#ik plenty of other people have pointed this out in the tags by now but I feel like the Diana weirdness cannot go unanswered in the main text | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

enbyleighlines · 4 months ago

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ikesoren high school au

Oooooh, a classic! Also, thank you for sending in an ask! I was so close to reblogging that ask meme again ahaha

Rating: Teen (for language)

Tags: High school au, childhood friends, fluff, gaynst, exploring one’s sexuality, pining!Soren, oblivious!Ike, asexual Ike, gay Soren, gsa, background Nepheather

Summary:

The story would follow Ike and Soren in small stories through their four years of high school.

Ike and Soren met as children, and have been nearly inseparable since. This is despite the fact that they seem to have nothing in common. Ike is into sports, has plenty of friends, but struggles with schoolwork. Soren is in the chess and debate clubs, he’s a loner, and he’s a straight-A student. Ike is tall, athletic, handsome. Many girls in the school are crushing on him. Soren is gangly and awkward, his face hidden behind his bangs and glasses, and known for his sharp tongue. He is a frequent victim of bullies and mean girls.

It boggles the mind of others, but that has never mattered to Ike and Soren. No matter what others think, they are best friends, Ike and Soren, two halves of a complete set. They understand each other in a way that transcends language.

Except… all of that could come to an end if Ike ever discovers Soren’s secret.

Soren’s feelings for Ike are not purely platonic. For years, he has known that Ike was special to him, but it’s only now, in his adolescence, that he’s starting to learn what that means.

For the sake of their friendship, Soren hopes that his feelings will fade. But in his heart, he knows that he’s not dealing with a simple crush, the way all of Ike’s admirers are always giggling and blushing whenever he shows them any attention. No, Soren is in love, he’s been in love all these years without realizing it, and every day he’s falling even harder.

Perhaps some distance would change things… but Soren cannot bear the thought.

So he still follows Ike wherever he goes, whether it’s cheering him on at his baseball games, or hanging out with Ike and his friends at the skatepark, or staying over at his place to help him study for an exam.

Yet Soren’s silent suffering does not go unnoticed forever.

Soren finds an unexpected ally in Heather, the only out and proud lesbian at their small town high school. She wants to start a gsa, but needs other people to join.

Heather approaches Soren and asks if “your boyfriend and you” want to join. Soren gets defensive, protesting that Ike is NOT his boyfriend, they’re just friends, Ike is totally straight, and Heather is just like “oh honey.” And starts talking to him about her many crush on her straight best friends over the years.

Somehow, Heather convinces Soren to join the gsa. He’s apprehensive at first, and wants to keep it a secret.

However, Soren can’t keep anything secret from Ike without outright lying. They know each other too well. So eventually Soren admits that he’s joined the gsa, afraid that Ike is going to judge him, or ask him if he’s gay, or assume things…

But Ike is just like “what’s that?”

And when Soren explains, Ike is just “oh okay.”

Just straight to the point, absolutely unbothered. He doesn’t ask any follow-up questions at that time, and afterwards, it’s just general stuff like “what did you do today?” Or “how did that event go?”

To the point where Soren almost wants Ike to dig deeper.

Anyway, time passes. Soren meets people in the gsa and makes friends outside of Ike. He learns more about what it means to be gay. And he even gets to commiserate with other people about his unrequited crush.

But things can’t stay the same way forever, and eventually Ike starts showing up to some of the gsa events, wanting to support Soren.

Slowly, over time, Soren starts to let down his guard, and introduces Ike to his friends, and even comes out to Ike.

Then Ike meets Mia, who is aroace, and starts to realize for the first time that there might be a reason he’s never understood why there’s so much fuss about sex. And he starts learning about sexuality, and it fascinates him.

It takes longer for Ike to realize that just because he’s on the ace spectrum, it doesn’t mean he is aromantic. He has romantic feelings for Soren. In fact, he’s had romantic feelings for Soren for a long time, he just mistook his feelings as platonic. And the more Ike sees Soren come out of his shell and showcase this new, confident aspect of his personality, the less Ike can ignore his growing feelings.

And so Ike confides in Mia, who tells Heather, who tells Ike point-blank that Soren is thoroughly in love with him and that he better be damn sure he feels the same way because Soren doesn’t seem like the type to fall out of love.

Cue Ike asking Soren to attend senior prom with him. They skipped prom last year, because they both hate parties, but Heather has convinced Ike that asking Soren to prom is the correct move.

Of course, they both end up hating it and ditch early to hang out at their favorite stargazing spot, cuddled up together in the back of Ike’s pickup truck. They talk long into the night and share lazy kisses back and forth.

(And that’s the end! Maybe it would have a short epilogue of them moving into a shared apartment post-high school. Thanks again for the prompt! I had so much fun with this one~)

#ikesoren #asks #anon #anonymous #tellius

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stupendousfoxthing · 8 months ago

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if there were to be video or something that came out of jk doing something clearly romantic w a girl, would u think we misinterpreted tkk all this time and were just reading into their interactions way too much? or would u maybe believe they were together at one point and ended it? maybe they’d be in an open relationship? or maybe it rlly was for show?

i didn’t follow ur blog at the time of when the shitstorm happened w the sasaeng taking a video of jk and a girl in his apartment (ik it’s an old topic but it’s one of the only things that gets in the way of tkk for me) but i’m interested to know ur take on whether that video was a romantic interaction or could’ve been just friendly? i believe it was 100% a real video and at first i was so heartbroken and confused abt tae and jk’s relationship. i grappled back and forth w the nature of the interaction in the sasaeng video for a while but the more i watched it the more i thought okay wait it’s like a 15 second video taken super out of context of just one location in his apartment where u can’t even rlly see if they’re alone or what happened prior. and it could be platonic (there were pics of him back hugging his female tattoo artist who was just a friend) especially if he’s not straight and the girl knows about that? i feel like there’s a lot more leeway w platonic physical affection between women and queer men than with straight men (even tho ik of friendships between both straight men and women that are also physically affectionate but still totally platonic). however, i sometimes feel like that sounds like me just rationalizing why it may not be romantic and being in denial. idk bc i don’t want to blindly believe in tkk but i can’t explain away tae and jk’s interactions as being totally platonic either so then i get super conflicted.

sorry ik this is rambling atp and it may be a topic u don’t want to address anymore but i’d love to hear ur interpretation of that whole scenario and how it affected ur beliefs and views on jk/tkk

It would be very hard to convince me now that there wasn't something between Taekook at some point, and it certainly wouldn't all be undone by a clearly romantic something between Jungkook and a girl. You definitely would not be able to convince me that what they did was "for show". Their relationship is authentic no matter what the nature of that relationship is. I've been a Taekooker for a long time now and I think I'm older than the average here. I not only have plenty of receipts for my belief in Taekook, I have context for all of those receipts because I was here when it happened. I was much more active on Twitter when the tattoo artist "scandal" happened, and I actually got tagged with a few of my TK friends by the first shady accounts trying to spread it. When I think back on that time, I just feel bad for everyone involved. Even the tattoo studio staff, who were harassed mercilessly and had their shop vandalized. That had much bigger impact than the recent video, but it's funny because when I saw the convo around that I was just thinking I've already seen him back hugging a woman. If that was enough to debunk Taekook I would have bailed in 2019. The intention of this rumor was exactly the same as well. It follows the same pattern as every other. Post something with no context and that's actually not proof of anything, but spin some wild stories about it. It's very easy with interactions between a man and a woman. Every person I see still posting it everywhere says the woman in the video is his pregnant gf. That's obviously not true. People freaked out because they were told more was coming. That didn't happen. I agree with a lot of your second paragraph. I don't put more weight on interactions just because they're between a man and a woman. I do think it's weird that a few seconds without any context would be enough to question just because it is a man and a woman. I've had plenty of interactions like that with male friends I had no romantic feelings about. Hell, when I was Jungkook's age if a stalker wanted to they could have gotten video of me hugging and kissing people I also had no romantic interest in and never dated. That informs my perspective on things. It's not just heteronormative, it's all a little puritanical to me. I actually wasn't blogging here until a few weeks ago so you're my first ask about this. I appreciate your message. After days of nothing, I got yours and then another (which I'm not going to post because it was obviously someone trying to start shit) a couple of hours later about the exact same topic, so I was a little sus about people trying to troll. But your questions were asked in good faith so I wanted to answer genuinely. Hope you're having a good weekend. ❤️

#asks #taekook

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korezlee · 4 years ago

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Ayo, TW// I talk about weight, body image, body dysmorphia, EATING DISORDERS

Im not gonna tag the SuperMega tag cause it’s a lot and it’s a “downer” lmao

•

WOOOO BOY I’ve been wanting to discuss or talk about this for awhile and I saw a mutual make a post about it so now I feel kind of safe and validated to talk about it too:

Ok so kinda off topic but this goes into what I have been thinking for a long time but IKKKkk ik comments under SuperMega videos when it’s live action mean well and don’t mean anything by it, but it’s always bothered me when people comment about Ryan losing weight.

Like at first it seems very light hearted and nothing too deep. It’s just a nice little “hey look Ryan lost weight! (Because he always brings up how he is self counscious about his body/weight etc.)

I relate to Ryan a lot and obviously many other people do to, I relate in the sense of not always being comfortable in one’s body and having some kind of body dysmorphia.

The thing is though, his weight fluctuations make me kind of concerned and I wonder if others follow behind that as well. Like ik it’s none of my business, I’m just a viewer and I only know as much as they (Matt and ryan) want their audience to see.

But putting two and two together makes me feel kinda icky.

Ik they’re human, and they’re not perfect, but the way they talk about food and eating sometimes makes me like... not want to listen to it them anymore lmao.

Like Ryan talking about not eating all day, (and Matt,) or trying something to lose weight is kind of triggering to me personally, and of course, it’s their YouTube channel, blah blah blah, I can choose to not watch them, but I think I just wanted to shed some light on it either way?? Idek I think it’s good to critique people you follow/look up to whether they want to be or not because their job is being on social media essentially, so I feel I can have a say and have an opinion on the matter.

I tend and have gone through weight flucations over the past... my whole life I guess, haha. Not just a few or several pounds, but I’ve been pretty plentiful in weight range. I wouldn’t say (nor have I been diagnosed with and eating disorder,) but I have relaizes recently that I have/had the tendencies of one.

I think sometimes they don’t realize that while yes talking about and venting about their struggles with food and body image and what not is valid, BUT it’s interesting because it seems like they don’t realize that how they’re talking about it is toxic? I don’t wanna say that because I have an obvious bias towards them, but it’s weird realization when you hear people talk about something and you’re like “do they not realize that’s like not good and they probably shouldn’t be talking about it that way?” But idk if that just my ego talking?

In essence, it just feels like they forget sometimes that while most of their audience are college students, a lot are teenagers too. (Not that college students can’t be affected as well, but they’re not are kids.)

Like... I’ve been watching them since I was 15, and my stupid little 15 year old brain hearing that stuff probably didn’t help with my issues as well too.

I’m not sure how I feel about this. On one hand I wanna be like “I’m being ridiculous and if I don’t like it then I should just stop watching it OR ignore it,” but on the other, I feel as if this goes deeper and is a fundamental flaw in them I suppose that unintentionally inflitrates into their young audience due to the normalization of diet culture and eating habits especially in America.

I don’t know if I have to go into examples of what I’m exactly talking about but I guess I mean this... *here’s a made up and simplified example of what I can recall just from memory*

Ryan: I hate my body

Matt: why you look great you’re not fat Ryan

Ryan: but I feel like I am and need to lose weight

Matt: but you’re not fat

Ryan: yeah but I still feel gross

Matt: but you’re not fat

*talks about not eating all day and then inevitably talks about losing weight in the same breathe, making the connection whether they had wanted to or not that not eating much obviously = weight lost. And then praising it.*

It just feels kinda not fucking good when it’s implied that being fat is gross or not good.

