#things in this fandom will get SO much better

[saintobio]

☆ sorry for disappearing…

when i decided to put my blog on private, it was the only solution i could think of to end my dilemma. a dilemma that sprung from the anxiety i get whenever i log into tumblr, realizing i’m keeping people waiting over an update that hasn’t happened in almost a year. i wish there was a better way to describe how i felt, but there’s just so much pressure and anxiety that accompany a writer who has an on-going series of a popular jjk character.

if you’ve been with me since 2021, you probably know the struggles i faced before i ultimately left my blog archived. back then, i never imagined i would return to running this blog. but it was my love for writing that brought me back, hoping i could start fresh as long as i knew how to set boundaries between myself and the people consuming my fics. and i could say, all was going well, until…

until i get daily messages about how it’s taking me so long to update a certain series, how i’m writing too much for another fandom, how i’m never fulfilling my promises of posting an update. it must be the trauma, but the unease of existing on tumblr began to build up inside me, reminding me of the days when i was made to feel like i did something wrong for simply posting. with that, i had grown paranoid, thinking that every time i check my notes, there would always be one or two person sending me the most ridiculous messages/comments.

i never realized just how much my experience in 2021 scarred me ‘til this day.

and the only remedy i could think of was to escape. or hide. or be unseen. for my peace of mind, for the silence. all while thinking no one’s really going to notice.

but logging in again made me realize that there are people i’ve disappointed for my sudden disappearance, people who wished me nothing but good things, people who genuinely supported me in and out of this blog, people who appreciate my works even if i’m no longer as active. to those people, i want to say i’m sorry, and that i assure you that i’m doing better.

however, i also hope that i’m not just seen as the writer who only wrote sincerely not. i hope that i’m given the same amount of support and liberty to write for characters and stories that i’m equally passionate about. wherever my hyper-fixations take me, i hope i’m not treated as if i’ve abandoned what my blog was known for. i never wanted to feel caged by writing only sn/sy. i need the space to explore other characters, other genres, before i lose myself in the pressure of just producing.

if you’re still here, thank you. i can’t promise to be fully back, but i’ll take it one step at a time.

love, saint.

[tradetobest]

i think this whole thing is a good lesson for some people to not put these guys on pedestals. genuinely the stronger the fourth wall is the better fandom experience is in rpf imo. i get that sometimes its babys first rpf but do NOTTT put these guys on pedestals trust me you will have so much more fun

[beloveddawn-blog]

Merchandise Blues! Aika and Zira Go to the Zoo!

Fandom: Pretty Pretty Please I Don't Want to be a Magical Girl

Rating: Gen

Words: 2k

Summary: There's a new line of Star Guardian merch out! Zira loves it. Aika is conflicted.

Based off of @kianamaiart's amazing universe and @ok-pop-1's incredible art! The concept behind it was just so fun!

Aika slid further down into her seat as yet another yellow Star Bag came into sight. Hoshi smirked, but Zira wasn’t concerned with them.

“You okay?” She asked her crush friend, nudging the smaller girl gently.

“Yeah, yeah I’m fine.” Aika replied, pulling herself up straighter and trying to smile like she wasn’t bothered. “I just forgot the new merch line was out this week, that’s all. It’s just… just a lot. Of blue. And yellow. Very yellow.”

“... You do know you are also wearing blue and yellow, right?” Zira asked, unable to stop the question. Aika’s face twisted back into a pout and she sulked back down into her seat.

“They were my favourite colours first!” She insisted, then hissed in a softer voice, “That’s why she wears them, not the other way around.”

“True!” Hoshi piped up from beside them. “I don’t really care what colours Aika wears. Both my colour and the uniform match her preferences, since it helps human confidence so much to feel like you look good.” They went back to comparing hoodies with an over-excited kindergartener then, entirely ignoring the girls once again.

Aika shook her head while Zira giggled, as amused as always at how the two mirrored each others’ disinterest and disillusionment in perfectly inverted symmetry. 

Aika glanced around the train car again, and her face fell when she saw one group that ramped the whole merch thing up to 11. The parents were… mostly normal. They both had the new hoodies, he had a bag and she was wearing Star Wand print leggings, but the kids…

The baby was actually really cute, dressed like a little star with the hood up. Wings longer than the kid themself hung down from the carrier the mom had them in and the little blue baby shoes matched the whole thing perfectly, even though they obviously weren't part of the official line.

The elementary schooler, on the other hand… Zira probably thinks she’s cute. Aika thought, scowling unconsciously at a little redhead wearing a replica of her uniform, right down to the (NON-platform, at least they were sensible there) boots. Her hair was up in two little ponytails held in place with ties that had satin stars on them, and she was clutching a Star Guardian doll with one arm and her dad’s hand with the other. She was gazing around in wonder at all the other people wearing the same colours before she spotted Aika and her eyes went wide.

“MOMMY SHE HAS STAR PIGTAILS TOO!!” The kid shrieked, both parents immediately shushing her. “I’m so sorry,” Her father told the people around them, “Katie shush. You’ll wake the baby and you’re bothering others.” Her mom hissed. Her face twisted at the rebuke, and in only a blink she’d slipped her father’s hold and was right up in Aika’s face.

“Ummm… Hi?” Aika tried, not quite certain what had just happened here.

“You love Star Guardian too.” The kid insisted, reaching towards Aika’s hair but stopping just short. “Mommy can’t get the buns right, so Daddy bought me the bows. Did your Mommy do these for you?”

Aika blinked at her while her father rushed up to them, apologizing before he even got there. “Ah, no? I do them myself.”

“STAR GUARDIAN IS THE BEST!” The kid shrieked again, just as her father scooped her up. One hand wrapped around her to cover her mouth as he hushed her.

“Katie, no. We’ve talked about this, you can’t be yelling inside like that. You know better. It’s really rude, as is getting in this nice young lady’s face like that.” He turned towards Aika himself as his kid quieted down to sulk. “I’m really sorry about that. She’s usually not like this, but her grandmother just bought her the dress and now she’s a bit overwrought and is having a hard time calming down. I’m sorry she went to touch you as well. I promise she usually does know better.”

“It’s alright.” Aika replied, not quite certain what else to say. Zira smirked a bit next to her, noticing an opportunity to tease her friend a little.

“She’s quite the fan, isn’t she? And Star Guardian is her favourite?” The girl perked up at this, though she kept her voice to a reasonable level when she responded.

“She saves people.” The wonder in her voice was so awestruck it even made Zira a little uncomfortable, knowing that she knew something the girl didn’t. She snuck a glance at Aika, who was now having an even harder time pretending she didn’t want to snap at the kid just a little.

“That is what she does.” Hoshi broke in distractedly, now looking out the window. “It’s what she’s here for.”

Aika’s face fell at that in a way that made the man’s brow furrow in concern. The little girl didn’t notice. 

“She saved us.” She continued, clutching her doll with hero-worship clear on her face. “I gave her a flower and she thanked me for it. Grandma’s teaching me to grow buttercups so next time I can give her one I grew just for her, rather than one I picked in the park.”

“... A buttercup?” Aika asked, her defensiveness dropping from her even as her eyebrows drew together. “You gave her a buttercup?”

The little girl buried her face in her father’s shoulder, suddenly shy, so it was him that nodded. “She did. There was a fight at the park and my wife couldn’t move very quickly because she was pregnant. Star Guardian got us out safely, and Katie gave her a buttercup she had picked just before it all went pear-shaped. It made an impression on us, as I’m sure you can see.” He gestured to himself then, and both Aika and Zira joined in with his little chuckle. He headed back to the rest of his family then, and Katie waved at them over his shoulder. Aika waved back, a soft grin on her face.

“Star Guardian made quite an impression on them.” Zira commented, trying to gauge Aika’s mood after that run-in.

Aika’s face fell, and Zira winced. “She does that.” There was a hollowness to Aika’s voice that Zira wasn’t used to hearing and wasn’t sure how to handle.

“I remember you putting that buttercup in a vase when you got home.” Hoshi commented, obviously trying to cajole the young girl back into a better mood. It didn’t work, as the smile Aika gave them was brittle around the edges and so obviously forced.

“I remember how much trouble I got in for breaking formation to help them.” She replied mildly. “No one would talk about anything else for weeks. It was all, “How could you be so unprofessional, Aika? Don’t you ever think of anyone but yourself? You’re so unreliable Aika. We can’t trust your judgement. How are you always late?” Eventually everyone seemed to get bored of it, but it would still come up every now and then when I was ‘underperforming’.” She put the air quotes around the word, but even if she hadn’t her tone would have conveyed them anyway. Hoshi winced.

“Yeah, that was… not my best showing. I messed that up pretty bad.” Their voice was rough in a way that in a human would probably have meant they were fighting back tears but Hoshi… wasn’t. There wasn’t a human equivalent to the tone of it. It reminded Zira of grief.

“How?” She questioned, unable to help herself even though she could tell that neither of them really wanted to talk about it. “What happened with that fight?”

Hoshi squirmed a bit, but did answer. “One of the other girls took a bad hit that probably wouldn’t have happened if Star Guardian was there. It all… Got a little personal. After. And I… Didn’t shut that down. I should have. I should have made it clear that they didn’t have the authority to question Aika’s judgement or dedication. And I should have trusted in them myself.”

Aika was leaning forward now to look at Hoshi around Zira, and it was clear on her face that they had never discussed this since. She obviously didn’t know Hoshi regretted it. “So why didn’t you?” She demanded, causing Hoshi to slink back defensively into their hoodie.

“Mainly because I just really didn’t understand humans.” They replied, obviously trying to keep their defensiveness out of their tone. “I’d never worked with any before, and this was fairly early on in your career. Usually a Guardian team needs to work together to defeat a monster. I was… trying to encourage you to think of your team first, because I assumed that without them you couldn’t win and more people would be in danger. Most species are not as… creative as humans, and even other humans aren’t as creative as you, Aika.” Aika blushed at that, obviously pleased with the praise. “I thought your apparent willingness to abandon your teammates was a show of weakness and disharmony, rather than of trust. And… I think the other girls followed my lead on that.”

Aika blinked at them. “There is never a world where I will abandon a family that has no way to protect themselves for the sake of a group that should have the ability to fight on their own. Also it’s really messed up that you expect a kid to make that choice. I was still in elementary school.”

Hoshi nodded. “Yeah, I also… Don’t really have a frame of reference for just how young you were when you started. I wasn’t expecting that. So since neither the Star Shard or humanity come with an instruction manual, I had to just figure it out on the fly. That time I guessed wrong, but it took over a year for me to know that. By that time it was too late to fix.”

There was a very uncomfortable silence radiating from both sides of her that made Zira shiver from a purely emotional cold. Then a thought came, and she broke it in as awkward a way as she ever did. “You should join the leadership club.”

