#which i however would really like to write about

[astaeriii]

⚠️[SPOILERS FOR SQUID GAME SEASON 3]⚠️

kang dae-ho rant because what the fuck was ep 2??

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okay, to start off, i've never seen such a terrible character assassination.

kang dae-ho had such a great character build-up in the second season and the end left us with a cliffhanger to ponder about his character and how he would contribute to the show. i really hoped to see more of his character and how he'd contribute to the plot. however, season 3 absolutely fucked up his entire character.

not even two episodes in and he dies a MEANINGLESS death by the hands of gi-hun. but before we get to that part, I'd like to speak about the dialogue between dae-ho and gi-hun had before dae-ho's death.

dae-ho quotes: "I never served in the Marines. It was a lie. I didn't even serve in the military. I've never even held a gun. Even my tattoo is fake." (ep 2, 42:57)

according to him, he lied so a "loser" like him could be included in gi-hun's group. first of all, this is terrible writing because what the fuck?

the BEST theory that could explain dae-ho's anxiety attack in the last would be a PTSD flashback from his life during the period of time he served in the Marines. THAT would've given him great character depth (if it had been true), making him complex with great writing. so, i dont understand what was the point with shoving his build-up away and tossing his depth into the fucking trash?

aside from that, the scene in which he confesses he never served in the military is clearly SO rushed because he just suddenly blurted his words out, like wtf? what was everything in season 2 for, then? they butchered up his character and it pmo so bad because i really got attached to him for his complexity.

moving on to his death, it was so TERRIBLY out of character for gi-hun to do that. i get he was enraged, but seriously, WHAT was the point in him strangling dae-ho to death? he would've never done that, he would never do that, even if he's so terribly angered — because his character doesn't revolve around killing his friends. seriously!!!! IT WAS SO RUSHED!!!!

they could've given dae-ho a heroic death by saving one of his friends from dying in one of the games or giving his life to protect someone (or he didn't have to die at all!). because either way, i strongly believe that his character should've focused on facing his fears and proving his strength by showing that what he learned in the Marines wasn't useless at all by either surviving or dying to protect others. he could've used his experience to save other players, to be a tragic hero, to believe he finally managed to do something despite his anxiety and fear of death. or he could've survived through the trauma and faced his fears either way.

in conclusion, season 3 is terribly written + i hate the way dae-ho died (along w hyun-ju 'cause what the hell). thx for reading💥

[justabeewithapen]

Hi! So as I’m writing the fanfic for your TV AU, can you explain Tenna’s roles between the Light World and the Dark World in detail? Like, what happens when class is in session and when it’s out of session? I want it to be as accurate as possible lol 🌈🎨🎭

This is going to be a wall of text so take this doodle as a little treat ehehehe!

Starting with the Lightworld! As the new classroom TV (they didn’t have an old one but he still takes this responsibility very seriously!!) his main use is on Fridays when the kids get to watch a bit of a movie or documentary or episode of a show (all educational of course) at the end of class. He also gets use on days when they have tests planned or if it is too rainy/cold outside to hold recess. When he was first moved into the classroom he was only brought into the room when it was one of those special TV Time occasions, but now, he practically lives in the corner on his TV Cart.

The reason he gets to hang around the classroom even when it isn’t TV Time is because the kids in Toriel’s classroom have sort of adopted him as a class pet! Now, these are younger kids, they didn’t need an excuse to love a TV (anything to not do class work, even if Toriel often gives them worksheets to fill out during TV Time) but Susie’s been putting in WORK! She made sure these little kids knew his name and how “very cool” he was, spinning them tales of “Mr. Tenna’s adventures” with a few very inserts of other Darkners (especially Lancer). Is she just mostly stealing plots from movies she has seen? Oh 100%, but she promised him an audience that would care about him again, and by goodness she is going to deliver!!

Him and his TV stand tend to live in the corner of Toriel’s classroom when not in use, though he does still spend time in the extra classroom for storage or the storage closet (aka Castle Town). Susie and/or Kris are known to move him there after school gets out for hanging out purposes. Sometimes in Toriel’s classroom he gets used, but not even as a TV! During those rainy/cold days him and his TV stand make for a perfect support in a blanket fort, or a base for a block tower on his shelves. Sometimes he even gets to visit the older kid classroom (usually after big projects or tests) and he gets to see his stars again…

While outside of the dark world he isn’t *technically* sentient, but he is still aware and watching from his side even if that side only exists when he is in the dark world. Speaking of!

