#just a little opinionated venting from little ol me

[velociheroviridi]

man do I ever get tired of those comments that are like:

this person is being so energetic? They must be on cocaine

Or this person was so creative, they must've been high!

Like why do so many people think that you have to be on something just to express emotions or have interesting thoughts??

It feels like some people can't think very far outside of their own narrow perspective - which is true for a lot of contexts I suppose

[ghastlybirdie]

I've been meaning to make a post like this for a very long time and I never know how to start it out but I'm going to wing it cause I dont know my admiration for random people on Tumblr dot com could be made into a pretty essay or something so... I will yap endlessly

Writer Recommendation Series cause I can't express how much I adore my favorite writers <3

Spotlight: @glossysoap

If any of you ever want to have a good friend, a laughing buddy, a bank heist pal? Get you Glossy cause they will ABSOLUTELY be there for you.

Glossy is such a good friend to me, at this point, both on Tumblr and off, theyre such a genuinely good person and I would actually blow up the moon for this beautiful person and I adore them both as a writer and as a person. Movie nights, screaming about fictional men, playing little games, and just venting like the girlies do (gn). Glossy is just a good, genuine person. Someone like that is hard to come by. Genuinely.

I interacted with Glossy like any other; liking and reblogging mostly and silently talking to myself in tags. Then I got brave and sent anon asks, all under the 🌻 anon tag and some, and soon after (literally like 4 days later) she called for the 🌻 anon and BOOM I came into dm's. It's history from there.

Whether it's hurt/comfort (mostly hurt, girl RtC hurts me to this day lmaooo), dark themes, plus size readers, nsfw scenes, Glossy is able to write it and keep me GLUED and I mean G L U E D!!

And Glossy is so interactive! It's not hard to talk with her, even from a regular Tumblr user! You can talk to her and she's so easy to get along with, naturally funny and honest. She reblogs such good posts, even mine even though I'm a little ol' lady, and she's so ready to scream at the top of buildings about how much she adores other's writings. I can trust her and her taste. Fine cuisine, if you will!

And as with any human being, Glossy is flawed like the rest of us... And despite it all, yall best believe I'd start cheering and screaming at the top of my lungs to defend this baddie (and pretend I shake my ass or something) cause if it's fandom discourse or just shitty people being shitty people (iykyk) Glossy handles it like the ADULT she is. She can hold herself accountable and she will stand her ground, and she'll do it while serving CUUUNT (and then I shake my ass again but no really, Glossy is beautiful, her makeup skills are so sick)

SO lemme just have a list for you, cause I'm gonna go through some and leave you with homework!

Of course, please look through Glossy's masterlist! All of her works are posted there, and I can't touch on EVERYTHING that I love or else... Idk, we all might be here for a long while.

Ready to Comply - Ghoap x Winter Solider!reader I don't remember how this series came upon my eyes but it did, and at first I didn't really have an interest to read it cause I never was a Marvel/Superhero fan. But I saw it reblogged again on my feed and I thought "it must be good" and so I read a minute of the first chapter. And the next. And the next. And then I implanted myself into Glossy's life and here we are. I don't know what about the story or writing really hooked me in. Perhaps it was the pairing (I love me a good Ghoap fic okay), or maybe the creativity? Despite my lukewarm opinion of Marvel, I still enjoyed the story cause it felt seperated from the source enough that I didn't feel like I was missing much, if any, information. Most of what is written is described in a way that I could picture it all in my head comfortably. Speaking on comfort... this is certainly not a comfort fic LOL this is not a story for your grandma! Glossy's written something that made my mind picture hurt and gore and pain in a delicious way! And the more chapters you get into, the better the writing comes out! It's like Glossy is learning more and more ways to hurt me, it almost feels personal. Glossy, babes, do you enjoy giving us pain? That's okay, we like it <3 I adore the series, and every other piece of writing that Glossy provides just keep building up and up. This series holds a special place in my heart, and I love it dearly, even if it's not updated recently, I happily go back and read it when my heart needs familiarity and pain <3 Glossy writes a lot, I admire how often she does cause JesUS girl, how you write so much? I'm linking the fics I've read and remember fondly <3 And of COURSE please read more of her work. It's all so good and they really are a fantastic writer who only gets better as time goes on.

Staring - Weirdo!Ghost x Reader He's a freak, look at his weirdo (i say drooling and affectionately)... I'm also biased cause I (guess i dont remember now) helped with this one LOL

Showering with TF141 - Poly!141 x Reader Listen... I'm a simple man. I see poly and dubcon? I click. I should put this on my wall. Glossy knows what's in my brain, I guess lmaooo

Pushing Boundaries - Perv!Soap x Reader Do I need to say more? It's gospel at this point, and Glossy is giving the sermon

Teamwork - GazPrice x Reader *punching the wall* I think I'm gonna buuuust. Anyways, it's so delicious, please just UGGGGH give me

I could (and should but this post would be literally a mile long) post all of Glossy's works individually but I think, if you haven't already, should go through and read their work. It's worth it.

And it's worth every ounce and every effort and every moment to be a mutual and a friend to Glossy. She's one of a kind. As a reader, as a writer, and as a friend. And I just couldn't keep that to myself. So please PLEEEEASE read Glossy's work, and say hello, and show love. Cause Glossy deserves it.

I love you Glossy!!!! And I hope to have you as a friend for as long as the world spin... or as long as you can tolerate me LOL 💛💛💛

[carry-a-world]

this is going under a read more because I need to vent real quick and therapy is not until Friday 🫡

The Reality TM of the election being next week hit me today and let me tell you, as the sole leftist (and queer to boot) in a conservative family this time sucks big ole balls. There is not a single mfing lifeline for me. My brothers (both younger) are more centrist, depending on the issue. Both, however, are content to hang me out on the line when it comes to my parents and extended family 9 out of 10 times.

Messaged our siblings chat today and was like hello please consider not voting for Trump and rattled off a couple reasons. Only for the younger one, who I am generally closer with, to go off about not wanting to hear about politics or talk about politics because it’s all he hears about and it’s taking over his life. That’s cute, bucko, but my rights to make decisions about my own body and my right to marry whoever I want are about to be legislated the fuck away.

(Said youngest also told me not to use “queer” to refer to myself and I told him to shove it up his ass)

As the Eldest Daughter TM I have always looked after their stupid asses. Who was doing their science fair tri fold the night before it was due? Doing all the chores so we didn’t get in trouble? Listening to mental health stuff because our dad doesn’t believe in it (sure Jan your ADHD ass is fine)? Playing anchor even from a distance when our parents almost got divorced when I was in undergrad? Helping with resumes and handling professors and writing papers? Mediating when the youngest was in Germany having a depressive spiral and my parents didn’t want to let him come home? All me baby.

The middle child is a recalcitrant little shit who at least is getting his depression (funny how heritable that and the ADHD are in my family) treated. But he doesn’t tell anyone jack shit and is more likely to lash out when asked (making comments at holidays that were vaguely threatening to out me before I finally came out to my parents this summer). And it’s just…. So unfucking fair.

My thoughts and opinions on the world and politics, on my queerness especially, to which they were the only family members I could say anything about to until 3 months ago, were and still are always shut down. I got the “I don’t care who you date, you’re still my sister” in the moment that felt great but has had near zero follow up support on. Like fuck you. Fuck you so much. And yet I desperately want them to have my back because otherwise holidays and family gatherings are just me getting dogpiled, or me sitting there just listening to people that I love and care about shit on other people that I love and care about for being queer, or especially for being trans. It would be so nice to talk to someone who has my shared childhood experiences AND shares my opinions and it’s just not happening.

Anyway. For my fellow queer darlings, or even just cis het women at this point, who have family voting for someone that is going to actively take away their rights… I feel you. It fucking blows and we deserve better.

[b33-l0v3]

Dear Bee,

I can’t lie my last relationship was definitely my worst relationship by far. Not only was it physically damaging it was emotionally damaging and draining. It’s a long story so grab some snacks haha. 😅

I know I tell everyone I’m over it and I hate him and his family for everything that happened but I can’t hold hate in my heart in my opinion it feels like a weight on my chest. I am over him I would never consider being with him again for sure.

I wanted him to be my forever that’s for sure. The perfect love story about how she fell in love with her bestfriend that lived right next door to her since they were kids. Yup right next door. You would think that alone would set a boundary right? Yea …. At first.

I was young and dumb that’s what I’d blame it on of course the “ol reliable” I’m just way too quick to fall for someone that shows me a little confidence and attention…. Sad really I know.

We really started messing around after my 21st birthday. I was wrapped around his finger. Anytime and everytime no matter what if he’d call I was there. He would even joke about it saying “this d!$k has to be good af” I would only feel bliss from giving myself the thought he was only touching me…. Repeating the whole time he penetrates me that it’s ONLY ME he does this to…. Deep Down I knew he wasn’t just talking to me but I just wanted to feel love even if I had to go through the pain.

I was super codependent but now that I’m cut off from everyone I have no one to chase around and wonder about I just have me. Yea I get lonely and think about him but I think about how all my ex’s are every now and again. I’m only human and I shared a deep connection with them. I never had short relationships or situationships if you will. I would and could only see the person I was with.

Just wanted to vent a little talk to someone when I feel there’s no one. To think I had so many friends when I was younger. Guess everyone does grow up. Talk to you later bee.

Love Betina 💕

[anguigenus]

question why do you not like amity?

