#invisible anon quote

[pluralquotebook]

Host, watching Cohost play Pressure: *Mr Krabs voice* money money money

Co-host, a crab: I'm experiencing a micro-aggression /j

-invisible anon

.

[teaboot]

Let me tell you how all "discourse" works when you run a big blog

See an innocuous post

Lease a comment you believe to be equally inoffensive

Receive 5 anonymous tips that the OP hates you

Find the least-offensive one, edit out the user's name, and make a post saying that you have received this message and it's okay

Receive 10 anonymous tips that the OP saw this and is receiving a massive influx of anon hate because your followers figured out who they were and leapt to your defense.

Make a public post reminding your followers to please not harass people

Receive 20 anonymous tips that OP is posting thinly-veiled vagueposts about you and how awful you are

Check if this is true

OP's blog is invisible because they blocked you

Shrug and go about your business

Sporadically receive incredibly graphic anonymous threats over the next three months from people defending OP against your horrific abuse, who you suspect have no relation to OP whatsoever

Scroll past 5-6 posts accusing you of eating puppies

Scroll past 2-3 posts describing you as a Death Note-level criminal mastermind skillfully manipulating the public into thinking you're a victim when obviously you've planned this all out from day 1 as part of your plot to destabilize a small foreign government and eat all their puppies

Scroll past 1-2 posts about how someone who has no sources once heard someone say that actually they think they heard you say that you want to skin puppies alive to sew fur coats for dictators

Never actually speak to OP, never see whatever it was they may have supposedly said, never hear of them again

4 months pass as the incident is forgotten

Return to step 1

BONUS ROUNDS:

Someone calls back to a previous incident in which the only details they can recall are accusations thrown one way or another by a third party, quoted as fact: IE, "Yeah remember when they ate all those puppies?"

Someone calls you a pedophile, like that's just a silly little word we can just throw around at each other with no consequences and not a real life crime of the worst kind

Death threat

Rape threat

"You did nothing wrong, OP is just a [horrific line of slurs]"

YOUR REWARD:

Valuable life experience

[enjoythesilentworld]

💜💜

X Me    (“Simon, my back really hurts after rowing practice. You think you can give me a massage?”)

hello anon <3 so, at this point we've learned that i'm incapable of drabbles. i hope this little 1.5k ficlet lives up to your expectations with that beautiful quote you've provided xx

also, i wondered how i was going to do this prompt without making it very horny. and, well, it's definitely horny, but also has some fluff sprinkled in! (very fade-to-black M-rating)

A not-so-short, but straight to the finally-falling-into-each-other, friends to lovers AU.

~

“Simon, my back really hurts after rowing practice. You think you can give me a massage?”

Simon lifted his gaze from where he’d been hunched over his laptop and found Wille standing in the entryway to their apartment. He was slightly sweaty and frowning, uncomfortably rolling his shoulders, but Simon could see the slight smirk hidden in his features, the challenge.

Things had begun to shift between them lately. Simon first met Wille in the freshman dorms on the first day he’d arrived at university. Nearly four years later, after many late night study sessions and trips to coffee shops and video game competitions, they were best friends and still lived together. The thing that had shifted was the fact that, since one month ago, both of them were finally single at the same time.

Either one or both of them had been in some kind of relationship for the past few years, and about a week after Wille ended his last fling, things began to change. He and Wille had always been more touchy than a typical friendship, but it was never weird for them. There was a certain blurry, invisible line they never crossed, but Simon never saw it as anything other than platonic. That was, until they were both single and suddenly the way Wille brushed past him in the kitchen with a hand to the small of Simon’s back or the way Simon sometimes curled up into Wille’s side on the couch had a very different undertone. Then, there was the time two weeks ago when they’d both gotten a little drunk at a party and danced together, a little too close to be casual. Or that other time one week ago when they’d gone out to dinner with friends and sat pressed up against each other in a booth and Wille put a hand on Simon’s thigh, a little too high to be friendly.

It was like they were playing a game, amping up the tension that had been building between them for— Honestly, for the last four years. If, on that first night in their shared dorm room, Wille hadn’t disappeared to go to some party with a cousin of his and hadn’t come back in the morning covered in hickies, things probably would’ve started between them much earlier.

Simon already felt like he was going to burst at the seams, and so it was really very cruel of Wille to return from rowing practice looking like that, asking Simon to do that, and doing a real terrible job of hiding the fact that he knew exactly what he was doing.

“What?” Simon asked, feigning cluelessness.

Wille took a few steps forward and dropped his bag on the floor. With a dry mouth, Simon watched him interlace his fingers behind his back, the damp, almost see-through material of his T-shirt stretching as he did.

“I think I might’ve pulled something,” Wille said, voice strained as he lifted his clasped hands, traps and upper biceps flexing with the movement. He pouted at Simon. “Please?”

Simon swallowed and kept his eyes locked on Wille’s, even as the man reached down and picked up the hem of his shirt, using it to wipe his sweaty brow. In his peripheral, Simon could still see the revealed expanse of skin.

He managed to keep his tone relatively casual, eyes flitting back down to his laptop, as he said, “Yeah, sure. But only if you take a shower first. I can smell you from here.”

“You’re the best,” Wille grinned and saluted Simon before heading to the bathroom.

The moment he heard the shower turn on, Simon stopped pretending to click away on his laptop and dropped his head into his hands, exhaling a long, suffering sigh.

It would be fine. Simon would pull himself together and give his roommate, who he was maybe-not-just-friends with, a massage and it would all be fine. He would not lose this game they’d started.

Because he needed to do something with his hands, and because he’d abandoned all hope of focusing on his essay any longer, Simon went to the kitchen and quickly made a smoothie for Wille. He knew that, after a rough practice, Wille was always too tired to make real food and would just end up having chips, which was not a very good post-workout meal.

