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walkawaytall · 1 year ago

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Oh no, I’m participating in Star Wars discourse.

Uh, so there’s a post floating around that I’m not reblogging mainly because it’s just this person’s headcanon and, whatever, people can have headcanons, but the main points they make in the midst of talking about their headcanon that I’ll be addressing are:

Leia and Han getting married and having kids is the most boring thing you can do with Leia

Leia should be a Jedi like every other dang Skywalker because somehow continuing an assumed dynasty isn’t the most boring choice you can make for her

Leia is more cut out to handle lack of attachment than Luke which we know because of her lack of response to Alderaan being destroyed

Leia and Han shouldn’t get married or even be around each other much because Han is a wandering soul and needs to travel and go places

Leia never expresses a desire for marriage or children in the OT, so removing these things won’t contradict George Lucas’ canon

And, look, these are just…missing the point of the character growth that occurs in these two during the OT.

(there's just a whole-ass essay below the cut if anyone cares to read about the many thoughts I have on Leia Organa and Han Solo.)

So, I'm not saying existing or past canon/EU has done it right, but I disagree with the statement that having them marry and live kind of basic lives is the most boring choice. If that's all there was to it, sure, but those two choices by themselves show a monumental amount of character growth for both Leia and Han. (I mean, frankly, I think "Skywalker = Jedi every time no matter what" is a pretty boring choice storytelling wise, but I also think the Jedi on the whole are incredibly boring characters, so, uh...I'm biased.)

Leia was never going to live a quiet life even if Alderaan hadn't been destroyed. Like, she did not have that option, period. She would have either remained in politics or taken over as queen, may or may not have had to marry for political reasons, and may or may not have been involved with the Rebellion. Her life was chaos starting as a teen and she had no reason to believe she wouldn't die living a hectic and chaotic life.

And then she loses everything. This isn't emphasized in the movies obviously because they are fun family romps and not gritty dramas, but, good night, in a single second, she loses every family member, nearly every person she knows, every place she finds most familiar and comfortable, everything and to top it all off, the guilt that it's happened because of her unwillingness to give up the Alliance will probably always be there. She was tortured, they lost lives in battle, and, yeah, they destroy the Death Star, but at the end of that day, literally all she has left is the Alliance and those three pilots who managed to unlock her cell door without too much trouble.

I don't know about you, but I'd be straight-up shut down emotionally at that point. Like, I don't think PTSD even covers what Leia probably has going on in her head. And I think that's kind of what we see in ESB (I know the filmmakers weren’t thinking in terms of PTSD, but there are still hints of it there regardless). She's angry, she's afraid of losing people (she's obviously pissed Han is leaving after he said he'd stay, but also, there's a scene that was cut -- a good move in my opinion because the dialogue is beyond dramatic and Carrie seems out of it, but it stands that this was the intended source of Leia’s frustration -- where Luke is telling Leia he's leaving the Alliance for Dagobah and she is extremely upset that both he and Han are leaving, goes on a whole rant about how she should know better than to trust anyone but herself, etc.), and when she finally lets Han in, she promptly loses him and nearly loses Luke.

And then the events of ROTJ happen and she finds out that the man who tortured her, who stood idly by while her entire planet was destroyed, who tortured the man she loves and handed him off to the space mob to be murdered, who cut off her brother's hand and nearly allowed him to die, who has terrorized the Galaxy in general, that guy is her bio dad. And that guy is the entire reason she's Force-sensitive.

Leia stopping her Jedi training in the new canon was for a dumb reason, I agree there. Leia not wanting anything to do with the thing that, from her point of view, nearly ruined her life and the lives of those she loves about a thousand times over...I dunno, I think that's way more interesting than her just going, "Ope, I'm a Skywalker! You know what that means! Gotta be a Jedi!" And as far as her being more of a natural at it...do we know that Leia is better at healthy non-attachment than Luke? Like, any response to a planet being destroyed could easily just be a trauma response. Is shutting down like that good, actually? Or is it just going to cause problems down the road, Anakin-style?

I don't know, I just think that after living through all of that as well as a freaking war, girly might want a quiet life -- that she gets to choose -- with a husband -- who she gets to choose -- and kids -- who she gets to raise without the threat of the Empire or her nightmare of a biological father looming over their lives. And the very fact that she's able to open herself up to that sort of love and affection when the fear that it might all be ripped away from her is likely ever-present is a big deal. Her having kids knowing they'll likely be Force-sensitive even though that aspect of her biology terrifies her is a big deal. And as far as her not expressing a desire for marriage and kids in the OT...I mean, Leia isn't given the opportunity to express her desire for much in the OT, let's be real (she also never expresses a desire to become a Jedi in the OT either. We can't use what Leia didn't express in the OT to dictate whether she wants or doesn't want something is what I'm saying). They're at war. She's a military leader. She probably can't even hazard wishing for anything beyond waking up the next day. But that's not to say she didn't want such things or grow to want such things once she felt it was safe to do so. We literally don't know, but I don't think the absence of that expressed desire is indicative of anything.

As far as Han goes, I could be wrong, but I'm pretty sure in every iteration of his story, his itchy feet weren't like...a part of his personality. He had a highly traumatic childhood that left him with few options and ended up living a transient lifestyle out of necessity. He actually seems remarkably easy to keep around if you don't treat him like garbage. I mean, he's given exactly one day of friendship, and he sticks around with the Rebellion for three years before some run-in with a bounty hunter makes him realize he needs to take care of his debt with Jabba. He's not leaving just for funsies or because he's bored or just really needs to be a smuggler again...and he seems legitimately sad have to leave when he's not busy getting pissed at Leia for not having the emotional response he wants her to have (first half of ESB Han is being a big ol' baby and I'm perfectly fine admitting that). And what character growth to see Han "I'm in it for the money" Solo learn to care for his friends, learn to support a cause, learn to love Leia when he's spent so much of his life unattached. Han making boring life choices is indicative of character growth and learning to care about others more than himself. What a lovely thing for this man to learn.

The call for Leia and Han to remain living separate lives but still committed to one another kind of demands that they move backward in character growth in my opinion. We have two people who are in rough places due, by and large, to trauma, who eventually open up to one another and seem better for it and then they...just go back to what they were doing before except they occasionally see each other? Why would they want that? They've grown as people, they've won a dang war, and they're finally able to live somewhat securely. Why wouldn't they want to live basic lives when they were denied the privilege of such choices for so long? And how is them making choices based on their love for another person — love that they had a heck of a time coming to terms with — boring?

#leia organa #han solo #star wars #star wars meta #star wars discourse

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slutouttanowhere · 9 months ago

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Pairing: Drew McIntyre x Desiree Simons

Warnings: self blame, a little bit of angst

a/n: After last nights rumble disappointment, I whipped my tears, and continued on. I still love Drew, and I would still storm the ring with him and Angela of course. I hope you guys enjoys this chapter, likes, reblogs, and comments are appreciated. Follow me for more, and if you’re interested, my main characters have character introductions linked in my pinned post. Love ya

Chapter 2: Motive

On my way to the guerilla, I spot Renee standing nearby with a camera man, and microphone in hand. She perks up upon hearing my voice, “Hey Nae Nae!” Her head pops up, and her eyes widen in excitement. She greets me with open arms, I squeeze her smaller frame as tightly as possible, I remember how she would send me updates of her daughter frequently during my recovery. Even when I did not respond, she kept in touch. I can feel my eyes sting at the sentiment, but I hold it in so I wouldn't ruin my makeup. “Hey yourself, you look amazing Des.” Her eyes give me a once over, a small grin stretches across her lips. I held my face blushing, and I did a small twirl, bowing playfully, we both let out a fit of giggles before we sober up.

“Okay, okay, we doin an interview for me?” I clap my hands together, from my peripheral I caught Drew watching with an amused expression etched across his face, he leaned against a brick wall in the hallway. Matt Riddle seems to be chatting him up to the point I don't think Matt even knew Drew wasn’t paying attention anymore. I bit down on my lip to keep from smiling, Renee calls my attention back to the task at hand, she brings me over to my mark, which is next to her so that we’re both in frame. “Ladies, and gentlemen I’m here tonight with an oh so special guest, as she prepares to go out, Desiree, how are you feeling about this mixed tag match. We’ve never seen you tag with anyone before, let alone Drew McIntyre…” She trails off, holding the mic to me waiting for my answer. I press my lips together, I glance over to Drew momentarily, but turn back to Renee. “Aw man Nae, I’ve never felt better, ready to put my foot up Becky Lynch’s ass, hopefully for the last time because I’m just that tired of seeing her face from the other side of the ring. It doesn't matter if I was gone for weeks, months, or years, I stay ready, and you can bet all the money in the world that I’m always gonna deliver the W. She may have broken my knee but she hasn’t broken my spirit, as a Black girl in America…well you’re gonna have to do better than a steel chair.” I pause hearing the roar of the thousands of fans responding to my words, and that may not have been aimed at Becky directly, but I truly felt that way. And yeah, I absolutely have a chip on my shoulder about it. I took a breath looking down at my shoes trying to regain my focus, then looking back at Renee with a smirk on my lips, Becky’s music hit, so I tried to wrap it up quickly.

“As far as Drew is concerned, well what better a person to go into battle with than a Scottsman?” I end it with a tiny smirk, looking right into the camera lens, then I slap Renee on the shoulder, and walk out of frame letting her finish up her interview. Just then Colby walks past us, he descries Drew, then to me I stood on the opposite side of the hallway. He says nothing, but instead laughs his signature irritating laugh, his music plays, then struts his way through the curtain. I roll my eyes, but I don't give ‘The Drip God’ anymore attention. I finally cross the hall to Drew who’s gaze never left me, his eyes light up excitedly waiting for me to speak, but right when I take a breath to address him Matt Riddle pivots to me. His chill demeanor only raising a step above that, I didn't think it was physically possible for him to show any more energy anyway.

