#let’s start gatekeeping fantasy actually

[atopvisenyashill]

do u know what did piss me off was everyone going “that bound by blood thing doesn’t make sense her and rhaenyra don’t share blood” as if alicent isn’t the mother of rhaenyra’s half siblings. “well why isn’t aegon-“ HES A PAWN. HES A PROXY FOR ALICENT’S POWER. SHE SPENT HIS WHOLE LIFE BEATING AND SCREAMING AT HIM JUST LIKE SHE WAS HIT AND SCREAMED AT TO MAKE HIM INTO A KING THAT WOULD KEEP HER SAFE FROM RHAENYRA IT WAS NEVER ABOUT AEGON!!!!

like the short story is called the princess and the queen WHOMST do u think is the queen in this scenario. could it be the woman who has been called queen for the ENTIRE FUCKING PRE DANCE, DANCE, A N D POST DANCE ERA, MAYHAPS???

[minecraftbookshelf]

Gone Fishing

Mr. InTheLittleWood I know you’re in your tags on here, walk away from this one.

(No, this isn't Marriage of State, that is still with my beta, this is something i started writing for Mermay and then semi-abandoned until these past couple of weeks.)

Mildly Dark Comedy Urban Fantasy Adventures featuring Sleep Deprived Martyn, Selkie!Scott, and Swan Maiden!Cleo and Pearl.

AO3

Rating: T on AO3

Wordcount: ~4k

Characters: Martyn InTheLittleWood, Scott Smajor, ZombieCleo, PearlescentMoon, bonus appearances by JoeHills (with accompanying breaking of the fourth wall) and Rendog.

Relationships: Gaslight, Gatekeep, Girlboss + Martyn (its not quite Divorcee Quartet imo) Background Martyn?Ren and Referenced Past Flower Husbands

Warnings: Off-screen murder and on-screen blood spatter, kidnapping, selkie tropes and the adjacent concepts

-

This is directly inspired by that one tumblr post (I'll link it if i ever successfully find it again) that starts out "swan maidens would be hella built and down for violence, actually" and ends with "a swan maiden and a selkie team up and do violence"

-

3AM calls directly after the full moon are officially Martyn's nemesis. Nonetheless, he listens to the flustered emergency dispatcher stammer through a semi-explanation of the situation. (Murder. Kidnapped mythicals. The usual. He's not even on call this week; how and why is he the only Hunter in the area?) He hauls himself out of bed, knocks on Ren's door on the way out to let him know he is leaving and grabs his keys. He pauses, halfway out the front door and texts Ren because there is no way he'll remember given that he probably didn't even wake up when Martyn knocked, deep asleep and dead to the world in a way only exhausted werewolves can manage.

It's a bit of a drive; some fancy, palace-like mansion outside town on the far side. About as far away as it can get while still being in Martyn's district.

He gets two more calls on the way over, one from the same dispatcher, one from the police on the scene, practically begging him to hurry up with all the usual frantic desperation of humans who've never encountered magic before.

He stops for coffee.

It's a right mess by the time he does arrive; multiple police complete with flashing lights. The press (complete with their own version of flashing lights) a coroners van, at least five ambulances, and an arch-fey lurking by the tree-sized bush sculpted into a pegasus.

Oh no.

Joe Hills gives a jaunty wave that Martyn returns on autopilot.

There's only one reason Joe Hills ever leaves Tennessee.

One cup of coffee is not enough to deal with Cleo.

Much less what they usually drag with them.

Maybe-if Martyn is really, really lucky-Cleo was flying solo when they got mixed up in whatever the hell this is. (Even if they tend a bit more towards arson than murder.) Maybe its just them and not any of the rest of their crew.

He slips through the frazzled crowd of medical and law enforcement personnel, taking note of the battered and sickly looking people sitting in the backs of the ambulances, all of them visibly Not Exactly Human. He recognizes the vampire in the nearest one. Her missing persons case has been sitting on Jimmy's desk at Guild HQ for almost six months now with no new leads. She's sipping on a blood packet while a nervous paramedic hovers just out of her immediate reach.

Now he just has to find someone who knows what's going on-

"Hiyaa!"

Oh no.

Scott Smajor is sitting in the entryway of the stupidly fancy house, wrapped in a shock blanket, practically beaming at Martyn around the paramedic who is very clearly just trying to do their job and is not being paid enough for this.

Martyn can relate.

Scott's smile is wide and bright, his eyes are glassy and feverish, and he's visibly shaking. There is blood spattered on his clothes. And that is just what Martyn can see around the blanket.

He should revisit that offer from the Syndicate. He's pretty sure their annual salary is double what the Guild pays. More than enough to make up for not being a strictly legal operation. Half the stuff Ren brings into their apartment would get them both imprisoned in a pocket dimension somewhere for centuries anyway, might as well go all in.

With a resigned sigh he sucks it up, sticks his hands in his pockets, and strolls up to the front steps.

"Well if it isn't our favorite friendly neighborhood black widow," he says, dry as summer in purgatory. Already piecing together the picture to form something of a complete answer to the question of 'what happened.' "Fancy meeting you here."

Scott actually has the audacity to look offended. "Excuuse you. Most of my husbands are still alive."

Based off the amount of blood spatter on his clothes and the presence of the coroners van, Martyn is going to assume that the most recent one isn't.

'Clothes' is a bit of a generous term. Scott is wearing what most people would consider appropriate-if a bit risque- for clubbing, and what Martyn recognizes as what Scott wears when he's hunting. Most strongly indicated not by what he is wearing but by one very specific and important thing he isn't. This kind of scenario usually ends in at least a week of headaches and several different levels of bureaucratic hell for Martyn that he has to deal with all on his own because Jimmy and Scott are apparently fighting or something and Jimmy reuses to touch anything to do with this nonsense with a fifty foot pole. That could also just be Jimmy deciding to be smart for once and growing a backbone at a time extremely inconvenient for Martyn in particular.

Every day, Martyn regrets getting mixed up in mythical society. If he'd known it outstripped even the smallest of small towns on the 'everyone knows everyone' front he would have run so fast in the other direction. No matter what Grian had to offer. And now he's stuck here.

"Speaking of husbands," Scott purrs, craning to look around the paramedic, ostensibly at Martyn but he's really not as subtle as he thinks in the way he scans the driveway around Martyn's car. "Where is your partner?" He's hiding it well, but his jaw is tense and his eyes pinched. It's probably been hours since he was Separated.

"So what kind of trouble did you get yourself into this time?" Martyn ignores his question and brushes past it, offering an alternate distraction he is actually willing to play along with. He does not have the energy to deal with the drama surrounding his partner and said partner's ex(?)-husband, especially when Jimmy isn't here to give a hard time over it. It already gets brought up way too much every time Scott pops up yet again, dancing merrily back and forth across the line between victim and perpetrator in yet another one of their cases.

"Are you the Guild agent?" A loud voice demands from behind him.

Martyn whirls on his heel, far more ready to trust Scott at his back than some random police. (Not that he would ever admit it.) "I am!" he responds brightly, deliberately irritating in the way he knows best. "What happened here, Officer?"

The policeman, clearly someone important by the lack of wear and tear on his...everything, pulls himself pompously up to his full, rail-thin height and peers down at Martyn over his nose. "Aren't you lot supposed to keep your rabble in check?"

Oh, its going to be like that, is it?

Martyn fixes a blandly polite smile on his face and slips his voice into something a little bit more professional. "That still doesn't answer my question. What happened here?" Behind the officer he can see Joe Hills, still lingering amongst the topiary, eyes fixed on the officer's back. Suddenly it is a lot more reassuring, knowing there is an exit strategy for the people without the protection of a government employee ID. Even if that exit strategy is one of the most dangerously unpredictable beings Martyn is aware of. Which really is saying something.

"That," The officer (Hughes, his nameplate says) jabs a finger over Martyn's shoulder, presumably at Scott. "Has murdered an upstanding citizen and has the audacity to claim immunity!"

Martyn cocks his head to the side. "From where I'm standing, you're pointing the finger at a selkie missing his skin, so yeah, there is probably immunity involved."

"Well first of all," Cleo announces their presence as they emerge from the depths of the house, trailed by a very nervous looking police officer.

They stop in the doorway to drop a bundle on Scott's head, the dark mass makes contact with his bright blue hair and unfolds to drape over him. By the time Scott has discarded the shock blanket to wrap himself in his pelt instead, Cleo has stepped past him to stand shoulder to shoulder with Martyn. They're taller than Officer Hughes, which a very petty part of Martyn appreciates. The crisp white feathers of their own skin tickle his arms as they cross their arms. There is blood spatter on their feathers.

"He didn't kill the asshole," they continue without so much as looking at Martyn. "He physically couldn't. I did. And I'd do it again."