Really, it's not that I dislike her. She's just never caught my fancy as much as the Luz, Gus, and Willow trio.

I'd be lying if I said there wasn't a liiiitle bit of bitterness about the show focusing on her and not her AND Gus and Willow, but it's whatever. It hasn't lowered my opinion of her, just made it harder for me to get into her lol.

*shoves a big wall of text behind my back*

oh what this? haha no nothing important back there lol. just redundant stuff really, you don't need to look there hahaha just a little bit of frustration at the show

[in all honesty this just turned into a vent. above the cut is the tldr and sums up my feelings on amity.]

Well okay. My main frustration with her is just how often she takes center stage over Gus and Willow. I know Amity is the love interest, and I don't begrudge her that. But still, I feel like the show could've given Gus and Willow a bigger part.

It's late, so I'm not going to go into all that right now. Feel free to another ask if you do want the big ol' thought dump later.

in the end, it just stings that Luz is introduced as this bullied, friendless kid, right? And Willow and Gus are the very first friends she makes there. But then the show never does anything interesting with them because Luz bonds with their bully instead.

Oh, and this also ties into why I'm not as big a fan of Hunter. The story could've had Luz, Gus, Willow, and Amity involved in the storyline.

Instead? Some unnamed bodyguard dude from the finale takes over. Gus, Willow, and even Amity are all just glorified emotional support while this random guy gets the tie-in with the main villain, gets possessed, dies, is resurrected, becomes Willow's love interest and Gus' best brother (Luz was there first btw).

Like, come on. I didn't sign up for this! I signed up for Luz with her two best friends and her girlfriend, not Luz does most stuff with her girlfriend, hangs out with her "best friends" at school (offscreen), and does all the plot relevant shit with the writers' punching bag.

I don't dislike Amity! I think I would like her if I didn't resent her from taking all the character development in S1 at the cost of Luz's "best friends!"

(I do hate hunter though. Fuck that kid)

My opinion on Amity is entirely neutral. Maybe I'd be a bigger fan if Gus' second (SECOND) A-plot wasn't overshadowed by another Lumity plot. Maybe if Willow's one S1 episode wasn't about how Amity bullying her was just Amity trying to protect her, and Willow's second (SECOND) A-plot wasn't about Hunter saving her sport team.

MAYBE if the characters I thought were going to be relevant, and fell in love with, weren't THROWN AWAY, my bitterness wouldn't be blocking me from enjoying the show.

But it is what it is. The show writers want their show to be about Hunter, Luz, and Amity. Who am I to decide what their show is about?

No, I'll just find new interests. Take Gus and Willow with me, since the show doesn't seem to want to play with them.

Lurk in the fandom a bit too maybe. After all, who knows when there might be a post in the Willow tag that doesn't have to do with Huntlow! It could even happen next week!

But lemme tell you, I've long since given up hope on the characters I love mattering again. I was pessimistic after S1. The trailer gave me new hope, and then S2 would've completely killed it if not for Ttlgr. (don't get me started on Willow barely appearing, or Eclipse lake showing that the writers themselves think Willow and Gus are only good for comic relief, because HEAVEN FORBID they swing at the gentle underhand pitch of HAVING WILLOW AND GUS CARE FOR LUZ WHILE SHE'S SICK, NOOOOOOOO THEY GOOF OFF AND LISTEN TO MUSIC WHILE SHE'S HAVING A PANIC ATTACK OVER HER GIRLFRIEND GOING INTO MORTAL DANGER WITH FUCKING HUNTER TO DO PLOT RELEVANT STUFF AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARGH)

Anyways, after S2a I thought things were getting better! Gus has the setup with the Looking Glass Ruins, surely that's gonna go somewhere! And Willow........ uh...... she'll probably come back? Maybe?

But no. Matt's back in the background, suddenly Hunter is Gus' quote brother unquote or something so the fandom gets to infantilize the poor little baby twelve year old 🥺 Oh and a Willow episode! Surely this will be about her! Maybe they'll even make it a plot about her and Amity!

Nope. She's got HUNTER AS A FUCKING LOVE INTEREST NOW!!

And ALL I EVER SEE IS WILLOW AND HUNTER PARALLEL CALEB AND EVELYN THIS. GUS AND HUNTER PARALLEL PHILIP AND CALEB THAT. WITTEBANE WITTEBANE WITTEBANE I'M SO FUCKING SICK OF THE WITTEBANES I THOUGHT THIS WAS THE LUZ SHOW NOT THE FUCKING PIECE OF SHIT WITTEBANE SHOW

YEAH I'M GOING TO WATCH THE NEXT EP BUT DO I THINK IT'S GOING TO HAVE ANYTHING ABOUT GUS OR WILLOW? MAYBE ONE SCENE IF WE'RE LUCKY!! THE FINAL? GOOD FUCKING LUCK I HOPE YOU LIKE HUNTER BECAUSE IT'S PROBABLY GOING TO BE ABOUT HIM AND THE MOTHERFUCKING WITTEBANES AGAIN.

ahem.

kudos to those who like amity and hunter

I wish I could, but that chance has long passed.

my owl house phase is over and I'm just floating here while the flesh of my hyperfixation rots on the bone.

I'll probably write some more. I do genuinely love the characters.

but man, I watched that last ep and felt nothing.

I've lost hope on everything that started my brainrot for this show.

Ya know, I started watching this show for Lumity? I just got hooked on the og hexsquad afterwards. Knock knock knocking on Hooty's door was a dopamine rush when it came out.

It's just hard to love Amity when she's one of the people the writers are ignoring my faves for.

(but fuck hunter all the way)

[nightglider124]

titans fans think they own the dickkory tag but seem to forget that in no way did they invent it. Dickkory has been the ship name for decades for the two characters for the comics. It so happens that other versions of the ship (like titans) have tacked onto dickkory tag to make it easier to enjoy content. Robstar is used solely for the 03 cartoon. I don’t mean to hate, i like titans as well but it comes off as belittling other media forms to prop up others. Ie putting down the cartoon for the show even though they are completely different but still star our favourite dc characters and the reverse as well. I dont get why fans fee the need to be negative like cartoon fans hating on titans - they are completely different but they are both still valid. Just cos you don’t like one of the versions, doesn’t mean they need to be dicks about it. Sorry to vent, night but I see the bullshit on twitter and now here too. Its so stupid.

Sigh. In a way, I feel this, anon. I get what you mean with the end part of that - it is stupid. Titans, 03 show, ttg, dcau, comics… at the end of the day, i stay out of that bs drama with what is better or whatever cos that is childish af.

I very clearly have a favourite version which has always been the cartoon. Its what got me into DC and i grew up with it when fics and fanart were going strong and it was back in the early 2000’s, you know. The good ol’ days. 😂 But, despite that being my favourite, I also really enjoy Titans cos its a gritty version that is aimed at an older audience. I think that is what a lot of fans who prefer comics or the cartoon etc struggle with. I think they lean towards flat out disliking it bc it isn’t what they know and it’s different. There’s nothing wrong with not liking Titans. It isn’t everyone’s cup of tea; hell, i dropped it for s3 bc i was so uninterested in what they were doing by the end of s2. I also did not care for all the side characters taking spotlight over the main ones but I digress. But, keep it out of the fan’s faces, you know?

Its rude and really annoying when you have fans shitting on your good time. Titans has had a good time so far with dickkory and so fans are allowed to enjoy that. The fact that other dickkory fans who dont like Titans are being dicks about it is weird, in my opinion.

Same as, i think fans who try and shit on fans who love the cartoon are lame af. Like so what if its old? So what if it was aimed at younger audiences? So what if you dont like it? Point is, other people do so leave them to enjoy it. My biggest gripe with the cartoon is people saying it was childish considering it actually tackled some deeper topics, despite being a kids show.

Main point here is, people who gatekeep tags and shit are losers. Like, no one owns anything and anyone acting like that is sus, imo.

I get so sick of seeing people fight over different versions of a ship considering at the end of the day, its all the same?? Like dickkory for example. You may not like them in one format but you do in another. Personally, i am so fucking starved for dickkory content, i will take it from anything. Any version is allowed to be in the tag, old or new like jeez.

They are all valid formats if it means i get to see my two idiots in love.

A lot of people hate the DCAU but i really enjoyed those animated movies cos of, you guessed it, dickkory. They showed their relationship so nicely in that. It was wholesome as fuck but was also a little flirty so it was aimed at the adults more so. I think some people see animated stuff and immediately think its shit and childish which literally isn’t the case at all.

The comics are the og sources for these characters and I’ve seen a lot of ‘comic gatekeepers’ moan about other forms of the characters as well through the years. Now, i’ve got knowledge of the comics but im not some purist who has read every single one, more so bc fuck, I can’t keep up and comics contradict all the time cos of dumbass writers (looking at you T*m T*aylor 👀) but, i still appreciate the comics being the thing that started it all off. Without the comics, I wouldn’t have my baby Koriand’r 🥰 so anytime something remotely to do with dickkory comes out in comics, im rooting for it, purely cos i like seeing some form of life for my ship.

TTG is also valid; its silly and fun and that’s okay too. The titans are like a chiller version of the justice league and they are a team that notoriously is a bit less serious in all formats; they still have very serious storylines but they are the younger team ya know? Again, i think thats why a lot of people don’t like TTG either which is FINE but dont be going into ttg tags and mouthing off about how shit you think it is. Like its bad fandom decorum. Personally, I don’t care much for ttg; i did at first. I liked it and watched it regularly but now i just dont. But again, im not out here bitching about how it isnt the og cartoon so its crap or it isnt titans so its stupid.