“Whoa, look who it is! Ya know I was just telling D-Man how good you guys would look as a couple. I’m actually glad your back bro, Austin Powers here was walking around real broody every week while you were gone. I told him he should have just visited you if he missed you so much.” Drew, and I gape at Matt in disbelief, it seems to me he let some shit slip that he shouldn't have. The look in Drew’s eyes held a promise to run Matt a receipt that he’s gonna be feeling for the rest of his life. Matt looks between the two of us, aloof of the tension between us because of his loose lips. My face settles into a look of chagrin, and ultimately ruins my mood. Then it dawns on me, “Austin Powers is British you idiot.” I roll my eyes, Drew’s lips parting as if he was going to say something, but my entrance music hits, it’s too late. I face the curtain before I could suffer anymore embarrassment, I took a deep breath, and to my credit, I was trying my best not to grimace.

“Look at the scowl on Desiree’s face tonight, usually she’s more lively, but she means business on her returning night. This would be her first in-ring match in a year. If you were Desiree, what would be going through your head right now, and what is the strategy to ensure you come out a winner?''Micheal Cole asked Wade Barret in commentary.

“I’ve known Desiree for quite a while now, she can be very easy going, and easy to get along with. She’s very sweet, but she’s all business in that ring no matter who her opponent is. All she needs to do is stay focused, keep her head in the game, and she’ll be just fine.” Wade says candidly, they watch as she finally makes her way to the ring, but doesnt get inside, instead she waits outside the ring.

“That seems to be easier said than done, you see how she’s distanced herself outside the ring, waiting for her tag partner tonight, Drew McIntyer, a two hundred and seventy five pound Scottsman. An unlikely pair of Desiree, and Drew, things could get very interesting. Unlike our former womens champion, Desiree, Becky Lynch seems to be in a playfull mood. She says that she’s been waiting, and biding her time for Desiree’s return. There’s been some talk among the women's locker room that the only reason Becky got the win that night at Wrestlemania was because of the damage she did to the knee of Desiree.” Micheal explains, looking into the camera, then to his partner Wade.

“I think I’m siding with Desiree on this one, the Becky v Desiree drama is starting to run stale. I’m very much looking forward to seeing how she fares against Mami, Rhea Rippley.”

I watch as Drew makes his entrance, he makes his way down the ramp, Angela by his side as always. I cannot deny how sexy he looks, like something right out of a fantasy novel. Though I was still annoyed by the previous events, I could feel my tough demeanor softening. His gaze locking on Colby in the ring, he pointed Angela towards him with an unspoken promise of an asswhooping. When he finally reaches me, he tears his eyes away from our opponents, and settles them on me. An apology reflects in his sky blue eyes fleetingly, then a look of playfulness, and soon he was smiling at me charmingly. He took me by the hand, and walks me around to the other side of the ring where his sword holder was attached to the ring post. He sits Angela down on the apron temporarily, then he turns to me, and he holds his hands out to me signaling that he wants to pick me up. At first I try to reject the idea, but Drew is insistent. “Beam me up Scotty.” I sigh, giving in, he lifts me by my midsection, gripping me securely, and places me on the apron in front of the ropes. I press my lips together, a last ditch effort to keep the giggles that are threatening to press past my lips. He then climbs up, and stands tall next to me. He turns to the crowd holding Angela out to them with one hand, fire blast from the ring post, and the people roar to life once again. A proud smile on his face, wiggling his eyebrows suggestively, and held the ropes open for me.

“Hey, hey, hey, relax a little. Calm down.” Drew and I have a small side bar while the announcer does her due diligence, when he sees that I’m not letting go of my mood, and choosing to be stubborn despite him being able to see through my shield. He shrugs as the bell rings, then slaps me on the shoulder hard enough to nearly knock me over. I stumble forward a bit, the glare on my face is enough to bury him, but he backs away, then ducks between the ropes before I get a chance to slap him back.

“I’m over here sweetheart.” Becky whistles to me, we circle each other, arms raised looking to lock up. She overpowers me, pulling me into a headlock, and cutting the blood flow to my head. I can see Drew in the corner watching closely, he seems annoyed which for some reason rubs off on me, and for a second I get a bit of energy back to somewhat break out of her hold. All I could manage was to buck my hips back into her, she let out a yelp, and had no choice but to let me go. My breathing heavy, and ragged. As soon as I get some separation, Becky ruins it, and kicks me roughly in my gut. Down I go.

“Are you kidding me! That’s all ya got? Aren't you supposed to be a five time champion?” I can hear Drew yelling at me from our corner, I wasn't sure what game he was playing at right now, but if it was meant to get my angry boy it was working. He knew exactly how to push my buttons, and he always did it at the worst times.

“Um, are these supposed to be words of encouragement from Drew?” Micheal asked no one in particular.

“Yes, unfortunately, this is indeed Drew’s vexing, yet effective way of getting you fired up. He’s very good at getting under your skin, in your head, and picking you apart. Putting that Criminal degree to use here in the WWE. Weirdly enough it works, so I don't question his methods.” Wade explains.

“C'monn, wha’yer doin down there takin a nap? We got work to do, get your arse up DeeDee!” He continues to shout at me, I grunt out in frustration, and as I’m getting to my feet Becky is grabbing me by my arms, pulling me all the way up, and irish whipping me into the ropes on the other end of the ring. I bounce off, running at her, she's trying to set me up for a power bomb, but I duck in enough time. I pause mid stride catching her off guard, she stands frozen, and we take a moment to let the crowd react before she turns to run to the ropes. She bounces off, and comes at me full speed. I counter her moves, lifting her up by the waist, and slamming her face fist into the matt.

Wade stands to his feet, “look at the strength! I’ve never seen the Falcon Arrow so wonderfully executed.”

“WOO! That's what I’m talking about!” Drew, and the audience popped at the same time. They have better liked that, I’ve been practicing that move with Colby for god knows how long, and I never got to use it till now. I look back at Becky, I knew she wasn't getting up for a moment, so grab her by the arms, and drag her over to her and Colby’s corner. “Hey! Hey you brat! I taught you that!” He shouts at me, he leans over the turnbuckle to make the tag, and climbs in.

“Yup, and I did it better.” I taunt him, swiping my shoulder like I was dusting it off. Then I trudge over to Drew and I’s corner where he waves at me innocently, I slap him on his chest as hard as I could muster. He groans, feeling the sting, but I’m sure that barely hurts him in comparison to the beatings he usually takes, he clenches his jaw suddenly not finding humor in his own game. The ref acknowledges our tag, “You do realize this behavior won't fly missy.” Drew mumbles to me.

“Ohh I’m so scared, is the big bad man gonna punish me?” I say in a childishly mocking voice, the look in his eyes held promise of something too inappropriate for tv, his stare lingers on me for a moment, before he sets his intensity on Colby. Their start off is the exact opposite of Becky and I, there weren't any formalities, forgetting all about the lock up, Colby wastes no time punching Drew right in the face. Which if anything appears to make him more upset, Colby stares at him like a deer caught in headlights, but when Drew jumps forward faking a counter move, Colby sprung to action. He ran for the ropes, bounces off of them, and sent himself right into Drew’s forearm eating a nasty looking closeline.

“BOOM!” Drew shouts, feeling confident, and looking even more arrogant. The crowd eats him right up, no matter how badly he beats on their heroes, in the eyes of the people that man is always validated.

“Seth knows better than anyone how explosive Drew’s temper can be. I've had the misfortune of knowing how Drew McIntyre can flip like a switch.” Wade lets out a deep chuckle, “At first he’s sweet, and then boy oh boy is he sour.”

Seth jumped off the second rope, meaning to go for a ddt, but Drew caught him mid air, skull to skull. As usual Drew won that battle.

“OH! Glasgow Kiss, and a Falcon Arrow this early in the match up. Drew McIntire and Desiree did not come to play.” Micheal Cole nearly jumps out of his seat along with the rest of the crowd.

The sound of their skulls clanging together sends a shiver down my spine making my whole body cringes, there’s no nice way to deliver a headbutt, however I can't help but feel that one was personal. There’s no love loss between Colby, and Drew, in fact I don't think they ever got along behind the curtain. Thankfully for Hunter, the two of them know how to be professional for long enough to put on a good show. Drew would never go into detail about why he doesn't like Colby, and every time I’ve asked it usually results in an argument. “Some role model he is, ‘oh lighten up, have fun’ he says” I mumble mockingly in the corner, my interpretation of his accent rusty from not being around him in so long.

“What did you say?” Drew whips around, I nearly jump out of my skin not realizing he’s not too far from me, Colby is outside the ring, on the floor near me. His breathing heavy, as he clutches his shoulder, I glance back to Drew who’s still watching me. Meanwhile the ref is counting out Colby, I roll my eyes, and get down from the apron. Everyone watches me with confusion, Becky starts to holler at me as I make my way over to Colby, and help him up.

“Gosh you’re fat.” I grunt as I try to pull him up from the floor, I yank his arms as hard as I can to lift him, and suddenly he comes up with ease. I smile to myself thinking that all my training has been paying off till I see who’s on the other side holding onto Colby’s arm, Drew not only looks confused, but furious.

“Aye, I know what I’m doin’ I don't need you getting involved.” He fusses at me, Colby’s tired body now leaning on me, his face in the crook of my neck, and it hadn’t even dawned on me how this must look to everyone else. Becky shouting at us to get back in the ring, the ref following her lead, and the whole arena in disarray. That may or may not be my fault. But the fans are eating it up, so I just go with it, I push Colby off me, and back into Drew’s arms.

“You were taking too long! I dont wanna win by count out! Get him in there, and let's go already!” I clap my hands trying to herd Drew to the apron.

