#maybe because thats what they did with their time

[terrinle]

first and foremost, i want to note, as i did in the post, that this is not about me saying gender segregation is good-- i dont think it is. i think that people should be able to access things the that they need and it shouldn't be based on gender. but that is not what i was talking about lol

this post was prompted by seeing a guy say that he had "no reason" to be excluded from womens spaces, and i just think thats kind of ridiculous, because obviously there is one reason why he would be excluded from a womens space: him being a man. that is, in fact, a reason, lol. whether you think thats a good reason is not the question. the question is: if being a man is an invalid reason to be excluded from a womens space, then what reason is there that at all that anyone can be excluded from a womens space?

if youre not out yet, then idk why you wouldnt already be allowed to go into womens spaces? like lmao. like obviously if people think youre a cis woman, they'll allow you into womens spaces? this is a complete nonstarter lol

with a lot of these, you yourself admitted they're coed/accesible by cis men, so i dont know why you brought them up? they arent relevant. medical procedures, though systemically gendered in a way that can exclude us, are not womens spaces in and of themselves, as evidenced by the existence of male doctors in these fields?

my question to you with many of these is: okay, so your theoretical guy is older and hes not out and isnt transitioning and maybe doesnt even want to. i can understand the argument for his inclusion. but does that mean that EVER trans man should be included in womens sports/dorms/etc entirely on the basis that we're trans men? because thats the argument that bothers me, the idea that, no matter what, we should be included in womens spaces, even in cases where there are existing alternatives for men that we can easily access? like what other reason could there be except for our agab?

i dont see why youd have to divorce your lesbian wife (a marriage is not a womens space lol), but i could see why she would divorce you for being a man and i also think thats fine lol. i think that if lesbians do not want men, including trans men, in their spaces, that should be respected lol. sorry! hanging out with your lesbian friends isnt a "womens space" even if it is a space with all women, lol. an event for sapphic women is not necessary for survival. this is another example wherein you have so many caveats and it feels so granual that i dont know what you want me to say. yeah, maybe in that specific case, sure, yeah, but not every trans man fits that description-- probably, most dont! should those of us who do not be included on the basis of being trans men?

honestly, i dont care if you want to go into lesbian spaces, but i do wish that trans men could ever seem to acknowledge that the whole "we've always been here 😌" is not a value neutral statement in this context. we've always been there because of biological essentialism and transphobia lol, the same kind that excludes trans women from those spaces, both historically and today. i realize a lot of trans men identify as lesbians which i think is whatever, im not gonna tell you what to do with your life, but idk, acting like there is a reason besides our agab that we're allowed to do that leaves a bad taste in my mouth every time i see it being said without so much as a nod to that fact

and yeah. of course i think men should be allowed to access dv and sa related services, shelters, and

anyway. i know i missed some of these but many of them were completely irrelevant so you'll forgive me lol, but i have to cook dinner now. i hope you understand that, as i said, i dont support gender segregation! my question was: since gender segregation does exist, then what other reason besides gender is there to exclude them?

okay my question, genuinely, to trans men in the transandrophobia space, is this:

upon what grounds can someone justifiably be excluded from a womens space if not their gender? if trans men should be allowed into womens spaces, then why not cis men? i mean, theyre men, we're men, and if we're allowed in, why shouldnt they be? "they dont face the same struggles that we do!" lmao some of them do!

its just perplexing why the statement "the only reason someone can justifiably be excluded from a gender segregated space is that they are not the gender that the space is for" is so fucking offensive to people all on its own? like yeah yeah our struggles but like we are still men, right? and these spaces are for women, right? so why is "you are being excluded for being a man" when you are one treated like this absurdly offensive thing or like theres "no reason" for it. there is one! youre a guy lol.

whether you think that you should be excluded for being a guy or not is not the question im asking here-- its that, if being a man is not a justifiable reason to exclude someone from a womens space, then what is lmao?

[solargeist]

Can Xelqua use his powers to avoid Grian’s Eyes? I’m imagining Xelqua getting mad at Grian or Grian getting mad at him and so Xelqua runs away for a bit and Grian panics because he can’t use his Eyes to find his kid

Oooooh ! Thats a funny idea, tho i always imagine the Eyes as like... spectator mode..? So Grian would have to already sorta know where Xelqua is to find him with the Eyes. Weird eyes just zooming around the map, x-raying, night vision....

Xelqua doesn't exactly know what hes doing with his Watcher powers, a lot of it comes just from his emotions since he's so young. If he's upset enough, maybe he can block Grian's eyes with his own ? Maybe ? He definitely has more than him.

Typically when Xelqua is upset with Grian, he'll tattle to Mumbo, or any close Hermit, its usually quite childish !