Cleo is hardly new to scenes like this, neither are they squeamish. The combined records of the entirety of their little squad speak to that. But something about this one clearly has them rattled and angry. At least Officer Hughes is here to take the brunt instead of them turning it on Martyn.

"Chapter four of the Magical Coexistence Treaties, Section B, Paragraph 13; 'Should the autonomy of any selkie, swan maiden, or similar being be violated, any and all members of their pod/flock can take whatever measures they deem necessary to right and/or avenge the wrong and secure the freedom of the violated party or, should the victim have perished, obtain were-guild from the one who harmed them.'"  Cleo rattles off the sentences that Martyn knows by heart at this point, from the frequency he's encountered them in more or less this exact context with this exact cast.

They point at Scott. "Selkie." They point to themself. "Swan." They gesture back and forth between the both of them. "Pod, flock, whatever you want to call it. And given I just retrieved his skin from the asshole's locked personal office I think his autonomy was violated enough." Their voice is deeply sarcastic in the way that only Cleo can be. Martyn is half-surprised Officer Hughes isn't on the ground bleeding from it.

"And all that was before we found the dungeon in the basement." They turn to Martyn, brushing Hughes off with as much concern as if he were a fly. "He was a collector, apparently. And he'd been at it awhile."

Martyn looks around the assembled ambulances and their occupants with a new, more critical eye. A starved and weakened vampire, a silver-collared werewolf, two nervous and twitch sirens (wrapped in damp blankets as a paramedic with a lock-picking kit fiddles with the muzzles fitted around their faces. Martyn makes a mental note; someone with flexible skills set like that might work out at the Guild. And they can always use more medical personnel.) an emaciated naga. As he turns back two more paramedics emerge behind them, carefully wheeling out a criminally (literally) small tank containing brackish water and an insensate mer.

Oh this is going to be so much paperwork.

Martyn is very glad the guy is dead. At least that means he won't have to work on a prosecution on top of everything else.

"There's more inside," Scott says behind them. Martyn glances over his shoulder and is glad to see him looking a lot less feverish and pained than before with the return of his pelt. "I got a grand tour. He's got a dragon-hide hanging on the wall in the library and a whole hall of displayed...parts."

So much paperwork.

Jimmy had better enjoy that vacation. They'll still probably be sorting this all out when he gets back.

"He was going to put me in a concrete enclosure, Martyn, he showed me. It's so ugly. Almost as bad as the rest of his house."

Of course that is equally offensive to Scott's sensibilities as his entire free will being stolen. That tracks.

There is still an elephant in the room that Martyn hasn't sen hide nor feather of at all.

"Pearl?" He asks Cleo, almost dreading the answer.

"Left already."

Suspicious, but at least it means he only has to deal with Gaslight and Gatekeep here. Or whatever they call themselves.

This time.

Because this is not the first time The Terrible Honeypot Trio, as they are unofficially referred to at Guild headquarters, have used this exact legal loophole to go after a creep or two. The murder is outside the norm, admittedly. Usually they limit themselves to theft and arson. It's a very lucrative racket for them and they have it down to a science. Dress Scott (its usually Scott; Cleo is scary and Pearl has a stab first ask questions later policy) up, flaunt his selkie status, and dangle him in front of a bunch of rich guys and see who takes the bait.

And every angle of it is legal.

Multiple Guild members are of the opinion that, whatever their (financial) motivations they are also providing a valuable public service. Their trail of victims is also a trail of overall shitty and predatory people that the Guild can make sure get nailed for something else, whether mythical or mundane in nature.

Ultimately, given that all someone has to do to not end up as a target of 'The Three Gs' is, you know, not abduct someone, they've never had a very convincing entrapment case leveled against them. Though a few of their victims have tried.

This one likely won't be, given that his blood is currently smeared all over Scott's clothes and Cleo's face.

Hmmmmm.

Martyn squints thoughtfully at the spatter on Cleo. It's hard to tell, since they've clearly been doing things, he's not going to think too hard about what, and its been smeared quite a bit...but that doesn't look like murder spatter. That looks like adjacent to murder spatter.

Which means, given that Scott couldn't, Pearl was probably the one who actually killed the asshole.

Honestly, that tracks.

Cleo and Hughes are in some kind of stare down now, Martyn would wish the officer luck but honestly, he hopes Cleo eats him alive. He ignores the two of them and turns back to Scott, who's still sitting on the front step, leaning against the door-frame. He looks tired and is shivering a little, but winks at Martyn when he notices his attention. Getting his pelt back has cleared away most of the lingering discomfort or shakiness and as annoying as it is how unruffled he seems after having just witnessed a murder at what was very clearly close proximity, it is reassuring to have him back to his usual demeanor. Despite having made a career out of it, playing the victim really does not suit Scott at all.

"See something you like?"

Martyn snorts a laugh and nudges the discarded shock blanket with the toe of his boot. "You should probably take this back."

"Awww," Scott coos at him, head cocked to the side. "You do care!"

"It's like, 6° out and you're wearing fishnets," Martyn says, somewhat proud of his deadpan and also for resisting making a joke about how fishnets seem a bit on the nose. "It's making me cold just to look at you."

Scott rolls his eyes, but concedes enough to drag the shock blanket over his lap. "You realize I don't really get cold, right? It's like, a whole selkie thing."

"Yeah, when you're in seal form, which you're very clearly not, at the moment."

"It doesn't just go away," Scott grumbles, but tucks the blanket more securely under his knees anyway.

Martyn is going to blame his fussing on still being in post-full moon mode. He'd been throwing blankets and pillows and soup at Ren all afternoon and is going to have to pick right back up where he left off when he gets back home. Ren is notoriously terrible at self-care after a transformation.

"Right," Cleo is suddenly there, looming threateningly over Martyn's shoulder. "Martyn, can you tell this idiot that he's not going to be able to arrest us so we can get on with it all."

God, Martyn hates inter-departmental politics. He leans back to peer around Cleo's shoulder at Hughes. "They're in my custody, you can't have them."

He ignores Hughes' subsequent blustering to give Scott and Cleo his full attention. "Is there anything else either of you needs, or can we get out of here?"

The sun is just starting to peek over the horizon. Martyn has spent the past several days taking care of a worn-out and antsy werewolf he is supposed to be dead asleep right now. He will send a preliminary report into HQ (text his boss a two sentence summary) and then he is done. This can be someone else's problem until he's had a minimum of twelve hours of uninterrupted sleep. The murder part has already been done anyway, what's left sounds like it is much more in Research & Preservation's jurisdiction. And Medical. He'll be sure to add a whole extra sentence to that effect.

Scott and Cleo exchange a glance and shake their heads. "Didn't bring anything," Cleo says with a shrug. "I got what I came for."

Scott kicks at their ankle but also looks kind of touched. For a second and only a second, because those two don't do sappy emotions. He then kicks the shock blanket back off and begins hauling himself to his feet. Cleo gives him a hand up and he wobbles on his high-heeled boots but stays standing. Given how shaky he still looks, Martyn is counting that as a win.

He's starting to think Scott might have been separated from his skin for more than just a few hours this time. He's usually completely shaken off the effects by the time Martyn shows up. He's never seen this level of severity.

The two mythicals wander over, Scott still holding onto Cleo's arm, pacing carefully to try and hide the way he is leaning on them for support. Cleo, being Cleo, blatantly ignores the entire situation but still slows their usually brisk stride to accommodate.

"You'll have to give us a ride."

"What?" Visions of his bed vanish before Martyn's eyes at Cleo's declaration.

"You heard me," Cleo repeats, heading towards the edge of the crime scene, Scott only staggering a little bit as he keeps up. "Now where did you park, I'm ready to be rid of this place."

Martyn opens and closes his mouth a couple of times, "Excuse me?" He looks back at the topiary Joe Hills had been standing by. 'Had been' turns out to be the important part of that sentence. "What happened to-"

"He had to go pick his kid up from school, keep up, Martyn." Cleo yells over their shoulder without looking back. "He has a schedule to keep and you took too long. HE was just here to take down the wards."

"Wards?" Martyn rushes to catch up to them. "This is the first you've said about wards. What kind of wards?"

"The kind that keep people like us out," Cleo snaps back, not slowing down at all. "What kind do you think?"

They beeline directly for Martyn's car, pull open the passenger door, and push Scott into the seat. The entire time Martyn has known Cleo, they have never given up the front seat for anyone.

Martyn wonders just how close their luck came to running out this time.

Cleo closes the back seat door behind themself  and then the two of them are looking at Martyn impatiently through the windows, as if he is the one acting weird.

There are not enough braincells in Sleep-Deprived Martyn's head to untangle all of this. He gets in the car.

He gives both Scott and Cleo a onceover while starting it. Now tthat they are out of sight of the masses, Scott is slumped against the door, face pale and eyes closed. Cleo is being very deliberately casual in a very Cleo way, and their face is pinched and the line that shows up on their forehead when they are stressed is definitely line-ing. The hand they have held up, pretending to pick dried blood out from under their nails, is shaking.

