#this isn't the biggest issue in my life but it's one I want to share on here

[espritradieux]

Today I took my first real step towards mending my relationship to Genshin Impact by finally overcoming the dumbest obstacle ever that left such a disproportionate emotional scar on me.

Back when I was playing genshin for the first time I had been actively playing the game since 1.2 and I was playing on a pretty crappy laptop (which I still use for most things including hi3) and it didn't have a lot of storage. I was young when I started. I was still a minor and still working to construct myself and still immature and emotional and school was kicking my ass. Overall, not a great life stage to be in.

Then about three years ago, the first We Will be Reunited archon quest was released and I got blocked on the stupidest, most basic level design element ever, something so unbelievably minuscule and insignificant probably no one remembers it: the disappearing bubble hallway.

I failed this thing over and over. Admittedly I was terrible at the game (and still am), and I kept failing and falling and barely making it before falling again. So I rage quit, as one does. By the time I got back to the game, 2.0 was released. And updates started pilling while I wasn't playing. And eventually my storage was saturated and I couldn't open the game anymore.

When I tell you that hallway left a scar on me I am not joking. To me it was the reason I couldn't play the game anymore. For years, the first thing I would think about when thinking about genshin was those damned bubble stairs. It is almost single handedly responsible for me being a genshin hater for so long. I tentatively attempted to come back to the game when Sumeru was fully released since I now had a good phone which could run the game much better than my laptop and I was terrified. The game was scary and overwhelming, I couldn't remember how to fight which I had never been good at anyway and I was haunted by the knowledge of failing the most basic things which killed all sense of adventure and confidence I could have had. I was miserable.

All of that coupled with the memories I had of the game being monstrously taxing and feeling like it was sucking the soul out of me, I became a hater. Mostly harmlessly though, the bulk of it was gently prodding at my friends and being petty about the game mechanisms being so time consuming and the rewards being so bad, but still the fact remains that I was essentially anti genshin, denying every connection I may have had to it and verbally tearing it down every time I could. I did not like the game.

But then a year ago, as I was studying for a final, I discovered Honkai Star Rail. I was wary of Hoyoverse but still I gave it a try.

And HSR was amazing. HSR was magical. HSR made me feel happy and welcome, it felt homey and kind and wonderful and it was written so well. The music was fantastic, the story was fantastic, the fighting was great, the content was interesting, the game didn't feel like a drag, it was incredible. And through HSR I then discovered Honkai Impact 3rd. And HI3 was insane. Hi3 took my brain hostage and rewrote it, it made me feel things I'd never felt before in a game.

Together the Honkai games opened the hyperfixation floodgate in my mind, it made me live through things and feel things I had never felt before, in a single year it fundamentally changed my life.

So I went back to genshin. Not to the game itself though, just the story. I watched other people's playthroughs to get caught up on the main archon quests. And going past the urge to say "I could fix this", I liked the story. But I liked the characters more. Enter the EiMiko hyperfixation. That very specific ship probably did more for me than anything else when it comes to fandom and is honestly probably 50% of the reason I'm back to the fandom now. EiMiko did two things for me: first it gave me angsty lesbians to obsess over and lore to dissect. Second, more recently and somewhat derivative of the first, it allowed me to meet @heemskerck .

I never had anyone who I could talk about those games with, someone who understood and had thoughts of their own about it. I think we probably all know how it feels, to be overcome with the desire to theory dump but having no one to do it with. ( @nobodynotbymitski I appreciate you so much thank you for listening to my rambling when you didn't understand a single word of it)

But now I did have someone to talk about it. So we talked about it and it was great (and it still is, I love talking with them they're so amazing and smart and talented, go follow them) and I did my usual thing of criticizing genshin as much as I could and being a hater but now it was different because now not only was I swayed by the angsty lesbians, I was listening to someone who did play appreciate the game (even if there's a lot to fix).

And when you listen to someone talk about something they're deeply interested in, you start to become interested as well. So despite my still existing dislike of the game, I was interested in going back to it to live through the story myself. The only thing really standing in my way was my dread of the combat system which would be terrible since I was coming back to a level 3 world with essentially the amount of combat experience as a new player, but I refused to start over because there is one thing I did care about on that account. My account is horrible mind you, I had four 5* and three of them were the Traveler, Kequing and Diluc. But the fourth is my beloved Ganyu. My lv 40, unbuilt, miserable Ganyu on a Favonius bow that I got on her first ever rerun who has emotional meaning to me. I still have a picture of my laptop screen when I got her, she is my pride and joy, the only thing worth saving in this game and I was not going to abandon her.

@heemskerck was really kind and agreed to log onto my essentially no pulls dead account to assess the damage and help me level up, give me pointers and even maybe play for me through the story because I was certain I wouldn't be able to run it on my phone and my laptop would certainly not cut it. And that was that.

Except that wasn't because then a month ago the Ignition trailer dropped and my Himeko obsessed self saw Mavuika and immediately imploded. Natlan had me hooked. And then I realized I could actually run Genshin on my phone. And then the 5.0 program arrived with massive quality of life updates that would greatly reduce the problems that I experienced when I was playing. I was still fearful of the fighting though and most of all I was terrified of having to go through the bubble stairs and then the rest of the story but 5.0 also fixed that for me. So two to three weeks before Natlan released, I warily installed the game and got to walk around the map again, feeling like a baby deer in a forest full of wolves.

But then yesterday, Natlan released. And Natlan is amazing. Natlan is fun. Natlan is interesting. Natlan doesn't feel like a drag or a mine field, Natlan brought back the feeling of adventure and discovery. Natlan helped me relearn combat (even though I'm still so bad at it and most of it is pure panic) and it gave me confidence.

So today, once I was done with Natlan, I went back. I went back to We Will be Reunited which, ironically enough, was waiting to be reunited with me.

I went back to this god forsaken bubble stairs three years later.

And I failed.

But then I tried again.

And I succeeded.

Three years. Three years of remembering this fucking hallway with dread. Three years of hating on a game everyone else shoved in my face. Three years away from Teyvat but finally I did it.

I am free

I can enjoy the game now.

This is the first step back towards a game that used to be my world, that became my nightmare, that led me toward games that changed my life and people I am so glad I met and maybe, hopefully, towards a great game that could make me feel as many things as the other two did.

There is no moral to this, I just wanted to tell my weird genshin storytime. Now that I'm older it probably made playing easier honestly. Genshin isn't perfect though. It still has a lot of flaws, I still don't like its combat system and once I'm caught up on the story and back to farming artefacts and items I will probably still think the game sucks and I'll probably be angry at the gacha system but I think I'm much more emotionally equiped for it now than I was three years ago. Three years is a lot for a kid and it teaches you a lot.

I'm getting genuinely excited about this now, I'm gonna go finish the quest.

[i-yap]

MY FAVORITE IS DICK GRAYSON FORVER WILL BE DICK GRAYSON AND HERE IS WHY

DICK GRAYSON X Y/N ( FRUSTRATED ME EDITION)

- first of all , he is the hottest character in dc (literally the comics have written this line by line)

- he is the real one with communication issues. You think jason struggles with that? NO jason uses any chance to tell me people how much he suffered. But dick? He wears a smile, he hides everything he is feeling

- the only person who gets to see the real him is YOU. The stress, the pressure, the mommy daddy issues...cmon. and bruce prolly was the worst at raising grayson and learned from his mistakes for the rest

- dick is someone who tries to be happy. Who tries to have a normal life. Who tries not to let his issues affect him . But they do which is why he has so many fucked up relationships. But when he meets you he wants to keep you, he needs to keep you with him. So he tries yet again to open up, fix his issues, love you the way you truly deserve.

- AND let us all not pretend we are all not stressed asf in life. He is so joyful and bright and will almost never dull the mood. Car karaoke ? Done. Skinny dipping in some random lake you drive by? His suggestion. Amusement parks? He is excitedly pulling you to all the rides and WILL 100% WIN YOU THE BIGGEST TEDDY

- he is deep, he js in touch with his feelings and he knows how to take care of you. Idk abt u guys but I have issues . I want a man who gives you those words of affirmation, who makes it super obvious he likes you.

- he needs you just as much as jason or tim or damian do. He also never had genuine love, he also has been a soldier a leader the person responsible all his life. He needs yo hold you, he needs that peace and quiet away from everything he has to deal with . He wants someone he can come home to and just show how drained he is .

- he is so kind to the world but he WILL BURN IT FOR YOU . I refuse to believe any other opinion on this. No matter how big a hero this guy is...remember how he killed joker for jason? Someone he said he hated? Broke the no kill rule?? Yea imagine what he will do for you.

- and how dare u suggest he isn't jealous/ possessive. He gets so cranky..not insecure and u don't have to coddle him and avoid all other men ...but u do have to give him extra kisses

-HE IS THE REAL GREEN FLAG fuck the whole " a hero will sacrifice you for the world but a villain will burn the world for you" NOT HIM NO HE WILL KILL EVERYONE OKAY cuz how date anyone suggest taking you away from him after everything he has done for the world. You are his reward and you better remember that.