They both turned to her, blinking in bemusement. “The leadership club?” Aika repeated in bewilderment.

“Yeah!” She replied, just going with it now that they weren’t so upset. “You said humans don’t come with an instruction manual, but there are still things you can do and learn to make it easier to work with us! I don’t think you can take any actual management courses, those are usually adult things, but leadership would be a good start!”

Aika laughed at that. “That's a great idea! And since we joined the book club, Hoshi’s gonna be on their own for it. Sounds like fun.”

The star in question sulked back into their seat. “I don’t wanna miss book club!” They insisted. “That kid with the hair gets all uppity when I’m not there to refute their nonsense, and besides! I’ve already read the book!”

Zira blinked at them. “That book was decided on yesterday,” she stressed. “How have you already read it?”

“Hoshi doesn’t need to sleep as much as we do.” Aika replied, getting to her feet just as the announcement came on. “Come on, this is our stop! I can’t wait to see the penguins!” Her face lit up with glee as the train rocked to a stop, and she was gone the moment the doors opened. Zira found themself grinning as well, their previous mood restored. Aika had that effect on people. 

[butchisrevolution]

dolly dog man readthrough #5

PART #2

for whom the bell tolls

TRUST GET TO THE END OF THIS RAMBLE I GET RLLY NERDY

bro the behavioral modification therapy thing traumatized him

i've heard this is a common criticism of BMT but feel free to correct me

i feel as though this form of therapy may be unethical...

jesus. no wonder bro has problems with intimacy bro literally does not know what love feels like

lowkey saving this for myself bc i need to remember this

lowkey this is just my dad

anyways this is also not healthy obviously and another thing that would contribute to a personality disorder

HOLY FUCKING SHIT. YES HE IS. AND THIS IS WHY.

that fear doesn't come from nowhere, it was instilled in him by his dad from a young age

li'l petey my anarchist boy back at it again

oh baby

petey sees himself in his son so much rn and it's heartbreaking

HE TOOK EVERYTHING THAT'D BENEFIT HIM PRACTICALLY

BUT HE DIDN'T CARE FOR THEIR LOVE

BECAUSE HE CAN'T FATHOM PUTTING HIMSELF BEFORE OTHERS

it'd be too painful for him to confront his lifestyle choices, so he fell back into his old harmful habits and left his past behind

he's insistent on keeping this promise because his father never kept any of his promises

it's a recently opened wound, so it's his first impulse. distance himself as much as possible from his father's identity to distance himself from the hurt

THE COLOR THEORY THAT'S USED TO SET TONE IN THIS BOOK. IT'S SO WELL DONE

and now he sees what he's done in his son's mind from an outside perspective. he has cursed his son to the same fate as him, a nihilistic hopeless view on life. and he hates it. his son doesn't deserve that. he doesn't deserve to go through what he did. he's so young, he hasn't done anything wrong. through realizing this, he realizes that he didn't deserve it either, and that his view on the world isn't any more correct because of his own experiences, it's just a damaged unhealthy view of it. he deserves better too. he can create better things for himself, like love for his son

so that's what he does

he does what he can. he reinforces his son's value, which was damaged by his grampa. he inserts a more positive world view, to try and change what alterations he may have caused to his sons psyche

...

my shayla

THE SYMBOLISM OF THIS SCENE MAKES ME GO FERAL AND IS THE ENTIRE REASON I GOT INTO THIS FANDOM. THIS SCENE I FIRST SAW IN THE MOVIE AND IT'S JUST AS GOOD IF NOT BETTER IN THE COMIC

he's turning something seen as "bad" or "wrong" by society into something beautiful that will spark joy and serve a purpose. he lets himself walk through the mud to get home, he turns even that into a positive experience, letting himself feel wonder about his surroundings instead of repressing his feelings, turning them to stone cold logic. this represents his newfound effort in, not repressing his personality, but in learning to cope with it healthily and create a life worth living. a life with a purpose, something he denied himself for so long. it represents being given the chance of recovery as someone with a personality disorder.

i love this book so much

[lesbianherald]

so i know you're trying to process Coming Home being the top fic now but bestie are you aware that you hit 30k kudos?

ok. ok ok okok.

As a warning, I'm going to get really weird and personal here.

I got these this morning. Just like with the last one I have no idea what to do with this or how to appropriately deal with it lmao but to everyone who has been so nice - thank you. so much? this is a number so unfathomable to me that I've been trying to sit with it all day and simply cannot process it as real.

I don't want to care about numbers. I want to be super cool and chill and above that. but this is a really big one. and I think it also is really reflective of how big this community has grown. I've decided it would be odd not to acknowledge it.

This is one of the craziest, kindest, most lovely things that has ever happened to me. It feels so incredible and validating to know my work reached some people. That is quite literally all I want to do with my life. And now it feels like I might be able to with my own stuff. But its a lil deeper than that too. All the comments and support have genuinely been such an amazing balm during a really dark time in my life.

At the start, this fic was always a method of escapism for me. I've been under so much pressure in my real life. I'm in a really weird, really competitive transitional point. everything I write irl may make or break the rest of my career. It is a type of pressure I'm incredibly grateful and privileged to have, but still stressful nonetheless.

But then, as i was writing this fic, it became way more of a lifeline. Not to get too personal, and idk if people paid attention to my end notes, but if you did you'll note I fell victim to the ao3 curse last October in a really big way. I lost a dear friend of mine very suddenly.

Starting coming home was a way for me to write something just to write it, knowing that I could be myself and do whatever I want and just throw shit at the wall without worrying about anything. after my friend passed away, the escapism of it became that much more valuable. (btw I would not post about it were I not in a much better place with it so don't worry about me <3)

I feel like maybe it's important at this point to explain the meaning of all the support because I've genuinely been unable to express it in a way I find appropriate. every piece of art every sweet comment etc. etc. helped get me through this really weird, sad, shocking time. As "cringe" as it might seem... fandom and fanfic can be really meaningful, powerful, and connective.

All this being said. coming home was definitely released in the right time for this to happen. A multichapter released right before and during season 2 as well as in the months after? Like. It was primed for this a bit (not intentionally but still) So many fics that get posted now deserve the same amount of love and support.

I really hesitate with numbers. sharing them, abiding by them, gaining value from them. I also get nervous about how people will feel entitled to treat me because of them. But this is so insane it feels weird not to say a bigger thank you.

[utilitycaster]

The identity erasure in fandom is so exhausting.

I feel like someone could write a thesis specifically about Zac Oyama’s characters being pushed into queer/ nd stories by fandom without any regard to the actual textual stories of racism, model minorities, and othering that often arise from Zac’s work.

Like I can find hundreds of Gorgug/ Zelda/ Ragh fics and fics about Gorgug being autistic and only a handful that engage with Gorgug’s race. And actually, you’re just as likely to see a fic about fantasy racism towards Riz, which. Is not the story being told.

Truly wild.

You know, this is really fascinating to me both because I tend to only see the most ridiculous discourse coming from D20 and I don't read fic, but also despite neurodivergence being not uncommon among peole in fandom, as I said, people acted like Travis Willingham was too stupid to play a druid as recently as late 2021 (even after he'd played a hexadin). It's gotten much better and more AP actors have openly talked about having ADHD (Travis McElroy, Aabria Iyengar, Siobhan Thompson, Taliesin Jaffe, Ashley Johnson) which I think forced people to consider what ADHD looks like but now it's kind of become a new "oh this character is LIKE ME" thing where basically anything can be used as evidence, which is fine for headcanons but becomes a problem when you ignore the identities you don't personally have.

But yeah, Zac in particular gets treated terribly - I haven't seen people be as awful to Lou despite him also being a man of color (though I have seen people be weird about him not necessarily choosing to play fat characters and it's like idk man why do you feel he's obligated to play characters that represent you, especially since he does clearly choose to consistently play black characters?) but a lot of people ignore that yeah, Zac has consistently played Japanese characters whenever they've been in a real-world-inspired setting, and that Gorgug is a half-orc living with gnomish parents who is curious about his parentage and who ends up pursuing artificing like his adoptive parents and feels like a very meaningful exploration of being multiracial. I do, for what it's worth, think there is textual exploration of anti-goblin racism in the first season that isn't really followed up on...but it's kind of telling that also, Gorgug isn't canonically queer and Riz is, and Riz is played by a white actor.

I would like to see someone, actually, do an academic exploration of everything talked about here because it's like:

Is this character, in-world, textually an oppressed identity (Fjord, Molly)

Is this character portrayed, in-world, as being of an identity that is oppressed in our world but is not in their world (eg, Beau being a nonwhite human lesbian in a world that doesn't really have color-based racism, usually favors humans, and doesn't have homophobia)

Is the character portrayed by an actor with an oppressed identity (Zac is nonwhite, Ally is trans, etc)

Is this actor a person with an identity shared by their character (ie, Lou and Aabria usually play black characters but those characters do not necessarily experience racism in their world - Fabian doesn't but Kingston would as does Eursolon; Deanna and Suvi don't - if I'm wrong bc I'm behind on WBN sorry)

If a character has multiple identities, which one are people connecting to and which are they ignoring?

If a character is, for example, played by an (afaik) straight cis nonwhite man and played as a straight cis nonwhite man (Ricky Matsui as played by Zac) do people headcanon them as being more like themselves to make them more relatable? Does this happen more with nonwhite characters given the heavily white AP audience?

If a character's race in a fantasy world is metaphorical, do they care about it? when and how?

anyway. much to think about.

[noblehouseofgay]

Marauders Fandom Red Flags

So in my time here (almost a year wow), I've gotten more familiar with this fandom than any other. And I love it here- but there's some issues I've seen. So- this is my list of red flags. Some are personal, some are simple fandom etiquette. Read at your own risk

✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:*✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:*✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:*✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:*

1. Hating on ships/characters too much. If you follow me yk I will post my dislike from time to time, but people who almost exclusively post that are just annoying. Find something you enjoy instead. There's enough hatred in the world, is this really how you wanna spend time?

2. "I hate jegulus but their writers are so good" no. Fuck off. You don't deserve our work if you hate what we write about.

3. Openly bashing/rating/etc fics and other works. People do this for free. If you don't like it keep it private. I've read several fics I've disliked and I only tell my friends, if even then.

4. Liking only straight ships and canon ships. This is just a personal ick. And most of the time it feels a bit homophobic that in a fandom full of mostly queer ships- you only like the straight ones. Kinda weird man

5. Sending anon hate is RARELY okay. I say rarely because I've experienced a few instances where I'll defend it, but over a character? Or s ship? Especially when you call someone a fascist over it. Seriously? Fuck off. There's actually fucking fascists taking over and you're calling out people who like a gay ship? Yikes

6. Being rude under someone's post because you don't like it. Fuck that. I get even I've gotten a little worked up before but I do try to contain myself. I've since chosen to block tags and blogs I don't like. It's much better on my sanity. The block button is free, use it.