"Can we get chicken nuggies?" Pearl asks, her face very suddenly right in Martyn's.

Martyn does not yell or flail. Just for the record. And he certainly doesn't scream or jump.

Pearl just stares at him, eyes eerily blank behind her usual 'thrilled with violence' sparkle. She must have been laying down in his back seat. She's sitting in the middle now, next to Cleo, spattered with even more blood than the other two, in a way that bears out Martyn's theory on who actually killed the homeowner.

Her expression turns wheedling and she leans forward even more, propping her chin on the back of Scott's seat. "Nuggies?"

How is this Martyn's life.

"Fine," he sighs as he pulls out of the fancy big circle drive, leaving the oversized house and all its horrors behind them. "We can get chicken nuggies."

-

Ren wakes up, for a given definition of "wakes up" at...some point. Checking the clock would require opening his eyes and, between the sandy sensation and general lingering exhaustion, he doesn't really want to do that.

He can feel the sun through the curtains and his window face west. So afternoon sometime.

His stomach rumbles.

Perchance he should investigate the kitchen.

A moment of consideration and he decides it still isn't worth opening his eyes. He wraps his comforter over his head and around his shoulders as if it were a winter cape and stumbles towards the door. It takes a few moments of groping around but he manages to find the doorknob and free himself from his confines.

He can smell coffee.

Coffee and people and fast food and...blood?

Instantly set on edge, the clinging territorial instincts from the moon reaction to unexpected intruders in the home, Ren finally cracks one eye open.

Half of the sofa is taken up by a blurry white mass that, after a few blinks, solidifies into a swan sleeping on a pile of messy blankets, head tucked under one wing. A very familiar swan that is awakened enough by Ren's racket to raise their head and give him a displeased hiss, before going back to sleep, settling deeper into their impromptu nest.

His attention is pulled away from Cleo by a shuffling from the kitchen.

Pearl Moon waves at him from where she is sitting on the floor, leaning up against the partition between kitchen and sitting room, halfway through a tub of Ren's ice cream. Ren blinks back at her.

Major is sitting at the kitchen table across from Martyn, who has his face down on the surface of said table and is giving off the general smell he does anytime his emotions are best summarized as "I don't want to be here anymore."

Major looks back over his shoulder and beams at Ren, "Oh good, you're up! Come take a look at these!"

Ren shuffles closer until he can see what exactly it is the selkie has spread all over the table.

It's quite the variety, all placed carefully on Ren's good tea towels. Several trinkets of questionable origin, a cursed box of some kind that smells of fae magic, some mundane jewelry, and a small collection of potion vials. Major taps one of the un-enchanted necklaces proudly. "How would you price this lot?"

Martyn groans against the table top. "Could you at least not conduct your illegal sales in my kitchen when I'm here?"

Ren pats him on the shoulder and does his best to wake up enough to give the haul a more critical look. "Hard to say without a close examination but at least a couple thousand."

Behind him, Pearl makes a disparaging noise. "Only a couple thousand?" She says around a mouthful of ice cream. "Wow, that's cheap."

She shakes something that makes a jingling sound. "Now come look at mine!"

Martyn groans again and shoves his chair away from the table. "I'm going to go get food, if this is what you are doing now." He heads for the door.

Ren takes his chair as Pearl scrambles to her feet and joins them at the table, pulling things willy-nilly out of the pockets of her bright red jacket. He certainly wasn't planning on business on a day off when he hadn't even opened the shop, but Cleo and friends were always a good source of dubiously obtained items.

Martyn closes the front door behind him and Ren can hear him grumbling his way down the stairwell.

He can smell cheap chicken nuggets and his stomach rumbles. Hopefully Martyn brings some of those back with him.

[beardedmrbean]

Oh I mean when I say do leftists see history as a Disney cartoon because how they talk about people

“Indigenous people wouldn’t do that to their native lands!” Well that because most tribes learn from the mistakes of their ancestors, like modern American farming-

Holy shit Dave is right that they never left their metropolis area

But there this complaints how geeks spaces don’t want black people in it

Black activists: Why don’t white people want us in it?!

Me: Every since we somehow switch from racial equality to black supremacy

Hmm what we done in media? Oh yeah let start in black Panther where

1. They made a oversized shantytown with different African cultures, many of which hate each other guts

2. Expect to believe that everyone with sympathies with the main antagonist, now the movie did point out Killmonger was a hypocrite because he took a mask that didn’t belong to wakandans because he felt like it. And did the exact things he bitch about white colonizers to Wakanda

Though the irony is that Killmonger represents a lot of bitter black supremacists with a pan Africa fetish

Oh oh fantasy, my Indian friend pointed out that the issued with modern fantasy is that they are using a post mayflower American structure vs any form of feudalism

Because my chimera republic made realize it more easier to create black fantasy characters in a colonial and beyond world like ones based off George Carver or Bass Revees

Also like that black elf in rings of power and black Aragon, the problem to me that they look like larpers especially the black elf

Pssst modern Hollywood hairstylists, the fade was a post ww2 thing black men started after vets return from duty, so it automatically stick out for most black people

Also if you want to use Middle Ages hairstyles for black characters. Just go to the tribes that exist as many hairstyles we use today are thousands of years old and if you stretch it to the 13 century you have enough resources for reference

Actually someone pointed out that lot of fantasy places have LA demographic structure, this got me thinking and I’m paraphrasing

Who more bigoted?

My countryhick West Virginia friend who gave me a lot of insight on American history including my people and you who help me try to research west African cultures like the Yoruba?

Or the colored hair, glasses, usually upper middle class feminists that rarely interact with non whites unless they’re genetrifed and lived in gated communities?

Keep in mind a lot of them write or influence current fantasy stuff

Oh I mean when I say do leftists see history as a Disney cartoon because how they talk about people “Indigenous people wouldn’t do that to their native lands!” Well that because most tribes learn from the mistakes of their ancestors, like modern American farming- Holy shit Dave is right that they never left their metropolis area

Not all of them, but for the most part ya, it's respect for the land created after generations of learning that it's important to respect the land, with a additional healthy sized dose of religion and remembering to thank the land and everything else that provides for their needs.

"Noble Savage" is the term you're looking for there, "soft bigotry of lowered expectations" is another one you'll see a lot and not just for natives.

Low hanging fruit in Berkeley talking about why voter ID laws are bad and racist because black people may not know how to get one, or be able to afford one, or even get to the dmv.

Forever funny

But there this complaints how geeks spaces don’t want black people in it

Geek spaces are welcoming and inclusive, they just want you to geek out with them and not start trying to force changes, I honestly don't blame some people for gatekeeping their hobbies. People are coming in and demanding changes to fit their sensibilities and what not and when they're done the 'space' completely different.

That and all the other stuff you mentioned as well.

The question to ask is, why are you in this particular fan space if you are going to change 80% of it, can you maybe just make your own instead?

Oh oh fantasy, my Indian friend pointed out that the issued with modern fantasy is that they are using a post mayflower American structure vs any form of feudalism Because my chimera republic made realize it more easier to create black fantasy characters in a colonial and beyond world like ones based off George Carver or Bass Revees

Look up the show Firefly, if you don't already know about it. There's two really good SciFi western tv shows and neither of them are Westworld, the one besides Firefly is The Adventures of Briscoe County Jr. and it's there in my list because it stars Bruce Campbell.

Which actually you might give that one a look too,

Keep forgetting how much of a giant Julius Carry was, it's got a lot of steampunk elements and it's funny as heck.

Mentioning Bass Reeves made me think of that.

Also like that black elf in rings of power and black Aragon, the problem to me that they look like larpers especially the black elf ECT

Never saw the show, but everything I did see told me they had zero respect for the source material so I didn't expect respect for anything else to appear.

Hair thing we have current year references that since as you said, they haven't really changed them up much in the last few thousand years.

Who more bigoted? My countryhick West Virginia friend who gave me a lot of insight on American history including my people and you who help me try to research west African cultures like the Yoruba? Or the colored hair, glasses, usually upper middle class feminists that rarely interact with non whites unless they’re genetrifed and lived in gated communities?

I'm sure you already know the answer. As a generalization at least.

The joke about internet racists being a tolerant group of people, 'they don't care what race you are so long as you're racist' actually pans out to be fairly true a lot of the time.

Granted a lot of them aren't actually terribly racist, they just like to be able to rip on each other and like doing it Eric Cartman style, le edgy people.

The "Anti-racists" are the ones to watch out for, that's the people from berkeley in that video up there.

It's performative for them, look at how tolerant and accepting I am.

Like this.

I know it's what you want there my whatever you are, but there's a multitude of reasons why this

won't be happening, but I'm sure you've managed to take great strides in the effort to eradicate racism and didn't just totally become a joke for millions of people of all colours.