The shower shut off just as Simon was cleaning out the blender. He whirled around when he heard the bathroom door swing open.

“Where do you want me?” Wille asked from the doorway, still damp, hair dripping, and nothing but a towel around his waist. His smirk softened to an adoring smile when he saw Simon approaching him, holding out the smoothie. “Oh— You made that for me?”  

“Yes. You need real nutrients, Wille. That’s probably why you hurt yourself.”

Wille snorted and took the smoothie, giving Simon a quick peck on the cheek. His smell, fresh and soapy but still so Wille, overwhelmed Simon’s senses.

“God,” Wille moaned, licking his lips. “This is delicious. Maybe I should start neglecting my health more often. I swear your smoothies are better than mine.”

He would not lose this game.

Simon rolled his eyes and knocked his shoulder into Wille’s as he brushed past. It left a damp mark on his shirt.

“Come on. It’ll be easiest if you lie down,” Simon said, letting himself into Wille’s room. “Do you have—”

“I’ve got this?”

Wille had followed after him and was holding out a half-empty bottle of massage oil.

“Right. Perfect,” Simon murmured, taking the bottle from him.

Wille took another big sip of his smoothie, then deposited the cup on the nightstand and lay down across the bed. His feet dangled off the edge. He sighed happily and shifted a bit, back muscles flexing, and half buried his face in the pillows.

Tentatively, Simon knelt on the edge of the bed. “Where?”

“Between my shoulder blades,” Wille said, voice muffled. Simon’s eyes tracked the bulging of his triceps, the rippling of his obliques, as he bent an arm at an awkward angle to gesture at the area.

He nodded then, realizing Wille had shut his eyes and couldn’t see him, stuttered, “O— Okay.”

With slow, careful hands, he pumped out a bit of the oil onto his hands and lathered it together between them to warm it up, then leaned forward and spread it gently across the expanse of Wille’s broad back.

He would not lose this game.

To keep his head, Simon focused on the feeling of the knots under his fingertips. There were a few along the bottom edges of his shoulder blades, and he also noticed that one side of the muscles along his spine were slightly more raised than the other. He ran a firm thumb over a spot of tightness and Wille punched out an exhalation.

Simon froze. “Did that hurt?”

“Yes,” Wille chuckled tightly. “But it’s nice.”

When Simon didn’t move, Wille added, “It’s okay, Simon. You can press harder. It feels really good. Honestly, a bit of pain makes it better.”

So he wouldn’t have to think about the double meaning of those words, about a very different context in which Wille could be saying them, Simon started again.

He would not lose this game.

He worked the heel of his hand over the tighter spots, pausing occasionally to add more oil. Starting near the base of his spine, then smoothing it up, up, up to right below his neck, then out across the top of his shoulder.

“Thank you for doing this.”

“You’re welcome.”

“I am,” Wille said softly, “really grateful for you. I’m really glad you’re in my life.”

Simon smiled down at the side of Wille’s head, the way his face smushed into the pillows, the way his eyebrows drew together and he bit his lip as Simon worked over a particularly tight spot.

Voice tight, he mumbled, “I just love you, Simon.”

“I love you, Wille.” His hands slipped slightly, and he felt his cheeks flame with the words. It felt different than all the other times they’d said it. To hide how much his heart had soared at the exchange, he sassed, “Except you owe me after this,” then dug his thumb deep into a knot.

“Whatever you—fuck.” Wille’s fond words broke off into a heated moan and he arched slightly into Simon’s touch. “Fuck that feels so good, Simon.”

The tender moment was definitely lost, and the sounds shot straight to Simon’s groin. His resolve was crumbling.

“There?” Simon asked quietly, rubbing his thumb over the same spot.

“Th—yes. Right there. Shit.”

Wille stopped biting his lip, stopped muffling his groans, as Simon worked over the taut muscles. Right where Wille had indicated, then slowly moving down his back, over smooth, oiled, beautiful skin.

His fingers hesitated at the edge of the bath towel that still covered Wille’s lower half.

“Simon,” Wille breathed, tone almost pleading.

“Can I take this off?” he asked quietly, thumbing across the fluffy fabric.

“Please.”

Simon was plenty happy to lose this game.

[rekindlevn]

Niko anon here

I'm biting my pillow and my eyes sting IT HURTS SO MUCH (tho fair, talking on a personal level I STILL think about people that I haven't seen in so many years, life man)

“Dare not say that man forgets sooner than woman, that his love has an earlier death. I have loved none but you. ” Jane Austen, Persuasion This quote has been stuck in my head since the previous Niko ask.

Strong emotional ties do tend to leave lingering imprints on us, don’t they? Even years later.

For Niko it was the same. You were the most significant person in his young life. And he lost not only his lover but his best friend of nearly 15 years. That left a hole in his life that never quite healed.

I imagine that there were many times in the year or two after the final breakup that he picked up his phone to text or call something funny that happened or send a photo of something he found beautiful in his travel for work -- only to put it away again when he remembered that person was no longer talking to him. So many struggles in those first years that he needed to talk to his best friend, but they were gone. And many times he deeply regretted his own mistakes, but it was too late to fix them.

Even years later, you are the voice of reason in his head. The invisible presence that he talks to when things are tough. Yours are the happy memories that still give him comfort to look back on with fondness and longing. The only one that truly knew the hurting, insecure boy he was beneath the carefully crafted sparkling facade and loved him anyway.

Maybe… someday…

[jackie-shitposts]

Okay, feel free to answer this at any time, but plug in some cool blogs who post about Carmen Sandiego? Kinda feels like the fandom's just... sitting there invisibly to me.