- slow waltzing in the kitchen while he sings you his favorite love song, giggling in a pretty cafe while sharing a piece of cake( he is feeding you the whole thing and will kiss you when u Ask why he isn't eating any himself) , getting tipsy and walking back home all sweet and drunk and in love. He is adventurous and wants to experience everything With you.

- best part, everyone around u will love him. I'm sorry but I like it when my bf is liked by the old ladies and my parents and my boss. He will make you the power couple, even if you aren't as "powerful". He is your biggest loudest supporter always. Always introducing you to ppl as if you cured world hunger , telling everyone just how smart and kind you are taking any opportunity to talk about You. And dancing with him at galas makes you feel like a princess

- he will get the best gifts, say the sweetest things, be the most supportive kind eyes only for you guy once he genuinely falls in love.

I love jason a lot too, and tim and bruce too. Like yes I daydream about all of them But I just hate how underrated my boy here is.

[tulliok]

we stopped watching around the later seasons and barely remember what happened in them so we're encouraging you to talk about what you dislike or want to criticize

Got asked, so here’s my abridged season 8-9 thoughts.

As someone who grew up watching the show from the beginning, I have a lot of gripes with how “friendship” is defined as a power-up or a material resource. However, it really wasn’t that big of a deal because I understand that MLP is a show targeted towards young girls that enjoy playing with toys, and the show was able to still portray realistic and educational lessons. 

The introduction of a friendship school in season 8 was a poor decision for so many reasons. Narratively, it locks our main characters into a single location, and we go from having a cast with unique occupations and storylines… to one where all six share the same responsibilities as an instructor and tackle the same lessons. Especially when some of them don’t seem like the type to enjoy teaching at all.

But the biggest issue I have is that the school validates the show’s idea that friendship is a unique resource that has to be taught, and that comes with a load of problematic implications. To get to the worst one right away, the school came packaged with a storyline about xenophobia and Equestria’s prejudice against their foreign neighbors. The coding of non-pony species in the show has always had weird racial implications (yaks and dragons being depicted as loud, unintelligent barbarians, the buffalo and Zecora representing members of real marginalized groups), but it is made even worse in this season by depicting them as people that are uneducated and need to be taught basic social skills and lessons in a foreign land. The Friendship School is literally a project designed by Twilight to spread Equestria’s idea of friendship to other countries! On top of that, they introduce what is essentially a conservative, white supremacist pony as a villain, and to beat him Twilight needs to prove that the exchange students are worthy of being taught. I really don’t think I need to explain why this is extremely weird and shouldn’t even be in the show in the first place.

I love the show because of episodes like Amending Fences, Leap of Faith, and No Second Prances—episodes that teach children that relationships aren’t big battles of morality and power but are complicated experiences that everyone has a unique response to. These experiences cannot be taught in a school with sewing lessons and apple picking and taking exams. They are also not unique to any particular community or race—that is a fact of life that most children should immediately understand. It’s extremely disheartening watching the show regress to the point where Rarity is telling a young girl that her cultural costume isn’t pretty enough and she’s dolling her up in wigs to cover her braids and giving her etiquette lessons to “fit right in." I don’t care that the moral was that she was wrong; what’s wrong is that the show even bothered making episodes like this at all. 

Season 9 concludes with a happy ending where all is well, but it isn't because the young child villain, the one character that needed friendship lessons and the grace to grow up, was turned into a garden accessory without a second thought. All while surrounded by the redeemed villains that the series arbitrarily decided were more worthy of our sympathy.

I don’t want to overwhelm anyone with my opinions and I want to be as fair as possible about what made me so uncomfortable with the show’s conclusion. I am a longtime fan, but I also care a lot about children’s media being responsible with their messaging, especially when they tackle subjects that require a great level of care, such as race and relationships. MLP (whether older fans like it or not) is ultimately a show about teaching children valuable social skills and providing moral lessons with every adventure.

I doubt this mixed messaging was intentional on the writer’s part. Rather, the last seasons were recklessly handled. To a viewer’s eyes, there isn’t a difference between these two.

[darkstarofchaos]

Spoilers for EarthSpark S2 below the cut.

The problem with Starscream isn't that he was evil. I have to lead with that because apparently if you complain about how he was handled, people are just going to assume you wanted him to be redeemed. I am not a Starscream redemptionist, nor am I a fan of "redemptions" where an evil character becomes a Good Guy. One of the biggest issues I have with Megatron redemptions is that he never actually has to address what he did to his own side, he just fucks off to join the other side/goes his own way. Suffice to say, I was not hoping for EarthSpark to "redeem" Starscream (unless it was in the more personal sense of trying to do better by his own people).

The problem with Starscream is not that he was evil. The problem is that, to make him the specific brand of evil the Powers That Be wanted, they had to completely ignore his previous characterization.

I honestly did not have a problem with most of his (admittedly few) scenes. His motivation for being Evil was disappointingly shallow, but him being grumpy-but-accepting of the new Terrans fit with his S1 characterization. The bit where Skywarp complains when he doesn't do anything to punish "Spitfire's" disrespect could easily have been spun as him trying to be a better leader after his talk with Hashtag. I liked that he isn't stingy with praise when someone accomplishes something. Even the painfully underdeveloped motivation could have been expanded into him trying to do what he thought was best for his faction. All the building blocks for a villainous-but-sympathetic Starscream were right there.

Which is why watching everything fall apart in the last 20 minutes felt like character assassination.

You cannot convince me that the Starscream who knew Hashtag for an hour and was ready to risk his life for her is the same Starscream who murdered two children without blinking. You cannot convince me that the Starscream who criticized Megatron's violent leadership would consider it a compliment when he's called more cruel than Megatron. I don't care what previous Starscreams were like, this one had an established characterization that does not work with what we see later. Not unless working with the Autobots briefly completely disillusioned him to the possibility of a lasting peace.

Also, love how the time skip allows them to just avoid any sort of fallout from having the people you were working with go back to trying to kill you. Love how there was no deeper reason to the war restarting than "they're Decepticons". Heaven forbid we get any sort of conflict with the two sides trying and failing to work together, and the falling out being a shared responsibility and not just "the Cons were actually still evil, lol". Can't have anyone grappling with how things went wrong and wishing they'd done something differently to maintain the peace. Megatron yells at Starscream to end the war like the Autobots played no part in it continuing. Which is obviously the intent, but it just feels like such a lazy copout to keep the Good Guys morally pure.

The Decepticons were being hunted down and locked up. They had no reason to think well of the Autobots or the humans, which means that if the Autobots wanted peace, it was their responsibility to reach out and prove that things could be different. Yes, the Decepticons would need to put in effort too, but they were not the ones - at least not the only ones - who needed to prove that they meant well. If the two sides worked together for a while and the Decepticons still unanimously rejected the possibility of ending the war, the Autobots share the blame for that decision.

I have plenty of other issues with how S2 is going so far (why was Nightshade the only Terran who got completely relegated to side character?), but I'll save my rant about the Chaos Terrans for later. It'll be huge, trust me.

[barb-l]

Vaggie is my favorite character, so I want to know where all of this hate for her came from. Like…people hate Vaggie yet love Lute, for example….. wtf? How? And I’m not saying people have to like the same things I do, but I’ve seen mfs bash Vaggie for things other characters have done. Again… what? The? Fuck?

Oh hohoho

I'm in a ranting mood, so let me tell you exactly why by paraphrasing some of the hate posts I've seen classlessly left in the chaggie tag before I blocked the OP's for said posts

"Vaggie has nothing going for her character. All she is, is Charlie's girlfriend"

- not even remotely true. She has a lot going on with her character aside from being The Girlfriend. She struggles with deep self-hatred, something that doesn't necessarily revolve around Charlie, although it does affect her relationship with her(codependency). It's a huge character flaw, though not necessarily bad character writing. It's something she needs to grow from, and something we can still see unfold in the coming seasons. Although she's helping with the hotel to be a supportive girlfriend, it is also something Vaggie believes to be the right thing to do regardless of Charlie. As Rosie inferred, Vaggie saw helping with the hotel as a way to atone for her sins and to do better. Even if the person running the Hotel weren't Charlie or anyone she fell for, I believe it's something she still would have helped with given her backstory. She has connections with other characters too that can be explored more in the future. Aside from just being "Charlie's girlfriend", she is Carmilla's possible additional daughter figure, she is Alastor's biggest obstacle in gaining whatever tf from Charlie, she is Lute's rival, and finally she is Lucifer's blatant parallel.

"Being a fallen angel is the only thing carrying her character. And we barely got any build up on that."

