#some of the characters being shipped going on to have more fun outside of the relationship?

[puckpocketed]

Ah yes hi hello! I have a bit of a ramble and some info about line dynamics in hrpf if you don't mind? I should probably get my research tgt and read and do a crazed metapost lol.

I don't have a lot of hockey technical sense yet (<- beginner in exam season who has a backlog to study and redearch, lol) but I do think hrpf deals with a lot of line dynamics but subconsciously. A lot of pairings aren't just based on history as the major part, but also on built-in assumptions of how the dynamic must be based on position, or interestingly, how it could've been for childhood friends.

Its not addressed very often though, it goes in as a sort of subconscious or if some is thinking about it, its a behind the scenes element, and it does not scales directly in proportion to fic size.

A lot of hockey pairings have trends where a lot of forward only pairings have to be lineys, or a couple's chemistry in a trade fic being reinforced by them being each other's liney and having the chem to be a good line. dmen/goalie pairings are rarer, as are forward/goalie pairings from my tag scrolling. They are a bit more varied but operate on a sense of protectiveness quite often. A la king/knight pairings almost.

Goalie/goalie operates on a sense of connection based on a game view and therefore worldview no one else gets, but authors don't incorporate it intentionally too often, as far as they say in notes atleast. D-partners are very very close devotional pairings usually, and as such every position pairings has a set of assumptions it comes with, an almost internalised intuition for the average hockey rpf writer.

Essentially, in hrpf, if you go deep, the line mate is sacred. They are delegated to a special status that often creates pairings but also have been relegated to a dynamic that is not in competition with the ship itself if the other player isnt a liney, because it's absolutely sacred friendship/connection/whst ever. It is often explored in longer fics or ones with certain premises, and the space loves the dynamics but doesn't always address it actively outside of certain premises, aus, and fic types (like trade fics + variants, soulmates, or character studies.)

you'll find these trends more with certain pairings and certain draft classes/eras of hockey as well. This is so long. I am so sorry. Take my words with a grain of salt and some idea hat this is in now way a very deep glance, but thatd the overall impression for someone in hrpf spaces for a while and studies in literary analysis, haha. Hope this helps?

-signed, tynedtime

[EDIT: post being referenced can be read here]I wanted to hoard this in my asks for like 7 months and marinate it but I think this should be on #myblog and so that others can see and maybe say hi.... anyways no need for apologies ever ever ever thank you so much for dropping by to explain some of this to me!! Your notes on pairing trends are super fun, but I found this part most fascinating:

Essentially, in hrpf, if you go deep, the line mate is sacred. They are delegated to a special status that often creates pairings but also have been relegated to a dynamic that is not in competition with the ship itself if the other player isnt a liney, because it's absolutely sacred friendship/connection/whst ever.

MUCH to think about. Please someone who knows more than me (guy blindly pawing around) say something profound here LOL I have half a transcript to get done and some media to gather re; line construction.

But question for you and any interested parties: do you have any reflections/insights to give on hrpf role-based relationships that go beyond pairings? threesomes and moresomes, that is (<- personally NOT a fan of the way people write/talk about three-way relationships as a way to "solve" ship wars) I'm very curious as to how it all shakes out in hrpf (if at all) given there are these sorta built-in triads in the form of forward line combinations.

Please @ me or ping me or carrier pigeon me about your crazed metapost when it drops. I will wait patiently <3

[rockinlibrarians-archive]

"She is where he stored his conscience, his humanity—and in some sense his sanity—when he wasn't able to hold onto those things himself."

^^THIS^^

I don't want to hijack the thread by quoting my own fics, but this popped into my head reading this so:

"My point is, what looks, to an outside observer, like a sick, twisted symptom of insanity…okay, it may still be a sick, twisted symptom of insanity, but it’s there for a reason. I would not have survived without Delores. She, ironic as it sounds, kept me sane. I love her, and I always will, even though I know, objectively, it’s…it’s a little weird.” ("Not Just Stupid Kids," by me. Disclosure warning before you click through, that IS a Fiktor story, if that squicks you out you may ignore it)

TBH my own headcanons rely a bit on my other headcanon that Five is on the ace spectrum-- I reject any claims that Five has a Thing for Mannequins --or even that the mannequin was in the end anything more than a conveniently human-shaped object to project Delores onto. He needed a companion-- he needed someone to love (in a general sense, not necessarily romantic) and someone to love him, so his brain made him someone. And he fell in love with her over time because she was his best (only) friend. (Because he falls in love with only his best/only friends, but that gets into my shipping, which nobody asked me to expunge upon).

I do think he eventually figured out, back in society, what Delores was, but that it didn't make her disappear-- that in fact it's easier now that he knows she's not the mannequin, because the mannequin doesn't even have to be there for her to still talk to him, out of maybe nowhere, whenever he needs her advice or encouragement.

She's very sensible. I think that's probably her most core character trait. Sensible and supportive, and that leads to calming and comforting for him.

I try not to overuse her as "conscience" in my writing, but it really is fun to write her when I do!

(Okay one more):

You're still not stopping to breathe, love. "I thought you were only here to stop me from dying of loneliness!" he exclaimed aloud. Yes, but you're not going to get un-lonely if you keep storming away from everyone you connect with.

("The Beginning of Something Else Entirely," also by me. That one is NOT Fiktor so you're safe. Also what follows is one of my favorite scenes involving a psychic from a crossover universe actually hearing Delores, and I have FORCED myself not to include the whole thing because it does go off topic eventually and I'd just be being self-indulgent. ANYWAY!)

now I will shut up.

OK, can you please give me all of yours five and Delores headcanon

[microwavetoaster-selfships]

Okay sooo...in relation to my last post, which I will try and not verbatim, I am considering having this blog still be its own thing for Cars and all that jazz, still serving as my 'main' blog. And then having a separate blog(ONE. JUST ONE.) Where I put alllll my nonsensical ramblings or gushing or whatnot over other characters there. So it will be two blogs total. Just this one serving the same purpose it always has, and then a second one that will just be a jambalaya of "Oh I wonder what Kane has dug up in the mines this time. Let's go find out!"

How I am going to merge everything from my other blogs, I'm....not too sure. Since it'll all be just one big bang of different fandoms that'll sway a lot from how much I am or amn't fixated on them, I probably won't go too crazy with making different links to things like my S/Is story with them or whatnot, and I will just cut it all down to one carrd so there's not like five different ones to read through.

I think I will keep the other blogs simply as archives, if you will, just because sometimes I like to look back at myself losing my own mind. But I won't post from those blogs anymore, they will simply just be...floating around.

[unluckiestmember]

Mouthwashing X Innocent! Reader

Characters: Anya, Swansea, Daisuke, Curly and Jimmy

Warning: Mention of death, but outside of that, none. SFW.

A/N: Should I open up requests for Mouthwashing? I absolutely love this game so I wouldn't mind doing some headcanons here and there for it!

Anya

When it came to everyone in the Tulpar, Anya tried her best to have a strong bond with her crewmates. You were no exception. She found your presence along the spacecraft to be a breath of fresh air. She is always delighted to see you and super excited to teach you all she knows about medical practices and safety she’s read up on. When you, her and Daisuke are together on game nights, she always knows it’s going to be one of the best nights ever.

Some nights when she stays up, she appreciates your company and will even tap into her motherly instincts by laying your head on her shoulder or lap while she hums a tune to you. You are one of the only people who knew about her “incident” and jumped straight into action against Jimmy. Anya greatly appreciated it but always tries to keep you out of trouble out of fear of you getting hurt. The final days of her life were hard, but at least she can look back and confidently say that you were one of the best people she’s ever met. She hopes you two meet again in another life…

Swansea

Swamsea didn’t like you when he first met you. He thought you were another airhead like Daisuke or some quiet soul like Anya. But after a while, he came to secretly care for you like one of his children back on Earth. You are one of the only people he opens up about his family to, reminiscing on the past and revealing his inner turmoil as a father. He appreciates how you simply listen instead of overlapping him, bearing his heart to you unlike another lovable young member aboard to Tulpar.

If you love shoes, Swansea will find it easier to love you since the both of you bond over shoes of many kinds. If your shoes get ruined during the crash, he won’t hesitate to give you his own shoes so you don’t hurt your feet on loose materials. Swansea reminds you a lot of your own father, so you guess you can call him a dad away from home? He’ll act annoyed, but he secretly loved this title. He always did…

Daisuke

Let’s not lie to ourselves, when Daisuke first laid eyes on you, he wasted no time rushing to your side. In your eyes, you might’ve seen only a fellow co-worker, but for him, he saw a new friend. The both of you ended up being pals way before the Tulpar even set off into space! The members aboard the ship like to label you two as siblings, one being a chaotic brother and the other the sweet gentle sibling. A golden retriever and a puppy to say the least.