Wade chimes in trying to make sense of what’s happening for the viewers, “I don't know what’s being said exactly but it seems like Desiree was beginning to get impatient with Drew, Seth Rollins who’s still very much winded probably doesn't know where he is right now after Drew roughly threw Rollins into the barricade over the top rope causing Seth to go head, and shoulder first into it.”

“Becky Lynch the only competitor in the ring right now, but her partner Seth Rollins is still technically the legal man right now. She has the ability to change the pace of things, and it seems as if she’s making that choice right now as she climbs to the top looking to fly while Drew, and Desiree are too busy arguing. AND OFF THE TOP BECKY GOES! A hell of a crash landing from The Man, Becky Lynch.”

Drew looks up above me, “watch out!” I duck in enough time to dodge out the way, and not almost die from her crash landing. Drew catches her in his arms, she squirms in his hold, but he wasn't sure what to do with her. The crowd was in a frenzy, “hey, hey, over here!” I call Drew, he shrugs his shoulders, then hands her off to me, but she begins to fight back. I fight her off with a few punches to the ribcage, then putting her over my shoulders, and dropping her face first onto my knee. I roll her into the ring then climb in after her. I let her rest for a moment while I took a short break myself. I flip her onto her back, hook both her legs, putting my body weight across her chest, and lift my fips for good measure. The ref counts, three, the bell rings, and just like that I end the match with the win. The crowd erupts, it felt good to know I had them back in my corner. Drew’s large hand grasps mine, and raises it high, almost lifting me off my feet from our dramatic height difference.

“Oops, sorry, I forget you're a wee little lad.” He chuckles, graciously holding the ropes open for me like the gentleman he is, then stepping through the middle rope, and jumping down. This time when he offers to pick me up, I don't argue, but rather hop into his arms, he catches me with ease. The fans shout for our attention, I notice how many phones are on us right now, and we might possibly get in a bit of trouble for this interaction. I didn't care for the moment, for now I’ll ride the high of my return.

“Great job out there partner.” Drew compliments me, the night isn't completely over so there were still a few Superstars scattered about, warming up, or chatting with each other. No one really paid us any mind, that’s if they could see me underneath his large frame, but that got me thinking about all that I want to bring up tonight over dinner.

“Think I might be giving Sheamus a run for his money?” I ask, we approach the women's locker room, the mens a little ways from here, he was sweet enough to pass up his own stop.

Drew’s face lights up at the mention of his best friend, letting out a hearty laugh, his head thrown back, and his hand on his chest. He peers down at me, hands on his hips, “Keep dreamin las, maybe if you put on a few extra pounds, and pick up some weights. You might come close.” I couldn’t help the grin that stretches across my face, his energy infectious, I raise my head to look up at him. If he leans in a little lower he could kiss me, his eyes flicker to my lips, and back to my eyes. He takes my hand, turns it over, pressing his lips to my palm gingerly, and then pressing my hand against his bare chest. His chest hairs are soft beneath my palm, but I hardly notice. “What I should have said earlier was that I’m happy to see you, and I’m glad you’re well.” He said softly, his other hand came up to gingerly sweep the hair stuck to my lip out of my face. I swear I couldn't breathe right now, but I inhale as much air as possible to make sure I dont pass out from lack of oxygen.

“It’s okay.” I whisper, the door to the locker room opens, and out comes Mandy Rose. She looks between the both of us seemingly upset, but I couldn't fathom why. We weren't ever the best of friends but as far as I knew we had a fairly decent working relationship. Drew did not spare her a glance, his eyes remained on me, and eventually she’s out of sight. Unfortunately that little exchange took me out of the moment, my stamina wearing off, and the beating I took earlier is catching up to me. I let out a deep breath, letting my hand slide down his body, and dropping down to my sides.

“I need a hot shower, and a change of clothes. I’ll see you later?” I lean my hip against the door, one hand already twisting the handle. I knew if I didnt get from under his microscope now then I’d end up in his clutches for sure.

Drew let me choose the restaurant per his request, and when I got there he was already there near the back. I walk up to the greeter at the front, he smiles at me kindly, and I return his gesture, “Table for Galloway.” He checks his tablet, then leads the way to the back of the restaurant where the lighting is a bit dimmer, and intimate. I suddenly feel nervous when Drew looks up from his phone, our gazes meet, my lips part as I take him in from afar. He’s simply dressed in a white button up, the first few buttons undone showing off his chest hair, and dark denim jeans. He stands from his seat like a gentleman, he smiles charmingly, his eyes sparkling with desire. I thanked the host, then he left us alone, left me alone…with Drew. “Well, at least I know I didn’t over dress?” He takes my hand holding it up, and he gently pushes my hip signaling me to turn. As I’m twirling, I notice we caught the attention of onlookers, as Drew is the largest man, probably in the entire restaurant. He hums satisfiedly, a giggle pushes past my lips; sometimes he makes me feel so easygoing, and not caring about a single person watching.

Still, but holding onto me, his other hand comes around my waist, and pulls me in closer. Leaning down, He places a chaste kiss on my cheek, then whispering into my ear. “You always look, beautiful princess.” His lips brushing my ear, my voice caught in my throat, and he took my frozen stature as an excuse to keep me there a moment longer. He dips his head lower to the crook of my neck inhaling my perfume as deeply as he could. My stomach began to flip aggressively, I’ve never wanted to kick my own ass so badly, because what was I thinking, just ignoring him for a year? Not wanting to cause any more of a scene I press my hand to his midsection pushing him away, and getting some space between us.

“Drew…” I groan, this was supposed to be a casual dinner but he was acting like he wants to spread me out on the dinner table. I was only going to have as much self control as he was. That's how we got into this predicament. He kissed me at one of LA Knight’s Christmas parties four years ago, unbeknownst to us how much chemistry there was between us.

“Right…casual dinner, here lemme get this for ya.” He reluctantly let me go, pulling out my chair, waiting for me to sit, and slowly pushing me in. By the time he got around to his size, a waiter was approaching us, a polite smile spread across their mouth.

“Evening, are we ready to order?”

Drew gestures for me to order first, not wanting to make anyone wait, I went for my usual choice. “I’ll have blackened salmon, with the roasted potatoes…can I also get sauteed broccoli on the side please.” The waitress quickly jots down my order, then moves on to Drew, who is of course a heavy weight, ordering a medium rare ribeye steak, buttery mashed potatoes, and roasted vegetables. He could definitely eat more, I once witnessed him damn near inhaling a platter of buffalo chicken tenders, fries and downing a beer to wash it down.

“Okay, I'll be right back with your drinks, and then your meal should be shortly after that.” Then they disappear out of our eyesight, yet again we were left alone. I wasn't sure where to start, so I blurt out the first thing that comes to my head, “I got a cat..sss, I got two cats.” He perks up in interest, I pull my phone from my purse, scrolling through my photos, and find the hundreds of selfies I took, but never sent. I slide the phone over, our fingers graze sending a shock of electricity through me, my skin prickles, and I quickly pull my hand back.

“Well look at that, you’re a cat mom, who would have thought. What’s their name?” He asked, he stared at the photos adoringly, we both leaned in over the table to try and get a good angle of the phone. I scroll back to the selfie of me and my gray Scottish Fold, I felt my face heat up in embarrassment, “this is Andrew…” There was a long pause as I watch him stare down at the picture on my phone, a look of adoration in his eyes. “Is it weird that I named my cat after you?” I smile sheepishly as his facial expression changes into one of shock, then a look of affection. His eyes brimming with tears unexpectedly.

“Yeah, it's a teeny bit weird. But! It’s literally the sweetest thing ever. I’m flattered that you thought of me.” He smiles, a bittersweet expression in his eyes, my lips parting to speak, but the waitress saves me. Placing our drinks down in front of us, and kindly reassuring us our food is on the way.

We simultaneously sip, I take as long as I can, and swallow impossibly slow. When I looked up from my glass, Drew was already looking at me, and I nearly choked on my wine. He watches me with his eyebrows raised, as I continue to chug, his own glass lowers. I paused for a second, but he encourages me to continue, “go on, don’t let me stop ya.”

I gulp down the rest of the dark red wine knowing I might regret that sooner than later. I felt proud of myself the way he looks at me from across the table, usually Drew is the heavy drinker, and eater at that. I smile bodaciously, my lips stretching across my face, he slams his fist onto the table. He chuckles deeply, bringing the attention of the restaurant back to us.

“Never knew I needed to see you chug wine, till I saw you chug wine…that is something.” He confesses as he gazes at me, mesmerized by what he just witnessed.

“I learned from the best.” I chortle, shrugging my shoulders, glancing down at my phone. It brought my mind back to what I wanted to say a moment ago. Taking in a deep breath, then letting it out slowly, I try to get serious again. Clearing my throat, I spoke up, “I did think about you a lot, there’s a lot of drafts in my phone, and selfies I wanted to send.” I exhale, then snuck a quick glance across the table, and sure enough he’s hanging on my every word. Blue eyes watching me attentively. “And the reason I didn’t…honestly I just felt like I’d bring you down. There were some good days I could have told you about, like when I adopted Andrew, and Sadie. But then I felt like, why would you even want to talk to me at this point? Were you even still interested in me?” I didn’t intend on confessing as much as I did, but his silence is motivating.

“For every time I had something good or positive to tell you, my own subconscious slammed me down. You know me, I’m prideful, I never want to tell you all the bad things, it just felt like complaining. So here I am, pouring my heart out hoping you’ll take me back. I mean, I understand if we’re just friends, I’m perfectly okay with that.” Lies, all lies, of course I wasn’t going to be okay with being just friends, my eyes found interest in my nails as I lay my palm flat against the dinner table cloth.