- let's say that's true. IF that's the case, why isn't anyone spitting hate on characters like Husk whose only "thing" is being a past overlord? Even though this had less foreshadowing than Vaggie's angel secret? Even though his only purpose in the story so far is to be Angel's love interest? He may be an alcoholic, but it's barely touched upon what terrible effects that may have for him. And although having his soul owned by Alastor sucks, does he actually suffer aside from that one time Alastor threatened his life? All Alastor is making him do is man the bar(so far). He has nothing to develop from with his character either. In fact, aside from the swearing and the grumpiness, he's a pretty swell guy who doesn't seem to fit in hell. He doesnt have a flaw that the story can aim to have him improve from. All he has going for him is his romance arc with Angel, and his past as an Overlord. Which, i repeat, isn't a bad thing! But how come Vaggie would get so much hate for similar criticisms, while Husk is widely loved by majority of the fandom?

"She doesn't have any chemistry with Charlie"

- something told by someone who ships:

Ch*rl*stor - two people who have only had direct interactions in the pilot(a quick dance number), episode 5(Alastor taking advantage of Charlie's daddy issues to curry favor with her and hit Lucifer's ego), and ep 7 (Alastor taking advantage of Charlie's dejection to make a deal with Charlie). A ship involving the kindest soul in Hell and a serial killer who has no desire to change and ridicules the dream Charlie holds so dear and is so passionate about. It isn't a bad thing to crack ship. Hell I do it too, but it's such a hypocritical thing to say that a canon ship has no chemistry only to claim that two people who have barely any meaningful conversations and positive interactions objectively look more like a couple and would be a better choice to be canon. Just because you like how they look in your imagination doesn't mean canon is objectively bad.

Ch*rlie/Emily - two characters who share so much similarities they can be sisters. It is such a personal thing. I have nothing against those who ship them. It just isn't for me because of the amount of similarities they have. With the intentional parallels, I personally think Emily would be better off having a gf that resembles Vaggie. Where Chaggie has a sunshine demon X grumpy angel duo, Emily could visit hell and fall for a demon who would be her opposite.

Ch*rlie/Lucifer - it's. Incest. Cmon.

"She doesn't care about the denizens of Hell"

- Vaggie's in Hell in the first place because she spared a demon's life. She cares TOO MUCH!

"Vaggie lied to Charlie. Even Adam was more honest with her!"

- I dont even... It should be common sense why Vaggie, who had just been betrayed by ANGELS, would not trust a demon princess with her true identity. Charlie and Rosie already talked about this. Or did they have their eyes and ears closed throughout episode 7?

"She ruined Lucifer's song by reprising it. Why would she do that when it's supposed to be Charlie and Lucifer's thing?? Why would she go and use a song about familial love and change the meaning to romance??"

- musicals that reprise songs to change its initial vibe has always been a thing, first of all. Vaggie reprised Lucifer's song specifically because they have been parallels of each other for the whole show. In fact, Lucifer indirectly echoes back Vaggie's reprise, with his lyrics in The Finale mirroring Vaggie's lyrics. It's not about Vaggie "stealing Lucifer's thing", it's about these two angels who both love Charlie reminding her of that love and how much they believe in her, despite being withheld of Heaven's love and losing faith in it in the process. It's about these two forms of love withstanding Heaven's abandonment and being there for someone who wants to face Heaven head on.

This is probably one of the most ridiculous anti-Vaggie criticism I've read. It's so weird to see such an earnest act of love as something audacious. If anything, Lucifer's the one with the audacity. I love him a LOT, but he did not deserve to be forgiven just because he had a beautiful song number with his daughter. It doesn't change the fact that he neglected Charlie for ages. If anyone deserved to sing More Than Anything, it was Vaggie because she has truly shown her commitment to Charlie. But, yunno. Baby steps.

Honestly for a lot of the characters in this show, all it seems to take for the fandom to like them is to have a song number that they like. People find Vaggie's songs boring. So they find her boring. Not a lot is known or shown of characters like Vox, Velvette, Alastor, and Husk, but apparently they're better developed. Just because they have sick song numbers doesn't mean they're better developed...

[slvt4felix]

Stray kids as Romance Tropes- Hyung Line

Bang Chan: second chance

Chan is definitely the type of person who fixes his past mistakes and tries to make it up to people.

Whether it'd be quickly after you break up or a rekindled romance years later, it would be hard to stay away from him.

I could also see it as sort of a right person, wrong time situation. I think there could be relationship issues due to him overworking himself or being in the band, but these could be overcome at a later time when both of your lives have settled down a little bit.

He would bump into you years later and you would both know how it would end. Despite all the extra years and relationships in between neither of you could forget each other, no matter how hard you tried.

He'd definitely worry he's making the wrong choice, not wanting to put you through anything negative again, but ultimately decides that love is worth it.

"I'm never letting you go again. I made that mistake once. I know better now. You're the love of my life."

Lee Minho: enemies to lovers

I mean do I really have to explain this one? (If you can't tell from my fics, enemies to lovers Lee Know is like my roman empire)

The sarcasm, the stubbornness, competitiveness, and ultimately just Minho all together makes for easy enemies.

I don't think it would be anything big, rather just like miscommunication or a misunderstanding over something silly that grows into something bigger. His love language seems to be sort of like teasing which would be an incredible way to escalate the enemies into lovers.

I think once you transition into lovers though, he would be the biggest softie for you. Once you break down all the layers, I feel like he would be the sweetest boyfriend. The sarcasm and teasing would definitely stay though.

Lowkey though, hero x villain would be so cute with him

"Only I get to make fun of you"

"Who hurt you?"

Seo Changbin: forced proximity

I could totally see this being like work romance or even like the one bed trope. Just basically anything that forces the two of you to interact a lot.

I feel like maybe he just never noticed you, but being forced to work together or be together makes him start to realize how much he likes you.

If were being real, it would be so difficult not to fall in love with him especially in forced proximity. Like his laugh and smile are so infectious and it's hard not to be in love with him.

Once the two of you get closer and over the awkwardness and little bumps, you'd be attached at the hip and genuinely enjoy the other's company.

When he is finally able to leave the situation, I think it would finally hit him and he'd realize just how much he was starting to like you and enjoy your presence.

Or instead of one bed you just have to share a room for the night and you wake up from a nightmare. He would come over to your bed and comfort you back to sleep. You'd wake up the next morning in his arms and have to figure out how to make it not awkward.

"I didn't take you for a cuddler"

"Now what?"

Hwang Hyunjin: forbidden love

Hyunjin really gives like hopeless romantic vibes or like royalty aesthetic which I think fits really well with this trope.

He'd be like a prince who falls in love with someone "under" him who he isn't usually allowed to interact with. Or maybe a princess from a nemesis kingdom.

He would definitely run away to be with his love. If he gets caught he would never stop fighting to get back to you.

In a different situation, I could see him falling in love with someone really quickly which could end negatively. For example, he could meet someone whilst in a different country or on vacation and has to leave in a week, so he desperately tries to stay away, but is unable to deny his love by the end and has to face the consequences.

I could also see him being in a group and falling in love with a member despite a dating ban. They would have to keep their love a secret, but it's worth it to be together.

Ultimately, I just feel like love will win out for him in the end and he would do anything for his partner.

"I love you and I will do anything to be with you."

"I don't care what they think. I only care about us, about you and me."

Maknae Line coming soon!!

[another-lost-mc]

Gonna be completely honest tho. Like yes they are hot in the vampire au but I would be terrified. Like I hate needles and all of that and idk I just feel like I'd be too freaked out for it to be enjoyable? Does that make sense??

A/N: Honestly, same here, anon. lol I think my own MC would find the whole situation exhausting mentally if not physically. There's a lot of valid reasons why any MC might not want to get caught up in this whole mess.

In a lighthearted vampire AU, the characters might feel that vampirism is more of a nuisance than anything else. Ultimately, I think they'd still try to prioritize MC's wishes and comfort over their own needs. It would motivate them to find an alternative solution for blood/feeding (especially if it were a long-term/permanent condition).

This Sucks! | Why They Don't Want to be Vampires Vampire!DEMON BROTHERS x gn!Reader, 0.5k words, SFW Content warnings: references to canon-typical vampire behaviours including biting/blood-drinking. More from the vampire!au

─── LUCIFER

Lucifer doesn’t like depending on anyone for anything. This would be an extra burden for you personally, and the last thing he wants is for life at his side with them to be even more challenging. His brothers would be unbearable if he tried to claim your blood for himself, and he knows in his heart he doesn’t want to share you. (A trivial concern is that his fondness for Demonus, even a blood-infused version of it, might be ruined by vampirism—it’s one of the few luxuries he allows himself to indulge in.)

─── MAMMON

Mammon's too greedy to share you. If you don’t want to donate your blood, that’s even better—that way no one gets to feed from you! He’s also going to be busy figuring out how he can capitalize on blood alternatives if the condition isn’t temporary.