Like I feel bad listening to that shit cause I’ve gained weight back from losing it, and sometimes I think would they think I’m gross for gaining weight ya know?? And I think if a teenager who already probably has low self esteem hears that (or adult, using teenager because more impressionable,) it’s subtly telling their viewer that yes being fat is gross and not eating all day is admirable.

My rebuttable for this is my head are people saying “but Matt and Ryan usually say that they feel like shit and it ISN’T healthy.” Yes, they usually do joke and comment about their habits not being the best. I’m not saying they’re the end all be all role models for young people either, but I just think it’s something to note when they don’t explicitly say it’s bad, but it’s implied that it’s ok and normal.

I don’t necessarily blame SuperMega for not recognizing this or even really seeing a problem with these conversations, I do think it just shows how human and flawed they are and in a way trying to relate to those that have similar problems.

Again, I do know this problem goes wayyyy beyond them, and they are also part of out society where diet culture has been placed onto them and normalized.

Idk if anybody is reading this, but take it with some salt I suppose? Has anyone ever had this problem while watching and browsing their content? It’s something that I always think about but never talk avout because I feel bad for pointing out that Ryan’s weight loss is “bad,” because it’s none of my business. (The connection between that and how they discuss their eating habits and insecurities makes me think they are connected. I don’t want to say that it the CORRECT assumption to make, because I could and probably am wrong hopefully. I don’t want to come off as purely bashing to dude for wanting to look and feel better about himself.)

And if I do recall, I think I remember (I can’t remember if it was them,) saying that commenting on someone’s weight loss isn’t good because you don’t know how it was lost.

(I think I’m thinking of someone else I have no idea.)

Anyways, just trying to always looks at them in different lights instead of just praising them?? Yea lol.

Maybe I’m projecting my insecurities onto fucking YouTubers way too much but I do think that there are other people that would agree with me, but if not please let me know because I would interested to see those that think differently than me.

#IN THIS ESSAY I WILL-#should I tag SuperMega #I’m not gonna #SuperMega supposed to be fun #but when they’re you’re main fixation it’s inevitable to pick them apart #LMAO #me ranting #super / mega #might post this on my Instagram fan acc cause I get more interaction on there

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malelovemail · 4 years ago

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I haven't seen All These Aus so I cant really talk about how respectful they may or may not be but - fandoms using the same ideas/tropes isn't an uncommon thing. Like yes credit if you're pulling the majority of the story/set up (like in this instance where its not something v basic like 'hlvrai but college') but I don't think its necessarily a bad thing. Like will some stuff be unoriginal, yeah, but thats.. kind of the thing that there's always going to be unoriginal fancontent (1/2)

“Like a fandoms content is really self interactive and derivative off of each other. Like I get what you're saying w 'make your own ideas' but this is something that is also happening with other universes/ideas I've seen in the hlvrai fandom. And w every big fandom, especially ones with a young fanbase. Like ik you're saying 'you don't have to stop' but this is also a result of fan community working off of fellow fan ideas. Not everyone is gonna be skilled enough to build much onto the idea (2/2) Which isn't saying that people shouldn't try or whatever. Point is really just this echoe chamber deal happens w every fandom really and especially with hlvrai's young fans its gonna be more often and with less instances that add much. Its hard to avoid that sort of thing though without discouraging a fandom's collaboration and spreading/sharing of ideas which is what results in some amazing building contributions, but also the echo chambers. (3/2) [sorry theres gonna be 1 more, I know] I actually 100% get the frustration and I've tuned out of the tags bc it has turned into that echoe chamber of like ask blogs and some other stuff. But I don't think this is something malicious, its really just... people doing usual fandom stuff of seeing an idea they like and making their own thing with it, and in this instance has led to this, but I don't think it's really deserving of a finger wagging or shaming just bc its not producing great content. (4/2)” ---------- yup, dont disagree with you there; ive seen this kind of thing plenty in other fandom spaces and my intention in sharing my thoughts on the matter was not to shame young artists from deriving inspiration from the work of others, but in this specific instance there's almost an over-saturation of this one idea of which is very articulately crafted by the original writer, quote “protag gets trapped in an old fashioned computer program and interacts with the cast in a 90s webcore environment, cast tries to help protag escape the computer with the eventual help of an outside source partially at fault for the main antagonist - and by extension the protagonist’s plight, in initially helping work on the program, among other things”. this is a very hand wave-y synopsis but u get the idea almost every re-imagining of this au follows that exact formula, tells almost the exact same story with little deviation, and that under normal circumstances would not be a bad thing for most of these swap aus if there werent, like, literally a dozen of them now. i know for absolute certain no one copy of this idea has ever had malicious intention, and it’s definitely not any one particular person’s fault for contributing to any degree, but it does tend to encourage a bit of piggybacking off of the ideas of other people by copying, rather than taking inspiration from a given piece of media and applying it to their own work, which isn’t necessarily a problem with an immediate (or necessary) solution, if there even is a solution to begin with as i’ve said i’m not asking people here to drop everything they’re doing and start working on something different, at this rate the hlvrai fandom is so saturated with hundreds of au ideas that if i were to ask you to name one completely random idea offhand i could probably find at least one art piece or a blog for it by now - and that on it’s own is entirely fine! multiple renditions of a similar concept is fine, so long as it isn’t a premise as hyperspecific as y2k’s, imo i think a good example of “same concept, personal rendition” that’s been relatively harmonious (from what i’ve seen at least) has been the merfolk aus. ive seen at least 3 different fics for that on ao3 all of which i follow and they take the same general ideas (and mer species, oftentimes) and run with it in completely different directions. there are probably tons of other writers and artists for that medium too and i think its fucking great! its really awesome to see peoples individual takes on a concept like that, au wise, and while the core concept is the exact same there’s not too much overlap in environmental premises the issue i take with people doing similar for the likes of y2kvr is that y2kvr in and of itself is a very unique take on the general, webcore “trapped in a computer/game/etc” theme, it has it’s own unqiue premise, nd i feel like people have overall honed in more on said premise and setting rather than the core concept itself, which has churned out a lot of spinoffs of something much more hyperspecific per result. in general i think people have taken sub-aus a bit too far for this specific concept and i wanted to try and maybe discourage anyone else from jumping on the train at this rate without permission, since mothra has pretty clearly expressed a sense of discomfort towards it now regardless of my thoughts and opinions on the matter comparative to others, at the end of the day it’s more important to listen to and respect the wishes of the creator, whether it be asking permission first or holding off entirely from here on out . thank you for the ask(s)!

#Anonymous #king.txt

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dracjoonie · 6 years ago

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BTS Reactions ~ Date Night~[Hyung Line]

I’m actually posting content!?!? ik, right?? And its a long one! This has taken me all month to finally finish, so I hope it turned out good <3 Now to see how long Maknae line takes me...

Links and m/l in my bio~

𝕊𝕖𝕠𝕜𝕛𝕚𝕟

Date nights are in stone for him. Every Thursday night his schedule was cleared for you and if something came up it’d better get cleared or he would have some words. Same goes for you. Oh, your friends thought it would be nice to go to a movie with you on a Thursday night? That’s cute, better pick a different day though. Oh, your boss needs you that night? Ya, no. They better get someone else. And if they have a problem they can take it up with him.

Some weeks date nights would be the only time you both would have the chance to see each other, so that alone would make him very insistent about it. I think hes the type to really value time together, so he would cherish the nights you had and would do what he needed to to make every one special. In his own way of course. They would start out early, maybe 5pm or earlier if you were both free. He would bring you to his apartment so you both could deescalate from all the chaos of the week prier, he would have groceries delivered so the both of you wouldn’t even have to leave if you didn’t want to. Sometimes he would cook, or you both would cook together. Other nights you would splurge and he would take you out to dinner somewhere nice. Somewhere with a gorgeous view and expensive wine. I feel like he wouldn’t be insistent on “dressing for the occasion” if you were both tired. He’s Jin, he could wear sweatpants to a 5 star restaurant and no one would bat an eye. And he would still call you beautiful if you showed up in pajamas and messy hair.

Whether you decided to stay in or not he would make sure you had both eaten until you were full and content, wanting to take you back to curl up together on the couch. You would watch something silly together, maybe some bad horror movies, anything you didn’t have to pay too much attention to because you would most likely be talking through it anyway. Talking, wrestling, lots of tickle fights, with sweet kisses in between. Every moment would be carefree with him, every Thursday becoming your weekly getaway from the stresses of real life. And he would make it a point to be like that, real life could start at midnight and you could talk and rant about your lives then, but Thursdays were vacation.

I also don’t see him letting you leave until morning, whatever that entailed~

𝕐𝕠𝕠𝕟𝕘𝕚

I doubt he would even call it date night, but that’s what it would be. I see it being spur of the moment, never planned longer than a week in advance unless it was a special occasion. Or unless he planned something in secret. I see it being really casual as well. It could even be the both of you running some errands and grabbing a bite to eat, but you would be together. Whatever you could work into your busy schedules. Sometimes if it was an off day you both had he would want to just sit around and do nothing, but would be more than pleased if you were willing to sit around and do nothing with him.

And I mean nothing. As soon as you were over you would just laze around in his room, never leaving it if you didn’t have to. You might curl up with a laptop on his bed in a pillow fort while he online shopped or something. Listening to a playlist you both put together, breaking away from your devices to chat occasionally. You would both order some delivery and just hope that someone else was home to bring the food to his room so you wouldn’t have to venture out and be social. Some time into the day you would have fallen asleep; all curled up by your laptop, and he would wake you by dragging you into his arms and playing with your hair. He would tell you how much it meant to him to just be able to spend casual time together with you, even if you weren’t really doing anything.

But on a night out things would be different. You both would go somewhere classy ™. Classy and quite, probably on an off day too. You’d both sit in a corner by a window so you could people watch in peace. You’d sit and gossip and throw shade for hours over several glasses of wine. He’d tell you about how the wines he was picking were made, or even about the furniture or architecture in the restaurant. I feel like it’d be mostly him talking on a night out, all with his hands (especial after the wine) and he would just be living off of your reactions, however small they might be.

ℍ𝕠𝕤𝕖𝕠𝕜

(I just reallly wanted to use this gif, and I may have been overly inspired by it. Oops xD)

I feel like he would be the most planed. If its gonna be a date, its gotta be a DATE. Any other night you two were together could be casual, but once he had time on an excuse to go all out that’s exactly what he would do. I could see him making reservations for some place that’s super difficult to get into (I mean not for him cuz hes J-fucking-HOPE but~) Some place you’ve gotta count the 0′s next to the prices to be sure you read that right. He’d already prepare for you freaking out about not owning anything nearly lavish enough to be seen in a place like that. He’d just tell you to go open your closet and once you did there would be this brand new outfit for you, shoes and all. It’d be something booshie like Versace, Gucci, Yves Saint Laurent etc. He’d take the price tags off so you couldn’t freak out about how much he was spending too, probably also rummaged through your closet months ago just so he knew your sizes. I see him renting a car for him to drive you rather than a driver, something sporty. Once you parked; valley, He walk you down towards the front entrance, his hand at the small of your back. It’d be so godamn fancy that paparazzi would be snapping pictures, and there would be plenty of other celebrity’s around. Probably poses for the cameras, spins and dips you to show you off because he would be proud to be spotted with his s/o so publicly. 100% gonna check the headlines to see the pics of you two once you both ordered.

But most nights you two would just goof around, maybe go to a karaoke night, or go shopping together. Maybe grab some burgers and head over to the company building so he could show you some dances he had been working on. Probably scream with you being extra competitive in an arcade until they kick y’all out at closing xD

ℕ𝕒𝕞𝕛𝕠𝕠𝕟

Date nights? Nononono. Date Days. Most days I don’t really see him being that into planning either. Prefers to pick a general destination and lets things progress “organically” from there. I see him showing up at your door on your day off with a couple of bicycles he rented. Maybe a cute bouquet of flowers he may or may not have dropped a couple of times on the way over. You would usher him inside and ask him how he even got all the way to you with two bikes and one free hand. A story for the ages. After you put the flowers in a vase and kissed him thank you he would already be dragging you towards the door, not wanting to wast any time. He already would have a destination in mind, somewhere quite on the outskirts of town a few miles out. Somewhere you could sit and enjoy the scenery, but close by to some local shops and restaurants he would be excited to visit. You would take the long way there, biking side by side through back neighborhoods and parks, maybe stopping by a lake to chase the birds and goof around in the water while looking for fish.