Grian has gotten really good at not getting mad at Xelqua--at least not showing it. This was different in the beginning of course, before he adjusted. Back in season 9 he'd often get annoyed with him and overwhelmed then. Which... I think could be a fun turning point in their dynamic.. Grian and Xelqua getting mad at each other, Grians exhausted and just not in the mood to go play outside or whatever, he snaps and uses the Good Ole "Because I said so !" argument towards Xelqua. Xelqua stomps his little feet and goes off to pout while Grian sighs heavily in a chair, he does feel way over his head, he really has a kid now ? He's practically still one himself ! Sorta, it feels like it sometimes.

Xelqua would gather courage while he's pouting, Grian doesn't ever let him go out, its not fair, he's always busy and rarely funny. Xelqua quietly goes out the door as soon as he hears Grian go to the bathroom or something.

Xelqua is not quick, he has tiny legs, he doesn't make much of a distant, but he's small, so he disappears quickly behind or under things.

Grian's panic is amplified by his Watcher instincts, losing sight of something--of a child--its a suffocating feeling, no matter how he felt moments ago. His little house in s9 is surrounded by water, he hates using Watcher magic, but theres no choice here, little purple eyes shoot out in every direction as his mind imagines the worst possible outcomes. Xelqua immediately catches the feeling of Eyes and its scary ! So against his own will, his own Eyes block Grian's. (Which doesn't help Grian's panic at all) Xelqua's instincts will always protect him, he's small, he's 5 years old, but the Watcher part of his brain is still watching out for him. Even though Grian is no threat to him, the Eyes feel scary, so they have to be blocked.

When Grian finally spots Xelqua, he uses his wings to propel himself forward to scoop Xelqua up. Xelqua barely has time to react. Grian lands a few steps ahead, still frazzled and holding Xelqua in his hands, his worry pours out mistakenly as anger. Where have you been ? Don't you know how dangerous it is here ? Grian realizes he's accidentally shouting and bites his tongue. He lets go of Xelqua and hugs him instead, which is probably the first time he's held him so tightly before while on the ground. Xelqua doesn't really know how to react to this, he thought he was in trouble, but ..? A little confusing !

Xelqua had probably JUST found a Hermit too, who was patiently and politely trying to get him to stay still while they contacted Grian. They can tell from Grian's reaction that Xelqua was definitely lying and did not get permission to walk around by himself (what a surprise)

Seeing Grian so stressed out probably pushes a few Hermits to ~gently remind Grian that hey.... you know you can always text us when you need help with him... any time !! any ! time !

Its a turning point for their dynamic, and a learning experience for both

[aliceinborderlandsquidgame]

Two can play | The Salesman x Fem!Reader

Notes/Warnings: AU - Reader wins the games - Obsess!Salesman - Possessive!Salesman - Red flag - Stalker -  Unhealthy relationship - Sex  - Salesman lowkey wants to die - OOC maybe -

"So? What do you say? How about a game? You must have seen this in movies"

After three years of looking for him, he just casually shows up. Looking as smooth as ever, looking down on you, like you were nothing, like trash.

But you did not survive six deadly games for nothing, taking a seat across from him with no emotion.

He smiled pleased to see you coperate. He had to admit, he had feel a trill when he noticed you were looking for him. The Man who gave you the card to change your life, some part of him felt like he was in you. Like this new you, the look on your face, the way you moved, it was because of him.

"Spin it" Was your response. You were not sure what you were feeling right now. But fear was not on the list.

Happy ? Nervous ? Conflicted ? Confused ? Why did you go out and look for him? Because you needed some type of way to close that part of your life ? To kill him ? Did you think on killing him ?

"Looks like its your turn" He said the smirk on his face giving away how much he was liking this.

You took the gun, eyes on him, the gun pressed on the side of your head. Cold metal, chances of living were high but the chance of dying was there.

Why did you not feel scared ? Did the games really change you ?

"How does it feel? To have death close again? And by your own hand?" He asked but you did not respond at first.

"This is nothing like I went against" You said pulling the trigger not moving when nothing happened. Leaving the gun on the table you talked again.

"Why ? Why work for them ? You send people to their deaths and you go home like nothing"

"Oh sweet (Y/N) do you blame me for their death?" He asked pulling the gun besides his own head and pulling the trigger with centrain will, like this was not his first time.

"No. You are just their dog. You just move your tail and follow the ball, thats how low you go"

Something in his eyes flicker, anger?

But it was quick moved away as he left the gun once again.

"And you? Do you think you are special because you won?" He asks leaning over the table his breath hitting your face. "You are like the rest of them (Y/N), just a scum and a worm. Someone who's life had nothing to offer"

Anger flew throw your body and you picked the gun once again the barrel against your head with more pressure than needed.