I didn’t mean to rant like this but I just find it so fucking ridiculous that we’re still at this point in fandom where people can’t just let others enjoy shit. It is pathetic especially when shit like this comes from people who are literally adults like come on ffs. Get a grip.

I will continue to stay in my dickkory bubble, enjoying it in all forms which I advise fans to do lmao, it’s much less annoying and bitter when you just let yourself enjoy your ship In whatever formats there are.

Need I remind people that dickkory, despite being hella popular and loved, hasn’t had anything substantially canon in a long time so if shows like Titans are feeding fans, don’t be a dick and rain on parades. It’s not fair when people just wanna enjoy it and it just makes you an ass.

Sorry, this got hella long lmao. Also, anon, i would avoid twitter. It’s too toxic there, i have found in the past. Though Tumblr has had its moments too and by the sounds of it, people be just as bad here. 🙄

I could literally write a book on this, that’s how many thoughts I have. I’ve been around the DC fandom and dickkory tags for a long time and I can’t believe people still can’t help themselves. Just let people enjoy things all round, ugh! 🤦🏻‍♀️

[sketching-shark]

LMK fandom: Oh, what do we do about this guy who has nothing but hurt Xiaotian, tried to replace Sun Wukong and his crew, hurt Tripitaka and ordered servants to cannibalize a monkey? Oh I know! We’ll turn him into our little meow meow~ he’s so innocent and Sun Wukong is obviously the villain!

What doesn’t help is this idea is perpetuated by multiple fan fic writers and artists for some reason. Especially some aus they make that turn SWK into a bastard for the sake of the story rather than considering cultural context and thinking they should be respectful.

And almost everyone lets them get away with it just because the art or fanfic is good and they get so popular that no one can point what is actually wrong without feeling like they’re going to get attacked.

I'm starting to feel like my blog is the one anons go to specifically to vent their frustrations about the Six Eared Macaque in his lego monkey show form & the associated fandom lmao. But I guess this makes sense, as I’ve had fun quasi-dragging him before & will in fact use this anon submission as an opportunity to have my own, to put it academically, bitch fest about not just this fandom's favorite protagonist-traumatizing meow meow, but about the way villains are often treated in not just fanon, but increasingly in canon works as well. But same policy as with the last anon; I'll post my opinions below the cut, and as fandoms love to say, don’t like don't read if you don't want to see me dunking on the six eared simian & common fandom tendencies towards villains.

Oh man I would say where would you even begin with this but anon you’ve pretty much started yourself with my main gripe with a lot of ways that the Six-Eared Macaque is portrayed in fandom; there seems to be this unspoken agreement that his acts of violence towards Sun Wukong, Qi Xioatian, and Qi Xioatian’s loved ones are either to be framed as somewhat or totally justified, to be immediately forgiven/excused, or to simply & completely be ignored. Like friends maybe this is just me not seeing the proper posts but while the fandom is inundated with art and fanfics of Macaque as a generally decent individual & a true member of team good guy, I have yet to see one person address the fact that this monkey literally kidnapped & mind-controlled Xiaotian’s best friend and father figures & forced them to brutalize Xiaotian while ol’ Six Ear looked on and laughed (X_X). Like this kind of fandom villain treatment is definitely not something that’s solely at work for Monkie Kid, but it is kind of nutty how fandoms will swing between yelling that people should be allowed to like villains without even mild critique, and then will just flat-out not address the villainous behavior, and will even bend over backwards to frame even characters who committed genocide as just poor innocent widdle victims who need a hug. At its worst, I’ve even seen tons of people in a fandom get really angry at other people who don’t like a villain, and will even start accusing those people of hating real-life mentally disabled or abused individuals all because they don’t like the fandom’s favorite literal war criminal. The Monkie Kid fandom is FAR more chill & better than a lot of other fandoms I’ve come across in that regard, but that is an exceedingly low bar, & the tendency to woobify certain kinds of villains-- as with Macaque and the extreme emphasis on his bad boy/sad boy thing--is very much at work.  

 I’ve also talked before about a kind of monoculturalization of certain character interpretations and story beats in fandoms, and one of the more popular ones that seems to be applied to Macaque a lot is the “hero actually bad, villain actually good” cliche, as observable from the general fandom assumption that Mr. Six-Ears he wasn’t even slightly lying or remembering things through a rose-tinted or skewed lens when he gave his version of his and Sun Wukong’s past. Like at this point it seems the possibility that people WILL NOT even consider is that Sun Wukong never did & still doesn't care that much about the Six Eared Macaque (in JTTW they weren’t sworn brothers & in Monkie Kid the only thing the monkey king really said to Macaque before attacking him was a pretty contemptuous "Aren't you ever going to get sick of living under my shadow?," & responds to his "beloved friend" getting blown up with "You did good, bud" to Qi Xiaotian, who did the exploding), or that their original fight may in fact have mostly been instigated by Macaque. After all, to repeat what this anon summarized & what I've said before about their original JTTW context (& in an example of the things that do feel like it's often lost in translation) is that the Six Ear Macaque was a villain not just because he beat up the Tang Monk, but because he wanted to take over Sun Wukong's entire life and identity so he could have all that glory, prestige, and power for himself. To quote the macaque himself from the Anthony C. Yu translation, "I struck the T'ang monk and I took the luggage...precisely because I want to go to the West all by myself to ask Buddha for the scriptures. When I deliver them to the Land of the East, it will be my success and no one else's. Those people of the South Jambudvipa Continent will honor me then as their patriarch and my fame will last for all posterity." And in order to do this, the Six Eared Macaque had apparently made Sun Wukong's "little ones," his monkey family, his captives through either trickery or force, and gotten a number of them to take on the appearance of Tang Sanzang and the other pilgrims. It's also made clear that in very direct contrast to Sun Wukong, he doesn't care about these monkeys beyond how they might serve him. In fact, after Sha Wujing kills the monkey posing as him the Six Eared Macaque not only all but immediately replaces him with another, but also "told his little ones to have the dead monkey skinned. Then his meat was taken to be fried and served as food along with coconut and grape wines." So this monkey is not only willing to risk the lives of a lot of other monkeys for his own personal benefit, but is also a literal cannibal. And yes yes, I know a lot of people have argued that Monkie Kid shouldn't be considered a direct sequel to JTTW & that's fair enough (for example, Sun Wukong probably shouldn't be smashing anyone into a meat patty in a children's cartoon lol). And of course, it needs to be noted that there are a buttload of really out there & really cursed pieces of media based on JTTW & that were created in China. Yet the above description is the oft-ignored in the west original facet of the Six Eared Macaque's character. And it is this selfishness, entitlement, and treatment of other individuals as tools for his own self-serving ends  that is, from where I’m standing, still very much present in Monkie Kid. Like besides repeatedly going out of his way to physically and psychologically traumatize Xioatian, with the last episode Macaque seemed to be going right back to his manipulative ways. I’ve seen people frame their last conversation as Macaque softening to Xioatian a little bit, but personally that read a lot more like that common tactic among abusers where even after they’ve hurt you they’ll dangle something you want or need over your head (in Macaque’s case, the promise of desperately needed training and information about a serious looming threat), with the implication that you’ll only get it if you do what they want you to, such as, in this case, Xioatian going back to Macaque as his student even after having been so terribly hurt by this monkey, which would give Macaque power over Xiaotian and probably Sun Wukong as a result. And it is this violence and manipulation that it seems the fandom at large has tacitly decided shouldn’t even be addressed, instead leaning more towards a (and this is an exaggeration) “Six-Eared Macaque my poor meow meow Sun Wukong has always been bad & has always been wrong about literally everything” reading. 

And while it is the case that I am not Chinese and feel that as such it would be best left to someone who actually comes from that background to provide more context into how common interpretations of the Six Eared Macaque from China may clash really badly with the stuff the western fandom creates, it also must be noted that, as much as we all want to have fun in fandom & in spite of all the out-there versions of JTTW from China, we westerners should recognize that there is a very long and very ugly history of western countries stripping other cultures’ important religious and literary works for parts & mashing them into their own thing while implying or even insisting that what they present provides a true understanding of the original piece. And while I trust most individuals in regards to��Monkie Kid are able to step back and think “this is a lego cartoon and not a set guide for how I should understand JTTW” (especially given the insistence that JTTW and Monkie Kid should be considered there own separate works) there does nevertheless seem to be something of a tendency to take the conclusions people come to, for example, about Sun Wukong’s characteristic in his lego form & then assume that’s just reflective to Sun Wukong as a totality. I imagine a good portion of this is due to people not reading JTTW & especially to not having easy access to solid information or answers about JTTW’s many different facets (like geez awhile ago I was trying to get a clear answer on what is considered the most accurate translation of the names of Sun Wukong’s six sworn brothers & got like 5 different responses lmao), but that tendency to take a western fandom interpretation & run with it instead of doing any background research or questioning said interpretation is still very much at play. As such, & as made prominent in the way people have been interpreting the dynamic between Sun Wukong and the Six Eared Macaque in the lego monkey show, tbh it does seem kind of shitty for western creators & audience to sometimes go really out of their way to ignore all of this original cultural & narrative context for the sake of Angst (TM) in Macaque's favor, demonizing Sun Wukong, and shipping the monkey king with his evil twin (X_X).