When he’s not bothering Swansea or hanging out with Anya, he’s rushing to your side to see if you want to take turns playing Pokemon on his gameboy or if you want to play dress up with his abundance of clothing. Sometimes he’ll open up about his life at home, revealing the troubles he has with his parents and how he doesn’t like to be labeled as the “rich kid on board for fun and games”. It hurts, but it helps knowing that you’re sweet enough to look past that aspect of him. Even with that axe hanging over his head, he could at least close his eyes and drift to sleep knowing that in taking this job, he met his true best friend; You.

Curly

Though the both of you didn’t spend much time together, whenever Curly was around he always tried his best to make sure you were comfortable along the Tulpar. When you two first met, he could tell you were shy and nervous about your space voyage together. So in good spirits, he opened up a dialogue of Pokemon with you, leading to not only you revealing more of yourself to him, but also attracting the rest of the team. Whenever he had cake aboard the ship, he would always sneak his slices over to you and Daisuke since he made sure to note you loved sweets.

After evaluations with Anya and others, he always made sure to treat you in some way for being such a good member of the crew. The time the both of you spent together was short, but also as sweet as commodorative cake and Curly would’ve loved to spend more time with you. Unfortunately, his chance has passed… There were so many times he wished he would have opened up to you and just. Be your friend instead of your captain… Some captain he was, right? If only he knew that even up to the end, you still cared for him…

Jimmy

If you got any requests for Arcane or X-Men '97, send them my way! Screw it, if you have Mouthwashing requests too, then throw them my way!

Likes and retweets are always appreciated! I love you all, stay hydrated and have a good day! <3

[sunderwight]

More cumplanewar au thoughts (stealing the ship name idea from @thesadisticsiren):

-This throuple is like, two guys and their attack dog. At a glance it would seem like SQQ and SQH are the two guys and LQG is the attack dog, but it actually depends on the situation.

-SQQ is the attack dog for winning verbal arguments, and Shang Qinghua is unleashed when the best solution would be to just ruin some clan's big picture financial prospects for the next ten generations. Liu Qingge might stab you but the other two are more likely to make you wish someone had just stabbed you.

-Yue Qingyuan has mixed feelings about this whole situation, but standing on the outside and smiling sadly at this strange adult version of Xiao Jiu while he moves on with his life without him feeds his emotional masochism, so that's mostly what he goes with.

-Qi Qingqi did not know that men could have polycules. She thought this was mostly just something women did when they smartened up and realized that having sex with each other and locking their shitty husband out at night was a better way of coping with being in a harem than competing. Live and learn.

-Luo Binghe eventually joins Cang Qiong (despite numerous efforts to get him into some other sect) by climbing Bai Zhan Peak. SQQ and SQH start coming up with contingency plans for what to do if there's some sort of "kill his own shizun" mandate in effect and Liu Qingge bites it. This is useful stuff just in general, given that Liu Qingge is still just lousy with character death flags and also has literally made it his job to run headlong into dangerous situations.

-Shen Qingqiu still manages to die the most.

-Mu Qingfang doesn't know why these two specific martial brothers of his with like zero medical training keep coming to him with new miraculous methods for healing multiple amputations and heavy blood loss, but he is NOT complaining.

-Huan Hua Palace Master likes to make insinuating remarks about Cang Qiong's "famous fraternal love" between peak lords in a way that seems perfectly polite but also implies something seedy is going on. This doesn't work out well, mostly because it flies right over Liu Qingge's head, Shang Qinghua is just nodding along and feeding every scrap of HHP intel he gets to Mobei Jun, and Shen Qingqiu's roasting ability was forged in the fires of online comment sections, so pitting him against a tacky drama villain is like releasing a feral cat onto a small island that has only evolved flightless birds with no native predators.

-It actually does take them a while to start fucking. Mainly happens because of sex pollen the first time, of course, and then Shang Qinghua has to just be like "that was fun, let's do it again" so that Liu Qingge and Shen Qingqiu can yell at him about it until they calm down enough to agree.

-Liu Qingge keeps trying to get Officially Married, but Shang Qinghua doesn't want to do the paperwork (worries he's secretly the third wheel and they're going to want to get rid of him at some point), and Shen Qingqiu doesn't want to firm things up until after the plot has passed (thinks he might still get murdered and doesn't want to make things 'messy' if that happens).

-There is a persistent external impression that the shrewd & scheming SQQ and SQH have basically beguiled and bewildered Liu Qingge into their beds in order to exploit his potential and use his body. Shen Qingqiu tears this porn to shreds, Liu Qingge is reluctantly into it, and Shang Qinghua is just surprised to be cast as a top even though he's the shortest.

-Mobei Jun trying to figure out how to navigate human culture just well enough to get into the polycule but only to exclusively date Shang Qinghua is the lady with the math equations meme.

[grandline-fics]

Terms of Endearment

DESCRIPTION:  You call them by a term of endearment without realising 

WARNINGS: just fluff, mentions of alcohol in Luffy's

CHARACTERS: Ace, Sabo, Luffy | Law, Kid, Shanks, Marco, Zoro

WORDS: 1,933

A/N: The next part in this in honour of reaching 500 followers. Hope you all enjoy

*REQUESTS ARE OPEN*

MASTERLIST | PROMPT LIST

———————

ACE

You knew nothing would ever happen between you and the Division Commander. You knew he was just a likeable guy who was friendly and warm with everyone. Countless times you told yourself that he was just nice with everyone and yet still you couldn’t help but feel your heart beat just a little faster when he smiled at you and you couldn’t stop yourself from liking him a little more each time he spoke with you and spent time with you outside of chores and tasks being done onboard the ship. It didn’t matter though, even with the knowledge nothing romantic would happen you were happy to be considered a close friend of Ace’s.

One morning you were perched on the edge of the ship’s railing and keeping a critical eye on the thick wall of cloud draped over the entirety of the sky above the next island you were approaching. It made a stark difference to the clear blue you and the rest of the crew were currently under. You were no stranger to the absurdity of the ever changing weather and separate climates certain islands had but seeing what you were going to be greeted with was starting to sour your mood. It wasn’t as fun stopping at an island if there was a storm to endure.

“Glaring at the clouds won’t make them change you know.” You looked over your shoulder to see Ace hop up onto the railing and sit down beside you. Glancing out of the corner of your eye you were jealous of how relaxed he was and let out a long sigh as you returned your stare to the clouds you could now see were darker than you had originally thought. 

“Who knows, stranger things have happened on these seas.” You mused, scowling harder now that the idea was in your head. “Maybe I have the ability to control weather and neither of us knew it? Don’t know unless I try.”

From beside you Ace laughed, reclining back to support his body on his elbows and grinned up at you. 

“If that were possible, that’d be a pretty dumb gift. Glaring at clouds to make them obey you? You’d get a headache all day.” You rolled your eyes and laughed, getting more comfortable too, lying down and tucking your arms behind your head. 

“Look we can’t all be super amazing and control fire like some people, Ace.” You teased, a small yawn breaking from your lips as your eyes closed. You were still a ways away from the stormy island so you may as well make the most of the sunshine and warmth until then. “Some of us are just boring.”

“I definitely wouldn’t call you boring.” Ace told you. Safely in the knowledge that you couldn’t see him, he could observe you carefully with softened gaze. “You’re one of my favourite people to hang out with.” 

“Aw thank you love, you always know just what to say.” Your relaxed smile brightened considerably but you were too drowsy to open your eyes again to look at the man beside you. It was also why you hadn’t realised your slip of the tongue. Ace however tensed and sat up a little straighter from his once relaxed position. His eyes were widened and a soft pink was dusting his freckled skin. All this time he’d thought his feelings were one-sided and now he was hit with the reality that it might not be the case. Overcome with a burst of excitement and hope he quickly lay back down and used his hat to hide his giddy expression and began to think about how to subtly broach the subject when you were awake.

SABO

“You’re not going to improve if you don’t keep your focus.” Hack lectured, swiftly knocking Sabo back with ease. Sabo managed to recover from the attack and retaliated with one of his own that was completely dodged to the point it made the attack look so pitiful. Hack paused in the sparring match to frown at the younger Revolutionary. “Seriously, what’s with you today? Do you need to take a break?” Quickly Sabo shook his head and forced himself to keep his attention on Hack but even then he couldn’t help but feel your presence silently calling to him. 

You were oblivious to the power you had over the Chief of Staff, even from the very first day you joined the Revolutionary Army you’d somehow managed to make Sabo immediately endeared to you. Given Sabo’s personality he was able to pass off his momentary slips and lack of concentration when you were around and for the most part others hadn’t made the connection. Most being the word. People like Hack, Koala, and Dragon however knew. Normally Hack wouldn’t mind and ignore it but this was the third time in the short amount of time of the sparring match that he’d seen Sabo zone out and look your way as you were speaking with Dragon about a recent mission you’d been on. Enough was enough. After knocking Sabo onto his back, Hack turned and called you over. You finished your conversation with Dragon and approached the sparring pair with a soft, expectant smile while Sabo got to his feet. “I want you to spar Sabo with me. Perhaps having two opponents will help sharpen his dulled senses.” 