Once you arrived you would ditch the bikes and stroll around through town.You would shop around and find a bunch of unique jewelry and clothing you would both be dying to add to your collections. Might have to hold him back from buying too much. Mid afternoon he would take you to a nature sanctuary. You would sit out in the grass by a stream among all sorts of trees and flowers. He would hold your hands while you lay back and talked for hours, watching the clouds and just enjoying how peaceful it was. He would share his thoughts and feelings, probably spilling his heart out to you and letting it be known just how much he appreciates the time you had. Once it got dark you would go back into town and find a small restaurant to eat at before heading back home. The way back would be just as care free, basking in the moonlight and watching the stars and headlights passing by. Probably stays the night at your place, and asks for your help returning the bikes come morning~

#bts reactions #bts senarios #bts imagines #jin #seokjin #yoongi #suga #hoseok #jhope #namjoon #dracjoonie #dracjoonie reactions

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verai-marcel · 5 years ago

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Let Go (RDR2 Fanfic, Arthur x Fem!Reader, 18+, DubCon)

Just posting some of my older fics to tumblr. This is the Captured Hearts series, part 3 of 4.

Summary: When Arthur promised you he wouldn’t let anyone else catch him, you believed him. But some things aren’t meant to be. Will you save him, or will you walk away?

Author’s Notes: Yeah, adding that D/s tag because that’s pretty much where their relationship has been heading in my brain. I looked up DD/lg to see if that applies here, and it’s maybe 1% applicable because of the use of the “baby girl” endearment and some caretaking, so if that freaks you out, maybe avoid this story. Anyway, enjoy!

Tags: Hurt/Comfort, Some Gore, Gun Violence, Shameless Smut, D/s, no spoilers, DubCon

Word Count: 4624

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

“Those O'Driscolls been around a lot lately.”

“Yeah, they been causing trouble two towns over, and now I hear they been seen on the roads nearby.”

“Sheriff better do somethin’ about.”

“You know he ain't gonna do shit!”

Raucous laughter followed, filling the saloon with a warmth and camaraderie you hadn’t felt in a while. You took another sip of your whiskey, letting the burn soothe your tiredness.

You thought of the O’Driscolls. You didn't mess with that gang; they were far too big, and their leader was a bit crazy from what you heard. You had tried taking in some O'Driscolls, a long time ago with your father. You both had agreed afterwards that they weren't worth the trouble. Swarmed like flies, and just as annoying.

You had traveled west, away from the town with the nice sheriff who wanted to deputize you, away from that abandoned cabin, away from that campsite, away from everything that reminded you of him. You ended up in a larger town, but it was nestled in the foot of the mountains and off the beaten path. People here seemed friendly, but only because they didn’t see many travelers, so you were sort of an anomaly. You quickly gained favor with some of the townsfolk, helping out here and there, and no one here thought it was strange for a woman to be doing the kind of work you did; in fact, quite a few women were doing similar things.

What a delightfully forward-thinking town, you thought, as you finished your whiskey and left the saloon. Everyone else was drinking, shit-talking the sheriff (who really was a bit useless), and having a grand old time, but you had spent most of the day helping a farmer hunt down a wolf that was preying on his sheep, and you were tired. You made your way to the small cabin you had been staying at for the past couple of weeks. The farmer you were helping let you stay in exchange for help around the farm and whatever hunting or foraging you could bring in, which was plentiful in the mountains above the town.

As you walked back, a group of rowdy looking men rounded the corner and started heading towards the saloon. You naturally avoided them, taking to the shadows and quietly staying out of their sight.

“I’m tired of guarding that son of a bitch. I can’t believe Ike made us bring him all the way out here.”

“He’ll bring in good money alive, but we gots ta wait for Willie to make the arrangements. None of us can just walk into Blackwater, ya know.”

“Yeah, yeah. This better be worth it.”

“It will! One day, everyone will know the Bollard Twins gang. We’ll take down both the O’Driscolls and the Van der Linde gang, starting with that dumbass Arthur that got himself caught.”

Your breath stopped. Slowly so it seemed natural, you walked a wide berth around them, and started heading back to the saloon. Picking a spot nearby where you wouldn’t be noticed, you catnapped, your hat over your face so people thought you were sleeping off the alcohol.

You waited for a couple of hours, until you saw them head back out again. Quietly, through the dawn, you followed them. They walked back to their horses outside of town and rode off. You quickly whistled for Trigger, who came galloping within minutes, and headed off after them.

***

Tracking them was easy for you, as they weren’t even hiding their trail. The problem came when you found their hideout. Three men were ambling around outside, and you didn’t know how many were inside. The cabin, if you could call it that, didn’t look like more than a shed, so you guessed maybe at most another two people were inside. Did they really need that many, guarding one prisoner? Even if it was Arthur, that seemed excessive. And on top of that, there wasn’t any good cover for you to snipe from. If you shot from here, they’d see you in a heartbeat. You slunk back down the hill, wondering what to do. Wait until nightfall? Arthur might be dead by then. Take a chance and snipe anyway? You didn’t particularly want to die.

But the thought of Arthur dying squeezed your heart painfully. When had he gotten such a tight hold on you? He was just an outlaw that you've had a couple encounters with. You shouldn't care this much.

And yet you longed for his touch, you dreamed of him, and your body sung for him after just one look.

You took a deep breath. You scanned the mountainside, hoping that you missed a good ledge or outcropping, but there was nothing. You'd have to just go from here, guns blazing. It ran through your mind that you could just leave him to his fate, but you quickly squashed that thought. It wouldn't feel right.

Sighing at yourself, you readied your rifle, made sure your revolver was loaded, and snuck around to the back of the cabin. You purposely shot away from them so they looked at the exploding branch first, then they immediately looked in your direction as you popped one in the head. The other two men started shooting at you, and another man came out of the shed and shouted at them to kill you as he also pulled out his rifle and started taking pot shots at you.

You started running, bullets whizzing by you. You were getting grazed like crazy, but you kept shooting, just trying to get any shots. You got one of them in the knee, another one in the elbow. They cried out and held their wounds. The man with the rifle cursed them out and kept firing on you, keeping you pinned down behind a large tree.

You counted the bullets. You knew it was a Lancaster rifle, you knew he would max out at 14 shots. When you counted 10, he paused. You came out then and shot a few rounds based on instinct and where the bullets were coming from. He yelled out in pain as you got him in the hand and the shoulder.

“Fucking asshole!” he yelled as he pulled out his revolver with his good hand and shot. One bullet tore through your hair, grazing the point where your neck and shoulder met. Another bullet grazed high on your cheek. You felt blood flow down your shirt from the wound, and you ducked back behind the tree, breathing heavily in shock. Your face stung, and the blood dripped down to your chin.

A feral yell echoed in the forest. You heard the sounds of someone being punched to hell, and after a couple of minutes, nothing. You peeked around the tree to see Arthur, half-naked and covered in blood, like a wild man. His wrists looked raw where he had been tied up. His chest and stomach were bruised, clearly beaten while he was trapped here. And he looked pissed off as he stared down at the man who had shot you.

Without thinking, your body moving on its own, you slowly started walking towards him, the blood loss making you less careful about your surroundings. He looked up at the sound you made as you stumbled towards him, his wild look making him a frightening sight to behold. But you kept walking, one step in front of the other.

“Sweetheart…” he finally said, his eyes softened when he noticed it was you and not another gang member.

He ran to you and caught you right before you collapsed.

***

You woke up in a tent. Not your tent. You tried sitting up, but pain shot through your body and you bit your lip to keep from crying out. You lifted your arms to see them bandaged in multiple places. You slowly sat up this time, gritting your teeth through the pain, and looked under the blanket. Your right leg was bandaged in a couple of places, your left leg only had one graze at your ankle, but you had plenty of bruises from hitting branches and rocks as you were dodging and diving for cover through the fight. Even your side had bandages around your belly, and you reached to your side and poked yourself, wincing. Could’ve been worse, you thought. At least you didn’t get a bullet wound. You tried to stretch, and everything stung.

You reached up to your shoulder. Bandages were wrapped around your neck and chest to keep the wound from opening up again. That was probably the worst of your injuries. You had felt the blood just running from your neck and really thought you were done for.

You sniffed the blanket. It smelled like Arthur.

And then the tent flap opened and you hid yourself under the blanket. You were naked except for the bandages and felt shy, exposed.

“Finally awake?”

You tried to nod, but just ended up wincing. Moving your neck hurt.

“Just stay still, lemme take care of ya,” he said as he moved next to you. In his hand was a bowl of stew. Your mouth watered.

“How long did I sleep?”

“Most the day. It just got dark.”

“Oh,” you said finally, not knowing how to handle this information, nor this situation. You looked at him, really looked at him. He was bandaged up too, and the bruises that you could see were turning an unfortunate shade of blue & black. He sat down and started feeding you quietly, and you accepted his help, since your arms were like lead and honestly, you wanted to just let him take care of you like this. It had been so long since anyone had looked after you in such a kind manner that you nearly cried at the tender care. He didn’t say anything nor made any fuss about it; he just slowly fed you, one bite at a time.

After you had eaten your fill, he went back outside to kill the fire and clean up. You lay back down carefully and wrapped the blanket around you, inhaling deeply and feeling a bit embarrassed about doing so. You were exhausted; considering how long you had been up before, and how much you had exerted yourself in the past 24 hours, you quickly fell back asleep, even though you had slept for so long already.

***

Sometime during the night, you woke to find Arthur sleeping next to you, his broad back to yours, keeping you warm. You blinked, and went back to sleep again, sure it was a dream.

***

When morning finally peeked through the tent, you felt groggy, but a lot better than before. Your wounds weren’t so bad a day later, and you could move somewhat better, even though you were still sore overall. You got up, threw your clothes on, and got out of the tent.

Arthur was gone, as was his horse, but you noticed a piece of paper under his pot of coffee.

Hunting.

Short and to the point. You could rest some more and just… stay. But you felt the urge to run away, to hide, to not be here when he came back. The string around your heart felt tighter every minute you stayed. You picked up the piece of paper and scribbled with some charcoal.

Went back.

You packed your stuff, got on your horse, and rode back to the cabin on that farmer’s land.

***

A few days later, you finally felt like yourself again. You had picked up some simple labor here and there, taking it easy on your sore body. No one had questioned your wounds; you made up a tale of falling down a hill to get away from too many wolves, and they believed you. The townspeople knew that hunts went bad sometimes. Wolves were truly a problem around here, as the farmer had asked once again for your help guarding the sheep at night when you had returned.

After a third night of no wolves, you stretched and went back to your cabin, admiring the 3AM moonlight. You were itching to leave again, go back to bounty hunting, back to traveling. You were a nomad, and this was the longest you had stayed in a place since your old man passed. You never liked staying in a place for too long; you didn't want to get attached to anything. Attachments caused… complications. And the thing you hated most was complications.

You washed up a bit with the small water basin you kept just inside the door before you changed into your simple sleeping shift. It was the girliest thing you owned; it even had a small red ribbon bow in the middle. To be fair, you picked it mostly because it was the least garish sleepwear in the store. It was silky soft and you admit that it was a splurge buy. But you wanted something to sleep in other than your regular clothes.

In the middle of the cabin, you twirled about just to feel the dress whirl around your knees. It was short, but it wasn't like it was for public viewing.

A strong, steady couple of knocks on the door made you jump. What the hell? The damn farmer better not be asking you to do a double shift. You pulled your coat on over yourself and grabbed your revolver. With your hand on the door handle, you grumbled loudly, “What is it?” You thought you sounded a little bitchy, but you didn't care.