Castle town/his perspective on things!!

While not actually able to interact with the class, he takes his role as a TV Teacher very very seriously! During times when he is playing a show or movie he is always commentating and quipping on the action and “fun facts” related to what is being watched, even though the kids can’t hear him. He always makes sure his outfit is properly thematic for the lesson that day, as (once again even if they can’t interact with him) he wants to give these kids his very best! When not being actively watched by the kids, he’s still watching them. Obviously he still has… way too many unaddressed anxieties relating to Toriel, but he enjoys hearing her teach and is frequently taking notes in the same way the kids are! Occasionally, if Toriel isn’t reading or grading something important, she’ll turn on the cable and idly listen while getting work done. (He has complicated feelings about this but it’s generally a positive!)

When back in Castletown he is spending his time preparing boards, quizzes, and physical challenges relating to the stuff that happened in class that day, all of which he is incredibly enthusiastic about sharing with the Fun Gang. Is most of it below their grade level, yeah, but he’s really trying! He also goes out of his way to try and be helpful around Castletown, volunteering for building projects or clean up or mini games however he is needed (he very desperately wants to feel needed).

Hopefully all of this makes sense and I am happy to clarify any points that don’t!! My head is still pretty foggy so I’m sure I said something screwy that needs a bit more context XD

[marauder-misprint]

hi! i really love your writing and i was wondering if you would be willing to write a pt. 2 to the peculiar fred story you wrote? I saw that you wrote about how molly wouldn't come around even by the time of bill and fleur's wedding and how that would make ginny upset. Well I was thinking maybe something along those lines for a pt. 2 and reader maybe doesn't have the best home life and knows what it is like to not be wanted around and knows how awful it is to have someone at home that you don't want around you, so she refuses to be around more than she needs to. however, being around molly makes her feel bad sometimes bc her words get in her head and she feels like she isn't enough for fred. maybe molly overhears something or is told something about the reader and she changes her mind? feel free to change anything if you decide to write it, these were mainly random thoughts!

Hi! Sorry this took so long ❤︎ I've been sitting on this longer than I'd like to admit. Oops. ❤︎ But it's here and Molly hasn't been convinced that Reader is right for Fred (not that it's her choice).

Anyways...

Hope y'all enjoy ❤︎ ❤︎ ❤︎

Molly's house

part i

Fred Weasley x reader

1.9k words

cw: fluff, y/n, molly still doesn't like reader, mention of abusive father

You apparated just outside of the Weasley property. You could already see the tent being put up for Bill and Fleur’s wedding. You straightened your dress. Then you walked onto the property that you hadn’t been to since your first visit. It was almost strange being back here. 

Molly didn’t get much better for the rest of your first visit. She kept mumbling insults to herself. You heard more of them than you wanted to, but you knew that Fred loved you and it was enough to keep you there for the rest of your visit. However, knowing how his mum felt about you, you swore you wouldn’t go back. You occasionally crossed paths after that summer, like at Fred and George’s joke shop, and it was clear that Molly had yet to come around to you, despite the fact that you remained at Fred’s side. 

Ginny was the first one to see you as you approached the Burrow. She ran out to greet you, which was an impressive feat given her heels. 

“Y/N!” she squealed as she hugged you. “It’s been too long!”

“Hi, Gin,” you said, giving her a tight squeeze.

“Tell me again why you couldn’t stay here like the rest of us?” 

You frowned and gave her another squeeze. “You know why.”

“But the rest of us want you here. Especially Fred,” she said.

“But it’s her house. I respect her too much to impose.”

“You damn well know you wouldn’t be imposing,” she said, letting go of you and crossing her arms. “You’re practically engaged to Fred.” 

“One, I don’t see a ring on my finger. If you have an issue with that, talk to your brother and tell him I don’t mind if he asks with a piece of twine. Two, I won’t be staying in the Burrow until Molly can tolerate being in a room with me without vibrating with her hatred for me.” You paused to take a breath. “I just hope she can look past me being here and keep today about Bill and Fleur.”

Ginny frowned. “She doesn’t hate you.” 

