can't try and go overseas. He can't just have a bit of time to escape.

Elvis can tell something's going on, that something's going very wrong with his body. His mama always told him that genetically he was predisposed to quite a number of things but being a selkie was supposed to help that help keep some of them a bay for the most part. But that was the tricky part though he hasn't been in selkie form for God knows how many years at this point. His body can't keep up he can tell at the rate he's going he's not entirely sure he's going to make fifty, the fact that he's made it to as close to forty as he has is feat in and of itself.

The midnight show was a little more draining today than it has been in a while and Elvis swears getting up off the floor feels like moving through a patch of quicksand. Jerry's the first one of the Mafia to notice, rushing to his friend's assistance.

"You good, E?" He asks as Elvis leans against him breathing a little heavier than he should five minutes after the show has ended.

Elvis contemplates lying before shaking his head. Jerry knows him better than anyone other than maybe George or Billy and he knows the werewolf would call him on his lying bullshit.

"Tired." A sigh escapes his lips as he says that before he licks his lips. "Should've swam earlier. Might've helped."

Jerry frowns noting how Elvis is practically dead weight against him and shifts his position to gain more of a hold on him, making sure the other man doesn't fall over or look completely like he's out of it. "Tomorrow morning, man. We'll clear out the pool for all of us, make a morning of it, you know the Colonel won't be up till 1 after his gambling binge tonight."

The response he gets back is a slight snore as for once in a blue moon Elvis fell asleep without needing to take something to make it happen. Jerry thanked God he had his strength otherwise dragging his friend to the penthouse would have been a feat he couldn't have easily accomplished. The band, the Sweet Inspirations and the Imperials are all staring at him as they pack up and Cissy pipes up.

"He alright?" She sounds worried and Jerry doesn't even blame her.

He shrugs as he starts always away. "Yeah, just needs some rest, all of you should get some rest, we're gonna try and spend some time at the pool if some of you wanna join."

Jerry knows he should see if anyone is saying they'll want to join but he knows he needs to get Elvis to the room in one piece so he focuses on that instead. It takes longer than normal, takes longer than it would if he wasn't half dragging Elvis but eventually they arrive in one piece as Jerry lightly slaps Elvis' cheeks to get him to wake up and shower. He stays in the room until Elvis pops back up still looking exhausted and flops onto the bed, his snores filling the room as Jerry leaves.

The next morning Elvis awakes with a start, wondering where he is until he sees a note from Jerry and a bagel. It used to be a rare occurrence that he felt so exhausted after a show that his body gave out, normally Dr. Nic had to pull something from his bag of tricks to knock him out but apparently last night was one of those nights that seem to becoming his monthly norm. Elvis stretches out on the bed, joints cracking as he gets up, grabbing the bagel and his robe before going to the window to look out st the sky. It's 10AM and Elvis sees the hustle and bustle down below by the pool, remembering how in his exhaustion he mentioned going for a swim. He still think he should have done it last night but acknowledges that maybe he was in a worse state than he believed he was so Jerry probably made the right call. Right now, though? Right now he finds that all he wants to do is to hop into that pool and shed all the stress he feels in his shoulders and chest and just float.

A quick call to the concierge to call everyone else's room and one fully eaten bagel later and Elvis is leaving the building, making his way to the pool. It's a small thing, nothing like the wide oceans of Hawai‘i but it'll do in the pinch he's in right now. It's just him for right now after everyone else had been cleared out, which reminded him he had to give all those guests something nice, he didn't- they didn't ask to be pushed out of their well earned pool time by him. By the time Jerry arrives with that sounds like George, maybe Joe and what he think might be Lamar, Elvis is already well into his swimming, laying flat on his back in the pool. His body feels stronger in the water, even if the smell of chlorine has his nose scrunching up. The calm is broken by a cannonball by his younger cousin and Elvis finds himself choking on the water as his mouth fills with it at the sudden jolt.

"Goddammit Billy!" He shouts once he's actually above the water and swimming over to him, splashing a bit of water at the man. "Give a man a warning, half drowned me over there."

Billy laughs as Elvis exits the pool in a bit of a huff. "You can't drown and we all know it!"

Elvis rolls his eyes as he grabs the towel on his chair and is about to sit down when he sees a woman he doesn't recognize walking to the pool area. His eyes don't leave her form as she walks around like she owns the place. He knows she doesn't, even if the management changed from Kohn. He knows that between the boys and the hotel, no one should be coming down here unless him or one of the Mafia asked for them to come, but from the look on everyone else's faces they're as confused as he is. This won't do, no, he might have felt bad about kicking everyone out, but he's not gonna feel bad about potentially kicking this woman out. Who did she think she was?

"You know this is a private party!" He shouts, making sure he has her attention before bothering to walk over to her.

For her part, the woman has the decency to look over at him and shrug before answering with her own shout as she unwraps her robe. "I don't see a sign, Mr. Presley! So, I think I'm going to go swimming!"

Elvis's eyes narrow before he shakes his head, walking over to her in large strides, taking advantage of every bit of his height. It only takes him a minute to reach the end of the pool she's at and when he does, he just looks at her as he stands between her and the pool. "Not without my permission you're not."

There's something about her, something about her air or in the air between them that makes his hair stand on end. It makes him think about the first time he met Priscilla or the first time he met Ann Margret or the stories his mama told him about the first time she met his daddy. Almost like he was supposed to meet her for some reason, for a good reason, not the shudder that had erupted from him when he met the Colonel for the first time. He doesn't take his eyes off of you.

Your eyes drift up and down his form, taking in wet body, noting the chest hair, the muscles and how he seems large, but not necessarily in a way that's pure fat. Just that all parts of him appeared larger than life. Your mind drifts back to the item you have in your hotel room, hidden to where no one but you can find and you wonder. A hum escapes your lips. "You're not my daddy, Mr. Presley. I don't need yours or any other man's permission to swim in a pool when I'm a paying guest, same as you. And I gamble, something I know you don't usually. Too busy shaking those hips on stage and kissing your audience silly. Someone has to keep this place in business when you're not here. It's mostly me."

"A woman with a gambling problem." He says, tone flat as he moves to touch your shoulder. "Now I definitely know you don't need to be swimmin' unless you ask nicely." He pauses. "You seen my show?"

"I was in the audience for the one where you got a little drunk, Presley." Your hand moves on top of his hand and grabs it to push it away. "I'm not that easily charmed after that."

It's not that Elvis isn't used to women turning down an advance or a touch from him, but coming from you his heart twists a little. Strange since he's just met you but he's thinking it's just from you mentioning that night. He frowns, looking away and off to the side. "Not- ya should come to another. That was a-"

"Special circumstance, Presley?" Not mister, almost like you're trying to test the waters.

"Somethin' like that. Found out some interesting news that night was all. Passed out before the show even." Elvis stops talking for a moment, seeming to realize that he is telling you things he wouldn't dream of telling a stranger all to defend his actions to you. It almost reminds him of how he was around Dixie back in the day. "All I'm sayin' is ya can't be judgin' after one bad show. Come t' tonight's. 8PM or 12AM."

You raise an eyebrow. "That's my prime time to win. Why would I-"

He cuts you off and pushes a stray bit of your hair out of your face, his fingers lingering for just a moment too long. "I'll make it up to you. 'specially if you don't like it."

Your breath catches in your throat at the sensation of his fingers against your cheekbones when he brushes the hair out of your face. You wonder for the briefest of moments if it feels the same way when he trails his fingers down to someone's neck. The question is on your tongue before you shake your head, forcing yourself to keep staring at his eyes in an effort to not back down.

"Are you offering to pay for me to take off tonight?" You ask before you purse your lips. You hadn't meant to make that sound as bad as it did if the laugh from behind you is any indication. Your cheeks heat up and you clench your jaw.

Elvis's eyes flit to your jaw before looking behind you and glaring. The words that come out of his mouth sound more like a booming sort of bark that has you reflexively flinching. "Billy! Keep laughing."

The man named Billy stops and Elvis turns back to you. "I am. Even the hardest working people deserve a night off. You deserve one, and I wanna show you a good time."

"At your show." You finish exhaling slowly as you do. "And if I say no?"

The man in front of you- if you want to call him that- frowns for just a moment before shrugging. "Then you don't swim."

"You're forcing me. Who do you think you are? Because all I see is a has-been who's wasting away in a hotel when last I remember hearing before your drunken ramblings about aliens, you wanted to go to Japan and Germany and everywhere. But I know you're going the second you leave here because you do it every year."

Elvis moves closer to you and looks you up and down. "I'm Elvis Presley, the man you can track like a bloodhound. 'm not forcing you to do anything, just come to the show, let me show you how good it is and you can do whatever ya want."

You huff and push your way past Elvis, tossing your robe onto an open chair and making your way to the deep end of the pool, sliding into it and under the water before you break the surface after you see Elvis standing over where you slid in. "Fine. Now can I swim? Or are you gonna pull me out?"

If his look turns a little heated, seeing you soaking wet in water while he's standing over you, he chooses to believe God would forgive him and that you wouldn't notice. "Have at it. Watch out for the idiots. Billy's fond of playing chicken. Fuckin' sucks at it, though."

Jerry by this point has left the pool himself and is sunning himself in the chair next to where Elvis plops down as you look at the two of them, your lip curling in what might be disgust. That's a new one for him. "She doesn't like you."

Elvis grabs the pair of sunglasses on the table that he knows Jerry brought down for him and spares a glance back at you, marveling at how the water slides down your back. His tongue darts out of his mouth like he wants to lick it off of you. He shakes his head and pinches the bridge of his nose, you had him acting like a teenage boy with those thoughts and some desire to not immediately act on them. "Yet, Schilling. Yet."

He snorts. "Yet. In your dreams, EP."

You don't want to go, you have been dreading going all day since you climbed out of the pool after your swim. Elvis had tried to talk to you a few times in the pool, only for you to rebuff him with splashes of water and eyerolls. His entourage left the pool area first and you think that means he's going to follow them before you see a shadow blocking the sun from you. You sigh. "Elvis get out of my sunlight."

"What color are you wearing?" He asks not even making a single attempt to move.

"I'm not matching you." A pause, because honestly, you might not be matching him but what's the harm in lying to him about the color any way. "Turquoise."