"Shut it. You dont known whats like do you? How could someone like you be emphatic towards others? I believe that word must not be in your dictionary at all"

The gun clicked, nothing happen once again.

"You think you are above me ? Like your morals gives you the right to down talk to me ?" He said taking the gun and leaning once again over you. "This is why I hate winners. You all think you are something worth it. Like you are the start of a film" His tone showed frustration, not only because of what you said but also because of what he felt towards you. With any other winner he would have never show himself. He would have let the organization do its work.

But no. He did offer himself for the task. If you were to die tonight it needed to be by his hand.

But why? Why did he feel like that ?

He looked at you, like he was expecting the answer to just come. With less exciment than last round he pulled it once again, a part of him being ready to leave this place. To not have to face the uncentrain. But nothing. The gun was left on the table once more. Something changed on the room, the 50/50 chance was now yours to take. And part of you did feel scared, but also at peace...like if someone was worth of taking your life was him. Even if the Man was someone you were not sure what feelings you had for him.

Slowly you took the gun once more. This time it was heavier, the chances were slim and him who never loses a chance noticed your now less fire revoke.

"Its getting harder right? There is only a 50% you will survive this round. But you could also say fuck the rules. I have the gun, one shot maybe two and the man in front of me will be dead and I will walk free. But if you do that you would admit that you are nothing but scum, nothing more than someone who got lucky, who's life means nothing"

Maybe a part of him wanted you to do it. The secure your life. Even if it was his the one who would end dead, the conflict he felt when he stepped in to make sure he would be the one in charge of your punishment were back.

Did he want you to die or was this is twisted way of at least give you a chance on surviving? He knew the organization would not be so kind.

But his words only made that fire in you get back. Trembling you pulled the trigger and when nothing happened you left it on the table with hard deep breaths not beliving your luck.

And now your fate was on him, if he would follow the rules of just kill you right there. It would safe him lots of problems you assumed. And also, you did not mind if it was him, he gave you the way in, he taking you out seemed almost poetic.

You saw his eyes now a flicker of something, you were not sure what it was.

"What? Its the 100% of death getting you? But you could also fuck the rules and shot me. Maybe your Boss would be so proud of you and will toss you a bone in compensation. But then you would have to admit. You wanted this. You wanted this to happen, to see us again. You wanted to be the one who would have my life in your hands. Because at the end of the day I was the only one who showed you just a bit of kidness" You whispered seeing him take the gun pulling it under his chin. "That day at the station, I was probably the only one who got worried over you"

Tense silence filled the room as you saw him for once not pull the trigger at once. His own mind was racing, yes his Boss will be happy with me and would give him money because he had deal with a problem.

But did he want that ? Or did he want you ? In a twisted way that left no room for a romance of a book but rather an obsession formed because of death and feelings he could not point out or he was too scared to even acknowledge them.

"Cmon pull the trigger" You said now yourself towering over him. "Pull the trigger or accept that you wanted this. You wanted me to find you, you wanted someone to go after you. Because no one does, no one cares for you"

The Salesman grip on the gun got thighter, he could end your life. He could end his life.

"What? Getting cold feet now? Facing the truth its hard right?" You taunted "You do some much high talk, but you are someone pitiful, someone broken who just knows the bad in people and has forced himself to believe that no one would ever care for you"

Right. He was a bad Man. He had no feelings, no attachments, it was easier that way. He never thought he was burning down human bodies, or who he was killing, he never flicked when he saw it was is own father who he had to kill. And he never cared for these he ended giving the card for the games.

"Sir..I think I went over myself last round" Your voice sounded so shy as you saw his cheeck get more red. You could not help it. The frustration had won over your own accord.

He blinked suprised by the froce and the burning feeling. It had been a while since he was slapped this hard. However the thing that truly brought him back was a soft cloth against his cheeck.

You were trying to consol him. Or at least to erase some of the pain. Him, the Man who had hitted you for five rounds now and basically mocked you. But your eyes had no look of anger just guilt...

"Sorry, it was not my intention to hurt you"

He softly took your hand and pull it away from his face. Your soft skin sending a electric shock down his body. He felt....human. And seen, like only you could care for him.

"No need to apologize Miss" He responded getting back to is usual self but a centrain and real happiness was within him. "Lets continue playing"

He admited it only weeks later how much regret he had because he ended giving you the card.

"So lets me ask you once more, why now? After three years? And why you" You pressed tears of frustration starting to form "Fucking answer me or pull that dam trigger"

What he did in response was something you never saw coming. The cold noise of the gun against the floor was the first thing your mind registered, the second were his lips on yours. Devouring you like he had waited for this moment for far too long. You could not keep up with him as he bited down your lips, pulling them till you opened your mouth and he traced the inside with his tongue. He held you by your neck pulling away after a moment when air was needed but he went on, leaving kisses down your neck, biting hard on the exposed flesh.