7. If you don't like any of the marauders era girls. Ick. What the fuck? They don't have to be your favorites, but they deserve appreciation. They're great characters when they're written well.

8. Let trans people headcannon characters as trans. This fandom is practically founded on saying fuck you to JK. Let us claim these characters in our eyes. Trans regulus means a lot to me. You don't have to like it, but you can simply let me enjoy it.

9. Similar to the last one, but if you say shit like "they cant all be gay" then you're fucking stupid. Shut the fuck up. For one it was the seventies, for two queer people tend to flock together so it makes perfect sense most of the group would be queer. And again- our whole thing is shitting on the terf. Make them queer. Spit on everything she stands for.

10. And last but not least- jegulus hate. There I said it. The amount of hate is ridiculous. You don't have to like it, but attacking us for it is actually insane.

[fangdokja]

I would like to ask a question. Do you have any yandere omegaverse x female reader stories?

Thank you and have a good start to the week. 🩷

Yeahh I do. I haven’t made any new ones though. Because I’m still brainstorming a proper sequel to this novelette, since I originally made this as a standalone. I don’t think I’ve made any fandom omegaverse yanderes though.

Only a Yandere! OC from “A Heart Devoured”.

Yandere! Alpha! Wolf Hybrid & Little Omega

Drabbles

“You look prettier when you cry.”

“Do you know what I love most about you?”

“You don’t get to decide anymore,”

“And treasures don’t get to escape.”

“You’re waiting for someone to come for you, aren’t you?”

“Cry for me,”

“But don’t worry, darling. I’ll fill it with something better. Me.”

“You’ll only ever have one choice with me,”

Novelette 1 : Marked and Mated

🔞Run all you want, little omega—I love the chase.

This Yandere is recommended for those who prefer a more emotionally and mentally unstable Yandere. A Yandere who isn’t above physically assaulting the darling, beyond just mere rape. So please read the trigger warnings before hand, so you know what you’re getting into.

He’s not emotional in how soft yanderes work, make no mistake. Still has elements of my signature style sadist. But, compared to characters like the Yandere! Russian! Mafia Boss for example; Yandere! Alpha! Wolf Hybrid's character personality still has a sense of moral awareness and leniency for the darling.

This Yandere isn’t part of my unhinged Yandere collection personally. He still cares for the darling and her opinions. But, he’s definitely still a bit crazy, especially when compared to my fandom yandere content. Though, if you dig predator x prey or hunter x hunted dynamic, try reading this.

Sorry not much content right now since I prefer fleshing out their main stories before making other stories.

Have a great week as well, Reader. Thank you for the support. It honestly makes me so happy to hear simple but meaningful things like that. Haha. (Also you really like Levi huh? Haha.)

And, I hope all you Readers have a wonderful productive and fulfilling week as well.

[criticalcrusherbot]

Here’s the thing I DON’T understand ever since being in the Helluva Boss fandom.

I’ll never be one to claim that Helluva Boss is a masterclass of storytelling, because it’s not. It has its flaws: plot structure is a bit disjointed at times, tonal consistency could be better, sometimes the humor is not well balanced with the emotional moments, and some episodes can suffer from speed rail pacing, “Mastermind” is the first episode that comes to mind.

But also a lot of what this show does well with its characters still makes up for it, and the show has been getting better about ironing out the flaws I mentioned.

The show’s writing isn’t perfect, but it’s far from having the worst writing I’ve ever seen, so…why does is it THIS show that pushes people’s buttons so much?

Why is THIS the show that sparks the creation of hundreds of YouTube videos with over 50k views or more yelling about how much people think it sucks?

🤖💁🏽‍♀️: Your point about the disproportionate criticism of Helluva Boss touches on a significant issue in media reception: the relationship between production context and audience expectations. It’s undeniable that Helluva Boss faces an outsized level of scrutiny, and much of that can be attributed to the fact that it’s an independently produced series created by Vivienne Medrano, a highly visible and accessible online figure. Unlike shows backed by established production companies, Helluva Boss operates without the institutional legitimacy that often insulates mainstream media from this level of hyper-focus.

For comparison, consider Avatar: The Last Airbender and Bojack Horseman, two critically acclaimed shows produced by major companies—Nickelodeon and Netflix, respectively. Both series benefit from larger budgets, industry connections, and an inherent credibility that allows their audiences to extend more generosity toward their flaws. And while these shows are widely celebrated, they are not without their shortcomings. Avatar, for all its masterful world-building and character development, struggles with romantic subplots. The dynamic between Aang and Katara often feels forced and awkward, with Aang’s possessiveness clashing against Katara’s more maternal demeanor. Meanwhile, Zuko and Mai’s relationship lacks chemistry, (💁🏽‍♀️: though Mai’s defiance of Azula? “I love him more than I fear you.” — rad af).

ANYWAY.

Similarly, Bojack Horseman, while lauded for its exploration of mental health and the consequences of fame, is deserving of some of its criticism for its jarring tonal shifts between absurd comedy and bleak drama. Bojack himself frequently escapes meaningful consequences for his actions in ways that challenge narrative cohesion. However, these flaws are typically contextualized as part of the show’s complexity rather than as fundamental failures, largely due to its association with a respected platform like Netflix.

In contrast, Helluva Boss is rarely afforded the same critical nuance. The show’s tonal experimentation (arguably a feature, not a bug) and character-driven storytelling are often dismissed as structural weaknesses rather than creative choices. This disparity can be partly attributed to the persistent “hate boner” directed at Medrano, whose visibility as a creator makes her a convenient target for criticism. The expectation that independent creators should produce flawless content, while mainstream studios are forgiven their imperfections, reveals an inherent bias in media consumption.

Ultimately, no media text is perfect—not Avatar, not Bojack, and certainly not Helluva Boss. But the point of analysis should not be to determine whether a show is “good” or “bad” in absolute terms. Thoughtful critique involves engaging with a text on its own terms, recognizing both its achievements and its limitations without letting external biases dictate its value. The disproportionate vitriol directed at Helluva Boss says more about the audience’s biases and expectations than it does about the show’s quality.

And on a personal note? We enjoy our gay demon furry cartoon 🤷🏽‍♀️🤖💖

[cyrenescreams]

One thing fannon Batfam fanfics don’t include enough in my opinion is Tim absolutely milking the shit out of the titans tower incident, I mean he’s not as traumatized about it as fandom likes to pretend sometimes so let him get the younger sibling experience out of it. Like one time several years ago when I was much younger and learning to ride a bike my brother who is only slightly older and slightly better at biking than me ran into me and made me fall off said bike and sprain my wrist and I still use that to get out of stuff to this day. Like they should just be siblings about it. Imagine

Bruce, getting an alert in the Batcave: Condiment King is attacking the financial district. Whose turn is it?

assorted Batkids minus Tim, looking at a clearly homemade chart hung on the cave wall with each of their names listed in glitter pen and a magnet stuck on Tim’s name: Tim’s!

Tim: hey Jason-

Jason: no fucking way

Tim, in the fakest sad voice ever: remember that time you tried to kill me in titans tower with the shittiest homemade robin costume. Well this is how you make up for it

Jason, visibly caving: do you know how hard it is to get mustard out of this leather jacket? Who’s gonna pay my dry cleaning bill? You?

or

Oracle: someone needs to go help Robin. He’s taking down a drug shipment but there are more guys than he can handle and he’s mad about it.

Jason, opening his mouth to say ‘not it’:

Tim, faster: hey Hood. Remember that time you tried to kill me? This is your chance to be better for Robin by making sure you or no one else kills him.

Jason: can you shut up about the murder thing! Oh my god fine I’ll go.

or

Alfred, visibly mad staring at the result of yet another family dinner that ended in a food fight: Master Tim you will be helping with the dishes

Tim, whose fault it definitely is: you know I think it’s kind of Jason’s fault. I mean family dinners have just been so hard since he slit my throat.

Jason: I wish I finished the job. Fine I’ll help but your still doing some fucking work

Tim: I’ll take it.

or

Jason, going down to the Batcave to check on a test sample, a grilled cheese he grilled himself in hand:

Tim, who suddenly remembered he forgot lunch and damn is that grilled cheese looking good: hey remember that time-

Jason, throwing the plate with the grilled cheese on it at Tim’s head hoping it will hit him and being very disappointed when Tim catches it: Fine! Fucking fine! Have my damn lunch! Is that what you what? Asshole.

Tim, watching Jason storm off while eating the sandwich: yeah kind of.

[darl-ingfics]

Feveruary Day 3: Caught in the Rain

Fandom: ATEEZ

Sickie: Seonghwa (fever)

Caregiver(s): ATEEZ

Word Count: 1,359

Notes: There's more to this story, but I cut it where it felt natural to cut it. Maybe I'll release a part 2 in the future...

The photoshoot was supposed to be quick and easy. A luxury brand had asked KQ for ATEEZ to model for them, specifically requesting Seonghwa and Yunho. Their communication had been timely, respectful, and cooperative. The shoot was going to be Quick and Easy. That was the whole reason Hongjoong and their manager had ultimately allowed Seonghwa to go: the schedule was short and the required energy low, a perfect first engagement back after the eldest had just barely recovered from a nasty case of bronchitis. 

What actually ended up happening was neither quick, nor easy. 

The marketing associates who had previously been in contact with their managers are no where to be found on set. Instead, two company executives, clearly in the middle of some sort of power struggle, were running the show, and constantly trying to undermine one another. They nitpicked the stylist teams, unnecessarily extending the process. They kept interrupting the director of the shoot, asking the photographers ridiculous questions, touching equipment they knew nothing about, trying to chat with Seonghwa and Yunho when they were trying to listen to directions. They’d made it through a handful of pictures inside the studio before moving outside, like executive B had wanted, but by the time they got out there, the weather had stopped cooperating. A storm had begun to roll in, and while the photographers and managers pushed to go back in, both executive A and B had insisted they get the outdoor shots, assuring everyone that things would be ‘fine.’ 

They’d only been snapping pictures for thirty minutes before the downpour started. 

So now, ten minutes later, Seonghwa was sitting on a bench outside the studio, shaded somewhat from the rain under the large leaves of a tree, but still shivering from the chill of the wind against his soaking wet clothes. He wasn’t sure where Yunho or their manager were; the photographer had left him here a few minutes ago while the executives and director argued about what they wanted to do with the shoot. Seonghwa didn’t much care at this point. He was tired. He was cold. He was ready to go home. 

But he was also professional enough not to say anything until he was asked, so he simply sat shivering on his bench in the meantime. 

Seonghwa’s daze was broken when his shoulders dipped as a jacket was placed on his shoulders. He blinked up, shelling his eyes from the rain to better see Yunho. 