His lips curl into a smile and despite your frustration at the man you can't help the way you stop breathing for a moment at seeing that look directed toward you. Lord have mercy who gave him the right to look like that and be as much of a pain as he had been that morning. "Turquoise. You'll look a goddamn vision in it. Won't- I'll see you tonight."

"Maybe!" You call out to his retreating form.

As it turns out you hadn't completely lied to Elvis, you were wearing something that had turquoise beads on it it to offset the complete void of black that it was. You thought it was cute and it had brought you a bit of luck at the tables from time to time so you didn't see the harm in it until you found yourself being met at your table by one of the men Elvis surrounded himself with- Jerry, you think his name was- and you saw how his eyebrows raised at your dress and your platform shoes.

"Did- Did EP buy you that?" He asks before shutting his mouth and wincing when he realized what he said.

"No?" You answer, confusion coloring your tone as you narrow your eyes. "Why?"

Jerry can't help the laugh that escapes him as he shakes your head. "You'll- I- I can't tell you, you'll see when the show starts. Get comfortable. E wants you to enjoy tonight, sent me out here to make sure you do."

"I don't need a babysitter." Which was true, but at the same time, the company would prevent other people- people who'd likely want a word with you over their losses from bothering you. "But if you're going to be here, I'll tolerate it. Is my tab on him too?"

"It is." He murmurs as the house lights start to dim.

The second you see Elvis you realize what Jerry had meant. You were matching, your lie had meant that he picked a jumpsuit with turquoise detailing and was black. You want to be horrified but it's strangely flattering knowing that Elvis wanted to have you match somehow, not that he had known you were going to essentially be wearing a dress version of his jumpsuit. You spare a glance at Jerry who is laughing at your gasp. He waits until Elvis is saying something to the audience and staring right at the two of you to whisper something to you.

"Don't know what it is about you, but I haven't seen him this excited for a while. Not telling you to give him a chance or make it easy for him, but hear him out. He's- he's been through some stuff and it's getting to him."

Once again your mind drifts to what Parker had been forced to give you when he lost and the myths you've heard offhandedly from plenty of drunks. You wonder if that has something to do with it. that had to be it, you weren't the kind he went for anyway. Even if you think you'd go for him just for the hell of it. You sigh.

"This is a one time thing, Mr. Schilling. I can't be coming here night after night. I'm just as busy as him."

Jerry hums as he sees the house lights start to light back up and Elvis launches into what you swear is an actually entertaining routine about wanting to see the audience. You're almost not paying attention to who he's pointing out until he mentions your name and you wince at the bright light on your face.

"Sorry 'bout that, darlin'. Forgot to give you warning. But look at her, isn't she a beauty, didn't realize we were gonna be matching. Thought you were wearing turquoise, baby!" He jokes as the audience laughs with him.

Your embarrassment with the situation has your shoulders tensing up and you want to not answer, you want to run but you're an adult and you know very well that there's enough people in here who you play with that if they see you blink in this situation they'll never take you seriously again. So you don't blink.

"So did I! Left it in Memphis?" You joke, smiling your most charming smile as you do a twirl so everyone can really see you do look like you're his matching girl.

"Hawai‘i!" He answers back before motioning for you to come up the stage. "Let her by, everyone! Gotta give her something to cover up that gorgeous neck."

You look confused for a moment before you make your way up to the stage. This entire thing was getting way too weird for your tastes, you had just met Elvis and here he was trying to make the audience be charmed by you like he planned on you being by his side for a while. What did he think that you were gonna join his little Memphis Mafia as the resident gambling woman? A few members of the audience were still a little too close and you found yourself pushing at least two of the women away when they tried to grab at your dress like they were going to steal it right off your body.

Elvis is looking at you from the stage and when he sees the women try and pull off your dress he almost hops off of it to defend you and protect you. Strange, but at this point he's beginning to realize everything about you and his reactions to you is a little strange.

When you finally reach the stage, he takes off his scarf, it's sweaty and he knows it is but somehow knowing you'll smell like him, knowing people will see his scarf and know that you're off limits. How off limits exactly he doesn't know. All he knows is he wants to see you with something of him wrapped up around your neck. His eyes flit to your neck as soon as you take it from him, your fingers brushing his, causing his body to flush more than it already was from the exertion of the show. If the brush of his fingers illicit the same reaction in you it doesn't show beyond a brief inhale. You noticed how his eyes flit to your neck though and despite the sweatiness you end up tying the scarf almost immediately around your neck perhaps a little tighter than you should, but you didn't trust the audience members to not try and pull it off you.

His tongue darts out to wet his lip when he notices how tight you tied it before he chuckles. "Y/N, everyone! Ain't she a good sport. Go on back to your seat, doll!"

You didn't even wait for his permission, your backside already turned to him, your dress swaying with your hips as you slid in between everyone. No one cares what you have to say but you can't resist the response. "Not your doll, E!" Not Elvis, not Presley, not even EP, just E.

If the rest of his show seemed like he had the energy of two men- well, you chose not to notice it. You do have to give Elvis credit, though, he wasn't wrong about the night you had seen before not being his best work. This was something else, he commanded a room the way you commanded a table. It has you clenching your thighs together and has your lips twisting into a frown when you realize it. Jerry doesn't say anything about how you keep shifting in your seat except for the occasional sniffle and small huffs that leave his lips. By the time the show is done, you're already standing up, ready to leave when Jerry grabs your arm.

"You should come backstage." He says, motioning to the curtain. "I know he's going to want to see you after that."

Your hand moves on top of his and you pull it off as you shake your head. "If Elvis wants to see me, he can come find me. I'm sure the hotel staff would let him know my room number. Now if you excuse me, Mr. Schilling, I still a few more hours to enjoy my night. Do me a favor and tell him that he might be right, I shouldn't have judged him off that show."

Jerry lets you walk away even though he knows Elvis is going to hate it because this is something else. The whole thing is strange, you smelt faintly like Elvis before he put the scarf on you and yet- he was going to get to the bottom of this eventually but in the meantime maybe it wouldn't hurt to make Elvis work for you.

Two weeks later and you're beginning to think Elvis has forgotten about you. Sure, he gave you the scarf and seemed bound and determined to get you to like him but he hadn't found you yet. His manager had on more than one occasion, trying to win back the skin, but the joy was that Colonel Parker absolutely did not know when to quit when it came to wins. He had won it several times over only to lose it again that same night. It'd be tragic if you didn't find it hilarious to watch.

It's about 10AM when you hear a knock on your door. Strange, but not entirely unheard of, it might have been room service for all you knew. What greeted you had you stopping in your tracks.

Elvis looks good- better than he had two weeks ago and you wonder if it's makeup or something like a diet pill or some drug. No one looks that good after looking as bad as you've heard he's been lately. Then again, most of your knowledge had been from tabloids so maybe he wasn't that bad off. Your eyes drift down his form, taking in the suit with no undershirt, the belt with a buckle bigger than your whole hand and his boots. When your eyes drift back to his face he tries to blow his bangs out of his face before he grins. "You are a hard woman to find. You pay off the front desk staff? Because goddamn they wouldn't tell me a thing."

Your mouth opens and closes in quick succession before you finally squeak out an answer. "Nope. You're- You've been looking for me?"

"Every morning." He answers honestly, looking at your unmade bed and back at you. "Am I interrupting something?"

You turn to figure out what he was looking at before your eyes widen and you bite back a laugh. "Are you asking if I have company?"

He has the decency to look a little guilty before he nods. "I am. From that giggle though, I'm thinking you don't."

You nod back and fully start to laugh. "Unlike some people, I'm not known for sleeping with strangers."

Elvis purses his lips and shakes his head. "Lord help me, I don't know why- you are-" He takes a moment to breathe and he swears he smells the sea when he feels the breeze from your open window waft air out to the hallway. Impossible because you're both in Vegas but he knows that smell. It smells like- it smells like his skin used to. "What about talking to 'em. 'specially since you've got my scarf."

Your eyes flit to your nightstand where the scarf is and you pray to every deity he hasn't seen it. You shouldn't tell him yes, you should just let him have his scarf back and be done with it but you're thinking that's still not going to solve the problem so you shrug.

"By the pool, E?" A neutral spot, and one you figure you both feel comfortable being by.

"Already got a party going 'till one down there. It's a date." He turns to leave before he looks back at you. "I don't know if that's a candle or what but- your room smells like the sea. I like it."

Your eyes widen momentarily before you stutter out a thank you and shut your door before running to the closet. The skin is still there, still looks healthy- honestly looks healthier than it was when you first got it and you jump back like you've been burned. You were no expert on any of this but this- this was weird. Still, you had to grab your swimsuit and head downstairs. After all, he wanted to pretend this was a date and you hated being late for those.

As it turns out, Elvis wasn't bad. You learn this after the first morning in between laps around the pool and interruptions from various people. You learn the real basics of him that day. But as the weeks go on and turn into months you learn about his charitable works, about how his gaudy house was actually bought for his mother and on one memorable day how he hates every single one of his films including your favorite.

"Viva Las Vegas! Oh come off it-" He exclaimed, shaking his head. "That- Love Ann Margret."

"Yeah, everyone knows you did. But I really liked it. Especially that scene when she let you fall into the pool." You grin, grabbing some water with your hand and splashing it at Elvis's face.

"Oh, you just like me all wet, I see how it is, darlin', that's really why you chose the pool wasn't it." He asks, leaning over like he's about to kiss you.

You inhale sharply. "That's for me to know and you to never find out."

His hand moves to untie the scarf you wear out of habit at this point, his scarf you wear out of habit at this point and lets his fingers trace your neck when he does. "Not even if I ask real nicely, mama?"

It occurs to you that if you didn't have his skin, if you didn't know that you had his skin this would be easier. You'd feel less like you're taking advantage of him, but you feel that way, you know the basic myth, you know this has to be tied to it somehow. Still, his hand is touching your neck and you know your pupils have to be dilating by now and- your chest feels like it's in a vice grip before you manage to guip and speak. "Not even then."

"Can I kiss you?" He asks as his hand moves up to your cheek and you swear you stop breathing before you find yourself nodding against your better judgment.