Except maybe this creature

I love how that's become a insult to people for some reason, she just called him a individual thinker and is mad because he doesn't support the hive mind.

Granted any positive accomplishment in the black community is greeted with several different cheers about how they all share in that accomplishment, but when bad shit happens all of a sudden we're not a monolith.

That's human psychology tho so not much more to expect from that honestly.

Multimillionaire tv host saying she's oppressed and that black people can't make it in the US will forever be funny to me, also sad because that sentiment is holding people back by saying things like that, since it's discouraging, why should I try if I've got no chance to make it anyhow.

May as well just get mine any way I can or maybe lay down and give up.

[obsessive-evie]

guys we’re all just a bunch of nerds on here so let’s reveal our significantly more embarrassing obsession…

personally i have a list:

i’ve seen every season of glee probably 7 times over

i am a chronic reader, i genuinely can read a book a day, and spend more money on kindle than anything else. i love fantasy and unhealthy amount. like yes baby tell me about your mystical land and men with tails

i know WAYYYYYY too much the last of us lore. like i am so immersed in that shit i’m surprised i don’t have an actual tlou tumblr. i am also (no shock here) in love with ellie. seattle ellie can have anything she wants.

the wilds. that is all

i know quite literally every single one of taylor swifts songs. MAYBE a few from debut i don’t fully know but i am genuinely obsessed with her music i memorize her lyrics like my life depends on it. (same with gracie abrams. i wanted to gatekeep her so bad bc i saw her in a tiny venue years ago and started listening to her in 2019)

amy winehouse is my everything. i know every single one of her songs and her life and story resonate with me so much and my camera is named valerie and and and

[puckintheisles]

2: we're going to have to kill this guy, puck

Once the butterflies cleared away, the only option really was to follow the path. The landscape was very unfamiliar. completely alien. Puck was quite unsure about all this. The walk was fine up until he saw some weird man or creature in the distance. The thing noticed him, too, and even though he tried to look friendly it came at him with a fucking knife. Puck grabbed his own dagger and started swinging. getting into a knife fight with a frogman wasn't in his plans. Was this a person? Either way, Puck Summerdream has taken his first life.

hey, it's a statue of whatever that thing was. hopefully it's not like some kind of important cultural icon. As he followed the path it revealed a ramshackle town of sorts. They proceed with caution because honestly who knows what to expect.

These two have a chat about some gatekeeper about to fight off adventurers. He braves talking to the one, who claims he's the mayor and introduces himself as Shelden. They don't talk long and soon both of the others sprint uphill and Puck lets his curiosity win.

what the fuck. those people were slaughtered. what the fuck is that. Puck realizes this is far beyond any LARP at all. he's actually going to have to kill that thing. Well. He read enough fantasy books as a kid to know how this goes. They decide to walk back to town and find somewhere to hopefully catch a little sleep. maybe there's something edible around here, too, because he is not taking any chances with those mushroom trees.

the sky only proves more unfamiliar.

[softxsuki]

Hii can i request Obey me, Tokyo revengers and jujutsu kaisen romantic matchup? I liked your event so i decided to participate.

I'm female she/her pronouns, I'm fine with any gender.

My mbti is intj 5w4 548; my horoscope is Sun:leo Moon: libra, Rising: Capricorn, Medium Coeli:Scorpio, Mercury: leo, Venus: leo, Mars: gemini, Jupiter: Sagittarius, Saturn: leo, Uranus: Pisces, Neptune: Aquarius, Pluto: Sagittarius, Lunar Nodes: Pisces, Lilith: Scorpio, Chiron: Aquarius

I'm ambivert,I'm very laid back and prefer to go with the flow of life but sometimes come off as ego-centric and domineering. I have to admit I’m a lazy person who prefers having a leisure more than anything else. But once i find my motivation I'm actually pretty hardworking, I won't stop or take breaks until i completely finish what I started. I mostly spends my time as a stoic and a calm person and i might even come off as apathetic towards the world around me [even tho I’m not]. I’m usually perceived as being insensitive because i generally prefer to deal with emotions in my own head rather than openly [and somehow I'm still well liked?!] tbh I often think I’m above others, yet I am always willing to acknowledge that I’m a total piece of shit [very rarely tho] Sometimes i have fantasies and ideals that I want to start creating or becoming but i give myself a reality check and let the dream fade away. I’m very innovative but still choose the practical route a lot. It’s easy for me to create goals and envision the end results but it’s ridiculously hard for me to remain committed to the process. I have a very big ego but one word alone is enough to destroy it. i Will never admit my wrong, unless internally. I'm playful around people i like [friends, family, classmates] and if I believe I'm right I'll passive agressivly fight you to prove my point [even if I'm wrong]. Like i said i have hard time committing to something i loose interest, motivation and get bored rather easily. If I'm stressed about something i bottle everything up and worry about it alone. Not because I don't want to burden other or anything simply because my pride and ego is getting in my way. I'm not really a jealous person and even if i get jealous i keep it to myself and try my best to hide it. I care about what others think of me [more like what others think of my parents] so towards strangers and people that know my parents I'm very polite.

I like horror genre [movies, books, analogue horror and etc], watching movies, listening to true crime, reading books and listening to music. I love indie and alternative rock, gothic novels, Victorian and vampire goth aesthetic, grunge aesthetic. Researching and learning more about myself. I love reading greek mythology and Japanese urban legends, reading about horror/supernatural creatures such as vampires, sirens, wendigos and etc. I'm interested in psychology and prehistory [especially prehistoric religions even though I'm not really religious person myself]. I wouldn't really consider this as a hobby cause i do it once or twice a year but i also play volleyball and piano.

I value honesty and loyalty, I'm more attracted [romantically or platonically] to people who are confident in themselves and their abilities. I also value partner/friend that isn't overprotective and allows me my independence and let's me do things my way.

I don't think i have a specific type i just want my partner to keep me entertained as i tend to get bored rather easily.

Extra:

i love colour red, i sometimes even gatekeep it.

i want to get pet snake in the future

i might not have a best relationship with my parents but I value and respect them a lot.

i might act as a mean older sister most of the time with my siblings but I'm willing to get agressive if someone besides me or my parents upsets them.

i went to music school for 6 years, art school 2 years [with completely different teachers] and i went to dancing classes for 2 years, 1 month and 5 days [with four different teachers]

i speak three languages [English, Georgian and russian] and I'm planning to learn greek.

Scenario:

them reaction to their partner showing cute aggression.

Like when i find something cute or Adorable i want to pinch their cheeks & squeeze them to death lovingly and kiss and bite all over them.

1000 Follower Event Matchup #18

This event is CLOSED. You can see the masterlist here.

Note: Hey! Sorry for the delay on your matchup, life has been crazy. Hope you enjoy :)

I match you with RAN, ASMO, GETO

No runner ups, these are literally perfect for you :D

Ran:

(I don’t write for him so I don’t want to edit a pic so here’s a gif instead lo. Enjoy him and his brother 🫠l)

I’ll be honest, I struggled a little finding your perfect match but then Ran came to mind

I’ve seen him in only a few manga panels, but based off what I’ve seen I think he’s everything you’re asking for

He lets you do your own thing so long as it isn’t blatantly dangerous, then he’d have to step in and try to reason you out of doing it, but he loves the way you carry yourself

Others may misunderstand you and your intentions but Ran knows you like the back of his thumb

How does he react to your cute aggression?

He’s obsessed with it and kinda craves to see it

Honestly he finds any aggression from you very attractive and might go out of his way to bring it out of you 

Not in a bad way ofc, but he’ll wear something he knows you’re crazy about just to get a reaction out of you

Asmodeus:

I feel like his aesthetic is the complete opposite of yours, but opposites attract, right?

I think you’d both bond over being misunderstood

Everyone thinks he’s nothing more than a pretty boy who only cares about himself, but he too also cares deeply about his family and you and would do anything to make sure they're safe and happy

The other brothers are so overprotective, but Asmodeus is more carefree about things

Obviously he’d make sure you’re accompanied whenever you want to go out, because the Devildom can be dangerous for a human like you

But you can dress and act however you please with him–he encourages it all

How does he respond to your cute aggression?

Another one who is obsessed with it

He responds similarly when he finds something cute, so you both have that in common

Bite his cheek in excitement, he likes it lol

Geto:

(Again I don’t write for him so enjoy this gif)

I don’t know much about him, but he gives off “i don’t care” vibes along with lots of confidence so…I think it matches

As for your fantasies that you just brush off, yeah, Geto works to make those fantasies become reality for you

You’re his queen and probably the only person he’d take orders from, so literally whatever you want, he’d make it happen

You won’t have to work for anything with him around (unless of course, you’d want to. He won’t stop you)

Literally doesn’t care what you do, he’s backing you up all the way

He keeps things exciting for you so there’s never a dull moment with him

How does he react to your cute aggression?

He doesn’t get it really

What’s so cute about that thing?