“No.” Shaking his head, Seonghwa began to shrug the jacket off. 

Yunho’s hands held the fabric in place. “No, yourself.” Seonghwa continued shaking his head, so Yunho kept his hands in place on his hyung’s shoulders. 

“You need your jacket,” Seonghwa insisted. 

“Not as much as you do.” Yunho shifted to sit next to Seonghwa, looping one arm around his shoulders. 

“Yunho, it’s raining. You’re all wet.”

A chuckle rumbled in the taller man’s chest. “So are you.”

Lightning flashed above their heads, a roll of thunder following lazily. Seonghwa’s head rested against Yunho’s shoulder. “I want to go home,” he said quietly. 

Yunho placed his head on top of Seonghwa’s. “Me too. This whole thing has been one big clusterfuck.”

“Don’t say that too loud,” Seonghwa warned. 

“Hyung, the closest person is more than three meters away, and there’s no way they could hear me over this rain.” 

“Still.” He paused, clearing his throat. Not quite a cough, but it made Yunho frown all the same.

“You feeling okay?”

Seonghwa shrugged. “I’m tired.”

“Me too, hyung. Me too.”

*

“Oh my god.” San threw his book to the side, standing immediately when Seonghwa and Yunho walked into the den. The rest of the group, (minus Hongjoong, who was working at the studio,) were waiting patiently for the duo to watch a movie. But this was unexpected: while Yunho and Seonghwa had already removed their jackets and shoes, they were still visibly damp. “Wait, stop, why are you all wet?” He ran over to the pair, one hand running through Yunho’s hair, the other feeling Seonghwa’s shirt. He pouted in confusion, wide puppy eyes scanning between them. “Why are you all wet?”  

“Not sure if you’ve noticed, Sannie, but it’s raining,” Yunho replied with a good-natured smile. He readjusted his arm around Seonghwa’s shoulders, tightening his hold on the older man, who had yet to stop shivering since their moment on the bench two hours before. “And our photoshoot was, surprisingly, outside.”

“It was outside?!” Wooyoung’s jaw dropped. “Did you know that?”

Seonghwa shook his head while Yunho replied with a simple, “Nope.”

“And they didn’t take you inside when the rain started?” Wooyoung clarified. 

“Not for a good 45 minutes,” Yunho answered. 

“But you’re makeup and hair and stuff?” San asked, incredulous. “They didn’t think about all that hard work going to waste?” Yunho shrugged one shoulder, shaking his head. 

“We apologized to the stylists on their behalf,” Seonghwa spoke up. “Thanked them for working so hard despite… it getting ruined. It didn’t help that the one exec kinda liked it better messed up…” His voice trailed off, his eyes wandering away to the floor. 

Wooyoung shook his head. “That’s ridiculous. I would’ve fought someone.”

“Kinda hard to fight a high-profile brand executive.” 

Wooyoung scoffed, pushing off the couch, stomping to the kitchen and back to blow off steam. San had yet to stop pouting, running a comforting hand up and down Seonghwa’s arm (the one not currently smushed against Yunho). 

“It wasn’t horrible,” Yunho added, his voice placating. “The shoot director was really kind, and had some amazing ideas. He tried to get us back inside the minute the clouds rolled in. And the stylist team? I’d go back just to work with them again.”

“Stop all this toxic positivity.” Wooyoung crossed his arms over his chest. “You can be mad at people for treating you like shit, Yunho.”

“He called them a ‘clusterfuck’ earlier,” Seonghwa supplied unhelpfully. 

Yunho nudged him. “Of course that’s what you remember.” 

“Wait, hyung, you called the a clusterfuck to their face?” Jongho asked, shock evident on his face. 

“No, of course not, we were-“ Yunho breath caught, as he pitched to the side with a loud sneeze. He shook his head after, blinking in surprise. “Shit, excuse me. Didn’t expect that one…”

“Fuck! Now you’re sick too!” Wooyoung started pacing again, threading his hands through his hair. 

“Okay, okay. Calm down, let’s not get ahead of ourselves,” Mingi said, taking control of the situation. He pointed towards Yunho and Seonghwa. “Let’s get you two warmed up. Go hit the showers. Hwa-hyung, be honest, can you stand on your own? Cause you haven’t let go of Yuyu since you got home.” 

On a normal day, such a direct call out would invoke a demonic wrath from the eldest that few were brave enough to face. This was not a normal day. 

“I would like someone to stay with me, please,” Seonghwa admitted, voice quiet out of exhaustion rather than embarrassment. 

Mingi nodded. “Sannie, go with him please. Jongho, Woo, you guys go heat up dinner. Sangie, do something productive, I trust you.”

“You don’t trust me?” Wooyoung whined. 

“Never,” Mingi replied simultaneously with Yunho and Jongho’s emphatic, “No,” and Yeosang’s “Let me have ONE thing!”  

Amidst the chaos, San had successfully extricated Seonghwa from Yunho’s embrace, and had led their eldest down the hall. 

“Pretty sure his fever’s back,” Yunho muttered to Mingi after the bathroom door closed behind them.

Mingi shook his head. “Oh, definitely. He’s so quiet.” The rapper’s eyes turned to scan Yunho. “You better not get sick, too, mister.” 

“Mingi.” Yunho put his hands on his friend’s shoulder. “I’m fine.” 

“You better be. Go shower.” He hit Yunho’s butt playfully as the dancer turned to go. Yunho whipped back around and clumsily hit Mingi’s hip, earning a laugh from his friend.

Once Yunho’s footsteps had disappeared up the stairs, Mingi joined the group in the kitchen. 

“Hongjoong-ah’s gonna kill someone,” Wooyoung singsonged under his breath to Mingi as the taller man leaned against the counter. 

“As long as its not us, I’m not complaining.”

[bronx-bomber87]

Good Evening amazing fandom :) This was very light Chenford wise. And I'm ok with that when the main SL is really solid like last week was. Now Nyla's stuff was good. That new serial killer made my skin crawl. Could go without FBI guys being involved but get why they are. Mainly a Bailey/Balian heavy ep. Which I knew we'd have at some point given the finale.

I mean that with zero offense to anyone who loves her character or this ship. You should have eps around your favs. It's an ensemble cast after all. How it should be. They are just not my cup of tea is all. So this impressions will be shorter than usual due to that. Looks like next week will more than make up for that. Let us dive into what we did get shall we?

7x05 Till Death

This was a really smart move on Lucy's part. Going to his high school counselor. No better place to get the truth on this kid than her. She’ll have good insight. Like Tim said last week, Lucy isn't satisfied with the answer she got. This is proof of that heh I love her for it. We all know our girl isn't one to quit. Tim's answer last week did little to assuage her worry. So here we are at Ridley's H.S.

This scene explains that outfit now too. I remember people thought her being a detective was the reason. When her tik-tok came out with it the buzz about that was unreal haha But sadly tis not the case. Not disappointed with her being a T.O. at all though. Just remember the excited theorizing about it. We had nothing to go off of. So we dined on the crumbs we got for months LOL

Lucy making Seth cough up all his BS is fantastic. That’s my girl. I absolutely loved that she didn’t let him get away with it, not even for a second. She not only forced him to admit he lied, but also made him reveal the real truth behind it. I wanted to sucker punch him as he spoke. So many lies. Holy shit. They just compound when you do that my man. His reasoning is crap like I expected it to be.

That he uses half truths to get out of trouble. That's not great reasoning to explain what you've done.... It's pretty awful reasoning tbh. Also the thing is he’s lied so much now I can’t even trust that's even true. Idk how Lucy can. It's written all over her face how over his bullshit she is. Said this before she's a ten but real bad at hiding her feelings.

She is wearing them all over her sleeve this entire scene. No way he didn't sense her annoyance. Or how very done she is with him and his excuses. I mean I don't blame her. How can she train this kid without ever trusting what comes out of his mouth? Literally could lie at any given moment. Really dug himself a hole. Lucy looks so frustrated and upset. I hate this. Doesn’t even know what she wants to do with him....

Oh my Timothy, that’s quite the description of what a relationship is my love. It's almost like he has first hand experience what a healthy relationship looks like... We all know that's what he had with Lucy till he destroyed it. *sigh* He’s just a grumpasaurus cause he’s post-Lucy. He lost his constant sunshine person that made him softer.

It was self inflicted as we all know. That doesn't meant it isn't still having lasting ramifications for him due to it. Also he had a bad experience with that whole thing. So the rant makes sense and is warranted. Luna even explains why Tim is that way. I do adore her. Always sunshine and light with her kindness towards Miles. Twas nice to see.

Lucy coming to find her person always makes me happy. Suspicions confirmed. So naturally she must go find hubby. I love his ‘Uh oh.’ When she closes the door. Lucy spewing all she has on Seth to him. Expecting him to to be just as outraged as she is. Disappointed when he isn’t more upset along with her. His logic is sound though. Even if they wanted to boot him it wouldn't be a easy sell with Grey.

A man who is SO stressed about the budget and their perception to the public atm. So I get what Tim is aiming at. Doesn't make it less crappy to deal with though. I have been there in my last job. Where morally I didn’t want to keep someone. But we were so understaffed they let them stay for just that reason. Even when I objected. I hated it sfm. Every fiber of my being loathed mentoring someone who didn't deserve to be there. So I empathize with Lucy so very much with this.

Tim ‘I bounce boots for breakfast.’ Bradford Lmao I’m dying. I mean no one calls out Tim like our girl. Hot damn. I do love her for it. But of course he’s turning this into a learning moment for her. Because it's Tim. Saying it’s on her to correct it. I mean he’s not wrong… But it’s agitating nonetheless. Since he hasn't lied officially it's a moral issue and not a legal one since its not work related.

Which beyond sucks. No two ways about it. Especially since Lucy has been a good teacher to him. He's taking advantage of that wholeheartedly. He wouldn't have made it past day one with Tim. But he sees Lucy's empathy and is exploiting it. *grumble* Her smile at the end with Tim isn't without a little flirty energy I will say. I will take my crumbs in a lighter episode for them.

Then immediately after Tim leaves the problem walks himself right in. I said this last ep, every time he opens his mouth I dislike him just a little bit more. He opens his mouth and I lose patience for him. I can't imagine being in Lucy's position with Seth. If the writers intention was to have me dislike this kid they're doing a masterful job. All I see is a little weasel not worthy of Lucy's time now.

I’m 100% with Lucy not trusting him. He’s gonna have to earn back her trust ten fold. If that's even possible. I would say he gets ten percent of it back and he has to earn the other ninety. That he's lucky he even gets ten. She crushes him when he uses the excuse it's stressful. Straight up OWNS his ass. We can see him panicking to get her back on his side. But that ship has sailed good sir. Not only has it but he is very aware of it.