"Who gave you the right?" He asked but it was more to himself as he took your face between his hands. You could see for the first time the number of emotions on his always calculated eyes.

"Who gave you the right to have this control over me ? To make me think over myself again ? To ask myself things that I thought were buried"

He kissed you once more pulling you with him over the couch, letting you be on top of him as his hands went over your sides.

"Three years because I had to prepare myself. I had to be centrain that I wanted to do it" He said between kisses his left hand groping your ass. "If you were going to die tonight then only me could deliver it. Only I got to see the last time your beautiful eyes shine with life"

You could not make sense of his words. Lost in the pleasure, he heat of his body and his hand. These big hands of his going under your shirt leaving goosebumps as they went higher and higher.

"But now I know. I dont want to kill you, no. What I want its for complicated" He whispered into your ear biting it. "I want you as mine. I dont care if you want to end these games, I dont care what you want to do with the information i have. But i know what i want, and thats you"

"You are making it sound like a fucking love declaration" You said between hard breaths as he kissed down your neck pulling your shirt off.

"And you chased me for three years" He said it with a smirk on his face "So who is the crazy one at the end? I know something that you truly know too. Only I can understand you and be with you. I met you when you were nothing and had no one, and now? Well you do have the money but you are still alone"

It did hit hard you had to admit it. But he went on before you could talk.

"And you dont have to. You can be with me, let all that past suffering and loniles behind, all you have to do is to submit to me" His last words were puntuated with a thrust of his hips so you could feel how hard he was under you.

"So whats its going to be (Y/N)? A path of sadness with no one to turn and trust. Or one where you can see the devil in the eye and know its yours?"

"So now you are the devil?" You asked your own hips rolling over him making him groan in delight.

"To some...Im. To you? I can be anything you want" He said giving you one final kiss to leave you breathless.

Maybe it was the heat of the moment, the adrenaline from the game, or his wandering hands over you. But you could not denied him. You wanted him, more than anything.

"Then, I will look you in the eye, and be sure I have all your attention" You said pulling his hair to expose his neck and kiss him "You and I, what a sick twisted fate"

Sick and twisted indeed. But he would not have you in any other way.

[milklovesbyler]

HOW AND WHY AND WHEN DID THE BYLER REALISATION HIT ME - RANT

okay this is long so skip to S4 section for the more interesting stuff/when i found out about byler!

hii okay my first post on this blog! im still pretty new to tumblr but learned that u can have multiple blogs and my mind is blown. i also have an art blog i post on once a millenia @milkymetari !

Ive been a stranger things fan since 2019 when i was 13!

So i started watching stranger things in 2019 after season 3 had came out and the series peaked my interest, ive always been a fan of scifi stuff and oh boy stranger things is so cool and (mostly) well written!

When i say i LOVED mileven im not kidding, I WAS OBSESSED. On the outside theyre a picture perfect cute teenage couple, and my idealisation of that (and cmon guys eleven is like the coolest character ever) and els badassness and powers, i loved mileven.

I mean as a concept their relationship is really cute if we read it as that but yeah i do NOT ship them anymore like that 😭

Yeah i remember myself sometimes wondering about the weird things in their relationship (the way they dont share almost any interests, only kiss and mikes weird actions) but i think due to heteronormativity (toxic ships are wayy too normalized also in lgbt media) and how poorly usually female characters (but in this case mike lmao) and their relationships are written in media so i guess i had just grown to try not to care, and yeah i was just 13.

So honestly i didnt see/know byler back then AT ALL! I grew up as a semi homophobic kid because thats what i was taught, but around the time i started watching ST i grew as a person a lot and i realised maybe my ass isnt as straight as i thought ☠️ Honestly wish i did know about byler since i think seeing mikes struggles (and wills) wouldve helped me a lot! 💔

I didnt think too deeply about any media i consumed at that age, and i was already used to just not care about bad writing so i thought flaws in mileven were normal writing mistakes etc. Or how the byler fight was clearly more intense than the mileven break up 😭😭

But again i did not catch onto it.

ST 4 in 2022!!