OUGH HELL YEAH LETS GO

@tiredguyswag has a toooonnnn of Carmen content including at least 7 sideblogs for the show they are so iconic go look

@around-problems has been making some FANTASTIC Carmen fanart / memes and i adore them

@itsdappleagain has been in this fandom for YEARS and they are one of the few who matches my obsession with this show. They've made amazing fanart, memes, videos, fanfiction,,,, you name it, theyve made it in such a way that you will be left utterly shocked and your heart will be left on the floor (ESPECIALLY their recently completed Phantom of the Opera Carmen Sandiego fic. fucking fantastic) (also hi love i am once again proudly presenting you to the internet)

@riodrawsstuff has some of the most iconic and amazingly drawn Carmen fanart!!

@carmensandiego-dreams-collection is an incredibly smart and funny person- they made a 3 hour Carmen Sandiego video essay on youtube that is more than worth watching

@doomingthenarrative another longtime fan who has amazing fanfictions and fanart!! their redpapertiger stuff makes me go so feral

@wulf59-stuff OUGH THEIR ART HAS BEEN SOOOOO GOOD TO SEE!! They have an awesome Cleo is Carmen's mom content, along with carulia and i adore it SO MUCH

@captainpluto13 makes ADORABLE Carmen fanart!! their style is so fun and colorful and silly and amazing

@mmaricarmen23 makes amazing fanart and fanfics!! my particular favorite is when they draw carmen in outfits (:<

@caramel-sandiego is great, i particularly like the incorrect quotes they make for the show

@2deadkat OUGH THEIR FOX WIVES FANART MAKES ME SO INSANEEEE

I've been in this fandom so long, theres been so much amazing talent throughout it, i just know ive missed so many people. But here's a few places to start, anon!

[lover-of-mine]

I am cry-laughing because I wanted to see if your BT anon quote was sth someone Buddie came up with sarcastically and the first hit I got was a vocal invisible string theory BT account on reddit which predates s7/all of queer Buck but is also extremely transphobic against trans men (different op asking abt why there's so much shit being posted differentiating trans men from men, this account going "this reddit is about GAY men") and idk man it just feels so fitting. In the worst way possible.

@misshiss727 the spec is from Narnia, the scary lands of 911 subreddits apparently. Also, that sounds like a horrible human. This is awful.

[vulpinesaint]

idk if you remember, but you responded to my anon a few days ago and i really wanted to respond.... but my energy levels.... anyway, it was the one about potentially liking my friend romantically? and to quote some of your tags for remembering purposes:

(2) brain buzzing though trying to think of what kind of quiz i would make that would allow that kind of understanding

(3) (something about how the quiz Should not be about that topic because of drawing conclusions yourself instead of i.e. being told "you have abandonment issues")

(1) anyway. idk if you meant this original ask in an aromantic way. but i mean everything aromantically so <3

and yeah I wanted to respond because thoughts? though it's a little counterproductive to be on anon for this, I just feel like I've already seemed pathetic and parasocial enough in your notes recently

1: did I mean it in an aromantic way? maybe. I wouldn't know, frankly. same as with my sexuality, it is inseparable from my trauma, and I've stopped trying to see where it starts, and my "true nature" ends it's part of who I am, but it also makes it difficult to know if I would truly enjoy a romantic or sexual partnership without throwing myself into one - which I don't want

while I certainly don't experience attraction the same way many others do, I do enjoy the thought of a partnership that includes stereotypical romantic behavior. I like dates, though I haven't been on many, I like showing someone they hold a special place in my heart, and I enjoy having someone hold that special place, too. I think I want to marry someday, have a child if circumstances allow it, etc.

what am I not having fun with, is knowing if the person I have in mind is one that Should be that, you know? because I very much get attached to others in an unhealthy way, focusing entirely on pleasing them, and giving myself a role to play. when they go "off script" and try to get closer to me themselves, I get scared and back away. or, if things go on too long, I burn myself out and distance myself from them, ashamed of not being able to keep up the standard I set for myself.

it's a superficial performance of affection without allowing anyone into my space

and there has been times things still worked out! one friend I felt this way about (and still do sometimes, admittedly) now has a girlfriend - which of course immediately shut anything down that could have developed in the future. and it was fine! we actually talk and video chat more now, though I couldn't say if that might have happened either way with us simply knowing each other longer

2: truly, I feel like a quiz about performance in general would fit this topic. at least when it comes to my own experiences. holding a monologue on an empty stage. talking towards the audience, speaking to another character but really spreading their emotions far and wide. losing yourself in the crowd, clamoring for a single cause. dissonant duets. 3: is it too on the nose? maybe. but there is so many, very detailed, scenarios in (I was personally thinking of) stage performances and live theater. I think maybe I'm the supporting cast moving things around dressed in all black. blending into the background by my own will. meant to be invisible, putting focus on me works against the role I have put myself into. etc etc. idk

anyway emotions are hard. I don't think I'm in a position where I could hold any deeper relationship, romantic or not, to an extend I'd be happy with. I don't want to be a charity case, but there will also be no perfect time. the fact I tend to be interested in people living far away, too, is... both definitely something I need to unpack, and also simply part of me preferring English over my native language (though you've probably noticed my writing being sub-par, it's something I struggle with deeply).