Man when you have Lucy Chen giving up on you. It's bad my friend. Really all Lucy can do at this point is be a good leader to him. Only way to save herself when he flames out. It’s on Seth to ‘fly right’ as he put. Been there it sucks. Nothing worse than having your trust broken by someone you’re training. Because now everything is colored by that distrust. That empathy you once had has wained quite a bit if you have any left at all. Lucy did not get an easy first rookie. phew lord.

We come to the end of the episode and it's clear Lucy has sat on this the entire day. It is our girl after all. I do love that she keeps gravitating back to Tim. Makes my heart happy. Even though she is one to make the call she still needs him by her side. Friggin adore he doesn’t hesitate to go with her to Grey. I love it sfm. Goes from grumpy to supportive in a second when he realizes she needs him.

That she has a plan in action. That really she's come to him for support not advice this time. He doesn't blink before he's at her side. Not only that but not taking at shots at her decision. Wanting to give her all the confidence by backing it. (How very far we've come with that) Lucy is looking elated he’s coming with and supporting her.

I was thinking time to boot that little schmuck. I said couple eps ago I was kind of hoping he'd wash out. Then this happened. His "cancer" is back……He literally tipped his hand twice with her in this episode. Saying when he thinks he is in trouble he does half truths. That when he is panicked and stressed that's his go to. Then all of a sudden his cancer is back that same day. How very convenient of those lab results to show up right now.

Tim's face is everything LOL He is now over this dude himself. The look they share is top notch though. Silent communication at it's finest. How can she say no when he says his “cancer “ is back? And in front of Grey who has zero idea about her suspicions. This feels like a ploy to keep himself safe. He could feel Lucy turning on him.

Could sense the tide was turning against him in the worst way so he did this. I could be wrong but this feels pretty right. Lucy holds his fate in her hand. So what better way to stay afloat than to use cancer. She can't possibly fire him now can she? Ugh. This little shit being far more of a problem than ever expected. Holy cow. I honestly expected Miles to be more of the problem but here we are....Shall be interesting to see how the pans out.

Now let's talk about the most exciting that happened which was the promo after this ep LOL Other than the little Chenford we got this ep didn't do much for me. Other than anger me against Seth lol This was a just a fillery place holder to get to this one IMO. The description alone has me amped. "The Gala" It’s Valentine’s Day, and Lieutenant Grey gives Tim and Lucy an unromantic assignment, while John and Celina track down a missing girl. Later, the team sharpens up for a charity gala where multiple relationships come to a head." Hard to believe been a year since she got her necklace. I'm not crying you are.....

Now this promo had me wishing it was next week. The promo had me all jazzed this morning. Oh my lord. Genny is back! Also Tim looks soft as butter for her in that promo. Man is transparent af. Saying how good she looks in front of people? I did say continue being this way and he is following those instructions ha To say I am excited for next week is an understatement.

