#why can't anyone do this modern properly

[imagine-to-be-a-pike]

It amuses me how modern Merlin fanfics try to make Merlin a fashion icon. Like...dude would dress like that and he would be proud of himself.

(this would be his only and best outfit)

[x-hotoke]

The Weakest Gojo.

content warnings: use of you/your pronouns, mean brother!Gojo Satoru, Male reader insert.

— GOJO SATORU

Gojo Y/n, the youngest and only brother of Gojo Satoru. You were always seen as a stain — a disappointment to the Gojo Clan’s family and reputation because of your illness. It affected your daily routine and abilities—making you weaker as you appear.

Your skin was paler than your usual skin tone, the skin under your eyes are sunken with the purple hue on it. You were forced to stay in your room — locked up with no entertainment other than the books they give you and your older brother, Satoru.

He always comes by and visits you every chance he gets. Sometimes he brings stuff that he thinks would entertain you for long.

He rarely sneak sweets inside your room even though it was forbidden because of your deteriorating health which the doctors never seemed to find a cure for.

But Satoru — A man of his words would scavenge the bestest of the best doctors in the whole wide world. He is indeed rich and he won't hesitate to give everything up just to see you in good health. But that's how you think of him.

He isn't always like that sweet and caring brother as you thought. You'll be lucky enough if you caught him in a good mood like this but it's one of the few rare moments you wished to experience over and over again.

He'll borderline invade your personal space and say the meanest things anyone can say to the point the Elders of your clan banned him from visiting you again but that didn't stop him though.

He'll threaten and intimidate anyone who steps in his way. What you mostly don't like about him being inside your confinement is that he annoys the heck out of you—always having that stupid smirk you hated whenever he would do things to get a rise out of you.

Something that you hated.

Whether it was a positive or negative reaction—Satoru doesn't care nonetheless—as long as he gets a reaction from you, he's done for today.

Being the Weakest Gojo means less attention and more discouraging words from the Clan.

Though you accepted it a long time ago that you'll never be good enough like your older brother, Satoru. Because even stepping outside of your confinement always ends up in the worst possible scenario.

Satoru will boast and rant to you about his day being a sorcerer and ultimately mentioning how he's the strongest sorcerer in the modern era. Unfortunately his side comments on you will never change nor be gone. He'll take every chance he gets to tease, poke fun at you, intimidate and make fun of your situation.

The first time you were able to stand all by yourself with no help, he was on his way to your confinement when he noticed you—hand on the wall—with trembling legs, trying to stand up properly outside the room.

Satoru was impressed and angry, he didn't expect this from you at all! You were always weak to stand up on your own and now here you are.

“what’re you doin’?” Satoru spoke up, stared at your trembling figure, you looked like you were about to collapse at any given time. He is indeed impressed, he didn't expect this from you at all because you aren't even capable of doing this by yourself or maybe he hasn't known yet.

You slid down the shoji screen carefully, breathing heavily. You were finally making progress! “Did you see that, brother-?”

“You aren't supposed to be out here, go back to your room.”

You furrowed your brows at him, opening your mouth to speak up but he continued on speaking. “Look at yourself. You can't even stand up properly without your legs giving up. I don't get why you still try—you’re weak. Nothing will change.”

Satoru can be a decent brother at times and will heed to whatever you want but sometimes being the strongest overwhelms him and unfortunately he pours all of the pent up anger he has on you. He’ll probably say mean things to you but that's how he shows his love!

He can be a dick sometimes but he loves you!! Just don't do something that you'll regret later on.

[daenysx]

hi! i’m pretty new to your blog but i’m really loving your content! you’re a fantastic writer. if it’s okay i’d like to request something for james x reader, where r is going through a friendship breakup and james is comforting her? i completely understand if you don’t want to write this, regardless i’ll continue to enjoy your content! have a great day/night 💗

hi, angel, thank you so much for being so kind! i hope you enjoy ♡ requests are open

james potter x fem!reader, modern au

"come on." you scoff, looking at your phone and feeling sick to your stomach. james lifts his head from his laptop to see what you're doing. you put the phone on couch a bit harshly, crossing your arms defensively.

"angel?" he asks.

"yeah, jamie?"

"everything alright?" he puts his laptop on the coffee table to go by your side. you turn your head, feeling a hot teardrop roll on your cheek.

"she doesn't even care about what i say." you start. james knows exactly who you're talking about. "i'm trying to talk about how i feel and she- it's nothing to her, apparently."

"what did she say?" james asks, he rubs a generous hand on your arm.

"she just- she says she's sorry and she'll fix it, but she said all those things 2 months ago! just- you need to do something for someone if you promise them but she keeps forgetting and she never explains anything."

you're getting more upset each second. this is a person who you spent your days with before, someone close enough to share secrets. something happened two months ago, something you can't even properly remember now, and she hurt you. she never realized how distanced you've been and when you told her, she promised she'll fix it. two fucking months ago. she did nothing.

"am i doing wrong?" you ask james. "is it wrong to be angry?"

"no." he says. "it's not wrong if you feel like it. you don't wanna let go of her so easy but- i guess she doesn't try like you do."

the truth hurts so badly. you hate losing friendships, strangers turning into loved ones, losing them makes you feel like losing a part of your memories. what can you do? you're feeling too proud, too unforgiving. you don't want to be a bad person.

"i just don't know why she keeps giving up on me." you say, quietly. tears turn into hushed breaths. "am i so easily forgettable?"

"no." james takes you in his arms. "baby, of course not. it's not your fault if you believe you try hard enough to save your friendship. maybe it's not anyone's fault. sometimes things don't work out."

you put your head on james's shoulder. "i thought we were closer than this." you say, sadly. "maybe i was wrong."

james rubs your back until you relax on him. your phone is forgotten, you won't send any more texts tonight. it already hurts enough, but you gotta get through it.

"i'm sorry." he says, a quiet sound comes out of his lips as he kisses your head. "i'm sorry it's hurting, baby. you'll be okay."

maybe you should just leave this as a good relationship that is over now. there's no need to try to save something if it's already lost. you've gone through this before, you can do it again. you think your anger for the situation will make you forget about things quicker. you won't hold any grudges.

"i don't wanna be friends with someone who treats me like this." you say, sharply. "i didn't do anything to deserve it."

james kisses your hair again. "i'm not blaming her." you say, after a second. "it's not anyone's fault at this point but- i won't try anymore. she can do anything she wants, i guess."

not getting a closure hurts a bit, but you'll survive. james likes how you perceive the situation from both sides, you don't see yourself as the only person who's right, you still have respect and love for your old friend. your head stays tucked on his neck nicely, he rubs your now dried cheeks with cool fingers.

when you look at james with expectant eyes, he nods. it's good to see him agreeing with you, you know he'd tell you if you were making an irrational decision out of anger. you kiss his cheek and he carries you to his side of the couch.

you don't look at your phone again that night. james figures out you like watching sitcoms when you're upset. you fall asleep to the background sound of the office, your head on james's chest and his hand on your lower back.

[bun-z-bakery]

(Repost from my abandoned account) these are just my personal head canons for dogday. this is a survivor au

(All characters are over 18 btw)

-dogday sometimes has dog like tendencies, like growling, barking etc.

-he doesn't remember a lot about his life as a worker but will share stories he remembers of his human life once you two become close.

-man is like a love sick puppy. First you save him? Give him legs? AND a home?! And his friends are here too?! You really are his angel.

-he's very protective of his angel. He can't have anyone take them away or even hurt them. Plus all those years locked away, he can't loose you, you're his hope.