Hate was a wrong word, but you really felt that it accurately described how Molly felt about you. The woman that you knew as the Weasley matriarch wasn’t the lovable Molly that you had heard endless stories about. You witnessed that Molly. She acted so lovingly toward her children, Harry, Hermione and anyone else who visited the Burrow. Anyone except you. 

Ginny nudged your side as the two of you started to walk to the house.

“Don’t you remember when me, Mione and Mum all hated Fleur? And look where we are now.”

You smiled at the redhead. She was trying and she really liked you. You wouldn’t be surprised if she ended up talking to Fred about getting you a ring. Deep down, you really hoped that how his mother felt toward you wouldn’t end up driving a wedge between you and Fred; it was a fear that lingered in the pit of your stomach and refused to budge, no matter how many times Fred assured you that he loved you. You knew he loved you. And you loved him. 

The next person you see is Harry, coming out of the Burrow to see where Ginny had gone off to. He waved to you. When you got closer, he took Ginny’s arm and led her toward the tent. He muttered something about last minute details they needed to take care of. You poked your head through the Burrow’s front door. If you were being honest, you didn’t want to go inside unless you had to. 

“Y/N!” 

You turned around with the brightest grin. There was your favorite voice, and with it, your favorite person. Fred pulled you into the tightest hug, lifting you off the ground and spinning you around.

“Ginny said you arrived! And, I must say, you look truly dazzling.” He pressed a soft kiss to your cheek. “I can’t wait to introduce you to everyone.”

“I refuse to meet Muriel until I’ve had a glass… or two.”

Fred laughed. “Or you could meet her first and get it over with? She’s around here somewhere…”

“What do you think she’ll say? That I don’t come from a good enough family? Not pretty enough for you? That I work too hard and need to spend more time in the home?” you teased, laughing easily with Fred. 

Your laughter drew the attention of George, who also came from the direction of the tent. 

“Oh, good! You’re here! Now Freddie can stop pacing.”

You looked at Fred. “Pacing?” 

“Loverboy here was thinking that you weren’t going to come.”

“You know, Mum…” Fred mumbled in your ear, but you shook your head.

“Today is bigger than that. I wouldn’t miss this for the world.”

The twins walked with you back into the tent. Elegant and bright decorations adorned every table, several pieces hanging from the ceiling. It was breathtaking. Very fitting for Fleur. Arthur called George away to help him with something, leaving you with Fred. He introduced you to some relatives who had gotten there early with the intent to help but really only got in the way. To your delight, Muriel wasn’t one of them. As you talked to Fred’s aunts and uncles, you could feel Molly’s eyes on you. She saw you but gave no inclination that she intended to say hello. Perhaps it was better that way. 

The wedding went off without a hitch. Guests found their seats. Music filled the air. Vows were exchanged. Then Bill and Fleur kicked off the reception with their first dance. You spent almost all of the night at Fred’s side, dancing and drinking. You were having a great time; how could you now? 

For each drink you had, Fred also had one. You were attempting to use each other for support as you stumbled out of the tent, both of you giggling. Fred started kissing your neck, and you struggled to hold him off of you. 

“Fred, I-I need to get home,” you slurred out between giggles. “Your parents-”

“My parents are already asleep,” he mumbled into your neck. 

“Fred.” 

You stumbled as you and Fred took a few steps toward the Burrow. 

“Can’t walk. So you can’t apparate. And I’m not letting you take a, a, a whatchamacallit back to London. Those… cars muggles use, like the… Knight Bus.” 

“Taxis?” you giggled. “But I, I need to.” 

“No. Love. Mum is sleep. And you can leave before she gets up.” 

“Fine.”

The two of you somehow manage to get up the stairs to Fred and George’s room. George wasn’t in the room, not that you minded. Fred stripped down and tossed you one of his t-shirts; you put it on in the lieu of your fancy dress. He pulled you into a hug, which ended up with both of you giggling and falling onto his bed. 

After crawling under the covers, you said, “My king bed is much comfier.”

“Go to sleep.” 

Between the headache pounding in your skull and the warmth of Fred, you snuggle deeper under the covers when you wake up. You have no desire to get up. The thought of Molly doesn’t even cross your mind. When you do get up, Fred convinces you to stay for a cup of tea before you head home. You can’t say no to him. 

Ginny was the only one in the kitchen when the two of you went down there. She smiled at you as Fred went to put the kettle on. The three of you engaged in quiet chatter, nothing much given how tired the three of you were. 