But as long as you’re happy, he doesn’t mind it

Might like to see you react like that to him one day…even if it is only once, he wants to know what he feels like to be on the receiving end of your aggression

EVENT REQUESTS ARE CLOSED

REGULAR REQUESTS ARE OPEN

Posted: 5/25/2023

[sirobvious]

If I'm going to get really clear and serious about what I mean here, this isn't specifically the mcelroys' fault, it's just funny to blame them.

But for real, in general, people on tumblr do view media consumption as activism, which is already annoying and stupidly pervasive in TTRPG communities, but what I was specifically talking about here is how, like, tons of people view ignoring the rules of D&D5e while still nominally playing D&D5e as, like, sticking it to WotC and big corporations, and of course sticking it to those homophobic grognard gatekeepers

"sure i'll never touch another TTRPG system as long as I live, but i pirated all the D&D5e books(something we all agreed doesn't actually hurt corporations all that much), and I'm playing D&D5e in a way that WotC doesn't want by ignoring all the rules! Be gay do crimes!"

How about if you actually want to materially help someone through your alleged love of TTRPGs, buy and play any other TTRPG at all. Pay for the next meal of struggling TTRPG designers being crushed under D&D5e's absolute monopoly. Even the ones that are free, I'm sure that the designers would at least get some moments of motivation and happiness knowing you downloaded their work of art, learned the rules, and actually played it instead of letting it sit closed on the table while you fudge dice until the outcome that you want happens.

There are thousands of well-made games out there, starting with this one because I'm lead designer on it

The mcelroys made an entire generation think that playing D&D badly is activism

[quoteablebooks]

Genre: Young Adult, Fantasy, Paranormal Romance

Rating: 2 out of 5

Trigger Warning:    

Summary:

The stakes have never been higher for the young Blue Bloods of Manhattan. After their brief yet beautiful bonding ceremony in Italy, Schuyler Van Alen and Jack Force depart for Egypt, desperate to find the elusive Gate of Promise before Jack must face his twin, Mimi, for a blood trial. A blood trial that only one of them can survive. But everything Schuyler thought she knew about the gate turns out to be a lie, and they soon find themselves ensnared in a deadly battle against the demon-born. Schuyler and Jack take up arms, only to realize that there is a much graver threat simmering in the Kingdom of the Dead. Meanwhile, determined to save the only vampire she still loves, Mimi has followed Kingsley Martin into Hell. With the help of her new human Conduit, Oliver Hazard-Perry, Mimi makes a bargain with the Queen of the Dead that she may soon regret. When the time comes to choose between love and revenge, both Mimi and Oliver will learn the true meaning of sacrifice. Confronted by danger, betrayal, and loss at every turn, the Blue Bloods must find the will to fight - and love - another day.

*Opinions*

Lost in Time is the last book in the series that I read back in 2012 and for some reason that is completely unknown to me, I gave it four stars. Now, I will admit that the parts in the underworld with Mimi and Oliver attempting to get to Kingsley Martin and bring him out were interesting, but that was kind of the only part. While I do think that de la Cruz wrote the emotions that Allegra was going through as she attempted to do what was right for the Coven and what was right for her heart, all the back and forth between her and Charles was rather annoying. Jack and Schuyler continue to be a waste of page space and Schyluer is literally useless in every situation she finds herself in. She is always a damsel in distress who talks a big game and can never back it up. I am going to be happy to finish this series. There really wasn’t a lot of progress in this novel besides the storyline with Mimi and Oliver. The sections with Allegra and Charles was all information that we had heard before and were hardly exciting. Schuyler and Jack had been looking for the same gate for three novels now and at the end of the day, the gatekeeper actually finds them. Deming is hardly part of this novel as more than a plot point. It is all just so…pointless. The sections with Mimi and Oliver were filled with emotion and a goal that they were constantly working towards. I wish that they would let Oliver move on from Schuyler, especially after the witch rid his blood of the venom from when she fed on him, but this is a YA novel after all. I like that he brings out Mimi’s humanity and ultimately it is her friendship with Oliver that leads to them all getting out of the underworld. Do I think the fight between her and Jack was pretty cool, yes? Do I think it was over too soon and it was a bit ridiculous how it all ended, also yes? Mimi is so worried about the Coven, but then both she and Jack leave so that they can “be with the ones they loved” as if Mimi hadn’t just forgotten her love moments ago because she sold her soul. As if Lucifer wouldn’t have a way to keep their loyalty. Don’t even get me started on the fact that a non-fallen angel was able to help out for whatever reason, but told no one who he was or why he was helping. However, we are in the end game now and I am sure more ridiculous things will happen before the novel is over. I didn’t finish this novel that long ago and I honestly can hardly remember anything about it. The thing that I find most frustrating about these books is that the ideas are very solid and could be extremely interesting, but the execution is just not there for me. Luckily, it is just one more set of short stories about the Hellhounds and Bliss and the final novel. I will not be reading the new series that, from the synopsis, seems to rehash the same story over and over again. No thank you.

[bacon-sandwich-of-dionysus]

Hiya guys!

So if you hadn't already checked on Ao3, I just wanted to let you all know that Absolutely Cursed is not dead-dead... it's just having a little rewrite which will happen very slowly because I'm busy and I have no skin on my forearm at the moment (she's only started to grow back).

But what I can do for you is tease a few plot changes that I'm planning to make:

A. The UK will still be on fire but it being on fire will turn out to be surprisingly relevant to the plot. W a r .

B. We have new characters! Terry Silver may or may not have a few daughters who are just as confused as you are. But, very much like their father, prefer to take matters into their own hands.

C. Terry will be living his 'Macbeth' fantasy... a.k.a consumed with crippling guilt as he realises he's made no progress in processing his trauma and well, that he actually has quite a few unresolved issues, which of course has led him to make some stupid decisions and many an accident (DANIEL).

D. Daniel figures out that emotional repression isn't a good idea, especially if you're afflicted with something that can make you extremely dangerous the moment you start feeling overwhelmed.

E. Kreese and Kim Da-Eun are very much aware of each other and very much aware that Terry has served his purpose. They're going to be gaslighting, gatekeeping and girlbossing together.

Okay, so a visual depiction of the plan for the plot so far is this:

[ladyloveandjustice]

I've been wanting to add to this with my own additional yuri recs but haven't had time.

I tagged them in the original post but the first one I quoted was

Otherside Picnic by Iori Miyazawa

Science fiction/fantasy yuri about two college girls that travel to a mysterious world called the "otherside" and face mysterious beings and untold monsters, all while growing closer to each other.Both a novel series and manga (and anime, but it doesn't really get to the romance stuff), and novel 8 is genuinely some of the most romantic stuff I've ever read in my life.

Goodbye My Rose Garden by Dr. Pepperco

a Victorian yuri focused on literary ladies. A young Japanese woman travels to England seeking the author of her favorite book, only to be laughed at by the gatekeeping men at the publishing house. A noblewoman comes across her and takes her in as her maid to save her from being stranded without a home, but the noblewoman has a secret, and the two slowly start to long for each other. Lavish art, tons or romantic lines, explores the struggle Victorian women had to be taken seriously as both authors and readers, and explores the homophobia of the era a bit.

The Moon on a Rainy Night by Kuzushiro

A young woman meets a hard of hearing girl who was a pianist before she lost her hearing. Both of them are great characters, and I especially love that the series lets Kanon (the hoh girl) get angry about ableism and have messy emotions like a real teenager. The main character is also a wonderful mess of issues and there's this moment where she learns the Japanese sign for marriage involves a man and a woman and is just smacked with depression over heteronormativity that felt so real. The depth of her feelings is just beautifully done.

How Do We Relationship by Tamifull

An extremely sexy manga about two college age women navigating the messiness of relationships. A lot of y'all in the tags are complaining about yuri being chaste for some reason even though it's easy to find yuri with sex scenes, so if you want a not-erotica yuri about adult relationships with a lot of sex (with the bonus of having an artist that actually understands anatomy), this is your bag. There's also no self-questioning phase. It's grounded and I mean it when I say it's messy.

Pieta by Nanae Haruno

A suicidal girl in an abusive family situation meets another girl who formerly struggled with mental illness as well, and they might have a mysterious past connection. Obviously, this is heavy, and I'll also throw in a cw for attempted suicide. I cannot believe I forgot to include the above in my original post because these panels honestly reprogrammed my brain and I consider it to be one of the most romantic lines I've ever read. It just really connected with me as a youth who struggled with suicidal ideation. I dreamed of someone saying this about me. Not officially translated and likely never will be (it's short), but you can find it online.

Hanamonotagari by schwinn

Older woman yuri, and we mean it this time. After her husband's death, a woman starts discovering herself and bonds with another woman her age through makeup and gay literature. Sadly hasn't been picked up as an official release and was cancelled way before it should have been (there are three volumes though), but we need to keep bugging manga companies about it.

More under the cut! More!