You became concerned to hear Hack’s less than complimentary tone at the blond and you looked to Sabo with a light frown, scrutinising his features carefully. Could it be he was sick? Was something else be bothering him? It wasn't like the Chief of Staff to be so distracted especially when it came to his training. At the suggestion of you fighting along with Hack, Sabo’s expression became a mix of uncertainty and irritation. He didn’t want to spar against you but he couldn’t outright deny Hack requesting you join them given he had no real reason to oppose it. Sabo could only take a breath and adjust his stance while praying he didn’t make an embarrassment of himself.

At first having you as part of the fight helped Sabo when it came to focusing on the fight, by having two skilled fighters attacking he didn’t have the ability to pay attention to his personal feelings. However when he kept his sight on Hack as the priority he’d slipped up and forgotten you. You took the window of opportunity and ducked under Sabo’s arm, your face less than inch from his. Quickly you hooked her arm around his and tucked your foot around his ankle, twisting and knocking him to the ground. You kept a firm hold on Sabo’s wrist and pressed your knee into his back. “Give up sweetie?” you asked innocently, unable to see Sabo’s eyes widen. Before he could respond you were abruptly called for by another Revolutionary to go out on a mission. Pouting you released Sabo and left him and Hack. 

“Please tell me I didn’t imagine that…” Sabo uttered, almost begging Hack. He looked up to see the Fishman grin at him and help him to his feet. 

“No I heard it too. Funny thing is I don’t think they noticed they did it.” Sabo watched your retreating form and brightly smiled. 

“Interesting.”

LUFFY

For the most part Luffy can be considered fairly clueless about a lot of things if they don’t involve his ambition to be King of the Pirates and obtaining the One Piece, doing whatever he wanted and eating all he wished. That included his own deeper feelings at times. However no matter how complex Luffy’s emotions were about certain things he found it easier to break them down into more simplistic views and gain a better understanding about them. He found he had to do that with you and the longer you were part of his crew the more he had to take an inward look at his feelings. So far he was able to discern that he liked you, he liked being around you and it was mutual because you’d been all too eager to join his crew. For the longest time it was simple as that. 

Things however became complicated one night after he and the rest of the crew helped free another town from a corrupt ruler. As always the celebration was a large affair with plenty of food, music and drink. While Luffy wasn’t a drinker and happily indulged in all the food he could get his hands on, you were pulled into a drinking contest with some of the locals along with Nami, Zoro, Franky, and Usopp. You’d managed to hold your own for a respectable amount but when you felt the world being to tilt and your mind grow hazy you knew you wouldn’t be able to handle anymore. 

Staggering from the table you somehow managed to wander to the only spot you knew you’d feel completely safe and content with. You didn’t know how you managed it, call it instinct or sheer will but you stopped beside your Captain and slid down to sit on the soft grass beside him, leaning against his back for support. Luffy looked over his shoulder to grin at you before continuing to eat. “You lost huh?” he laughed before taking a large bite of a meat skewer.

“It’s cheating when Zoro plays.” You grumbled, shifting to get more comfortable against your Captain. “He’s so smug too. Didn’t even wanna win anyway.” You fell into soft laughter with Luffy and then drifted into content silence. Subconsciously Luffy moved while he ate, seamlessly turning so you were leaning against his side and neither of you seemed to even notice the new position.

When morning came and you woke with a hangover and lack of memory you let out a worried groan, hoping that whatever you’d done wasn’t too embarrassing or at the very least you hoped that everyone else was also too drunk to remember too. Wincing you pushed yourself up to see that you were in your own bed. Hazily you tried to force your brain to work and managed to pull out the image of Luffy which made sense, he was your go-to for anything. Knowing he didn’t drink, you knew you could also rely on him for the truth on what you failed to remember. You found Luffy sitting on Sunny’s head just as you knew he’d be but you became worried to see him frowning, deep in thought. “Everything okay Luffy?” you asked, flinching when Luffy’s head swiftly snapped around to look at you intently. 

“No! You’re not allowed to call me that.” Immediately worry and guilt took hold. What had you done? Would he ever forgive you? Oh no, what if it was so bad he’d kick you off of the ship for good. 

“Wh-what do you mean?“ You asked panicked and feeling sick which was not from the hangover. “Whatever I’ve done I’m sorry but I don’t remember. Please tell me what I did wrong. I can fix it.”

“You didn’t do anything wrong.” Luffy’s expression became confused. “I’ve just decided that you can’t call me Luffy anymore I like what you called me last night after I helped you to bed better.” 

“Oh…” you couldn’t tell what you were feeling in that moment exactly. Desperately you tried to think what you called him, silently thankful that whatever it was hadn’t offended him. “Well if you want me to call you that instead you have to remind me.”

“You called me dear.” Luffy grinned while your face reddened.

[ordowrites]

cw: yandere, possessive behavior, afab reader, power imbalance, spanking ment. (arle), hinted kidnapping, hinted imprisonment pet names, unhealthy relationships, mdni.

characters: arlecchino, scaramouche, diluc.

minors and blank blogs dni.

Diluc stares at you in a way you can't describe - those red eyes of him make your skin prickle as you adjust the tille on your dress and play with sleeves that flare out to give you a floral look. (Though you think you look like fire, because it's red and you're beginning to hate the color). You watch as his lips thin into a line as that red gaze looks down to where your chest is more noticeable before glancing back up.

Your heart pounds in your chest as he strides over to you, long legs breaking the distance. You want to run - you didn't want to be here.

When he parts his lips to speak, you flinch, expecting the worst.

"How beautiful you look, my love." You're sure he was going to say something else, with that expression on his face. His hands rest at your hips and you wonder about burning this dress the same way you did your wedding dress (pawning it off for mora would be impossible). "However."

"However...?" you prompt, growing concern. Tonight is already ruined and you were hoping maybe, for a moment, you could have some fun.

Diluc clearns his throat, his hand working up to the low cut but tasteful part of the dress and tugs it. He can get a nice eyeful of your breasts, but not too much. It is conservative but fashionable. "However," he continues, voice raspy now, face reddening a bit. "Must it be so...revealing?"

"You are the one who chose this dress." You point out. Because this rich people party is required for you to attend, and you don't want to go through another however long it will take to choose an acceptable dress. "So I am going to wear it."

Even though you'd like it if it were another color, you think to yourself.

Diluc lets out a breath through his nose - choosing to concede and letting his hands concede. No doubt nobody needs to see the tycoon and his unwilling wife argue today. If you argued, he'd have to claim hysterical and there would be more gossip.

"If you say so, my love." he says, weakly. "But if I feel you are receiving too much attention or -" Too much attention means you're talking to unapproved people, you mentally add on. "you are behaving inappropriately, you will be retired for the night."

Diluc controls many things in your life and you're more than surprised he conceded so easily. Perhaps the argument just was not worth it.

For now.

The dress feels nice with the growing heat of the summer, the cool breeze that comes off the sea helps relieve some of the worst feelings of being hot - though you consider jumping in or hiding in one of the ships, until you consider whose eyes might be on you and the color of your favorite summer dress.

Had been your favorite summer dress.

The familiar soft click of heels that make you tense and shudder approach.

"Good afternoon, you look much like a flower today." Arlecchino is still able to make you feel as if you're in the dead of winter and not in the height of Fontaine's summer. "Were you not supposed to stay with in the city, little flower?"

Affectionate nicknames are not her thing - you are in trouble.

"I wandered," you lie. "It is merely the docks, and the sea is so beautiful today." She is always so composed but the Knave looks at you dead in the eyes and you have to look away. "Am I needed elsewhere?"

"No." comes the answer. "But perhaps return now before you get hurt."

By you or by them? you wonder as you don't fight how her hand goes to your hip and she guides you away from the docks, none of the sailors pay you any attention.

"Since you wish to run off without permission, I suppose we can spend a little time outside today." Alrecchino's tone is a warning and you can already feel the sting of her palm against your skin. "Don't think of this as a reward, but merely a mercy. It is quite nice and cabin fever is no fun."

Her nails dig into the flesh of your hips.

"But do remember you are in trouble." You nod weakly. "I do like this dress on you. Perhaps you should wear it out more. Much better than your usual choices."

"Thank you, ma'am."

"Good girl." And you are forced into compliance as she leads - not guides - you home. You can't help but glance over your shoulder, hungry to escape to the sea and leave Fontaine. But there is no place in Teyvat where her claws won't reach.

"What are you wearing?" Scaramouche demands with annoyance as you finally grace him with your presence that evening. It's nothing revealing - oh no, you want to annoy him, not get hurt.

"Clothes."

"You should wear the clothes more befitting of your station. Did the servants not choose something better for you?"