“Don't sound too happy there, sweetheart.”

You immediately flung open the door without thinking. Arthur was leaning against the door frame, looking smug, probably because you had opened the door so quickly. He looked you up and down; your coat had fallen open, and your hand was still gripping your revolver tightly. He could see part of your night dress with its stupid girly ribbon bow.

You didn't even ask how he found you. You didn't exactly hide yourself here, and people knew you. One more reason to leave town.

After a brief second of looking at him in disbelief, you slammed the door shut.

Or at least you tried to. Arthur caught the door and forced his way into your space. He shut and locked the door behind him, the click sounding so final to your ears. Then he started stalking towards you. You walked back until you stumbled against the table behind you, so you sidestepped around, hit the wall, then took one step to the side. A hand slammed into the wall next to your face.

His other hand reached down and slowly took the gun away from you. Bending on one knee, he gently placed it on the ground. Clearly a man who cared about firearms.

But now was not the time to admire him. Or was it? He had not shaven in a few days, but otherwise he looked alright. In fact, he looked a bit scruffy but still attractive. The way he was looking at you with hungry eyes made your body tighten as he stood back up, but not before nipping at your stomach on the way back up.

“I gave you some time,” he said in a low voice. “But I can't wait any longer.” Reaching for your coat, he slowly slid it off your shoulders. It fell to the ground around your feet, revealing your dress. The fabric was thin, the neckline was a bit low, and his eye darkened with lust when he saw your nipples harden.

“You want this too, don'tcha.” It was a statement, one you could not deny. Slowly his hands went for your dress straps. He slid them down until they were off your shoulders as he stepped closer to you. He cupped your breasts and flicked your nipples under the fabric.

“Didn't know you owned anything like this,” he murmured.

“It's new,” you mumbled.

“It's… Nice.” In one quick move he jerked the dress down just enough so he could palm your breasts, his rough hands squeezing you. He bent over and took one of your nipples into his mouth.

You gasped and wrapped your arms around his head, running your hands through his hair. He moaned around your nipple, vibrating through you and making you hotter for him. He stood up and crushed you against the wall, taking your mouth, slowly at first, then with a growing need as his hands touched you everywhere.

Then as quickly as he began, he stopped and stepped away. You were suddenly cold without his warm body against yours, and you slid down the wall now that he wasn't supporting your weight. You watched as he took a few more steps back and started taking off his coat, suspenders, and shirt. His gun belt hit the floor with a very final thud. This was happening, whether you wanted it or not. And part of you really, really wanted it.

He noticed the need in your eyes. “You want this?” he asked, a hint of a smirk on his lips. His hands were hovering over the fly of his pants.

“Yes,” you whispered.

He grinned, somewhat perversely. He sat in the only chair and beckoned you. “Crawl to me.”

You started to. Then you stopped.

“Don't think. Just do as I say.”

Your mind warred with your body.

“Trust me.”

It was so hard. So hard to let go of all control. So hard to trust so unconditionally.

“Look at me.”

You looked up at him.

“If you truly don't want somethin’, I won't force it. So please, trust me.”

A second passed. Then another. And then you slowly got on your hands and knees and crawled towards him. You were rewarded with a smile that made it oh so worth it.

He ran a hand through your hair and you leaned into his touch. Your body warmed; it felt so good just to be in the moment. You reached for his fly and began unbuttoning. He watched you, his breath shaky with need as you pulled out his cock on your own and began licking and sucking happily.

A grunt made you look up. He fisted your hair and pulled you off him.

“Gettin’ too close, baby girl.”

He hushed you softly when you whimpered. He let go of your hair and pulled you up until you were standing, and guided you by your hips until you were astride him. Lifting up your dress, he looked up at you as he slipped a finger into your wet channel. Your hands immediately went to his shoulders for support as he played with you, adding a second and then a third finger, readying you.

He hummed agreeably after a bit, and grasped your hips once more.

“Guide me in,” he said in a low voice. You reached down and wrapped a hand around his thick cock, stroked him once, and let him pull you down. You gasped as he started pushing into you; even after he had worked his fingers inside you, you were still tight.

“Breathe,” Arthur whispered as he wrapped his arms around you and pulled steadily down, down until you were fully sitting in his lap, his shaft deep inside you. Grabbing your ass, he started lifting you up and down, and you held on for dear life. Your hands gripped his arms and his chest, feeling his muscles working as he pumped your body. It was like you weighed nothing at all, and the thought of the strength he possessed shot adrenaline through you, making you hotter.

“More,” you moaned, and he chuckled in response. Standing up with you still impaled on his shaft, he sat you on the table and pushed you down. Gripping your hips, he lifted you slightly off the table and drove into you with all his strength. The table rocked as he took you, his eyes possessing an almost demon glow in the lantern light.

In the privacy of this cabin, you screamed and moaned. You could feel yourself letting go of all your hang-ups. Your body loosened up, becoming Arthur’s pliable play thing.

He sensed the change in you. “That’s it girl, let go, let me take care of you,” he said as he flipped you over and entered you from behind. Without giving you a chance to breathe, he fucked you roughly, and you begged for more.

“Yes, use me!”

“Gladly, sweetheart,” he growled as he drove into you harder. “Tell me more.”

Your words were vulgar, dirty, lewd. And you couldn’t stop them from coming from your mouth. He slapped your ass and you reveled in the sting of it, pushing your hips out to meet his thrusts with pure need. You were being defiled, and you loved it.

Then you felt a finger caress your rear opening, and you froze. Your body immediately tensed up. He caressed you again, and you wouldn’t, couldn’t relax.

“No,” you said, definitively.

After a second, he stroked your hair comfortingly. “Alright,” he said softly. He slowly started stroking your clit again to get you hot once more. It didn’t take long for you to melt under his touch, and the trust you had for him grew.

Then he grabbed your waist and pulled out of you. He sat back down in the chair, taking you backwards with him. He leaned back and pulled you on top of him, your back on his chest, your legs spread around his. You leaned your head back against his shoulder and he nibbled your earlobe. You moaned as he violently shoved his cock back inside you.

“Ride me. Show me what you want,” he commanded.

It was hard to think past the soft haze of desire, but your body moved of its own accord, and your breathing hitched when one hand went to your clit and the other fondled your breasts. He caressed you everywhere, your whole body singing for his as you moved up and down on him, your heartbeat thundering in your ears as you got closer to the edge.

“Gonna shoot my spend all over your pretty face,” he whispered in your ear, and that mental image pushed you over your limits as you came hard, crying out his name as you shook with pleasure.

As the edge wore off, he pushed you down, grabbed you by the neck, and pulled you up to his still erect cock. He stroked his cock a few times and came on your face, his cum dripping down your chin to your breasts.

You felt dirty and used. You should’ve been upset, but you were feeling satisfied, almost unnaturally so. You had a blanket of contentment around your mind and it wouldn’t go away.

Arthur disappeared for a moment to grab the wash cloth next to the water basin, came back, went on one knee next to you and cleaned you up. You leaned back against his other knee and hummed happily. He tenderly walked you to bed, and you could feel him spooning you as you quickly fell asleep.

***

It was late morning when you awoke. Arthur’s arms were wrapped around you, and your legs were intertwined with his.

You immediately remembered what happened last night and burned with an inner shame. You had let loose, begged him for terrible things that only he could do to you, and at the end, he had finished on you like a dollar whore. You had done things that were so separate from who you wanted to be: an ace hunter, a great sniper, calm and collected in all things.

Quietly & slowly, you tried to get out of bed without waking Arthur. You had to leave, you had to ride on the open road and feel the wind on your face and just get out-

Arthur’s arms tightened around you. It was like being wrapped in steel; there was no getting out.

“Goin’ somewhere?”

“I… I need to go.”

He let go. “If you’re not back in 5 minutes, I’m comin’ to git you.”

You nodded, threw on a shirt and pants, and went outside to the outhouse to relieve yourself.

Walking back, you thought of just running away, but you knew he’d just chase you. There was no escape. Entering the cabin again, you were surprised to find him getting dressed.

“C’mere,” he said. You obediently walked to him, and he wrapped his arms around you.

“You feelin’ ashamed?”

You nodded in his chest.

“Don’t be. You got needs. S’okay if you fulfill them with the right person.”

“And that’s you?”

“I got needs too. We match.”

You looked up at him then. His eyes were clear like the morning sky, not like last night’s demon-possessed darkness.

“You got to stop running from me every time we meet. You know I can give you what you need.”

You leaned your forehead against his chest again, and he kissed the top of your head. He had a point. Your desires and his worked well together. You both got something out of your couplings.

“How?” you finally asked.

“How what?”

“How do you always know what I need?”

You felt him shrug. “I just do.”

You scoffed.

“Have I ever left you unsatisfied?” he asked, sounding slightly offended.

You were silent. No, he had always fulfilled you. You had no room to argue, not without being a liar, and you were most certainly not a liar.

He held you for a moment longer, then let go. He went to gather his things, giving you a moment to just watch him and think. You know in your exhaustion the first thing you had done was to go to him. You know that your body just moved on its own. You thought that had you been in your right mind, you would have run away from this dangerous outlaw.

Or maybe that was you running away from yourself. What were you really afraid of? He had shown you nothing but kindness and pleasure. He took care of you, made you feel fulfilled in a way no man had ever done, and had respected your boundaries when you truly drew a line. Because you knew that every time he had forced his way through, you hadn’t fought back. Not really. He’s seen you fight. He knows you would have resisted tooth and nail if you truly didn’t want something. But you knew, deep down, you wanted him to do all those debauched things to you, and you enjoyed it all.

Deep in thought, you hadn’t noticed that he had finished picking up and was ready to leave. He had been watching you for several minutes as the gears turned in your head, working out your emotions regarding him and this... situation between the two of you.

Stepping up to you once more, he cupped your chin to bring you out of your reverie.

“Next time I see you, don’t run.” He lovingly kissed your forehead and walked out the door.

You followed him to the door and watched as he got on his horse and rode away, presumably back to his gang. You realized that he had never asked you to come with him, to join his gang. You never would, of course. You wanted to live the freedom of a bounty hunter’s life, and that was non-negotiable.

Maybe he knew that. Maybe that’s why you and he had to be content with these random meetings and nothing more.

Were you afraid of wanting more? Or were you more afraid of him wanting more? Because with the hold he had on you, you weren’t sure what you would say if he asked you to stay.

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

End Notes: Hope you guys enjoyed it, it’s what Arthur wanted to do in my head, so I let him (let’s be honest, I’d let Arthur do a lot of things to me *droooool*). Also I looked up 1890s clothing and endearments and dirty terms so it’s somewhat chronologically accurate; I had no idea the endearment “baby” was used as early as the 17th century, and zippers weren’t used commonly until the 1930s. So all my cowboys have button flys (which are sexy anyway, right?).

#arthur morgan #arthur x reader #arthur x fem!reader #old fanfic #fanfic #writing #lemon fanfic #nsft #dubcon #captured hearts

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ninawritesastory · 6 years ago

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So, I started following you because your posts on Creek are fantastic and have fueled headcanons for days but I've recently stumbled into enjoying Style (I'm new to this fandom) and a tag on one of your recent reblogs leads me to ask: what do you think needs to happen in order for Style to work? What growing up and experience do you think they need? And, in the end, how do you ultimately see them once they've achieved that?

Holy crow, thank you so much! I’m glad you’re enjoying all of the Creek, and I’m glad you’re getting plenty of headcanons out of it. Half the time I feel like I’m just rambling nonsensically into the void and none of what I’m saying makes any sense, so it’s always nice to hear that it’s making sense to someone! xD

And welcome to the South Park fandom, by the way! I think this is one of the chillest, least toxic fandoms I’m part of (so long as you stay away from. like, the Kyman vs. Style ship wars; maybe it’s calmed down a bunch, but it used to be fairly…interesting) and there are TONS of awesome artists and writers, as I’m sure you’re discovering. I hope you have lots of fun and find some good stuff.