His large hand took mine, then interlocking our fingers, and brought my attention to him. “First of all, of course I still want to be friends, we were friends first, remember? Secondly, I wanted to hear everything, no matter how miserable you thought it was because that’s what real friends do sweetheart.” He says ever so gingerly, I could have cried, the fact that he had to reiterate that made me feel stupid. I sniffled a little trying to hold back tears. Looking up to the ceiling, I wonder what I did to deserve such a man in my life. “I wanted to be there for you through it all, but your crazy arse wouldn’t let me.” He jokes, just then our food came, so reluctantly Drew broke the hold he had on me to allow the server to place our food in front of us.

“What now then?” I ask, I was just fine with letting him steer things because clearly I couldn’t handle being in charge. He thought about it for a moment, cutting into his steak, and taking a few bites. I nibble at my salmon, suddenly in the mood for different meat to be in my mouth. I cross my legs one over the other, thankful for the table cloth, but I’m sure my facial expression gave me away. I’ve never been good at hiding my emotions. Drew’s mouth twitches, an attempt to hide a slight smirk on his lips.

“Hmm, well we can’t be friends.” He says, playfully, and I almost choke. I place my fork down calmly, and fold my hands in my lap to keep from trying to stab myself in the eye.

“We can’t?” My voice above a whisper, his lips press together, and his eyebrows drawn, a pensive expression etched across his face. This is not how I thought things would turn out at all, I mean he made it clear that he was mad initially. But to just leave it behind completely.

He shook his head, “nope.” I sat for a while, when I peake at him from underneath my lashes I saw how he’s simmering. Desire deep in his eyes, his gaze piercing, he leans forward in his seat.

“Why not?” I tug at my bottom lip, his eyes dropping to my mouth, and tongue flicking out to wet his lips. Memories of how that same movement could weaken me, and make me scream his government.

“Do you really think after a year of not seeing you, not having you…that I would let you roam free? Getting rid of me won’t be that simple I fear, but it’s ridiculous to call us just friends after all this. I mean, who are we kidding, I’ve done things to you that won’t ever compare, and I don’t need another man daring to try.” He reaches across the table, taking my hand in his, his thumb caressing my knuckles, and his other holding onto his cup of Guinness. Then this crazy man proceeds to chug his beer, nearly inhaling it. He lets out a grunt after roughly setting his glass back down, his lips settles into a small smile as she leans forward. “You and I both know, our chemistry is just too intense to call it quits. So, meet me in the middle, and take things slow?” He offers, and after a whole year away, I finally know exactly what I want.

“Yea…I’d like that.” I agree meekly, biting in my bottom lip, taking things slow with him sure is going to be hell on wheels. All I’ve wanted him to do since earlier today was rip my clothes off, but if I want to be more present in this relationship, I can’t let my pussy do all the taking for me. We sat in a comfortable silence for a moment, then I accidentally let out a yawn.

“Past your bedtime already?” Drew chuckles, a soft smile curled into his lips, making his dimples more prominent, and a smile of my own mirroring his.

“I didn’t even tell you about my time off yet.” I whine, falling back in my seat, unlady like, but we’re way past that point.

His smile deepens into a grin, “how about you tell me on the ride back to the hotel?” He pulls out his wallet to place his debit card down, and I knew better than to make a fuss about it. My eyelids were already feeling heavy, and my body was settling into the kind of ache you get when you’ve been awake too long. After the waitress returns with styrofoam boxes, and everything is taken care of, Drew helps me to stand.

“Up ya go princess, that a girl.” He drapes one arm protectively over my shoulder letting me hide under his large body, and my arm wraps around his lower back. He opens the passenger door, holds out his hand for me to use, and of course my shoe slips on the door— the inside of the panel wet, and slick from rain— causing me to panic. As I stumble backwards, Drew catches me, placing one hand on my hip, and the other on my back, supporting my weight. I successfully made it into the vehicle, thanks to my man.

As soon as my body relaxes into the heated leather seats, my eyes close. It wasn’t my intention to fall asleep, but once he turns the radio on, the sound of soft music playing is the icing on the cake. By the time I open my eyes, we’re driving up to the hotel valet. Drew is already on my side of the car helping me out. We walk to the elevator hand in hand, when we finally step on, instinctively I wrap my arms around his waist snuggling up to him like a cat. I let my eyes slide close, leaning all my body weight on him, the elevator came to a temporary stop, and though I knew someone had got on they didn’t speak. Drew’s body tenses slightly causing my eyes to fly open, thinking we might be getting into an altercation, but seeing the only other person in the elevator is Mandy I relax. Her eyes flicker from Drew then to me; I wasn’t sure what her sour facial expression is for, but I speak to her anyway, deciding not to let anything ruin my night. “Hey, it’s a nice night out.” To my credit, I was trying to be nice, but I’m met with a blank expression.

“It’s raining.” She deadpans, and I didn’t mean to laugh, but I let it slip. I couldn’t fathom how someone as pretty as she is could make such an ugly face. Hmm, how disappointing.

“Yeah, but rain can be beautiful.” I said softly, a faint smile curling up onto my lips. Her eyebrows drew together, her lips parts to say something, but it seems her voice was caught in her throat. I held her gaze, it looks like she was going out; her makeup was freshly done, coat, and purse in hand. Her outfit was revealing, and perfectly tailored to show off all her petite curves. I didn’t realize how intensely I’m staring till the elevator doors ping, I tore my eyes away to look up and see it was my floor.

“Welp, that's us.” Drew spoke up for the first time since we got on, if our arms weren’t tangled together, I would have forgotten he was there. He all but shoves me out the elevator doors, at last second I caught a glimpse of the way Mandy gloweres at Drew and I’s hands clasped together.

“Ya know, is it just me, or does Mandy seriously have it out for me. Like did you see that attitude?” I could feel anger rise in me, and settle in my chest. I definitely didn’t deserve all the passive aggressive energy she’s giving me.

“That’s not the last thing you wanna think about before bed.” He says softly, and like that, my peace is restored. We stand on either side of the door, he had one foot on the threshold, playing with the idea of him coming in, but fighting himself on it.

“Then what should I be thinking about then?” My hands crept up his chest, reaching up his neck, and held onto him. My fingers play with his low ponytail, twirling it around my index finger. He pulls me in closer, my chest pressing to his abdomen; I tilt my head back so I could see his face. His eyes resemble a clear blue sky, his gaze hazy, and full of lust; butterflies swirl in the pit of my stomach, giving me chills. His hand slid up my arm, to my face where he cups my cheek.

I stand up on my toes to try and meet him halfway causing the corners of his mouth to curl upwards, he chuckles lightly. I wasn't sure what he found so funny, but I didn't bother to ponder it. As much as I want to invite him in, and request he do unspeakable things to me, I decide against it. “Only a goodnight kiss.” I clarified, a yawn fell from my lips accidentally, and this time Drew let out a boisterous laugh.

“Alright, alright. Goodnight sweetheart.” He presses a chaste kiss to my forehead, then my nose, and lastly my lips. My hands cup around his face, gripping his beard, and holding him in place for a moment longer. My hands slid down to his chest to create some space, and at my request he slowly separate himself from me. I lean against his body for a moment to catch my breath. Drew on the other hand is breathing like he just ran a mile, his hands gripping the fabric of my dress. His eyes darkened, “excuse my abrupt exit, but if I don't walk away right now…well lets just say you won't be waking up till 12 pm tomorrow.” He whispers almost achingly, and with a look of determination in his eyes he pushes away from me. When he turned to head back to the elevators, all I could do was stand there speechless. I clean my puddle off the floor, force myself to go into my hotel room, and get ready for bed. I barely slept that night.

#drew mcintyre fanfiction #black!oc #wwe fanfiction #—tokio #drew mcintyre

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sophieinwonderland · 26 days ago

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Hi sophie, thank you so much for that....uh....riveting(?) response. As always you have completely cherry picked something (this whole thing apparently). I gave you a source for the information bias, that I mentioned because I have read your entire blog (has legitimately taken weeks, my god girl gtfo the internet and see some sun!) and other blogs surrounding you and your....uh opinions on this whole endo shit. Also you are wrong, which is ironic because I was meaning to comment if YOU had made it through grade school. I'm actually a psychologist with a specialized degree in dissociative disorders and applied behavioral therapy and currently writing my dissertation on the matter. Identity disturbances among a select few things do have a correlation if not cause of someone developing a lesser dissociative disorder. In my statement about outdated sources, I put in a little note (might have forgotten this because yk I have a life unlike you) that a source can be 100 years old and still he credible AS LONG AS there aren't any current sources/studies that prove the theorem/case study wrong. That was literally the catch. This isn't a gotcha. All you've down is managed to show how much you cherrypick things. I'm not saying ALL of your information is wrong, I'm literally saying that you actively seek out sources/studies whatever to fit whatever niche ridiculous shit you are on that day.

Had to dumb this response down because apparently you don't have the intellect that you portray. Your words are empty, the little backing you do have is untrustworthy because of YOU. You lie so damn much that nobody knows if the 'sources' you give are even true. Nobody has time to look through hundreds of pages of a random ass theory or search relentlessly on Google to find whatever information you painstakingly plugged into the search engine. For the love of God, woman play with your own damn fantasy characters and world but don't make it other people's problem. Like do what YOU want on YOUR time but you literally do not have to post this shit. You spend day after day after day on this godforsaken website. I can smell the dirty dishes and unwashed armpits from here. Get a life that isn't grooming minors into thinking they have a serious dissociative disorder.

Hi! I see you found my post!

I'm gonna need to break this down point by point, aren't I?

As always you have completely cherry picked something (this whole thing apparently).

I literally screenshotted every paragraph you wrote.

How is that cherrypicking?

Are you just using this as a buzzword now? Do you actually understand what this means?