Thank you to all you glorious readers. You make all the effort I put into these worth it on the days where I'm tired af and assembling these. The likes, lovely comments and reblogs make my heart happy. So never can thank you all enough for the love. Shall see you next week in 7x06 :)

~~~

Side notes-Non Chenford

Bailey sending notes to the hitman in secret. Yeah that’s not good for your marriage.....

Nice Texas has an a lovely lady at his side. Not so great she just showed up ha

PTSD for Nyla poor woman. Possible bad needle? Yikes…The stress that would give me my god.

Bailey got Jason killed holy hell....She pretty much just committed murder. She is an accessory to murder now. So that's fun for her. lol Also little anti climatic he just got offed after hunting her for months. I was more shocked he killed the girl than Jason tbh. But oh well. Least it's over early in the season.

[megwritesriddles]

Like You Deserve ༊*·˚

18+ MDNI !!!

Pairing: Sebastian (Stardew Valley) x Reader / You

Summary: Reader is left adrift after a disappointing relationship with Shane comes to an equally disappointing end, but Sebastian wants to show them how they deserved to be treated all this time.

Tags: Unprotected sex, Filming sex, Friends to lovers, Dirty talk, Past Shane/Reader, Reader was cheated on, Shane-bashing!! (sorry), Making ex jealous, SoftDom!Sebastian, Reader is as gender neutral as possible (I'm used to writing fem!reader so sorry if that shows)

Word count: 3.5k

all fandom masterlist | sdv masterlist | read it on ao3

Authors note: Based on a request by the lovely @i-live-in-spite ! Apologies for all the Shane bashing but... I had to for the story!!! Someone pls send help making the cover images for these sdv fics, it's so hard :00!! Hope you like it anyway mwah ( ◕◡◕)っ ♡

︶⊹︶︶୨୧︶︶⊹︶

Things had been tense for a while between you and Shane. You could feel it, he’d started acting cold again from time to time, like back when you first met him, not the sweet guy that you had known for a couple of months there when everything seemed fine. You supposed it was just the end of the honeymoon phase, or maybe he was just in some sort of autumn funk, but you assumed it would blow over, he’d had bad days before, but this was just an extended one. Surely. But no. 

He’d been cheating on you. When you’d found the conversations on what he’d always told you was a ‘gridball discussion board’ online, you were floored. He’d begged and pleaded with you to forgive him, that he wouldn’t do it again, that he hadn’t even met them in person, but that made it all the worse. He threw away what he had with you, months of effort to get him to trust you, you ignoring everyone who said you were significantly out of his league, giving him kindness and understanding at every turn, for someone he hadn’t even met in person. He continued to plead with you to stay, that it was a mistake and you were better than anyone else, but you were too proud. You gathered what few things you had in his room and stomped out never to return. It hurt, badly, you had put so much time and effort into your relationship with him, an effort everyone told you that you’d been wasting. It seemed in the end, they’d been right all along.

Shane continued sending letters and trying to corner you in town, telling you how much he regretted what he did and how badly he needed you back. Deep down, you knew he only wanted you to come care for him again. You weren’t sure if he’d ever really loved you or if he’d merely used you. How can you cheat on someone you love? Every time he said he still loved you, the words felt more poisonous. He finally begins to leave you alone again after a while, pouting and glaring at you whenever you are nearby, trying his best to look pitiful so you might come crawling back. You couldn’t believe that this was the man you’d thought you’d loved.

A benefit of the end of your relationship was that you were spending more time with friends again, namely, male friends. Shane had always been deeply jealous and insecure, indirectly making you cut off all your male friends, always paranoid that you might choose them over him. What was the expression? Every accusation is a confession? Sam and Sebastian welcomed you back with open arms, not asking many questions, glad you were joining them for pool again. They could tell you were sad, especially the first few weeks, but opted to try to cheer you up rather than ask you about it. It was clear that it was over between you and Shane, and Sebastian couldn’t be more happy. 

He’d been planning to make a move on you back in spring, but your relationship had started with Shane and he was out in the cold, even as your friend. He understood though, he knew Shane was deeply jealous, so accepted your apologies and promises never to let someone come between the two of you again. He pays you special attention, letting you win at pool to cheer you up and buying you your favourite drinks, anything to wipe that sad look off your face. He’s occasionally intervened and demanded Shane to leave you alone, which only angers the man further, but he does stand down.

It’s one of those nights where he’s paying you special attention, he’d told Shane to ‘fuck off’ from glaring at you across the Saloon a few hours ago and was staying late with you to talk. He’d missed you a lot while you’d been hiding away from the world with Shane, you seemed so much lighter these days, you almost had a glow about you. He had his arm slung around your shoulder, a risky move which had paid off, listening to you talk on a tucked away couch, just the two of you. You were a little tipsy, not enough to be worrisome, but enough to have you rambling. You’d never really talked about what happened with Shane, but everyone knew it must have been something bad, based on how the two of you were acting. The leading theory in town was an argument about his drinking that couldn’t be solved, perhaps he had broken something while drunk. When you reveal to him that he’d been cheating, Sebastian’s jaw hangs open for a moment. Your cheeks flush and glance around nervously in his silence.

“He what?” Sebastian hisses. 

“They hadn’t even met in person it was just… chats–” you ramble, trying to play it down so Sebastian would stop looking at you like that.

“Still! I can’t believe his audacity! To cheat on you… he was insanely lucky you ever even gave him a second glance,” Sebastian scoffs. He’d always felt this way, but knowing what Shane had willingly thrown away, he feels wildly incensed, anger growing inside him. “No one deserves that but especially not you! You’re stunning and he’s… well, him,” he rolls his eyes, if he was a more violent man, he would go knock some sense into Shane with his fists, but he knew you would never approve of that, you were really too sweet for your own good. You blush and look down, shrugging.

“I don’t know about stunning…”

“You are,” he asserts, glancing over your lightly flushed cheeks and shy expression. “He’s a complete idiot for giving you up, seriously,”

“Well, at least he’s disappointing them in bed now, not me,” you giggle, quickly covering your mouth when you realise what you’ve said aloud, eyes widening. The wine you’d had really loosening your lips, letting things out you’d kept to yourself for too long, itching to gossip. Sebastian’s eyes also widen before letting out a bark of laughter, a smirk settling on his face.

“Damn, cold,” he teases, gently poking your arm to get you to lower your hand. He cups your chin between his fingers and tips your head up to look at him, relishing in the deepening of your blush. “He couldn’t please you?” You bite your lip and shyly shake your head.

“He didn’t try that hard… to be fair,” you try to defend, but you hear yourself and know it sounds weak, it’s hardly a defence, just a further indictment of him. Sebastian’s fingers tighten on your chin, anger coursing through him again. You had been an angel sent from heaven into his life and he hadn’t even tried to please you.

“He’s a piece of shit, to be fair, a total scumbag, you deserve everything,” Sebastian declares, his jaw tight. “He should have been giving you like… 5 orgasms a night, kissing the ground you walked on,” he huffs. You giggle at his hyperbole, though your blush deepens, not used to openly discussing stuff like this, especially not with Sebastian’s thumb rubbing your jaw so gently, his face hovering close to yours. You taste the words before he says them. “That’s what I would do if I had you… you would always be satisfied, always,” he purrs, another risky move but he’s willing to make it. You take a shaky breath and slip your eyes closed, your mind filled suddenly with images of Sebastian pleasing you. “I would never be stupid enough to let you go or hurt you, I’d treat you like you deserve,”

Your lips crash to his without thinking, and his hands instantly fall to your waist, tugging you closer. He hums in excitement, he’d been waiting for this for so long and here it was. You taste delicious, with a hint of the wine from earlier that evening and a sweetness that was entirely your own. He tilts his head to press closer to you, tugging you closer until your legs settle across his lap, one hand caressing your hip, the other moving up to your hair. Your arms snake around his neck, pulling the two of you chest to chest in desperation. You had never felt this way with Shane, pure electricity coursing through your veins, your tongues meeting in a sensual dance, swirling and caressing. 

“Let me please you,” he murmurs between kisses, hand sneaking onto your back beneath your shirt. “Let me show you what it can be like, let me give you what you deserve,” with a breathless nod, he’s lifting you to your feet and the two of you are leaving the Saloon hand in hand.

The way back to your farm is full of your tipsy giggling, his hands softly brushing up and down your body and frequent stops to kiss. You can’t seem to keep your hands off of each other as you press each other up against trees and fences to have another taste. When you finally arrive at your farm, you stumble through the door, lips still connected, hands fisted in the fabric of his hoodie. Every cell in your body is on fire, you haven’t felt this amount of lust in a while, and all the sinful promises Sebastian had whispered against your mouth on your way here only made the anticipation grow. You pull him into the bedroom, stealing kisses as you go, which he returns with a smile. The eagerness surprises him in the best way, you seem totally obsessed with the idea of finding out what he can do for you, and he’s more than happy to show you. He pushes you down onto the bed, caging you in between his arms, hovering above you, moving his kisses down your jaw. The gasp that leaves your lips and that look in your eyes has his cock straining against his jeans. 

“So sexy, babe,” he growls, nipping your collarbone and placing a questioning hand on your stomach, just beneath your shirt. “Can I?” you nod, writhing beneath him. Your shirt is quickly shed and Sebastian looks over your chest with a clear look of arousal. “You’re so perfect, I’m gonna make you feel so good,” he kisses and nips all over your chest, playfully making his way down your stomach to hear your breath hitch. He won’t use his mouth now, he feels too desperate to be inside of you, but he’s sure he’ll be using his mouth a lot in the future if he has his way, which it seems like he will. You’re completely willing beneath him, so aroused, pupils blown wide, body flushed and chest heaving lightly. “Want me?” he asks teasingly, toying with the button of your jeans. You nod helplessly. “Where?” he prompts, feeling a little drunk on the power he has over you right now. You huff softly.

“Inside… please, Sebastian, don’t tease right now,” you pout and he chuckles, finding your expression delicious, he leans up and pecks your pouty lips with a smile. 

“Sorry babe, I want to be inside you too,” he cups your cheek, kissing you deeper for a moment, which you enthusiastically reciprocate. “I’m gonna make you feel so good,” he promises deeply, popping open your jeans as he nips your bottom lip, helping you wiggle out of them, discarding them by your bed. There’s a quiet metallic thud and you both disconnect to look down at the source of the noise. “Oh shit, sorry,” he mumbles, realising your phone had been in your pocket, hurriedly reaching down to lift it and place it on the bedside table before returning to your lips. 

“Guess you were too eager,” you tease playfully and he agrees with a hum, sucking your bottom lip into his mouth, his fingers tracing the edges of your underwear. He is happy to pull back and lift his arms when you start to tug at his hoodie and then the t-shirt underneath, smug when you look over his torso admiringly, eyes dark with lust.

“Like what you see?” he teases, unbuttoning his jeans, imagining himself soon between your legs.

“Yeah,” you sigh softly. “I do…” Not bothered to feel insecure, Sebastian strips his boxers with his jeans, eyes lighting up when your mouth falls open at the sight of him. “Wow…” He knows he’s well-endowed, but is flattered by your reaction, being even more sure now that he can show you a very good time. You lift your hips as he tugs down your underwear, eyes glued on his rock-hard twitching length. You’re incredibly flattered by how aroused he seems as he looks you over.

“So stunning, can’t wait to bury my cock in you,” he purrs, massaging your inner thighs. From the corner of his eye, he notices your phone lighting up but tries his best to ignore it. There were more important things on his mind. He smirks as your body reacts to his words. 

“Please,” you breathe. “I need it,” 

He doesn’t need asking twice, settling between your legs, carefully positioning himself and making sure you’re ready for him, but as you whine pleadingly, it’s harder to be cautious. Slowly, he begins to press into you, relishing the warmth of you around his cock, squeezing softly. You both throw your heads back in sync, letting out pleased sounds. You feel like the perfect fit, taking him in so perfectly like you were made for him. He glances down to make sure you’re okay, your chest heaving and little whimpers leaving your throat. 

“Are you okay babe?” he asks breathlessly, eyes darting to your phone for a moment as it lights up again. You nod and mewl, wrapping your legs around his hips to get him to move. He chokes out a groan as he finally bottoms out, twitching within you. He knew you’d be amazing, but he couldn’t anticipate this. How did you feel so good? It seemed almost inconceivable. How could anyone give this up? He braces himself, his hands on either side of your head, pecking your lips before beginning to slowly rock in and out of you. Your hands fly up to clutch his back, and he groans at the feeling, drinking in the moans you let out against his lips. “Does that feel good? Yeah?” he husks, speeding up a little as your reactions egg him on. 

“Y-yeah… oh!” you whimper, your mouth falling open as he speeds up, letting out a constant string of moans. He can hear in your voice just how good you feel and the thought arouses him impossibly more, you’re so enchanting, you drive him crazy. He raises himself a little more so he can look down at you as he thrusts in and out, watching your eyes roll back in pleasure. He grips your hips, lifting you so he can sit up and continue thrusting. The new angle makes you gasp, his name falling as a whine from your lips, which he affectionately returns, smoothing his hands over your body as he ravishes you. He can see your phone continuously lighting up on the nightstand and it’s driving him crazy. He halts for just a moment, met by a whimper of protest from you, to reach over, intending merely to turn over the phone but then noticing who is messaging you.