She Loves to Cook and She Loves to Eat by Sakoami Yuzaki

A woman one loves to cook but doesn't have a huge appetite, only to find the woman next door to her does, so she cooks for her and they really start to bond over food and the trials of being working adults. Very grounded and sweet and very real, and yes, this is the one where the woman googles lesbian. It doesn't stop at that, but has the characters discuss different types of sexuality, including an asexual lesbian side character, and also explores cutting off toxic family members in a way not often seen in manga. It'll get ya in the heart. As a bonus, the author is outspoken about queer rights and even

The Guy She Was Interested Wasn't A Guy At All by Arai Sumiko

A web manga, don't let the weird title fool you, it's good. This follows a girl who dresses up in a mask and hoodie at a music shop, and one of her classmates falls for her, thinking she's a guy and being unaware she's the same girl as the one in her class (but don't worry, she clearly is into the classmate version of her too). They bond over music and there's suprisingly little "oh no I'm gay" angst considering the premise. The art is great and the characters are charming, and love for music infuses the whole thing.

And that's it for now! Seconding anonymocha's rec for Run Away with Me Girl. I'll be adding more to this later probably. Love a good rec chain.

twitter making me want to eat glass

Do ya'll seriously think lesbian stories don't say basic ass things like 'i can't stop thinking about you, i want you." Are you that up your own ass.

Do you think there are not pick up lines in yuri.???do you think they don't have ~poetic lines~ in wlw media???~ that are way better than this shit?

Apparently if some basic ass shonen said stuff like this you'd be acting like it's the height of poetry. Too bad it's actual wlw stories that aren't queerbaiting you. so it will get ignored.

[momo-ceros]

A little project I am considering working on if there are people interested. See this as a teaser.

Sukeban (スケバン/助番) refers to the leader of a girl gang.

>in which you are fed up and aspire to reclaim the male fantasy that the girl gang culture has been reduced to. that you somehow got tangled up in a time travel mess through accidentally stumbling upon a crybaby hero was certainly not something you had accounted for. but you weren’t the leader of tokyo’s largest girl gang for nothing.

>>fem! reader/various! tokyo revengers

>>cw; canon typical violence, crude language, misogyny, mentions of rape, abuse [note; all mentions of these negative things will also be negative. none of them will be glorified or fetishised; it is very much is about the struggles of girl- and womanhood], an outlet for an author’s frustrations towards the patriarchal society and the undermined problems that arise from girl- and womanhood

“If looking good was a crime, you’d be a law abiding citizen.”

“My life isn't as glamourous as my wanted poster makes it look.”

“The ‘how the fucks’ and 'why are you so dumbs’ don’t matter. All that matters is that I have a new gun.”

“Could you maybe just like… stab me… right in the gut. Just REALLY twist it in there. ‘Cause that honestly seems less painful than this conversation.”

“I regret getting dragged into your heterosexual tomfoolery.”

“Get in, loser, we’re committing vehicular manslaughter!”

“God has let me live another day and I'm going to make it everyone's problem.”

“You seem familiar... have I threatened you before?”

“I have one foot in the grave but in a kind of fun flirty way, the way one might slip on a fishnet stocking.”

“Gaslight, gatekeep, girlboss.”

i would love to know some feedback on the concept so i might get actual motivation to start writing it properly!

also a playlist i made for no one to care about filled to the brim with vibes.

[nightswithkookmin]

A quick lesson on ships

Because why not??😌

No but seriously, bare with me, I'm trying to answer your questions. Sit if you have to. Hehe

Uban Dictionary defines shipping as this:

A term used to describe fan fictions that take previously created characters and put them as a pair. It usually refers to romantic relationships, but it can refer platonic [sic] ones as well. (Just think of “shipping” as short for “relationSHIP”.) 9 Apr 2015

Ships can be platonic or romantic or both.

There's fictional ships and non fictional ships too. You ship two people you want to be in a relationship or who already are in a relationship or who you suspect to be in a relationship- perhaps due to queer baiting, ship baiting, romance baiting etc.

In the shipping fandom, there are two sects of people. Those who are Proships those who are Antiships- antis are ironically considered part of the shipping community because for some reason they are always in shippers business💀

Antishippers are those who oppose a particular ship or shipping in general (more on that later.)

Proshippers are well- Pro ships.

Pro-Ship

A term mostly used in fandoms, but can stretch outside of this to include original characters. The core belief is that shipping two fictional characters, no matter if they are family, share ages gaps, considered to be unhealthy, or show blatant signs of being abusive or other generally unsavory behaviours, are valid in a fictional setting.

Pro-Shippers or "anti-antis" are also known as "rainbow meaties" and will use 🌈 + 🍖 emojis together often in their bio on twitter or other social media platforms- usually within fictional settings.

These shippers reinforce the idea fiction is separate from reality and shouldn't be confused with the other.

‘Anti’ is short for ‘anti-shipper’ or ‘anti-[ship]’.

Kindly read through this thread to get the gist of it.

III

IV

Shipping non-fictional individuals is a subset of Proshipping, in my opinion, known also as alternative shipping- as far as my knowledge on it goes.

As with fictional shipping, alt ships have their antis too. People who disagree with shipping real couples in a romantic way for whatever arbitrary moral reasons they have and who feel entitled to go out of their way to correct, stop, police and punish such shippers.

Then there are those who although may be pro real people shipping think they have the right to tell others how they should ship and to what extent they can ship.

Others too prefer to ship real people platonically because they view romantic shipping of real people as problematic.

So to answer your question on Anon's post- there is no such thing as a Proshipper who is also Anti shipping. Thats oxymoronic. Perhaps they might be platonic shippers who are anti romantic ships but not necessarily romantic shippers themselves.

I don't think there's anything wrong with preferring to ship platonically. It is when they assume by virtue of their false sense of moderacy that they are better than others that shit starts to get funny.

Those shippers are delusionally confused beings with a supremacist imperialist complex rooted in ignorance and absurdities.

I usually walk by those quietly. keep it pushing. Gotta mind my business somehow even though most times I just want to pull their hair and bite them and shit😭

I try to keep it classy.

Lord knows I try.

You are either pro ship or anti ship. There's no in between. Those shippers who are shippers but claim they are not are nothing but fraudulent, fake us, simps trying to bamboozle their way through life- pardon my Swahili.

There are a lot of anti shippers moonlighting as shippers in this fandom. It's fascinating.

Personally I think those people are either confused or their desires to appeal to other Anti shippers must have morphed their brains into ass dick hybrids.

Anti shippers in general are notorious gatekeepers, gaslighters, bigots, high key sanctimonious and often have a cis white westernized sense of morality and ethics through which they fliter others and expect everyone and everything to conform to.

They impose their values on others, their ethics on others, resort to manipulation, policing, intimidation and bullying to impose their will etc.

Within shipping, there are those who are Proshipping yet anti certain ships. Most Tuktukkers are anti Jikook. And assume anyone who isn't a tuktukker is equally anti Tae Kook and so go ahead and exhibit anti behaviours towards them.

Think of such groups of shippers as Proshippers with a preference for particular ships if you will.

There are Pro shippers who also feel some kind of way about Shipping real life people or alt shipping.

Here's further resource to help you understand what proshipping is

If you are intolerant with other shippers choice of ships or style of shipping and you traumatize them for it that's Anti shipping. Especially if you feel entitled and justified to traumatize others because you take a higher moral status over them.

You can be proship and not like how certain people, how they go about

Simply walk away, click off, mind your business. You are not the only adult in these streets and leave people to do what interests them.

I think for as long as I can remember, I've always been a proshipper and I ship both platonically and romantically, fictionally and alternatively💀

Some themes in fiction are a hard limit for me such as the R word, pedophilia, incest, child abuse- I just can never find the entertainment in those topics and will struggle through such themes.

But others believe it's just FICTION and those fictional characters aren't really dealing with the imaginary struggles we read about.

Yall do you sis.

I don't really know why people make a big deal of it or try to demonize the concept of shipping as if it were something strange or mysterious- just keep your moral values to yourself. I am not your mother's daughter. we were not raised in the same households.

Then again I think it all depends on the different cultures and social backgrounds we all come from and how entitled, supremacist or imperialist they are.

For Yoonmin, I shipped them romantically but didn't think they were a real couple at all. I just romanticized their interactions and found humor in it. At the back of my head I was expecting them each to one day find husbands or wives and go their merry ways and even harbored the thought they each could very much be in serious romantic relationships with others.

In similar ways, I shipped Minimoni and Vmin.

You can ship a pair romantically and not think at all that they are actually REAL.

A lot of jokers ship Jikook romantically and don't assume they are real. Just as a lot of people shipped say Elena and Stefan romantically even though Paul was married.