I gave you a source for the information bias

Sorry, I forgot. You sourced something that has absolutely no relevancy and isn't being debated. That statistical biases can exist in research. Good for you, I guess. Congrats on sourcing something that absolutely nobody is disputing.

that I mentioned because I have read your entire blog (has legitimately taken weeks, my god girl gtfo the internet and see some sun!) and other blogs surrounding you and your....uh opinions on this whole endo shit.

My ENTIRE blog?

I mean, yeah, over the course of three years, including reblogs, I've apparently made 11,000 posts

Which averages out to about 10-11 posts per day. I'll admit, that be a bit excessive. (Again though, a huge number of these are reblogs. I'd wager that only about half of these are actually my posts as opposed to posts I'm sharing.)

But if you read all of those posts, which were created over three years, within a span of weeks... I'm really not sure that you've got much of a leg to stand on to tell other people to get off the internet and see some sun. 😛

I'm actually a psychologist with a specialized degree in dissociative disorders and applied behavioral therapy and currently writing my dissertation on the matter.

But apparently found time to spend weeks reading my entire blog, and still think only .edu and .gov sources are valid. Yeah... forgive me for being skeptical...

Identity disturbances among a select few things do have a correlation if not cause of someone developing a lesser dissociative disorder.

Yeah, the correlation part is something we agree on. The "causing someone to develop a dissociative disorder" is something that you're going to need to back up with a source.

In my statement about outdated sources, I put in a little note (might have forgotten this because yk I have a life unlike you) that a source can be 100 years old and still he credible AS LONG AS there aren't any current sources/studies that prove the theorem/case study wrong.

You did NOT include any such note. I would think someone who allegedly read through the 11,000 posts on my blog would be able to reread the paragraph they wrote to confirm if they actually posted this or not. It wouldn't have even taken much more time than you did writing in parentheses that you may have forgot it.

What you actually said was that a source isn't reputable if it's more than a certain number of years old.

"In addition to that, yes a source being x number of years ago is considered not reputable especially if in that time other sources vastly state and give anecdotal evidence to discrediting that."

You ltierally said it was about the number of years.

If you wanted to argue that what makes a source outdated isn't the age of the source in years at all, but whether the source has been disputed by later research, then fine.

We would be in agreement.

But if that's what you want to argue, and I present sources affirming endogenic plurality a real psychological phenomenon, then the burden of proof is on you to provide later sources that would challenge it.

If you cannot, then there is no basis for claiming the source is outdated.

That was literally the catch. This isn't a gotcha. All you've down is managed to show how much you cherrypick things.

Okay, I think I got it! I "cherrypicked" by not reading the note that only existed in your mind. 🤣🙄

I'm not saying ALL of your information is wrong, I'm literally saying that you actively seek out sources/studies whatever to fit whatever niche ridiculous shit you are on that day.

"Your problem is that you seek out studies and sources to back up your arguments. You need to stop doing that."

🤔

Your words are empty, the little backing you do have is untrustworthy because of YOU.

Is that how that works? 😲

I quote a peer reviewed academic paper published by reputable publishers like the American Psychiatric Association and Oxford University Press, and the papers become less trustworthy because I posted them?

You lie so damn much that nobody knows if the 'sources' you give are even true.

Do you actually have examples of me lying, or are we employing circular reasoning?

"She claims to be an endogenic systems which is a lie therefore any sources she provides to prove endogenic systems exist are lies."

Nobody has time to look through hundreds of pages of a random ass theory or search relentlessly on Google to find whatever information you painstakingly plugged into the search engine.

You had time to read through my 11,000 posts?

But not to read any of the articles I've directly linked to? And screenshotted so that people could read the quotes parts without having to click on the external links I provide?

I mean, had you clicked on those, you might have actually learned something, which might have been good for you if you actually are studying psychology.

When you've claimed to read through my entire blog, and yet haven't read the sources I've linked to countless times, it starts to seem like maybe it's not a time issue but an avoidance issue.

That you can cling to your worldview as long as you don't have to challenge it.

I'm going to ignore most of the personal attacks and ad hominems that come after this because they don't really warrant a response. It's just the flailings of someone who knows they've lost on matters of facts, and are desperately flinging insults to see if any touch a nerve. It's sad more than anything.

Except for this one...

Get a life that isn't grooming minors into thinking they have a serious dissociative disorder.

Because I do want to remind people, again, that the "grooming minors" line is rooted in queerphobia, and is the same rhetoric that homophobes and transphobes have targeted LGBTQ people with for decades, and has ramped up considerably over the past few years.

Know where your talking points are coming from!

I'll end by saying this. Your original post was in response to a post of mine about the lengths sysmeds will go to in order to make up reasons to dismiss psychological research into endogenic plurality, and professional opinions that endogenic plurality is real.

You've given me a new one to add to the list which is apparently that sources are invalid just because pro-endos post them.

Call pro-endos liars, then say the sources posted by liars aren't valid because they're liars.

This is both circular reasoning and an ad hominem.

But more than anything, it's closed-minded cowardice. It's you making up any excuses to not challenge or re-evaluate your worldview or opinions.

#syscourse #pro endogenic #pro endo #systempunk #syspunk #system punk #sys punk #sysblr #multiplicity #endogenic #actually plural #actually a system #psychology #psychiatry #systemscringe #r/systemscringe #hate groups #hate group

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puffyducks · 3 months ago

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DCRC Week #9 (Part 2)

Oh shit!! Is these ducks on the road??? YOU BET YOUR SWEET ASS THEY ARE!!! Anyways we're reading Ducks on the Road now which I'm super excited for because it features not one but THREE characters we've barely seen in the book club so far!!

This comic is LONG (I guess it's technically like 5 comics but we're reading them all in one go) so I'll probably end up having to extend this post with a few reblogs! So look out for those.

They're in.... VIRGINIA???? NOOOOOOOOOOO (person with irrational hatred of Virginia cause my whole extended family lives there so I have to travel there every holiday and it just kinda sucks there idk what to tell you. Also if Virginia is for lovers why is it called VIRGINia hm?? riddle me that BATMAN)

SCROOGE PAY YOUR FUCKING WORKERS also I love this outfit and haircut for Daisy she looks so cute here

Does this imply that Donald was living in Virginia beforehand because the implication that I'm only 1 state away from Donald is kind of frightening ngl. also Virginia sucks.

Did they hire Tuskerninni's cousin what's going on here. Actually this is the 70s it could probably BE Tuskerninni in an earlier life

I'm so used to talking about DT17 Gyro within my circles that I see Regular Gyro and it's like oh right!! He actually has joy and whimsy in his heart!! He's actually just a funny invention man who has totally not accidentally committed any atrocities in Tokyolk before!!!! He's also changed his hair color like four times

DON'T EAT THE GARBAGE SANDWICH WHAT ARE YOU DOOIIIIING

can somebody please help him he looks like an anxious chihuahua

How do you even leave piles of money on the floor to be blown away like that HELP I'm so stressed. Dickie get it together girl.

shoutout to these two and their cool accompanying text

HOW IS SHE SUCH A PUBLIC MENACE SHE'S LITERALLY JUST KINDA MID AT PLAYING GUITAR

She kissed him then IMMEDIATELY friendzoned him it was like a speedrun holy shit

Did he just headcanon Dickie and Daisy as lesbians? Because me too.

WHAT THE FUCK KIND OF QUESTION IS THAT AFTER AN EXAM WHY'D THEY DO HIM LIKE THAT 😭😭😭 nice presentation you LONELY IDIOT.

DICKIE YOU CAN'T PAINT A FUCKIGN RENTAL VAN OH MY GOD

Ah yes my favorite sign on the highway. The big one that just says "WEST"

YOU GUYS I AM SO STRESSED DICKIE IS GONNA GET THEM ALL KILLED IN A HORRIFIC ROAD ACCIDENT. ALSO HOW DID THEY ALREADY GET ALL THE WAY TO OKLAHOMA-

NVM THEY'RE NOT GONNA CRASH THEY'RE GONNA GET SHOT BY THIS GUY FOR HARBORING CRIMINALS

DAISY YOU CAN'T SAY THAT WORD. also i want these two guys dead they were mean to her >:(

GET A JOB STAY AWAY FROM HER

dork ass nerd and his dork ass math pajamas. and what I assume is a plush of Albert Einstein or something. NERD.

Oh ok so we're just not gonna acknowledge what they do about their tires being gone. Ok. No it's fine I guess that's like irrelevant information they probably just like... found some new tires on the side of the road or something..... yeah....

Anyways this is the part where I briefly end the post so I can attach more reactions with a reblog!

#dcrc #dcrc week 9 #duck comics

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copperbadge · 2 years ago

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WELL everyone has a lot of feelings about visual imagination. :D

I went through the reblogs and comments on the two main posts I made about it and I decided not to respond to the reblogs mainly because the tags sometimes addressed me but most of the reblogs were offering personal accounts, which were very interesting to read but I don’t think really needed input from me. The same held true for a lot of the comments, but I found a few I wanted to answer.