And speaking of which, even beyond the potential inherent creepiness & revulsion that can be inspired by this specific ship given common interpretations of the og classic's original meaning (again, it's my understanding, given both summaries of translated Chinese academic texts I've been kindly provided with, my own reading of the Anthony C. Yu translation of JTTW, & vents from a number of Chinese people I've seen on this site, that the Six-Eared Macaque is commonly interpreted in China as having originated from Sun Wukong himself as a living embodiment of his worst traits, hence why only Buddha can tell the difference between them & why the monkey king is much more slow to violence after he kills the macaque), I'd argue that in the face of all the uwu poor widdle meow meow portrayals lego show Macaque is, especially if you include JTTW's events, still in the role of “Sun Wukong but worse” as he is very much a violent & selfish creep. Like he was basically running around in JTTW wearing a Sun Wukong fursuit, but there he had the sole reason of wanting to replace Sun Wukong wholesale so he could have all the good things in the monkey king's life without actually having to work as hard for them. But if you combine that with Macaque now claiming that he used to be best friend with Sun Wukong in his pre-journey days (something that's made funny from a JTTW context given that that status actually belongs to the Demon Bull King lol), his original violence has now blown into this centuries long and really unhealthy obsession with the monkey king. Like he's apparently gone from wanting to literally be Sun Wukong to being so obsessed with getting revenge on Sun Wukong that he's got basically nothing else going on in his life. Like he's only appeared in two episodes but...does he have any friends? Any family? A career or even a hobby that DOESN'T center the monkey king? Anything at all outside of his "get revenge on and/or kill Sun Wukong/use his successor as my personal punching bag” thing? Like dude! That is extremely creepy and extremely bad for everyone all around! As I’ve said before, this seeming refusal to see beyond the past or to do something that doesn’t involve Sun Wukong in some capacity is a trait that makes Macaque an interesting and somewhat tragic villain--he even seems to be working as Sun Wukong’s reflection in a mirror darkly, with lego show Sun Wukong pretty clearly not being able to heal from his own past which is hinted to be defined by one loss after another, and with Monkie Kid even kind of having these two characters somewhat follow their JTTW characterizations in that in the latter half of the journey Sun Wukong often gets sad & starts crying in the face of what seems insurmountable odds (& Monkie Kid Sun Wukong does seem to be hiding some serious depression behind a cheerful facade), whereas the Six-Eared Macaque retains a worse version of Sun Wukong’s pre-journey characteristic of getting pissed and lashing out if things don’t go his way--but it’s also what would make any current friendship or romantic relationship between these monkeys horrific. Although to be fair even the fandom seems to recognize this in an unconscious way, in that a lot of the art & fanfic seems to swing erratically between them kissing & screaming at each other in yet another example of bog-standard fandom adulation of romanticized toxic relationships lol.  

At the end of the day, of course, this is nothing new. You'll find versions of this dynamic across a ton of fandoms and now even canonical work. And as such, I can only look at this kind of popularized relationship dynamic with a kind of resigned weariness whenever it pops up, & my frustrated question with the popularity of this kind of pairing is the exact same one that I have for a multitude of blatantly toxic villain/hero ships, given common fandom discourse & the tendency to either ignore or justify the villain's actions & demonize the hero: if you're THAT convinced that everything is the hero's fault, if you believe THAT much that the hero is the one in the wrong for the villain's pain and their subsequent actions, then why are you so set on them not only becoming a romantic pair, but framing this get-together as a good thing? Like I know we contain multitudes but that's waaay too many contradictions for me to wrap my head around. And it definitely doesn’t help that one branch of underlying reasoning behind this kind of pairing seems to be the ever-present “you break it, you fix it” mentality, where the assumption is that if you’re in a failing, abusive, and/or generally toxic relationship (platonically or romantically), if you put in enough time and effort & attempts to compromise, you’ll be able to restore/have the relationship you dreamed of, even with someone who hurt you really badly. And this assumption isn’t limited to fandom: I’d even argue that it’s everywhere in the culture, hence why a lot of people feel like they “failed” if they have to get a divorce or make the choice to leave an unhealthy friendship. Personally, I feel like people could really benefit from more stories about how it is not only the case that the people you hurt don’t owe you their forgiveness & you can still become a better and happier person without the one you hurt in your life, & that while it can be really hard it can also be a good thing to leave a relationship, even if it’s one that once meant a lot to you. 

  But in all honestly, from my own perspective this kind of pairing is starting to read far less like enemies to lovers and far more like a horrible fantasy where you can pull whatever shit you want, even on the people you "love," & never be held accountable for your terrible behavior or even have to consider that maybe you were in the wrong. It's another facet that makes me larf every time I see people insist that fandom is an inherently "transformative" or "progressive" form of storytelling like friends you are literally just taking status quo toxic monogamy & rebranding it as somehow beneficial & romantic (X_X).

But as to anon’s last frustration, it is hard to know what is the appropriate response with this kind of thing...like for my own part I’m keeping my frustrations to my blog & now increasingly to posts that you would have to click on the “read more” button to see what I have to say, but I totally get the hesitation to give even a mild critique to big names in a fandom. Like I've now seen it happen repeatedly where someone who has a big name in a fandom will make something that's kind of shitty for one reason or another, someone will message them with some version of "hey, that's kind of shitty, you shouldn't do that," and the typical response is either to blatantly ignore the issue completely, or more popularly to make a giant crying circus that seems deliberately geared towards stoking emotions on both sides of the, for example, fiction does/doesn't affect reality issue so that something that didn't even have to be that big a deal gets blown out of all proportion, with the big name often framing what often started out as a very mild critique into a long crying jag about how the initial response to their kind of shitty thing was so mean/cruel and they're just a poor innocent & that YOU'RE the true racist/sexist/bigot etc. if you don't agree with their opinion. It must of course be noted that there have also been numerous instances of people taking it too far the other way & sending not just big names but smaller creators literal deaths threats over stuff like innocuous ships which like holy hell bells people that’s a horrible thing to do. But for the big names at least, the end result of all this fighting is usually that once the dust has settled they have more attention/fame/money/power in the fandom than before, and with anyone who might have a problem with their stuff feeling afraid to voice their opinion lest they be swarmed by that person's fans. In that way fandom does often seem to increasingly be geared towards presenting an “official” fandom perspective about various facets of a piece of media instead of allowing for a multitude of interpretations, and with criticism, no matter its shape or form or how genuinely warranted it may be, being hounded out of existence. I feel like a lot of this could be made less bad if there wasn’t this constant assumption & even drive to think that a different interpretation of or criticism of your favorite work of fiction or your fanwork isn’t a direct claim that you are a thoroughly loathsome individual (& maybe also if people cultivated an enjoyment of learning things about important works from a culture outside their own, even if what you learn clashes with your own initial understandings), but I guess we’ll see if that ever happens. 

So these are my general thinks about the Six Eared Macaque’s current fandom meow meow status & some of my bigger gripes with fandom tendencies as a whole. I stand by my idea that the most interesting & beneficial route for Macaque moving forward would be a kind of “redemption without forgiveness from the ones you hurt” arc--as I think was done pretty excellently with the character Grace in Infinity Train--and if for no other reason than gosh dern this monkey really needs to cultivate some sort of identity beyond his “Sun Wukong but worse” persona. 

[foolishquarry]

|| @eyeswiped​ cont. from here ||

 Last night’s ghosting left a little bruise.

Yea, yea, Max knew the fickle nature of online friend-making, but… After stumbling into each other through a mutual friend’s server, it’d been ages since he and Popcornkearnel first formed their steadfast gaming alliance over summer break. Months of daily banter about historical references flying over his head, creatively avoiding swears even in the heat of battle, venting about weather and parents and then school-- it didn’t seem to matter how wildly different their interests were, they’d pause their game and just ramble at each other while doing homework some nights. The friendship felt solid.

Kind of felt like flirting too, sometimes. Maybe. Maybe Kearnel just had a really charming voice.

His PC was an old hand-me-down thing, souped up to handle games but lacking a webcam. He didn’t care enough to buy one separate since his headphones had a decent mic and face streaming would just slow his frame rate, but when Kearnel finally started oh-so-casually asking about a face for her pal, that meant he had to go and hand pick something to send that didn’t look like trash or a dating profile. A grinning group photo with his teammates’ faces scribbled out seemed... safe? Kind of? Kearnel knew he did soccer. Sweaty-but-not-too-sweaty, casual, didn’t scream showing off, and a blurry enough school background that if she was secretly an ax-wielding cougar behind the screen she’d have to work for that body count.

She dipped immediately. Immediately. At seven-thirty. Barely into their usual rounds of post homework chatting, game not even started yet, and she didn’t log back in the rest of the night.

Ouch. It took til morning to do emergency patch work on the ol’ self esteem, but… at least it wasn’t Dodge-ball.

Being wordlessly rejected by an almost-maybe-interested online friend for having too many freckles or whatever? Sucked. Still better than winning a death match in gym by pelting your crush in the face. The guilty mortification of giving someone a serving of defeat and a bloody nose; someone who made the weirdest, cutest smug faces correcting teachers on the regular and was definitely allergic to losing; that one would haunt him always. The way she’d stared made his days feel numbered.

And hey, maybe Kearnel just had an awkwardly timed family emergency. For all he knew, she would be back online like nothing happened after school, wanting to know why he deleted the pic before she could see it. Better not to think on it for now.