Then Molly walked into the kitchen. You locked eyes with her, both of you frozen for a few seconds. You shrunk into your chair as her face reddened. She continued wordlessly to the stove to start making a full breakfast for her children and preferred guests. 

You took one more sip of your tea before standing up uncomfortably. “I’ll be going then. See you later, Fred.”

You leaned down to give him a quick kiss, which landed on his cheek rather than his lips as he didn’t turn his head as you had expected him to. He was staring bug-eyed at Ginny because of your sudden announcement to leave so suddenly. You still had half a cup of tea. 

You quickly left the kitchen and only hesitated outside because you heard footsteps following you. You knew it would be Fred. 

“Listen, love, I know what I said last night, but you don’t have to leave jus’ yet,” he said, reaching out to gently hold your elbow. 

“I do. I really do. I Can't stay where I know I’m not wanted. And don’t say you want there and Ginny does and George, Ron, Harry, Hermione, everyone. Because this, this-” You gestured to the entirety of the Burrow. “-is Molly’ house and she’s the one who doesn't want me here. It’s out of respect for her that I’m leaving.”

You don’t wait for a response from Fred. You take your arm out of his hand and disapparate home. 

Fred sighed frustratedly. He ran a hand through his hair before walking back into the Burrow. Molly let out a dry laugh when she saw her son return. 

“Out of respect for me? You certainly know how to pick them, Fred.” 

“Mum!” Ginny yelled before Fred can respond. “How is it that you’re the only one who doesn’t like her? Even Great-Aunt Muriel likes her more than you do.”

“Your great-aunt hasn’t heard everything that girl’s said.”

“She complimented the Burrow!”

“She called it peculiar!”

“What’s peculiar?” Arthur asked, entering the kitchen. The shouting between his wife and daughter had woken him up. 

“Our home,” Molly snapped. “At least, according to that girl Fred insists on keeping around.”

Arthur looked at Fred with a twinkle in his eye. “I forgot she said that. Quite the compliment coming from her, I’d say.”

“It’s insulting!” Molly continued to yell. 

“Hmm, I don’t think so, Molly-dear. These youngins, they make words their own. Especially Y/N. And from what I’ve garnered from her, peculiar is akin to… brilliant, fantastic, wicked.” 

Molly’s expression twisted. She wasn’t used to being undermined by Arthur like this. 

“You didn’t hear the way she said it!” 

“She said it as a compliment!” Fred seethed. “I was there. She was talking to me. And really, Mum, you better find a way to tolerate her because I do plan on marrying her one day.”

Ginny’s face lit up at that. Fred disapparated from the kitchen and appeared in your flat. He found you curled up in your own bed. There was a glass of water on your bedside table and a half-eaten croissant wrapped in a napkin near where your hand was. Your sleeping form rose and fell with your breathing. 

Fred crawled under the covers next to you, something he’d done many times. You roused at his presence. 

“You know I couldn’t stay. I know how she feels,” you whispered. 

“You are not your father, darling.”

“I am to her.” 

“No, you’re not. You have not harmed any of us. She took one comment out of character and-”

“And hates me for it.”

“Which doesn’t make you your father. There’s a difference.”

“I just… It’s her home and being there feels like trespassing.”

Fred pulled you into his chest, holding you tightly. 

“But right here?” you mumbled into his chest. “This is my home.”

“And I hope it stays that way.”

tags: @navs-bhat

[solarstranger]

hi queen i hope you’re doing ok!! i got a little prompt for your writing gamee

bakugou and concert pls pls pls??

ILYSM have an awesome day !!

beloved!!! okay so this one kind of got away from me, but it was definitely a blast to write. it flowed pretty easily too while being written, so i hope that it also reads well. i wish writing was always this easy and free-flowing sobs. but anyway, i hope you enjoy this! thank you so much for playing and i hope you have a day as lovely as yourself. kisses!!!

bakugou katsuki + concert

c.w. set in a bar. mentions of alcohol, very slightly nsfw themes. eeya finally writes drummer katsuki.

a wise person once said to never meet your heroes.

you’ve since made it a point to not go out of your way to meet them, especially after having heard of countless accounts detailing how their heroes turned out to be monsters who just happened to have dazzling, pr-moderated reputations.

this includes not shooting yourself in the foot during concerts just to get your favorite band or artist to notice you, no matter how glorious the idea of being called on stage and getting to personally interact with them might be.

you were pretty happy with admiring them from afar and not risking having your idealized image of them in your head being popped, thank you very much.

so when saturday night rolled around and it was time for your ass to get dragged by your best friend to watch an up-and-coming indie band’s gig, the last thing you’d ever expected was to end up with a backstage pass, waiting—well—backstage, for some unknown band to come out and greet you.