Elvis's lips are soft and that surprises you for reasons you don't quite understand. They dominate the kiss and you don't know if it's because Elvis is the more dominant one- barely- out of the two of you or if it's because they're just larger than yours. You mean for it to stay chaste, you do, but then you can feel his tongue pressing against your lips and you open your mouth to let him in, your tongue dancing with his own. On instinct, you nip at it, something you've always done with partners and earn a groan from him. You're both on the edge of the pool and everyone else is there but without even missing a beat, Elvis moves to climb on top of you, half shielding you from everyone's eyes but also allowing himself the pleasure of pressing against you.

"Elvis-" You breathe out when he pulls away trying to steady his breathing. "We're- by the pool, everyone's here. I'm pretty sure they're staring."

He shakes his head. "They've seen worse. I've seen them do worse, just- let me kiss you, darlin', please. It feels- you feel like home. Feel like I did back when I-"

He trails off and you find that it worries you because you feel him tense above you. "Back when you what?"

Back when he had his skin? He's- his manager has had his skin, he had been married not that long ago, what does he even mean by that. You needed to- he needed to have the skin back if it was causing him to feel like this with you for no reason.

"I can't- I won't tell you right now. After the show tonight, darlin'. I'll tell you after the show if you wanna know still." He shakes his head and starts to pull away. "I. It's getting close to one. Darlin' do you have a dress like that one you wore to my first show. That black one."

"I have it with red stones? Won it off a businessman. Why?" You're fully confused now, wanting to ask what's going on and why Elvis is seeming skittish now when he had just been wanting to kiss you. Had he realized what was going on? Or what might be going on?

His lips curl into a smile. "It was like you were tailor made for me. It's the same for me. I was planning on wearing the one with my red stones. Come to the show, I'll give you my scarf before it. I just need my- I need you to match me."

"Kiss me some more and I will." You give him a small smile when you speak, grabbing at his cheek and watching him nuzzle into it not unlike the seal you know he is inside.

"Okay." He whispers leaning back down and closing the distance between you.

The Colonel sees you backstage before Elvis does and gives you a once over before grabbing your arm and attempting to move you to where no one can see the two of you before Jerry actually catches him.

"Let her go." Those three words have the Colonel dropping your arm like you scalded him before he glares at Jerry and leaves, leaving you to rub at your arm. You open your mouth to explain before Jerry waves you off.

"I know how bad his gambling gets. None of my business how much you took him for as long as- maybe you can find a way for it to get back into EP's pocket."

It really should be his business is what you want to tell him before Elvis spots you, practically running over and picking you up in a hug before twirling both of you until he sets you back down. "You came and you match me, darlin'. Don't know if I like you more in the black and blue or this one." His hands move to his neck, pulling off his scarf and tying it around your neck loosely. His breathing quickens just a hair seeing his scarf around your neck before he shakes his head. "You look perfect."

It's hard to make you feel bashful but in that moment you can't help the way you look down and kick at the floor like a schoolgirl. "Could say the same for you."

"Aw- no need to flatter me, you've already got me-" He stops himself and leans a little closer to murmur in your ear. "I'll meet you in your room after the show. Shower, maybe get a little dirty with you? Continue what we were doing at the pool?"

Your only answer is a hum and a smirk and Elvis knows that's a yes. Knows by now that you doing that is how you say yes when you don't want to admit it. He takes a deep breath and realizes he smells the scent of sea water once again. It's in your clothes this time, it's in the dress. He wants to ask you what the deal is- why your dress smells like sea water and like home, but Jerry's pulling him away and you're waving at him with a blown kiss. It's silly but he makes a move to catch it and you laugh.

The show is phenomenal as always and while you notice Elvis is distracted by something- someone maybe, he still puts on the show you've begun to expect. By now you've seen or heard Elvis talk about the end of his show that you know how it goes so you let yourself slide out the back of the showroom and make your way to your room, humming "Can't Help Fallin' In Love" to yourself as you do. You know you need to tell him, know that he deserves to know that you're the new owner of his skin, that you've been trying to figure out how to give it to him, but his promise of something more tonight has you thinking it can wait until tomorrow morning before your daily poolside chat. It feels like a lifetime before Elvis arrives at your room and in that time you've undressed, leaving yourself with nothing but your underwear and dark blue robe with your initials printed on the pockets and on the lapels. Elvis knocks once, twice, three times before you answer the door, pulling him in before kissing him softly.

"Shower." You say simply.

As soon as the door shuts Elvis is overcome with the overpowering scent of seawater that he keeps smelling near you and he stops as he heads to the bathroom to make sure he doesn't see any candles before shaking his head. He's got to be losing it. This- it's almost like how the Colonel's room used to smell with his skin hidden in it. But that was impossible, you couldn't have his skin. His shower doesn't take long, his anxiousness and desire to talk to you forcing him to rush through it. When he comes out of the bathroom he finds you lounging on your bed, looking a bit tired. He considers the merits of not telling you, debates if you're coherent enough to hear what he has to say before he realizes that no- he needs to tell you. If he wants to move forward with you- you need to know.

He slides next to you in the bed and leans on his arm to face you. "I'm a selkie." He pauses, realizing that he offered no preamble to go with that. "It's-"

You tense next to him the second you hear the words come out of his mouth and turn your body to face his, cutting him off with a finger to his lips. "I know what it is. Human who can turn into a seal with a skin. Or vice versa, I don't know which is the default."

"How do you- how do you know what a selkie is?" His voice wobbles a little, like he's terrified to hear your answer.

A breath leaves your body in a rush before you bite your lip as if you're thinking, plotting really and Elvis face is morphing into one of genuine panic and worry. "Baby, why do you know what a selkie is? How?"

"I've played with a lot of men who know the legends." You answer in a rush, biting your lip once more. "I- They've told me about them. Your manager told me about it too. Elvis- what does it matter- I know I don't mind it's fine-"

He cuts you off, his eyes flashing and the blue you swear turning into a stormy sea. "Parker- that toad- where is it? You don't feel like home because you're supposed to be with me, you don't smell like the sea because you might be a great seal wife. You- Where is it?"

"I don't-"

"Don't lie to me!" Elvis shouts practically jumping off the bed before starting to go through your drawers, tossing your clothes as he does. "Where is my goddamn skin, woman?! I will- Just tell me where my skin is, darlin' I don't want to hurt you but I need- I haven't had my skin for a decade and you've had it for a month after winning it off the man who was supposed to protect it. Give me back my skin!"

You're sure that your neighbors think you're a murderer with how loud Elvis is shouting about his skin but you don't care, more preoccupied with making sure Elvis doesn't hurt you or wreck your room too much in his search. You get it- you get how this must be horrifying and frustrating but he's actively scaring you with how he looks, how you feel he's every bit of a deadly seal ready to kill you for keeping him away from what's rightfully his.

"Closet." You whisper before watching him storm to it. You don't dare get up from the bed and so you only hear his victorious shout and hear the somewhat anguished sobs coming from inside your closet for a few minutes until you see him come out holding the almost pure black pelt with only a few white spots. He doesn't bother to look at you as he heads to the door, still looking as angry as he did when he first walked into the closet.

"Keep the scarves. It's gonna be as close as you ever get to touching my skin ever again." He spits out before opening your door and slamming it hard enough the picture frames on the wall rattle.

You lock the door and sink to the floor and cry.

A month goes by and Elvis had left the building, an emergency trip back home everyone had said until the pictures of him in Hawai‘i prove that to be false. You've been on a losing streak and you blame it on Elvis. On his scarves, on his kisses on the knowledge that he had charmed you only to leave you because you didn't tell him that you had his skin. It's on one of your losing streak nights that you hear whispers about Elvis having a show tonight and you can't help the laugh that leaves you at hearing that. You can't help the way it makes your heart twist inside your chest and makes you want to crawl into a hole.

You excuse yourself from that table, realizing you've lost enough tonight and realizing that you'd like a drink. You're not paying attention to where you're going and you find yourself bumping into a body you've become relatively accustomed to.

"Y/N." He breathes out once he steadies you and takes a good look at you. His eyes drift over your form, noting how your hair is unkempt and you look almost like- well like he did when you first met him. Maybe- no.

"Elvis." You murmur, leaning against him, taking in his scent, that sea scent that had left your room two weeks ago and lead to crying jag that left you in bed for two days. As much as it felt like home to Elvis- it called to you in what was perhaps a similar way. "You look healthy. Good. The- Your skin helped you. That's good."

His eyes narrow, realizing you're smelling him. If he was honest with himself, and he rarely is, he hasn't stopped thinking about you while he was in Hawai‘i. Even without his skin you felt like the sort of woman he could be with and who could keep up with him. It's not like he hasn't loved Priscilla and Ann Margret and anyone else he's been with but you were different. You caught him off guard and you felt like the person he was supposed to entrust with his skin all along. Seeing you like this? Seeing you worse for wear because he left the way he did has his heart twisting in his chest and has a growl against himself brewing. He had hurt you, twisted you into something he didn't like seeing.

"Being around you before-" he left, before he realized that you had what he had dreamed about getting back for over a decade and you took such good care of it. "You helped a little."

Your head moves from his chest as you wave him off. "That was all you. I heard the stories, you'd sleep all day stay awake all night. You were the one at the pool that first day."

He gulps and his hand moves to your back, holding you in a hug, his hand rubbing up and down. He can't help the way his nose buries itself into your hair. You still smell like the sea to him. "Only kept going because that's where you wanted to meet."

A laugh bubbles up from deep inside you and you pull away as you laugh like the idea is the funniest thing known to man. "You can't- You can't say stuff like that, Elvis. I'm- I'm going to go back to my room. You have fun down here. With- it's- you're done with your shows tonight aren't you? Just have fun here then. Win some money off of Parker. Oh, that'd be funny."

Elvis pauses and grabs your arm as you start to walk away. "I'm walking you to there."