"They did." You answer as you survey the food on the table. Your stomach grumbles. You're hungrier than usual, but he worked you to the bone today. His expression tells you that he's not unhappy but he has to make a coniption anyways. "I was running behind, My Lord. Why make you wait for all the ribbons and ties to be done when this is just as nice and lovely but quick?"

You aren't wrong but there's just one thing -

"And, My Lord, you have impeccable taste in fashion."

You grin when you see a bit of red dust his skin. He clears his throat.

"Whatever. Just - just eat." You've won this round, quite peacefully, too. Normally, he says more words but when you compliment him - rarely - you can sway him as best as you can. The mental tally is updated in your head and you thank him for his benevolence and forgiveness before beginning to eat yourself.

But he doesn't eat - his cheeks still red as he stares at you, watching. Studying.

"I suppose you do look good in my clothes." he says, after awhile. "Don't make this a habit."

"Of course not, Lord Scaramouche."

[pinkiemachine]

Hello! I've really enjoyed your work for a while and have a Batman question for you!

How do you feel about Maps?

I HAVE PLANS

I’m just a little nervous to share them because it ties into shipping…

But since someone in the comments asked...

Okay, so, before, during, and/or after Damian's crush on Amythest (link to that full story below) he was going to West-Reeve School and had a group of friends there, including Jon Kent (jus kidding, Jon had a friend group, and Damian just happened to be in it, lol). One of these friends was Mia, aka Maps. Now, like a lot of characters, I haven't gotten around to really truly reading up on Maps as much as I want, so there are a lot of details I'm missing from this story, but what I have so far is:

Maps was always getting caught up in adventures, intentionally or accidentally. She's a bit rambunctious, and very intelligent. For example, she wound up stumbling into a serious criminal case that Damian and Bruce were working on at the time, and she was completely oblivious (like, she was focused on this other thing at the time). Damian was with her during their trip into Metropolis' version of Crime Alley, so he had to protect her from (idk, scarecrow? riddler? whoever, I haven't gotten that far) all while trying to make sure she doesn't notice that he's doing all this karate and parkour and bending over backwards to keep the villains from hurting her. lol. BUT, actually, one day she does notice. One day she puts two and two together and realises that Damian is Robin. She doesn't confront him, though. She actually doesn't tell anyone. Quite frankly, she's a little starstruck at the idea of her classmate being ROBIN, and she doesn't know what to do with that information. She decides to simply keep his secret, for his sake. Imagine if the whole school found out, or worse, Gotham's criminals. But so, to sum up, Dami and Maps are good friends, nothing more.

Eventually, Damian gets kicked out of West-Reeve and starts going to Gotham Academy. Which means he and Maps part ways.

We are now in the depths of high school. I know. Ew. During this time, Damian meets and begins dating Nika, aka Flatline. They have a very exciting, very fun relationship, forged in the heat of youthful passion! Aka, it's cute. But, as time goes on, some of their flaws start cropping up. Like the fact that Damian is beginning to understand what a terrible thing death and killing are, while Nika is actively fascinated by death--drawn to it. She also looks up to Damian's mom for her awesome assassin skills. Also, it begins to become clear that while they do like one another and have fun together, there's not much more to it than that. Nika and Damian both have a hard time communicating their feelings, but after a year of being together, Damian is beginning to want to take the next step, and... Nika isn't.

Valentine's Day. Damian and Nika's first. All of Damian's bat-sibs have been in his ear about how to plan the perfect date--where to go, what to eat, what to wear--they will not shut up about it. In the end, he goes to the trouble of planning out an elaborate date and feels rather proud of himself. He waits at the table for Nika to arrive--since they had agreed to meet at the restaurant--but... she doesn't show. He waits a little longer... he texts her... she still doesn't come and doesn't text. And now he's starting to just feel depressed. He put in a lot of hard work, and she's ghosting him? Why? She's never done that before. It begins to rain outside.

While he's sitting alone at the table, who should approach him but Maps herself, a little older now, and a little more mature. She and her parents are in town for some business stuff her dad's doing and when she spots Damian--out of the manor, alone in the restaurant--she just has to stop and say 'hi.' Well, she ends up saying a lot more than just 'hi.' Damian is happy to see an old friend, and they start talking... and talking some more... there in the cozy restaurant while the rain patters against the windows. Damian is smiling. And laughing. She is too. Then Damian offers to walk Maps home, and they talk a little longer, not wanting the night to end. It's only when they're waving goodbye, and Damian watches that big smile spread across her face and feels his cheeks growing warm that he gets this sinking feeling.

He goes to Dick's house at once, seeking council. It doesn't matter that it's midnight and he's got a baby now, Damian needs to know what just happened and what to do about it. So, tired but sympathetic, Dick lets him in and they talk about the events of the evening. Dick reaffirms what Maps said, "Maybe there's a good reason why Nika didn't show" and that there's no reason to panic. Just take this one day at a time. Nothing truly bad or irreversable has happened yet.

So Damian goes and finds Nika, asking why she flaked on their date, and she says it was an honest mistake. Something (plot) related came up and she forgot to tell Damian that she wouldn't be available anymore. Whoops. So crisis averted. Damian convinces himself that the night with Maps was just two old friends catching up--his relationship with Flatline is fine--and there's nothing to worry about.

Just kidding.

Nika has a few more little incidents after this, like flaking again, or showing up when she wasn't expected (often at inconvenient times) Damian keeps getting frustrated with her, not just because of her seemingly immature behaviour, but also (as stated before) there doesn't seem to be anything truly substancial holding the relationship together besides some rather surface-level things, and Nika is intentionally trying to keep it that way. Eventually, they have a fight where Damian confronts her on this. He just wants to know the real her, he doesn't want just a "fun" relationship. Nika, however, still feels like she isn't ready, and she deflects. She falls back on old habits, she ignores, she retaliates, she tries to make things stay the way they were before, but Damian has outgrown that.

The fight ends bad. They try to make up after, but they have another fight a while later... and then, in a twist, it's Nika who breaks off the relationship. Maybe they could have worked, but... not right now.

When Maps shows up again, it's not as a rebound, don't worry. She shows up as a friend. She's there to console Damian, nothing more. She feels partially responsible for all of this, actually, and regrets any part she played in it, but Damian assures her that this was a long time coming and wasn't her fault. During her visits, they end up talking more, completely just by chance. No pressure, no elaborate dates, just two friends talking. Once Damian is moving on and getting back into his old groove, (aka a brief timeskip) he decides to call up Maps and asks if she would like to hangout.

Not sure how fast I want things to move, or what kinds of challenges they will face as a couple, all I know is... Maps is a serious contender for the title of Mrs. Damian Wayne. I'll leave it at that.

Your thoughts?

Oh, previous stuff about Dami's love life here:

[sunrisecaminus]

How is it like to date them (Deception) headcanon

Message - I will only do five characters at a time for Headcanons so I just chose a bunch of different Decepticons that would be good for this.

Megatron/Dreadwing/Starscream/Airachnid/Soundwave x Reader SFW

Summary - Headcanons of the human dating a bunch of the Decepticons.

Warning - None

Megatron Dating this mech could be a blessing and a curse at the same time. He would love and cherish you, forcing others to respect your presence. On the other hand, he is an angry beast that can do idiotic things without your knowledge. Would he ever yell at you? Only if you did something that could hurt you. He does not want his girlfriend damaged in anyway and whoever hurt his love will be murdered in front of everyone. If you ever saved him from death, but caused yourself to get hurt in the process, yeah no he is still going to be mad at you for saving his life. He does not care if he was going to join the Allspark, Megatron will be very protective of you. Friends? Only you can be friends with the people on the ship. If you had friends outside the faction, sorry you will never see them again. Maybe if you got a bit closure to Megs, you could call and skype the friends that are not Decepticons, but he will hate them. Him on a daily basis would be getting loved on, watching him yell at people for failing, and than getting loved on again after the whole event went down. If you are dating Megs, you have to be friends with Soundwave. Soundwave respects Megatron and if Megatron sees someone as family, the third in command will treat you as he would with Megs. Though Starscream would probably get on your nerves every week, might have to tell Megs to control his second or some help you Primus. Dates would be either in Megatron's birth or on top of the ship looking at the stars while talking. Megatron when he is not being a warlord is quite a lovely man. He loves to show you things that others haven't, don't get me started on gifts. One of is many love languages is gift giving, and will share you many shiny rocks and jewels. If you are a sweet soul, he will never let anyone touch you or interrupt you. If you are a fierce bratty bitch like him, than the whole ship is ready for Megatron #2.