I was not planning on letting go on for so long, but here I am rambling again. in the end, I won't know if a romantic relationship is what I want (with him or anyone else) unless I try it. but I am not at a point in my life where I feel comfortable experimenting with it. it will remain a mystery for the foreseeable future, and I will have to do my best to leave my performer role and allow others to get closer to me

hello yes i remember!!! i apologize in advance because this is going to be a longass answer so. sorry. read what you want <3

i am unfortunately the worst person to express thoughts about being aromantic to because my answer is always going to be that there is a way for aromanticism to win haha. that said! i am going to try and. not write paragraphs here. but this means that i am going to link to other posts to expand on my thoughts there i think. speedrun.

trauma is a completely valid reason to identify with aromanticism

(i'm not microlabel boy personally but there is a label + community of people who identify their aromanticism as specifically resulting from trauma. / could be useful for seeking out other similar thoughts + perspectives)

labels are only a means of communication and self-categorization and are not necessary unless they are wanted + do not indicate an innate or universal way of being

aspec labels and community are centered around feeling attraction in a lesser/different way than the "typical" experience. if those are useful to you, they are there for you.

a lot of aro people do not like the expectation of romance-relationship-marriage-children that's pushed by amatonormativity. this doesn't preclude aro people in general from wanting those things though! personal preferences are personal preferences. romantic relationships can be nice for people. this is why people often get into them haha

you can have all those things in a nonromantic way if you want <3 queerplatonic relationships are rlly cool and you also just. don't have to call something platonic/nonplatonic. my gf and i are planning on getting married and having kids and our relationship is not romantic to me. i am a really big fan of doing whatever the fuck you want forever <3

acting out what you think is expected of a relationship is like The aspec experience of all time to me. sometimes what being aromantic looks like is performing exactly what you think the response of romance should be. because you can see it but don't feel it.

(again. microlabel specifically about liking the idea of romance but being repulsed by it once it's reciprocated/you get too close to it)

(or being aro but just wanting a romantic relationship)

(aplatonic people bring a really interesting perspective on this kind of feeling around platonic relationships instead of romantic)

absolutely not saying that what you want isn't real. but would also like to put forward from my own experience that sometimes what i wanted from typical romance conventions was not actually what i wanted. amatonormativity is a hell of a drug and personally i had to figure out that the 'partner' i was imagining in my head was just like. someone i wanted to hang out with. that the romantic relationship i might have been imagining was really just what i thought had to happen in order to have the deep soul-rending connection that i want with people. i had to unpack a lot of those kinds of things and it might be something that applies for you too <3

as for quiz concept.... mmmmm.... that's really good actually... rotating that in my head for sure. entirely predictably i have been a theater kid my entire life and i could theater it up. wax poetic on performance. god knows as an aromantic transsexual i have my fair share of experience with performing in a multitude of aspects haha. note to self think about theaters and haunting... was reminiscing about the puck monologue i did for my theater class in senior year of high school earlier today. miss that. i wanna act again...

ur writing is literally fine 👍 minor errors are minor errors but i think you express yourself very well. anyway. i think i have gotten back to you on everything here... one thing about talking to me it is like taking a quiz. and the quiz is "are you aromantic" and the answer i give is always yes haha

[dearreader]

alright hello!

a month or so back i was sent these asks in september telling me about a series that @megthemighty did on what taylor swift albums are fullmetal alchemist characters! and the anon wanted to hear my opinions since my brand is just liking taylor swift and enjoying fullmetal alchemist a completely normal amount (you can trust me, i promise). and i thought the idea was very cool and wanted to share my thoughts on each album! so after working on this for two months (don’t ask) i finally finished the list!!

i also went off on this at times because i would either word vomit about an album/song or a character and ended up making something that’s INCREDIBLY long. so i decided it would be best to post it one at a time in a chain post style (so i don’t like overwhelm myself or others). so i’m going to slowly chain post over the ne t few days this with each album and character! so without further ado:

Taylor Swift (Bonus Track Version):

Winry Rockbell

- debut has some of taylor’s best lyrics to date and can cut glass (cold as you still gives me chills)

- the primary theme of the album is about who will i become and first loves while also having a common theme of radio and music being used to describe love. which is important to taylor’s character as she was obsessed (and still is) with country music, so her saying “his smiles like the radio” is her evoking a specific feeling of her listening to music on the radio and sharing that to the audience that when her boyfriend smiles it makes her feel like she’s listening to her favorite songs on the radio. i definitely over explained it but it’s a very sweet and beautiful line to describe how in love you are with a person and how they feel to you

- this idea, while drastically different from winrys loves and goals, radiates her character though

- both winry and taylor had big dreams ever since they were young and went out into the world to make it a reality still at a young age. for taylor, she was able to release her first album at 16 and would later win album of the year on her second album (which i don’t think people realize is FUCKING INSANE TO DO ON YOUR SOPHMORE ALBUM AND IT BEING A COUNTRY ALBUM). similarly though, winry starts working at her family’s automail shop when she’s young, already being ed’s full time mechanic at the age of 14, and later takes up an apprenticeship in rush valley and gains a loyal customer base very quickly for her time there. for a girl that young to achieve something like that is INSANE. she’s already got her dreams met at the age of 15 and it can only go up from there for her

- but tying back into the primary theme of the album being “who am i and who will i become” and how that resonates with winrys character. winry is trying to not only find herself in her youth but also how to help ed and al after their accident. her life was shaken after it and she’s doing everything she can to help them. if y’all would let me quote a song here, she’s “just a girl trying to find a place in this world”

- also songs like TDOMG, Tim McGraw, Invisible, Mary’s Song and so many others can be read as edwin coded as they’re about a young love that sticks around but not always seeing the other as a potential option until it’s to late, or maybe it isn’t. you’ll never know until you tell them

- at its core debut is just a young girl getting to follow her dreams and do what she loves while not knowing what the future will hold for her. which fits winry going to rush valley and her story arc. she doesn’t know what will come but gets to chase her dream very young and only grow from there. especially in the wake of ed and al since her world was shaken and she didn’t know what would or could happen to them or her. she doesn’t know what will come but gets to chase her dream very young and only grow from there.