─── LEVIATHAN

Levi's disappointed because vampires in anime are so hot cool, but he’s intimidated by the physical intimacy of it. Oh, and he hates the thought of others wanting to feed from you too. (What if you compare them and you prefer feeding the others more than him?!)

─── SATAN

Human pop culture is so inconsistent with their monster lore. Satan understands that the reality of feeding a vampire (or in this case, seven of them) is daunting and less appealing than the fictional version you've read about or seen in movies. Besides, he has enough anger management issues to deal with—bloodlust would be an extra hassle. He's one of the first to volunteer to find a better a solution for feeding if the vampirism is permanent.

─── ASMODEUS

Asmo doesn’t want to drink anyone’s blood. Wouldn’t it make his breath smell? What if it gets all over his clothes? If he drinks from you in his bed, the stains might ruin his expensive Devilmoth silk sheets! He might seem superficial about it, but his biggest complaint is the possibility that feeding might scar you or hurt you in some way. Leaving his mark on you sounds appealing, but not like that—especially if you're already hesitant about the idea. (He's secretly worried one of the others might try to talk you into something you don't want to do, and he wants to make sure his own judgement isn't clouded so he can help protect you.)

─── BEELZEBUB

Beel has so many issues with hunger and self-control that the thought of being hungry for your blood upsets him a lot. He’s so scared of hurting you, and when he’s out of control with hunger it's difficult to stop him. What if the others can’t subdue him in time? What if—? No, he doesn’t even want to think about it.

─── BELPHEGOR

Belphie assumes that drinking blood would act like a stimulant, so the last thing he wants is to feed from you. Why would he do something that makes him more energized and makes you tired in the process? (He’s not sure he can convince you to only feed him, and the idea of having to share you with the others—except for maybe Beel—is intolerable.)

[romanarose]

Hi Roman! Loooove your HCs re: the TF boys. Could I pls ask you what you think would be the biggest sources of contention when it comes to each guy and their SO & how they handle relationship conflict?

Hello, wonderful human! Sorry it took so long for me to respond. Been cranking out fics to catch up and prepare for everything lol!!!

Happy to answer you! I'll be focusing mostly on the guys issues, not so much readers, but we all bring out own things into relationships.

Warnings: Addiction, ptsd, general relationship issues

I think everything should be gender neutral, correct me if i missed something.

More HC's here

Santiago

Commitment.

My dude can't commit to a thing.

I imagine after the movie events he went to see yvonna.... and then left after a few months bc he's a mess.

First arguement you get into he;s like "fine! I'll just leave then, clearly this isn't working"

And you give your best ????? face.

Santi you dumbass.

But you don't give up that easily! You're a menace to society.

You make him face down the issue, talk to you, and *gasp* share how he feels!

When its resolve, you tell him he can't just threaten to leave when he gets frustrated. If he wants to leave he needs to be honest, but he can't hide away under one small issue.

You ask if he really wants to leave. He says no so fucking fast.

He admits he hasn't had any stability in his life like... ever. Immigrant family, military, then his less-than-legal missions... but he wants to make it work with you

You have to work to find a balance between not letting him run away but not forcing him to stay.

But it works. Santi finds you easier and easier to talk to about things and soon enough, he's been with you for a year and theres still no itch to leave.

Ben

Benny Miller is a goof ball.

That's why you fell in love with him in the first place!

But he's not the most mature. He struggles to be serious, even when he wants to. That's the issue. You don't want to dampen his shine, you love him how he is

Thing is, you've been together 6 months and you still feel like you're casually dating.

There was no big "I love you".

He simple kissed your cheek saying goodbye, said "love you!" and dashed off to his friends.

But you did love him, you loved him so much but you weren't sure he was invested as you were. Maybe he wasn't ready for a serious relationship or you were more of a casual date to him...

Benny notices your mood change pretty quickly. He may be dumb but he's not stupid

(This is a joke Benny is canonically a highly skilled and talented individual I love him so much.)

"What am I to you?"

You ask him and it starts a whole discussion. You're surprised to find he's listening intently to what you have to say, takes in your words well.

You express how it hurts that every time he says "love you" It's the same tone of voice he uses with his friends or brother. He makes you feel like you're "one of the guys" but you're having sex.

Benny pauses and gathers his words before expressing that he does love you, very deeply. He thinks about marrying you... he just struggles to express it verbally. After some talking, you introduce him to the idea of love languages.

You figure out Benny loves receiving with words of affirmation and thats what he gets stuck on. He can't express well through words, so he thinks he's fucked.

You take the time to talk about the other four, and ways he can express through those.

After this talk, you feel much better and Ben makes you feel so, so loved and special.

(He also makes sure to say his "I love you" during sex or more initmate moments, not just in passing, letting you know that he really, really does.)

Will

Fear.

You probably expected PTSD, didn't you?

Well thats a part of it. His PTSD does affect his life but I think he's scared to lose you and scared to hurt you.

Will keeps you at arms length. Maybe you're a friend of Ben's and are around a lot and clear chemistry!! But nothing is happening

Finally you confront him. Bestie you can't keep lingering touch on my arm if you're not gonna fuck me about it.

Will is def the most straight forward and self aware so he's gonna be honest.

"I choked a man out in a grocery store for not moving his cart fast enough and almost killed him, my fiance left me after that, I've got 33 confirmed kills and also I watched one of my best friends die and carried his dead body over the fucking Andes, man."

A lot to unpack there!!!!

He tells you he's afraid he's going to lose you if he lets you get too close. He's afraid of hurting you.

You tell him he's sweet but he should also go to therapy.

You go with him to the first appointment.

Will I think is the easiest bc I just think hes the most mature and open

Frankie

Addiction

My dude hates himself.

And literally any feeling he's like "well time to do some coke about it."

It wasn't a big deal when you just started dating. You knew he did coke sometimes on weekends and rationalized that it can't be that big a deal, it's like drinking, right?

(Im 26 now and realizing how many people casually do coke is wild to me. None of my business tho.)

But soon you realize just how bad it's gotten. He's high almost all the time. Then his liscense comes under review. Then the trip to south america...

You don't think he's ever even sober, and you're worried about him, worried his heart is going to give out. Sometimes you stay awake watching him breath just to be sure.

Finally you can't take it anymore. You never wanted to to be the ultimatum party but you can't do this, you're suffering and so is he. He either gets sober or you leave. You didn't care how long it took, you didn't care if he relapsed but he needed to start trying.

Frankie ops to go to rehab. It's best, because he's gonna need to detox first.

You visit often, almost every day, making sure his friends all knew when visit times were and sometimes going as group, sometimes separate but always making sure someone came by every single day so he knew he wasn't alone.

90 days later, Frankie comes out a new man. He's cheeks fuller and pants tighter but his smile bigger.

He's gonna be okay and so are you.

Tom

He's dead

THANK YOU FOR THE ASK!!!! I love tf boys head cannons <3

[kde-plasma-official]

also share your names with me I'm curious :3

down below is a heartfelt sob story about my favorite hard drive and also reason why I did the poll

For the longest time I only had one external drive containing everything. It was an old 256GB drive that I just named "BACKUP".

When I got my SSD I took out the old hard drive and used that as my main backup source. Because it had more storage I named it "BACKUP EXTENDED".

That drive got corrupted when I was in rehab because some guy named Kevin borrowed it for movies and used in a micro usb phone cable instead of the real one that was right on top of the drive.

So BACKUP EXTENDED was no more. A few months later I tried some usb partitioning tools (GParted my beloved) because I had some computer issues and thought I try to revive that old drive again and it fucking worked. From that day on my backup drive was known as "THE UNDEAD" (I've also been a huge Hollywood Undead fan at that time).

That name stuck with me, even after I accidentally formatted the whole drive when installing Arch, It persisted through each repartitioning session.

When I fucked up my partitioning table so hard it took several tries of fiddling to get the drive to work again, I renamed my trusty old drive to UNDEAD REVIVED because, well, I had to revive it again. Is it really undead at this point? Or is a revived thing alive again. What is a revived zombie, really? Maybe that's something for another poll...

A few weeks ago I got a few terabytes of storage for cheap and the biggest drive I got right now is 3TB. It's my new backup drive and I called it "UNDEAD EXTENDED",

But I've reached a point where having only one partition for everything isn't enough anymore. I have a macbook for work which can't write to NTFS partitions, so I had to create an exFAT for shared storage. That doesn't allow me to symlink things though, and I still need to have a Windows backup that I can just attach to any PC and boot from it, so I also need an NTFS drive. But Windows does things to the NTFS drive so that sometimes I have to sudo mount the partition which is really annoying and kinda sucks. I only use Linux on my main machine and just want to keep some of its files somewhere without other systems interacting with it at all so now I also have a ext4 partition for system backup and some games.

So, my trusty UNDEAD* hard drive that I lovingly kept and revived and extended and revived again, which stores everything that I own and love and need is now cut up into pieces and none of the partitions feel like the drive that it once was that makes me sad.