Max was in the midst of a laborious two-thumbed text on his flip phone, brows furrowed as he discarded his own advice and dug for a second opinion from his friend Perry, when he became aware of Laura’s locker ambush. He looked up owlishly at her waving, then over his shoulder for another Max. Nada. Just Carl McDowd carrying way too many binders again and giving Max a nasty look for stopping suddenly.

“Crap.” This had to be about the essay extension he asked for in Mrs. Lamp’s. The lady was notoriously impatient and known to send her favorites on collection rounds. Max raised his hands in supplication, phone clicking shut in his palm, and approached with a sheepish smile. Trying to sidle in to use his locker without asking Laura to move outright, he unintentionally gifted her a light whiff of freshly showered boy as their shoulders brushed. “Heeey… Um. Listen. I’ll definitely have it ready after lunch. I know I’m not, like, your favorite guy, but if you pretend you didn’t see me-”

[marshmallowloves]

Zelda OC #6 - Sepria (the final one... for now)

>> (list of posts for other OCs)

It is no secret that I love BOTW. If you asked me my top 3 favorite Zelda titles, BOTW would be number 1 no matter what. The designs, the concept of the story, the wide-open world - I can't think of many things I don't like about this game! So naturally I've replayed it a dozen times, and just about lost my shit when Age of Calamity first dropped (but my later salty feelings about that game have already been explained in a post on my other blog so shhh don't worry about it kdjfg).

Of course I had my fun playing as the main protagonists in AoC, but the other characters were a pleasant surprise too - like Master Kohga! Thing is, when playing BOTW proper, I didn't think much of him. I mean, he was a fun boss, and the idea of a group of vicious thieves and assassins being led by an absolutely rotund fool was a great one. But since you only meet him once and never see him again, I ended up brushing him off pretty quickly.

But in my opinion, BOTW Master Kohga walked so that AoC Master Kohga could run. Yeah, AoC is non-canon, but the Warriors game presented an opportunity to explore more of the characters that could benefit from it, and boy howdy did they leap on that opportunity with Kohga. The interactions, deeper characterization with the cutscenes, the fact that he was now fully-voiced in said cutscenes-- oh... oh no. it's happening again.

Like with Yuga and Ghirahim before him, the denial was harsh. I was reluctant to slap him onto even the "crush" section of my faves list because I was convinced of how not my type he was. Loud, brash, dumb in all the right places, and what TV Tropes lovingly describes as an Acrofatic. Small, quiet and soft-hearted little Marshy was, quite frankly, intimidated.

So what was her solution? Create a separate character to distance herself as far from this weird attraction as possible. Hmm... sounds kind of familiar... but regardless of the similarities, it wasn't long before Sepria was brought to life.

Unlike my other OCs and self inserts so far, I barely have any art of Sepria. The place you'll see her the most in different situations is in the short fic I wrote for her and Master Kohga, which you can find here - but this came later.

I knew I wanted her to be in the Yiga Clan at some point, but wanted to differentiate her from other members. I decided to pull inspiration from the designs of both the footsoldiers and the blademasters, and then fitted her with a half-mask inspired by the headpiece from the Sheikah armor set. The idea was for her to naturally look closed-off, even without covering her face and head like the other Yiga - thus I had her hair cover one eye, and made it long enough to be wrapped across her shoulders like a scarf.

I mulled over how to incorporate a new OC into the Yiga Clan, because I couldn't fathom Master Kohga investing his precious time and bonding with just any ol' person. Around this time IRL, I was in a decent slump about my job situation, and somewhere during the thought process I decided to combine coming to terms with my attraction to Kohga and healthily venting my financial frustrations through art. So the story that I crafted, which was amusingly done before I even gave her a proper name, was as follows:

(TW for depictions of suicidal ideation - if you don't want to see that, you can skip this and start reading again at the five asterisks *****)

Sepria is a young Hylian woman who has hit rock bottom. She lost her job - her only source of income that was mediocre at best - due to circumstances outside her control, and she's spent ages searching for others. Because of the absurdly high standards set by the area she resides in when it came to working, she's constantly rejected on the thinly-veiled basis that she isn't willing to sacrifice what little health she has to spare for a paltry sum of rupees that would barely keep her fed. She can't even afford to move to a cheaper place with what money she has, and slowly she becomes convinced that she just doesn't have the ability to live as a normal person does, in terms of finances, skills, or constitution. Her best efforts are simply not good enough for anyone - not even herself.

She isn't brave enough to harm herself directly, so she intends to get herself into enough danger that someone or something does the job for her. She decides, however, that if she's going to die, she might as well give one last effort towards something that could give her even the smallest sense of accomplishment - just so she can at least say that she tried.

Having heard whispers about the Yiga Clan from her old colleagues and passersby, she scrounges up the last of her funds and puts it towards traveling all the way to Karusa Valley, where the Yiga were rumored to have made their base. When she is in fact confronted by a pair of footsoldiers near her destination, she isn't sure whether to feel surprised or relieved, but she submits entirely, telling them that she was hoping they'd catch her.

The two footsoldiers find this odd, and so they bind her and drag her to Master Kohga for his opinion. Sepria tells him that she finds the Hyrulean royal family at fault for her troubles, feeling that they only raise those born into wealth on pedestals and disregard those who struggle to even survive. She says that the reason she came here is because she didn't want to be subject to their quiet cruelty anymore. She isn't lying when she says this, but Master Kogha misinterprets this as a desire to get back at the royal family, which would mean she and the Yiga share a common enemy. So, he makes the executive decision to recruit her into their clan. Nobody expects this - especially not Sepria, who was moreso expecting to be beheaded in the middle of the road not 30 minutes earlier. She's still set on her original goal, so she intends to use the free food, housing and traveling opportunities to find a place to end it all, but doesn't breathe a word of it to anyone.

*****

This is the point where the fic I wrote begins. By the end of it, Kohga and Sepria are much closer - in this little doodle, I even thought of a point where Sepria finally fixes her self-inflicted lack of depth perception, moving her hair away from her eye to physically show that she's "opened up" to him.

(and yes, I am sort of omitting the rest of her story so that, if you're so inclined, you can read it in the fic, I know I'm shameless kjdsfhg)

I mentioned it at one point, but I think it bears repeating - the ideas in Sepria's story are heavily exaggerated. Once I was finished writing it, Master Kohga had become a solid comfort character in my faves list, and creating this story was my way of safely venting my real life frustrations. Rest assured, no matter how much my job and working sucked, I did not actually go off the deep end in real life so no need to worry about that kjdfg

Other than this, and a handful of random dialogue I have written for the two of them, I don't have much else of Sepria, and I really need to get on that! As soon as I figure out how to draw Kohga without absolutely butchering him, I'll probably put out some more art of the two of them~

Oh! One more thing. Sepria and Kohga's dynamic here is "villain who usually doesn't care about anyone but himself shows actual warmth to another person, who comes to him out of desperation from their own struggles." I wrote this story before the DLC for Age of Calamity was even announced and showed that Sooga and Kohga did the exact same thing. I just think it's funny that whoever wrote for the game had the same idea that there is some goodness in Kohga's heart, no matter how roundabout it's presented as, and I love it XD

But for now, this marks the very last Zelda OC I've made in the span of about 14 years! It's so crazy to see how far I've come in terms of art, writing and concepts for my characters, and I'm really proud of all the progress I've made! Even if it's all just silly self indulgent stuff... but honestly that's my favorite!

If you read all of the posts thus far, thank you for sticking with me and taking such an interest in my characters! It makes me happy to know that people like the things I create. Maybe it will inspire someone else to take a look at the progress of their OCs too? Who knows!

[knickynoo]

How is APK's relationship with Ellen similar to and different from Marty's relationship with Jennifer?

Hello! Sorry it's taken me so long to get to this.

Similar: Well, there's the mutual love in both of those relationships. I mean, we're able to see much more of the closeness between Alex and Ellen, obviously, but the love between Jen and Marty is clear despite how little we actually see of them together. And I'd venture to say that both relationships also have a dynamic that centers around seeing the other as an equal. With Marty and Jen, I can't imagine that there's really ever much of a power struggle, with one thinking they're "in charge" or whatever. And it may sound strange for me to apply this to Alex and Ellen, considering Alex's Alex-ness, but I really do believe that they stand on equal footing as well. They have their moments, but Alex respects Ellen and the fact that she has her own life and interests. And Ellen accepts Alex for who he is and does her best to meet him halfway.

Another similarity that stands out is that both Alex and Marty are the more insecure/anxious half of their respective relationship and seem to require a lot of support from their girlfriends. I'm sure that there are plenty of times where Marty offers encouragement or a pep-talk to Jen, but from the brief scenes of them and what we know of Marty's personality in general, it's likely that he's usually the one more in need of those comforting words. Same goes for Alex and Ellen, where it's typically Alex needing extra reassurance from her.

Differences: A primary difference that comes to mind is the fact that Marty and Jennifer appear to be pretty similar in terms of interests and personality while Alex and Ellen aren't? Obviously, I can't say that for sure, because we really have so little background on Jen (which is a shame), but I'd guess she and Marty are--for the most part--on the same wavelength for movies/music, hobbies, and general opinions on things. And Marty is very creative, and I headcanon that Jen is too (maybe in art or writing or something?). Meanwhile, Alex and Ellen are doing the whole "opposites attract" thing. They have very little in common. Ellen is passionate about the arts--dancing and painting especially--while Alex sees that kind of stuff as pointless and pretentious. Ellen's idea of a good time is a poetry reading or trip to the theater, followed by coffee with friends and Alex considers that to basically be torture. His idea of a good time is a game of chess or watching "Wall Street Week". Their political opinions are fundamentally different as well. Really what keeps them together as long as they are is simply their innate, deep love for each other because they really don't have very compatible viewpoints on like...anything lol.