“i don’t know how you managed to rope me into this,” you hiss-whisper to your best friend, who’s standing beside you, practically quaking in excitement as you barely catch the vocalist saying something about being grateful for everyone who came out to watch.

“oh, quit it, would you?” she hiss-whispers back, before peeping again through the black curtains at the side, not even attempting to tamp down her ridiculously wide grin. “fuck, i think they’re done.”

that’s all the warning you get before she abruptly steps back, pulling you by your wrist, until you’re both standing by the exit, where you’ll no doubt bump into the members.

the members who emerge right through the drapes as if on cue, your eyes instantly drawn to the short purple hair of the vocalist, who—bless her soul—manages to still smile at both of you, despite the confusion being evident in her face.

“hi!” your best friend exclaims, and you instantly have to fight back the urge to elbow her to calm down. as if having read your mind, however, she dials the enthusiasm down a notch, taking a deep, calming breath. “that was such a great set.”

“hey,” the vocalist—who you think is named jirou—grins at that. “tha—”

“you made it!” hollers someone else from behind jirou, who soon emerges from the small crowd, his electric blonde hair making him easy to spot. he stands in front of both of you, beaming at your best friend. “how’d you like the set?”

“i—”

“she literally just said it was great,” someone says as-a-matter-of-factly from the side, and you turn to face them, only to find who you think is the lead guitarist, decked out in all-black clothes.

“everyone,” the electric blonde calls out to the group, apparently ignoring the innocent retort, “this is my friend,” he gestures to your best friend right beside you and announces her name, before turning to you with a kind albeit expectant look. “and you are?”

you say your name quietly, before motioning towards the girl beside you. “i’m one of her best friends.”

a chorus of hey’s erupts from the group, and you look around, smiling at each of them as gratefully and good-naturedly as you can.

well, except for the ash-blonde, who’s not looking at anyone, gaze trained to the side, his features contorted in an obvious scowl.

despite yourself, you falter at the sight, which—unfortunately—your best friend’s friend notices (you really have to get his name), and the man only barks out a slightly uncomfortable laugh.

“don’t worry about him,” he tells you, flashing you an almost apologetic smile. “that’s just kacchan. he’s not particularly fond of staying behind after gigs.”

there’s not much you can do or say to that except nod unsurely, before sneaking one last glance at the drummer, who—to your surprise—is already looking (more like frowning) at you, although he’s quick to avert his gaze as soon as your eyes land on him.

for some weird reason, a wave of embarrassment shoots through you at his scrutiny, the words tumbling out of your mouth before you can even think of reining them in. “n-no, it’s okay. i bet you guys are tired.”

the group responds with a mix of light-hearted objections, though what catches your attention the most is how ‘kacchan’ glances back at you again, eyebrows slightly raised in what you think is surprise.

you can only shrug at the man, before turning to face the rest of the group.

your best friend and the members (except kacchan, of course) exchanged a few more pleasantries, after which it was finally time for you to go back to the bar and let the band do their post-show routine.

you stand beside your best friend as you both wave them goodbye before heading back to your table, which you hope nobody else stole while you were back here reluctantly being dragged into becoming a pseudo-groupie.

“i can’t believe we got to meet them,” your best friend happily sighs as you plop back down on your seats, which were thankfully still unoccupied by the time you got back.

“yeah,” you can’t help but agree, pleasantly surprised by the unexpected interaction. “they were all pretty nice. well,” you pause, biting your lip in consideration, “except for the drummer.”

“he was pretty grouchy, wasn’t he?”

that makes you snort. “grouchy is an understatement.”

your best friend laughs at that, before sighing—obviously unperturbed. then, she shoots you a look.

you frown. “what?”

“he was cute, though, wasn’t he?”

you feel your eyebrows furrow at the curveball of a question. “who?”

she rolls her eyes. “you know. bakugou.”

and when you only stare at her, confused: “the drummer? ‘kacchan’?”

“oh.”

“yeah, oh. he kept on looking at you, too.”