-this man will most certainly plan his confession, script and all. Maybe you're away at work and this is something he's been working on for a while. He's always bringing you little gifts on his hunting trips (depending on if you like to collect rocks and such) but this dude went out of his way to find the best of the best. Even somehow found flowers beautiful enough to almost rival your beauty, keyword: almost.

-he enjoys spending time with you, poppy and kissy, he enjoys playing outside with you three, even if you guys have been out of the factory for years already. They still enjoy the outside world.

-I know bro is huge, like dude is taller than an American door way (according to some measurements fans have made, hes 9'5) if you're a shorty (like me 5 feet even😭) he will most definitely pick you up and carry you like a dogtoy. He likes the feeling of carrying his angel, it gives him a sense of pride doing so. Even if you accidentally hit the ceiling or he needs to really get down so you don't hit the top of the doorframe, he will always apologize or joke about it.

-he's a cuddler, he LOVES cuddling! He has his own giant dog bed in your shared room, but he prefers to sleep on your shared bed. If you're away from work and he's eepy, he'll pass out on your bed because it smells like you. Your scent keeps him at bay until you come home. Poor guy will shoot up and push anyone out of his way to be the first to get to you! He sits there on the floor waiting for his mandatory headpats and kisses as soon as he hears your keys.

-it takes his brain a few minutes to properly turn on. After all those years he finally gets proper sleep, I can imagine you waking up first and getting ready for the day to prepare breakfast for the group and you poke him, trying to wake him. He'll mumble some random stuff about not letting rats do taxes then fall back asleep only to be woken again by your pokes still talking nonsense. I can also see him sometimes waking up confused, you know like when you wake up your parents and they're mad for no reason asking what's wrong while gasping for air? (Just me?) I can see him being THAT dead asleep bhahsha

-my take on the survivor au is more of a modern take (as in yes the factory closed years also but reader is possibly in early to late 20s sometime in 20xx / non specified year) so they weren't an employee but probably knew someone like a family member who worked there or was dared to enter the factory (we'll see if I ever post my fanfic haha as these hcs kinda tie into that story) so dogday being alive in the 80s or 90s he probably has like the old school idea of love and attempts to swoon you as such. The flowers, cheesy pick up lines.

-I can imagine because he's not up to date with the newer terms and he might be confused while trying to seem cool haha. "Angel what does rizzler mean?" (Poor peepaw)

- Personally I love the theory that DogDay is an ex worker aka Rich. Which is probably why he was the leader of the smiling critters. Because he was mature enough to make sure everyone was in line/well behaved, I also think some other workers were turned into the mascots too (obviously) but maybe they trusted Rich more so they just threw him into the dance circle and hope that he'd be a good leader.

- this one ties into the first one btw! I like the think that maybe he was one of the mascots when he worked there. Like a guy in the costume who worked with the kids (hence the zipper, how else would the workers get into the bigger body suits?)

- I like to think DogDay likes when Angel calls him by his old human name. Maybe once he opens up more about his human life (or at least bringing up some of the memories he still has) he just randomly brings up his name when talking about a memory and hearing Angel repeat his name back, he'd probably like hearing it. It might make him feel like less of a monster in a sense. Granted I think he wouldn't care about what Angel calls him but he would most definitely prefer for them to alternate. Like you know when someone makes you mad and you use their real name instead of their nickname? He'd hate for his Angel to get mad, especially at him. But when living with 3 other people it can get a bit hectic.

"DogDay! Did you bring mud into the house?!"

"N-No!... "

*silence*

"RICH, WHERE ARE YOU?!"

*footsteps are heard and DogDay bolts out the door*

- Now this head canon I have can go either one of two ways, right? Hear me out. Listen up, listen carefully, and listen closely. (Lmk if you got that reference) ok so back to the zipper! I think the zipper just opens to his organs tbh like the zipper was just left functional in case he needed to be "repaired internally". BUT another thought, I also can see there being some sort of barrier! You know those stuff animals who have their stuffing blocked by a barrier so it doesn't fall out but the zipper opens to a compartment where you can store items? I kinda think that's whats there tbh, I mean it makes sense. What if one of the kids opened the zipper by mistake? Surely there would be a barrier just in case.

- as I mentioned in the last hc post, I can see him trying to swoon Angel in the old romantic type of way. I can see him pinning after Angel hard, at first they wouldn't get the hint, they'd probably think he's thinks he's indebted to them for rescuing them and giving the 3 of them a better and new life. But quickly they realize bro is in love. Of course poppy teases him about it too at some point lol. He doesn't really try to hide it either. I can see poppy and kissy thinking it's sweet and first then they get annoyed once you're the only thing he talk about lol.

- You're married. That's all! No but I can see in his mind you two are basically married. He'd probably want to have new custom star collars made for both of you or maybe even a ring for you and a matching collar or something for him to wear and propose. Of course it will bother him a bit because he can't go out with you, take you on dates or show you off but he trusts you (even though he gets jealous when you smell like someone else) he basically tries his best with what you guys have (If only there was a holiday that came once a year where you guys could go out dressed in customs without looking like freaks).

- He looks like the type of guy who would love pasta. I'm not sure why or how this even came into mind but I just feel like that's what he often wants for dinner. Poppy would probably eat fruit for dinner, kissy isn't really picky, but Dogday would probably be asking for either pasta or meat. Also I think Angel would be hesitant to feed certain foods to Dogday because you know, he's a dog (not really but hear me out) but because he acts like one at times I could see Angel being like haha nope you can't eat this!

*Angel eating chocolate cookies*

"May I have some?" *cutely pouts*

"I don't want you dying, love."

"You know I'm not actually a dog...right?"

ok ok you got me there" (they just really didn't wanna share lol)

- tbh this is more of a general head canon for the toys but I seeing as they had to resort to c*nnibalism. They clearly need food and water to survive. I think catcap was probably keep Dogday alive as a "lol now look at you now, look at me" (yes that's a BP reference) moment but only feeds him when he felt like it, since food is basically scarce in that place. I think that their human organs were transferred over but little things like veins, teeth, tongue, blood vessels basically anything that's not a major organ was made artificially and connected in a sense to those major organs making them function as such.

Yeah that's kinda it lol, there might be some more parts to this if I can think of anything else! But yeahhh that's kinda my hc and rambles lol (I tend to ramble a lot especially when I have to give context, I apologize!)

[4ng3l-shortc4k3]

Cw: yandere behavior, murder, cannibalism(?), mentions of mating

Okay enough Solomon talk I want to introduce a yandere who lives near the bottom of the ocean. Sounds crazy right? Yeah well so is he and his name is Nen. He's a sea serpent and he would most likely meet you on a deserted island in the middle of nowhere

He'll be mean to you at first mostly because he doesn't understand why you're being so awful to him. He literally saved you and you can't even thank him?? That's being selfish! At least to him it is. Then its only a matter of time where he softens you up with how nice he is that you'll end up wanting to stay

He's a yandere in the sense that he'll kidnap you thinking you're in trouble or something, drag you down in his underwater kingdom, and trap you there without a form of leaving. But its okay because he promises he'll help you!! And by helping he means distracting you with the tempting promises of what he has to offer so you'll never leave.