Some shipped Elena and Damon too due to their unscreen chemistry and even felt they could be a thing- that was before later it was revealed they had started dating in real life. Even that I was holding on to my Bonnie x Damon fantasies because Bonnie was my bias and I shipped her with everyone romantically- of course I didn't expect any of those ships to manifest into something because it was the character I was shipping not Kat herself. To this day I still love her onscreen chemistry and friendship with Damon and don't see how people could wish for it to be more than that😭

It was beautiful as is. Not everything should climax into sexual intercourse.

But if I felt at some point any of her ships had crossed into alternative ships I would have jumped on those and supported it whole heartedly.

If you assume a pair are a real couple and dating in real life that's alt shipping- a lot of alt shippers suspect a ship is real and that's why they ship them.

There is no such thing as platonic alt shipping.

And for me personally, because I believe Jikook are a real couple and have made that cross over I don't ship any of that pair romantically with other members anymore.

It's bizzare to me to ship someone I know has a partner romantically with anybody else- I make exceptions for Vmin of course💀

I know JK is side eyeing me but I don't care.

I want Tae to be happy too😭😭😭

Tae just wants his bestfriend and soulmate😭

It's too much😭😭😭😭😭😭

He stays shooting his shots🤣

Jimin Harem is real🤭

I must admit, I catch myself slipping on Vmin and Minimoni every now and then- old habits die hard and they don't make it easy 😫

But that don't mean I think Vmin is dating. THAT WOULD BE WILD.

Summary

Proshippers can be Platonic or Romantic shippers and you can ship a pair romantically and not assume they are real at all.

Anti shippers are just assholes trying to beat their values down people's throats.

Alt shippers don't ship their OTP with other players romantically.

I don't know what you mean by Jinkooker...

Do you ship Jinkook romantically or think they are real?? Sis...

Maybe you just ship them platonically or casually.

I ship all the ships platonically.

Especially all Jimin"s Tae's ships. I'd let my self flirt with the idea of romance every now and then.

JK's ships don't make sense to me as ships.

As nonplatonic ships I mean.

I'm fascinated each time I see a hardcore JK x any member ship besides Jikook swearing up and down JK is screwing Namjoon🤣🤣

I hope this helps??

GOLDY

[callmearcturus]

(u can answer on priv if you want to) god, arc, do you have like a general writing server that you're in or, better, that you started, bc i do desperately want to start on this longfic ive been meaning to get to for a horrendously long time but it's daunting as fuck and i could use a sounding board of other writers who are struggling to write longfic. also if u have any tips u can point me towards not giving up on the fic after typing out 50 words of utter crap and closing the document that'd be swell bc no one i know rn is writing like you

Unfortunately, no, I only have my Whomstve server that I write in, not a general one. I started a general one at this point YEARS ago but it just never took off. It's sadly just easier to shoot the shit regarding fannish stuff than original work.

I could tell you how I do it, at least? In every server I run, I tend to create a "jam channel" which is for writing jams. They're the writer's equivalent to an artist livestream. I start working on a chapter and when I finish a good chunk, I put it in the channel, and people will hit me with encouraging emojis or scream a bit. It's a good way to get that instant dopamine hit of Reaction, and also to figure out what parts of the story are working and what ones are not. This lets me redirect and tweak things before the final posting.

For me, the way I manage to, uh, do this, is that... for one, my brain is fucking broken so I can just sit down and make words happen to such a degree I have literally injured myself in the past doing so. (Not fun!)

But also I approach my writing less like A Book and more like a serialized story. I share things very episodically and encourage the Water Cooler Talk, both by engaging with readers when they poke me and also just in the actual way the story is told. I try to ensure every chapter/part/segment has at least two or three things that are worth discussion, and I lean heavily on structuring my writing around the audience slowly uncovering a mystery of some kind.

This is probably why I write a lot of fantasy and weird alien stuff, it lets me gatekeep the knowledge the reader has and organically teach them bit by bit about the story's rules and world. And I have gotten a lot of feedback regarding that as an appealing part of my style.

So I guess my advice is to make a story something that is uncovered piece by piece by the reader and the reader's best proxy character. It's good when the character fucks up due to a piece of knowledge they lacked, it's good when they get questions answered and re-answered with evolving context. And make everything just soap opera-y enough that folks look forward to new updates like a new episode of a show they like. 8)

That all sounds vaguely calculating but to be clear: this is literally what I enjoy about writing. Crafting this kind of story and creating a dialogue between my story and the audience is fun to me. 8)

If you are not a "feedback will speed up my writing output" then, uh, idk! But this is what works for me!

[olderthannetfic]

In my kpop fandom, some white lesbians like to gatekeep the dreaded "cishets" as if they have some kind of epistemic authority to write about mlm dynamics. There's one who imagines her smut is somehow not "fetishizing" when it's the exact same thing. Don't get me started on the superiority that comes with thinking all kpop ships are fake, which basically means they prefer the idea of being queerbaited when the possibility it's real definitely exists. For the record, I am queer.

--

Man... I was watching react videos to that one necrophilia-tastic KARD mv, and it was hilarious how all of them were like "Are they trying to ship the members now? This is super fake! No chemistry!" Talking about how fake the fanservice is is a time honored part of idol fandom.

I'm sure there are plenty of closeted Korean pop stars. I 100% do not believe any of the relationships their fandoms like are real, and that includes the het ones.

Yes, most idols are secretly dating someone, but even if their fans were to guess right from their extremely curated public appearances (dubious!), we're still only seeing the public face of that relationship, not what it's actually like.

It's exceedingly annoying when people think their fanfic porn is morally superior to everyone else's and when they try to gatekeep commercial entertainment intended for whomever will fork over cash, but I'm laughing at the idea that you'd go to idol groups for anything other than queerbaiting--or more appropriately in this context, fanservice. Fantasy fodder that never quite commits is the entire point of idols.

(TBH, I think 'queerbaiting' is not at all the right way to look at media from Asia. It's a concept born from fans' misunderstanding of how US tv and mainstream film work, and it's barely relevant here, let alone in a totally different context.)

If I want to support queer art or hear an artist talk about what their queerness means to them, I can certainly find that, but it will be in a different part of the entertainment industry.

I'll start taking fans' "NO IT'S SO QUEER FOR REALZ THOUGH" opinions seriously the same time they stop being about whomever is the #1 most popular idol this year and start being about Fanxy Red or something.

[kdinjenzen]

Seeing you talk up the XIII gives me so much joy because I actually really love those games, flaws and all and it makes me sad how harsh some ff fans are about them

So, let’s be real... nothing is perfect. Absolutely nothing. Not a single piece of content or media in any way has ever come close to perfect because... it cannot. There is no such thing as perfection.

It’s why I hate “serious ratings” overall.

“5/5 Stars: The Best Thing I Ever Played”

“Rated 100% Fresh: Cinema Masterpiece”

“10/10: The Greatest Show Of All Time”

It’s all bullshit.

Be it a show, a game, a movie, a book, whatever... how someone views it will change how how it’s received by them.

My motto is “Find something that you find fun and enjoy it.”

I like Final Fantasy 13.

Do I think it’s great? Ehhh, maybe not.

Do I think it’s the best? Definitely not.

Is it my favorite Final Fantasy? Not even close!

But do I think it’s FUN? YUP!!!

GIMME SASSY SPEAR LESBIAN AND GRUMPY SWORD LESBIAN! I NEED THAT CONTENT! I CRAVE IT!

And that’s the only thing that matters really.

If you meet folks who gatekeep a genre or series or ANYTHING, and they just start trash talking something (AND YOU) because you said “oh I just started ____ and I’m having fun” ... I encourage you to challenge them on it or just stop talking to them.

[inevitably-johnlocked]

can we adress how toxic some of these self/harm and suicide fics are?? as someone who has struggled with these issues, treating them as just a way for the two characters to get together, or one character to be the savior who cures someone of their problems? I'm so frickin over it. continuing to put your partner in limbo by threatening this behavior when they don't give you enough attention is a symptom of something major. This is not something i like seeing romanticized. at all.

[CONTENT WARNING FOR ENTIRE POST: heavy discussions of trauma, suicide, self harm, depression, political issue mentions, and eating disorders. Please proceed with care. I am not cutting the post because I think the message is important, so scroll past until my icon disappears <3 Stay safe, My Lovelies.]

Hey Nonny

Okay, I’m going to give you the benefit of the doubt here because you mention you DO have struggles with these issues, so I’m going to state right up front here and say I AM NOT DISREGARDING YOUR PERSONAL EXPERIENCE AT ALL. Your view of this topic is valid, and it’s not something I am ever going to say is wrong for you. 

I would like to offer an olive branch, here, Nonny, and give you an alternative take on this, because I’m concerned that perhaps you are still coping with your own struggles and in return, you unwittingly and unintentionally are coming off as unsympathetic to other people’s coping mechanisms.