“more like scowling, but okay.”

“so you do admit,” she grins devilishly, leaning across the table and into you, “that he was looking at you.”

“what else was there to look at?” you retort, suddenly defensive. “it was just you and me up there.”

that grants you a dismissive wave of a hand, and you almost heave a sigh of relief when she leans back, although you should’ve known better that she wouldn’t let it go that easily. “you know, kaminari says he’s single.”

“and that’s any of my concern because..?”

“because!” she exclaims, placing her hands flat on the round table with a loud thud, “they say he’s into smart girls, and you’re smart. and single to boot.”

“you flatter me,” you quip humorlessly, before taking a sip of your go-to drink. “but i’ll pass. i’m way too busy to have a fling, and if i weren’t, i wouldn’t want it to be with a guy whose form of ‘hello’ is a scowl.”

“you say that now,” she says coolly without missing a beat, checking her perfectly manicured nails, “but wait until you have to choose between your vibrator and a handsome drummer’s dick.”

you snort. “i’ll take my vibrator, thanks.”

shaking your head with a chuckle, you turn back to your drink, but pause when you catch your best friend looking past your shoulder—completely frozen, the color having drained from her face as if she’s just seen a ghost.

“what?” you ask her instinctively, suddenly alarmed, and you quickly glance behind you.

only to come face-to-face with no other than the scowler.

a/n. i don't think i have to define concert here since i went with the most common definition lol. this was definitely just an excuse to write drummer!bakugou.

see my other entries here: writing game ✍🏼

[rekino2114]

How would Natsuki and Sayori (ddlc) react to their bf suddenly snuggling up to them while complaining about how cold he is.

(Could you also add genderbend Mahito (jjk) please? Since I saw you doing genderbend Gojo and Sukuna once)

Snuggling up to Natsuki, sayori, and fem!mahito because it's cold

A/n:it's really ironic of me to do this post in summer while It's super hot outside and I'm burning

Natsuki (ddlc)

She instantly blushes and tries her best to pull you away.....failing both because she's really not strong and also because even if she'll never admit it she's actually not that bothered by it

Once you explain that It's cold, she'll reluctantly let you cuddle up to her still blushing and with a frown on her face but not saying anything

Eventually, when you cuddle for long enough, she'll end up snuggling up to you with her face on your chest if you enquire as to why she'll blush even more call you an idiot and tell you that it's only fair because of what you did and that she's cold too

"A-ah! Y/n, what the heck are you doing?"

"Hm? What do you mean? I'm just cuddling you"

"Yeah! Why?"

"Do I really need a reason?"

"For cuddling me out of nowhere? Yeah"

"It's just cold, is that a good enough reason to cuddle my girlfriend"

[Natsuki narrows her eyes at you but sighs and lays her head on your chest now fully cuddling with you]

"........I guess it's fine if you don't bother me too much"

"Really? Cause you seem to be enjoying ot quite a bit now"

"S-shut up!"

Sayori (ddlc)

She's basically the opposite of natsuki. Sayori is actually usually the one who randomly cuddles up to you at any time she can but she's definitely not complaining if you do that

The moment you complain about being cold she'll make a determined face and wrap her arm around you (to the best of her abilities which is.....not a lot since you're larger than her) and try to be the best cuddling partner she can by warding off the cold

When she realizes that's not working that much she brings a blanket and covers both of you with it until you fall asleep cuddling

"Oh baby what's up with the sudden affection? Not that I'm complaining, you know I love cuddling more than most things in the world"

"Sorry I'm just cold and you're pretty warm, do you mind cuddling?"

[Sayori gasps dramatically and wraps her arms around you]

"You're cold!? Really!? How could I have let that happen?"

"Wha-"

"Don't worry y/n I'd never let the cold be a bother to my amazing boyfriend! I'll protect you from the cruel frost!"

[You blink before giggling and kissing her cheek and nuzzling into her]

"You're the best sayori, I love you"

"........thank you that actually means a lot to me"

Fem!mahito (jjk)

I know I have previously stated that I wouldn't write for fem!mahito but I changed my mind I actually can. Only with a curse reader though. However I still will never write for a fem!midori

She laughs and hugs you back gladly. She doesn't really know why you're doing it but mahito is really clingy in general and loves cuddling so she doesn't need a reason to

When you tell her you're cold she's a bit confused, she didn't actually know curses could get cold but she's not complaining if it means you want to cuddle her

She definitely makes some jokes about transforming your body to make you handle the cold better like giving you fur but she wouldn't actually do that if you don't want to. However she's more than happy to change her own body to make herself softer or warmer for cuddles

"Hm? Oh what's wrong y/n? Do you need something?"