At least you're able to breathe underwater because of him draining all the water inside the castle so now everyone is forced to use their more humane forms rather than their animalistic ones they were used to. It doesn't help that you are the reason Nen starts changing the castle around to where it fits your mortal body's needs better than the rest. He'd neglect his people in order to make you happy which doesn't do wonders to your guilty conscience

Except he's also terribly clingy to you. You will be followed everywhere you go. You'll sit on his lap, you'll sleep in his bed, and he will get jealous of everyone and anyone who dares to talk to you. But here's the kicker he won't do anything about it because of how happy you are and he can't ruin that

So he'll bid his time mostly doing his best to keep you with him close by. He doesn't mind when you make friends with the servants just stop trying to flirt with them! He'll even let you have your own room if you at least stop your behavior before he ends up eating- I mean firing the staff members

When you start having feelings for Nen he would be overjoyed and he'll celebrate with you. Yet he doesn't understand how relationships work much less mating. He's been alive for thousands upon thousands of years ruling his precious kingdom yet never figured out how to have sex with someone so you're going to have to teach him yourself

He's also very capable of being aloof most of the time. He'd be so happy being in your arms despite quite literally being way taller than you that he'll forget vital information for when you two start properly courting. He'd forget so often about such important things that when you get upset with him he'll end up begging for your forgiveness. Its not easy especially when he gets too upset because he'll transform into this big and scary sea serpent just like when you first met him

When like this its best to evacuate with the others because he will start destroying the castle often times eating the unlucky servants and guards who weren't able to escape on time. He doesn't mean to make a mess but you simply wouldn't forgive him and he couldn't help it. It was a poor excuse especially when he tells you that he can't control himself when highly emotional but there was nothing you could do about it even if you did end up believing his ridiculous excuse

But in the end you'll forgive him anyways and he'll be back to his silly himbo nature of not understanding every innuendo you throw his way. Or how he doesn't understand modern things. Did I mention he's a very traditional guy? But he'll break the rules for you in a heartbeat so it really isn't all that bad. As long as you could handle the eating and the accidental tantrums then truly you're in a perfect undersea paradise where you are more of the king than the queen. Not like Nen would mind you taking his role in the first place when he's so busy idolizing you all the time

[starg1rlie]

𐋃 return address : what kind of a student are they? [masterlist]

𐋃 sent from : various

𐋃 addressed to : @angryhope, @ajaxstar, @kiryoutann, @messyserver, @mobiussdarling, @samarill, @dinolvrrr, @xxfrostiee, @ehddsnys, @maaarshieee, @cesarsbeloved, @scaralvr, @nejibot, @dazaiscum, @shinobuko, @iiyumii. [if your user is in bold, that means i can't tag you properly. please message me, or send in an ask w/your user, or if you'd like to be removed from the taglist. to myst and cesar; my apologies if you did not want to be tagged ;-; link to taglist form ]

𐋃 post script : fluff and lil' bit of crack, i put characters in multiple parts, because i can see them as being both of them, gender-neutral reader, modern high-school! au (non-genshinverse), use of "childe's" real name (ajax), use of scaramouche's real name (kunikuzushi), alcohol mentions, anddd that's about it <3

always turns in his assignments late, doesn't give a shit

━━ arataki itto, tartaglia, and dottore

why should he care about some stupid assignment? he has better things to do, like talk to his friends, hang out with you, eat some good food, and just relax with his feet up on the couch. he does what, about half the work before he just tosses it into his backpack to turn in when he remembers (which probably wouldn't happen if the teacher didn't phone his parents). he just, doesn't care. if it's late, it's late, what does it matter to him?

finishes the whole damn thing the day before it's due

━━ arataki itto, bennett, razor, kaveh, pantalone, and thoma

he didn't necessarily forgot the assignment, he just, didn't have any time to do it earlier. in other words, he procastinated or got distracted by something else. typical of him, wasn't it? even though you'd sent him multiple text reminders, and even left a sticky post-it note on his textbook, he still managed to forget about it. he had to pull an all-nighter the day before the assignment was due just to finish it, and promptly fell asleep right after the teacher collected all of their submissions.

assignment? what assignment? legit forgot there was something due today lmfao-

━━ razor, bennett, tartaglia, kaveh, scaramouche, kazuha, and gorou

wait what? there's an assignment due today? he had no idea; the very thought seemed to have slipped his mind. frantically, he looked through his planner, just to double check if the date was right. he promptly let out a groan, seeing the big red circle that marked the due date for this assignment. better get cracking... hopefully you'd be kind enough to offer a bit of assistance to him, even if it meant having to hear a lecture.

diligently finishes all of his work before it's even due

━━ xiao, scaramouche, tighnari, al-haitham, albedo, ayato, xingqiu, baizhu, and zhongli

it felt good to have finished all of the work so early. now he didn't have to worry about the deadline, which...was about a week from now. the teacher had barely assigned it to the students yesterday, and he was already finished. it made his chest swell with a bit of pride. of course, he'd get the highest grade on the assignment than anyone. and then he'd get to show his grade off to you, which you'd probably be proud off and give him a kiss as a reward. ah yes, the reward. perhaps that was why he managed to finish the assignment in such a short amount of time.

is the class clown / party-goer, so he doesn't have time to do homework

━━ venti and heizou

there's nothing quite like karaoke night and a good ol' can of beer. so what if he's still a minor; so many other kids have started drinking at even younger ages, and no one's stopping them. guzzling down a fresh new can of beer, he stuffed a hand through his backpack to look for his phone, instead, pulling out a sheet of paper that stated an assignment was due by the end of the week. shrugging, he shoved it right back in there and pulled out his phone, cranking the music's volume louder. if anything happened, well, he could just phone you and drop the assignment on you to do for him; he had much more important and better things to do, and it wasn't like he had any time, right? these beer cans weren't going to drink themselves, now were they?

starts fights

━━ arataki itto, tartaglia, kaeya, and cyno

the words "fight, fight, fight!" were chanted like a mantra as he quickly dodged a blow that would have most definitely dislocated his jaw if he hadn't ducked. wiping a trail of sweat from the side of his forehead, he jumped back at the person who dared start shit with him, raising a fist, and promptly punching them in the face. he held his fists up in victory, grinning like a complete idiot while everyone else just cheers and drags the downed fighter away. of course, the lecture that he gets from you is totally worth it in his opinion, even as you yank him by his ear all the way to the nurse's office.

ends fights

━━ diluc, tighnari, albedo, and zhongli

this was the third time this week that his friend had started another fight. as exciting as some may find it, it was also quite the hindrance. he shooed all the speculators away, helping up his friend from the ground and lead him away to get his wounds fixed up. after that, said friend gets an earful from him, which ends up going in through one ear, and out the other...but he does have you to back him up; fighting and violence are never an option, especially in an environment such as this. doing such a feat was asking for unwanted attention from the school principal. wait, did he just recite that all from memory? huh, perhaps you were starting to rub off on him.

cheers on the fighters / speculates

━━ xingqiu, scaramouche, ayato, dottore, al-haitham, and heizou

nothing quite as thrilling as a class fight, now was there? he clapped his hands together in amusement, eyeing the two battling students, who were clearly trying to flaunt for the crowd to see. if he had to compare them to an animal, he'd probably do so with a peacock; they're as proud as they were arrogant. he winced slightly as one of them took a hard hit, landing on the ground in a defeated heap as the victor shouted triumphantly. time for another class, he thought before walking down the opposite end of the hallway. he'd provide a whole play-by-play for you, in case you missed it or were preoccupied with something else at that time. the way he narrates the whole thing sounds as if he were wishing he'd been the one who won the fight.

asks you to do the assignment for them

━━ heizou, arataki itto, tartaglia, kaeya, and venti

"pleaseeeeeee, i promise this is the last time i'll ask you for a favor." you could practically hear how desperate he was through the other side of the phone. letting out a heavy sigh, you agreed. "fine, but you better buy me a caramal frappe tomorrow before school starts or i'll shred your assignment!" he was quick to agree, promising to get you two caramel frappes, if that insured that you wouldn't ruin his precious assignment. turns out, blackmailing is actually more useful than you thought it would be.