I grew very attached to that hard drive and to that name but even when the physical drive is still next to me it feels like I've outgrown it. I've had my Undead drive when I was at my lowest and it was a part of my digital life up until now. I've had iterations of it for almost half of my life. If that thing could talk, it would scream.

So, how did I name my partitions instead now?

I've named my exFAT partition "CYBERSLUT" the way it plugs into any computer and gets manhandled by it, it made me smile when I made the tough decision to retire the undead naming scheme.

My NTFS drive is called "WHYDOS" because I always ask myself why I still keep up with Windows sometimes, and I just recreated my ext4 partition that I named "PLAYGROUND", because it's only used for Wine bottles and some steam games so far, so they don't take up most of my limited SSD space.

[adilynnyuri]

So - I am here again ;-) - first at all I want to thank you again and tell you how grateful I am to have you by my side on my journey - your advise and own experiences help me so much, they boost my mindset and help me to move on. Although I am so thankful that you talk about revision of death with me and the other two guys sharing my revision journey - it's so tremendously helpful for me and when I am doubting I often come back to all that stuff over and over again and it gives me hope and power to persist. Your words are so eye-opening for me and they really hit my crucial issues.

As you answered to the other person who shares my journey, incase of revising death the pivotal issue are our deep programmes (assumptions!) about death. So these programmes always popup as intrusive thoughts. You always highlight that it doesn't matter if we feel bad when affirming. So do you think that by moving on with robot affirming resistance decreases over time or is it possible to saturate your mind although sometimes there are these thoughts? I try to get better and better in robot affirming and I really see progress. I feel much less resistance and I noticed that I more often have reallly good feelings. But then sometimes it hits down in my stomach and these intrusive programmes pop up again...So I dont know if this will affect my manifestation.

It also hit me that you answered me that if I assume that "revising death is a piece of cake process - then it will be!" You have literallly scanned my mind! ;-) Yes - I assume that it's a BIG deal and so it will take a QUANTUM step. So you really unlocked one of my cornerstone assumtions and now I feel some first progess of letting go this belief!

One big issue I also deal with is that I lived together with my mum, so I miss her in my daily life and so much things remind me of the loss. Also other people remind me. I then actually try to say to myself that this isn't my reality and keep affirming then. But in these moments instrusive thoughts become stronger and I feel that this triggers my doubtring and wavering regarding the naturalness. Do you have some advise to manage this in a less wavering way? How did you do it with your uncle? And how your uncle first appeared in your 3D again or was this so fluent that you can't describe this?

When it comes to affirming and saturating: I affirm: "Mum is healthy, happy and right by my side." I will add the "Creator-Formula" ;-) you advised to use (I think it will be very helpful to build up a better self concept...). I visualize occasionally and during the day I sometimes shortly remind little splits of my visualizations: I then often say to myself: "I am looking forward when we can do X or Y. " or "I have to tell you so many things." Is this future relation in these statements ok in this case or should I adapt that to a more "present" tense wording?

And as a last question: If my biggest wish is the revision, but I would like to adapt some other circumstances around to create a more comfortable and relaxed life for us: Would it be more effective to first focus on the revison and then manifest these other things later on? Or doesnt it matter, so that I can add some other affiormations I want to become true? So the question is here, if it is more effective to first manifest the biggest wish or if it just doesnt matter and we can directly add some further affirmations for other things/circumstances? Does it matter how much time we affirm for a change?

Thanks again - my angel - you are so kind!

Hii love! 🤍

I am so so happy that you understood what I said and also implemented that into your reality!! PROUD OF YOU BABE! 💋

HOW DID MY MANIFEST MY COOL UNCLE BACK (ANOTHER VAUNT ABOUT MY UNCLE 🤭)

Ig the overall question of you is how to stop wavering. The answer is very simple - affirm

Everything is so simple babe!

As you already know,

Dominant thoughts = your actual reality

I understand that wavering comes up when you are "trying" To manifest something "bigger" But no shit is bigger for you to manifest.

The only thing bigger is the power you hold to manifest anything you want!

I suggested robotic affirmations because I manifested my uncle back with robotic affirmations.

"How your uncle first appeared in your 3d"

Well, simple. Everyone was grieving for his loss everyday and i was sitting and affirming that he ain't dead🤓☝🏻

Literally bruh, everyday some people will come to my home and will remind me about his loss!

I DIDN'T GIVE A FUCK☝🏻

Kept affirming, affirming and affirming that i got my shit and all the negative shit goes to trash. No intrusive thoughts can affect me!

Even I was missing him alot coz he was my favorite uncle ever.... Used to buy me lot of kpop related stuffs + his character and personality is *chefs kiss*

As I was robotically affirming (i don't really remember how many days) and ig it took me about a week to saturate my mind. And boom! Within few days, he just walked into my home like nothing have never happened and bought me chocolates too! 💀

All of my family members were not surprised when he walked into my home and everyone was just casually inviting him.

*Meanwhile me 👁👄👁 knowing that manifested him back with just affirming*

But i was not shocked. (I was shocked) 😭

BUT IT LASTED ONLY FEW SECONDS THEN AGAIN I REMINDED MYSELF THAT I AM THE MASTER OF THIS REALITY.

And because of this "big manifestation" I became more STRONGER like SO MUCH STRONGER!

Me be like "nobody can stop me here afterwards"

🦹‍♀️🦸🏻‍♀️

[damianbugs]

You need to tell us what you think of your favorite Bruce ships. Pls

i should preface by saying i usually prefer bruce (in my own works and others, including comics) to not be in a relationship at all because i can't think of a time he's like ever emotionally stable enough for that. like ever. THAT BEING SAID isn't that all the more reason to throw him into a ship? doomed tragic romance you will always be famous to me

and because i am insane, here are some comic recs to go with my fav bruce ships!!

>batcat

a classic favourite, batcat!!! i will admit i am not the biggest fan of their rebirth stories, and the whole wedding fiasco and most of what tom king wrote about them (and in general) was. not enjoyable. but pre crisis/golden age batcat? MY PARENTS. just. silver and bronze age batcat too. what a refreshing and entertaining couple. the thing that really makes them compelling is at the end of the day they have the same goal; protect the people of gotham. the ways they go about it can be different, and selina especially faces some serious mischaracterisation in order to make bruce look like the "hero" in the relationship, but at their core and simplest expression of love, they share the same dream, and they both know that. it's this selflessness that connects them deeply.

> "The Autobiography of Bruce Wayne" (Batman the Brave and the Bold #197) is, in my opinion, essential batcat reading. a very bittersweet story!

> for a more modern read, "Only Takes a Night" (Catwoman #32) is a delightful read about how hopelessly in love they are. bruce is such a devoted loser.

> ghostbat

every character needs that one irreparably damaging young adult tragic romance that changed their life forever and that is what ghostbat is. khoa is the perfect foil to bruce, in that ultimately, they are two ends of the same spectrum. fiercely stubborn and confident in their own moral code but in the opposite way. this ship is particularly fascinating because even now, the respect and love they have for each other years later is so deeply consuming that it is prevalent in how they interact now. i don't think bruce would have been the person he is without his relationship with khoa pre-batman, in both a good and bad ways. i also really love the hc that khoa is bruce's first heartbreak (refer to: the Snow and Gun incident).

> "Batman The Knight" is like ghostbat religious text. this is all you need. let it destroy you.

> batlantern

no long paragraph about this one because its my silly guilty pleasure. sometimes u need a ship in which they just don't get along except for the times they do. hal brings out such an irritating (said fondly) side to bruce and its even funnier because it works mutually. i think another really wonderful thing about this pairing is that they are really not so different from each other (nothing says romance than being consumed by your guilt and stubbornness), but they both think otherwise, so they knock heads while also begrudgingly respecting about one another in a colleague-friend-crush way. they want to make out so bad it makes them look stupid.

> "Batman: Universe" is a great and short silly story that shows their dynamic really well. amused me greatly. not ship focused though hal is there for like. a single issue unfortunately. but fun!!

> i usually never recommend any new 52 books to get INTO a character, but if you're interested in this pairing and its most 'popular' fanon interation, then "Jutice League (2011)" is the best place to start. you can get to their better stuff afterwards! (there's also an animated movie about it!)

> brutalia

AND BEST TILL LAST. THE BRUCE SHIP OF ALL TIME. ruined my life. CHANGED my life. i wish i could explain how insanely important this relationship is in words. i love my pairings tragic and there is quite literally no other ship quiet as dramatic or poetic than brutalia. talia is often seen as bruce's "one true love" with great reason, and him hers, and despite that they will probably never actually get back together. in a wider lense, the al ghuls and bruce have an insanely complicated dynamic, and this inherent conflict about missions bigger than themselves makes brutalia's forbidden love drama all the more compelling. talia brings out the best in bruce, and bruce respects and loves talia in a way i don't think he does anyone else in his life.

to complain for a moment, it's no wonder that because their relationship (since it's very first introduction) was so irrevocably pure and consensual (they were both so ridiculously obsessed with each other), that Certain Writers had to pull out the most out of character and disgusting stories to make it clear the tone of batman was changing. talia is always a victim to racism, misogyny and just unbelievable ooc writing — most evidently in her stories with bruce, unfortunately.