[yandereunsolved]

I could see ocelot being a bit more gentle with his darling if he's to torture them, a lot more slow with it, gently prodding and poking at them with a needle, face a little too close to theirs, all while saying he loves them

after all once of his quotes is something along the lines of "interrogation is about quick, deliberate strokes of pyshocloigal warfare to get the information that's needed" and another one saying how the longer an interrogation goes on the more dangerous it is for both parties involved

You're giving me ideas... anon. It's dangerous to give me ideas.

.ᐟ

You had been trained for torture. Hell, you had been tortured—knives dug into your skin, unforgettable scars that you wish were only invisible. Never slipped a word to the enemy. And you've never wanted to, until now.

A man who trained you. A man who knows all your weaknesses. A man who until recently you thought had your best interests at heart.

Now you know the truth.

You want to beg for something, anything.

The way he is looking at you, like you're the opposition, the person he must crack. You already have. And you want out. But your pride keeps you quiet, your need to rebel and escape joining in.

.ᐟ

Prolonging it.

He's prolonging it, the bastard.

His facade has been built up meticulously. And you would have been fooled by it if it weren't for the tenderness of his actions.

He's giving you every chance to give in. Each taunt has a veil of forgiveness. Each touch is almost loving. All efforts to make you theirs.

'Come back to us.' It's what he wants. It's what they want.

Every action is commanding you to do that.

What are you but a soldier?

A cog in a machine that pushes you back in, tightening you to its parts, every time you try to wiggle out.

.ᐟ

+ bonus (lines he would say to his darling while interrogating them)

"We aren't something you can leave."

"Give us their locations, soldier. I would hate to ruin that pretty face of yours―mhm, but maybe I wouldn't."

"I can ruin a man with one bullet. But it's much more fun to do things the hard way. That's how you like it. Hard. Slow. Pain bordering on the cusp of pleasure."

"It'll never be over."

"How much can one person take? Are you as good as to handle pain from three men?"

[seas-of-silver]

"Okay, have a look around."

Thanks, anon! And because your quote didn't have any characters attached to it, I really got to play with this idea, which was a lot of fun! Thanks for sending it in! I hope you like it!

~/~

'Okay, have a look around.'

Harry opened the doors to the Great Hall for the students in front of him, and watched as their eyes widened in awe. Walls and floor of stone were hidden by green rolling hills, a small forest, waterfalls and ragged cliffs.

'Today's combined class is all about focusing on your environment,' Harry announced, leading the gaggle of stunned students into the room, the occasional student having to be herded back to the group by one of the other professors to stop them from wandering off too early. 'Us professors decided that while the classroom environment is all well and good, sometimes seeing and experiencing things in a more practical way helps us remember lessons better.'

He paused, letting the students take in everything, before regaining their attention.

'Now,' he continued, 'there will be multiple components to today's lesson, and each of your professors will explain what you all need to look out for each subject: I, of course, will discuss Defence Against the Dark Arts; Professor Granger-'

He was cut off by a sudden burst of excited giggles from the students as they looked between him and Hermione conspiratorially. The Hogwarts rumour mill was alive and well with whispers of a secret romance between him and his fellow teacher, his best friend, Hermione Jean Granger. For once, the rumours were right, but neither of them were going to confirm anything, taking amusement in the students' lack of subtlety as they tried to get them to confirm the rumours; some of them were very creative in their methods...and Hermione wasn't one to stifle creativity.

'Professor Granger,' he repeated, 'will cover Transfiguration; Professor Longbottom will talk about Herbology; and Professor Flitwick will explain Charms. And, to help us out later in the class, we have a special guest instructor.'

The children all gasped and started murmuring amongst themselves, and he let them speculate for a moment before gaining their attention once again.

'We are very lucky to have with us today... Auror Ronald Weasley,' said Harry, who fought the impulse to turn to where Ron was hiding under his invisibility charm in favour of watching the students' reaction as he revealed himself; they did not disappoint. Gasps, squeals and awe-struck exclamations filled the air, and Harry could practically feel Ron preen under the attention. Harry had never been one for the fame and the spotlight, but that didn't mean he wouldn't prevent Ron from having his moment to shine.

'Yes, it's very exciting to have Auror Weasley present,' Harry conceded with a chuckle, but we still have a class to learn from, so pay attention and grab out your notebooks.'

As the students all scrambled for their notebooks, Harry greeted Ron with a grin and stole a glance at the ring on Ron's finger. The war had a profound impact on everyone, including friend and classmate, Lavender Brown. Being on the verge of death awakened a more mature side of her, and her terrifying interaction with Fenrir Greyback drove her to go on a deep dive investigation into werewolves after her extensive recovery at St. Mungo's. Her investigation led her to requesting information from the Auror department, where she reunited with Ron. They worked together for months, and their relationship rekindled and bloomed over time, leading to their marriage last month. Harry had never seen Ron happier than he was that day.

'Starting with Defence,' Harry began, once all the students were ready, 'I want you guys to observe the terrain and think about: how it can be used to your advantage in a fight; what are the pros and cons to each environment; what creatures might inhabit these environments; what spells would work best for you in each environment; and what non-magical skills or actions could be beneficial in each environment.'

Harry waited patiently for them all to write down his instructions before he passed it over to Hermione. He couldn't help but watch how she lit up as she gave her brief to the students. Over the years he had known her, he had come to love how she would become delightfully animated when she learned something new, how she puffed up with giddy pride when she got the chance to share the knowledge she possessed to others, how her eyes would sparkle when someone asked her a tough question, and how moved she would get when a student grew under her tutelage. She had really grown into a most wonderful woman, and Harry was helpless to do anything other than admire her.

'So, when are you going to pop the question?' Ron muttered from beside him. Harry elbowed him.