About ten messages from ‘Shane DON’T ANSWER’ flood onto your screen, including a missed call. Sebastian growls in anger. He remembers you mentioning how he wouldn’t leave you alone no matter how many times you’d asked and how you were considering just blocking his number at this point. You plead softly with Sebastian to continue, craning your head from your lying position to try and understand why he’d stopped moving. Several of the messages mention Sebastian himself, saying how someone had seen the two of you leaving the Saloon together, followed by several insecure accusations. Sebastian can’t help but scoff a laugh at his insolence, picking up your phone and opening it. You raise your brows under him.

“What are you doing?” you ask quietly, watching as he taps through your phone, shifting your hips to try and get that delicious friction back. Sebastian bites his lip and his eyelids flutter, you feel like heaven, and he hates himself for stopping, for depriving the both of you, but he has an idea. He opens your messages, seeing days of Shane talking to himself in your messages, switching between begging and anger. That man was so pathetic, he couldn’t understand what you’d ever seen in him.

“Don’t worry, just lie there for me, babe,” he smirks, opening the camera attached to the messaging app and scrolling to the video function. You’re shifting your hips in search of pleasure again, and it looks so sexy through the camera, watching himself disappear inside of you. He groans loudly, clicking the record button on the screen. The flash comes on in the dim light, alerting you to what’s going on, and your brows fly up. He shushes you by placing a finger to his lips, beginning to thrust into you once more. All your protests die on impact, melting into a choked moan. Sebastian watches, enraptured as he slides in and out of you through the camera, grunting and speeding up, struggling to keep the camera steady when all he wants to do is completely lose himself in you once more. He can hear the steady slap of skin on skin and a mixture of both of your moans. The thought of sending this to Shane, claiming you away from him finally, makes him feel feral, and he thrusts into you even faster and harder than before. He tilts the camera up to show your face, and though obscured by your arm thrown over your eyes, it’s clear who it is. You whine over and over, your lips parted in pleasure. “Yeah? Fuck… tell me how good it feels,” he grunts.

“So good Seb…” you whine lewdly, stretching out the words, shaky with every thrust he gives you. The fact you’ve said his name sends a powerful jolt through his body and he pounds into you harder, making you shout out in ecstasy. He was showing you pleasure you’d never felt before, you’d been a little sceptical at the start of the evening, but now you knew you were never going back, he was hitting some spot within you that had you seeing stars, a spot you hadn’t even known you had, touching it again and again, leaving you in heaven. The fact he was filming you… excited you more than it should have, you couldn’t help imagining what it might look like. 

“That’s it, babe, cum for me, yeah… show how much you love it, fuck… you look so sexy,” he husks, pounding into you relentlessly, no longer focused on the camera, staring down at you hungrily. It’ll be clear what’s happening anyway. His free hand is all over you, squeezing and caressing as he continues thrusting with all his might, feeling you tightening around him, your moans increasing in volume. “Yes… that’s it,”

“Seb!” you wail, your legs shaking violently around his hips, pleasure exploding behind your eyes, more intense than you had felt, possibly ever. The knowledge you’re being filmed only heightens the experience tenfold, tingles running up and down your body, a warm syrupy feeling settling in your lower stomach. He whispers soothing praises as you spasm around his cock, making him choke on his words occasionally, still softly thrusting into you. You gasp for breath, still moaning with each aftershock that courses through you. In this calmer moment, Sebastian fumbles with your phone, shakily typing out a caption for the vulgar clip he just captured. 

“Don’t text again, we’re busy,” he types, though a little inaccurately in his aroused haze. The message is still clear. He presses send, makes sure it’s gone to Shane and then tosses your phone aside, noticing it already beginning to blow up with messages from him. Your cheeks are burning as you look up at the cocky smile on Sebastian’s face.

“I can’t believe I just let you do that,” you giggle breathlessly as he strokes your cheek with his thumb, still giving you a moment to compose yourself, though remaining inside of you. “I’ll probably regret it in the morning,”

“Nah, babe, you looked so hot, it’s his fault for giving you up,” Sebastian assures, leaning down to peck your lips. You smile and kiss back.

“I felt hot, but still… it’s not exactly something I’m used to,”

“Me neither, but it was sexy as hell, maybe we should do it more often,” he smiles, tucking a few kisses under your jaw. 

“Oh? You think we’ll do this again?” you tease. He grins against your skin, moving back up to hover over you, beginning to ever-so-slowly thrust into you once more, making you gasp. He growls playfully. 

“Oh yes… you deserve so much more pleasure, babe, and I intend to give it to you,”

︶⊹︶︶୨୧︶︶⊹︶

hey you! want to get tagged in my work when it comes out? click here! (˵ •̀ ᴗ - ˵ ) ✧

xoxoxo

[n7punk]

"Hotel Couches & Other Hail Marys" Fic Notes

These aren't the traditional format but I have enough Hidden Little Things I wanna do very loose an informal fics notes

The "Hotel Couch" was Catra's Hail Mary, but the shared bed was Catradora's, and Catradora's reunion was the fans' Hail Mary.

The way I do tweets was invented back in DITM and "perfected" in SaD, when I also invented how I do Instagram posts/stories/reels/DMs. I wasn’t reinventing shit for the changes Twitter has made, it’s ~historically accurate~ to when Dashcon happened. The one change I made was not using the block quote indent for all the digital posts I usually do, but that entire fic was digital, so I only ended up using it for indented reply chains on Twitter (which worked out better tbh) and on the Instagram chapter to distinguish the posts and the descriptions of the images/videos.

Fake tumblr posts/alternate reality dashboard simulators are already a popular format on Tumblr so there really was very little for me to do there. I made some tweaks by adding in the comment/share/like icons I use for Twitter, but overall that part was easy. The hardest part was getting the follow button blue. On Tumblr that's easy, colored text is a built-in option, but for AO3 I had to use a work skin to include some CSS for the color code. I ended up modifying the Reddit skin I had made using this tutorial because I was planning to capstone with a Reddit post anyway so I could just add on the blue on. Normally I don’t consider using colored text for many reasons (hard to read, might look great on my site skin and be invisible on others, etc), but in the case of the follow buttons they could just as easily not be there and contribute nothing but realism, so I wanted to have them in their standard blue.

Normally I don’t even consider using Tumblr when doing social media posts in a fic but considering this was inspired by Dashcon which was literally a Tumblr convention, I had to for this one. As such, the first chapter is mostly set-dressing for the disaster the convention is itself so when people complain in future chapters it makes sense. The rough outline was: Tumblr (convention background) Twitter (reconnect and beef background) Instagram (bond) DMs/texts (get together) Reddit (retrospective epilogue wrapping up the story)

Most of the usernames are just like. Random shit I could come up with. The ones on Tumblr are supposed to be random stuff on the site and the ones on Twitter lean more towards fandom-associated stuff for the She-ra fandom since it’s transitioning from the pool of All Con Attendees to the microcosm of their fans affected. Most of these can be found in previous fics such as DITM. That said, here are the name(s) with inspo behind them:

🍕nnlftbf: none pizza left beef. And no vowels. I have always desperately wanted to eat the none pizza

🦉pewpew4gloria: Star Siblings fan (reference to Starla’s bird)

🐍nagashed: this is a reference to both the plethora of (human animal hybrid)(bodypart) tumblr usernames (ex: dragongirlsnort) and a manga that my friend is reading.

🎃pumpkakitty: reference to a really cute hat in Pokemon Go 🥺 (okay it’s supposed to be a pikachu but it looks like a kitty tbh)

🌈edgeofgloria: another Star Siblings fan

He-Ro in the Freak Zone @frightzest: He-Ro is an actual MOTU character, frightzest is from DITM

Aside: the “looki loo” thing is a reference to Razz’s good ol pal Looki, hence the fandom in-joke

praying mantis wife @nineten02: nineten is a reference to my Stardew Valley chickens <3

Katastrophe @viviviolence: Vi’s shoulders you mean so much to me

Oh yeah Zeni is Zine just. Flipped. Also the original She-ra artist was one of the two sponsors who pulled out and the entire reason they were there. I mean what?

When Adora called Catra aggravating on camera she was doing it in a horny way but with Real Beef between them it didn’t come across that way. She also said they wouldn’t work together as a factual thing rather than spiteful. There was no way the studio OR Catra would let them.

When Catra said she’s “finally suing” she’s referring to the long-standing rumor that the previous showrunner “stepped back” because Catra was threatening to sue for the wage/credit theft, or the discrimination, or the abusive work environment, or the-

The dates Adora reached out to Catra via DMs were all significant ones for the real series — season 1 debut for when they were nominated, prompting the thank you story, season 2 debut for when they won the award (I didn’t look up and don’t care when the actual GLAADs are lol), and season 3 debut when ZeniCon is actually taking place. Almost three years have passed since Catra’s ousting from the show back between seasons 3 and 4, tho.

Given the NDA and general threat-level from the studio, Adora didn’t think she could mention Catra on her main page without getting a talking to even with Weaver officially departed, so she tried to do it on her story, but Catra did NOT want the heat that could bring.

The foam She-ra crown from the Instagram reel is the same one they gave out at cons in 2018 and 2019.

Adora calling it the “season 5” rather than “season 4” wrap part led to fan speculation that season 5 really was written by Catra except for the weakest parts — some stuff needing to be condensed, the insertion of a new storyline — which like. Well they are right. But she said season 5 rather 4 (which was wholly Catra’s) because it’s the part she’s most proud of even after they took it from her. It’s what she was building to the whole time.

Catra and Adora lasted like ten minutes lying next to each other in bed before they ended up kissing and when it started progressing they snuck into the bathroom. It was obvious Bow was asleep and they were just hoping Glimmer was too. Glimmer, too, wishes she was asleep.

Glimmer refers to Catra being “at her worst” because she got really aggressive and disparaging of her old cast out of bitterness after they wouldn’t back her up in the press (to keep their jobs). They all understand why, but it is still frustrating.

Melendy is from my fic lore, she’s a magicat character I use sometimes who is named after Catra’s VA in the 80s. She plays a recurring character on the show, though on the minor side.

I linked the Ohio con video because 1) that video is the ONLY time I’ve heard of it and I love the drama 2) to hammer home all the shit I say in this isn’t just from Dashcon, I am not here to libel people and 3) because I like my secret little links, BUT if you want to see a good video on Dashcon, watch this one and literally never watch Internet Historian he’s a POS: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZAqy-KDJAUM

The behind the scenes shitshow for She-Ra itself was inspired by the TV show Lost (though Catra keeping her storylines secret was inspired by Real She-ra and ND Stevenson)

Like I said, I had been wanting to do a fic that was “just digital” for a while. The massive problem with that is getting across the shit people don’t post online because there is not a single trace of Catra and Adora potentially being a couple until after ZeniCon. Catra and Adora were basically wildly attracted to each other from the moment they met on the show but wouldn’t cross that barrier because they worked together (especially because of where they worked together). They ended up hooking up during some high-stress times for the show just to deal with how much they wanted each other. Catra felt really betrayed when the cast wouldn’t stick their necks out for her when she was ousted. Privately they were all on her side and told the studio so, but to publicly side with her was to lose their jobs, and the show was their entire life. They ultimately picked their passion & livelihood over showing public support they didn’t think would make a difference anyway and she cut all ties with them. They did what they felt they could, which was mostly never denying her version of events and deflecting questions when they had no other choice, but they all felt bad about it and tried to reach out to her privately. She didn’t want to hear it, but fans were right that the real beef was with the studio. She fell back into their arms eventually because she could see they were doing what they could while keeping their jobs, and she knew just how much being unemployed sucked. Adora was also telling the truth when she said they were fighting for her version of the story by staying on the show and no matter how much Catra calls it theft, that is what she wants for her characters. Being forced into the same room let them all remember what it was like to be friends, and that’s what led them to eventually giving their apologies.

I have no idea why, when presented with “lol dashcon au” my brain goes “rampant wage theft, behind the scenes abuse, disgrace and scandal, show extension hell a la supernatural, brrrrrrrrrr” but there we go

[mercars-musings]

Breaking In

Fandom: Dragon Age - The Veilguard

Pairing- Lace Harding & Taash

TW- depicted: anxiety, grief, flirting and some "immodest" touching ; mentioned: major character death, sexual acts ; genre: silly, fluff.

Description-

This is a short, silly & fluffy piece I wrote of Harding and Rook getting up to shenanegans when Lace tries to break into Taash's bedroom to stage a surprise!

Done as part of a Rook Story Prompt Ask Game on Tumblr! {This Ask Game Prompt was: 38. SD!Rook breaking in somewhere to acquire vital information.}

Ask Game Here PS. @hyperions-light Ask prompt 9 is also coming at some point in the next weekish! And @ofcrowsanddragons your fic is coming too just a little bit after ! Sorry to you both for the delay, my brain has been mush lmfao <3 /gen

Word count- 2.6k

Read on AO3: Here!

~ MAJOR SPOILERS FOR VEILGUARD BELOW ~

Lace Harding always loved finding little ways to make her partner smile, whether it was with a date or a surprise gift, she always strove to delight Taash whenever possible.

Her most recent attempt came about after she had read one of Rook's… spicier book recommendations and found a particularly risque outfit that she thought Taash would get a kick out of.

Getting the outfit should have been easy enough: all she had to do was grab some excess materials from Taash's bedroom when they were away & try the outfit out in time for their return, simple enough right?

Well, the fact that Lace had just spent the better half of an hour fighting the lock on Taash's bedroom door would beg to differ.