AND YET. recent comics have realised how truly ridiculous it is to write her as anything but kind and strong, and bruce being anything but hopelessly infatuated. i think my favourite thing about brutalia is that bruce and talia is a relationship that has been separated for actual Decades and so both their characters have been developed to have their own tragic stories and growth. then when we get small moments that bring them back together and letting that past show through the cracks in their carefully constructed walls, it's all the more romantic.

beautiful heartbreaking ship. the kind of relationship historians would cry over. would have the romantic period publishing fifteen books over.

> "Batman: Son of the Demon" is ESSENTIAL brutalia reading. also, if you are insane and delusional enough, it can be the true origin of damian.

> the comic moment that inspired all romance the moment of forever the blueprint even is in the famous "Batman (1940) #244"

> for a more modern take, very recently in fact, is her appearances in Ram V's run of detective comics, starting from #1062. its not brutalia focused, but a great take on how natural and yearning their relationship is now.

[sabrondabrainrot]

🌞Sun isn't self-sacrificing 🌞

Let's talk about that.

Guess whom is back on her copium? This lady. Anyways, time for more rambles and brainrot.

Disclaimer: This is going to contain spoilers from tsbs, tsams, laes etc. but I'm keeping it pretty generic and vague. Just being polite and covering bases.

To begin with, Sun has shown some self sacrificing tendencies but what matters with a self sacrifice is intent. Our Sun in the show has not intended to die for another person. At least, the current lore Sun won't. I get the vibes Sun actually understands that everyone loves him and he wants to live and be with them.

Sun suffers from extreme self esteem issues. He's ok with grinding himself away to nothing if it means helping others, especially his family. He spent a majority of his life being terrorized and guilted by someone he loved with no real end in sight. On top of that, he was made to feel useless and stupid so he has a hard to recognizes he's already doing enough just by being.

Adding to this, just because he doesn't value himself that much doesn't mean he wants to die. At his lowest, Yes, he wished he was dead, but that doesn't mean he wants to die. Sun has a lot of life in him and a lot of love to give. When he's not being tortured Sun loves living.

When you think of someone who loves living with his family, it's hard to imagine they'd so easily die for them. We have to look at Sun's actions and words. My biggest example of this instance is the first time he planned to use Star Power to protect NM/Nexus, he didn't plan to die. He knew he might get hurt but he told NM/Nexus he wasn't aiming to sacrifice himself. He was trying to actually keep NM from sacrificing himself, like Old Moon. It's so funny how circular the argument in that moment actually was.

It's a similar situation to when he went rogue and wanted to kill the 2nd Eclipse. He told Old Moon "Screw being a hero!" To me, this communicates he isn't trying to do the heroic sacrifice or anything similar. He was labeled a bad guy by Lunar in their argument and decided to just lean into that "villain persona". This also plays into the fact heroes go out of their way to save lives but Sun is explicitly out to take a life. Now for a clever segway, the reason why I see Sun as not self-sacrificing is because he knows what he has to lose and he knows how it feels to lose everything. Old Moon made him feel that loss. Just the same as Old Moon taught him how to feel pain.

Sun's one of the gentlest and kindest people in the TSBS shows and that's due to him not ever wanting to make other feel the awful things he's felt. Most of his actions in the show are how he typically would want himself to be treated (Dark Sun waves in the background).

Just to add, Solar is SO similar to Sun. It's honestly so funny. He works so hard and ALSO grinds himself down to the bone just to be a bit helpful to the people he loves. He also felt the loss of a loved one's sacrifice and had to kill someone to defend himself. (IE Sun killing BloodMoon and Solar killing his Moon) He even shares a similar self esteem issue with Sun!

They're just two peas in pod, I love it.

I was planning to come in with a bunch of examples of character who ALSO have the self sacrificing tendency who aren't actually self sacrificing but I'm tired from a long sucky Monday so I'm gonna schedule post this and do my self sacrificer propaganda later.

But yeah, if Sun does die it probably won't be from a sacrifice. Even though most Sun's have a history of dying for others or being murdered early. I think it's so sad Sun's get boiled down to nothing but a sacrificial lamb to many Moon's bloodlust. Or they live long enough to be the plaything of a bigger/greater evil then Moon. looks at Servant Sun.

[not-poignant]

Hi Pia

I have 2 separate questions that are unrelated but share a subject matter.

Would a woman omega or trans man omega who was infertile/sterile be allowed at Hillview?

And 2) Have you thought or would you ever write an mm pairing where one of them was a trans man?

I'm trans masc and I find it so hard to find good trans fics that deal with trauma recovery or aren't just pwp. And I love your writing so much that if you ever decided to write a transman fic I'd literally cry from happiness.

So, I was going to write a big long world-building response to this but instead I'm gonna take it back to something personal - you're asking me to consider worldbuilding for and writing for stuff I feel pretty dysphoric over in my personal life. I go out of my way to really, really avoid writing heterosexuality of any kind for a start, so I don't want to think about all the fringe cases where I can make heterosexuality possible at Hillview or the sister site. That's just...icky to me.

As for trans folk, being that I'm also transmasc, I'm mostly team 'if you want to see it happen you can write it happening. I have zero problems with that. But there's stuff I'm not writing about either for reasons relating to dysphoria, or for reasons relating to 'this is not actually why I enjoy writing in the first place.' This is why I don't do self-inserts, for example. I don't like seeing myself in my own stories, I prefer seeing myself represented in other stories.

So -> If other folks want to write it, they can! If they want to solve those worldbuilding issues, they absolutely can! If they want to write fic about it, I'm gonna set off a confetti cannon for them in celebration.

In terms of worldbuilding, the answer would just always be: It depends. If you want to find the fringe cases then sure, there would always be exceptions! But if there was any chance of fertility/pregnancy with their companion, then no. So it would absolutely need to be not just a hormonal transition (a lot of things can impact consistent hormonal uptake and I think omegaverse hormones in the Underline universe would actually impact them a lot too), but one that covered bottom surgery as well.

Is that like, a problem in honouring someone's gender? Absolutely!! The Underline universe isn't perfect. But preventing pregnancy is their biggest concern at Hillview and the sister site. I know in regular/standard ORFs, they only care about the fertility issue, and care about literally nothing else, and yes, that can be a huge issue re: trans folk. This world is a dystopia, it doesn't pretend to be anything else.

The fun thing about fanfiction, is that other people can erase all of that with a sweep, come up with some magical contraception, and just make it happen. :D

As a transmasc person myself, I have stuff I just don't like writing. Just like everyone else does. You are absolutely welcome and completely have my blessing to imagine whatever you like for Underline, to write it in fic, to daydream about it, to bend and change the rules that already exist or to make up new ones that don't exist yet, that work for a world you want to read about.

But for me...it just comes too close to 'if I have to change or figure out these things I also have to think about how to set up 'woman omega and man alpha' heterosexuality and I just don't want to.'

I'm so sorry anon. I'm going to circle this one under competing needs. Sometimes the thing another person needs to find gender affirmation, is the thing that will harm another person's experience of their own gender, even if that gender shares the same general name, even if that changes down the track. (This is how we get some trans people who hate genderbending in fic and say it's dysphoric, and other trans people who love it and say it's affirming. It's true for both, neither should impose their views on the other).

The TL;DR being: I write what I want to be writing. If I'm not writing it, and have never written it, it's because I don't want to write it. In the matter of heterosexuality: zero interest, I'll leave that for other folks. In the matter of being trans, dealing with my own gender stuff irl is already a nightmare that I don't want to have to write out a version of that again in fiction, because I can't live it twice, and I don't like writing fluffy stories.

[skylarsblue]

billy loomis / stu macher x reader with autism? tysm! and if you can’t do it no worries ^^

(Autism gang, let's go! Also, I added Danny for my own enjoyment, forgive me.)

✦Ghostfaces With a S/O That's Autistic✦

✦Content; No warnings that I can think of, fluff, GN!Reader with nothing specified physically✦ ✦Stu; He/Him, Billy; He/Him, Danny; He/They✦

✧Stu Macher✧

I'm fairly certain Stu is neurodivergent, ADHD specifically. You look at this man and tell me he has a neurotypical brain, I dare you. Yeah, no, you can't.

Now given this is 1995-1996, the concept of people having ADHD & Autism wasn't super accepted. Honestly, people treated it like a devastating blow most of the time. (Sadly, not a whole lot has changed) I imagine Stu doesn't really understand what being neurodivergent really means. Like, he knows what autism is, but he's got a bit of a warped view of what it means for you. You can blame media for the majority of it, but don't worry! He's not gonna go Anti-Vax Mom™ on yo ass.