Lastly, there's the very clear emotional openness between Marty and Jennifer and the big ol' emotional wall that Alex usually keeps up between himself and Ellen. Marty is very in touch with his feelings and totally cool with venting to Jen about how bummed he is over the dance, his fears of not being good enough, etc. Meanwhile, if Alex experiences even the vaguest tickle of an emotion forming in his brain, he's like, "Oh no, don't like that" and just shuts everything down. (For the most part, at least. There are times when Alex is voluntarily vulnerable with Ellen, but those moments are few and far between. Usually, Ellen needs to realize on her own that Something Is Up and then forcibly drag the emotions out of Alex)

Thanks for the ask!

[lethargicsunlight]

'Demon': Prologue ♡ BakugouXFem!Reader (Book 1)

Alright I'm doing it.

I'm doing the thing.

It literally keeps me awake at night I gotta write thisss *cough* okay

Originally I was only going to post this unto Wattpad, but getting traction on their website is a little more difficult than good ole' Tumblr, so I'll be posting it on both. Feel free to visit my Wattpad here: LINK if you want to support my writing on that end. (I would so appreciate it)

This post is going to run pretty long, as it will host both the prologue of the story and my author's notes. Just a heads up.

Summery:

A slow-burn action/romance where you begin in the bowels of a Villain base and rise up to join U.A.'s top Hero Class. This life was your choice. In the event of learning then losing the love of a friend, you make a decision that changes your reality at the core--to become an imposter among villains and bring them down from the inside out. The organization that ruined your premature perfect life was known as H.H., after their leader Head-Honcho. His crime of choice: intelligence. Training and conducting espionage agents and assassins across Japan as a means to further the dark underground network. Your training began at thirteen, after managing to impress the multi-faced villain with your stealth and your conviction. Rumors would soon spread through the dark alleys of Naruhata City of a masked assassin known as Demon, whose bare face could steal the souls of her targets. Everything appears to be going to plan; but the Hero Agencies you've been slipping information to are calling for an end to your superior sooner than you had anticipated. Your time as 'Demon' is limited. What will happen when your world comes crashing down? Where will you go, when everything you had known you helped to destroy?

AUTHOR'S NOTES

This is a slow burn fan-fic; and I am not italicizing those words without reason. This is going to be an agonizingly slow action-packed adventure-romance. This is a self-insert story, just like my three-part series 'Some Combat Training' (link) where you as the protagonist will not be described outside of being female, general physique, and a generalization of your uniform(s). Skin, hair, eyes, etc. will not be described at all--besides ambiguous adjectives. That said, I am taking liberties with physique and stature due to the nature of the story. You're abilities rely on stealth as well as close and fast combat, therefore you are described as 'small', 'lithe', 'athletic', and all of those other fancy little ninja woman words. Your personality has been shaped by the events of your life and the people within it; but if I were to describe it I would choose words like: Intelligent, determined, self-sacrificing, quiet, humble, and studious. The story will follow along with the anime for the most part starting at around the time of the USJ event, though at some point the story will branch off and become more my original concoction. (Such as, fast-forwarding the time-line to when the characters are older.) Some information about you as the protagonist will not be written here, as I plan for those to be revelations within the story. There will be angst, blood and gore, adult-humor, trauma, death, bad language and warnings will be listed with each chapter as needed. Feel free to comment on those chapters as soon as you see something that isn't mentioned that might make someone (if not yourself) feel uncomfortable. I will not be offended. This story is meant to get a little dark. Please comment if you can about your opinions! I have never posted an on-going fic before, and anything you have to say I would appreciate! <3 Now, please enjoy this short prologue~ Chapter 1 is being reviewed and edited, to be release very soon! 👹🖤⛓🔪💣 ...four...five...six.. You counted the footsteps behind your left ear, round the corner of the dim abandoned subway. You'd been stationary; still so long that your digits had all but numbed. Turn... one...two...three... The footsteps were distancing from the hall your attention had been set upon. A T-section, where the entity had gone down and away from your destination. You had to cross that 'T' to get to the junction--where you needed to leave a note completely undetected. The slightest mis-step would lead to suspicion. Suspicion would lead to investigation. Investigation lead to the five percent chance they could find that note--and no percentage was too small. It all hinged on absolute perfection. Nine...ten...eleven... This was their fifth round. A patrol. You had to make sure their movement were predictable before this would work--despite having successfully delivered the note fourty-two times and counting--you did not have the luxury of assumption. Only if their stride was even, only if you absolutely knew they were moving at a certain pattern, could you depend on the following information: It took fifteen steps before they would reach the broken light on their route. The haze of the dust and pollutants reflected in the working lights prior to that was your cover. Cross the 'T', leave the note, and cross it again. Out of sight and out of earshot, mission successful. Fourteen... f-- You turn, and it takes three steps to arrive at the drop to the tracks. You bunch and leap, and even the quietest friction of fabric from your uniform creases your brow. You land, just outside of the light's reach on the thin concrete slab beyond. Your eyes track the metals, the jutting wall tiles; that with which the barest touch could emit a sound--and you maneuver around them. Under, creeping low--and over, leaping to land on the balls of your feet and checking your balance before moving forward. Careful to not cast a shadow into the hall. Paced, so as not to move too quickly nor too slowly. Counting, because every second was controlled and calculated. You reach the juncture, and once again

edging the light you propel yourself to land back on the main thoroughfare. The next obstacle--removing the loose brick. Behind a metal bench centered between two closed-in stair cases, where the tile meets what had once been a decorative brick mosaic; eight bricks right and eighteen bricks up, was your note's destination. Just above your head, where you had to bend at an awkward angle to reach. Not practical, less detectable. You're wearing tight fabric gloves with grips on the pads, but thin enough you can feel the texture of the brick as you gently lace your fingers at each of the corners. Lifting, centering, and pulling the brick from its slot. Holding it just right, you can avoid the loud scrapes and grinds--but you have to hold it perfectly centered. Success. In goes the note. As does the brick, back into the wall. But you're only half-way done. Leap. Quiet, maneuver, avoid, measure. Silent. Leap. Hide. You're back is once again at the wall, the footsteps of the lackey you'd been avoiding closing in proximity to the Hall you'd just left. Four... five... six... Your eyes focus on the wall opposite of you as you ground yourself. The next few seconds determined a new reality. Either they followed their pattern, or they didn't. You had to be flexible. No assumptions. If they move towards the junction, you have to follow. If they move towards you, you'd calculate on your feet. Seven... eight... nine.. Turn. ...one...two...three.. You don't relax. Even after you count their steps to fifteen, even as you slip away back through the hall, even as you exit the unattended vent and breathe in fresh air--you don't relax until you're sitting on the floor in your room, calming down, your mask in your hands. After checking to make sure your door had not been opened, and no one had looked for you. No tracks in the dust. Only then do you allow yourself to ruminate on the contents of the note you had written, because you could still see every letter of it in your mind. ------ 55-1, Minami Senju 5-chome, Musutafu Target: Fukui Mitsuo Floor 8 3 AM. 7. Accompanied. Head. ------ For the briefest moment, you feel your hands shake. They always did on these nights. Realistically, you'd left no openings. Tested and re-tested every method. Calculated every movement. Left nothing to chance. But the 'what-if's' still linger, and you let them. The fear is good. It keeps you on your toes, your mind on edge, your tongue to the roof of your mouth. If he found out, you wouldn't know it until it was over. So you pretended he already did. Below you, underground in his base, plotting how to get at you when you were most vulnerable. Tear you to pieces, throw you in a pit or in a cage. No--too risky, he'd just kill you. A dead-end is better than a possibility. You'd learned that from him. You swallow, head turning so the amber morning sky is in your peripheral. All things considered, you would still unfortunately need sleep. You cherished the brief moments of sunlight and let your mind swim in the memories of your childhood spent in the daytime; before retiring to the broken and borrowed mattress. Seven days. You would check the location of your note in two. If there is another note in response, you would create a reactionary plan. The pattern continues. Until he finds out. ...Until he finds out.

[ducks-gen-swap]

Love You Out Loud

This is a special, canon noncomforming version of Louie’s Eleven in the Gen Swap. The beautiful Shelly Duckling belongs to @sophfandoms53, who I wrote this one-shor for as a belated birthday gift! Thank you for everything, Soph, I love you a lot ^-^

The fansong used in the story belongs to @ohgeeeznotagain, go support his channel!

-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*

As soon as he saw Officer Cabrera closing her notepad with a nod and walking away, Huey didn’t miss a second to approach Shelly again.

“Hey again.” Boy, he hoped his smile didn’t seem as nervous as he felt, especially when she turned to him with a simple smile.

“Hey, again,” Shelly repeated.

“Erh, so, I didn’t really thank you for saving me from Falcon back then so… Thank you.”

“You’re welcome.” She shrugged and crossed her arms over her chest, still with a smile. “Thank you for saving me from Glamour too. Now we’re even.”