Now, thing about Style is that, after the events of You’re Getting Old/Assburgers in particular, there’s a clear shift in the maturity levels between Kyle and Stan. The main problem here is that, for all intents and purposes, Kyle is a lot like Cartman. The key difference is that Kyle is always convinced he’s morally superior while Cartman doesn’t really give a shit about moral superiority.

There have been multiple instances throughout the show where Kyle has demonstrated a definite lack of emotional sensitivity to the point where I’d consider it largely canon that he has trouble empathizing with others. His treatment of Stan in You’re Getting Old and Assburgers is pretty much what had me pushing back my realm of feasibility for the Style relationship. Kyle can’t empathize with Stan’s developing depression; he outright says that Stan’s worsening mental health is toxic to him. And while I can understand that, to some degree, the fact that Kyle was willing to abandon Stan once his depression was starting to worsen really turned me off from canonical Style.

I have depression myself, and I know from experience how shitty it is to have the people you care about turn their backs on you because you’re no longer smiling and laughing at the same stuff you used to. Depression fucks with you in ways that drastically alter who you are. And if you decide to seek out treatment and keep up with it, who you become as you recover is fairly rarely who you were before you spiraled. If you’ve ever seen Inside Out (which has a FANTASTIC way of showing what depression feels like), think of the Personality Islands going dark and crumbling away. It’s a lot like that: what interested you, what you valued, what you loved, you’re likely to lose your connections to those things and even once you begin recovery there’s a chance that you won’t be able to reestablish those interests, or at least to the same strength that you had them before. Depression more or less chews you up and spits you out, and when you start recovering, you’re essentially a blank slate in terms of your interests.

And Stan…never actually gets any real treatment. Personally, I was really confused when Stan’s obvious descriptions of depression were immediately linked by Mr. Mackey to Asperger’s Syndrome. (Which made it really difficult for me to keep up with the rest of the episode, because it kind of felt like they just wanted to make the Ass Burgers joke and went from a depression-focused storyline to an autism-focused one.) But, the only “treatment” Stan gets at all is alcohol. It’s literally poured down his throat without his consent. Even once the episode comes to a close, Stan never receives any actual treatment and so has to rely on the only “solution” he was exposed to.

But, anyway, from those episodes onwards, there’s been a distinct imbalance in Stan and Kyle’s relationship. Their “Super Best Friends” status is starting to feel more and more superficial. Because Stan is fairly emotionally intelligent. He’s highly empathetic, even if he can be self-centered on a semi-regular basis. And Stan is definitely in the processing of growing up just a little too fast due to his issues with depression, addiction, and substance abuse. He’s taking responsibility for himself at an age when he really shouldn’t have to—at least, not in those areas.

Meanwhile, Kyle doesn’t really have anything pushing him to grow. (Prior to last season, at any rate.) He’s ten and there’s nothing in his immediate experience that is forcing him to think more maturely. The closest he ever comes is with Ike, but since Ike is not someone he has to take care of on a regular basis, any maturity he shows in those moments is fleeting and kind of superficial. Kyle doesn’t have any reason to reevaluate how he relates to people, his empathy is severely underdeveloped, and he has a hard time understanding anyone else’s point of view.

In other words, Stan’s in the process of maturing. Kyle (prior to last season) is nowhere close. It’s possible that Kyle’s experiences with Heiman and the nuking of Canada may help push him into that phase of his development, but I don’t think I can really say that definitively until the next season comes out.

So, for what I feel needs to happen for Style to work. On Stan’s end, he needs to get some actual treatment for his depression. He seems to have gotten the whole addiction and substance abuse thing more or less under control thanks to his chat with Satan, but I’m not sure if his depression has been managed as effectively. I also think he needs to have a Come to Jesus moment in terms of his relationship with his dad. Honestly, I heavily empathized with Stan in Ass Burgers when he was finally making progress in dealing with his mental health only for Randy to yank the rug out from under him at the last minute. I just get the sense that Randy’s presence in Stan’s life is essentially what keeps Stan from progressing in terms of his mental health and development. That whole, “Stick to what you know” thing isn’t going to help Stan because sticking to what he knows involves a flash of booze stashed in his underwear drawer and no actual attempts to seek either medication or psychiatric help. So Stan needs to develop enough to pull himself out from under Randy’s influence.

For Kyle…Kyle needs to mature emotionally. He needs to learn how to empathize with other people and get out of his self-centered focus. I think he may be on the way to that, if he learned his lesson from the M.A.C./Canada nuking situation. I also think that what would help Kyle most is just getting out of South Park and away from Cartman. Everyone says college is pretty much a different world from grade school, and in a lot of ways they’re right. Depending on what college you go to, your likelihood of being in classes with people you know from grade school is slim to none. The structure in college is also different; a lot of it relies on you being accountable to yourself and your coursework. The mix of people you interact with is almost never the exact same sort of mix you grew up with. Which would go a long way to helping Kyle develop the necessary self-awareness needed to make the Style relationship work.

The way I see it, Kyle and Stan having some sort of a falling out in middle school or high school. They don’t hang out that much anymore, their friend groups shift enough that their daily interactions are minimal, and they develop apart from each other for the first time in their lives. They go their separate ways after graduation—Kyle to college and Stan to the military—and don’t really call or talk or anything after leaving South Park. Give it at least a semester, better a year or so, and they reunite during break. Kyle’s done a shit ton of growing up, Randy’s shadow over Stan’s life is drastically reduced, and they’ve have a chance to grown into themselves. Kyle’s got a better understanding of mental health, Stan’s got a firmer grip on his depression, and they’re finally back on even ground. That’s when a romantic relationship between the could work out.

#nina answers asks #sharrakor #sp style #sp stan #sp kyle #stan marsh #kyle broflovski #hope that made sense!#if not we can try again |D #cw depression #cw alcohol

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brynwrites · 6 years ago

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Ask compilation!

Topics covered:

Changing POV characters

Building an audience

Finding the courage to write

Sticking with a story

Moodboards

Happiness!

OBP and the biochemist

More OBP stuff

Most other questions should be listed on the ask queue page.

Changing POV characters

Anon asked: Do you have any advice about changing POVs? I am doing groups of chapters with a first person view of the main character and a couple of chapters thrown in of a first person view of a side character.

Right here! :)

Building an audience

Anon asked: How did you get so many people hooked in your writing through tumblr? Any tips?

They’re all in my marketing tag!

Finding the courage to write

Anon asked: Hello, I’m sorry for this kind of silly question but where do you find courage to write a book? It may be not a problem for others at all but I have so many fears

There are no silly questions, though the answer is rather simple: you just write. Almost all writers fear writing (or at least, they fear that what they write won’t be very good, that people will hate it or hate them for writing it, that they’ll waist their time and fail and life and then die tragically alone), even professional authors with dozens of bestselling books feel this regularly. The key is to:

Acknowledge that the fear is normal.

Find a few writer buddies who feel the same fear and can commiserate with you.

Take up your sword with the courage that those fears are lies, and then write, write, write!

I talk more about this here, and have more general motivational advice here.

Sticking with a story

@daughterofhecata asked: Hey, I was wondering, how do you manage it when two stories are demanding your attention at the same time? I'm like 10 chapters deep in a project, but now there's another idea knocking around in my head, and they both want to be written, and I'm afraid that I'll end up losing interest in both stories.

I talk about this here!

Moodboards

Anon asked: How do you make all the little mood boards/images for your book posts? They're very beautiful and I was wondering what you use to make the layout and how you find the images that you've used in them. I couldn't find an ask like this, so if it's been asked before than I apologize. Thank you! Have a nice day!

Thank you! I make the moodboards on cavna, using a collage template, and collect the images from pinterest. I really wish I could credit the original photographers, but unfortunately photography re-posting is about a thousand times worse than the already terrible art re-posting so I haven’t managed to find a way to locate them yet x_x

Happy things!

Anon said: Hi Bryn I dont have any writer friends so I just wanted to let someone know that after years of starting a tonne of WIPs and giving up half a page in and building plots but doing nothing with them I finally actually wrote the 1st draft of my first short story and it doesn't seem like much but I'm so excited and happy about it and even when it ended I didn't want to stop writing it just felt so amazing to finally write and I'm just so proud of myself I wanted to let someone know ☺☺☺

I’M SO HAPPY FOR YOU, CONGRATS!!! That’s a great accomplishment, and I’m sure there will be plenty more first drafts (and beyond) in your future <3

OBP and the biochemist

Anon said: I'm debating if I have the budget to pre-order OBP and I hopped around in excitement when I saw your bio blurb: "They received their bachelors degree in Biochemistry and Cell Biology from UCSD, and enjoy a day job involving respiratory disease research." Lots of high-fives, I'm in college for the same field!!

Nice!! It’s always great to meet another bio buddy =D

(If you can’t pre-order now, there’s no worries. The most important ordering period is the first week it comes out, so if you have the budget on the 26th, then that’s awesome! If not, the ebook will be on sale for $99 at some point in the near future ^^)

More OBP stuff!

Anon said: I was already going to buy OBP to support you but now that I'm reading the first chapter I'm also just going to buy it because it's fucking awesome and I love it "You're the best first mate!" <3 so cute but also PIRATES and SIRENS and NONBINARY CHARACTERS and AAAAAAAA (and yes I'll review it on Amazon ik that makes them recommend it to people)

AHH THANK YOU! <3

#ask compilation #writeblr

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2figs · 6 years ago

Text

Regarding Ike & Soren’s Sexuality

I’m a little bored and I’m feeling pretty talkative and advocative right now so I’m gonna try and lay to rest an extremely bitter and long-lived shipping battle, and also throw my own opinion into the ring about Ike/Soren and their individual sexualities as characters, just for fun and because hey opinions, everyone has one!! So first I’ll have a section regarding why the controversy is unneeded, and then what my personal feelings on the ship are.

First of all, if you haven’t read amielleon’s write-up on Ike’s sexuality, I highly recommend you do so, link right here (warning, it’s long).:

https://amielleon.dreamwidth.org/237826.html

You should read it if you’re interested, because I can tell you for a fact what I’m about to say isn’t going to amount to anything this person has said. It is a near perfect, un-biased essay on the Ike/Soren controversy and how to solve it. But nevertheless again I feel like talking so I’m gonna try re-iterate some of their points anyway.

My unbiased take on the ship:

They’re shipping characters from a video game! It doesn’t matter!! There are so many more things that are better to worry about, world hunger, clean water, teacher salaries, etc., and you’re worried about some anime fuck being gay or not gay?? Go outside and live a little.

Ha... sorry I got carried away there. Anyway like I said, it shouldn’t matter so much to you. Ike is my favorite fictional character of all time, and I don’t ever mind at all when I see people ship Ike/Soren, Ike/Elincia, Ike/Ranulf, etc., you know why? Because people can ship what they want, unless its morally wrong. It makes them happy, and you can’t take that happiness away from them with your opinion. It’s rude and it likely won’t help out either one of you in the situation.

There’s a lot of evidence for both sides of the argument, usually enough for either sides to reign victorious in an argument, to which then it usually comes down to one’s argumentative skills. (I won’t bother listing all of the evidence for both sides, you can check the link above for that.) The fact of the matter is the games make Ike and Soren’s canonical relationship out to be very vague because of the amount of evidence for both sides. It’s a problem that isn’t meant to be solved, and sometimes that’s ok. The dialogue in FE9 and FE10 are so vague that it can be interpreted either way. In a sense, I think this is great. It allows for everyone to have their own personal fun with the ship and have it still be convincing, and with that said I think it’s time for me to throw my hat into the ring.

My biased take on the ship (in other words, my opinion, which is by no means fact):

I don’t think Ike thinks about sexual identities or relationships, and I think Soren is basically Ike-sexual.