He'll actually listen to you, even if he doesn't fully understand. You'll have to break it to him that Autism isn't a life-destroying thing. It just means you process things a bit differently, have sensitivities, etc. He'll grab the concept pretty quickly.

When you explain stuff like sensory processing issues, he'll actually relate really hard. Stu's lived his whole life thinking he was just weird for his reactions to certain stimuli, but when you describe your own experiences, it makes him question.

Bringing up that he might have ADHD won't make him want to get tested, he doesn't see a need, it won't change anything about him and he's not huge on the idea of medications. But, he will ask you more questions. Autism & ADHD are different but they do have a decent amount of overlap and you know more than he does so he trusts your judgment.

"Wait is that why I feel like I wanna tear my skin off when I feel velvet?! ...YOU MEAN NOT EVERYONE HEARS ELECTRICITY? IT'S JUST US?!"

Mans has an epiphany every five seconds while you're talking.

When it comes to him helping you, he tries his best, but he's spacey and forgets certain things. Still, he does his best to keep it all in mind. If he knows there's one food you absolutely can't stand, he'll keep it off your plate. Even if it means scraping it all onto his own and making a mess.

Is there a sound that makes it feel like your head's about to explode? He'll cover your ears, put his head on your head/shoulder and hum something.

Sometimes, if you two share a sensitivity, he'll loudly express his hatred for it and insist you both leave/get rid of whatever's causing it.

Has probably broken something that was making a noise you both hated. "Ugh, finally. Look, see? Problem solved! Aren't I a genius, babe?"

Stu absolutely understands the consumption of hyperfixations and he supports you completely. If it's something he can't get into, sometimes he comes across a bit aloof to it, because it doesn't give his brain the dopamine rush it does for you. Still, he's glad you have something you enjoy and he'll still listen to your rants. As long as you do the same for him.

If you both are hyperfixating on the same thing at the same thing? Bro, y'all annoy the shit out of everyone and he does not give a single fuck.

If anyone makes you feel like shit for talking about it, he's gonna rip them a new one. He makes fun of their biggest insecurities if he feels they deserve it. Is it cruel? Yes, but he, doesn't, care. If you don't wanna feel his wrath, you sit there and listen intently to his baby's ramblings, damnit.

Stu's a pretty intense dude and he likes a lot of stimulation. But he understands if you get overwhelmed sometimes. His tolerance for lots of stuff going on is a lot higher than most people. Again, he'll cover your ears if it's a lot of noise. He'll cover your eyes if it's too much visual stimuli, keep you close to his body in a crowd. This also helps if you're shorter than him because he can surround you completely, helps feel like you're disconnected from the stressors around you.

He's hella rich, he'll get you all the fidget toys you want. All the shit you want for a hyperfixation. Best believe you get the best headphones and music player the market has to offer for those times you need to drown shit out.

He's a touchy-feely person and he's likely to forget your physical boundaries sometimes if touch is a problem for you. But he'll always apologize when you correct him. If touch isn't a problem, he's super cuddly. And if you're the type to be only okay with touch from specific people, he gets a huge ego boost from being that person.

He's a bit boney & fidgety but makes a decent human blanket.

An overall 10/10 for a Neurodivergent Partner.

✧Billy Loomis✧

I'm gonna be real with you, chief. He's not the best. He's not terrible! But not the best. I'm not saying he's gonna bully you for the things you do, no, he's an overall sweet partner in all honesty. He's patient and understanding.

Still, if he doesn't understand a thing you're doing, he might come across a bit annoyed. Like if you have an audible stim that you keep repeating, his tone comes across a bit snappy when he asks why you do it. He's not trying to upset you, his temper's just a bit shaky.

Sitting him down and explaining that you're autistic might get you a few annoying questions. He's not an asshole, he means well, but the questions come across rude. Ex; "But you don't act autistic.", "But you do (insert stereotypical thing).", etc. If you tell him that most of the stuff he knows is basically all poor representation and rumors, he'll give you a pretty basic apology and he'll stop. Billy will also ask what else is a result of shitty ideas of autism so he knows better. (You'll need to tell him that the R-word is a slur. He doesn't really use it but it's good for him to be aware.)

I personally see Billy as neurotypical, but he's been friends with Stu for a long time. If you have behaviors that overlap with Stu's, he'll handle it perfectly. He's a veteran at it.

Sometimes he'll think you're being a bit too sensitive about sensory stimuli, but when you explain it's not just that you dislike something, he'll be more willing to understand.

"It's just a bit of corn, it's not that bad." "Billy, when I bite into a single kernel, it triggers my fight or flight response, my body goes into panic mode, and I wanna tear my hair out and throw up. It is that bad." "...oh. Aight, here, trade me."

When it comes to overstimulation caused by stuff like noise and people, he actually understands. He's an introvert and large crowds exhaust him, which makes him irritable. If he sees you starting to get antsy and uncomfortable in a loud environment, he'll give you his walkman headphones and find a reason for you both to leave. He's excellent at manipulation, he'll find a way.

If you have skin sensitivity, he'll start keeping things on him that help alleviates it. Scissors to cut tags out of your clothes, a spare shirt(that's his because he totally has a kink for that), hand sanitizer, etc.

Best believe he's ready to throw hands with anyone who gives you shit. He will whoop ass, no hesitation. Billy's a very possessive & protective partner most of the time, he's ready to defend your honor at the drop of a hat.

He's got his hobbies and likes, but he doesn't have anything he'd consider a hyperfixation. Still, he'll be perfectly happy for you that you've found one. Sometimes he has to ask you to stop talking when you're rambling about it, but he learned after the first two times to specify it wasn't personal. He just needs quiet every now and then and he knows you'll get sad if he isn't actually listening to you.

Like Stu, he'll be very happy if your hyperfixation has anything to do with his own interests. Billy will actually be impressed if you know more niche facts and nuances than he is, this is often the easiest way to hold his attention when you're in a long info-dump.

He's not as rich as Stu, but he's got some decent money, plus a part-time job. His spare money will definitely be spent on your interests, no matter what it is. It could be a hyper-specific brand of toys and he'll buy the most expensive one they offer. He wants you to be happy! (And the terrible part of him wants to have the leverage to keep you loyal to him, no matter how terrible his actions get)

Despite his struggle to understand sensory processing disorder, he actually offers some pretty decent suggestions to get around it. Using myself as an example, I often struggle to brush my teeth because it'll feel like bugs are in my teeth. If you had something like this, he'd come up with a potential solution on the spot. "What if you brushed them in the shower? That way you can focus more on the water than the brushing."

Again, similarities between you and Stu will catch his attention and he'll make a mental note of it. One, he'll see if he can use his experience with Stu to handle your symptoms better. Two, he'll definitely consider asking you if Stu's neurodivergent.

Not the best, but he's trying his best. Solid 7/10.

✧Danny Johnson✧

ANOTHER NEURODIVERGENT.

I headcanon that Danny has AuDHD, which is both Autism & ADHD. Once he was diagnosed (well into his twenties), it was like they had opened pandora's box. Researching it made them go "OHH THAT'S WHY" every five seconds.

He grew up in rural Utah with a shitty dad who would definitely not treat Danny well if he knew about his son's neurodivergence. But that doesn't matter cause the bastard's dead. Letting Danny have the freedom to research the topic to his heart's content, which he does. It helped them immensely in terms of lifestyle.

When you come into his life and explain that you're autistic, he's completely accepting right off the bat. That's also assuming he wasn't stalking you for months prior to your relationship and that he didn't already know to begin with.

He's probably the most equipped to handle things like sensory overload & sensitivities, given he has so many himself. He's also, ironically enough, got the most patience for things like stims & info-dumping. Danny's a tempermental hypocrite but on this list he's the most chill with these things, funny eh?

They absolutely pick up on some of your stims and you pick up on his. It makes them so much worse, but it's cute. His main stims involve his hands and little sounds with his mouth, like whistling or humming.

Your food sensitivities don't need to be explained to him, he's got a million. It's aggravating because he wants to be a foodie so bad but then they have all these damn sensory problems. If a single piece of broccoli will ruin your entire meal, broccoli will be essentially banned from the house. He's a romantic like that.

Pre-cuts tags from your clothes, picks out things from pre-made meals that you hate before he even gives it to you, has a plethora of scented candles you like to cover up troublesome smells, and he's got a million versions of headphones/earbuds. They all work he just loses them constantly, buys more, then finds the originals again. Honestly, they have a whole drawer dedicated to music players.

Your ability to stick to a schedule helps out with his ADHD experience. He's got a pretty decent routine himself, but sometimes he'll fuck it up and find it hard to get back on track. For example, they've misplaced their meds and it's fucking up their whole morning? There you are with the correction and they're back on track. He'll jokingly call you a saint for it.