'Don't let the kids hear you,' he murmured in response, keeping a keen eye out for any distracted students that may have overheard that damning comment. 'If they hear it, I'll never hear the end of it - many of them would probably volunteer to help plan it out.'

'I don't see what the issue is,' Neville teased, eyes glinting with mischief behind an innocent facade. 'I thought you wanted your proposal to Hermione to be a big flashy event.'

'Betrayal,' Harry hissed, mock glaring at his friend, causing Ron and Neville to snicker at his reaction.

'Leave Harry be,' Filius lightly admonished, before smirking. 'Oh Harry, I thought I'd let you know that Irma has granted you and Hermione access to the library after hours on Saturday, but asks you kindly keep any candles and rose petals away from the books.'

Harry grimaced at the way Ron and Neville got boisterous, cheering and slapping his back good-naturedly, but had to stifle his grin when his friends froze at the impeccable glare Hermione sent them for disrupting her, just like the old days. He could still sense her curiosity about what caused the reaction, but her curiosity would have to wait for three days more, and once she knew, he hoped she’d answer with “yes”.

~/~

Ask game: Give me the first sentence and I'll write a short piece for it!

[ingravinoveritas]

Don’t know why but anytime Anna posts on Twitter her little quotes of her and Michael I just immediately cringe. Your telling me she didn’t know from the start she’d be in Staged? Like it was a last minute impulse decision to put her in it like we didn’t know from the start that she probably weaseled her way into the show because she was in the house with Michael when he’s filming and she had forced her way in. PUH-LEASE!! Like girl if your going to be lying in your tweets at least make them believable. I don’t think anyone who saw that tweet and knows who she really is and how she acts believes for a second that she didn’t know she was on the show. Another thing too, she just has to keep mentioning that she was on the show. Like girl if she didn’t keep talking about it every second of every day we wouldn’t have noticed you honestly. That’s how invisible and plain you really are. She just blends into the background and putting her in with David and Michael in the promo pics in staged 3 was definitely a choice that wasn’t executed as good as she had hoped cause she immediately blends in with the background and all I see are the two guys and not her. Literally why she’s called APAT. She’s plain and tall those are her only discernible qualities

I read you loud and clear, Anon. It's the funniest (though not "ha ha" funny) thing, too--in my post earlier, one person mentioned how AL only posts pictures with her and Michael/none of David, and I specifically talked about her posting the same recycled pictures in her Insta posts promoting Staged...and then only a few hours later, she made this post on Insta with the same exact pictures. And sure enough, one of them was the promo picture you just mentioned:

I agree with your assessment, Anon: My focus also went to David and Michael, and AL immediately faded into the background. Part of this could be because of the forced perspective of the picture--i.e., AL looking farther away from the boys than she actually is because of how the picture was shot. But I think it's mainly due to her lack of presence--mainly in the third season of Staged overall, in which she not only had less screen time than Georgia, but less screen time than in the first two seasons of the show altogether--as well as her lack of on screen "presence" in general.

(I did have to laugh at her caption on Insta referring to her, David, and Michael as a "detective trio" in this picture--maybe a reference to Crowley/Aziraphale/Muriel?--but completely off base and rather ludicrous here. Also, interestingly enough, The Telegraph chose to use this picture of all things in their negative review of Staged 3...)

Turning to the Twitter comments you mentioned, here is the exchange that the Anon is talking about (between AL and Simon), for those who might not've seen it:

Obviously this is deeply cringey, but in the interest of accuracy, I think it's important to note that Michael/AL/David/Georgia did an interview about Staged in Radio Times in 2021, and if what was said there is true, it does appear that it actually was a last-minute decision to cast her in the show:

With that said, however, it's also possible that two things can be true: 1) That AL knew a pilot was going to be filmed and tried to passive-aggressively push her way into being in it; and 2) That she actually didn't know she was in it until the last minute.

From my perspective, it's actually worse that she was cast in it so last minute. Because either Michael didn't consult with her/confide in her about the show at all until he had to, or he resigned himself to her being in it purely out of "practicality." It makes it look as if it wasn't that Anna was the best person for the show or that Michael or anyone was excited or thrilled to be working with her--it was that she was just there. So if AL was lying, you'd think she would've come up with something that makes her and/or her and Michael's relationship look a lot better than it does.

And it does appear that AL seems to talk incessantly about Staged in an effort to emphasize/remind us that she is actually in it. I don't know if anyone remembers the TV show Married...With Children, but it reminds me a great deal of Al Bundy scoring four touchdowns in one game of (American) football and spending the next several decades talking about his "glory days" in high school. I don't think anyone is saying AL can't promote a show that she was in, but it's the very fact of needing to remind everyone by repeatedly posting the same pictures and interjecting the same types of comments on Twitter that makes it start to become obnoxious.

(Also, we've seen Simon compliment Michael/David/Georgia's acting in certain scenes, something they brought to a particular moment in the show, and yet in his response to AL he chose to compliment...the charcuterie board. Make of that what you will...)

So yes, hopefully this helps to straighten out a few things, but as I said above, I agree with pretty much everything you've written here, Anon. Thanks for writing in and sharing your thoughts! x

[pluralquotebook]

Host talking to a fictive known for decapitating himself: Let me make this clear, I do not want your severed head.

Fictive, making an innuendo: What about my unsevered head?

-invisible anon

.