[heyybaejjk]

MODERN AO'NUNG HCS PT. 2 — SAMOAN!FEM READER

pairing. human!ao'nung x samoan!fem reader

summary. just Ao'nung with a Samoan girlfriend

warnings. swearing

a/n. for my polynesian babes wherever yall at ❤️

masterlist. pt. 1 pt. 3

AAPI month and Samoan Independence day have passed and I think of this idea NOW 😭☠️ out of all times wtf

BUT ITS SUNDAY AND STILL SAMOAN LANGUAGE WEEK ‼️

But idc 🧍‍♀️

Gotta do what I gotta do because I am not letting ts go

I love my culture, just like anyone else does, I'm still learning more about it so I researched and placed some of my own knowledge into this.

Aiuli - Participants who dance and cheer around a solo performer as they dance. Participants are never allowed to dance and cheer in front of the performer, only from behind them.

Taualaga - A performance, importantly the last, to close off an event. Mainly done by a solo female performer. Some are allowed to have people in the back while they Aiuli, some just rather have a solo performance.

"WHAT?" he screams in the middle of class, causing everyone to glance at him.

It was supposed to be a surprise, really. But your ass accidentally slipped out the fact that you were going to perform a cultural dance on Multicultural Day that was coming in a few weeks.

He would definitely try to Aiuli when you dance.

No questions asked.

Although he doesn't know how to properly dance the traditional way, he'll look around and copy the actions of the other pupils.

You both are heavy on learning each other's culture, so when he forgets a certain thing, he goes to your cousins to ask for help

"Wait so- I can't ae-oo-lee in front of her?" Ao'nung poorly pronounces, a slight dark tint on his cheeks as he scratches the back of his neck.

"Never. Always stay behind her, or whoever is doing the solo," a boy says with his arms folded against his chest. "If you see people giving money during the dance, don't throw it at her while cheering. Be respectful and softly stick to her arms, they're gonna be covered with oil, anyway. If you can't do that, put it on the ground behind her.

"Right, right..." Ao'nung frantically jots down as the latter continues to speak.

On the day of your dance, he gets so confused when he sees people swarming around, especially in front of you. He will literally stand there like 🧍‍♀️???

But doesn't copy the others as he sees his friend from earlier who told him what not to do, cheering from behind. He smiles warmly before sticking noted bills onto your oiled arms. Kissing your cheek slyly before going back to his position.

"Alu ai gi ou kae."

Bro got slapped. Not too hard, but hard enough to know that he said something wrong.

"Ow! Baby, what was that for?" He holds his cheek, rubbing it softly. Slightly pouting while looking down at your shorter figure. Quite dramatically because you felt like all you did was tap his cheek.

"Why did you say that for?" You looked up at him with your nose scrunched.

"I asked Vika how to say "wanna kiss?" I asked him an hour ago so my pronunciation wasn't that horrible." He sulks. You roll your eyes before cupping his face, leaving kisses all over his cheeks, nose and forehead. "Yeah well, you just told me to go eat shit. Vika's Tongan, you idiot. He only knows the swear words."

i wanted to write sm more but i rather keep this short LOLOL.

[nozunhinged]

Love In The Big City reviews are raging everywhere - now what?

Or: why I think a 8.7 rating on MDL won't help anyone

If you're less of a reading person and prefer watching/listening, I made a post with various videos that are easily digestable.

disclaimer: this post is mainly an expression of my frustration over this crushing feeling of helplessness and the general fucked up political climate all over the world but also about how I truly believe that the most important thing is to think critical and never stop learning. Also I'm not south korean, but spent the majority of my academic studies on the topic of the post-imperial developments of Japan and Korea. And because I'm fundamentally tired of academia I will not proofread this for grammatical errors sorry - this is mainly a stream of consciousness.

Let's get this party started.

Because this is such a deep rooted issue, we need to do a teeny tiny, very brief excurse into korean history to properly explain my thoughts.

South Korea is a very young country

Before the republic of south korea we know today, Korea (North included) was ruled by one of the longest standing empires, the Joseon dynasty. The South Korea we know today is one of the youngest developed countries in modern history, first (brutally) colonialized by Japan and then taken over by the US.

The official end of the Joseon dynasty was in 1910. Thats a little bit over a hundred years ago, which is nothing if you think about how the Industrial Revolution was only 250 years ago and Korea has already overtaken many, many benchmarks the west set in the beginning in only less than half the time. The official founding of South Korea was even later, in 1948.

But that's only one important part about Joseon - this dynasty was also one of the most peaceful and stable empires as well. And how was that achieved? Well, confucianism and its very rigid patriarchal structures.

Joseon lasted over 500 years.

South Korea is only about 80 years old.

Their economic rise only took about 50 years.

Please remember those numbers for the next chapter.

I like to call it "The Patriarchy on Steroids"

Why am I throwing all those numbers around? Well first of all I suck at keeping it short but most importantly, I want to highlight how a country was turned upside down within the mere timeline of a few generations.

The South Koreans who spent their childhood in the Joseon empire, were teens during Japans brutal annexation, were adults when Samsung Electronics was founded and grew old with the first financial cracks of the democratic reforms, they raised the generations we have today. Let that sink in for a moment.

Central part of Confucianism is "Samjongjido", the expected devotion of the woman to her father first, then her husband and later her son(s), which exists in various forms in every asian country that was influenced by Confucianism. Essentially, women were expected to be nothing more than caretakers while the men were left with the "big pants" stuff.

Those structures can't be erased overnight.

But the bigger problem is when capitalism and "western culture" comes into play. In my opinion, it's a very deadly mix and there are countless examples of this.

You see all those "funny" conflicts in K-Drama and wonder "why is she expected to stop working after marriage", "why do they care so much about the family status of their spouse", well, that's how it worked for many, many generations prior.

The 4B-Movement (not dating men, not getting married, not having sex with men, not have children) is not just a dumb little feminist movement happening online, it's a literal, very real threat to South Koreas entire economy. It's not just a protest, women have literally given up on fighting these steroid patriachy structures that were only reinforced even more by capitalism.

And do you know what South Koreas solution to that problem is? Backing a right wing-conservative president who wants to get rid of any progress of equality politicians made in the last decades.

I repeat: You cannot erase 500 years of Confucian Patriarchy overnight. There's a reason so many historic k-dramas exist (sorry).

Fun fact: South Koreas economic rise made child mortality decline by almost 60% in only 18 years only to now have the lowest birthrate in the whole world of 0,7 children per 100 women.

Well done men, well done.

So what the heck does that have to do with that one gay show?!

Well, the backlash about LITBC shouldn't have come as a surprise. This show - openly and unapologetically queer - is attacking everything the steroid patriarchy in Korea represents. It hits exactly where it hurts the most. It's authentic, it depicts men not fucking women but other multiple men without the goal of having kids but oh - without just any goal that contributes to The Prosperity Of The Republic Of Korea. /s

The BL shows we got from Korea so far were all pretty tame and probably "tolerated" like the filthy smut that is BL manwha. That's easy to ignore and hide behind dark curtains, but a show that is distributed internationally with a famous actor in it??? That's going too far! /s

The most important point I want to make is that we need to think about the big difference between a countries culture and the economic interests they export. We all heard of the word "soft power".