Sometimes his temper gets touchy and he'll get snappy at something you do. (This is more a general thing and less an Autistic thing) He gets real guilty when you look at him with sadness and quickly apologizes. Which is baffling, given they were pretty sure they were incapable of guilt for a long time.

"I'm sorry, sorry, it's not you. Not mad at you. Mad at this other thing, it's not personal, doll, sorry."

If you're overstimulated, Danny's got you covered, rest assured. He's got earbuds, at least three fidget toys, and he's always ready to give you comforting pressure. Whether it's by acting like a weighted blanket or a tight hug. They also really appreciate when you return the favor when they've had a bad day at work.

They get a huge ego boost if you consider him your main comfort, or if your comfort object is something of his. Like a gift they gave you or some article of their clothing.

Actively researches your hyperfixation so he can engage in conversation with you about it. They like seeing you get all excited when they bring it up. Most of the time, he ends up having a hyperfixation on it as well. If you do the same for him? You're asking for a cuddly bitch of a man.

Feels their cold heart melt when you do something to help their AuDHD. Remembering his safe foods, his fidgets, etc. If he wasn't obsessed before, he is now.

Anyone who gives you shit for being autistic is dead by morning, that's a basic rule. If you defend him against bullshit? He's fucking the shit out of you.(/hj)

Considers you a hyperfixation, honestly.

100/10, you caught a winner with Danny. If you don't mind obsessive behavior, possessiveness, and murder. But c'mon. You're here. Of course, you don't mind.

[the-lesser-light]

I think the biggest thing I've noticed since converting is the difference in access for the disabled.

I can't speak for the Christian side of things, as I never really attended church.

However, while struggling through the wiccan/pagan/whatever side of things, no one seemed to give a flying fuck about the disabled.

Solstice bonfire in the middle of a muddy field? In a wheelchair? Sucks to be you. Get some legs and go leap over that fire to feel included or go home.

Sure, you had substitutes for incense when you had asthma and plants and things of that nature, but you were still left feeling left out. Look at all those good true believers gathering up their incense and things to burn.

It left me feeling angry and like I wanted to do something to bring attention to these issues.

Yet when I reached out to prominent members of the community, I was ignored or glossed over.

Now, here I sit in a community where my Rabbi is in leg braces and she talks openly with other members that use canes about the best brands to get.

I watch a community that has more than a fair share of older people and we discuss upgrading our ancient synagogue with a lift so they don't have to struggle with all those stairs when going to the oneg in the future.

We discuss using LED candles when using real fire is dangerous or scary. We clearly label all the food so those with special dietary needs don't have to feel like they can't make safe choices.

I have Jewish Friends who have PTSD and other mental health issues and we talk about the things that make us feel safe and practices that help us get by week to week.

We discuss the fact that despite the rules and traditions and everything, there is still Pikuach nefesh which will always come first.

We even had a discussion over preparing for end of life to help when one of the older members said she was unsure what to do and needed help feeling less unsure on how her body would be handled.

I can't stress enough how much of a difference I've seen. And sure, things could be better. Things can always be better. The synagogue still has a lot of stairs and sometimes the food doesn't say if it has this or that in it... But the difference is that people seem to actually care when you say "that's not fair. We need to let this person in too."

Inclusion isn't just wearing a pride shirt. Inclusion is making sure everyone gets there together.

"Rise in body or spirit" is still a phrase that resonates with me every Shabbat. It is hard to explain this to someone that has never had to watch someone in a wheel chair turn around and leave because they can't even get through a door.

[sinfulauthorwrites]

Dream Machine - A Mettaton x Reader Fic

As you lie awake in bed, only able to focus on your worries, your boyfriend Mettaton offers encouragement and help.

So, not so fun fact: while I had this idea rattling around my head for a while, I only got down to writing it while I was in the psych ward 🙃 Though, writing fic by hand in a journal without autocorrect or Grammarly made me feel like one of the OG Star Trek slash shippers in the 60s, which was a really fun feeling! Aside from word choice and a few extra sentences, the typed version remains relatively unchanged from the handwritten one, though I may still share the pics of my journal on Tumblr or Twitter! Also, the title comes from the Steam Powered Giraffe song of the same name!

Rating: General Audiences

Ship: Mettaton EX x GN!Reader

Word Count: 891

Applicable Tags: Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Reader Is Not Frisk, Reader Has Anxiety (the anxiety isn't specified, it's more open-ended for the reader to project onto), Self-Worth Issues, Self-Esteem Issues, Meditation, Sleep, Crying, Fluff, Established Relationship, Pet Names, POV Second Person, Not Beta Read

You lie awake in bed next to your android boyfriend. He was already powered into sleep mode for the night, as his LED eye displays were dimmed and his tail-like charging cord plugged into the nearby wall. You look at him for a moment before turning to the pink canopy of the bed above you, starting at the shadows in the fabric formed by the lights from outside your shared penthouse apartment. The darkness warped, presenting visual manifestations of the problems keeping you from sleep. 

Yes, you knew Mettaton had his worries, but as the Underground’s biggest star now on the surface, he had much more significant concerns compared to yours. Tour dates, filming, recording sessions, the list goes on. Yours are small compared to his. Insignificant. Human. You feel your stress tug your eyelids open, preventing your “beauty rest,” as your boyfriend lovingly called it. As you shift once more and pull the satin sheets closer to you, you hear a familiar boot-up sound and fans whirring to life. Oh shit. Your tossing and turning set off Mettaton’s motion detection, a vestigial feature not yet removed since his purpose was changed.

“D-darling, is something the matter?” The robot’s voice glitches momentarily, his now-illuminated pink eyes looking at you with concern.

“Y-yeah! I must’ve rolled over too far,” you nervously chuckle. “I didn’t mean to wake you, babe. Get some rest, as neither of us wants you low on battery tomorrow.”

Mettaton purses his lips, not taking no for an answer. “Darling, look at me.” His tone sharpens when you curl up tighter with your back facing him. “Look. At. Me.” With a resigned sigh, you turn to face him. “Oh, beautiful,” he sighs, cupping your cheek with his gloved hand, his thumb circling below the dark bags and worry lines underneath your eyes. “How much sleep have you been getting lately?”

You mumble your response, prompting your boyfriend to look at you sternly. “Usually only two hours a night, especially when you’re not here,” you fess up.

You can see the guilt hit your boyfriend, causing you to quickly run your hand through his synthetic hair and reassure him. “It’s not because of you, I promise!”

“But why didn’t you tell me sooner?” Despite being the biggest celebrity of the century, Mettaton still immensely cares for you. You’re his star, his world, his everything. Seeing you suffer makes his SOUL feel like shattering.

You inhale deeply. “I-” you quickly correct yourself. “It just feels all so unimportant compared to you. I mean, you’ve got so much amazing stuff going on right now. And with me, it’s just…” You hesitate momentarily, unsure if you want to continue, until you see Mettaton nod with understanding and compassion. Soon, your words flow out of you, every insecurity and doubt leaving your lips. Tears begin to fall from your eyes, leaving small damp spots on the pillowcase you rested on. Mettaton extends his arm in back of him to pass you a tissue box, the lotion-infused tissues a welcome relief for your sore eyes.

“Did that help you feel better, sweetheart?” You nod, and Mettaton presses a soft kiss to your forehead. “Good. Now, I want you to listen to me very closely.” You nod, and the robot cups your cheeks once more. “You will never, ever be inconsequential to me, darling. You mean so much, not just to me but to everyone around you! Don’t ever feel like you don’t matter, or whatever you’re going through doesn’t matter, either. I care, we care.” He kisses you on the lips this time. “I love you.”

“I love you too,” you murmur back, held tight in his embrace.

After a few moments, Mettaton lets go. “Do you think you’ll be able to sleep now, darling?”

You let out another breathy, anxious chuckle. “Probably not, to be honest. It’s alright, though. I’ll make it up tomorrow during the day.”

“There has to be something we can do, sweetheart.” Mettaton’s pupils shift from his usual hearts into turning gears before changing to a lightbulb emoticon. “Hey! It’s not technically released yet, but Blooky and Alphys were working on music to benefit monsters and humans!” He shoots you one of his signature grins. “Co-produced by yours truly, of course!” Mettaton finds the demo CD in the nightstand drawer, preparing to play it from his speakers. “How would you like to be our first test subject?” His eyes sparkle with encouragement, and you just can’t say no to him. 

The robot pats the bed, motioning for you to lie down. He loads the CD into one of the slots built into his EX form, his other hand drifting down to hold yours. The ambient tones soon lull you into a reverie, with the faint sounds of rushing water mixed into the track. It’s an obvious callback to the family of ghostly cousins’ original abode, but it soothes your mind as your anxieties flow away. As you close your eyes, you feel the sensation of the water surrounding you, floating through space and time and easing your body and mind. Mettaton’s hand is a tether to the physical world, keeping you grounded as your mind drifts away peacefully. Although they were once wide and bloodshot, your eyes become heavy and worn as you finally sail away into a restful sleep.

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