[daisychainsandbowties]

I'm sorry if my question made you feel that way, it wasn't my intention.

you know i never mind talking about why i find certain character dynamics compelling or interesting!!

and much is lost in translation when the anon sunglasses emoji comes into play but um, i think my feelings this time come from just having seen a… disheartening degree of negativity around what is a brand new thing, something we don’t have all the material for yet - and in any case a pairing between two characters i have love for individually and not simply through my shipping goggles (sexy as i know i look in those).

and there’s a reason i made a separate post instead of answering an anon - because i was just made aware of a feeling i’ve had forever about sapphic ships. i tell everybody how i didn’t believe avatrice would happen until they literally kissed in front of me (and yes, that’s very beatrice of me 😂). live slug reaction was me crying for an hour and yes that’s funny and YES, it makes me sad.

because it’s still so astonishing to me, and part of queer survival has (sadly) always been a matter of separating that hope from how i engage in things like shipping.

i’m very fascinated by shipping actually from a technical perspective! (i write at doctoral level about T4T and touch a great deal on this form of queer community, knowing that it helped me to survive when i should have been squashed by the machine that seeks to kill things like me before we get to be adults)

i don’t mind talking about why a ship just works for me; not many things can make me pick up my pen (if not for avatrice i wouldn’t be sharing my writing on here at all, and indeed i would be writing a lot less if not for the wonderful people who actually read it 🥰🥰) and so i usually have things galore to say about characters and why they work for me, but i like to discuss things in what i call “good faith” and that usually means that i don’t answer things that i feel i could respond to rudely or in a way that’s hurtful.

simply put it’s not what this is to me. um, not to drag out that Malatino quote again but i’m gonna because it’s everything

(Hil Malatino. “Future Fatigue.” Transgender Studies Quarterly, pp. 656.)

so, yeah! it’s all about witnessing, being with my friends not in a manner that precludes the acknowledgment of difficulty but one that is, at least, centred around love, seeing and being seen. i know it’s hard to express tone in that grey anon box, but in a sense it’s an old hurt to me; most of my work in fandom turning into justifying the fact of “making them kiss”. having to defend it like a position in chess, over and over again.

the reason i made a separate post was just to acknowledge to myself that i felt sad about it and weighted down by a lifetime of feeling invisible, having my hopes belittled and i suppose some of that hope (certainly as a teenager) being distilled into silly fandom ships but always having to say “this is a crack ship” or “lol i know the creators either hold me in contempt or simply don’t see my existence as important… but!”

it’s not your fault, and as always with humans we sometimes just encounter people at the moment something tips them over into an emotion we don’t deserve to be met with. that’s why i would never angrily answer an anon (certainty not one that, more than anything, i was struggling to read the tone of), because the issue is much bigger than me or one instance but it just made me think and then… feel sad about larger trends and how those trends made me feel so small when i was younger. so invisible.

i don’t want anyone to feel like it’s their fault because it’s not!! it’s the line we push and push and push in queer solidarity and yeah it can seem like these things (shipping) are inherently stupid and petty and unimportant but speaking for the kids who are alive because of it i don’t think that’s true. i agree with realism, and i think when it comes to canon we sadly still need to proceed with caution. more and more it seems like you can have your show, or you can have canon sapphic ships (this term - sapphic - used as always and forever in a trans-inclusive sense).

this is as usual a lengthy way of saying that (i hope) i went out of my way not to put this on anyone. it’s just a thing that makes me sad to reflect on as the flinching of a lifetime, so afraid to hold what i love and to talk about it because that hope is seen as pointless. but what’s the star wars rogue one quote again?

rebellions are built on hope 💖💖

[mastcrmarksman]

clint, how often do you forget to put in your hearing aids

always accepting unprompted asks and anons

❝ Forget? Not as often as you'd think. ❞ Truthfully, he never forgot them. That wasn't something that really happened. He doesn't forget that he is deaf, that hearing in both ears was more gone than there. It's a part of who he was since had been a child. His hearing will never be what it was again, hearing aids were a part of his life. The world reminds him of that more than Clint has to remind himself.

❝ Have I lost certain sets of aids before? Yeah, convienently too, normally the invisible in the ear canal ones that Stark makes or the Shield issue ones because they are... ❞ He raises his hands to make air quotes which should explain all that needed to be known about how he felt. ❝ "better for missions" or some preachy crap. ❞ It felt like a load of bullshit; he liked the type that he liked and always chose those over others.

❝ Hearing aids are a choice. A part of my daily life, but an optional part. There are days the hearing world is too much, overwhelming, uncomfortable, wearing them just isn't gonna work for me. ❞ He's not gonna explain what he is forgettable about; there are a lot of things but hearing aids were not one. Nor is Clint going into detail all the whys he does or doesn't wear aids. ❝ So I don't wear them, if ya see me without'em? Don't assume I forgot. ❞ Frankly, he thinks, it was rude as hell.

[wellthatwasaletdown]

Hi this is about where Harry said about a flat tummy. It was in Heat magazine in the UK in 2011. It was a print article and not online - but I’ve linked a contemporaneous tumblr quote of it. There’s also some tumblrs reacting to the interview at that time.

He’s asked his favourite body part on a girl and he said “a flat smooth stomach is always nice”. He also mentions that most of his girl friends have been blonde, but a good brunette is always nice.

It’s so funny to read the older, non guarded, interviews. He comes across as cheesy, cringy and not a gender neutral pronoun in sight.

##########

Thanks, anon. Your link was to another blog, and I didn't want to send trolls there. I looked for another source but couldn't find one, so I'm just going to paste the transcript here. If anyone remembers this interview or has a link to it somewhere else, please provide it.

Also, massive grain of salt. It is a transcript of an interview that was supposedly done with Heat Magazine. The original blog who transcribed it deactivated in 2012:

Heat interview with Harry Styles... WEEK FIVE

Heat: What's your nickname?

Harry: Curly.

Heat: Loves?

Harry: Sleep and food. I like fine dining, like at The Ivy - the shepherd's pie there is unbelievable.

Heat: Hates?

Harry: Smoking, drugs, Niall's farting.

Heat: Favourite position?

Harry: Missionary? No, I'm joking.