Huey chuckled at that, and then they fell into silence, just staring at each other.

From all the possible events and outcomes that the responsible Duck could have imagined from his niece’s crazy scheme, meeting such a pretty woman who seemed to understand him and who had surfed through that night’s craziness like a pro was not among them. It had been so, so long since Huey wanted to ask someone out on a date (it’s been at least ten years since he could even humor the idea), but right now he wondered, if he called her, what Shelly’s answer would be.

“Caham.”

The two adults were snapped out of their trance, instantly turning their heads to face two pairs of little eyes staring up at them. The boy was in a dark-blue stripped suit, and the girl wore a light-blue set of tank top and shorts, with a matching blue scarf to follow. More prominent than anything, however, were the ducklings’ brows arched at the adults.

A memory from what Huey said when they were in the vents quickly clarified the situation to Shelly. Those should be his kids.

Huey gave a nervous laugh, not exactly sure if over Shelly meeting his duo or over the twins meeting her. Probably a mix of both.

“Shelly, these are my nephew, Donald, and my niece, Della,” he started the introductions.

That statement made Shelly blink, surprised. Huey was just those kids’ uncle and yet he had called them his with such a certainty and care…

“Kids, this is-”

“Shelly-Lynn Duckling,” Della spoke before her uncle.

“Emma Glamour’s assistant,” Donald completed.

Huey couldn’t do more than gulp, concerned about Shelly’s reaction over his kids already knowing so much about a person they had never met before, but, to his amazement and relief, the woman’s surprise didn’t last long before she chuckled.

“Looks like you kids did your homework before crashing this party. Very smart of you.”

That compliment was enough to light up Della’s face completely, her previous suspicion all gone as she declared with pride, “Thanks, it was my idea.”

“More like Uncle Louie’s,” Donald grumbled, earning a glare from his sister, but before a fight started between them and Huey had to intervein, Shelly spoke.

“And you,” she said to Donald. “Great job up there, you know how to play.” She referred to his number on stage to distract Falcon. His voice wasn’t the best out there, but he did know how to play a guitar.

It was the boy’s turn to open a giant grin, “Thanks!”

“Ah, there are you guys!” A third infant voice sounded, and Shelly saw two other duckling girls approaching. “Hi, I’m Webby!” the girl who had spoken before was now waving at her, way more friendly than the twins had been at first moment.

“Ah, Shelly, those are Webby Vanderquack and Daisy Sabrewing.”

“Hi,” Daisy waved quickly, before Huey continued.

“They’re not mine, but they also came with us tonight. Or at least Daisy did,” he glared at Webby, and Shelly could say now and then that Huey knew how to give the parent glare. “I didn’t know you would come too, Webby.”

“I have Granny’s permission, I swear!” the girl exclaimed in a pinched voice.

While Huey glared from kid to kid to check if that was true, Shelly couldn’t help but keep her eyes on him. What kind of person crashed a party with four kids under his care at night?? What kind of person looked so proud of his nephew as the boy distracted literal bandits, yet would seem so concerned about one of the kids being out without their parent’s permission??

The same kind of person, it seemed… who would defend someone he had just met against one of the richest women in the world. Who would still look at those kids with so much care, even the ones that weren’t directly his.

‘A very interesting kind of person,’ Shelly couldn’t hold a smile as she thought.

“Hey, Hubert!!” The call reverberated through the whole hall thanks to the amplifiers. All heads turned to the stage, where Huey’s friends from college were all set to start playing. Troy Owliver, the singer and his best friend, waved to him. “Come up here, let’s sing like in the good, ol’ times!”

The duck’s eyes got wide, “What?! Oh no, no way-”

“Aw come on, Uncle Huey.” Della rolled her eyes.

“YOU CAN’T MISS AN OPPORTUNITY LIKE THAT!” Donald shook his uncle by his suit’s sleeve. It was a chance to play with the best band in the world (in the boy’s opinion), how could he say no?!

“You’re going!” Della decided, trying to push her uncle to the stage.

“Okay, okay, alright!” Huey detached himself from the twins. “You win.”

His eyes found Shelly’s one last time, as if saying “I’ll be right back”, before he walked to the stage. There was a wave of applauses as Troy gave Huey a mic, and sooner than later, the band started playing.

Lonely the nights I lived on my dreams

Searching the day for someone who believed

Smiling through every broken bone and bruise

And he can sing too?! Shelly hadn’t noticed her open jaw until one of the kids in front of her spoke, waking the blonde from her trance.

“Donald, do you want to dance?” It was Daisy, stretching a hand to the mentioned boy.

Donald’s cheeks clearly grew a tone of pink, quite matching Daisy’s, to be honest, and ignoring the giggles from his sister and Webby, he took his friend’s hand. Shelly watched as the two of them walked to the middle of the room and started to dance, not holding an internalized “Aww”, before turning back to the stage. More specifically, to Huey.

I wanna run on the rooftop, I'll spell it in the sky

I won't stop til the world knows that you're mine

I don't wanna hold no secrets, only wanna hold you tight

No lies, no doubt

Girl, I wanna Love You Out Loud

“Welp, everything’s well when it ends well,” Webby said, watching the show too.

Della nodded, “Yep. In the end the band really made it on the list, Donald got to dance with Daisy, and even Uncle Huey got to have fun! I really missed him singing.”

Shelly couldn’t blame her. One time hearing that voice and she thought she wouldn’t mind listening to it all night.

No lies, no doubt

Girl, I wanna Love You Out Loud.

[dorkicon]

Not to be basic with capital b but I do be curious,, would you give us your judgment on Megatron, be it overall or from your favorite continuity/media? //Eye emoji

if youre basic for sending this, then im double basic for having so many opinions on megatron :^) gonna do g1/idw/cyberverse for funsies

send me a character and i’ll list:

•favorite thing about them

g1- i dont think this man has ever had a thought that hasnt ended with "and then ill punch optimus prime in the face" hes so dedicated to being cartoonishly evil, i have nothing but love in my heart for him.

idw-jro said "do you want sad old man megatron" and i said yes sir!!! also honestly i really like his design. the first model kit i bought was idw megatron :^)

cyberverse- look, ive been trying to come up with something that isnt just "i like him because hes gay" but, well, i like him cause hes gay. dude has the energy of a divorced dad who still has his ex on speed dial. yes i do mean optimus.

•least favorite thing about them

g1- i-uh...well...he should be nicer to starscream.

idw- i think...early idw megatron is really at odds with mtmte megs character wise. like they went all out making him an absolute bastard (spotlight megatron comes to mind) and while i respect that from a story standpoint, i really have to like ...have two different megatrons in my mind when i read idw. the megs that deserves a second chance and the one from...the rest of the continuity. comic books are just like that sometimes i think.

cyberverse- ok yeah. he needs to be nicer to starscream. i think he softened up a bit near the end of the show in general, but hes SO brutal to starscream that first time he kills him it almost feels out of place in the show 😬

•favorite line

g1- "MY EQUILIBRIUM...DESTABILIZED...HHUGHG"

or uhm literally any banter fight with optimus prime "everything i touch is food for my hunger" etc etc

idw-when he hugs terminus...AAAH

-"What's happened?"

"Nothing. Everything. I've lost my way."

cyberverse- not a quote, really, but when he has a twitch stream of starscreams funeral bsbsvs jesus christ dude

•brOTP

g1- soundwave full stop. soundy is ride or die.

idw- soundwave :^) also rodimus! and ultra mags! and maybe optimus

cyberverse- i dont think he has friends. again, maybe optimus. sometimes he vents to soundwave but soundwave is blasting my chem in his headphones or something

•OTP

g1: if youve been on my blog for more than 2 seconds u know i really like g1 megop. megatron stares in the mirror every night practicing banter for their fights. he polishes his buckethead. megatron built clones of optimus prime on several occasions, and once, he didnt even do anything evil with it. he just made starscream punch it or something. why do you have a clone of op just laying around bud? huh? ok gayboy

also megatron/soundwave is good :^) and i wrote megatron/shockwave once...

idw: i dont ship idw megop all that much but, yaknow, its goin on the list

cyberverse- go on :^) guess ;^)

megatron and op got divorced but they kept the rings.

•nOTP

megastarrrr

also, for idw specifically: megatron/rodimus :^/ i do not like it...also megatron/rung, probably others, i unno

•random headcanon

g1- lazerbeak is his favorite cassette, and he likes to spoil her with energon goodies. soundwave is afraid hes gonna make lazerbeak a little chubby birdie :^(

idw- i think he knows a lot of folk songs from his time in the mines, but he doesnt really sing anymore.

cyberverse- i think after meeting megatron x and hetting his chrome butt handed to him on a silver platter, hes kinda over leading the decepticons, honestly. he seems tired.

•unpopular opinion

g1- i love him too much probably?

idw- i dont uhh ship him with anyone?

cyberverse- theres barely a cyberverse fandom. if anything, me liking him so much is an unpopular opinion.

song i associate with them

g1: theres nothing profound here, i just wrote a megop fic titled this once

idw: yeah ok i know what i just said about not shipping idw megop all that much but you tell me this isnt their dynamic. go on. i dare you

cyberverse:

*strangling myself* shut up about megop shut up about m

•favorite picture of them

g1-

ol buckethead summed up in one image

idw- sir thats my emotional support warlord

cyberverse- BUENAS DIAS MEGATRON (WACK)

[veralovemail]

Hi! I would love myself a matchup if it's ok 👉👈

I'm female and pan, I'd prefer one of the males tho, Survivors please!