So the year is 2022 and i excitesly watch season 4 part 1. I usually try to avoid spoilers etc on the internet so i kept myself away from st tiktok and other platforms. After i finished it i saw like a shit ton of edits of all the characters and speculation about the last 2 eps.. THEN somewhere around that time it happened, i stumbled upon byler.

okay first, i need to talk about mileven a bit, the first few episodes it was sweet, but it was obvious el was lying and unhappy, i was hoping that mike would grow and learn to be a better boyfriend and theyd end up back together.

so about byler, first i thought it was like any other ship as usual and i wasnt as blind to homoerotic chemistry anymore so it wasnt anything new or surpricing.

well, what was surpricing was HOW FUCKING BLIND I HAD BEEN TO HOW MIKE AND WILL ACTED

i mean i was confused while watching part 1 for the first time but closeness between the two was nothing unusual, and mike lashing out on will had already happened in s3 too, but yeah i was so flabbergasted and embarrased how i hadnt noticed 😭 like girl, the lip staring, yearning gazes and awkward conversations

down the rabbit hole i went and hehe😈 i got my bestie into it too and she was like omg ur so right we both agree they are endgame bbecause like theres so much evidence its not a coincidence.

ill probably make a separate post on some of the genious thoughts we had about mileven and byler in 2022 lol

i hope someone read this all, thank you <3

[weepingalaxy]

i would like to hear your mossman essay... always looking to appreciate more women (especially the half life women. god bless alyx but i think she's the only one not relegated to an expansion or trapped by Misogynistic Writing)

TAKES A DEEP BREATH. anon youve opened the flood gates with this one i have so so so many thoughts about her. these may not make sense because english is my second language and i have probably some form of dyslexia But. i hope. itll make enough sense to offer something interesting to the table

so. judith mossman. aka the perfect example of learned helplessness and how it makes you look to the past

..i have no idea how to start this in a way that isnt kinda forced so youll have to bare with me okay.

i think the core of judith as a character can be summarized by those guys who look at something in history and say "if i was there i wouldn't have done that, rip to you but im different". there's been a misunderstanding about judith in that she "glorifies" the black mesa incident, when thats never what she does or what i understood alyx's comment about her as? see, judith doesn't say it to gordon in person, only talking about the science of teleportation with him (which i'll get into), it's alyx saying how judith has gone on and on about how it should've been her in the chamber that day.

that's not a "i wish i couldve been the one to cause the incident" or glorifying what the incident did or anything, that's a "if i was there it wouldn't have happened" as frivilous and ridiculous that is to imagine for us, the players, as people who saw what happened. but she didn't see it, all she knows is something happened in the test she applied for, and gordon's at the center of it

i believe judith resents gordon. not only because he took the position she wanted/applied to, but because she blames him for the incident happening in the first place. why else would she believe things would've been different if she was there? the way she talks to him is with this surprise and focus on what eli is going to feel about gordon's arrival, then talking about her own knowledge on the teleportation technology, it feels almost like... what would i call it. showing off? but not by saying "i" or "me", but by saying we. yes it's kleiner's technology, but imagine what they'd do if they knew what we've been doing with entanglement. she's the only one who talks to him about the technology like that, and it's like she's trying to prove she's as capable as him? i guess? especially when she still props up gordon's intelligence and says she's happy they get to work together. she wants to prove even more she could've been the one at the chamber but never saying it outright to his face.

and of course, this resentment is why it's easier for her to work with wallace breen to bring gordon to him. if you had a way to ensure the safety of the people you care about, and it'd require the capture of a man you believe was the catalyst for the end of the world, wouldn't you at least like... consider it?? not to mention the way she acts with breen is very... submissive, like maybe she's been with the combine for a specific reason that he can dangle over her head that makes her unable to go against him. the safety of eli, a way to live somewhat comfortably if her wearing a pristine off-white turtleneck is anything to go by, god knows what else.

augh. sorry my brain's losing steam but like. i need to at least mention: her going after the borealis after she breaks free from combine (and, most of all, breen) control is something i took as not just her trying to find something useful for the resistance, but also like... a way to apologize/make up for what she did? but without asking for forgiveness? she went to the fucking arctic to find one of the most valuable pieces of... tech? ... most valuable artifact? Important Ship, specifically so she can fix everything. and how will it fix things?

the borealis has weird temporal elements that lets you go back in time.

of course the woman who's focused so much on the past and the "what-if"s would go looking for something that would let her fix things in the past

[irlnorthshaw]

Here's a question:

What are your Supa Strikas ships that you thought of and like, and think people wouldn't get?? (I'm curious lol-)

MIMPI... mimpi... be careful for what you're asking because you know how i am with shipping. guys i ship for life. like i dont give a damn if the ship's interaction is worth one cent... i make do with what i can and have!!! and after rewatching the show a couple billion times... i have gathered some INTERESTING ones.

liquido and riano

as you may know, i have watched "your latest trick" A LOT. yes they did interact in this one scene and never again but hear me out– they give me: liquido can't get over himself and thinks he can bag one of the finest man in the super league. but we all know riano, riano isn't having any of that. their convo would go something like this:

"hey, riano~" "goodbye, liquido."

el matador and blok

YES. yall heard me. this is also me showing some love to blok because some people seem to forget about him!!! what can i say, i love the idea of this dynamic. the thing is, sometimes i ship things in a way i wanna see more of them interacting and not necessarily picture them BEING together. if that makes sense.

these two are exactly that. i wanna see more of them interact bc lowkey i thought it was so wholesome when blok wanted to collaborate and promote fzzzl bmmm w the release of el matador's action figure.