You look at him like you want to argue before you see that there isn't room to argue. He's already waving off Jerry and Lamar and Billy so it's just the two of you. The idea of being alone with Elvis is not necessarily something you want because you don't trust your tongue and brain to listen to you about how you don't want to tell him how much you missed him. You feel pathetic about how much you missed him because he doesn't look like he missed you at all. Sure, you two had only really known each other for a month but you knew things about Elvis no one else did and you had told him a few things about yourself that you wouldn't tell someone on your deathbed. Being around him felt right even now, felt comforting even now. Elvis moves his hand from your arm, a good thing because you swear you felt his rings starting to dig into the flesh and moves it to your waist, pulling you against him as he walks both of you steadily to your room. The desire to lean against him is too strong just from the feel of his rings against your waist so you let yourself indulge in it, leaning against him like he's the only thing keeping you from falling. You hear a sharp intake of breath from him before he grips your waist tighter, almost as if he never wants to let you go. What a pipe dream.

Your room door comes into view too quickly for your liking and you almost want to tell him that it's not your room any more but you know he's not an idiot. Some people may think he is, but you know the truth, you know the brain underneath that gorgeous hair. You open your mouth to speak first before Elvis turns to face you, his hands moving to push back your hair on both sides.

"Ya look like shit, doll." A simple comment but one that has you shaking your head and biting your lip before looking down. He's not admonishing you but it certainly feels that way.

"No one to impress here for the past month." You answer, knowing fully well he can connect the dots. "And when I lose I don't- treat myself kindly, I told you that the day Billy convinced Lamar to toss you in the pool while he tossed me in."

His lips quirk into a smile at the memory before he shakes his head, frowning. "You- I did a lot of thinking while I was gone."

A hum as you make a move to unlock the door so you're not having what feels like might be a very important conversation in the hallway. It opens easier than you think and you motion for Elvis to go in as you respond with an attempt at a joke. "Don't do that, you might hurt yourself."

The second you're both inside the room, Elvis shuts the door with his foot and leans against it, putting just a little bit of distance between both of you. "Wouldn't be the first time." He takes a few deep breaths, noting that your room doesn't smell like the sea breeze, but it still feels like home- still feels like he's supposed to be there. "But I-I- I came to the realization about somethin'."

Your eyebrow quirks up and you tilt your head questioning what he means by that without saying a word. He takes that as permission to continue.

"I've had that skin my whole life. I've seen- my mama shouldn't have been married to my daddy. Maybe they loved each other but it- it was complicated. I didn't think about it beyond protecting her and all but she always told me to make sure whoever had my skin knew to protect it. Told me to make sure that I was- that I trusted the person I was going to let have that power over me. Made the mistake of giving it to the Colonel, but then you- you won it from him. Jerry told me that- told me how you won it and how you kept winning it back when he tried to get it back and- baby, I don't think you know how much that means to me. How much-" He pauses, taking a breath or several to collect himself. "Priscilla couldn't get it from him, everyone couldn't get it from him and we tried, oh God did we try and I thought this is it, I'm gonna die because I'll be seperated from my skin for so long. I'll waste away because that toad won't let me go. I resigned myself to it."

Your throat tightens as you try and swallow your saliva, and you feel your nose starting to run and your eyes start to burn but you have to say something. "But then I- I got the skin."

He nods, his own eyes looking glassy but not because of any drug. "You got my skin. You got it and you hid it because you- I'd have thought you stole it if you gave it to me right after. But you kept it safe and mama, you smelt- You smelt like you rolled in me, Jerry thought I had fucked you the moment you watched that first show you smelt so much like me. I thought Priscilla was home and she was when we were together, I'll admit that right now, I still love the woman and she gave me my little pup of a baby seal. But you- I don't think it was just the fact that you had my skin that made you feel that way. I- Getting to know you without knowing that you were holding something that could tie me to you- somethin' that I've had used against me for so many years- I- I think I'm in love with you. I think you were always supposed to be the one to get it. Supposed t' protect it with your own life."

"No-" You start before he's waving you off and moving up off the door.

"Don't ya be telling me whatever bullshit I know you're about how I'm an idiot, because I know you think I'm one. I'm the selkie here, I'm the one thinking about givin' you back my skin so that when I'm here, when I'm with you I smell a sea breeze and when I touch you- you feel like the warm waters of Hawai‘i against my skin and I know that somehow you'll make sure I live a long and healthy life wherever it is." Elvis closes the distance between the two of you and by this point you're crying, you're crying because none of this makes sense. Elvis Presley doesn't forgive like this- you've heard the horror stories, you've seen how he barely interacts with his manager any more after they used to be thick as thieves. You had to listen to the Colonel talk about how it was supposed to be the Showman and the Snowman but now Elvis doesn't want to be so tied to him after his betrayal.

"I'm- You- Elvis don't play." You choke out, rubbing at your eyes like that's going to hide the fact that the more he speaks the more you feel tears just pouring out of you. "It stopped smelling like the sea two weeks ago and I-"

He pulls you into his arms and you find yourself just taking deep breaths trying to calm yourself. You focus on the feel of his rings gliding against your skin as he rubs your back and shushes you murmuring what feels like sweet nothings in your ear. "I'm here, I'm not- I won't swim away, darlin'. I came back. I'm back. I'm here. Gonna finish up my residency, this last one here and I'm gonna- I'm gonna take you wherever you want. You're gonna protect me and I'm gonna protect you. Gonna spoil you, gonna swim with you."

"Are you giving it back to me?" It's the first thing that comes to your mind when he's murmuring all those things and making you feel like you want to cry even more even as it's strangely comforting to hear. "Are you giving me back your-"

"It's in my room. I'm gonna move you up there, you're gonna tell me the best spot in there for it to be and it'll just be me and you who knows it's there." A pause. "Yeah, baby, I'm givin' you back my skin. I'm- I'm not asking you to marry me or nothin' but you'd make a good seal wife."

That last sentence, that moment of hearing Elvis call you a good seal wife, as dumb as it sounds to anyone else listening has you pulling away just enough that you can kiss at Elvis's neck and up his jaw before you reach his lips. It's a gentle kiss as if you feel like if you do more he really will swim away never to return. You realize you shouldn't have worried when Elvis deepens the kiss, his hand moving to cup the back of your head as he nips at your lips before pulling away, breathing heavier than he was before, his eyes starting to be taken over by his pupil.

"Can I show you what I wanted t' do with you that night?" He asks, searching your face for any hint of a no. "How I wanted to lay you on your bed, kiss every inch of you and see you moan and bounce on my cock."

You shiver and it's not because of any cold breeze before nodding and whispering your answer with a nuzzle against his chest. "Please. I missed you."

That's all the permission he needed as he picks you up like you're nothing and drops you on the bed, and climbs on top of you, his hands moving to the bottom of your dress, pulling it up slowly over your body and over your head, exposing your silk underwear to him and earning a groan of appreciation.

"Didn't have anyone to dress up for but you're wearing something as soft as me." He says in between kisses down your neck as his fingers move to feel your cunt, noting how just with a few kisses and his presence you're practically soaked. "You missed me that bad. Didn't ever touch you and you're-"

You mewl at his touch, feeling a slight burn at both of his fingers before you move your head to the side and shake it as if you don't want to admit what you're about to say. "I touched myself that afternoon, after the pool. I wanted you so bad that night. Was gonna tell you about the skin the next morning. Thought I was going to lose you for good, E."

His fingers still in you at those last words and you briefly think you've made a mistake before you feel the press of his lips and the press of his tongue against your lips as a reassurance that you didn't. He bites your tongue softly, remembering like he has for the past week how you did it to him and you let out a soft moan as he curls his fingers just so.

"Didn't lose me for good, baby. I'm right here. Gonna be with you for for good if you'll have me." He murmurs against your lips before kissing you again, his fingers sliding in and out of your core.

"Promise?" You ask as you buck up, feeling Elvis's thumb against your clit, pressing hard against it before rubbing a soft circle.

"Promise." He answers, his head moving down to your neck, until he stops at your chest, peppering kisses across it and moving a cup down just enough to expose your nipple. "You can make noise, mama. Wanna hear you, want everyone to know you're taken, want everyone to know you've claimed me. Trapped the selkie on dry land because he's happy for once."

If there was a response you had, it's overtaken by the groan you let out at the feel of Elvis's tongue against your nipple. The flick of it, the warmth of it drowning out anything other than you and him and your bodies. You hear the sound of his fingers sliding in and out of you and your body heats up more if it's even possible. You didn't know you could be that wet for anyone and yet here you were feeling as if you're going to leave a puddle on the sheets. He pulls away just enough to blow a puff of air against your nipple as his thumb swipes just so and you find yourself shouting, your vision whiting out for just a moment as you feel his hand grip your hip to steady you. It's- You never come that quickly, a frustration for most of your partners and yourself but you think- no you're almost positive that Elvis has helped you reach an orgasm in no time flat. You'd be embarrassed if the thought didn't feel so hot.

He speaks first. "You came."

You nod slowly, your eyes struggling to focus on Elvis before you trust your tongue enough to form words. "I-You're very good." A pause. "I can go again. I want- that was too short. I want to feel more of you."

Elvis pulls his fingers out of your cunt, his eyes watching how it clenches around nothing as he pulls them out. It is a sight he wants to commit to memory and a sight he wants to spend the rest of his days seeing day in and day out. He doesn't say anything, instead choosing to stick his fingers in his mouth, his tongue sliding across them before he pulls them out and moves to touch your lips with them. "We've got all night, darlin'. Now be a good girl and taste yourself on my fingers, will you?"

Your tongue is out before he even finishes the command.

Later on that night, when you're curled against Elvis, your hand playing with his chest hair and his hand is petting your hair as you both half pay attention to whatever movie is on the television screen you find that being with him feels comfortable, like you've shed your walls or the hardened skin you normally present to everyone. You wonder if that's just because he's that charming or if perhaps there is something supernatural at play.

"You're thinking too much right now. Thought I fucked that out of you tonight." He murmurs against your hair, placing a soft kiss on the top of your head.

"Sorry, it only works for an hour, then I'm right back at it." You joke softly. "What were you going to tell me that night? About how I felt?"

Elvis stiffens just a tad before he hums and you can hear his head hit the headboard softly. You almost start to tell him he doesn't need to answer before you hear his sigh. "You felt like home. Felt like Tupelo and Graceland and the sea around Hawai‘i all rolled into this package of a woman who accidentally matches my jumpsuits without me buying the damn dress for her. You felt perfect for me."

There's a burning in your eyes you don't want to acknowledge but you can't help the way you sniffle at the comments before you speak. "And now?"