But we often forget that what we see as international audiences is what they want us to see. We can't read Hangul, we don't speak Korean, so every translated article will always be lost in translation and not transport important nuances that make a culture their own.

K-Pop was made palpable for international audiences, as well as K-Drama and also - ultimately - Korean BL. Of course all of them play a big role in Korea as well, but what we get to see is only exported because it is made suitable for international audiences.

And I don't mean to diminish the work all the companies, writers, producers and actors put into these shows - they are all part of an important change that is absolutely necessary. But that's not the point here.

Big platforms like Viki, IQIYI, Gaga - they're not Korean, they're platforms from various asian countries with the goal of exporting media to international audiences. Shows are produced with that goal in mind. If it wasn't, none of the shows you can watch would be available without a VPN. They want to cater to international markets, that is literally their business model.

And they all know their domestic markets as well, which is why IQIYI is regularly pulling chinese BL - they can live very comfortably without the numbers from other countries but they definitely cannot ignore their domestic political climate.

And the same goes for LITBC. And many, many countless other examples like the one k-pop boy who was forced to leave his group due to massive backlash inside south korea.

And now what, smartass?

Like I said in the beginning - never stop learning. Start by reading Korean history 101 (or watch all the videos I compiled here). Learn and tell others about the horrible things happening - especially to women - in south korea. Unfortunately it's not all just fun and comfort shows/music. The 4B-Movement is still standing firm thanks to more and more education on it. (sorry not sorry men, get your fucking shit together)

Try to understand where the protesters are coming from, that's the only way to find a middle ground. But as long as the political climate in korea is getting worse and not better, hyping the show with huge numbers and raving ratings will not only have positive effects. It even has the potential to make it worse for south korean women and queer people as its success will only result in even more hardened fronts.

But at the end of the day, we have nothing to do with South Korean politics. We should also all be a little more humble, respect differences and not put our views on opinions on issues that we have nothing to do with. All we can do to help - again - is to never stop learning and never getting rid of your critical lens.

[b00kwyrm7]

WELL 👏👏 22 AND 23 BROKE ME

It's official. Lin Ruofu is best dad. Top of the JOL dad list. Why? Lemme list stuff out cause I need to process too:

Literally keeping Wan'er and Dabao as his children. That scene where they're bowing to him in the flower field as he's going away, possibly to his death, and this old experienced calculating fox is tearing up over his children? Take a stab to my heart, why don't you. Even in modern society one would be judged for keeping a sick illegitimate child, or a child with disabilities. Especially with the position he holds in court, they could be sources of weakness at best, and disposable inconveniences at worst. But he loves them!! With all of his heart!! He takes care of Dabao so well, he peels fruits for him personally, he speaks to him so gently and patiently and can't bear to send him away (my Chinese is horrible but 大宝 roughly means greatest treasure I think. What a dude). And we all know Wan'er is quiet about her needs and feelings, she doesn't speak them out loud most of the time, so when earlier this season he kinda berates Fan Xian for not immediately visiting her, and mentions that she's worried, it's so subtle but like he knows her that well!! To be able to read her so accurately!! And cares about her enough to nag Fan Xian about it when she can't!! Which brings me to my next point,

He brought them up?? So well??? As basically a single dad???? Like Lin Gong's general abrasiveness aside, his children are somehow all magnificently grounded and understanding and most of all, love each other wholeheartedly??? They're the most cohesive family in the show, your honour.

He's...kinda been parenting Fan Xian really well this whole season? Take emperor and Chen Pingping for example: just toss poor Fan Xian off into the deep end and hope he can swim in the direction they want. Lin Ruofu though? I literally didn't catch it until my mom pointed it out but it's classic teacher method: my guy is asking Fan Xian questions in all of their meetings, not giving him answers but guiding his thought process to reach them. Literally tonight's episodes he brought Fan Xian along to meet the emperor just so that he can watch and learn by example, of how he's learned to play the game after so many years of court experience. What a guy, I was vibrating in my seat for that whole convo.

He's doing all of this while literally being the prime minister in this absolute cesspool of a government. Insane. You KNOW he's prob done plenty of corrupt things to get there that Fan Xian would absolutely hunt down if he had been present back then. But also you can respect him? Fan Xian has parental privilege and has made quite a few sacrifices this season, and so one can easily imagine that Lin Ruofu has to have made even worse ones in his tenure, on a much grander scale. And yet, he's chosen this small circle of people he loves to protect, to guide so that they may survive even after he's gone. And he succeeded even more than what anyone would expect out of the characters in this show, all the while somehow maintaining his power and position.

Anyway yeah. I have...so many thoughts. I really like the new character today though, even though I didn't properly catch his name yet. The fanboying def covers years of trauma.

[ihaventcomeupwthanameforaheroyet]

Reverse AU where Armand is Marius' maker? Yes, but I think we should take this further. Imagine a reverse AU where adult!Armand (40 mortal + 1500 vampire years old Armand) is the Master of a 17 y.o. Marius.

Imagine teen!Marius being a very serious young man and... not entirely asexual, but he knows he has the whole life ahead of him, and does not feel the need to hurry up. Like, sorry, ladies and gentlemen, thank you for your kind invitation, but I have books to read, and I should be home by sunset to greet my Master properly, therefore, I regretfully decline. Imagine a young loyal Marius who firmly ignores Bianca's very obvious advances because he knows that his Master courts this woman, and he would be an ungrateful pupil if he stood in his Master's way (of course, his own feelings regarding this matter are completely irrelevant). Imagine Armand being mad because he already decided this boy will have the whole eternity to enjoy his goddamn reading and writing, but has very limited time to engage into other activities, but he can't explain this to Marius without revealing too much, or can he? And then this epic moment probably happens...

(This is a screenshot from Rome HBO series, but I totally HC same thing also happened to young Marius at some point of his mortal life, AU or not AU.)

For the first time in his Venice years, Marius considers disobedience. He can't explain or rationalize why he is opposed to the idea. He goes to the brothel anyway. The act is pleasant but otherwise deeply unsatisfying. He can't justify this feeling, either. It seems that everything suddenly makes no sense at all. On the way home he considers drowning himself in a canal. He doesn't. Instead, he returns to the palazzo and has a very polite Marius-style silent meltdown and no one knows how to deal with this until Armand returns. They talk. They finally talk. And then they don't. And then they finally don't. And then Maruis thinks he probably understands what everything was about. BTW, he makes zero drama out of the fact that some of his Master's body parts do not function the way they are supposed to. On the opposite, he thinks he is connecting the dots now. He totally knows this may happen to older men because his books told him so. And at this point he suspects his Master is older than he seems (there is a talk in the palazzo that he is a magician or something), therefore, nothing to worry about. He suddenly understands why his Master was so insistent about the whole... virginity matter - like, "go enjoy all these things while your body is still young". His own feelings make more sense now, too. He is certainly happy to have a satisfying intimate life, but he is even more content now than every irrational thing received a consistent explanation.

And then teen!Marius gets himself mortally wounded, IDK, maybe while defending his Master's honour on a duel or something? And then he is so surprised to find out that he was not entirely wrong, but still... wrong. About certain things. And then probably comes the whole "we kill to live" thing, and it probably comes along with some drama, because it's Marius we are talking about. A man who claimed he haven't killed anyone in his mortal life. And then the separation, the lonesome journey through the centuries to come, the reunion in modern timeline and everything else.

Bonus points if teen!Marius was the voice of reason in the palazzo and talked his peers out of any mischief as much as possible. More bonus points if adult!Armand is a da Vinci type of artist, always engaged into his flying machines as much as he is into his paintings (I mean, canon Armand is good with technology, this fact should be used somewhere!).