Soren:

Two quotes from Soren in particular make me think this way. One is Ike’s death quote in Radiant Dawn: “Ike... Please live... Even if all the cities burn, and the seas swallow Tellius... You mustn't die... Not you...” and the last line in the Japanese version of Ike and Soren’s support in Path of Radiance, which I can’t seem to find the quote for right now, but it was something along the lines of him saying Ike is the only one who is special to him. Soren has had some pretty traumatic experiences as a child (if you haven’t already find an article on his backstory regarding his near starvation and parental abuse.) And all of these experiences went away when Ike and Greil found him and offered him food and shelter. Ike is a savior to Soren, nearly a deity. I think his trauma was so hard on him that he developed some sort of savior complex to him, and has therefore shut everyone out in his life, save for Ike, which explains his antisocial behavior. His trauma is something very serious, and if it were to happen in real life, I think his behavior in the game isn’t too far off to what would actually happen. I think some people take his trauma too lightly and see Soren as an overall good person, without thinking about how much his trauma would realistically affect him. I actually think Soren is a very tragic character, and while he is aligned with the good guys, I think he’s only with the mercenaries because of Ike. He lashes out against his own comrades, particularly laguz in FE9, and even shows only small signs of improvement with his racism in FE10. I think if Ike didn’t exist and Soren somehow survived his childhood, he’d become a villain and an outlaw, using his magic to retaliate against those who rejected him for his brand.

To conclude, Soren has a deep and complicated character that is explored plenty throughout FE9 and FE10, but in my opinion at the core of this character is his trauma, and Ike is involved in this trauma. He develops tragically undying love and devotion to Ike on almost a terrifying level because of his trauma, and it becomes even more tragic as Ike is unable to feel the same way.

Ike:

The short way of me explaining Ike’s sexuality his that he’s married to the job. In other words, being a mercenary. No, I’m not saying he’s asexual, I just don’t think he thinks about it at all. He just doesn’t care enough. His whole character revolves around him being a blunt and tireless warrior, who appreciates a good fight and challenge, but yet doesn’t love bringing up a sword in times of war. His job and lifestyle leaves little to no time for romance, and Ike has seen evidence of this in the case of his parents, Greil and Elena, as Greil eventually kills Elena, indirectly because of Greil’s life as a warrior. He’s always thinking about the next fight over romance, which is evident in the base conversation in FE10 when Ike almost pretends to romanticize the infatuated Aimee just to get a discount on war supplies.

In the iconic scene in FE10 where Ike offers a shoulder to cry on for Soren, I believe this is Ike simply sharing pain with someone. Ike has lost his parents to war, and has therefore suffered trauma similarly to Soren, but not nearly to as strong of a degree. I mean heck, this is war! Realistically speaking, some tears are gonna be shed at any given point, whether the characters want to or not, so just because Ike started getting all touchy-feely when Soren started bawling doesn’t mean he’s in love with Soren. It’s war, and people have to look out for each other during war. There’s also Ike’s paired ending with Soren in which they both disband the mercenaries and leave off on their own. I believe Ike, being the thrill-seeking warrior he his, went off to find a new challenge, and took Soren with him, not because they were on their honeymoon or something, but because it was his only option as Soren’s friend. Soren has seen and lived with too much to go back to living on his own, and his fixation on Ike doesn’t help much either. Ike knows this, and even though he knows Soren has huge glaring flaws and permanent trauma, Ike believes in giving everyone an equal chance at happiness life, so that no one suffers the same way he did. He fights for his friends after all! If Soren staying with Ike is enough to make Soren happy, then I’m sure Ike was happy to have him tag along.

I like to headcannon that over many years Ike managed to turn Soren into a much better person as he became wiser and older, maybe kinda like a mentor/older brother dynamic. But of course we all know because of his brand, Soren would live longer than Ike and would eventually have to live by his teachings alone, which I think makes for a great story of redemption.

To conclude, Ike/Soren has been a really fragile ship for nearly a decade, even though it really shouldn’t be. I can understand why some people see Ike/Soren as canon (I mean out of context, that crying cutscene is pretty darn gay lol), and I can see why other people don’t. However as fact, as apposed to Marth/Caeda, Ike/Soren isn’t canon. But however (again), nothing needs to be canon!! You can ship what you want, and think what you want about these characters, whatever makes you happy!! I know I feel happy after writing this post and sharing my thoughts on the ship, and I hope you feel happy as well. Happy happy happy. Thanks for reading.

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bethlehembroclub-blog · 7 years ago

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chapter 1 - it’s beginning to look a lot like christmas

written by @sweatereddies and @gingerbreddie

word count: 2.9k

pairings: reddie, stenbrough, benverly

warnings: swearing, drug/alcohol use, pineapples on pizza

want on the tags list?

new chapters every day in december, follow us for future updates!

Eddie Kaspbrak was late for class. While this was not an entirely unheard of event, it was uncommon, and frustrating enough to ruin his morning. He cursed both his manager and the powers that be as he glared at the patrons in line, each of them feeling just as impatient as he. He had told his manager explicitly that he needed to leave the shop with enough time to get to campus, but because of the rush not only had he lost his travel time but it was now five minutes past when he knew his lecture had been started. Shooting his coworker a pleading look, he was only met with a mouthed “I'm sorry” before they both dove back into the rush. Eddie sighed to himself.

This is gonna be a long day.

______________________________________________________________

“So you're not going to your aunt’s this year?”

“Nah. She has to work super early for Black Friday and doesn't wanna do all the work for two people.”

“That makes sense.” Ben carefully avoided the unsaid question between them, instead choosing the safer but not quite completely safe option. “You know, if you're bored or whatever on the day you're more than welcome to come to mine. My mom and my aunt make more than enough for the five of us.”

“Thanks for the invite, I’ll consider it.” Bev smiled at him over her notebook.

“Plus, the Kappa boys and i are having a sort of “friendsgiving” at the house the day after if you want to join.”

“What, no crazy shopping spree?” Bev smirked, raising an eyebrow.

“No, I'm leaving that to Stan and Eddie. I think they're taking Chris this year, though.” Ben laughed.

“Well, if they hit up radio shack tell them to ask for Linda.” Beverly chortled, turning her page and focusing back in on their work. “God, this project is gonna kill me.” She sighed, changing the subject.

Ben let her. “I don't know, it's not that big.”

“To you, mister three-point-eight.” She griped. “Some of us dummies have a much harder time with this shit.”

“Oh come on Bev, you're not dumb.” Ben replied, genuinely.

“Yeah, well, my GPA begs to differ.” She muttered, starting her paragraph. Ben smiled softly, before picking up his pen and doing the same.

______________________________________________________________

“Stan, thank fuck.” Eddie breathed into the phone as he continued power-waking at full speed.

“Christ Eddie, it's eight in the morning, what's got you so heated?” Stan grumbled tiredly into the phone.

“The fact that it's eight in the morning and I'm not in class right now. My dumbass manager didn’t let me out on time and I’m late. Do you have the car today?” Eddie panted, sprinting across a crosswalk.

“No, Tyler took it home for the next two weeks remember? No one’s-”

“Shit!” Eddie cursed, skidding to a stop near the bus station. “I’m gonna have to get a fucking Uber or something-”

“At eight in the morning? Good fucking luck.” Stan sighed. “Need me to call you one?”

“No…” Eddie sighed, watching a bus pulled up near him, the marquee reading the neighborhood near the college. “I’ve got it covered.”

______________________________________________________________

“So you guys don’t have any plans this weekend? Seriously? It’s end of term, bro!” Bev laughed as she and Ben walked to the campus coffee shop.

“Eddie said, and I quote, ‘if one of you fuck heads drags me to some dumb rager the night after I finish the semester, I will push you off the roof of said frat house.’” Ben said in a mock high-pitched voice, imitating Eddie’s classic Grumpy Tone.

“It’s that bad, huh?”

“I think Trig broke him. He was screaming along to an Enya song at like, three in the morning last week.”

“Who even does that?” Bev laughed.

“Someone whose brain has officially been fried.” Ben sighed. “He’ll be fine after the break. He just needs to relax.”

“Is he going home for the holidays?” Bev hugged her books to her chest, shrugging her purse strap back up onto her shoulder.

Ben shook his head. “I don’t think so. He’s been blowing off all his mother’s calls. Besides, I think he has work.”

“What about Stan?”

“Fourth quarter. He couldn’t get a day off if he died.”

“Corporate America hath its brutal ways.” Bev sighed dramatically. “Well, I think I might be joining you guys for this “friendsgiving” you’ve coordinated.”

“We’ll be happy to see you there.” Ben smiled.

“On one condition.” Bev smiled mischievously. “You need to get the boys to come with you,” she gently poked his chest, “And I,” she turned her finger to herself. “To the End of Semester party the Omega Nu’s are having this weekend.”

Ben raised an eyebrow. “Seriously? You want us at a party?”

“Of course. It’s only gonna be the greatest party on the block.”

“On our block more like. Aren’t the Omega Nu’s across the street from us?”

“And one down!” Bev joked.

“Wow, a whole house down.” Ben laughed. “I don’t think we’ll much be able to avoid it in that case.”

“So you’ll be there?” She looked at him hopefully.

“Of course I will, but.. I’m not so sure about the boys.” He shrugged. “Stan is a toss up, but I’m positive Eddie will say no.”

“Tell him if he wants me at friendsgiving he has to come.” Bev pouted.

Ben sighed. “I’ll see what I can do.” Beverly smiled exuberantly. “But I can’t guarantee anything.”

“Call me for the time, Haystack.” She smiled as they reached the coffee shop. She leaned up and dropped a kiss on his cheek. “See you later.”

“See ya.” He waved as she ducked inside.

______________________________________________________________

The sound of a book slamming down on the table in front of his face jarred Richie Tozier from his sleep.

“W-wake up, asshole. I’m not d-doing this project alone.”

Richie groaned, a hand scrubbing over his face as he arched up. “Fucks sake, Billiam, could you slam that book harder?”

Bill dropped an equally large volume onto the table next to the first, causing Richie’s head to throb all over again.

“Jesus H. Christ Bill, does it not hurt you too?” He pouted.

“It does, but it’s worth it.”

“How come the only sentences you can get through are the ones where you’re making fun of me?” Richie grumbled, squinting up at Bill as he pulled the closest book towards him.

“E-excuse you?” Bill glared, raising an eyebrow as he sat down across the table.

Richie shot him a tempestuous glare, communicating more than enough, but added a middle finger for clarity.

“Shut the fuck up and d-do your section.” Bill griped, pulling his notebook out of his book bag.

“Shut the fuck up and d-d-d-d-d-do your section.” Richie mumbled to himself in a mocking tone, two fingers massaging his temple in desperate hopes of relieving the growing hangover headache. Bill didn’t respond, killing Richie’s need to continue his teasing. He gave in with a sigh, pulling his supplies out of his bag as well.

It took all of five minutes of attempting to study before Richie was over it. He glanced around the library, taking in the filtered sunlight dripping through the high arched windows. Someone across the way tapped an uneven beat with their pencil. A door upstairs closed. A girl from his Trig class crossed the shelves in search of an unknown tome. He watched her as she moved, both distracted and interested. Bill snapped his finger in front of his face.

“Tozier.”

“What?” Richie snapped, eyes still on the girl.

“Wh-what did you get for f-fourteen?”

“Fourteen? Fuck, Bill, I haven’t even gotten one. It’s too hectic in here. I don’t wanna work. Let’s go home.”

“Hectic my a-ass. There’s like, no one here.”

Richie pointed at the girl. “Yeah there is.”

“Oooohh, one o-other person, ‘scuse m-me!” Bill drawled dramatically. “Rich, this is our l-last assignment, p-please. Let’s just get it done.”

“Somewhere else?” Richie pleaded, dropping his head so his chin was resting on his folded arms atop the table.

“Wh-why?” Bill complained, throwing his head back.

“I can’t focus!” Richie whined. “I’m so sick of homework, Big Bill. I wanna party!”

“We p-partied last night.” Bill griped.

“I know, but that was just the beginning! I wanna go home and work on the bash. We only have a couple of days, we need decorations! Supplies…” He trailed off, giving Bill a strange look.