"Didn't change." He starts simply before his hand moves to rub your back and pull you closer to him. "You are perfect for me. We're gonna protect each other. Gonna do what we want when we want it and if they don't like it we'll go somewhere else."

Your lips upturn into a smile at that and you snuggle into Elvis' chest just a bit more. "I'm holding you to that tomorrow morning."

He chuckles and it fills your whole body with a warmth you only associate with a hot cup of tea. "You can hold me to that for the rest of my life, darlin."

"We'll see."

[the-path-to-redemption]

*starting to watch RWBY* OMG so cool!!! i love RWBY!!! ♪♪＼(^ω^＼)( /^ω^)/♪♪ *screenshot screenshot screenshot* i wonder what the fandom is like... Σ(°ロ°) h-HUH?!!! THE Y2K EMO BOYFRIEND (Adam) IS DEAD???!!!! ( ꩜ ᯅ ꩜;) 

i love RWBY but i've been checking the fandom tags on here and.... the fans are too scary....(╥﹏╥) makes me scared for the rest of the anime/series too (i'm only halfway season 2!!!). i already saw that Adam is dead and that he's a groomer??? ( ꩜ ᯅ ꩜;) i thought he was an adolescent....

i think i'll just watch as much as i can and not interact with the fandom!!! but i send you anon message because i saw you like Adam and Sun, me too (っ´ω`c)♡ and Adam and the blue hair guy (forgot his name >< sorry), and Adam and Ren, and Adam and the big chainsaw man... i like other ships of course, i only got very very very very worried about Adam because i thought he would be my best boy.... (╥﹏╥)

BTW, your art is really cool, i love your lineart and the way you do eyes (っ´ω`c)♡ your Yang design looks super duper cute and her hair looks so nice and silky ♡ so envious ♡ what shampoo does she use?

let's ship Adam couples together (っ´ω`c)♡ i hope to have time to make materials in the future....

This is such a nice ask! Thank you, anon! I'm very happy that you like my art, that's so sweet <3. And yay! More shippers for the Crimsun enthusiasts, welcomeeee <3!!! I really like the other ships too, though Neptune is one I haven't considered yet :0. Maybe I'll draw my ships on this blog,,,

I'm very sorry that the FNDM is not a good place for you, but I'm glad that you're going to enjoy what you like nonetheless. Please stay safe, anon!

But on more serious matters; unfortunately, yes Adam's character was quite the controversial one after Volume 3, mostly because the writers decided to forgo a lot of his activism in favor of...being an abuser. It's a very gross direction they've taken him, and sadly that turned a lot of people against him. Which is fine! No one has to like him, but there is a lot of racism against him that his haters would engage in that I do not condone, and that racism traces back to how RWBY as a show doesn't care about the racial activism story that they decided to include to write it properly, especially about how Adam's past and character was treated.

And on the matters of him being a groomer, don't worry! Nowhere in any materials involving RWBY states that he's a groomer or any kind of sexual offender. It's just a very nasty thing that Adam haters create to hate him more, and it's very gross and ignorant. His abuse on Blake was an emotional, then physical one, but never has it been sexual. Nor is he a groomer in any other way, since Blake willingly joined up with the WF. We don't even know how old he is! So you thinking he's an adolescent is not incorrect at all. It's a terrible headcanon made by haters who doesn't care about the terrible implications of grooming to approach it respectfully.

You're more than valid for not wanting to interact with the FNDM, anon! And I'm very happy that you still find some enjoyment out of the show, and I hope that you continue to do so safely. Thank you again for such a nice ask!

P.S. Yang uses a lot of hair product gifted to her by family ;3, which is nice because she goes through them very quickly haha. I'll drop more redesigns in the future, so please give me feedback if you'd like! <3

[tartrazeen]

I'm playing with the Mystic Knight polycule today 😝

I've never actually considered polycules in a fandom before, but as soon as @schimmelspore put it in my head, I dunno - this time, it clicked. This show lends itself so well to one because each character gives you a concrete personality to work with. It means even when certain dynamics aren't getting the same kind of screentime to show you what would happen, it's still easy to picture how it would be playing out somehow.

The dynamics all have something unique about them too, which might be why I've never thought a lot about polycules before. What I've been stuck with is "Okay, you two date like this, and you two date in the exact opposite way, and then when you switch, here's how you make sure all these exact same roles are in play but with different people doing them." Like a constantly self-enforcing hierarchy where every single one of them has a clear rank within the group, or a checklist of 'top/bottom/verse' that everyone has to complete. Or like a rote partner swap. Not fun for me.

But this is fun, because if two or three people are together at a time, you can't just slip in someone else without changing absolutely everything about how they interact with each other. Their relationships are distinct, and there's an equally distinct consideration that has to be made when someone else is added to the mix. There's always a slight moment of, "Is this person intruding on what these other ones are doing, even if they have all independent relationships outside of this?"

The best part is how I feel totally free from the boringly standard, "This person's a top and therefore also the dom, and this person's a bottom and therefore also the sub" fandom patterns. Like - putting aside how these characters seem so fluid across those anyway, since it's not something that just gets boiled down into sex, it feels like as soon as the tone or mood changes, everything else could change on a dime. There's a certain level of receptiveness that I get from them where they adapt to each other rather than inherently stick to their 'assigned role'. Even purposely 'sticking to a role' is situational.

There's just so much drama in this group that nothing has any reason to be consistent. Especially with the royalty factor involved in terms of who has a title, who grew up with a title, who's willing or able to put titles aside at any given moment, and how that holds up to the relationship that exists outside of any titles at all, there's a constantly shifting balance of power. To me, there are as many times where someone's insisting royalty plays a part in an interaction as there as times where it's purposely inverted, subconsciously maintained, mutually cancelled out, or inevitably overruled by the rest of the relationship (particularly where Angus is involved for that one). And like I said, depending on the tone or mood at that moment, that can all shift and shift again. Someone says something off-handedly and - bam. Things change, and there's a new question on whether they try to ignore it, notice and embrace it, or stop to figure out what it means.

And that's before we start counting the number of brain cells involved to realize, "ohhhhohohoho these guys are doomed if they pull on that thread" or "they are not gonna fucking notice that 🙃"

So for me, even though this hyperfixation of the past-several-months has been filled with many, many scenarios and daydreams of everybody getting along (or not lmao), one thing I haven't visualized is how everyone would get together. Obviously I have my favourite dynamics within everything either along the way or after everyone's discovered this can exist for them, but I'd like a little fanon narrative for how they first come together - so I can immediately reimagine it in forty other different ways 😝

Link to the full thread (the rough, messy draft version) for now :3

Yaaaaaaay here we goooooooooo

1. Angus and Rohan

Not like you'd think! I don't see these two getting together right away. In fact, I think they'd be dead last in getting officially together, and that it'd almost represent the polycule being 'complete' - quote unquote. :)

It's almost like they're bookending the whole thing: they're at the heart of this, they're the ones with the first connection of any kind (canonically!), and they're the ones with the most increasingly obnoxious "will they or won't they" that serendipitously serves as a springboard for everyone else to learn new things about themselves, mostly 'cause the others get to take a look at these two's mess and go, "LOL we are not fucking doing that."

But yes, they are my foundation for everything else. In my mind, if it wasn't for Rohan, Angus would very happily shack up with the other three at varying levels of shallowness or sincerity, but they would be entirely independent of everyone else. In other words, Angus would be cheating on all of them with all of them, and there'd be nothing bringing them all together. Rohan's the door to something 'real' - something Angus can't carelessly break and throw away, can't really outrun, and can't neatly separate into 'public' and 'private' relationships since Rohan doesn't 'do' that kind of discretion. Rohan's a painfully all-in type of person; he's the walking embodiment of a powder keg. Compared to him, everyone else is on the 'manageable' end of the scale when it comes to Angus confronting some genuine feelings, since everyone else is automatically less intense than Rohan is, and by the time these two actually figure something out with each other, those genuine feelings for everyone else stop being as scary to grapple with - 'cause again, everyone else is a thousand times less intense about it.

Likewise, if it wasn't for Angus, nobody would be getting together at all. Deirdre is too prim and proper about being a princess to initiate anything herself. Ivar's a guest in this kingdom, and while I could see him openly pursuing someone else in Kells - or Garrett, actually - I don't see him going anywhere near Deirdre (his host) or Rohan (waaaaay too much work to get him on Ivar's level). If Ivar did go after anyone, I definitely don't see it connecting to Deirdre or Rohan eventually. Those two are quite content to stare in sadly from a window, pining for romance with some theoretical soulmate that might've been in that cancelled season two lol. And Garrett? 😑 The reason Garrett wouldn't be bringing these people together is "Garrett." 'Nuff said.

It's Angus who's that common ground. :D It's Angus who's universally approachable, enticed, willing, and rule-breaking enough for "Hey, you wanna make out a little" to be a question any of them could actually be brave enough to ask (not Rohan; I mean the others), and for "Hey, you wanna make out with us" to be a question they get asked without immediately slapping the asker in the face and saying no. Unless that's their 'thing' and it's actually how they say yes. 🤔 Angus is too open for anything for his own good lmao, I love him.

So yeah - Angus is everyone's initial connection to each other, and Rohan's what turns it from being a fun romp that can end whenever into a full-blown committed relationship. Not to say that everyone's going to be as ungodly serious as Rohan is, but he's going to at least show that that is on the table. And I said 'initial' connection for Angus, because I do think some of these relationships could exist even if things fall or drift apart, but there wouldn't be something with just Rohan, Deirdre, Ivar and Garrett that could last. Angus needs to be in there to do a surprising amount of maintenance and distractions across these competing personalities. They'd kill each other without him, is what I'm saying.

But as for how they - Angus and Rohan specifically - are with each other...

:/

My God. These two. A mess.

I'm not as concerned with whether or not either of them consciously know or suspect anything. I have my preferences, which I'll get to in a sec, but given how both of them are, they're - hilariously - gonna act the exact same way no matter what combination of 'knows' and 'doesn't know' you'd use.