I KNOW how hard it is to see another view when yours is the only one that seems right, especially after a tragedy or after dealing with heavy things. But all I am asking is for you to temporarily extend some empathy as I discuss my thoughts in this post, and I apologize in advance if I come off as dickish, because, again, it’s hard to see past your own feelings, and I tend to give a “firm but understanding” approach to asks like this. It’s NOT meant to call you our personally. Just asking for an open mind.

I will tackle this ask in a similar fashion to this post here, which talks about shipping vs fetishization so CW for that, as well as like this post here, where we discuss pet peeves. My assumption here is that Nonny is unsure about what “romanticizing” actually entails, and how much this ask is basically Gatekeeping Fiction 101, a thing that’s been going on since the beginning of storytelling. The ask is perceived by me to be emotionally unaware of how unsympathetic it actually sounds, and in turn can unintentionally upset people who engage in these stories.

First thing’s first, Nonny, and I said it before, I GET IT. I understand what you’re going for here, why you feel it’s toxic, and why you think it shouldn’t exist. Here’s the thing, though: what you’re ACTUALLY calling for here is censorship and gatekeeping because YOU PERSONALLY take issue with something, want the fandom specially curated just for you, because it PERSONALLY OFFENDS YOU. And that, it itself, is what’s really toxic, here. Just because YOU are offended, does not mean that it’s not helpful to SOMEONE ELSE, and it’s selfish to make such a demand of people.

Let me explain.

As I mention in the link above re: shipping, many people read and write fics to cope with the reality of their own experiences. Nonny, your experience is NOT the same as someone else’s. Your pain is NOT universal, and you DON’T KNOW what that author has been through; for all you know, they spent 6 months in-hospital after attempting suicide, and they are now simply processing their trauma through storytelling. 

Or, “continuing to put your partner in limbo by threatening this behavior when they don't give you enough attention” ? It’s a VERY REAL THING that ACTUALLY happens in real life, and perhaps it happened to that author, or they want to write an alternate ending to their pain.

Or, “one character to be the saviour who cures someone of their problems?” is something a suicide survivor WISHES someone did for them. Because they feel alone in the world and don’t want to be alone anymore.

These stories are simply escapism for people, either to learn about or share what these mental illnesses do to people, or are the “fantasies” of survivors, of their ideal outcome to their own tragedies. Coping with guilt over the loss of someone they feel they could have saved. The brutal truth about realty.

And sometimes, it is because some people need a good cry and a feel-good happy ending, because real life? Well, it rarely has those happy endings and so few opportunities to let us cry, and sometimes life is just easier when we view it through the eyes of fictional characters. Do you not want someone to save you sometimes Nonny? And I mean metaphorically here, too. Someone to just take all of your hellish burdens off those shoulders for one day. Someone who will come in to save you from yourself. I know I do.

And, well, sometimes, Nonny, it makes people feel less alone in this socially distanced world.

They’re not glorifying that issue Nonny. They’re telling their story.

Here are some thoughts:

Romanticization: Some trendy teen outlet selling a shirt with “mentally diseased” written across it.

NOT Romanticization: A character in a story coming to terms with a diagnosis of mental illness and learning ways to adapt. Their partner is involved 100% and they learn together.

Romanticization: Sherlock merchandise being sold with “I’m a high functioning sociopath” (not mention ableist as all heck)

NOT Romanticization: A character self-harms because of depression, and character B helps the character through their pain and together they get proper therapy and treatment.

Romanticization: Calling yourself “OMG I’m so bipolar!” because it’s trendy.

NOT Romanticization: A clinically depressed author, who survived a suicide attempt, wanting to tell their story through characters the world is already familiar with, and one that a touchy subject can be expressed and understood by other people, because they’re not ready to write the “real” book. Fandom is a safety net for them.

See what I mean Nonny? We don’t KNOW what kind of pain these authors have PERSONALLY been through, and to censor them from having their voices heard and their stories told is just not on for me.

And let me be clear: YES OF COURSE romanticization happens EVERYWHERE. I am not denying that. But your ask is coming off like EVERY STORY EVER WRITTEN is glorification of something. By your logic:

Disabled people shouldn’t write about their disabilities because they’re romanticising themselves.

The authors with medical degrees shouldn’t write realistic med-fics because some where in the world, ONE person MAY HAVE had a similar experience as Character A and B.

Someone broke their foot in ballet so they shouldn’t write a story about a ballet dancer who broke their hip because it may offend ONE ballerina SOMEWHERE in space and time who got sideline at the prime of their career? 

Stories about LGBT+ people shouldn’t be written because homophobes think it’s icky.

We shouldn’t write about wizards because it offends high school catholic pastors (an actual thing that happened)? 

How about cancer stories because kids die of cancer all the time? 

Non-fiction autobiographies about holocaust survivors is not okay.

Science books offend flat earthers, so we shouldn’t write those.

Books about the Big Bang and a 4.5 billion-year-old earth offends creationists, so burn those.

A now-adult child rape victim writing their survival stories to help get their often-in-power abusers behind bars are taboo.

True crime stories from detectives on those cases shouldn’t be told because they weren’t the victim.

Non-fiction in general because someone somewhere may have had that one singular thing happen to them.

How about coping with grief over a parent’s sudden death because I personally might find offense in that since that was a horridly traumatic experience in my life?

Do you see how progressively out of touch this argument is? (the answer to all of these: authors should be allowed to write them, because stories make us human). Your argument leads down the very dangerous path to censorship of books, the internet, and history... to have people only read and learn what someone else dictates, leading to... well.

I’m not trying to be a dick here, Nonny, I’m really not. But I think you’re really missing the entire point of fiction and story telling. I feel you’re failing in the empathy game here, and failing to understand what romanticizing really actually is. 

Whenever I get asks like this, I always feel like the Nonnies don’t really know much about pre-Ao3. I come from “early internet” fandom age, and I’m talking before tags existed. Back when I had to go buy a book at Coles and guess what was in it based on a cover description. No “amazon reviews”. No “harmful content warning” stickers. You just picked up that book, and sometimes you get a sweet story about a friends exploring an alien landscape, and other times WHOOOPS ACCIDENTAL ALIEN SEX I DIDN’T SIGN UP FOR. And sometimes, it ended with a dark story about death, and the reality of coping with it.

Twenty years ago, books on the shelves at bookstores and libraries were the only place you could do your reading and they certainly do NOT have tags on them... Modern tagging of stories are a REALLY recent thing introduced probably no less than 15 years ago and was perfected by Ao3 (which was started in 2009). 

These days, there is no excuse if you only consume fanfiction on Ao3. Fics are tagged with proper possible-trigger tags 90% of the time. They have a VERY METICULOUS filtering system. You aren’t being forced to read the fics, you don’t have to read the fics, so use those tag filters, they exist for a reason.

So, with that in mind, I genuinely DON’T GET this attitude about people wanting everything sugar coated and saccharine by default. Especially when you can LITERALLY CURATE YOUR OWN CONTENT. Life isn’t sugar coated. And fiction shouldn’t have to be either. People tag fics with triggers for a reason.

As they used to say back in my early internet days: Don’t like it? Don’t read it. Don’t comment, skip, next story.

And to put this ALL into perspective, so that you don’t think I’m talking out of my ass, I’m going to reveal something here: Do you know what fics I can’t read, Nonny, because they trigger me? Eating disorders. That’s self harm, Nonny, in a very different way. But you know what? I know that those fics DO help other ED people so I’m not going to sit her and tell people NOT to rec or write them. And some of those authors who write those stories are processing their own ED through those stories, healing in their own way. And you know what I do when I see one of those fics? I don’t read them, move on, next story.

I’m sorry if you perceive this as me being harsh with you here, Nonny, and you DON’T have to agree with me and you can block me and never talk to me again, and I’ll understand. As I stated at the beginning, I’m offering an alternative perspective, and helping you to see that some people take comfort in these types of stories.

I think what this all boils down to Nonny, after all of this, and rereading your question a final time to see if I missed covering anything, is that (and feel free to shit on me if I am wrong here) I’m getting the impression – as an unprofessional outsider looking in – that you’re still struggling with your inner demons, whether you realize it or not. The tone and brashness of your ask has me believing this... It feels like it was written after a trigger-moment and you needed to vent AT someone because you are alone, and that hurts my heart so much. I truly hope you find peace in your mind, soon, and I hope you have someone to talk to professionally, or at least a friend. (tw under link, suicidal ideation discussion and links to phone numbers that can help you). I only wish the best for you, my Nonny.

Anyway. I welcome other people to chime in here, respectfully, and let me know if I have the wrong take here. Because I genuinely don’t think I do, but I am not a professional, so my entire thing that took me 3 hours to write here is probably moot. I’m especially interested (on anon in my asks if you’re not comfy with revealing yourselves) on thoughts from other people who have survived the original topics here, as well as any therapists and authors as well.

Take care of yourself Nonny. And please curate your own content for your mental health. Ao3 has an “exclusionary tag system” as well, please use it. *hugs*