I did want to say that I want us to be careful when we talk about visual imagination and visual thinking, or lack thereof -- the word “hallucination” came up occasionally (mainly in terms of “someone else said this” or in terms of self-description, which is a personal prerogative) and hallucination generally implies that you can’t control or discern the reality of what you’re perceiving, plus it carries negative/pejorative implications a lot of the time. I’d like to keep this discussion neutral and also make sure we refrain from stigmatizing hallucination, either, so just be cautious in how you discuss all of this. People shouldn’t feel belittled for the way in which they perceive the world, whatever that perception might be. You guys have actually been really great about this but it’s always good to vocalize those boundaries.

gallusrostromegalus

If you tell me to picture an apple, i can imagine several apples, with different sizes, weights, textures and colors, and how the internal structure of the fruit develops from the bud like a time-lapse movie. It's wild to me that people CANNOT do this- though hilariously, it affects my writing in that I straight-up don't put descriptions in because my brain auto-generates scenes and appearences for me and I think i kind of assume everyone else's brain does too

Which is especially bananas because I don’t put in descriptions because I don’t see the point, like why would anyone want a bunch of irrelevant words, get to the important words! Two ends of a weird-ass range, I suppose.

akela-nakamura

I very much see a picture when I'm writing/reading. In fact I sometimes get frustrated when I'm writing because I can't -quite- get the right words to describe what's in my head. It's not like, All of the time but I visualize things often and it usually doesn't get in my way. It's just...there lol

A bunch of people said that often when they write they’re describing the pictures in their head, which does sound incredibly frustrating and tedious at times, as a practice -- trying to get the right word to evoke a mental image does seem much harder than just picking a fun word that indicates the vibe, which is what I do. They’re difficult in different ways but yeah it does sound very annoying.

taketheshot21

Brains are fascinating. Question, is it the same for voices? Do you 'hear' characters own voices in your head when you read/write or not?

It seems as though some people who don’t get visual do get audio, but I don’t get either. If I want to know how something sounds, I have to say it out loud myself -- often before I publish something I’ll read it out loud to myself to check for flow. Occasionally if I’m writing a scene in the Shivadhverse where I’m not sure of the speech patterns, I’ll go listen to people speaking in Welsh accents on YouTube to fix the accent in my mind for a bit so that I can write it properly, but it needs refreshing every time I do it.

Like, in Twelve Points there’s a scene where Noah says something surprising to most of the family, and there’s a beat of silence before Michaelis starts to laugh -- and I know exactly how to evoke a sense of his reaction, but I don’t hear any of it in my mind, or see him sitting at the dinner table laughing. I have some sense of how most of the adults sound, but I’m around teenagers so rarely that I don’t really hear Noah’s voice at all -- but writing him as a twentysomething in a later story, I have a much better sense of what his fully-adult voice would sound like.

byteduchess

I don't get mental IMAGES but I will experience phantom sensations sometimes especially with certain gory/painful descriptions which is. Fun.

This is why I assumed horror was such a popular genre for fiction podcasts, because it’s a “safe” way of experiencing horror stories without having to deal with the visuals or the jumpscares. It’s very perplexing to me now to know that some people absolutely still get the visuals, with horror podcasts. Although I suppose it still offers a higher level of control.

svollga

People in dreams have faces...

Yeah, that must have sounded kind of creepy, I forget most people who dream in visuals do see faces. I knew that I was a bit unusual for not seeing them in dreams but it’s not like I see blank heads, I just never see anyone from the neck up, or if I do their face is in shadow.

snazzy-hats-and-adhd

Hrm. Well now I kinda want to go and do a close reading of some of your stuff specifically looking for visual imagery to see if I can quantify an opinion on it, but since I've been following you since before I realized you had actual books published, it's probably a moot point. I hope your potato pancakes were delicious. 💜

They were! I do wonder how my books must read to people with visual imaginations, but comments seem to indicate I’m not bad at it (and thank you to those who said that, it was very reassuring), so my writing to evoke feeling and their reading to inspire seeing/hearing must mesh pretty well. It’s definitely something I’m going to keep in mind going forward, the fact that people will actually see what I describe, but I think also that might be why my fanfic is reasonably popular -- I leave a lot of scope for peoples’ minds to fill in the blanks, which we already want in fandom a lot of the time.

thebibliosphere

Yeah, I am in the same boat and I get pissed off being told to "describe more things" and I'm like "why? That's just clunky." When I read and write I'm enjoying the formation and rhythm of the words, not the images in my head, because I do not have any. I can't even do it when I focus really hard and do nothing else. It's like a dream I can't reach. According to my psych person that's aphantasia but *shrug*. I've never known any different.

It really is bonkers. I’ve never known any different either, at least that I know of, and I don’t know that I get annoyed with it but I did used to be a bit confused as to why people wanted more description, it just always felt like padding to me. I once got into it with someone about how Sam Vimes is never described fully in the Discworld books, and I was like “Why would you? Pterry gets away with it, I should be able to” (which is rather arrogant of me admittedly) and they were like BECAUSE IT’S REALLY ANNOYING NOT TO HAVE A DESCRIPTION. And now I get why! Poor Sam Vimes was just a blur in their head!

I don’t want to go into therapy but I’m reaching a point where I’m like “If I wait any longer, no therapist is going to take me” :D

br-nz

This is fascinating to me because i have a very rich visual inner world. I write fic too and i literally see the stories play out in my head, like a movie. It’s how i put myself to sleep at night, i lie there and plot out more scenes.

I mean, I do that too, I just don’t see the scenes visually. I think about situations and interactions, and sometimes I take notes if I come up with a really good turn of phrase, but it’s literally Telling Myself, there’s no showing :D

delphinidin4

I would love to read your source on ~40% of people don't visualize when they read! I'm really interested in psychology and the imagination.

I actually got the stat reversed so apologies for that, but the research comes from the Wiki on Visual Thinking, so less reading in specific than just cognition in general:

Research by child development theorist Linda Kreger Silverman suggests that less than 30% of the population strongly uses visual/spatial thinking, another 45% uses both visual/spatial thinking and thinking in the form of words, and 25% thinks exclusively in words.

laurabwrites

This is where the phrase 'in the mind's eye' comes from btw. Lots and lots of people picture things visually in the mind. As with everything there's a range of how detailed the visualizations are/can be. This website might be helpful to you: https://aphantasia.com/vviq/

Oh that test was really interesting and also extremely frustrating to take, lol. :D

#an aphantasia fantasia

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auberylis · 1 year ago

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GO TO MY BANDCAMP AND LISTEN TO MY MUSIC NOW

I'm Aubery Lis and i make electronic music in a ton of styles as at least 8 different characters united at Elysian Tunes, a net"label" for all the music i make. Everything from bubblegum pop and chiptune to speedcore and harsh noise, and everywhere inbetween and beyound, is where i reach with my sound. Last time i forgot to put the actual links to the promo post so here i go again ehehe!

Recently, i started getting some "wow, how come you have 100 listens on this?! Your music is cool!" youtube comments again. Yeah! i wonder the same thing! And you know what? You could directly help me change that by checking out my music and sharing this post! In all fairness, over 12 years of making music, i made some actually rad stuff among everything else. and I even took care and wiped out the less cool and simply outdated albums off the bandcamp page, now instead of over 70 there's 35 or so!

Check out some of the stuff below! And then go to my goddarn bandcamp. My music is name your price out there, meaning you can (and should) get and own the actual files for FREE. But if you want more than 3 albums, i suggest buying the entire discography for just five and a half bucks - less than a burger or whatever you had yesterday. So anyways, here goes:

Cute tiny bubblegum pop candy bass minimalist princess stuff

Paranoid-ass tracker jungle horror with Blade Runner samples

Pure '89 gameboy made hi energy chiptune ravepunk

YTP-infused speedcore critique on modern technology

Sexy electro with hot beats but about teary trans stuff (goes hard)

Seen enough? Good now rEBLOG this thing and also go listen to the full albums, buy the discog, tell your friends, pets, your pets' friends and so on, because honestly, although i made a lot of music which straight up sucks, other stuff deserves more than it gets right now!

GO TO MY ->BANDCAMP<- RIGHT NOW YA DINGUS!!!!

#aubery.txt #music #self promo #electronic music #speedcore #jungle #chiptune #audio #seriously help me get my stuff noticed please im so sad #Bandcamp

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hxdrostorms · 9 months ago

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@eternalstarlights has sent: 🌸 = my roleplay petpeeve, 🌵 = a disliked canon character in my fandom,💐 = my favorite part about the fandom, 🌿 = my least favorite part about the fandom

Send me a symbol and I will tell you… [Accepting]

🌸 = my roleplay petpeeve

// Bc this has been happening across several blogs, not just here:

Reblog karma: If you have no plans of sending something back, then the least you should do is reblog them, from the source or look elsewhere in the posts' notes to reblog from.

I'm constantly going back in my prompts tag to delete old reblogs. BUT THERE ARE STILL, complete strangers who dig through it and reblog it from me. Like?????????? That has the same effect as a 'fuck you' in my DMs. It's 10x funnier, if it is one of those blogs with a long ass pinned/rules page. And they still had no qualms in doing this shit. It's not quirky, let me tell you that much.

Notice, I'm not complaining about not receiving asks whenever I reblog something. That's not an issue for me (mutuals/rp partners should only send stuff, when they genuinely feel like doing so, without any obligations). All I'm asking is to not make me feel like, I'm just a RP memes archive type of blog, that's only there to provide writing prompts & nothing else. I may not be the most active RPer, but none of my blogs are abandoned.

This has been a long running peeve I've been having to deal with, for YEARS. And it made a resurface as of lately.

🌵 = a disliked canon character in my fandom

// Hades & his spectres/Judges are overrated as fuck IMO LOL I say as a clown, bc I'm a classic golds dweeb fan. Clearly, I'm not in a position to say what is or isn't overrated.

Jokes aside. It may have been a result of the way I tried watching the classic series (by binge watching the entire thing). BUT when I got to the Hades arc, I got SO mad when I realized they brought back those drawn out battles. Like those were my least enjoyed bits of the early parts of the anime and the Sanctuary arc, meanwhile the Poseidon arc didn't have any of that (which is why I rate the Poseidon arc as my favorite one of the anime adaptation. 15 episodes with NO filler??? HELL YEAH.).

You can say I was already pretty burned, and should have slowed down with the final part of the series. But even then, I don't think that would have changed a thing about my general disinterest towards Hades' servants. Visually speaking to me, they are the messiest and most boring looking characters from the classic series (they only ever wear 1 color and look way too much like a toy, than some form of proper armor).