My favourite is that Rohan felt something for Angus back when they were kids. He consciously remembers the moment, and in my head, it was just that they were lying in the grass and making up stories about the stars, and Angus happened to look over at Rohan in a way that stuck in Rohan's mind forever. And in a very 'Angus' way too, so Rohan keeps seeing reminders of it again as they're growing up, since - like... well, it's Angus' face. That's just what his face is. And sometimes there'll be a moment where Rohan's like, "Hm, like that one night," and then go back to whatever it was he was doing - which he's become very good at, since he mostly thinks it's a neat childhood memory.

That's 'cause Rohan, our resident genius (even though he gets a tiny pass because he was a kid when this started), has taken this feeling as proof that they're best friends. The thought that it might not be platonic or familial has not even entered the farthest reaches of his mind, and every parallel sign he sees in other people's romantic relationships translate back to him as, "Haha that's almost like me and Angus. :3 Anyway, back to sweeping or whatever tf it is I do as as an apprentice." Sexual? OH-HO-HO that's an embarrassing thought, but it's totally normal because they live together and anyway Angus says he has dreams of 'lovely maidens' so it's basically the same thing and they don't have to talk about it. Ever. Hahaha.

And in my head, even though I have different ideas for what starts that conversation off, Rohan only 'gets' it after he's talked to Ivar. This is completely separate from anything Ivar has going on with Angus, btw, because Ivar can be trusted to compartmentalize his friendship with Rohan and his one with Angus.

Rohan - for one reason or another - asks for Ivar's opinion on him and Angus. It's a somewhat generic question 'cause Rohan's never said this shit out loud and usually doesn't even question it, so Ivar gives it an equally generic answer. But Rohan's not quite satisfied with that and tries asking again, still wildly generic but more insistently about it, and the repetition is enough for Ivar to see that Rohan's trying to get at something in particular but isn't sure how. They talk for long enough that Ivar gets it, and then continue talking long enough for Ivar to explain it to Rohan. Slowly. Multiple times. Small words.

And this is Rohan having to really, really push back on what he's hearing, getting borderline defensive to cover an increasing sense of panic (classic Rohan), because if what Ivar's saying is true (it is), then that means the entire friendship since at least that night under the stars has to be re-evaluated. And Rohan's brain has only got one little hamster running in its little wheel, so this is a long process that ends with the conversation winding down as he's completely consumed by his thoughts, only to pick up again a few days later when Rohan's gotten exactly 3% further in putting it together.

The only good news is that with him being so caught up in his thoughts, he has nothing to act on yet because he doesn't understand it - so even if he's being quiet and frowning while that hamster's spinning as fast as it can, Angus can ask if everything's alright and Rohan can honestly say, "Yeah, just thinking," without it feeling awkward or concerning. This is normal for Rohan; it's what he always does when he's thinking about something big, and Angus is comfortable moving around him like this as he's staring intensely at a wall and poking him in the face when he's stopped eating again. He'll just snap out of it when he's done ¯⁠\⁠_⁠(⁠ツ⁠)⁠_⁠/⁠¯

But then finally, the hamster's finished. And then finally, Rohan gets it. And that is when it suddenly becomes incredibly awkward for Rohan to be around Angus at all. Which is - uh... when Angus starts being a little worried, because it starts to seem like Rohan's avoiding him as if he's been the problem all along. But Rohan's there insisting "EVERYTHING'S FINE" in a way that means Angus shouldn't take offence, so Angus does the only thing he really can do and carries on as close to normal as he can until Rohan figures his shit out.

And oh 👏🏽 my 👏🏽 god 👏🏽 there 👏🏽 is 👏🏽 that 👏🏽 mess 👏🏽

The number of conversations Ivar gets pulled into with Rohan trying to check and double-check - thank God Ivar thinks it's funny and is being patient with him because it's funny, or Rohan would honestly implode. I kinda imagine that these conversations happen so often that Garrett stumbles onto one of them at some point, and even though they both freeze so Garrett doesn't hear anything, Ivar decides to just invite Garrett into this since who else would love to watch a human being tear himself to pieces by squirming? Garrett. Fuckin' Garrett. Of course. They probably wouldn't invite Deirdre since is Man Talk and she's a Girl™, but no one really escapes because Rohan is all-consuming and the story will eventually find you and he will take that as permission to unload all of his angst onto you too and then take none of your advice.

It should go without saying that Rohan is doing a fucking awful job of playing it cool around Angus back at home. When he isn't avoiding the guy, he's being a weird little teenager who just got his first crush, and that includes all those annoying moments of staring, stammering, walking into shit, completely forgetting to talk, talking in totally meaningless strings of words and almost-words, and then trying to brush it off with a power pose and a deliberate silence.

So Angus isn't having a good time.

Except that within that, there are still times where Rohan actually manages to relax and me a normal human being again. Conversations get past the awkwardness and finally start flowing again, chores get done, patrols are walked, herbs are picked, they don't train together because Rohan's a tragedy, and it's... nice. It's familiar. It's the closeness they've always had and it feels effortless in those moments, and as fun and safe and warm as it always has.

And then the conversation naturally peters out and Rohan is looking at Angus, wondering how he didn't see this between them before, grateful to have this with someone who's so easy to be close to...

... and just stares way too fucking long and goes back to making an ass of himself. And then runs off to go find Ivar and Garrett, who are - I cannot stress enough - loving this. It's so dumb.

As for Angus, idk, I kinda always thought he knew Rohan was clingy and touchy and generous beyond any other friend he's had, but took one look at Rohan and said, "That is a small hamster and a tiny wheel, he's got nothing backing that up," and wrote it off as harmless. Was it a crush of some kind? Maybe. Or maybe Rohan was just 'like that'. Either way, it wasn't causing Angus any problems, he enjoys the attention overall, and if it wasn't for Cathbad being shitty about 'bad influences' on Rohan, Angus could've happily lived without a single reminder that Rohan was a bit too attached at times.

So all of this? What Rohan's doing right now? It's very inconvenient at best. But at worst - and it's a race for Rohan to figure something out before Angus makes this conclusion - his idiot friend just decided he's in love with Angus after all, which would be horrible 'cause Angus does not need to deal with that. They've made it too far for Rohan to screw up what was a perfectly stable arrangement, and if that's what Rohan's trying to do, ruin it, then Angus is gonna be mad as hell.

And that's the first step in the polycule. :D

2. Angus and Deirdre

The complete and utter opposite situation is happening with these two. They've been openly flirting for a while, and the tension's always been there between them. Obviously with Deirdre being a princess, there's a line that can't be publicly crossed, but there's a lot that be heavily and plausibly denied.

It's mostly teasing from Angus at first - making fun of the princess as a joke with Rohan, then as a joke for just his own sake, and then as a joke that Deirdre starts to anticipate. She moves from being reproachful and scolding, reminding him of his place, to drawing a loose sense of enjoyment out of having someone she can return fire on. There's some calibration, I guess, in how hard they're allowed to go with that (again: princess), because some jokes carry a bit too much truth to just put out there. But Angus is surprisingly patient and Deirdre's actively checking to see if something went too far, and they're able to forge a shockingly healthy way to communicate.

They learn to gauge each other's reactions to see if their jokes landed like they intended, and they especially learn how to walk back what they said without killing the momentum overall. They're able to riff on each other, pause, take the feedback (which might be just be a purposely scrunched nose), and replace it with something better, or actually break character to explain what the problem was before going back to it, newly enlightened.

Angus and Rohan could never.

The effort and care put into learning how to tease each other, finding the line and carefully skirting it, and occasionally warning the other that they're going to try purposely crossing the line to see how it feels, becomes such a welcome way to talk that they start actually talking. Deirdre asks questions about life outside of the castle when the villagers are able to speak freely, and Angus gets curious about royal stuff and - well, Deirdre herself. On his side, some of it is just to be polite, and some of it is a hunt to find more things to tease her with later, but sometimes he's genuinely interested. She'll lie across his chest, head tucked under his chin, crown off because she's almost poked his eye out twice on that thing, and he'll idly play with her hair while she tells him what she remembers about her mother. He doesn't reciprocate on those topics, but he likes listening to her through it and being able to ground her while she's holding onto him. Maybe it's cruel to let her open up when he has no intention of sharing the same, but he's able to comfort her and distract her before she ever slips too far. He has a lot of practice with that.

Btw, they are absolutely the first two to get in bed together. This is all "deep conversations in the afterglow" talk - they absolutely had to burn off their energy before they could slow that far down again, and most of the time, 'comfort and distract her' just means Angus brings her back for the next round before he has to go to the hut. He can't exactly spend the night, and it's best to leave everything on a high note - which they can hit, because they have somehow mastered talking to each other. I have to imagine that at one point, they rolled over and high-fived. That seems like the bad influence Angus would be on her. 😝

There's discretion in their private relationship, because they're both highly motivated to keep this quiet. Deirdre can't risk anyone knowing she's been with anybody before her marriage, especially someone like Angus, so she keeps it tight-lipped. And Angus agrees with that, on top of having Rohan as his other consideration. In Angus' mind, Rohan and Deirdre are such an easy answer to his problem: it doesn't matter whether Rohan's got a crush on him or not if there's a bigger, more official relationship between Rohan and Deirdre. Then Rohan's accounted for! Problem solved! And Rohan likes her, at least agreeing with Angus every time Deirdre's brought up, so they're halfway there already.

Except that Rohan's also been very slow to act on any of it. And for all Deirdre asks about their friendship, she doesn't seem to ask about Rohan for her own sake. So yet another reason to keep from reciprocating too much (beyond it being none of her business anyway) is that he doesn't want her to get too attached. Sex is fine - sex is just for fun, but the emotions are what make or break it. Fortunately Rohan being Rohan will sweep anyone away in those once he's got his mind set on someone, so it's only a matter of managing Deirdre until then and keeping her in a pleasant state of satisfied and noncommittal fun.

... And then she wants to date him.

As in 'publicly'.

Maybe 'date' is the wrong word, but she certainly wants him to escort her to more and more shit. She volunteers him for it without even asking - like she was Rohan, right down to the terrible communication - and then stares at him with pleading, guilt-laden and royal eyes while she waits for him to answer, "Don't you want to go with me?"

And he, being a peasant, can only get so close to saying 'no'.

So she hears 'yes' and keeps doing it.