DOOMATIC!!!!! OH YEAH BABY

if only automatic had more moments EUGH... this would've been so good. i personally pat myself on the back when i thought of this one bc i cooked HARD!!! they definitely cannot stand each other and to me, that's the best part of it all.

enemies to lovers who? more like enemies and i cannot believe we're also lovers.

skarra and north

the best way i can describe this one is. i am simply projecting myself on north and i love skarra. so... yeah #SHAMELESS

inyo and miss altivo

AKA PSYCHOLOGICAL WARFARE YURI!!! this one you guys HAVE to love. PLEASE!!! the potential is so insane here... inyo's big brains and chameleon-like tactics? combined with altivo's unwavering power over these dumb men for clicks and views??? COUNT ME TF IN!!!

we need more yuri in this fandom and THIS is where we should start.

brenda and lena

SPEAKING OF YURI... here's another one. except this time i am so surprised nobody has jumped on this yet??? futbol 360 yuri, i NEEEED IT!!! i need it now. they'd honestly be so cute and wholesome, moreover they definitely trade information abt the players for work

coach and the sheikh

now this one is a tad bit controversial BUT who am i without some controversial opinions!!! this is another case of i cannot see them BEING together, but i would kill to see them interact more. they are wayyy more entertaining than coach and vince. (THAT MIGHT ALSO BE CONTROVERSIAL) ohh... the way sheikh is so sassy w coach. maybe i just want more of the sultans... yeah thats it.

"losing your cool, coach? or just losing?" AND THEN PROCEED TO WALK AWAY LIKE THE BADDIE HE IS??? crazy stuff. i want more. NOW!!

belmont and von pushup

OKAY SO... storytime is i had an edit of these two a long time ago but i cant find it???? so consider it xander lost media at the moment. you guys need to hear me out on this because they would be SOOO PEAK!!! jock and goth but to another level i fear. as big and tough the iron tank guys are, i doubt they can stand grimm fc's haunted gimmicks.

plus von pushup works together w belmont to scare his own team bc he thinks its hilarious and perfect psychological training for them

AAAAAND THAT'S ALL... for now hehehe

sorry for the really long response but I HAD TO GET IT OUT OF MY SYSTEM!!!! i love crackships so much and especially in supa strikas bc we get a whole lot of freedom as a smaller fandom to do whatever. this was a very fun post to make, thank you so much mimpi for that lovely question!!! i always look forward to your input

[tenderjock]

#I don't think she'd be ready early/mid s6 but I think you would be able to feel what was unspoken between them the most there#it doesn't even really need to be said. it would just be nice #also yeah spuffsilla getting together first just makes sense to me. they would so make the first move on her

they TOTALLY get together like ... approx the same time period that spike/buffy get together in canon i think? only its not nearly so destructive, its still kinky and rough and not good mindset-y for buffy in particular, but its healthier and more supportive, esp on spike's part. i'm making the executive decision that buffy isnt feeling gross shame about their relationship - she's open with it to tara, at least, and maybe jenny and xander and anya. she's a little less open about the details towards dawn because of the nature of the kinky sex theyre having, and also she tries to talk to willow about it at this point but it results in a LOT of weirdness and jealousy and willow going off on her own and coming back at four a.m., stumbling like she's high and burning little holes in the wallpaper when she touches the walls.

jenny's concerned. she's never had much innate ability - she's always been theory and patterns, stuff like protective spell matrixes, like the spells she wreathes the summers house with*, not raw power like willow has. it's getting dangerous, the things willow is playing with.

he can love her in the quiet way he does, let her feel his arms ready to catch her if she struggles even if he doesn't say the words quite so well.

omwf happens and angel feels gutted because - the scoobies clearly didnt know, sure, but darla and spike and dru clearly did. all of them. and he didnt, buffy didnt tell him. he feels - is it because he is the one who has been to hell? or is it because he is less worthy, less trustworthy? he sulks in it and withdraws and its not until riley comes back that any of it gets resolved.