I wish I could write fiction.

[bigball-thefrog]

Hunters Prey: Slasher!Rob Lucci X Reader Pt2:

______________________________

Pt1

Sorry, something short again this week. I've just been exhausted and exams are coming up so next week might be the last one for awhile until I finish.

Warnings/Tags:

Modern AU

Slasher Lucci

This is not a romance thing, I am not romanticizing this kind of relationship, I just got the idea of a slasher Lucci and thought it was kinda cool, please for the love of God don't think I'm romanticizing this

Implied torture at the end

______________________________

Reader POV

My head was pounding. I regained consciousness and looked around. Nothing but pitch black. I thought I was dead and in just a void of nothingness but I stood up and hit a wall. Shit, the power must have gone out in my house while I was asleep. I started blindly wondering around the room trying to find my phone or a torch for some light. After some wondering I tripped over a box and hit the floor. The floor felt like concrete, why would it be concrete? I have no concrete floors in my house, and it can't be my garage because I there would be a window I could see through right now. Damm, I must be in some kind of basement, but I have no basement in my house? Why would I be in a base-.... Oh... Lucci....

Shit, so it wasn't a dream. Rob Lucci really is the serial killer of Water Seven... I can't believe that bastard, I thout we were friends... But there's no time for moping now, I need to get out. I went to one of the walls and began feeling across the walls to try and find some way out. I eventually found the foot of a staircase and decided it was my best bet, so I got on my hands and knees and slowly crawled up the staircase so to not make much noise or accidentally break or step on an exposed nail. I managed to reach the top of the stairs and was halfway with getting back up when the door creaked and there was a sudden blinding light. I closed my eyes quickly and covered them with my arms. There was a low chuckle that came from my front, then a hand moved my arms away and lifted my chin upwards. I opened my eyes which weren't used to the light yet and saw only light and a silhouette of someone bent down in front of me. As my eyes became adjusted the silhouette became more clearer and recognizable, soon it was clear that the silhouette was Lucci. When my eyes properly adjusted I saw he had that same sinister smirk on his face when he kidnapped me, I froze. "Aww, look at you all scared and on your knees in front of me~" he said as he caressed my cheek with his finger, "Unfortunately for you sweetheart, you're not leaving this place until I've had my fun." He grabbed my arm and dragged me back down the stairs and towards the bottom of the basement.

He threw me against the floor and stepped back over me, he grabbed the collar of my shirt and lifted me to his eye level again, "Lucci, why are you doing this? Why would you even want to do this to anyone?! It's sick!" I shouted at him, he just chuckled and started caressing my face with a single finger again, "Well it's simply because... I just like it~" My face went pale and a pit started growing in my stomach, Lucci just continued, "The blood, the screams, the power, the knowledge that you can basically control life or death? It's ecstatic!" That pit feeling in my stomach just kept growing, this man is sick, how could anyone ever enjoy something like this, I wanted to throw up. Lucci noticed my nauseous look and chuckled, he gripped the collar of my shirt tighter and lifted me up higher, "Don't worry dear, you won't die. You're just going to be my new little toy until I can either trust you to keep this a secret, or until you break~" he said as he moved his freehand to squish my cheeks.

Suddenly he dropped me back to the ground. He walked over to a table and picked something up. He put whatever it was on his hand and turned back around. He was wearing a glove that had long sharp blades coming out of the fingertips like killer claws of a cat, that explains all the claw marks on his victims. He walked towards me, that sinister smile growing on his face. He bent down and used one of the claws to gently caress my face, "Now let's just see how strong you are, my little prey~"

______________________________

[cherikdogfood]

You're Not Alone (But Now You Are)

[In a modern world, mutants are hunted down, experimented upon, and seen as test subjects. Charles Xavier is secretly a mutant, and together with his sister, Raven, they have been rescuing mutants from government facilities for years.

When he meets Erik, of course, the two fall in love, but Erik's painful past -- torture and experimentation under the hands of Shaw -- threatens their love, their peace, and their lives.

Charles, Raven, and their family of mutants plan to take down Shaw... but Shaw gets to them first, and captures Charles...]

Shaw clicked his tongue, almost impatiently, as Charles tried to sit up straighter. The wounds on his body was making it impossible to sit properly without wincing, but Charles would be damned if he let Shaw bask in his pain.

"And here I thought you were strong," Shaw sighs mockingly. He glances coldly at the Charles' wrecked face, one eye sewn shut and a bruise forming as he muffles his groan of pain.

"So much for being a telepath," he chuckles. "Did you really think you could escape?"

Charles grits his teeth and resists the urge to curse. Cursing won't get him anywhere. It would be better if he drew this out, bide his time and hope that Erik and the children could locate Shaw and kill the bastard.

"What did you give me exactly?" He manages to croak out. His voice is raspy, the result of all the screaming he did when Shaw was torturing him with all his devices, making lab reports and musing about his amazing range and telepathy.

His telepathy.

Well, it was the one thing he had hoped could save him, the one thing he relied on to escape this godforsaken place, but Shaw had injected him with something, and now there was just... nothing.

"You're wondering what I gave you? Well, why don't you look into my head and find out?" Shaw smiles and pauses, almost theatrically. "Oh wait, you can't, can you?"

Charles hates that suave, sly grin of his. He wants to punch the man, not only because of the things he had done to Charles during the past few weeks, but also because of all the things he had done to other mutants, to Erik.

"You should just die," Charles says coldly, knowing that he means every word he said.

Shaw's face turns dark.

"Is that so? Well, I think you're the one who will beg me for death soon enough, hm? After all, we can't let you try to escape and not punish you accordingly... Come on, Charles, you should save your energy..." the man grins maniacally.

"You'll need it to scream soon."

***

The last time Erik saw Charles, they had been talking over chess, Charles' blue eyes gentle and warm, his presence inside Erik's head a constant reminder that he is not alone.

When he heard the news -- Alex gritting his teeth and talking about Shaw and kidnap and Charles -- he could not, did not want to understand. Those three words... they shouldn't even be in the same sentence.

Not Charles. Not good, sweet Charles who was his everything and so much more.

Raven had been calm. Hank had been sullen. The children had been brokenhearted.

Erik had been furious... and most of all, afraid.

He knew what Shaw could do. Hell, he had been Shaw's pet project in the past... The horrors of Shaw had been branded into his skin, a deep rooted pain he could never forget.

And to think that Charles... Charles of all people would be subject to that...

Erik drew in a deep breath as he studied the maps, the news and secret letters he had received from any and all of his contacts. He had begged, pleaded, threatened, and bribed anyone who could have a sliver of information regarding Charles' whereabouts...

And yet, nothing.

"You should sleep, Erik," Hank had timidly said the other day.

Sleep? How could he? Charles was suffering right now, and he had to find him, protect him, shield him from everything... He couldn't rest, not when Charles needed him.

After three weeks of little to no sleep, Raven had sneaked up behind him and drugged him, to force him to sleep and rest.

It was useless.

Because even in his dreams, Charles was crying and screaming in pain.

***

"Erik," he could hear the nervousness in Sean's voice, even from this far.

"What," he snapped, too high-strung to even try to answer calmly.

"We've found the Prof," Sean's voice is tight, too tight, but Erik doesn't care.

His head hurts when he turns around too quickly.

"If we've found him, let's go," he says, voice raspy after not drinking for hours.

Sean nods.

"Hank's preparing the jet, Raven and the others are suiting up."