Heat: Describe yourself naked in just three words...

Harry: A bit disappointing.

Heat: If you were invisible for the day what would you do?

Harry: I'd like to say something cool, but I'd probably run into a girls' changing room at least once.

Heat: Blonde, brunette or redhead?

Harry: Any, really. Most of my girlfriends have been blonde, but a good brunette is always nice.

Heat: Legs, boobs or bum?

Harry: All of them. But I'm more into legs and bums.

Heat: Skinny or curvy?

Harry: Curvy, so there's more to grab on to!

Heat: When did you have your first kiss and who was it with?

Harry: I can't actually remember... I think it was with a girl at school when I was 11.

Heat: Do you have any distinguishing marks on your body?

Harry: I've got four nipples. I think I must have been a twin, but the other one went away and left its nipples behind.

Heat: When were you last naked?

Harry: This morning after my shower, then twice afterwards. [Smiles.] I like these questions - they're a lot more daring then we're used to.

Heat: Do you prefer being single or in a relationship?

Harry: I don't know. I do quite like having a girlfriend as it's nice to have someone to spoil.

Heat: Have you ever dumped anyone by text or e-mail?

Harry: If I said "no", I feel like I would be lying. I think I've done it on the phone.

Heat: What's your favourite part of a girl's body?

Harry: Well, a flat, smooth stomach is always nice.

Heat: Where would you take heat on a date?

Harry: Wherever heat would like to go. Maybe we'd go to The Ivy as the food's nice there and it's got a good atmosphere.

Heat: And what would we have for pudding?

Harry: I don't know. Whatever "afters" she'd let me [give her]!

Heat: Rate yourself out of ten for looks, personality and sense of humour...

Harry: For looks, I'll give myself a generous seven. Personality-wise, I'll go for eight, because I'm a hoot! I have an extremely morbid tone, which is very good for being sarcastic. [Laughs.] And as far as a sense of humour goes, I'll give myself a nine.

[queerrocket]

"so manny"

Oh god okay so- (this is about my tags on a post about Danny)

I don’t know if this makes much sense, I’ve had thoughts about Danny swimming around in my periphery for a while and anon’s ask has brought forth a bunch of word vomit, so proceed at your own risk :)

So Danny’s main thing going for him (his character) is that he’s an ex-soldier and he perceives the doctor as a kind of general/leader figure (during his experience in the army as a person of colour suffering from ptsd he would have, imo, encountered a lot of shitty people that looked and occasionally acted like the doctor -not that the show even touches on this, like at all) he sees the whole -you don’t need a gun because you make other people use them for you- and, while he’s certainly right that the doctor does do this and he does it repeatedly (though mostly without meaning too, if he were able to pull his head out of his ass in those situations he’d absolutely try and stop someone he cared about from hurting themselves (Adeline Brook in Waters of Mars) or someone else (Clara going to kill Missy and 12 not letting her in Death in Heaven) except the point is that he doesn’t realise what he’s doing until it’s too late anywayss).

Danny’s misunderstanding occurs when he equates this defining characteristic of the Doctor’s with cowardice. If asked I’m sure the doctor would easily admit to being a coward (there’s a quote around this or something but I’m blanking), but he isn’t, of course he isn’t. Why? Because of what happened that one time he Stopped running away. TLDR: bye bye all of gallifrey. See also: 12s speech in the Zygon inversion (probably my all time favourite monologue that I’ve ever seen) (also also, in the 50th novelisation by Moffat, river wiped 11’s memory of how many children were on Gallifrey, this is why 11 says ‘spoilers’ when asked by 10, River saw the person that he was or would be with that information, she saw the general, the gun wielding -I’m no longer the Doctor doctor- and erased it (there’s an autonomy debate here, you could argue she saved him and the universe or whatnot but that isn’t the point of this post ffs) she’s actively working against the Doctor becoming the person Danny assumes he already is) And to give Danny some credit, there’s know way he could know these things.

Danny also sees the influence the Doctor has over Clara and fails to realise that it goes both ways. His first thought is that the Doctor is her space dad (lol what?), essentially he defaults to the Doctor being the authority in their (Clara and the doctor’s) dynamic. I think part of what Clara was trying to show him with that whole Danny invisible in the Tardis bit in The Caretaker was that the above wasn’t true. Though I mean obviously it is, to varying degrees, Clara not only isn’t the one flying the Tardis, she can’t, she’s human, he’s a time lord ect. Something that Steven Moffat touched on in one of the interviews he did as he was leaving the show that always stuck with me (and I might’ve mentioned it before) was how he’d try and balance the dynamic in the Tardis with a third party like river or Rory or Danny because otherwise the balance is wonky. So Danny isn’t wrong necessarily and you especially can’t blame him for looking at the circumstances through the lens of his experiences and wanting to protect Clara from a similar situation.

We also get that bit of tension in Death in Heaven when the Doctor wants to know cybermen shit but Danny can’t access it or whatever, I mean I’m not crazy about this moment but it works as a good set up/reminder of Danny’s opinions/perception of the Doctor for the audience so that when the Doctor does hand over the bracelet and control, it’s a good moment. I mean I like death in heaven so much, missy is perfect ofc but mainly for the Doctor and Clara’s dynamic. That’s what the audience cares about and Danny ultimately functions as a tool to play with this dynamic, his death facilitates that fantastic sequence with the volcano ect. This does not a great character make and if they were never going to do more with Danny (and they certainly could’ve, the Doctor generally aligns himself with friends who bring out the best in him, watching him with someone who actively expects the worst would definitely be interesting) I’m glad they used his death for what they did and I’m still glad he was in the show.

So yeah, uh thanks for the ask :) do I know what I’m talking about? Maybe not, you decide 😅.