She would have just employed her usual method of finding a sturdy enough rock to hit the lock into submission with, but, she'd feel awful breaking something of Taash's. Even something as inconsequential and easily replaceable as a pad lock.

After a few more moments of prodding the lock, Harding bit down her pride and finally accepted that she would need to ask for help.

Maybe she could ask her fellow rogue? No, Lucanis had gone out a few hours ago, probably somewhere he could brood at Neve over coffee since she was nowhere to be seen either.

Davrin & Bellara had joined Taash on their trip to the Hall of Valour, so both of them were definitely off the table for this particular antic.

Emmrich definitely wouldn't join her heist & even if he could be persuaded, judging by the lack of giggling coming from Rook's room he probably wasn't even arou-

Wait- Rook!

Hm, Rook…

Things had been a little strange between the pair since Varric. It wasn't anything malicious, or actually damaging just- Az never really spoke about their mutual friends passing.

Lace originally just assumed it was because of his tendency to avoid talking about his personal problems like the blight. That if given long enough, he would eventually open up & finally speak to her about it, but… it had been almost a year & he still hadn't even broached the topic with Harding.

Maybe she had overestimated their friendship, maybe he didn't feel as close to her as she did him, or… maybe his discomfort talking about it was her fault.

She hadn't exactly reached out to him about it much either. She had kind of spent a large portion of the last several months stressing out about her new powers & what it meant for not only her but the Dwarven people as a whole.

If she was really honest with herself, she kind of just word-vomited a lot of that stress & anxiety at Az whenever he would check in on her. Which, probably didn't help him feel like there was much space to actually talk about Varric since so much was going on & the one other person who could get it just… wasn't very available.

Maybe some silly antics were exactly what was needed right now. Maybe, if they were able to do silly shit together again, even if it was only for a little while, it would help them re-bond a little bit? Possibly even start to re-bridge that gap so Az could feel comfortable talking to her again?

Well, it certainly couldn't hurt.

Lace rounded the corner to Rook's room, raising her hand to knock before an unexpected noise caught her attention. It was the quiet hum of music, which wouldn't have been too much of a surprise if Rook wasn't the absolute worst at trying to play literally every instrument she had seen him try.

The music continued through the door, muffled in a way that seemed like it was being kept just quiet enough to not catch any suspecting passerby's attention. However, luckily for Lace, it was still loud enough that it couldn't quite sneak by a scout.

Harding was never good at keeping her nose out of something that interested her and it certainly got her in trouble more times than she would like to admit. It made her a great scout though, few things could get past her or in her way when she was trying to find someone or something, well, except for a lock apparently.

Curiosity got the better of her as usual and instead of knocking she found herself slowly pushing the door open as to better assess the situation without immediately alarming her friend of her snooping.

When the door opened, she was greeted by the familiar smell of Lavender & Oak-moss incense. It had become Rooks favourite since he'd met Emmrich, wouldn't stop going on about how when mixed it smelt like nights with Emmrich.

Bleh.

Despite this immediate reaction, Lace really was happy for her friend, but it was also extremely foreign seeing Rook be so lovey dovey all of a sudden.

When she met him, & throughout most of their year chasing Solas, he seemed to be fully submerged in his whole "I'm allergic to love actually, so never mention it in my vicinity again or I will throw myself into the Minrathous Docks" thing.

So to see that change so fast was nice but… weirdly concerning at the same time.

Her friend was in mourning {& clearly not handling it very well}, then all of a sudden he's throwing himself into the arms of a much older man that has so much more public respect & accreditation than Rook had. It felt almost like… well she wasn't sure what it felt like but she definitely knew her gut was telling her to be weary.

She didn't want Az to get hurt anymore than he already had been.

Before she could continue mulling over the strange change in her friend, Harding's train of thought was disrupted by the strange sound that had grabbed her attention just moments prior: the unusual hum of a quiet melody that danced throughout the aquarium.

The melancholy notes that twisted through the air seemed to be coming from a projection of a lute, which was definitely an unexpected sight.

She didn't exactly doubt it was possible for someone to create a musical projection, if anything it would be weird if someone hadn't at least figured that out by now. What was weird though, is that in all her travels with Rook it seemed like he rarely used his magic outside of fighting. So it really was a surprise to see him messing around with it now, in his spare time.

This combined with the fact that Az seemed to be laying almost lazily on his couch, twirling his ankle to the tune of the music, little clicking sounds ringing out from the joint as he did… it seemed almost domestic? Like Rook had actually let himself just relax, which isn't something Harding was used to seeing but… it was nice in a way.

One particularly loud ankle pop seemed to knock her fully out of her thoughts, finally reminding her to actually announce her presence.

"Hey, Rook."

The almost calming projection & tune disappeared almost as instantly as Az shot up from where he was relaxing, his eyes wide as they met Harding's.

"Sorry," she laughed, taking in the rare site of a bewildered Rook.

"Fuckin' Hell Harding," the Qunari breathed, placing a hand on his chest. "Are you trying to kill me?"

"Not yet, kinda don't want to find out what an angry Emmrich's like." She joked.

Rook laughed at that, shaking his head slightly as he swung his legs off the side of his couch.

"I don't know, seeing a Mini Titan versus a Seasoned Necromancer? Seems like it would be a fun show."

Lace rolled her eyes at that, swinging her hip to the side slightly as she smirked.

"Yeah, till you have to deal with an angry Taash."

"Point taken," Az raised to his feet, turning to face the dwarf with a raised eyebrow. "So, whose dying now?"

"Nobody," she snorted.

"Promise? It's meant to be my day off y'know?" The mage joked back, raising his hands to meet the sides of his hips in his usual stance.

"Yeah, well… does my pride count?"

Rook's eyebrows furrowed at this, prompting Lace to continue.

"I'm trying to surprise Taash…"

"Okay…?"

"But, their bedroom doors locked & I'm not exactly lock picker Harding…" she admitted sheepishly.

"Yeah… I could have told you that after the fifth chest we had to open via cliff drop." Rook teased, pausing momentarily as the rest of Harding's words sunk in. "Wait, why do you need to get into their room?"

"For… vital information?"

Rook stared for a few seconds, eyebrows knitting together even tighter in an unconvinced stare as his head tilted slightly to the side.

"Okay, okay. Maker, you're so nosy…" Harding sighed, before continuing her answer in a quiet murmur, "I need to get a hold of a spare Dar-Saam."

"Dar-Saam?" The man responded, confusion lacing his words. "What do you want with a Dar-Saam?"

"A… thing." Lace mumbled, clearly running out of excuses & just desperate to avoid the conversation.

"Okay…" Az mercifully relented, "well, you don't need to break into Taash's room for that anyway. You can just borrow a spare one of mine."

"Wait, you wear a Dar-Saam?" Harding questioned, shooting the man a surprised look.

"Yeah," he responded matter-of-factly, pointing to his waist.

Harding's eyes shifted to where Rook's pointer finger was and then slowly adjusted to the minor difference in tones & texture along his micro-corset. There was Dar-Saam woven into the red cloth in such a way that most wouldn't really notice if they weren't looking for it.

"Huh… well thanks for the offer but um," Lace momentarily hesitated, "I don't think you'll want it back after...?"

Rook tilts his head to the side, uncertainty etched back into his features.

"Rook…" Lace sighs deeply as she rubs her forehead, "look there was this thing I read in that book you gave me-"

"The book I-?" Az stopped mid sentence as realisation set in and he threw his hands up defensively. "Oh- Maker- stop! PLEASE- forget I asked… let's just go break into Taash's room so I can get back to my rest day."

Harding held back a laugh, glad to know that her friend now found this just as unbearable of a conversation as she did & nodded.

The duo found themselves outside of Taash's room no more than five minutes later, Az kneeling in the exact same position Lace had been in less than 30 minutes ago as he assessed the pad lock.

"So, what kind of lock picking stuff does a mage use?" Lace questioned, "Oh is it like bolts of magic that move with the pins or something?"

"Uh… something like that," Az murmured, pulling a small, metallic item out of his pocket and raising it to the lock. The Qunari made a quick movement with his hands, before a click noise is heard.

"Woah, that was fast!" Harding laughed out in surprise.

"Hm? Oh yeah, this probably helped." Az retorted as he brought the piece of metal he had been handling into view.

It was a key.

"Wait, you had a key this whole time? Why did you make me say all of-!?" Harding stopped herself from getting too annoyed and simply huffed indignantly, earning a chuckle from Az.

"C'mon, you've got that 'vital information' to get. Or do you want Taash to find you sneaking into their room?" Az teased, standing back up before pushing Taash's door open slightly.

She wanted to complain, but she had a feeling their time in Taash's room would be limited, so instead she just rolled her eyes & stepped through the doorway, freezing in her tracks when she came face to face with her partner.

"Lace?" Taash asked in a mixture of confusion & slight frustration.

"T-Taash!" Harding choked out, before glancing over at Rook who just shrugged. "It's not what it looks like?"

"So, you aren't breaking into my room right now?" The warrior asked, eyebrow raised in suspicion.

"No- well, yes I uh…" Harding stumbled over her words unsure how she would be able to get her way out of this one. She was not the talker, Varric was - Az was.

"She wanted to surprise you, with some gay shit." Rook interrupted, a joking tone in his voice that had Harding mentally vowing to shoot him in the ass next time they're in a skirmish.

"Of course you'd help her break in here." Taash commented as they rolled their eyes. After a few seconds, they turned back to Lace, curiosity now lacing their tone, "A surprise?"

"Yeah... I- wait why are you here?" Lace asked, realisation dawning on her that she isn't the only one somewhere they're not supposed to be right now.

A light blush slowly suddenly began to crawl up Taash's neck and onto their cheeks as the question lingered unanswered for a few moments. The silence only being broken by a fake cough that Taash pushed out in an attempt to mask their embarrassment.

"No reason."

"So, this is all… what?" Az questioned from the doorway, gesturing lazily towards something just behind Taash.

Following the gesture, Laces eyes panned over to just behind Taash, a tiny gasp catching in the back of her throat as she was met with a truly unexpected scene.

Behind Taash was a blanket fort similar to that of Harding's in the middle of the room, fairy lights on the roof of the fort and all.

Placed throughout & around the fort were also an array of goodies: a platter of different Fereldan cheeses, bread & wine on one side; a small plant that Harding hadn't seen before on the other; and a surprising amount of extremely plush looking cushions scattered throughout.

Taash glanced back momentarily as if they just remembered how not hidden the fort was, then turned back to the pair of intruders with a groan as they crossed their arms.

"Fine." They huffed, "You've been really stressed out lately and I… wanted to do something nice."

"You did this for me?" Lace asked, her voice almost a whisper as tears pricked the corners of her eyes.

"Y-yeah." Taash faltered slightly, clearing their throat as they glanced away again. "C'mon don't make it weird…"

"This is the sweetest thing anyone's ever done for me!" Lace giggled, her mind suddenly drawn away from her earlier plans by the sweet surprise.

"Well, that's Vashedan, you deserve better than-" Taash started, cut off by Harding crashing into their side in a tight hug. Placing their hand in her hair Taash ruffled it slightly as they let out a quiet laugh, which earned a contented sight from the Dwarf.

"Well, my job is done." Rook interrupted, pushing himself off the door frame.

"Wait," Taash called, "Neither of you have told me why you both broke in yet."

"Oh," Lace murmured, pulling herself away from her partner as a embarrassed giggle escaped her. "I uh… I read there was this thing you could do with Dar-Saam, but I kind of needed to test it before you got back…"

"Oh?" Taash's voice suddenly dropped an octave lower as they spoke.

Taash's hand snaked its way to Lace's hip where it tightened around the curve of her waist slightly. This pulled a small gasp from Harding's throat as they pulled her closer to them, letting out a low growl.

"Ugh, maker- you two could at least wait till I leave!" Rook groaned in a mixture of fear and disgust before quickly turning to escape through the doorway. Leaving both Lace & Taash to laugh slightly before they…. continued.

[mrstellmeafuckingsecret]

The marauders have to be a study in fandom racism and misogyny because how do throwaway white boys like evan barty regulus etc have so many fics art and edits based off like 3 mentions when woc like Angelina Padma Parvati who actually appear and do things in all the books get paid dust. No one can make the excuse that male characters are just better written when male characters who weren’t even written at all fare better than girls who actually matter to the story.

no literally ?? i remember like a minute ago they tried replacing blaise zabini for some white boy like ewww get that shit AWAYY . angelina & patel twins are literally the most amazing chars i dont interact w the golden trio era much but i could recognize at age nine reading those books that they served extra cunt & i didn't even know angelina was black (i thought braids meant, like... a french braid.)

even in the marauders era they'll take some guy with 0 lines like regulus and be like 🥹my little meow meow💞 and then just like have noo pocs. like i know the rosier twins are sometimes fancasted as black and idk i'm alr w pandora being black but evan being the only black man &being arguably the most abusive ?? crazy. crazy work. especially because the only other man of colour is james, who's also the stereotypical dumb brown man, like gen when i read some inc quotes/ffs/go through my tt it feels like they're throwing tomatoes at him going "dance for us monkey!!" bc his entire thing is so ?? racist ?? idk if i'm reading too deep into this bc im brown rip but like everything he does comes off as very trope-y.

with the girls they're just. not allowed to make mistakes. it goes harder w mary and dorcas because they're woc and idk if this is intended, either, but they're always soo mary sue-ish and "perfect" & "casanovas" like mmmm. again, maybe i'm reading too deep into this but i'm still pissed.