riley catches buffy with spike and dru, in bed, and its not - its not a secret, okay, but she still doesnt want her ex bf (who she left on bad terms with, who has been embarrassing her at every turn recently) oogling her current whatevers naked and all over her, thankyouverymuch. spike and dru are little assholes about it, which doesnt help. buffy kind of makes her excuses and flees their crypt and wanders the streets of sunnydale.

it starts raining.

she's standing there, in the rain, wishing she had the energy to cry, when angel says, "buffy?" from the basement stairs of the building nearby. she's standing kitty-corner to his and darla's apartment.

buffy goes inside. he makes her a tea. she doesnt drink it, she just curls up in his and darla's bed - she's not in - and they talk, a little. angel admits that he's been worried about her. buffy tells him she's been dreaming terrible things, things that she cant remember when she wakes. angel says he wants what's best for her, and he's not sure he has a part in that. buffy says he's an idiot, and falls asleep in his arms.

shortly after this darla plants a big wet one right on buffy's mouth right in front of everyone (perhaps at xander and anya's wedding? hmm**) and it shocks everyone and buffy is MORTIFIED but also secretly very very pleased and thats! the beginning of the infamous vampire harem

#I feel like I've taken ur au and just decided I am also a part of it so sorry <<<<<< YOU ARE A PART OF IT NOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

theres an au somewhere in which the romani spellcaster that curses angelus doesnt just curse angelus, but rather curses every vampire of the aurelian line in a, say, twelve mile radius to get their soul back.

it's rough, especially for the first few years. spike's the weepiest, but angel takes it the hardest, oddly enough. dru's absolutely nutty over it, but she's always nuts, and anyway, having the three of them to wrangle gives darla something to focus on other than the weight of her sins. they manage.

(one thing she does is research what, exactly, has been done to them. when she finds out about the loophole - even a moment's happiness - there is a gut-lurching second where darla thinks to herself, i can end our agony. and then she thinks of her last kill, a young couple and their toddler. the father had begged darla to spare the little child's life, to take him instead. the mother had clawed at darla, covering her child with her body, screaming as she died.

rather than find that moment's happiness, darla begins new research, looking into ways to secure an immortal soul to a vampire's body permanently. closing the loop, as it were.)

spike eventually gets it into his head that he wants to do the slayer thing - not kill them, like he'd planned, but to help the poor girls. dru gives him the idea. angel leaves them, at that point, in the dead of night, without telling them where he's going. darla lets him go.

there's a girl in peking - xin, her name is, and she's understandably skeptical, but she accepts their help. they fight with her until she dies, a few months later, at the hands of an apocalypse. it breaks spike and dru quite badly - cuts spike's face up, too. darla gets them out, gets them back to europe. leaves them in italy. looks for angel.

she finds him eating rats in new york city, of all places. she shakes some sense into him and gets him some clean clothes, some blood, a place to sleep out of the sun. he's wallowing, which is to be expected, but how does he figure he's going to atone for his sins if he's rotting in the gutter like so much trash?

she's too practical, he tells her. he's too fucking dramatic, she tells him, and makes him eat some more pig's blood, cold.

darla tells him about spike and dru, what they've been up to these past few decades. he shudders when she tells him about xin, her throat ripped out by enemy fangs. angel's intrigued by the concept of helping slayers, but he confesses quietly to darla that he's not ready for that yet.

so they part ways again, with the understanding that they'll stay in touch. darla bounces around the americas, running into spike and dru - sometimes just dru, as spike is off chasing rumors of slayers - until the late 1990s, when she gets a call from angel.

angel's found a girl, and he wants to get the gang back together.

[furiousgoldfish]

me as a child: looks unwell, sick or injured

my parents: absolute rage at my nerve to look like I need attention, immediate shaming and blaming me for being unwell/sick/injured with the added implication that I did this to myself on purpose specifically to ruin their life

[puppppppppy]

who is your favorite AA character? 👁️👁️

ziska… I hope capcom brings her back someday

[lucabyte]

On autonomy, and what it means to be Obliged to Help.

Bonus:

[civetcider]

what do you guys think about generic speciesless monkey? you know, this guy

[xxplastic-cubexx]

🧙‍♀️🐈‍⬛

[babyblankyerror]

Gravity Falls has a weird magnet, yes, and it dragged in Stanford in a way. He was curious and wanted to study anomalies...

But Gravity Falls somehow dragged Stanley in as well, even if it was through Stanford, I think that ought to mean something.

Like Mabel and Dipper went to Gravity falls- Dipper has his little birthmark and I suppose Mabel was a little too silly (which is lovely).

Then what makes Stanley Pines an anomoly? Maybe something to do with how he wasn't supposed to be born..