Dreadwing He is very mature and gentle with you at all times. Even during your more touchy times, he will not lust over you in anyway. He is a romantic angel, wanting you to have your brightest moments. If you were sick, he would be there for everything. Need anything while he is on a mission? That mech would remember to grab it before he comes back every time. Dreadwing is a very traumatized bird and needs lovin, so please give him support when he needs it. He is the best when it comes to caring for your feelings and will pay attention to everything you have to say. Dates with him would be flying in the air or laying around on earth to talk. He would talk to you for hours if he wasn't so busy. Dreadwing loves holding you and feeling your soft body. He gets very flustered when you kiss him and will cherish those kisses forever. Don't get him wrong, he will fight anybody that seems to give you a problem, but if you don't want him to fight anybody, he will back down immediately. Telling you stories of him and his brother, showing pictures of his adventures is what you will hear a lot of the time. Your stories will be interesting to him, always asking you questions to understand what specifically happens in your stories. Going to bed with him is so warm, nuzzling you or massaging your back until you go to sleep. If you are really shy, he would talk very softly to help not make you scared. Oh and don't worry about him ever getting angry at you. His two emotions with you is either happy or sad. Anger is thrown out the window once you said yes to him being your boyfriend. You have a plane that will obey your every command, have fun.

Starscream Nah, he would make you his second if he became leader. Starscream would never lie to you, which could be funny sometimes if you see him flat out lying to someone about not wanting to kill Megatron when you know everything he told you a few hours ago about having a plan to assassinate him. Starscream will treat you like he would to himself, you are hot and very pretty to him. He loves to grab your hips with his servos and not let go unless you kissed him. If He notices you upset, he would want to know what happened as quickly as possible to help you fix the problem. Anybody that made you sad will having their life made into a living hell because Starscream may look like a pathetic bean in front of Megatron, but we can't forget how powerful he really could be. He is Starscream, the second in command of the Decepticon Army; This mech will make anybody wish they didn't harass his favorite person. Best dates with him is flying or taking naps. OH he is the best person to take a nap with. Starscream can find the best places to sleep and you could be in his arms for hours, just having your eyes closed and not thinking about anything except each other. If you were as sassy as he is, he would support you from behind whenever you are yelling at someone. If you were a shy person though, he would try to get your confidence level to increase a bit. Starscream is worried someone would manipulate you and use you when they pretended to be your friend. Yes he only worries this because he is very good at showing his friendly side when he wants something, but he knows others around him can do it to you and wants you to protect yourself when he isn't there. Finally feeling some empathy for someone, he wants you to never leave him…he doesn't want to let go the feeling of finally being loved.

Airachnid This freaking spider is the worse when it comes to you being friends with others. She wants you for herself and no one else. Want to be friends with Knockout or other soldiers? Nope! Never! She will either kidnap you before you become friends with them, or she will kill the soldier if they are too low ranked for Megatron to notice. Airachnid will remember all your favorite foods, animals, and toys. She would spoil you and buy everything you wished. Airachnid is pretty good at all dates; Best places for her is either her hive or somewhere around earth when it is dark. Get use to her scary the shit out of you sometimes, Airachnid loves to hear your little yelps or screams. No one would mess with you, no one wants to deal with Airachnid. Mostly it was because she did not care if Megatron gave her an order, she will do her own thing and kill any soldier without hesitation. Walking with her outside in the mountains would be always so nice to do with her. She understands when people want to leave the ship, it being so cramped and all. She would get angry at you, but only if you did things she told you not to do. If you both got a bit closure, Airachnid would be shocked if you purposely disobeyed her and needs you to explain yourself before she starts yelling. If anything happened, and it was your fault, she will still defend you. Even if the argument was a losing battle, she would yell at the person for even starting shit with her and her girlfriend/boyfriend.

Soundwave Get ready to either not have anything to do with him, or be with him for days without a break. Yes, he is the reason why the Decepticons haven't lost yet, no he will not quit his job just for you…he wants to though. Soundwave is good at dealing with a work life while also having a love life. He loves your kisses and hugs, Soundwave doesn't get as much love as you think he gets. His date nights would be in his birth room to watch movies, or eating somewhere outside. Yeah, his face would never be seen, but Soundwave likes to watch you play with Laserbeak. If you ever got bullied or harassed, the mech who picked on you would never be seen again…ever. Soundwave can see everything on the cameras. Soundwave would not let anybody treat you like a dog or an idiot, he would either tell Megatron to deal with them, or do it himself. He was your protective boyfriend, and nothing could get him to stop loving you. The second in command loves it when you show him drawings or your clothing. If you grab his attention and twirl around to show your clean outfit, he would secretly take a picture and save it into one of his folders. If Soundwave was ever stressed, he would go through the picture folder to look at images of you to motivate himself again. If you ever take a nap on his desk, just understand Soundwave will not let anyone be loud around you, as to not wake you up. If anyone woke you up from your nap, they would be sent to be killed by the Autobots on an obvious failing mission. He would save all your drawings in his drawers.

[gothsoyl]

I think Soapy would be the sweetest, cutest girlfriend...I mean, she seems like a sweet, cute person.

I want to be her actress girlfriend😭

Imagine having met her at the time she was recording Prospect with Pedro Pascal, because you knew Pedro from a previous project and were in the same city as them at the time of the recordings, so he introduced you <3 you both became colleagues at the time, nothing really very close or deep but you exchanged social networks.

When the cast of Yellowjackets started being cast it was a surprise for both of you that you had been cast for characters that later on in the story would become a couple (Travis and Nat didn't happen in this scenario), anyway, this ends up really bringing you both closer together and you become great friends this time, always hanging out and spending time together outside of the scenes.

Whether it's having lunch together, resting, going to a café or a bar/karaoke at night, it doesn't matter because they're always together. With the success of the first season, they're both starting to be shipped a lot by fans, especially with all the photos and behind-the-scenes content they have together😭

Fast forward to now, I imagine fans going crazy over everything about season 3 and every little bit of both behind the scenes or outside🤭🤭 they would both have fun with the edits and fan posts about them.

I also think that the friendship would slowly start to progress into something more, like a slow burn and they would both have a first slightly drunken kiss after a night of karaoke😩😩😩 a slow and laughing kiss when leaving the bar, which MAYBE takes them both to the hotel room... the rest is up to you

But in a scenario where both of them start dating, things would probably progress slowly but comfortably until it actually becomes a relationship, where both of them go out alone more and more frequently and on small, sweet dates, lots of slow, soft kisses, with both of them just exploring and getting to know this new intimacy.

Can you make a short fic and bot about this?

-🙄

"Accident" sophie thatcher x reader note: sorry it took so long!!! aaaggghh character.ai and janitor.ai

you haven't even noticed at what point sophie becomes an important part of your life.

you met completely by chance. or almost by accident. pedro introduced you after you visited him on the set in washington while he was acting in prospect. you were passing through there, just decided to visit friends and initially meeting with pedro wasn’t in the plans.

but you can’t complain, can you?

“this is sophie,” he nods at the girl next to him and you immediately smile, extending your hand to her. she looks at you intently, as if trying to study you, but still shakes your hand.

“I like your style,” you chuckle, feeling as awkward as possible next to her. for some reason, it was so weird to get to know someone, especially in this way. It's like you're imposing your communication... and what to do next?

“thanks, this is my favorite outfit actually,” her lips stretch in a smile and she glances at the astronaut costume she just wore for the movie scene.

and what was the moment you thought that she has a beautiful smile. 

***

“are we going to rehearse our kiss or is it too cliche?” you flinch when you feel someone's hand on your shoulder, but immediately a smirk escapes your lips when you realize that it's sophie.

you just read the script for the first season of the yellowjackets... or rather, you were distracted all the time to look at sophie, who was sitting next to you and also looked at you with a slight smile. 

and what was your surprise when you realized that you would have to play a couple. you've always felt uncomfortable with such scenes, but for some reason now you felt a strange pleasure. there wasn't that weird tension about the thought of having to kiss someone on set. 

maybe sophie was just very likeable.

“are you so impatient to kiss me?” you laugh smugly, meeting the girl's gaze, to which she just rolls her eyes theatrically. 

“I think about it all the time,” she nudges you a little in the side and starts walking towards the exit.

you're a little slow, but you're still in a hurry to follow her. for some reason, you like how easy Sophie is around you and it makes you feel better.

***

when the first season of the yellowjackets finally came out, the only thing you did on a daily basis was watch a bunch of edits and arts with you and sophie. you were always put in a stupor when fans tried to ship you with someone from the cast, even if your characters had a relationship. after all, that's the whole point of your job, that you and your character are not the same thing. 

but it was different with sophie.

you were excited by silly pinterest memes with your characters and you sincerely smiled when you saw edits on tiktok to one of taylor swift's songs. at some point, you accidentally sent one of the shipping posts to sophie and already thought about burying yourself alive from the shame that immediately piled on you, but only smiled stupidly when you saw her short message “us fr!!".

***

“you appear together so often that you look like a couple,” the interviewer says one day, and you immediately feel the corners of your lips lift, but you try to restrain yourself from grinning.

“we just got in touch,” sophie says and gives you a knowing look. she crosses her legs and shrugs, “she's an amazing friend.”