Rhadama.nthys is the biggest bitch in the club, to me he was the most insufferable. "He is the strongest*tm of all judges." *= only when Hades is straight up cheating and the story feels like unnecessarily drag things out. Reminder that Kanon killed him without any cloth equipped, and he went out the way HE chose to. He literally didn't even have to TRY.

My favorite part of the Hades arc was seeing Kanon wipe the floor, with everyone he crossed paths with. This feels 10x more satisfying, after reading the Destiny & Origins extra chapters.

💐 = my favorite part about the fandom

// I truly mean when I say, this is the chillest community I've been in a long time. Case in point: I haven't felt THIS artiscally inspired in YEARS. I've been doing so many works, I'm literally running an event in the main fandom. I've been brimming with inspiration to do so many things, that goes beyond the RPing aspect. And it has improved my general mental health SO much!

I'm forever thankful for getting into Sts LOL

🌿 = my least favorite part about the fandom

// If you exclusively speak English, you will suffer to find anything or anyone else from this fandom. Which isn't a problem for me at all but, I can see how frustrating or sad it must feel like, you can't get into a community due to a language barrier.

And the community itself isn't exactly the friendliest one towards gringos. Which I mean............ You can't blame us for feeling defensive, when literally every other fandom went down to shit, when things became very American-centered.

Not to start the whole Anti vs proship debate. BUT It is a fact that all antis (ppl who want to be cops/have no qualms with harrassing or policing others/etc.) I've come across are an American, who's way too enthralled in their lil bubble they call world. Then they have a breakdown bc as it turns out, the rest of the world isn't AT ALL like them. And there's genuine pushback/retaliation from the community, against these kinds of whiny bitchass mfers LOL.

Obviously, this doesn't mean the fandom is perfect nor it's an Utopia, where there isn't drama at all. BUT when compared to others, it feels a lot tamer in comparison. Unfortunately, it comes at the cost of coming off as a very closed off fandom, that's centered around overseas things for a change.

#ooc /#would you like some salt in your tea?#thank you for the ask!#eternalstarlights

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inkbagel · 3 months ago

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Hey man I don’t mean to be an ass but as an aroace person I find it really weird how you can’t accept that things such as kissing can’t be platonic? It very much can. Have you never seen a parent kiss their kids injured knee so it can heal faster? Regardless it’s still not cool and disrespectful for you to insist someone else’s art HAS to be something because you personally like it. And artist can make whatever they want, regardless on your opinions about it’s not cool to disrespect that. If someone made a post and asked me not to post a photo of spiders under it, I would be an ass for posting spiders under it. It’s not any different here. You’re not entitled to someone art like that. If you don’t agree with them just block and move on.

For the last time anon since I’ve answered this multiple times, my issue is not with kissing. IT IS WITH MAKING OUT SLOPPY STYLE. WITH TONGUE. ON THE MOUTH. NOBODY DOES THAT PLATONICALLY.

I used to identify as aroace! I still identify as greyromantic ace, so yeah I’m aroace too!! Even if I wasn’t, I know very well what platonic affection is, and making out really is not platonic.

I’m not trying to police your relationships. I’m not saying this is problematic. I’m saying. MAKING OUT PLATONICALLY IS KINDA WEIRD. NOT PROBLEMATIC. JUST WEIRD.

ITS EVEN WEIRDER TO MAKE TWO CHARACTERS WHO ARE LITERALLY A CANON SHIP MAKE OUT AND THEN POLICE OTHER PEOPLE AND TELL THEM ITS NOT CANON.

I asked a few friends who I actually trust to be sane (and some are aroace since you’re weaponizing your identity) what they think about platonically kissing on the lips and these are their responses.

I asked some irls too, but I don’t have screenshots bc it’s real life. They all think this is a silly arguement in the first place and I agree with them.

Llorumi is not my favorite ship. I’ve been very clear about this since day one. Tbh my personal headcanons are that they dated for a bit and both ended up realizing they weren’t really attracted to each other. I think Lloyd is aroace and harumi is a lesbian (although I hc Lloyd as genderfluid so that one is less important) HOWEVER the people who viscerally hate them and tell other people it’s a problematic ship and draw them making out before saying it’s not romantic are weird.

I also do block ppl bc believe it or not this is a personal art blog. Go ahead and look at my page and you’ll find zero reblogs where ppl said don’t tag as a ship and I tagged a ship. I’m fully aware I’m allowed to disagree with people which is why I’m complaining HERE instead of sending THEM hate in THEIR reblogs and asks. Not you tho. Thx for the anon hate ask. ❤️

Also anon, it’s really weird of you to tell me to block ppl and move on after sending me an anonymous hate message. You’re being a hypocrite. “Not to be an ass” my ass.

#this is prolly not the last time I talk about this topic but it is the last time I reply to someone hating me #inkbagel asks #inkbagel speaks

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nereidprinc3ss · 3 months ago

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hi! i was wondering if i could ask for some writing advice? (pls feel free to ignore this if you'd like!) so i've posted a couple of fics that have done really well, which i'm super pumped about. but now i'm scared to keep posting bc i don't want my newer fics to flop. idk if this makes sense at all or if you've gone through a similar thing before, but if you have what were ways that you tried to get out of this mindset? thanks in advance and i absolutely love your writing <3

hiiiii so i did go through a similar thing!!!! i will elaborate below

(WARNING ⚠️ most diabolical yapper of all time has access to a keyboard😰😰😰)

ok so my number one thing is that you should be writing because you truly love to do it. i see a lot of people frustrated with lack of likes or comments or reblogs etc and i do understand that but if you’re solely writing for engagement people will be able to tell and you likely won’t find the numbers you want and it won’t be worth it. like yes the big numbers are really nice but (sorry we’re going to talk about me now ik im insufferable) i was writing long ass stories that were never posted and will never see the light of day for years before i ever started posting on tumblr. i write fanfic because i love to write. i adore my silly little bf spencer reid but the actual writing part is the most important aspect to me. i wrote stories before i knew what fanfiction was, i wrote before i watched criminal minds, and i will continue to write after. that said i think the reason that fanfic works well as a medium for me is because im also really truly interested in the character of spencer reid from a writing perspective. like i wanna get all up inside his brain cause he fascinates me, and that leads to me writing him in the hopes of discovering something new about him as a character, not just cause i wanna smash (but i do wanna smash!!) and all of that is basically how i stay out of the numbers mindset

so yeah i will reiterate that the most important part of creating something that feels lasting rather than just a phase or whatever is a love for the art form and not just the desire for engagement!!!! like write for FUN!!!! you do not have to be as pretentious as me btw u can literally just write cause it sounds fun at the moment like u don’t have to have some mission of highfalutin soul quest fulfillment or something to write spencer reid fanfic quite honestly im talking out of my ass rn and this was probably entirely unhelpful BUT i never claimed to be helpful (but i still hope it helped in the slightest omg i just read it back and wtf am i talking abt im sorry ily)

#asks #ramblings

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doubledyke · 1 year ago

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Now lets talk about Ed:

1: His intelligence. He's just a doofus, or is he smarter than he looks?

2: Is he this 100% pure cinnamon roll, or he's a kind of jerk just like everyone else (yeah, I find him to be a jerk in some episodes, just like Your Ed Here)?

3: Is he so genuinely sunny and carefree, or is this a mask and he's secretly depressed or struggling (you know, his abusive homelife and all more)?

thanks for giving me some food for thought! i do just wanna say that any and all (okay, most) interpretations and opinions, including unpopular ones are valid, even if i have different ideas. im but a humble dumbass that spends my free time blogging about a cartoon. no one needs a green light from me to feel a certain way about any character. the fun of participating in goofy fandom stuff is to hear opinions from people with different experiences that shape their perception.

that being said 🤔

i've posted here before that i think ed became gratuitously stupid later on, especially for season 5. maybe he got brain damage from eddy using him as a battering ram so often. but he's got some lucidity sprinkled on top of his oafishness throughout the series. i don't think he's "stupid", i think he just stays in his own little world and that his brain works differently than others'. early on he comes off more as a dopey guy who hangs with eddy because they're both outcasts and can be themselves around each other. not a lot of options, if you get my drift. of all three eds he has the least culpability when it comes to their eventual injurious antics, in my opinion. he's kinda just there because he hangs out with eddy (and edd) and that's what eddy does. there's a true friendship there, don't get me wrong. but i don't think the eds started hanging out because they found each other interesting or cool lmao. that's comes later as they get to know each other and experience trauma together.......anyway, im getting off track.

i think ed is just as multi-faceted as anyone else, it's just maybe those facets aren't explored as much as they are for the other two idiots.

that being said, i don't see him as a jerk personally, but he has his moments i'm sure. i think it's moreso that he doesn't have much of a filter and just says what he thinks. and it's obvious that his doting on sarah is not because he actually gives that much of a shit but because he gets in trouble if she tells their parents. not that it really matters because she makes shit up all the time. he's probably said a lot more jerk-ish things but they're made incomprehensible by his use of nonsensical literary devices. little ed blue is one of my favorite episodes because as we get to see ed when he's upset and irritable which is rare and always fleeting. i'll leave it at that and recommend @gettingfrilly's recent post about that scene where ed is on the tree stump just fuming. they're way more qualified than i to examine this type of stuff 🥴 i'll reblog it after i post this. but i do find it hilarious that he grabs eddy by the face and throws him into a tree. with edd, he gives a warning and pushes him away. there are lots of examples of him being notably gentler with edd and probably even jimmy and others a few times. overall i feel like he's not really intentionally violent with anyone besides eddy. i have a terrible memory so despite watching every episode several times by now, i tend to forget stuff often. so i could be wrong. anyway, again i digress. in 'your ed here' he makes a few playfully sassy remarks when he's playing tic tac toe with edd, but i don't really see it as him being a jerk per se. he thinks he's good at the game so he's doing his weird version of bragging and teasing. and I think a lot of times he comes off as aloof when someone (eddy) is being humiliated and/or getting their ass kicked but i think that has to do with him again, being in his own world and not necessarily because he doesn't care. and finally, with him laughing at eddy and edd's middle names, i just don't find it to be mean-spirited. he thinks the names are funny and so, he laughs.