He shared the expression. “We also only have t-two days left of t-term.” He pressed. “So we have to get this d-d-done.” Resolutely, he turned back to his work.

Richie sighed, tapping a finger on the table in agitation.

He let Bill get about fifteen minutes in, before interrupting again.

“What’re you doing over break, again?”

“I t-told you Rich, I’m not sure yet.”

“I’m gonna stay.” Richie adjusted his position in the library chair, yet again. “I’m sure ole Went will be disappointed but he’ll just have to deal.”

“Your m-mom won’t be?”

“Don’t talk about my mom like that.” Richie joked. Bill looked up incredulously.

“That- wasn’t even a-”

“I’m tired, sue me.”

“Your brain runs on autopilot.”

“I haven’t had my coffee yet.”

“Or a good fuck in awhile, christ.” A new voice joined their conversation. “You look like shit, Tozier.” Mike Hanlon smiled his golden boy smile, swinging a chair around backwards before sitting in next to Richie.

“Mike and Ike, thank the lord! Here to rescue me from the clutches of Big Billiam.” Richie dramatically feigned a faint, leaning heavily on Mike only to be shoved off with a laugh.

“Fat chance. You know you need to do your homework, and you’re not leaving till it’s done.”

“Fine.” He sighed, sitting upright in his seat. “But I’ll have you know, I have indeed been laid plenty.”

“Lies.” Bill and Mike said in unenthusiastic (but accurate) unison.

Richie dramatically placed a hand to his chest. “How DARE-”

“Shut up and work, Rich. We have stuff to do today.” Mike playfully dope-slapped him.

“Like w-what?” Bill looked over at Mike, confused.

Mike gave them both a mischievous smile. “We are now the only frat south of fifth street planning an end of semester blow out.”

Richie pumped a fist. “Yes! How’d you manage it, man?”

“Gave the boys over at Alpha Sig some food for thought.” Mike said nonchalantly, examining his nails. Richie laughed.

“Fuck Mike, that sounds menacing as hell.”

Mike chortled in return. “Get straight Tozier, I didn’t fuckin kill them. I just gave em what they wanted.” He eyed Richie, who finally understood. “So now we will officially be the best party in the whole of college town.”

Bill smiled to himself. “Wh-what about Christmas? D-did they say anything about th-then?”

“Couldn’t get them to spill holiday plans, so it looks like Christmas is still any mans game, but we’ve got the market cornered on end of term.”

“Guys, we’ve got to get holidays too. I want the streak this year!” Richie pleaded. “You’ve got to stay this year, Bill.” Richie turned to him, hands folded in prayer. “Pleeeaaaseeeee please please.”

“F-fine, I’ll stay.” Richie whooped, earning a dirty look from the other patrons. “But only so we can w-win.”

“It’s hilarious how competitive you guys get over this.” Mike shook his head with mirth. “There’s no official contest.”

“Um, unofficial for sure, and who just spent an hour negotiating our party status with the enemy?” Richie quipped.

“Firstly, they’re our classmates, not enemies, and secondly, I did not say I was there for an hour.”

Bill raised an eyebrow.

“Okay, so it was like an hour and a half. You should be thanking me, assholes.”

“We thank you kindly, good sir.” Richie saluted Mike.

“Now do your homework so we can go buy decorations and booze.”

“Now that’s more like it!”

______________________________________________________________

“Honey, I’m ho-ome!” Ben playfully called into the house as he closed the door. One of his roomies, Chris, was sitting on their couch, pounding away at an apparently rousing game of Halo. He grunted noncommittally, barely taking his eyes off the screen. “Eddie and Stan here?”

“Upstairs.” Chris nodded towards the stairwell.

“We got invited to a party this weekend, you in?”

“Leaving Friday, but thanks.”

“No problem.” Ben called behind him as he started up the stairs.

Stan and Eddie’s bedroom door was adorned with a large whiteboard, which often contained doodles and messages the other boys would leave. Ben’s poorly scribbled banana and bird drawings were faded and half erased in the corner, still there from nearly six months ago. The center of the board had been erased (mostly) and bore a new message:

STAY THE FUCK OUT WE’RE STUDYING

Ben laughed to himself, knocking lightly on the door.

“What?!” Came Eddie’s annoyed voice.

“It’s Ben, can I talk to you guys?”

“Yeah, come in.” Stan replied, clearly much less stressed.

Ben swung the door open, only for it to collide with a solid object.

“What the fuck-”

“Oh, sorry.” There was the sound of some scrambling and then the door opened all the way; Eddie stood before him, arms full of books, with more (and about half the contents of his backpack, by observation) strewn all over the floor.

“You spread out again.”

“I told him not to.” Stan said calmly from his bed, where only a small pile of work accompanied him. “I’ve been trapped in here for awhile because there was a hazard on the floor.”

“I’m trying to get this fucking project done, Stan-”

“Eddie, hey, it’s okay.” Ben laughed lightly, clapping a hand on the smaller man’s shoulder. “You’re stressed, we get it. But maybe leave a walkway, okay?”

Eddie sighed weakly. “Okay…”

“What’s up?” Stan asked, setting his book aside, pen inside to mark the page.

“Just came to ask you guys about something. How was your day?”

“Just fine. Actually had a reasonable shift, so that was nice.”

“And you, Eddie?” Ben said, sitting in their office chair.

“Terrible.” Eddie flopped back onto his bed. “I worked opening today, so I was there hella fuckin early, and then the rush started right when I had to leave, so my manager kept me an extra half-hour! So I was late to class, and Tyler went home with the car so Stan couldn’t come get me. I have like, four dollars in my bank account so I couldn’t get an uber, so… I took the bus to school.” He shuddered.

“You took the bus?” Ben and Stan asked in unison, each shocked.

“Yeah. It was disgusting. I had to sit through all of Trig just… imagining what the fuck I’d contracted. I took like four showers when I got home.”

“He did.” Stan said when Ben shot him a look. “I thought somebody puked on him or something.

“I never wanna go outside again.” Eddie said dramatically, hands over his face.

“Not even if it would mean having Bev over for Friendsgiving?” Ben prodded.

Eddie sat up, sizing him up with a glare. “What’re you planning, Hanscom?”

Ben held his hands up in defense. “Hey, this scheme wasn’t my idea. But I did invite her.”

“And?” Stan asked.

“She says she’ll come.”

“There’s a but.” Stan confirmed.

“There’s always a but.” Eddie sighed, resting his chin in his hand.

“But- she wants us to go to the Omega Nu party this weekend with her in exchange.”

“No fucking way.” Eddie threw his hands up.

“I’m down.” Stan shrugged. “I hear they throw a good bash.”

“They do, I went to one with Mike last year. It was great.” Ben turned to Eddie. “All you have to do is show up Eddie. It’s right down the street, you can walk back home after like, five minutes.”

“I don’t even wanna go in the first place! Those guys just throw dumb shitty ragers, I don’t want to actually get thrown up on.”

“Eddie, please, she said she’d come to dinner.”

“I’m not being pimped for a date!”

“Quit being such a buzzkill Kaspbrak, oblige the poor man. Love hath made him a fool.” Stan snickered, smirking at Ben’s look of distaste.

“I hate parties Ben, you know this.” Eddie tried.

“Just show up with me. Then you can turn around and go right back home.”

Eddie crossed his arms.

“I’ll pay you.”

“In what? And don’t say arcade tokens, I’m not twelve.”

“Firstly fuck you, you’re lucky I can get free tokens to give out. Second, I was thinking actual adult money.”

“You can pay me in pizza.” Stan cut in with a shrug.

“Shut up Uris, you already agreed.”

“I still want pizza.”

“Okay, fine, I’ll pay you in one half of Stan’s damn pizza and fifty Real Adult Human American dollars.” Ben said with resignation.

“I want fifty individual one dollar bills, because what I’m most angry about is the inconvenience, pineapple on my half, and if, IF, all my projects are done, you have a deal.”

“You are NOT putting pineapple on my pizza, Kaspbrak-”

“PINEAPPLE OR NO DEAL.”

Ben looked between the two boys. “Fine. You have a deal. Shake on it.”

“Pineapple, Ben, really?” Stan whined.

“I need him to come!”

“You’re a monster. Sacrificing your morals, nay, my morals, for a lady.” Stan shook his head as Ben and Eddie shook hands.

“Pineapple on pizza is not a moral offense.”

“To some it is.” Stan mumbled.

“This is my revenge.” Eddie grumbled. “Now leave me alone, I have to finish my shit.”

“I’ll go get the damn pizza, then we can eat and I’ll help you guys.” Ben stood, filled with excitement about the weekend ahead.

“Thanks, Haystack.” Stan said, turning back to his work.

“Yeah, thanks.” Eddie said quietly, already lost back in the storm of his trigonometry project. Ben left the room, closing the door behind him gently and smiling to himself. This was gonna be a great weekend.

______________________________________________________________

authors notes: welcome to the party you guys!!! we’re very excited to get this fic to y’all <3 if you ever have any questions, shoot us an ask! if you want on the tagslist, please let us know! we’d love it if you could reblog our account/story to spread the word!! we hope you enjoy what’s in store ❤

tagslist: @ayyyymichele @megelizabethvh @flickerflies @beepbeep-losers @tapetayloe @gazeboseddie @finnwollfhards @turtleneckrichie

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swanxlake · 5 years ago

Note

kinda nosey anon here 😆 but it seems your really annoyed by having so many blogs to keep aesthetic, so why not just queue a bunch of things from each blog and move them to your main? also be honest, would you unfollow someone if they "broke" aesthetic? like a pale blog suddenly reblogging more color gifs? asking for a friend 👀😘

Sadly, this is my main. 😅

I guess the reasons why I haven't just made 1 catch-all blog is because:

1. I'd either have to make a completely new main, or I'd have to start reblogging colorful/dark aes/etc posts to this one

2. If I did the former, I'd ofc wanna reblog stuff from the 8 blogs I currently have now (the 7 other blogs are sides off this one, so it's not like I'm not struggling w more than 1 main) to it, but that'd be like.. 6k posts or something. Which I obviously just can't do, thus I'd sadly lose a lot of quality content that I've shared over 2 yrs.

3. If I did the latter, I'd have to completely change this blog & I'm happy w the way it looks & ik people would unfollow—not that I really care about collecting followers now like I did when I first created this blog.

Idk, I guess I kinda regret doing this to myself, but at the same time I think I just overthink it & stress myself out for no reason over them (honestly I just really envy others that have nice blogs, but don't stick to 1 aes; they just reblog whatever they want & still have followers. Wish I'd just been like them from the get-go).

And I'm not even like "Oh No ThEy'Re AlL uGlY & I hAtE tHeM"!! They're all set up on desktop (except one, bc I'm trying to even find posts for it & figure out a tagging system), all set up on mobile—including having good tagging systems—& I'm following plenty of blogs to have quality content that I can reblog for each.

I think at this point I have my blogs established, though. I have 7 I regularly post to & like. So, I don't really see myself making another anytime soon. I just need to shut up about it & realize it's fine that I have a bunch of sideblogs—it doesn't matter & I'm not the only person who does, lol.

But yeah, I'd definitely keep following someone who started out pale, but changed their look. Honestly, when I follow people anymore I'm not picky like I once was. The criteria for me to follow at this point is nearly next to nothing lmao.