“you forgot to add 'girl' in front of a ‘friend’,“ you immediately playfully remark, realizing that all your attempts to restrain yourself are flying to the bottom, but do you really care?

the interviewer immediately laughs, and sophie, without wasting time, gently puts her hand on your knee and looks at you through slightly lowered eyelashes.

“baby, let's talk about this at home.”

and why are you blushing so much at this moment?

***

“wait a minute!” you laugh and try to catch up with sophie, but she just jumps from puddle to puddle, spraying rainwater even harder.

you just wanted to spend an hour in a restaurant, as you often did. at some point, it became a routine where you often just arranged an evening together: went to coffee shops and decided where the coffee was better, making a personal map of your favorite places, visited markets where sophie didn’t miss a chance to point at some strange and old picture with a dog and say “it’s you’ and just spent all your free time together.

you liked it. you didn't even really pay attention to the fact that your friendship was becoming less and less like friendship. there was more to it than that, but you were so involved with sophie and relaxed that you didn't even think about it. you just enjoyed every second with a girl, which makes you smile until your cheekbones hurt.

you just wanted to spend an hour in a restaurant, but it's two o'clock in the morning and you've just left the karaoke club. perhaps in the morning you will be ashamed of the way you screamed at the top of your voice another lady gaga’s song (although lady gaga makes everything much better), but now you don't care about that – you’re happily running after sophie, who douses you with water from puddles. 

you feel raindrops falling on your head, but you can’t focus on them. more important is the way sophie wraps her arms around your waist, pulling you to her house, where you've been a hundred times.

you don't try to pull away, on the contrary, you reach closer to her, run your fingers through her tangled wet hair and whisper that you both can get sick. but sophie doesn't seem to care about this – she just presses her forehead against yours and her hot breath scorches your lips, and your head starts to spin from adrenaline and alcohol in your blood.

you kiss her awkwardly and completely foolishly, and sophie snuggles closer to you, digging her fingers into your skin.

you don't care if anyone sees you.

and she doesn't give a damn about it either.

[zeropro]

So I’ve seen you draw and tag a couple of different ships, just wondering which are your favorite???

Love your art btw :D

Thank you!

I don’t have a specific ship i'm particularly loyal to, so I guess I’ll rate them and also provide my own headcanons:

(disclaimer i dont know ship names so imma just try my best)

Trine-shipping: yes, put the three of them together, I don’t care. familial, sexual, romantic, platonic, its all good. I go crazy seeing them stand next to each other in the cartoon what do you want from me.

thunderwarp: I see this one a lot and I quite like it. these two being mates with starscream doing his own thing kinda makes sense considering starscream has a bunch of other ships. also makes it fun when something happens to one of them and starscream is left in the awkward position of having to deal with that.

thunderstar: been thinking about this one more lately. they’re like foils to each other. thundercracker’s a good boy to starscream’s bad boy, and he does such a concern about all the morally dubious stuff starscream gets up to. but at the same time, he admires starscream’s ambition and rizz and starscream the kinda bot that would pull you so high if you followed him. I think out of anyone, starscream is the closest to actually trusting thundercracker. 

starwarp: i had this thought one time of what if skywarp is like the horniest asexual and starscream is the most traumatized aromantic, and how would that even work XD nothing solid in the works just an idea that I had. ive seen these two less often outside of trine shipping but it can be pretty hot. I like when they are being protective of each other. I always see skywarp as more emotionally open than his trinemates and starscream can use some of that open and honest emotional love and care. someone to forcfully make him accept being loved. someone who will actually push back when he’s being stupid. and with skywarp being loyal to megatron, so much angst potential for both of them.

starbee: im a sucker for the whole ghost bee starscream dynamic. I already made a post about these two, and after all this time I still really enjoy this ship. I think characters that don’t actually like each other at first but grow into a mutual respect is so tasty. I think some people don’t like the ship because they headcanon bee as too young? well, starscream is actually younger in my fic lmao, but also they’re like 6 million years old and are born with full adult processing capabilities, I don’t think age matters here :P its less about intimacy for me anyway. I like them together because of how much it takes to get there. 

starwavewave: okay this one is 100% fueled by tfone but guyssss guysss theyre married and megatron is their son and im just aaaagh dont seperate them! such a kookie dynamic, the cool headed soundwave, the emotionally volatile shockwave, the arrogant yet cowardly starscream, all being fail dads to their little scamp leader. hahaha. high command polycule 

megastar: gasp, rated above skystar. yes, I just find this dynamic more interesting. I like an abusive ship sometimes for the angst but I also enjoy seeing megatron when he isnt abusive? kinda catharsis maybe. I read a fic once where the war is over and starscream invites megatron to one of optimus’ high profile parties and is appalled at megatron showing up in robot equivalent of underdressed, meanwhile megatron the working class miner is like “I washed, what else was I supposed to do” XD and I just love that haha. theres just so many ways to take it. I wont be doing any megastar in my au, I just tag anything that has megatron and starscream interacting with megastar cuz thats the dynamic to me

skystar/jetstar: iddkkkkk i know this is the most popular ship but it’s just!! idk! its not as interesting to me haha. I love this as a past ship, they were roommates in college, starscream opened himself to someone, chose to become close and then was hurt by it. just another wound on starscream’s spark before he ever even meets megatron. I don’t think theyd get back together after the ice. idk how well I can write this so I’ll just explain how it happens in my au here: skyfire died and starscream created this version of skyfire in his mind that was perfect, he memorialised him because he was dead! you just cant live up to how someone remembers you. I think that was part of the reason why starscream reacts so badly when skyfire “betrayed” him. unlike thundercracker, skyfire knows how to set healthy boundaries. not to mention he’d been on ice for four million years, lost his entire life, everyone he knows, and his entire civilisation, planet, and culture to a war he had no part in. bot’s gonna be upset. pissed off even. skyfire shouldnt have to be some soft sparked punching bag for starscream, he’s kind and a pacifist but he’s also going to get upset and have feelings. I think starscream’s betrayal would hit pretty hard, he’d gonna be upset about how much starscream’s changed, how much damage starscream helped cause during the war, and also starscream shooting him in the back for wanting to protect the native wildlife! when they properly talk to each other again it’s going to be heated on both sides, and I think after some hard work from both sides they could end up in a place where they are willing to be friends again, but I don’t think they’d conjunx. skystar isnt end game to me, but it is canon and an important part of the story

starop: I think ive read one fic where I really liked this ship. it’s just such a random pairing. my initial reaction is just noooo optimus prime?? but that guy’s everyone’s dad! Ive been told a big part of it is they’re both megatron’s ex’s and that’s pretty funny. not for me sadly haha (opxmegatronoldmanyaoiotpfrfr)

starjack…wheelstar? whatever the starscream and wheeljack one is. I’m not into this one. I see where people are coming from with it, but wheeljack isnt an interesting character to me. they can be science bros tho

starscream and windblade: ive seen this like once or twice. not for me. windblade is like, starscream’s daughter or something idk XD 

soundstar: uuuh i dont see it. sorry! i legit have no thoughts on soundstar. theyre coworkers XD. ive seen fics where the seekers are really young and soundwave moms them, and that’s really cute. okay, I like soundwave as a caretaker if the seekers are young, but yeah I don’t think I understand this one. 

shockstar: nooooooo. tho ironically theres more canon content there to fuel this one than soundstar (is this emotion?) but still no XD I don’t even hate shockwave! let him be sunstorm’s dad, that’s cute. but no, shockewave too creepy. no ship. they are also coworkers

what other ship is there even? oh yeah

starprowl: this is apparently a really popular ship?! I guess in a way prowl is sort of like the autobot’s starscream, undermining his leader, arrogant, willing to do the dubious play. they’re both ruthless. I like this one better than starjacked, but its still an odd pairing to me.

oh! knockout and starscream, i can kinda see it? like, as a rebound after breakdown? I like knock out and breakdown, so I’d only see these two as like friends or if something happened to breakdown. they’re a LOT of fun when they interact tho heh heh, perfectly clashing personalities

on the topic of tfp, I guess starscream and arcee is a ship? I can see this similar to my enjoyment of starbee, they’d have to work reeaally hard for this one to work but they have had potentially positive interactions in the show (before starscream screws it up) so its possible in a better world where starscream doesnt suck they could become friends. him killing cliffjumper is gonna be a huge hurdle tho! 

dont talk to me about airachnid

do people ship starscream and ratchet? I don’t ship it, but I do really like interactions between them. starscream is so terrible but he also gets hurt a lot. ratchet is grumpy and prejudice but he’s the best doctor and he’ll fix him up! I like when something terrible happens to starscream and ratchet cant help but feel bad for the guy. that’s the good stuff.

lastly i have been asked a few times on trinebee. im assuming this is bumblebee and the trine. i hadnt thought about it but it makes sense! if youre a starbee shipper, but you also support trine propaganda, then it only makes sense to bring bee into the trine. also bee and thundercracker are friends! the only ones who havent really had any interaction is bee and warp, and honestly idk if I see those two getting along but bumblebee is everybody’s friend so XD I’m sure it’ll work out!

and i think those are all the thoughts i have on the ships! 

no hate on anyone who ships any of these!!! you all do what you do, these are just my opinions, and honestly I’m just not a huge shipper to begin with haha. I am…unsure if there will be any shipping content in my au, I write my scenarios very much “canon but to the left” and so it comes out very sex-less because romance and intimacy is just not the type of content I’m in the business of writing. but, idk, i think about it sometimes. sometimes I think about the end of chapter one of thundercracker’s origin, the night starscream took thundercracker out on a not-date. i think, who knows, in some version of the story maybe they shared a kiss? maybe they went back to the apartment and things went further? maybe. but of course, in every version of the story, starscream is gone the next morning. 

happy valentrine’s day!