one example of him being snotty that comes to mind right now is from another of my fave episodes, 'thick as an ed'. it's hilarious to see him try to clap back at edd by saying "stinky hat" over and over. he's expressing genuine annoyance at double dee being well, fucking annoying as usual. to me it's unlikely that edd's hat actually stinks so that means ed came up with something he knew would get under edd's skin. you could argue that it's a bit of a dick move! but given the context of the episode, he's reached a breaking point after his friends have done nothing but try to take his beloved lucky cheese chunk. i can't believe i'm writing this right now.

anyhow, there's definitely a theory out there that ed is putting on an act of being stupid and clumsy just to essentially spite eddy, or foil the scams. it's just not my own personal take on things. interesting nonetheless!

yeah man, ed has an unquestionably awful life at home. his maladaptive daydreaming is definitely a coping mechanism for his shitty reality and probably helps him make sense of the things going on around him. i think ed has a bit of a lack of object permanence (for lack of a better phrase) so once he's away from his house and sarah isn't around, he might be able to put his hardships on the back burner for a while. with the other two eds, they wear their emotions and trauma on their sleeves. there's a lot in what they do, say, and how they react that are tells for their less than ideal upbringings and lack of emotional well-being. a big difference is that they try to hide it and don't explicitly state that things are though back home. with ed we mostly gain insight from his interactions with sarah, the neglected state of his room and personal hygiene, and the random things he discloses about his parents a handful of times. he doesn't even express his opinion about how his parents or sarah act, he simply recalls his past experiences. he's smart enough to grasp cause and effect, even if it doesn't ways show in his actions. his cheerfulness might come off as him being blissfully unaware and i think that's because he essentially is?? at the very least when he's not being actively lambasted by his mother, he's able to hardcore dissociate and go off into ed-land to escape the horrors ™.

TL;DR: i don't think ed's thick-headedness detracts from his distinct personality. he is a loveable oaf and that's perfectly fine in my book. i don't think he's a "cinnamon roll", but i also don't think he's a jerk. my opinion is that he leans waaaaay more towards benevolence. and yeah i absolutely think he's experiencing a lot of neglect and trauma, no doubt about it. i don't see his sweet disposition as a mask necessarily, but more as the result of masterful compartmentalization.

#thanks again! i have a headache so im gonna spare everyone any further attempt to form cohesive thoughts at the moment #@gettingfrilly don't roast my poorly expressed takes too hard #text

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zeroducks-2 · 1 year ago

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To give a serious response to your last reblog, I think most people (maybe not the VOCAL majority) like to exclude tags they don't want to see, and then if something is tagged incorrectly you do just scroll past or stop reading the fic when something comes up. I know there are people who complain about it like it's the end of the world but yeah it is a common thing among most of my internet people to be like "aw man I didn't know [thing] was gonna be in this fic, I guess I'm gonna go read something else now" and I don't really see any problem with that. (As long as they aren't like harassing the author about it or anything obviously, which again I'm sure some people do and that's not cool)

Fair warning, this was supposed to be a quick response and it turned into a long ass ramble about purity culture and anti behavior, sorry about that. It is a long post so feel free to just skip to the TL:DR.

I agree with you, and as I mentioned I really really like the tagging system and the culture of putting content warnings and trigger warnings over content to help people avoid what they dislike and/or actively harms them. I like it in general, not just on AO3.

For what concerns AO3 I know that most people don't cause any kind of issue about it. I too had a situation where an anonymous guest commented to ask me to tag something in my fic. I hadn't thought about it because it was kind of just a vague mention but to them it seemed to be a big deal, so I apologized and added the tag (and they were really nice and polite about it anyway) and that was it. I don't mind people asking me to tag stuff. As an author I'm not omniscient and I don't have a team or even just an advisor to give a second opinion on my stuff, and tell me what I might have missed in the tags. So by all means do say it if you prefer this or that tag being added to my stories. I might have come off as someone who has issues with the tagging system and the culture around it, and I understand that it might be the case since my reblog was worded a bit harshly. I am sorry about that.

What I really was complaining about is people adopting anti or anti-ish behavior around fanfictions and fanfiction writers, acting like the fact that they come across content they dislike is the poster's fault when they're unable to curate their own online experience, and/or take responsibility as grown adults over the possibility of coming across something they dislike. At the same time holding fanfiction writers to absurd standards when it comes to laying out what their fics contain before someone engages with it, while it would be considered absurd to demand something like this from a novel, a movie, a videogame or anything non-transformative really. And not only there's the exclusion system on AO3 that helps people filter content they don't like, but also I want to highlight the fact that someone who is writing a fanfiction does not owe anyone anything in terms of tagging their stories. Tagging by itself is a form of courtesy that is not mandatory for most kind of content except the so called Archive Warnings, and even then you can avoid tagging anything by simply using "Creator chose not to use warnings" - which I'm sure you know means "this story contains potentially upsetting themes, proceed at your own risk". Most people will just politely ask to add tags, and most people will just tag their stories anyway. I very rarely ever came across a fic which was severely untagged to the point of making me wonder if the OP actually knew tags existed, and how they worked in the first place. I think it happened maybe twice and I've been reading fanfictions since AO3 didn't even exist. But there also are people who will harass the author if they didn't tag their fic "properly", and by properly it often times means that a character mentioned something the reader dislikes, or maybe a character they hate makes a very brief appearance, or there is a random OC created for a specific situation. Or anything that doesn't suit their tastes really, and that they demanded was laid out in front of them so they could avoid the gigantic effort of clicking on a story, read the first chapter and deciding by themselves if they liked it or not. These people are the ones who act like fanfiction writers and content in general should cater explicitly to them. Just check the comments of that post, you'll see an array of folks complaining that "authors do this on purpose!" and that who doesn't tag their fic properly is a terrible person.

There's this one saying that it's "so frustrating" and "really inconsiderate" on the author's part, referring to a fanfiction which has one of the characters genderswapped. Now I really, really dislike genderswap (nothing against it or against who likes it, but it really is not my cup of tea both in fics and in fanarts) and I generally stay away from it. But realistically, how long is it going to take me to realize that a fic has been written with one or more genderswapped characters? A couple of sentences? Maybe an entire paragraph? How "frustrating" is it gonna be to spend something like 3 minutes figuring that this story is not for me, and move on with my life?

It's not frustrating, and it's not inconsiderate on anyone's part. Sure I too would prefer it to be tagged, but it's a Me problem if I can't accept that I might end up seeing something I dislike on the internet, and it's not not a random fanfic author's responsibility to make sure I don't encounter something that makes me turn up my nose.

There is in general a lot of pressure on fanfic authors, in some fandoms more than others, and the whole "you have to absolutely nail the tags" conversation is another layer of said pressure. I know people that won't post longfics because they're unsure about the tags, especially of the fact that tags might change over time, and end up not posting at all. People deleting their entire fics over these kinds of demands because they can't meet them, because they don't know how their fic is going to change from here to the 15th chapter. People having to disable or moderate comments, take hiatuses, abandon fics - sure maybe the comment insinuating they were a bad person for not tagging "there's a random policeman OC in your detective AU" is not the main reason why they abandoned the fic, but it surely did not help.

This also leads to another phenomenon, which is that of over-tagging. Of people tagging rape/noncon "just to be safe", or tagging underage because "this character is 18 but there still is a big age gap", and the likes. That's not how tags work, that's actually how the tagging system gets bloated and becomes useless, because after the 4th fic which is tagged Rape and the rape doesn't happen, what often occurs is that the reader finds another fic tagged Rape and doesn't take it seriously. But in that one case the rape does happen and they get triggered, and it's an awful experience both for the reader and for the writer in case they get harassed over it (and this specific instance happened to me personally, because apparently the Rape warning on my story wasn't enough since the rape actually happened).

It's part of the reason why the Dead Dove: Do Not Eat tag exists and got so popular. If your story has some background/minor/past/mentioned/implied/referenced Thing happening, and you tag it as a Major Thing that happens, people who write stories which actually have Thing as a major topic don't know what to do, and end up using the Dead Dove tag which per se doesn't mean anything, it's just a way to say "MIND THE DAMN TAGS AND DON'T COME AT ME!". No one should feel forced to use the Dead Dove tag by the way. The Archive Warnings and the tagging system in general exist for a reason. If you're reading this and you've been harassed, just block the fuckers and ignore them.

So anyway, while I tend to be really irked by over-taggers especially when I'm looking for a specific kink, I don't really blame them. Purity culture kills artistic expression by making artists afraid of harassment if they post their work, among other things. I prefer an over-tagged fanfiction (or an under-tagged one) over no fanfiction at all.

TL;DR - I agree with you anon, I'm just mad at people who harass authors over tags. I don't think there's anything wrong with politely asking someone to tag their fanfiction, and if they repeatedly don't do it over major stuff that needs to be tagged, just block them and/or report them to the AO3 TOS.

#this is all purity culture's fault btw #tags have always been a courtesy and are not by any means mandatory (except Archive Warnings but even then there's the orange one)#people who cannot handle this are not able to handle fanfictions in general #I'm sorry but if you feel so upset if you find a tiny thing that you don't like in a fanfiction that is YOUR problem not the author's #you're free and capable of clicking away from that fanfiction no one is stopping you #and if you end up harassing the author instead of clicking away or politely ask to add a tag you're a fucking asshole #ramblings #my asks #fandom things #long post

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