He's always quick to reassure Rohan that it's to punish him or something, haha, their little joke, dragging the common thief to some who-the-hell-cares as her guest to parade him in front of those who properly matter. Rohan (who, as I mentioned, is working on that hamster wheel about Angus) seems to accept this without much convincing, assuming he heard what Angus said in the first place. And Deirdre, of course, is expertly convincing everyone else that this is just as friends. He's only got to worry about Rohan - and, uh, apparently the king, who just wants to make extra sure that this stays 'professional'.

There are only like two dads in this show and they're both suspicious of him. 🤣 And I wonder why he's got such a complex...!

3. Angus and Garrett

This one's fun, because it's Garrett.

Garrett has such weird arc in the show. To this day, I think the worst decision they made was having the episode where he leaves for a bit be so far after he's already disappeared (he's gone in episode 28 but isn't shown to be sailing away until episode 39 for some reason, then disappears again to come back for the final fight 🙄), but even within that he's got an odd arc. He starts off as super arrogant and dickish, which is a blast! Then he gets schooled by Fin Varra and comes down a little, then gets kinda neutral-to-nice near the end of the show. He really loses his spice. Less fun.

But in all the time we see him, we never see him get to a point where it'd make reasonable sense for him to tie someone to a tree.

Angus, as far as I can tell, has a unique way to get under Garrett's skin. On purpose too - he openly laughs at Garrett in that episode with the drageen ("ummm a baby dragon is called a drageen" shut up rohan, no one asked), and he's merrily scamming Garrett out of the Dragonbow later too. In fact, the only other real spice we get from Garrett at all is when he asks Angus what happened to the Dragonbow, 'cause other than that, the guy stays fairly bland.

So to me, Angus is having fun tormenting Garrett once he becomes a Mystic Knight, partly as revenge from Garrett's (justified?) decision to tie him to a tree and gag him, and partly because it's another royal who's overly prim and proper and look how much fun he's been having with Deirdre. And Garrett's even easier to rile up because he never lets himself stoop so low as to 'return fire'. It's heaven.

And then Garrett comes back and he's boring now. :/

'Fixing this' is the key to getting Garrett tangled up in what's to come. 😏 Sure, there's probably something going on with Lynette over in that wherever that Garrett was visiting, but Lynette was such a nice princess - even nicer than Deirdre - and that's boring. Garrett's boring. Garrett used to be so much fun and now he's all patient and helpful and a team player. And Angus takes it as a personal challenge to see just how far that patience and helpfulness will go, 'cause it wasn't that long ago he was tied up, and he known he can get that side out of Garrett again.

Their dynamic is an excellent "Why don't you make me shut up" deal, which fits the first episode where we even got Garrett, and balances End-Show personality with more of the defining characteristics we know him for. He gets to be both, because just like Deirdre, there's a separation between his private and public relationships: one, he's as arrogant and unbearable as ever, and two, he's a changed man who's found some peace from having to brag about his accomplishments all the time. And Angus is ecstatic that the switch between public to private is so immediate now that he's cracked through the shell.

I see these two as being purely physical, in a way where when Rohan starts complaining about how in love he is with Angus, Garrett doesn't see the need to mention what he's been doing behind closed doors. It isn't any of Rohan's business really, and it doesn't interfere with whatever mess those two have made of their confusingly devoted friendship.

Besides, if Angus wants to stop, they can stop. It would simply mean Angus loses.

And as Garrett was pleased to discover, Angus hates losing to him as much as Garrett hates losing at all.

Their situation is almost like a permanent state of combat. Angus should've balked by now, and Garrett shouldn't have ever come close to balking, but he starts to realize what kind of person would willingly choose to live - and be best friends with - someone like Rohan. For all the complaining he'll do and concern he'll show and caution he'll preach on the battlefield, Angus is kind of... crazy? Apparently? And as he's alone with Angus one moment being casually asked if he'd like to yield, and with Rohan the next hearing him whine about how difficult it is to decide what to do, Garrett slowly starts to gain a low note of empathy for the mighty, great, and legendary warrior Draganta, hopelessly defeated by telling his friend, "I like you."

The curiosity that it stirs has Garrett making the first move emotionally. It's not that they don't talk outside of their private wars, but they don't have the same friendship as everyone else. Despite things going well with Rohan and Ivar out on the battlefield and as fellow royals, newly or not, Garrett's still a 'guest'. An outsider. In a land that he was meant to one day rule alongside Deirdre. But good luck finding any help with that from Rohan, who's back to learning how to walk in a straight line. Ivar is more helpful in theory, but Garrett needs someone who's from this land.

Angus.

Obviously.

But to strike up such a conversation so suddenly might have been off-putting to the peasant, so Garrett tries to soften it by trying to get to know Angus better.

The first thing he 'knows' is to cut that shit out and get to the point. Fair enough.

So they talk about Deirdre, and while yes, Angus is guarded in what he says, there's plenty of useful information for him to work with. Importantly, there are plenty of useful events that Angus would rather genuinely choke than have to keep going to. Perfectly normal events in Garrett's opinion, but if Angus is going to throw a fit and waste that energy on Deirdre (who he very much knows about, since Angus at his most guarded is still fairly careless), then Garret gains nothing and might as well go in his place. And Angus is delighted to start arranging that.

But that still leaves one matter unsolved. And as noted earlier, Garrett hates to lose. So his attention starts to turn towards Angus' reluctance to start talking about himself, expecting to have to push, and is floored by the total lack of resistance. Instead, Angus dryly drops a list of facts about himself, sucking away any of the thrill of the hunt that Garrett was readying himself for. In their world, this counts as another loss, but the truly frustrating part is that Angus isn't playing it as one of his taunts. It's serious; Angus truly isn't interested in talking about himself. About things, sure, and about others, but he seems to have predefined himself as 'uninteresting' without any input from Garrett (who had also prepared to agree with that assessment, but wanted to make it himself). And that drives Garrett right up the wall. It's the first true challenge Angus has ever posed to him, and it's as inexplicable as it is insurmountable.

So Garrett does what he always does: refuses to be defeated.

He needs information, just like he needed it for Deirdre. Except now he needs it about Angus. And of course, the resident Angus expert iiiiiiiiis broken oh right Rohan is useless.

But.

Ivar isn't.

And Garrett isn't a fool.

The talks they've been having with Rohan have been including more insight from Ivar lately, and it's surpassing what even Rohan could've known pre-hamster.

(ya know what? i know these posts have a text limit on mobile, so i'll just post this here and continue it in the reblog. :3 please forgive any typos you see in this one - i'm just moving right along, which unfortunately locks them all in 🥲)

[thisisyourprincipalspeaking]

i will counter that slightly by saying that if they (the married couple) want it to not be our business, then they should act like it. not all publications can be stopped but it has been obvious over the past year that the happy couple is more than willing to share their lives. they just want to be able to control what and how we see it.//

I understand what you are saying but do disagree slightly. What have they willingly shared. Two videos montages early last year and a handful of pap walks. No real deals have come out of the wedding ceremonies nor have they given any interviews about their relationship/life barring the small snippet Chris said in his infamous GQ interview last year. They have not been papped since VF. So they may have controlled a few pap outings but that’s it. I suppose you could say AB is sharing her life via her friends IG stories but her friends are allow to live their lives and if it includes her it includes her and if certain blogs didn’t follow everyone randomly involved with AB no one would know or care.

To me the entitlement that a lot of former fans or fans feel they need is amazing. Yes Chris has overshared during his career and fans loved it. They followed his friends when they were public to get another they could and then turned on them when they went private and this started.

The over investment in this is a whole thing is another level from finding hotels in Bath, to a house in VT which originally was claimed was rented only for someone to come back 4/5 months later to say it’s his. Why are you even still looking. To the over analysis of every photo, action, the conspiracy theories,the flight tracking,stalking,the you are a plant,paid by teams,screaming in CaPs,the calling normal people liars who post a photo with them.

Imagine what would have happened if people just went oh look Chris is another HW cliché dating a younger woman and ignored it the fandom would not be where it is today - in a mess that was created in part by people who decided they had the right to know what was happening in an actor’s life. 

you and i agree much more than we don't, nonnie. because actually the only variation in my line of thinking is that the things they have chosen to share has been within their control, therefore what and how it's released is also within their control. they knew well in advance how their content would be treated and took advantage of that. it's also no coincidence that a majority of their content drops happened at the same time as career announcements for them. their schedule came in handy during the strikes, too. 😏

i feel confident that if there's something a celebrity wants to keep private about their lives, they are more than capable of doing so. you can't stop all gossip, that's impossible. but it can be curtailed.

what i think is more interesting is what we haven't seen. but maybe that's just me lol

[waheelawhisperer]

do you have a ship/pairing that you feel is widely misunderstood?

Disclaimer: I'm not super invested in shipping at the moment, but I'll do my best to give you a good response that isn't just bitching about my frustrations regardless.

The easy answer is "all of them" because fandoms have a tendency to condense interesting, multifaceted characters down into components of a ship and ignore any aspect of their characterization that doesn't immediately lend itself to common shipping memes and scenarios and it's fucking annoying, but if I had to pick a specific option, I'd probably go with Dragonslayer for RWBY (inasmuch as I still ship that) and Texas x Lappland for Arknights. I'd like to have given you an answer for Baldur's Gate 3, but I still haven't found the time to finish that game.

For Dragonslayer, there's a bizarre segment of the RWBY fanbase that really likes portraying Jaune as some kind of ultra-Chadly chick magnet, which is not accurate to his canon portrayal despite him being the writing team's clear favorite. Like, sweetie, Dragonslayer is not a ship where Jaune is the dominant alpha male partner. That boy gets pegged. Yang pounds his prostate. She wears the pants in that relationship. He does not decide what to eat for breakfast in the morning without asking her and he is happy to have things that way.

(I'm exaggerating a bit for comedic effect but Yang would run roughshod over Jaune and no argument on Earth can convince me otherwise)

As for TexLapp, a lot of people don't bother really looking at the characters as individuals instead of treating them as "uwu cute violence lesbians who have fantastic bloody hatesex" and thus don't bother to engage with their trauma or any of their personality traits that don't lend themselves to stabbing each other with swords or stabbing each other with penises real or artificial (in fairness, Arknights dropped hints about their dynamic and then took ages to develop it, so like... hard to blame people for filling in the blanks). Also, I am sick and fucking tired of people acting like Lappland is a perpetual lunatic who acts unhinged at all times and can't be trusted to navigate any interaction that doesn't involve violence when that's literally not true and the proof is found directly in her files, a resource that has been available since launch.