[bugsbenefit]

who's getting books and who isn't?

tells you a lot actually

in lieu of us getting a Dustin companion book soon i'm doubling down on my point about how insanely telling these books are about where the story is going. especially if you look as who is getting books. and i'm saying this both about El and Will (where it's already kind of obvious why s5 is important for them) as well as Mike (where it's also kind of obvious why s5 is important for his character but it hasn't reached mainstream awareness yet apparently lmao)

as of now Lucas, Max, and Dustin (about to come out), as well as Robin and Eddie, and even Hopper and Terry have one. and they all explore things outside of the main canon by doubling down on what filmed canon already established and adding a bit more layers since they have the time to focus on a single character (like exploring racism and how Lucas deals with it in his book, something the show doesn't dwell on, or exploring Robin's queerness, taking place before the events of s3)

and the focus these books have makes sense since they're mostly written by commissioned writers. so obviously they want to skirt any topics that delve too much into plot heavy areas where the writers a) wouldn't know where the story is going or b) even if they got notes, you don't want important lore drops that impact the later story dropped in companion books

in short we're getting extra story's about no spoilery topics the main story doesn't have time to/want to explore

which makes it all the more interesting we're already getting books about someone like Robin when you know if you asked fans what povs they'd like to see someone like El would rank significantly higher if you trust favourite character rankings. but for some reason El, Mike, and Will have never gotten one

and some of these reasons are just really obvious, especially when it comes to El and Will

1) they obviously can't just drop a book on El yet. on one hand, because her backstory with the lab is a major plot point of the show and they can't spoil it in a book (even if they tried excluding it, writing 200ish pages for a character who can't remember what happened before they turned like 8 is one of those things that would be kind of hard to avoid coming up). even post s4 there's still so many questions about her past and time at the lab, they just shouldn't give unlimited access to her inner monologue about it yet. and on the other hand, El finding her place in the world is quite literally one of her characters main recurring motives, even a companion book as innocuous as "El tries out hobbies" would be exploring something we'd kind of want to see on screen since it'd be a resolution to her character growth and not a fun side quest

2) they also just can't drop a book on Will. the fact that we never found out what actually happened to Will in the UD is already reason enough, the show clearly wants to explore it on screen later on. (now even more obvious since there's already confirmed s1 UD Will in the s5 official teasers). you really can't write a book from someone's pov who's main trauma and life changing moment is something you don't want to get into yet. just doesn't work

there's plot points the show obviously saved for later so both Will and El are pretty unfit as book topics

but with Mike that doesn't actually apply in the same obvious way. Mike not getting a book despite being the leader of the party, having the most on screen defined dynamics with the other kids, and being part of the shows "main" ship would be really odd. like. Really odd. on paper he'd probably be one of the first choices for an easy book protagonist for a fun party side quest. of course unless one of the two book deal breaker reasons applies also:

they can't give his pov because giving his unfiltered inner monologue would spoil s5

they want to explore something relevant to his character themselves on screen and it's not fit for a companion book

but again, in comparison to Will and El where the why is really obvious Mike sticks out because we don't officially know what he's got going on yet. he has no mysterious absence where we don't know what happened to him like with Will and no open ended origin story like with El

it just makes it a bit funnier to me how many people are still fundamentally unconvinced Mike has something going on that's important for the outcome of s5. post s2 the show tries to get some distance from Mike's head and he's joined the club of main characters who don't get books alongside major canon event magnets El and Will. and yeah, obviously you wouldn't want a book from the characters pov who's feelings and sexuality you're actively hiding. it's also a bit of a no brainer you don't want a companion work going into how he's not been doing so great over the past few years because the reasons for that are kind of relevant to the main story. Mike feeling guilty for El dying all the way in s1 is something that might be more fit to bring up in show when their relationship is being addressed instead of in side material

but all in all? the fact that out of all the kids El, Mike, and Will are the only ones who don't get secondary material yet is probably the biggest give away that the three of them are who s5 is planning to give the most insight on even all the in show build up aside. they're being skipped as book povs despite existing public interest and seeming like conventionally easy picks for book side stories

in the current economy around shows franchises, going against what'd be a good marketing decision is always a dead giveaway something is going on

[thistlecatfics]

On ethical haterism in fandom & how to be an ethical hater 

Being a hater (sharing negative opinions about tropes, ships, characters, and trends in fandom) is fun and often tempting. Being a skilled and ethical hater is even more fun, though difficult to achieve. 

(This is pretty HP focused. While all fandoms have an unethical hater problem, HP fandom has a particular dynamic where people are quick to feel guilty about fandom participation due to jkr being awful and then project that guilt onto others by trying to identify other people in fandom as being ‘bad’ so they can feel ‘good’ in comparison.) 

Number one question: Are you enjoying yourself? If you’re not, then stop. You cannot be an ethical fandom hater if you yourself are not having fun and are instead making yourself miserable by being a hater. None of these other factors are relevant if you’re not having fun. Take a break from fandom and go outside instead.  

The next consideration is space - public vs private and the specifics of social media platforms. 

You’re almost always being an ethical hater if you’re bitching and laughing in your friend’s DMs. You’re never being an ethical hater if you’re on Tiktok or another algorithm based platform where people cannot avoid your content showing up on their pages. Discord servers and tumblr posts are where it gets complicated. Make a good faith effort to make sure anyone who wants to avoid your hater content is able to do so via appropriate tagging or sticking to approved channels within the discord server. 

Next: humor

If you’re being mean, you better be very funny. If you’re not funny, you probably can’t get away with being mean. Be less mean. 

The best of ethical haterism is creative and funny and active. It is about creating and enjoying yourself with friends more than it is about tearing others down – even if you are mocking people and ships and characters! 

A useful question to ask: could a reasonable person with a different opinion from you find what you’re doing funny? (This is different from: can the absolute worst, whiniest, most sensitive person in fandom find what you’re doing funny?)

Things that are never ethical haterism: 

Making accusations about individual people’s politics, values, and identities based on their preferences for ships and characters. General rule: if you (or the people you surround yourself with) are throwing out the words ‘nazi,’ ‘pedophile,’ ‘freak’ or ‘bigot,’ you’re not being an ethical hater. 

Things I have seen that are not ethical haterism and are simply asshole behavior: accusing anyone who doesn’t like femme Sirius of being homophobic or transphobic, accusing anyone who ships any Death Eater/order member ship of being a nazi, accusing Snape stans of being incels, accusing anyone who ships Snarry or any student/teacher ship of being a pedophile etc.

Note: Ethical haterism is separate from critiquing fandom trends and the influence of broader politics on how we engage with fandom. It is asshole behavior to make specific accusations of individual people based on their ships, headcanons, and art, but it is reasonable (and I’d say good!) to examine how white supremacy/patriarchy/capitalism show up in trends in fandom. 

Things that are asshole behavior and never ethical haterism: commenting rudely on fics, talking publicly about specific fics you hate, deliberately going into ship tags to start fights, making accusations, generally being unpleasant. 

The two fundamental questions of being an ethical hater: 

Is what you’re doing making fandom more fun, more creative, more engaging, more lively, more connected? 

Are you sensitive to the idea that some people might not enjoy seeing this content and want to make sure it’s possible for them to avoid it? 

That’s my theory. Thoughts?

[bookwyrminspiration]

It's fun to bemoan the odd lines and such, and I was gonna make a joke, but I do think it is genuinely sad how much of Unraveled's promo is leaning so heavily into shipping.

Not because I hate sokeefe or Keefe, but because this is such a massively popular story that has so much to offer outside of a single ship, and it's such a disservice to the years of work Shannon has put in to crafting these characters' stories and world. And to the countless fans who adore the story and characters outside of this single ship.

Both Sophie and Keefe are more than sokeefe, and the way this story about injustice, and rebellion, and loss of self, and grief is being overshadowed by a relationship? See the kiss scene! sokeefe art! foster-related quote! These things themselves aren't bad, but there's no balance; they should be part of more, not the whole thing. KOTLC deserves to retain its complexity in marketing! The readers, including young, deserve to have the story not watered down for them when it's being pushed!