[aroaceleovaldez]

What is the PR disaster in question that made Rick announce TSATS? I wasn’t active in the online fandom at that point

Of course! This was awhile ago so it figures people don't remember it/aren't familiar:

Basically a couple years back (2020) the fandom had some posts circulate discussing the ways different characters in the Riordanverse were written poorly or offensively. There was a masterpost that went around tumblr but the two major points people were particularly focusing on were Piper and Samirah (particularly because Piper had featured prominently again in Trials of Apollo recently and the third MCGA book had further emphasized and discussed Samirah being Muslim, since it was supposed to take place during Ramadan). Basically each had multiple posts breaking down the ways they were depicted incorrectly or offensively. The entire fandom for a little bit was VERY intensely discussing this (and it's around this time the "RR crit" tag got very popularized on tumblr - it did exist before, but suddenly was being used VERY frequently - cause it was that wide-spread - though the discussion took over basically every side of Riordaverse social media on different platforms). People really wanted Rick to respond to these criticisms, so he did!

He made two blog posts, one about Piper and one about Samirah. He has since deleted both so the links are to archived versions. The short version: he essentially tried to justify his poor research and double-down that he hadn't written them offensively, actually, people were just being mean to him. The fandom, of course, reacted poorly to this.

[Further elaborated events under the cut since this got a bit lengthy]

(Fun fact, this all happened within a month or so of the time i posted an open letter on aphobic tropes in the Riordanverse that Rick replied to, and then he immediately followed with announcing that Reyna was intended to be ace-coded [which cause a LOT of fandom debate] before Rick dipped for a couple of weeks, and then came back to post the blog posts in response to Piper and Sam stuff. So I like to jokingly refer to this as "The time I imploded the fandom/drove Rick off of twitter." Twas I that set the house ablaze.)

Rick fully left social media after this and the LT Musical social media manager became Rick's social media manager for the time being.

So this all happened June/July of 2020. Tower of Nero would end up being published in October of 2020 and a few months after that Rick would state that he was done with the series and wouldn't be writing any more series installments involving Percy, and also that he wouldn't be writing a Nico quest following Tower of Nero as it "wasn't his place to" and encouraged the community to write their own versions of Nico's story.

The community continued to circulate the tumblr posts and discuss the topics of Rick's offensive character depictions, and this is also where we see the dramatic shift in how the fandom depicts Piper in fanwork (though in most cases it is admittedly not an improvement 😬) because of all this discussion. This is also around the time when the fandom brought Viria under scrutiny claiming that she was whitewashing Piper as part of the same discussions, through the justification that she was drawing Annabeth as having tan skin (which she does canonically), and if Annabeth has tanner skin then Piper then that's whitewashing Piper? Except they were using completely separate images of not fully rendered Piper art versus Annabeth in dramatic lighting, so it's all very awkward and poor logic, and did actually get kind of racist. A lot of people were calling it "Tannabeth Blackchase" (yeah, i know) or similar and a common sentiment you'd see repeated is "Don't draw Annabeth as having darker skin than Piper, because that's offensive/racist/whitewashing." (Note: it was not phrased "don't draw Piper as having lighter skin than Annabeth" - we also won't get into certain offensive depictions of Native Americans, but I digress). But yeah, the Annabeth stuff in all that did not age well at all.

Anyways, in October of 2021 however Rick would announce that he was co-writing The Sun And The Star - with a lot of heavy emphasis on how Mark Oshiro works as a sensitivity reader, and some false advertising from the official social media that Mark Oshiro was the first time a non-Riordan author would be collaborating on the series (disregarding the ghostwriters completely). One of the big criticisms in the breaking down of issues in Rick's writing was his lack of ever seeking a sensitivity reader, and fans claiming that a sensitivity reader could solve a lot of the problems. This was basically Rick's "look! I totally listened!!!!" (though it did little to actually improve things, based on the book) and in TSATS as well Piper gets a large cameo at the end where the text very directly addresses a lot of points made in criticism of Rick's writing of her.

We also then of course got the CoTG trilogy later, explicitly stated to be for advertising purposes for the show.

So basically, short version: Rick came under scrutiny for a lot of offensive writing within the span of two months, made some bad blog posts doubling down about it, left social media. TOA ends. Rick says he wasn't going to continue the series/write what would become TSATS. Community celebrates the end of of the franchise but also continues to discuss Rick's poor writing and the blog posts at length. Rick suddenly announces TSATS and Mark Oshiro's involvement. Everybody gets distracted from being mad. Show announcement stuff also happens and the discussions peter out.

[icewindandboringhorror]

Pages from trying to keep a little sketchbook-scrapbook type thing going for two weeks lol. I gave myself specific rules in hopes they might all end up more cohesive/consistent seeming, but alas, scribbly chaos reigns, it seems

[crystalpallette]

so I finished side order recently