#💌 ask #anon #sorry for rambling it's what i do

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topicprinter · 6 years ago

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I saw there was a post on this recently, and after reading the comments saw there was some good advice, and some bad. In today’s world online and social media marketing are becoming not only important, but actual tools to increase revenue and profit. There’s a bunch of ways to grow an IG account, and a bunch of ways to tank one. This will be a long post, so I’ll try and break into bits. Apologies for mobileSorry guys, I know I'm super late on this, I've just been really busy the past couple months. Here you go, and please don't hesitate to reach out for specific help or advice. Also I'm sure I missed some points, so feel free to add your experience. Just be very careful about using suggestions. Saw some advice in the comments on my last post that was good, and some that was bad. Do your research, and be careful. Have at itUNDERSTANDING THE AUDIENCEIt really doesn't matter all that much what you're using your IG account for, whether it's to sell a product, to increase brand awareness, to create connections, or just to generate hype, if you don't understand your audience. Know the consumers you're trying to target and what kind of things they like and follow. Do your research, google searches, ask random people on the street, ask friends and family what they think and how would they feel. As with all things marketing, the most important step is to put yourself into their shoes and think strategically the best way to engage with themTHE IMPORTANT THING IS TO COME AT IT WITH A STRATEGY. Each post is an opportunity to gain followers. Your waves of followers will come from quality posts, so make sure you attack each post with a strategy and a hungry mentality. If you're on this sub, y'all are fucking sharks. Be a shark.THE ALGORITHMIn all honesty, we don’t really know what the algorithm is, but understanding how it works is far more important. Basically, like Facebook, Instagram has a formula that ranks its content (posts) in the feed and in the explore page (more on the explore page later). It has variables such as time of post, total likes and comments, hashtags, location, details on the account that posted, and even includes software to recognize what is in each post, and boost or demote it that way. Therefore, if you tend to only like pictures that have luxury cars in them, IG will boost those pictures in your feed. If you only pics of food or dogs, IG will boost pics of food or dogs in your feed and explore page. Each account has a slightly different algorithm in this regard.This is why it’s important first of all to understand your target audience, and get in their shoes, not yours. So if your product is a technology that primarily benefits middle aged woman, but you only post pictures of the technology, you won’t do as well as if you posted pictures that were applicable and likeable by middle aged woman. Like and comments are your direct assessment of your post. If your audience like it, they’ll engage with you. If not, they won’t.Also the algorithm changes every few months, so what worked last year or even last quarter, probably won't work the exact same way now.POST FREQUENCYSome of the comments on the previous post touched on this, but gave some poor advice. Do NOT listen to anyone who tells you you have to post as frequently as you can or post twice a day no exceptions. This is shit advice. Anyone who makes a sweeping rule is clearly not a real entrepreneur, or at least not a very good one. Theres more than way to skin a cat.In general, posting twice a day is a safe option. Once a day, isn't bad either, 3x a day can work. I've had success with even posting 3x a week. I would say somewhere between 3-20x a week. But make sure you aren't oversaturating your feed. You can easily bother your followers by making too many low quality posts. Quality over quantity every time. I know this probably sounds vague, but the important thing to remember is each account is different and unique. Please feel free to ask questions specific to you in the comments and I bet as a community we can really give some good advice.TIME OF POSTPretty simple here. 12-9pm EST tends to be best. 12, 3, and 9 specifically. This is when most people tend to be on IG. Sorry if you're international, but I would suggest a quick google search looking for best times to post on IG. Generally speaking, Sunday tends to be the least engaging day of the week, but I've still found plenty of success these days.CONTENTQuality content is so important to have. There are three types of posts you can make on Instagram. Just a regular picture, a video, or a gallery post, meaning multiple selections where the user has to swipe in order to see the full post. Generally speaking, videos that are 10-30 second long will perform best, but this is absolutely not a rule of thumb. All posts that have a clear resolution, aren't cropped weird, and are professional are capable of performing well. People are forgoing their websites to only use an Instagram page for their business. Therefore, you have to use professional and quality content on your page. I've only had one post that was blurry that performed well, and it was in the middle of a good week (all other posts were getting thousands, and some tens of thousands of likes and engagements). IG boosts accounts that show consistent positive results.I know that it can be hard to find quality content to post, so if you have questions in this regard specific to your account or business, let me know in the comments.Otherwise, there are a couple apps that let you pull down other profile's posts off the app. I like Grab the best, but it is a bit clunky to use. Buffer lets you do reposts, but I've had a lot of bad experience with Buffer, but one of my mentors has really loved it, so you can try it out and decide for yourself.Always tag people in your posts as well. Instagram lets you tag up to 20 accounts in one post, and you can now tag in videos too! this is awesome. So find influencers in your niche and tag them. Find big accounts related to your niche, and tag them. Find pages your audience follows, and tag them.We also need to discuss the concept of a powerlike. A powerlike is when someone with a big following likes your picture and engages with you. Your post is then much more likely to be displayed in their followers feeds and explore pages. Certain accounts likes have more value than others, so use this to your advantage.EXPLORE PAGEYour ultimate goal through organic growth is to consistently get on the explore page and get promoted this way. The explore page is the page you access through the little magnifying glass at the bottom of the mobile app, or the compass when using desktop (don't use desktop, IG's desktop sucks). It shows suggestions to you based on your previous likes and comments and who you follow. This is a great way to utilize OUTSIDE ENGAGEMENT, which I'll get to later.HASHTAGSProbably the best improvement you can make on your content is the correct use of hashtags. Each post can have up to 30, so use 30. I also suggest “hiding” them in the comments section by posting them as a comment, but there’s no evidence to support that this truly makes a difference. Use hashtags relevant to your niche. If you’re niche is in to cars, but your using hashtags like #hairstylistlove or #cutedogsoninstagram, IG will actually tank you for incorrectly “gaming” the algorithm.There’s a couple of strategies you can use. 10/10/10 is a good start. Basically, there are big hashtags (over 500,000 posts), medium hashtags (50k-500k posts), and small hashtags (under 50k). You’ll see these ranges vary depending on who you ask, but for 10/10/10, I like these ranges. 10/10/10 basically means to use 10 big hashtags, 10 small, and 10 medium sized ones to properly market your post. Pretty simple. There’s also 25/5, and all smalls. In this case I’d use 25 hashtags under 100,000 and 5 over, or all hashtags under 100,000.The important thing with hashtags is to keep experimenting and find what works. Not all posts are going to do well in a good set of hashtags, and not all good posts require a good set of hashtags to do well. Ik that sounds confusing and tricky, but if you take the time, and put effort into making quality content, Instagram will reward you. They want people to USE the app, to SPEND TIME using their product. The more you use it the more you’ll gain.Geotagging is using a hashtag specifically related to your area. So for example #beverlyhills90210 or #minneapolisweather. These can be great if you're specifically trying to grow your brand in an area.Tagstealing is a term I use, but basically, it means going into the explore page and searching a hashtag relevant to your niche. Find a post that performs well compared to that profile's usual posts. So if someone posts a picture and it gets 500 likes when all their other posts get 50, use the hashtags that they did. They already gamed the algorithm and did the hard part for you.SHADOWBANNINGThis is a widely misunderstood concept and its important that we cover it in its own section. Shadowbanning is where Instagram bans certain hashtags from showing your posts in the explore page. usually these hashtags are porn related or can be porn related. So for example, #petite is banned and won't show results when searched. You can just Google banned hashtags checker and find free online tools that determine whether or not something is banned.Shadowbanning is NOT however, Instagram demoting your posts for whatever reason. it is strictly related to hashtagsCAPTIONSCaptions are the voice of your posts. It gives you an opportunity to share your opinion, connect with your audience, drive engagement, or really determine the direction of your post. I almost always recommend having a call to action ("let me know what you think in the comments below") to help drive engagement on your posts. Encourage people to want to interact with you, but don't be desperate. That shit turns people off. Some people have long winded, winding stories as captions, while others have maybe a sentence at most. It really depends on you and who you are. Be genuine and real with your audience, and they'll respond to that. Never try to do something just for the likes, always attack IG with the mindset of being yourself and putting your best content and effort into the page.You can use hashtags here, or you can post them in the comments section. I like utilizing the comments method because it "tricks" the algorithm by showing your post as having an extra comment right away.LOCATIONThis is a tricky one but can greatly be used to your benefit. This mainly affects the explore page. Basically, you want to use a location that garners a lot of activity, and more importantly, people on their phones. Stadiums, famous malls, public monuments, or popular Instagram spots are good locations to use. I’ve had mixed results when using restaurants. If you’re trying to grow in a specific city this is wonderful. But make sure you get a little more specific, if you’re just going to do a certain city. Use a neighborhood instead, i.e. Brooklyn not New York, Beverly Hill not Los Angeles.OTHER TOOLS BESIDES POSTSThis is going to be things like Stories, Live, IGTV. Instagram wants you to use the app, so that they can make more money off of ads. Therefore, they're going to boost you for using the other aspects of the app. Post stories once a day or 5x a week, as a general rule of thumb. An easy strategy with stories is to just do reposts on similar accounts and encourage them to engage with you. Minimal effort for decent reward. also turning the camera around and showing you, talking into the camera, showing your workspace, or you in the field is great as well. More effort, but also probably more reward. Live feed maybe once or twice a week, or more, if you have the content/activity. Things like talks, lectures, videos, lessons etc. Sometimes you can do giveaways exclusive for your live viewers. This encourages viewers to come back consistently and engage in your live stream. IGTV is the newest tool here, but I've best seen it used and used it in the form of interviews, similar to a podcast, or in lectures or announcements. Amanda Bucci has a really great use of stories, live, and IGTV, so check her out for inspiration. These are now so much more important for gaining followers. Make sure you're using hashtags and tagging people in your stories etc as well.OUTSIDE ENGAGEMENTThis is where you'll really separate your account and make huge strides in growth. I grew an account from 3k followers to 10k in 3 months throug this. You should be spending 30 mins to an hour a day, going out and liking and commenting on other people's posts, to help drive engagement to your page. If you haven't noticed by now, the key word in IG is engagement, and you have to give if you wanna get. You can open a post in the explore page, like it, leave a comment that opens/starts a conversation, and move on in literally less than 10 seconds. Great, swipe right, and do it again. and again. and again and again and again for 10 minutes before and 10 minutes after each post. I've seen this strategy work, but also doing this multiple times throughout the day. Experiment and find what works for you. Each account is different and unique. Each method is going to be different and unique. More than one way to skin a cat.Also make sure that youre replying to all your comments on your posts. This will not only increase loyalty and motivation among your followers, but also trick the algorithm. if you get three comments on a post, and reply to all of them, you now have 6 instead of 3. Always be engaging and active with your followers, and try to reach out to other accounts in your niche and bring them in.I saw a question about bots and stuff, there are plenty of bots on instagram. If they leave a comment, then leave a generous reply, and ignore, unless they respond and seem to be more than just automated. Bots are another follow, but having a group of loyal active followers will grow your account much faster than a bunch of bots who don't engage.DONTsDon't buy followers. Most of them tend to be bots, or the wrong type of followers, and won't engage with you at all. Instagram tries to ban these accounts, which could negatively affect yours. Organic growth is infinitely more valuable than buying followers.Don't forget about it or give up. Stay consistent. IG rewards consistency. If you keep at it, you'll eventually break through. Ik trust me, it is very tough and difficult, but can be very rewarding as well.Don't post just to post. Make sure each post has care and effort. Think of it like a new baby each time. You are shaping and raising your baby to give it the best possible opportunity to succeed. If you have a kid just to have a kid and don't put care into, it's going to turn out like shit. Be diligentDOSConsider paying to boost your posts. Get a couple of posts to perform really well, and consider spending 10 or 15 bucks on each post. This can easily bring you a thousand or more followers, depending on your account and history.Do consider reaching out to influencers, asking for help, or a shoutout. This is a livelihood for a lot of people, and they will want to gain off your following as well. Most of the time, it's win win.Engage engage engage. If you come away with one thing from this, it's that engagement is key in Instagram, and you need to find ways to drive engagement on your page. Experiment, try new things, have multiple accounts and cross promote.That sums up the generals guys, but I know that I missed plenty. Please please don't hesitate to bring up any issue or question you have, through either comments or PM. Im super busy right now, but will try to get to all of them. I've worked with single person accounts in past and helped people grow over 100k followers. Currently, I'm working as CMO at a startup, and have experience in all things marketing and sales. I'm looking to get into coaching/consulting, and would love to use you as a guinea pig.Take care, and best wishes

#/r/entrepreneur #reddit

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