Erik's throat feels too tight, his heart is thundering against his chest. He can only nod at Sean, mentally telling Charles that We're coming. I'm coming. We'll save you, hang on, Charles...

He prays Charles can hear his pleas.

***

Charles does not, of course, hear his thoughts.

Erik knows this because he's gazing at Charles' corpse ("He's been dead for two hours, I think," Hank had whispered, voice breaking) -- and how can it be, why is there a corpse, why isn't Charles smiling at him?

He stands, motionless, as he takes in the view before him. Charles, strung up from the beams of the ceiling, two nasty hooks keeping him in place, digging into his chest.

Charles' arms hang limply at his sides, his eyes are sewn shut with bruises, and a puddle of blood has accumulated under the body, thanks to the numerous lacerations and gashes on him.

Distantly, Erik can hear Raven gasping and sobbing, Hank trying to soothe her, Alex muttering curses, Sean retching in the corner, Darwin patting him on the shoulder --

It's too much.

He doesn't even know when he sank to his knees. He doesn't even realize he's crying.

Please, he begs. He's not sure if he's begging Charles to wake up, or begging Shaw to appear and tell him this is a nightmare, or --

Please... He cries, trying not to break.

It's too late.

He can hear his heart cracking, like fragile glass that shatters into pieces after a heavy blow.

This time, Charles' isn't there to help him pick up the pieces of himself.

He is alone.

***

[Written by cherikdogfood for #revivecherik #27: Hurt No Comfort]

[horizon-verizon]

I don’t think Rhaenyra went into this war with “I’m fighting the patriarchy” in mind, but that’s what she’s inadvertently doing nevertheless. She’s not feminist in the sense that she fights for women’s rights and liberation, but in a medieval setting and male dominated culture her very decision to fight for her throne is a subversive action. I think it’s pretty ridiculous to expect Rhaenyra to be a perfect figurehead of modern feminism because that’s not conceivable in her world. Her usurpation and her goal to fight for her claim is enough.

Anon's responding to this post.

Yes, and as I mentioned it's misleading purposefully (often) and its rationale is forced: if Rhaenyra is not a feminist, nothing of what she does really should matter to feminists or feminism or to study how/why women behave to gain more power; all that matters is that she plunged the whole country into war for her greed, ambition, and that she was part of the ruling class and had a dragon that enabled her to continue her Targaryen mad colonizer trip in the long installments of Targaryen madness and evil; everyone hated her, so all this must be true; why we care about feminism when it was never about or really centered on how women are collectively and generationally disempowered or abused when Targ power/survival OR human survival doesn't even depend on women having power and being treated as humans, flaws and all; the Targs were never "normal", so it's futile to really think about how they, too, have been affected by systematic and personal abuses, one of them sexism; women have to be feminist for anyone to care about anything that, somehow, mostly or only and disproportionately ever seems to bring them the most harm...funny that...

If Rhaenyra is not a "perfect" figurehead--aka, if she doesn't conform to some sort of ideal of femininity or womanhood (it's an attempt at such)--then she can only ever be in the wrong once she does something against any aspect of the status quo, even if it is just for herself or those closest to her. It's giving very Victorian-distillment of Goddess-Mother, Mother-is-Bastion-of-Respectability, and is thus "perfect". To be a valid (or valid enough) "human", the woman must be unreal and inhumanly Good. Very Angel in the House. (poem itself)

Ironic, bec only with feminism do you have people make remarks about how feminists/feminism is not valid of it doesn't consider the rights of male sex abuse victims in the way they don't scrutinize anti-racists don't necessarily advocate for poor white victims or white European immigrants' own experiences under the economic-racial system of the United States. Which is reflective of this idea that a woman is not a person until she considers how her actions will affect everyone else around her and to not position herself as an individual but more a perennial "source" and "well" to benefit others (until death or burnout or obscurity).

Because what if a woman like Rhaenyra (not exactly altruistic, ranging from completely self absorbed to just "average" self concerned human being) did somehow win "properly" against whatever aspect, institution, etc. of patriarchy? Women/people could learn from her tactics, journey, methods of acquiring certain resources, etc. We can't exactly have that, now can we if we want to preserve the status quo?

[mask131]

I'm going to really quickly drop something I have been thinking for a very long time - and I don't think I have made a post about it?

It is one of the reasons I kind of cut ties with fandoms on the Internet as a whole, and why I originally strongly disliked the way "headcanons" were used, and why I often roll my eyes with the way people behave on the Internet... And I don't know if it is because I was old enough to have lived in a time when I enjoyed series and movies and cartoons without the Internet - or better, with an Internet that was without the "fandoms" as we know them today.

The main thing that irritates me with the way "fans" act on the Internet is how they think because they are fans of a piece of media, it "belongs to them". I fully understand the idea of fanfiction-positive and I am ALL for fan-art and AUs and the like, don't get me wrong. I do enjoy what fandoms were for - sharing a common passion, bring fan-made content based on a loved piece of media, have fun with it all... But the way this positivity has been framed and formulated, and the way it got interpreted has been irking me a lot.

Because in effect, a lot and lot of people have gotten into their brain, somehow, that a fandom "owns" a piece of media. That a television series was made first and foremost for the fans, and not for anyone else, and thus that it must cater to their every whims and desire. More and more people take fan theories and headcanons as actual guidelines, or solid fact, or in general confuse "canon" and "headcanon". More and more people believe the idea that "If we are strong enough, we can change this piece of media" or that "The creator of this piece of media owes us things because we are fans".

I am not very old, and yet I still lived in a time when we understood that published books and the shows on TV and the movies in theater were not... "ours". Yes a fandom is a way to allow fans to toy and play with a piece of fiction, and thus in a way make it "theirs". BUT THAT'S METAPHORIC NOT LITERAL! It certainly does not help that recently more and more tv shows and cartoons and whatnot have been explicitely interacting with or refering to their fandoms, even sometimes letting the fans drive the course of the story. Which is great, and is fun - but should be remembered as something not "natural" and a bit exceptional.

It reminds me of how recently there have been more and more incidents in theaters where musical plays were interrupted by audience members who thought they just could do anything they wanted - because somehow they thought a musical was an interactive play or a karaoke night. Again, these kind of interactions do exist (The Rocky Horror Picture Show was built upon these experiences) - but they were unique and out-there.

Art, fiction and media can and will live on without fandoms. Fandoms are not a needed ingredient of a piece of fiction, they are something that at best develops a healthy co-dependency with the piece of fiction it selects, at worst acts like a parasite to its host. But the fandom can be destroyed and obliterated and die - the fiction will still live on, and the media will still exist. And yet, so many fandoms seem to believe that somehow, they are the movers and shakers of industry and fiction, and that somehow they are the ones in control? So many fans treat creators like commissioned artists or pals they can ask favors from or victims they can bully freely without consequence.

Again, I don't know how to properly express my thoughts but... I lived in a world without fandoms, and now I can't stand it when people make it seem as if art and fiction and media was all about fandoms. And I mean fandom in the modern, Internet-sense of the term. Fandoms have went from enthusiastic pupils and eager to learn students and symposiums of fair critics to just... whining, entitled, over-spoiled little brats that kick their feet in anger, give orders to everybody and try to run away with the painting that is hanging on a museum's wall.

Yes fanfiction can "correct" a badly written plot, in one's opinion. It doesn't mean the author has to stick to your corrections, or that other people can't actually enjoy the badly written plot.

Yes fanart can be much cooler than the actual design. It does not mean you suddenly know the movie better than the movie-maker themselves, or that your fan-art will have to influence the aesthetic of a cartoon's next season.