There's also something about how publishers told Shannon KOTLC wouldn't sell because Sophie's a girl, and she pushed through that, only for Sophie to become almost an accessory to Keefe's story here? Making appearances that focus on what Keefe thinks of her instead of Sophie herself. I don't have this fully articulated, but hopefully you see what I'm getting at

Shannon's said for years she hates love triangles, didn't mean to write one, and tries to stay firmly Team Sophie. And I believe her, which makes it worse seeing how despite Shannon's efforts, her story about a brave, stubborn, reckless, passionate girl trying to find herself and do what she can to right the wrongs she sees in the world is getting pared down to a love story.

Now we do have six more weeks to go, so we could get some variety in the future. it's just frustrating so far, and as fun as it is to make silly little jokes about it, I do think there is a genuine critique here of publishing and marketing and treatment of female led stories (yes, unraveled is about keefe, but Keeper is about Sophie), and I wanted to say something

[selfshipdatabase]

🌹Selfship Database Introduction!! 🌹

Hello, everyone! Inspired by other blogs such as selfshippersfromthissource and there being blogs with this kind of gimmick in the past, I wanted to try my hand at this—making a carrd that functions as a database sorted by source/fandom. While it can function as a way to find selfshippers in the same source or just wanting to see if someone ships from a certain source, I’d also like to see which sources are the most common within selfshippers!

Please reply/reblog/send an ask if you would like to be included! I will not include anyone who does not give me this kind of confirmation.  And below read more will be some ground rules going forth for this blog :-) of course, things can change as this database evolves, but these are the guidelines I am currently following!

1- While I understand this can and will impact results, I ask that those will label themselves as proshippers dni for my own personal comfort. i have no desire to entertain or be neutral toward incest, rape, pedophilia, whatever on my own blog. i have no desire to entertain people shipping with minors while they’re adults, rapists, fascists, pedohpiles, etc. While I try to stay in the know, I cannot simply know everything, so I will always assume 100% good faith unless I have proof otherwise. I can remove people from the database. However, outside of these reasons, unless you personally request to be taken off, I won’t ever remove anyone.

2- I will also refrain from including the following sources on my blog/database— countryhumans, hetalia, attack on titan, your boyfriend/boyfriend to death, the coffin of andy and leyley, degrees of lewdity, harry potter. Other than whatever is listed and anything that may apply to the first one, everything else is on the table. Whatever’s listed can be changed, but I would rather not blacklist a lot.

3- As there are some things that I won’t include and there’s some boundaries in place, I understand fully this won’t be a fully unbiased/100% accurate database. While I would like to see the data and to combine my interest in this kind of subject with selfshipping, this is purely for fun and a side project for me. Please do not use my blog as some kind of factual source (I mean, it’s a tumblr blog, so no matter… it’s not one lol) and please keep things lighthearted.

4- A source/fandom will be listed whenever there's two selfshippers for that source. Exceptions may apply if certain sources/fandoms are requested. Though, I won’t accept every request if there’s not enough selfshippers for a source.

5- For simplicity and not overworking myself, for this database, I will only include romantic and queerplatonic f/os. Queerplatonic f/os will be noted as such with (QP) by the character's name. If you want to he included, all I ask is there to be a public f/o list somewhere accessible on your blog. You don’t have to send it to me as long as it’s linked somewhere easy to find on your blog.

6- For the time being, some media will be lumped together, examples being Marvel, DC, Disney, Slashers, Tim Burton, etc. Some may be given their own section if there’s a notable amount of selfshippers for a certain media in that category and/or by request potentially.

7- For any updates to people’s f/o lists, I will try to schedule times where I personally look through them again and make any changes to keep the database current. It’s not required at all, but any heads ups would be appreciated! 

8- Anonymous is turned off for asks for my own comfort. If you send an ask that you don’t want answered or would like to have your url cropped out of, please include it SOMEWHERE in your ask, either at the end or beginning will work. Also, currently, messages are turned off. They may be turned on in the future if need be. Unfortunately, I cannot see shadowbanned blogs. Please be aware!

9- Please note that I am one person. I am also a selfshipper, a non-sharing one at that, but I am hoping to be able to push through if that ever comes up in order to make this database. There may be days where I’m not active on this blog or answering asks. Please be patient with me!! If I ever decide to step away from this project, I will make a clear post that states that exactly.

10- Now, as I am dealing with a large part of the community, I understand the risks that could occur with something like this. If something bad was to ever occur from this database (drama in general, me dealing with any strong negativity), depending on the severity, I will shut down this project. Especially if others are harassed for something. I do not tolerate harassment at all.

I may add more or remove some aspects in the future. For now, the carrd will be public with the sources in alphabetic order. Then, the urls and characters said selfshipper ships with will be in each section. Suggestions are welcomed for things I could add or change! Though, I may be picky with what suggestions I take to stay on task for this database.

[qwordavoider]

The 911 writers' room should have character advocates.

People who look at the actions of the other characters in the show, solely through the perspective of their assigned character. Some way to check themselves so they don’t abandon the fundamental aspects of the characters. Or even just straight up forget about some of them.

For example the Buck advocate point out all the storylines that include his family not really giving a damn about his well being in recent episodes. Or that Buck can make his own decisions, which the 118 should respect. Give him a chance to yell at them or speak up for himself for once.

Or Chimney’s advocate highlighting the fact that Chimney hasn’t gotten a storyline of his own all season. All of it has been connected to Maddie or the rest of the team. He got a little bit of a storyline with whether or not he thought Jee should have a sibling, and even that decision was taken out of his hands when Maddie says she’s pregnant.

Or Hen’s advocate asking for a storyline outside of having her kids taken away. Or even outside of having to choose whether or not her job is a priority (choosing being a firefighter over med school in s6 and later in Masks having Karen get upset about the job Hen’s had for years).

Or Eddie’s advocate could have pushed for Eddie to go back to El Paso to get Chris back sooner instead of letting the storyline be shoved aside in favor of more screen time with Brad. Or to let him actually acknowledge his mistakes and let him be human instead of (intentionally or unintentionally) making him an asshole.

Or Athena’s advocate asking for her to actually get a rookie so we can see her in that mentoring role she seemed to want to take on. The rookie wouldn’t even have to be highly involved or fleshed out, but just be around when she goes on calls.

Or Maddie’s advocate requesting to give her a spa day so she can breathe after everything she's been through this season (serial killer, kidnapping, her throat being slashed, and now Chim being trapped by and infected with a deadly virus). And let her do fun pregnancy stuff that she didn't get to do with Jee because of covid. Let her go to Lamaze classes and get to know other pregnant people that whom she can discuss things with.

*edited the Maddie one because @comradesummers rightfully pointed out that a character advocate wouldn't advocate for their character's storyline to be dominated by another character. I let the recent bucktommy discourse surrounding her cloud my judgment, and it ended up being my wants for the character in regard to the ship and not what would be good for Maddie.

Or Bobby’s advocate speaking up for him to talk to Athena about his dad, or even just dealing with his guilt and trauma from that on his own in a meaningful way. Or the advocate could suggest giving him a storyline about his damn heart attack and having to focus on his health more or dealing with the fact that he almost died.

Hell, give me an advocate for the recurring characters. Someone who looks at the episodes they have written to find ways to include them in the story when/if it makes sense. Prioritize characters we haven’t heard from in a while. Add additional people for us to care about (and potentially kill off instead of the main cast, but with more emotional impact than just the victims on calls).

I think it’s been said a million times by so many people, but I’m going to say it again: 911 has a hard time balancing all of its main characters and their storylines. They can’t focus on one without sacrificing the others. They also can’t seem to follow through in a satisfying way for a lot of their storylines.

Denny coded after being hit by a car and was fine the next time we saw him. Give him a recovery time that puts strain on Hen and Karen’s relationship to give them a different conflict. Mara never went through any sort of difficult transition back to living with the Wilsons or resentment over being sent to the group home. Athena and the rookie story could’ve been fleshed out more or even just been a background c or d plot. The black book from the opening episodes just disappeared after it was wrapped up way too quickly. Eddie and Chris took way too long to address. Buck’s hopes of being Captain or just any kind of career aspirations just faded away. Bobby coming back to the 118 with no problems after having an existential crisis where he retired, his house burning down, having a heart attack, and being ousted by Gerrard.

Not everything needs to be wrapped up in a nice neat bow after 1 or two episodes. It’s okay to let the storylines have breathing room. This last episode proved that it is possible. And I think they need to keep this energy going through the end of the season and hopefully keep their act together for season 9.

Inspired by this post from @johanna-swann about the writer’s intentions and whether they notice the patterns for Buck. Which led to thoughts on all the characters and a lot about plot lines in general.