(I, on the other hand, understand both these characters perfectly, a state of enlightenment that led to me unleashing a thesis about Lappland having a breeding kink and wanting a polycule upon a few of my unsuspecting mutuals. It's hard being as smart as I am sometimes.)

I'll close this out with a couple ships I don't like: almost every piece of NearlPlat and BlemiPlat content I've seen fundamentally misunderstands or willfully misinterprets their dynamic and characterization as it exists in canon in favor of shaving off anything that could possibly get in the way of "kyaaaa enemies to lovers so kyuuuteeeee uwu!!!" and I fucking hate it so much. It takes ships I already despise and strips them of anything that could be remotely unique or compelling. This shit is the McDonalds of Arknights ships: boring as hell, tastes like cardboard, and does nothing to differentiate itself from its competitors in a positive manner

Meanwhile for Bumbleby the fucking writers don't understand the ship dynamic or the characters involved, so I can't even get annoyed when the fanbase doesn't either

[ltwharfy]

For the ao3 wrapped: 1, 15, 30!

How many words have you written this year?

Per AO3, I've written 43,510.

What WIP are you taking into the next year with you?

"She Fell in Love with the Drummer", my story about 17 year-old Louise finding Rudy's shirtless drumming hot. I've been working on this on and off for a while but haven't found time to do justice to the non-making out parts of the story. It may be the horniest story ever inspired by a coloring book page (maybe not though, I have no idea of knowing. But I would love to have that title!)

I have another unfinished story about Rudy and his dad, which I may use for parts in something else but probably won't be completed as originally envisioned now that I have a slightly different perspective on their relationship after "The Amazing Rudy".

Biggest surprise while writing this year?

So many! The main one would be that I did it at all. Writing anything non-work related, let alone writing "Bob's Burgers" fanfic was not on my radar going into the year! Then I woke up with an idea and wrote it. And published it.

Surprise 2 would be that people actually liked what I wrote! I was genuinely expecting it would be ignored or hated.

Surprise 3 would be that I wrote some more after that! I really didn't think I was capable of coming up with more ideas. After all, the first one was literally just in my head when I woke up! And for each of my first several fics I definitely went in with the attitude of "well, this will probably be the last one."

Surprise 4 was that I kept finding out that I could do more than I thought I could. I can write from character's perspectives other than Rudy! I can write future fic! I can write non-Roudise fic! I can write in response to prompts! All these things genuinely surprised me.

Surprise 5 would be the friends that I made along the way. No joking. It's been a long time since I've really been involved in any sort of online community, and I've been genuinely delighted by the folks I've interacted with here and on AO3 as part of the "Bob's Burgers" fandom community, which I never would have been a part of without my fic. (I've literally watched the show since it debuted but basically only discussed it with family and friends who watched and my online fandom was limited to reading the AV Club reviews when they were a thing.)

[jess-moloney]

Open Questions To Jess Stans

More accurately, open questions to Jess-Moloney-Malarkey but anyone who stans Jess is free to try to answer these:

What specifically is it that Jess does for Ice Studios? You have yet to give an answer on this other than "She owns it" while also neglecting to clarify that she actually only owns half of it (don't know why you do that) but if that's going to be your answer can you explain what she does? And if you do not have an explanation why do you think it's okay that she owns half of it, takes credit for all of the work Renell does, and fraudulently tags things for production/post-production when she didn't do either of these things (and more than likely 90% of the time Ice Studios didn't either)?

Why do none of these huge brands or celebrities follow Jess?

Why do none of these huge brands or celebrities ever like Jess's posts?

Why do none of these huge brands or celebrities ever comment on Jess's posts?

Why is Jess never seen in a studio or on a set working to help produce these photos or images?

Why doesn't Jess attend parties/award shows/fashion shows even though she's allegedly part of this industry so that's part of what her job is?

If you're going to cite that Jess is a celebrity or talent manager, what talent or celebrities does she currently represent, and show me proof of that. If proof is just her saying she represents certain people then I can just say that I represent whoever I want and you have to take that as proof, yeah?

Why did Jess take no part in Ice Studios' sample sale?

Why didn't Jess promote the Ice Studios sample sale?

Why has Jess been erased as the main contact from the Ice Studios website?

Why has the shop website been closed and not updated since last year?

Why didn't Jess attend Complexcon despite allegedly being such a big part of it?

Why didn't Jess start promoting these things until extremely recently when she was called out for not promoting them?

Why don't people like Joseph Quinn follow her on Instagram?

Why hasn't Jamie interacted with her most recent comments?

Why hasn't Jamie interacted with her most recent posts?

Why isn't she currently traveling with Jamie to do anything?

Why hasn't she traveled with Jamie to do anything a year or so now, if not longer?

What does she and Grace following each other on social have anything to do with any of these questions?

Why haven't there been any updates or photos from the two of them mutually in months when they used to do stories/updates all that time? Oh right because Jess is "private" and Jamie is "busy".

What happened to Jess' family? She used to post photos of/with them all the time and now she doesn't anymore her brother doesn't even follow her?

Where are all of her friends that she used to have?

When was the last time she was seen with Renell or Quil or any of these people she claims are clients/friends/business partners?

Why does she recycle old posts as if they are new posts?

Why does she only repost Renell's photos now and nothing else?

Why does a "private person" post personal photos of her everyday life (when it suits her) and also allow dozens of fans to tag her in said personal content over and over so everyone can see she's with Jamie?

Why did Jess previously take selfies with Jamie's fans?

What business did Jess ever have interacting with his fandom to the level that she has interacted with them?

Why are you okay with her taking credit for things she clearly hasn't done or been a part of?

Why do you ignore that she's promoted a non-profit organization that has terrible reviews and was involved in a taxpayer scandal?

Why do you ignore that she was involved in a plagiarism scandal when she worked for Vivianne Westwood?

Why did she have so many different high-level jobs that she hopped around from for years and years until finally started her own business?

Why do you ignore the moral and ethical implications of her intent to poach clients from Donna Management when she started her own company?

What is the physical location of Ice Studios where she allegedly has an office?

Why doesn't she ever go to her office in England for her Management company?

Why hasn't her management website been updated since 2019?

If Jess is this important high-powered businesswoman why is her history scrubbed from the internet prior to being with Jamie?

Why would she need to scrub as much of her internet history as possible before getting with Jamie?

I could come up with plenty more questions, and I'm sure I'm missing a lot here but why don't you ever address any of this? Keep in mind that the following things are not answers to any of these questions:

Jess is a private person

Jamie and Jess are in a committed relationship

Jess sees Jamie all the time so why would he need to interact with her on social media

Jess owns Ice Studios so something something "her space"

It doesn't matter what Jess's "Job" is because it's none of our business or some such

The problem isn't what job Jess allegedly has the problem is that Jess pretends to have a job and a significant level of importance she clearly doesn't have. The problem is that Jess represents herself as something she clearly isn't. If she came out and said that she had a normal actual job that had nothing to do with relying on Jamie's fame or money for attention, I agree, it wouldn't matter what that job was, but that's not what she's doing is she?

Do you understand the problem here is the high level of misrepresentation on Jess's part? Her behaviour? The fact is that you and everyone else wouldn't give a crap about her if she weren't with Jamie and parading him around like a trophy? You have failed to address any of these questions without using vague answers, worthless platitudes, or massive deflection. If you know so much answer literally any of these questions with an actual explanation or just admit that you only stan Jess because she's with Jamie and you don't actually like or know anything about her. Thanks.

[thirdmagic]

ah, yes... i dont know if it is people we share on our following list and I am not even sure if i was mutuals with them or if they unfollowed at some point before this but there were a few people, from fate fandom, people that i at least have been following for years and years, who put some stuff on my dash on the day of october 7th that. well. i jumped ship pretty much instantly because it sure was something to see after being woken by sirens and spending most of my day running between my apartment door and the bomb shelter and then seeing what was happening on the news. but yeah i havent seen a lot of it, like two-three people but i also know just enough of tumblr fate fandom to know how insular it is that i can pretty much extrapolate what must be going on in other blogs and what you must have seen. so i clearly ran away right on time lol

i don't even know if they've even forgotten some of these parts so much as they never learned about them or never knew. or maybe they haven't forgotten but need their specific easy narrative and to project their own familiar political issues on it so badly that they willingly remain ignorant. i also think there's just such an issue where the only antisemitism that registers as such in many people's minds really is just the shoah and the idea of a jew as a tragic victim of the shoah is the only one they can work with, so they just compartmentalize that from any kind of currently living, breathing, existing jewish person who is not so easily perfect-victim-ized.

but honestly, i think none of us here realized how bad it was too. i had a feeling something like this would happen one day eventually inevitably but it seemed to me like the next moment of devastation had to be way more far off and also that people would obviously do at least the bare minimum of caring and acknowledging that it's bad that it happened and to at least be a little compassionate because that's normal to expect, right. again, not a high bar, surely, right. and well. you know how that worked out.

and to you both: thank you for your kind words and your compassion and understanding. i am pretty much as safe as i can be, there has been rockets and attacks in the areas around where i live and smaller individual instances within it but nowhere near the scale of what's been going on elsewhere. emotionally i've had a few very rough days and very, very low points this past week, i won't lie, especially since i've spent the first week just kinda absorbed in following the news, but i'm doing much better than i used to and figuring out ways to deal with it and to cope, i've had a lot of people willing to listen and talk to, and i managed to find community in several different places to bond around this and work through it together

and you know for all the awfulness and all the ways people have been horrible about it online and elsewhere there's also been a lot of goodness, many, many people reached out to me personally in support, and i treasure and appreciate every single bit and every single effort you can make. and honestly it's especially valuable coming from gentiles and in general everyone who isnt affected or involved, i understand the risk it carries for you all to go against the grain and how much easier it would be to just go long with the narrative that refuses to listen and understand. so again, thank you. this stuff kinda helps me get through the day, even if it's just thoughts, words, or reblogs, it is still valuable to me and others.