Yes headcanons are wonderful. It does not make them canon, and you cannot enforce them on anything.

I repeat myself like a broken record - but originally fandoms where a place of enjoyment and appreciation and theorizing and complaining, but solely as an audience, and as people gathered by similar interests. Now? Now they became places of control and influence and demands that don't understand that an audience member isn't supposed to jump on stage to point out "No you are saying it wrong, here is how you should say the line."

[aivoryyy]

"Important"

pairing : tom riddle x fem! reader

contains : fluff, pure fluff, no smut, modern au, modern tom riddle, highschool or college au (you decide), kind of short

summary : highlight the important stuff. or people 😋

word count : 861

It was Aivory's last period of classes, the teacher was discussing and telling the students to highlight all the important stuff. Since it was the last class of the day, of course the students were tired. Some were asleep, some were daydreaming, some looked like they were paying attention but they were just zoning out. There was only one person in class who was genuinely paying attention. You looked at the person beside you, Tom riddle. His notes were neat, the information the teacher was telling to highlight was highlighted, he was organized, meanwhile Aivory's notes were a mess. She compared her notes to Tom's as a scowl showed on her face. At first her notes were neat but as you read further, it has become a mess. From the cursive and neat handwriting to an ugly and unreadable one.

The teacher was talking and moving on too fast; she wasn't able to catch up. While tom was only highlighting the important words, Aivory highlighted almost everything. As she suddenly zoned out on Tom's notes, he noticed and glared at her “what?” He said, his voice cold as ever, a tone not even once had softened. His gaze fell onto her notes, his brows furrowed as he looked at her then back at her notes. It was as if he were judging her by how she highlighted everything, but he didn't speak of it as he went back to taking notes.“I mean everything is important. The fuck?” She thought, while highlighting every word in the page was with her blue highlighter.

She soon gave up as she prompted her arms on the desk and rested her head on her forearms. The darkness caused by the shielding of her arms surrounded her gaze, not a single area where light was able to go through. Now she wanted to fall asleep. But as she was about to close her eyes, an idea popped up in her head. She rose up and sat properly, grabbing her highlighter again, and out of the corner of her eye, she noticed tom glancing subtly at her as she suddenly sat back up as if she just had recharged and is now at full percent.

Then he scoffed and rolled his eyes. She looked at tom, staring at him for a moment before opening the cap of the highlighter and quickly drew a heart with the highlighter but before she could complete the other half, he flinched and brought his arm away from her “what the fuck do you think you're doing?!” He whisper-shouts at her “highlighting you. Now stay still.” She said, innocently, as if she had done nothing to annoy tom. “No-! What?!..” he looked at his arm, seeing a drawing of half a heart. He glared at her while she frowned at him, “now the heart looks ugly.” She stated, “why did you just draw on me?!” “I highlighted you.” The words rolled from her mouth calmly while he was annoyed as heck. He sighed and rolled his eyes at her sarcastic words, it was making him look dumb now. Tom's mouth opened, “you know you cant just fucking highlight on people. Can't you see i'm writing? It's rude to do that without permission.”

He said, continuously scolding her. He looked for his alcohol as he sprayed it on his arm. He attempted to rub it off and it worked, though there was still a bit of it there. He scoffed and just ignored it as he went back to taking notes. He noticed her frown through his peripheral vision, not caring. “tch” she rolled her eyes before the bell had rang. Everyone got up instantly and left. Aivory was one of the students who had escaped this hell of a class.

It was now dismissal, aivory would always stay and read in the library before actually going home and she'd bump into tom on some days. Right now she didnt want to see him or even hear his name come from anyones mouth but to her luck, as the library doors open, a tall, black wavy haired man walked in and looked like as if searching for someone. She sighed as she tried to ignore him and covered her face but to her surprise, the footsteps approached her. She didn't need to look at who it was. She knew who it was. Tom. Not even knowing how she knew but as she was about flip the page, a hand grabbed hers, causing her to put her book down.

“What?”

the word leaving her mouth as she tried to make it sound like she was annoyed but the soft tone of her voice ruined it. He said nothing, her hand in his as he highlighted her. She raised an eyebrow, “what are you d-” Then it hit her. Her cheeks heating up and without a word he left. He left her with her own thoughts. She even saw a small, faint smile even appear on his lips as he walked out and disappeared behind the library doors as it closed behind him. The lips that never stretched to smile. But he did. He smiled for her.

[thecarnivorousmuffinmeta]

After reading your metas I was thinking about Edward’s internalized homophobia. Could he ever overcome it? Could Carlisle explaining that he is also not straight help? I mean, Edward thinks Carlisle is the best thing in the world, if someone as great as Carlisle is bisexual then being gay or queer can’t be so bad right?

Why I think Edward is gay.

Can He Overcome It?

Well, it's not impossible, but I will say that Edward doesn't want to.

First, he doesn't even realize this about himself. Before Bella he thought he was asexual, if anything, and simply not interested in anyone and doomed to be lonely. The idea that he likes his father in a non-filial way doesn't even occur to him, homosexuality is just a non-concept to him.

If you suggest to him that he is gay then, he'd give you a funny look, and wonder if you're trying to insult him for being single. Or, if he's already married to Bella, he'd give you an even funnier look and note that he's married to a woman and has a daughter.

What are you on about?

Second is that there's a certain romanticized person that Edward wants to be.

Edward wants to be, in terms of his... I guess we'll call it culture, a romanticized man of his youth in the 1910's. He explains as much to Bella. He wants to be seen as a gentleman, to court her properly, marry her properly, and be every inch the human man he should have been.

Now, this is a very rose-colored view of that time period, one that Edward's clearly painted in his head. It's allowed to be perfect for him because it doesn't exist anymore and is a collection of recollections and stereotypes.

The point is though that Edward wants to be as much as he can like an ordinary, refined, man who would marry a woman. He would not at all want to deviate from that path (anymore than he already has being a vampire and doomed to be a monster and live at the edge of this modern world he doesn't even like that much).

Edward would need some catalyst to confront this and it would not be something pleasant. His marriage with Bella would have to fall apart, or if it's before Bella, then his life among the Cullens would have to be jeopardized. He would have to question everything he is and worse everything he wants to be.

Edward doesn't want to do that.

At all.

And I don't see him doing it naturally.

What if Carlisle Told Him

First, how would Carlisle know? Carlisle's fear is that he turned Edward too young for the uh puberty to kick in he has no reason to question Edward's sexuality beyond that point (especially when Edward's showing no interest in anyone, man or woman, as Carlisle certainly isn't picking up the thoughts in his direction, no siree).

Second, why would he do that? This is something Edward has to figure out for himself, you can't hit the easy button and walk up to your son and say, "Son, I think you're gay, and you should stop pretending you aren't." Not only is that extremely invasive and not that helpful, but it again is something Edward can't just be told and has to figure out for himself.

But if he did, Edward would just be appalled. If it's when Bella's in the picture, then Carlisle's essentially telling him Edward's unfit to be her significant other for what Edward would see as a personality flaw. If it's beforehand, then Edward would see this as Carlisle slighting Edward in showing that Edward's not what he wishes he was.

We don't get Edward's feelings on LGBQT+ in the series but given his thoughts on everything else, I see him as the "it's fine if you're other people", e.g. not Edward himself.

But more to the point, people confront Edward with things all the time. Bella confronts him with her very real mortality, if he doesn't turn her she will die. Alice confronts him with the fact that Bella will either be devoured by him or turn. Edward digs his heels in.

He's not going to be any different with anything else.