So uhhhh I differ in my personality a lot depending on the situation! I'm more of a loner around strangers IRL— shy, quiet, I don't like interacting and prefer to stay by the sidelines since being in the middle makes me uncomfy.

I try to be as polite as I can, even keeping in my opinions and pain a lot as to not Hurt anyone. I also tend to blame myself a lot for bad situations I'm a part in unless I know I absolutely didn't do anything!

Also I'm quite hot headed and have a bad temper, though I'm working on it! I have quite the problem with guilt and it comes to me fairly quickly when I do something bad.

Ah yeah I'm really forgetful and also really impatient KNRKS

Now- online!!

I'm a lot more open and chaotic. I like to tease my friends and jokingly make fun of them, etc. I try and stop when they tell me to, but I might understand it as them just joking too if they write it that way in my eyes-

I try to look on the positive side for them and their situations and am always willing to make someone happy even without words since it makes me happy too. I'd say I'm caring to a fault- I don't let loose until they finally do something healthy that they've been avoiding and I do get rather angry if I'm not taken seriously with that, causing me to maybe lash out at someone unwillingly,,- and then guilt pops in like "hi there 😍" KDHDJDJ

Anyway,

I encourage anyone to vent, though I'm not the best at giving advice. I'm more of a person who likes to listen and give support if they need it. Oh yeah- my attention span is REALLY short (as short as me good ol' 5'1 me aNENSJJSJD) so I get distracted pretty easily and procrastinate then.

As for hobbies: I love to draw! (As you might know-)Music is my life (especially Jazz) and video games are, too. Though mostly singleplayer Games since I only really like multiplayer with friends-

What else can I write..

Maybe like- I'm an ISFP-T And I think it was 5w6 that I was given by another test

I also got Philophobia, the fear of falling in love because of bad experiences but I'm tryna work on it!!

I guess I can also write about my appearance? I've got short, curly but chaotic black hair that's p much swept to the side- I'm definitely not that skinny lmao- and as I've said before, I'm 5'1! I usually wear casual clothes (hoodies, e.g!! They're so comfy...) I also got brown eyes and glasses!

I think that should be it.. ah yeah! In your introduction, you should prolly add your ID for others to add you because name search doesn't work! :0

Ok that's really it now- take your time, don't rush yourself and stay safe and hydrated!! 💕💕 Hope your blog takes off!

Sorry for my English by the way- I'm German so I might've messed up on a few things!

OH MY LORD I DID NOT KNOW THAT I HAD TO PUT IN MY ID... oml... thank u for telling me that. and don't worry about it, i can see how it'd be difficult (i actually studied german for my gcses :], it was very fun) but anyways! tysm for sending in btw!! i loved writing this, i hope u enjoy - mod vera ♡

i match you with ... naib subedar!

he kinda takes on to your quiet personality, unlike some of the other people around the manor. it's relaxing to be around somebody who doesn't talk much.

you two most likely met when robbie came over to the survivors' side of the mansion, jokingly demanding sweets... but it most likely sounded authentic. and oh god, is that an axe-

you two accidentally locked eyes but you both had a " ah shit, here we go again " face. it just kinda went from there.

at first, he's a tough nut to crack, but if you try hard enough, within a month or so you gain his trust and he .. deems you a friend?

you both kinda start falling for eachother after a period of time, but naib is great at hiding it BUT SIKE, so are you! it's like a game of who can pine for the other in the most subtle way possible.

however, if you tell him about your own troubles with falling in love, he may just open up a little too about his own troubles.

it's takes a while for you two to build a relationship, but eventually (after a lot of rescues, late night hangouts and just being near eachother) you make it!

when he learns about your more chaotic side, naib tries to keep up with you as best he can, he may just need a little tug to do so.

he loves your smile, especially the one you have when you're talking about your passions.

he also tries to help with your temper, but he's just as bad as you are.

however, he's there whenever you have a bad day - he can almost instantly tell, even if you try keep it to yourself. it could be the way you look at him, try to smile or talk, he does notice the change in your aura.

since your shorter than him, he likes holding you. it makes him feel like he's just protecting you from anything and anything, especially on one of your bad days.

he likes your optimism, looking on the good side of every situation. he once saw you trying to comfort robbie when he started crying about not finding any sweets around and you told him "look on a brightside robbie! now we know for next time to stash some away for you before we eat it all!" AND OH GOD, IS THAT AN AXE?

naib gets frequent nightmares about his time being a hired merc, so sometimes you may get woken up at 3 am because he's a bit distressed and needs a bit of comfort.

other times, he just finds holding you while you're fast asleep enough to put him back in a coma for the next 2 hours.

naib also encourages you to talk to him about stuff. whether it be what made you mad, how much of a bitch vera can be, ect. he's there for you and that man is never gonna let you carry your burdens alone.

saying that, you also have to remind him that he can't carry his own burdens sometimes and when you encourage him to talk to you about what's upsetting him, he'll most likely tell, depending on how bad it is.

he also grounds you a lot!! if you tell him about your forgetfulness, he's most likely going to try and remind you.

" hey, [ name ], you did bring [ item ] into the match, right? "

" um... "

" goddamnit [ name ], i thought i reminded you "

naib takes it upon himself to rescue you, or keep you within his general vicinity if you're in a match with him. he does know you can kite very well though! he just wants you near him for a bit of reassurance.

he can be mean sometimes, but he means it in the most endearing way possible since most of it is sarcasm.

you two kinda have " stab as a warning " vibes so nobody really opposes the two of you. even norton. not even freddy dares to oppose you because the last time he did, aesop almost had to prepare his equipment to embalm the poor fella.

when you lash out at someone, naib is there almost immediately to take you away to calm down and comfort you when your guilt kicks the door down and goes " Hey girlie! Hold still 😎 "

sometimes you have to do the same for him because you both have a tendency to lash out.. but.. never at eachother? you two kinda agree on the same things, there isn't much to exactly disagree on.

please draw him!! watch him while he's training in the garden and draw him, or just a few silly doodles of him.

he likes looking at your drawings, it kinds boosts his ego knowing that he's worthy enough to be drawn.

if he finds out that you like music, he'll tell you about nepalese music, or at least what he knew of it - if you both get engrossed in it, he may try and get you some records to play.

teach him how to dance, if you can. it'd make listening to music together way more fun.

he's very content with you!! he likes kissing you out of nowhere, too. you could just be chilling and naib would come up to you, turn you around and give you a smooch outta nowhere. but only in private.

i feel like neither of you would be big on pda, you just stick to holding hands around the manor.

if this were in a modern setting, you two could probably play a game like phasmaphobia together just for funsies.

all in all, your relationship with naib is mutually beneficial and robbie has learned to never ask for sweets again.

i hope you enjoy this <3 it's my first time writing naib too so i apologise if it's not very good </3

[queenofsquids]

I took a chance on a seller with one ancient feedback and they came through with flying colors. MDD body arrived well packed, just as described in the listing. One small stain on her right arm I might try to bleach.

I apologize I haven't had enough down time to really review the body yet. VERY brief initial reaction is that it's SUPER cute, but not fun to handle. Parts are kinda able to slip around too much. For me the softness of vinyl is not worth the crazy sheath-over-skeleton tomfoolery going on. Sculpting is adorable af and I'd kill to have hands that cute at OTOHIME size.

I need to pose her a lot more to form a more in depth opinion.

The Parabox Ai-chan head is a closer color match than I expected! Though it sat quite low on the neck at first. I put a small foam disc between neck and head and she looks suuuper cute.

Craft room is a mess as I am rearranging/hamstering around yet again. Since seeing Sicktress's use of the huge Ikea Regissör cabinet, I had been mulling over putting one on the wall with the vent, to better protect my large BJD's from sunlight. The light in that room is all from a window facing the sides of the cases. I'm still grumpy over my tan dolls discoloring.

Anyway I was watching the Ikea pickup queue daily trying to get a slot to get a table, and when one finally popped open, I went a little berserk and put the Regissör in the cart too.

It's taken me days to put it together a bit at a time, but I have managed to do it almost entirely by myself. Adam held one door while I screwed it in, but then I realized I could hold and attach the other at the same time so I did 🤷🏻‍♀️

And a welcome surprise, an order I made for four more of the super cheap stands arrived after a couple months of no tracking!

I made the eternal mistake of planning an outfit for OTOHIME without consulting the fabric drawers first. And so of course I don't have (enough) of what I need right off the bat. I am hella not going to the fabric stores right now, we're having a big ol spike right in my area. Soooo hmmm

[elfyourmother]

maybe it’s the ol RSD rearing its ugly head again but i’m actually pretty upset rn, i always go out of my way, to underline bold 36 pt font that my opinions are just my opinions and You Do You and STILL i can’t talk about things that bother me in my own space w/o ppl “well actually”-ing me about why i’m Wrong abt Thing which further contributes to the feelings of alienation i have from everything popular in fandom and makes me feel like i don’t belong in it and what’s the point of writing anything cuz it’s not like anybody is interested in my weird crack interpretations of things or my weird crack WoL.

i do my best to tag less than positive opinions abt various characters in pretty much everything so ppl can avoid that talk. me not liking a ship or a character everyone else likes is not a commentary on anything but my apparently bizarre and wrong opinions lol just let me exist in my sad little corner and vent about how bitter i am in peace.