"I just wanna cuddle it's cold here and you're kinda warm"

"Oh really? I never realized we could feel cold, especially not with jogo around"

"Huh you're right that's weird.....but I don't care, I just want warm cuddles"

[Mahito suddenly extends her arms and completely wraps them around you, laying your head on her chest that you swore she increased the size of to make it comfier]

"Of course~ I'll give you the best and warmest cuddles there are, y'know I also increased my body temperature so you can use me as an actual heater"

".....thanks, this is nice"

"You're welcome, you know I can use my powers to do way more than torture our enemies, even with how fun that is I like using them to make you happy too"

[jezuschristsuperstar]

This is going to be my last post about it. And I’m going to hold your hands when I say this- squeeze them lovingly and all: Sydcarmy is never going to happen. Almost everything that they have said about this show off screen has been true (groundhog day, these two contemplating breaking cycles, Carmy not quite getting back with Claire- even though their ending implies that they will very soon) so they were right about there being nothing between these two lol. We weren’t duped or swindled: we actively refused to listen. And perhaps it was because of the chemistry between the two main characters. But if you were here before season 2, Ayo was relentlessly mean about the idea of the ship- and then over time that became her actively making fun of it by saying shit like they’re getting married. To her now in show saying that interpreting their dynamic as romance is childish. Even Jeremy himself has constantly said that there is no romantic implications between their characters, and he spoils EVERYTHING. All that… all what we were witnessing, was just the intensity of their chemistry- and that speaks volumes. It’s a shame we will never see it go any further.

And anyways… seeing the BULLSHIT that Sydney went through this season. Her finally realising that she wants to do this with him in spite of it all, just to be left high and dry???? And yes, Carmy leaving is the best thing for him to do and everything was already pointing in this direction, the funeral set up an exit (whether for the entire restaurant or him) perfectly. But if you also actually care for Syd as a character, you’d understand that what he did to her was fucked and near evil (over exaggeration but it still wasn’t good). Yes the gesture is loving- it shows that he respects her, trusts her, and loves her enough to pass on something so sentimental and special to her. HOWEVER, this is like your elder sibling banging up a toy he was supposed to pass down to you and giving it to you with a leg missing, and eye missing, and it’s fingers all chewed up. The restaurant is well run down, they still don’t have the money for it- he is aware of her fear of failure and insecurity that stems from her business failing and plunging her into financial ruin. He knows how fucked her credit is, but proceeds to do it anyway. And it’s because of that that she can’t even be happy about it. Now she can’t even trust him to help them into the clear because he has never really been there for her WHEN IT COUNTS. Why would she trust him to be there for her now? And seeing all this, beyond all their cuteness. The literal crux of their relationship- why would I want Sydcarmy to happen? It would ruin her, because Carmy is not yet in that place to be what she needs. Carmy is not yet HER peace, even if he is her family. Ayo was right when she jokingly said Sydcarmy can happen perhaps in like the fifth or sixth season/ in a world where they are both therapised and both working towards improving their mental health, but it’s television- who would really want to see all that happen only for them to get to that point? The show (although it has now seemed to also forget this fact- seriously? Deducing Tina’s arc to a fucking pasta dish, Storer I will BEAT YOU. There is no reason for good story to solely come from a special episode) is about other people too.

I do feel like there will be a fifth season- because that didn’t feel like an open ending. Or at least is wasn’t on par with the one that we saw in the first season (when the writing was good and the direction was good and the story was compelling and yada yada yadaaaaa). But if it does happen, I really don’t expect for there to be romantic sydcarmy. Just platonic and messy sydcarmy, which is a sexy dynamic within itself. And if I do end up being wrong about this, I still do feel they will pull a ‘clairecarmy’ in the sense that their relationship will be open for interpretation/ there is a heavy implication that they will go there with their relationship off screen.

It’s unfortunate but what can we do at this point. Still engage in fanon, keep on enjoying the fics- however, if you are still in the line for canon sydcarmy, I beg of you… please please step out in the name of your sanity. Because it’s like repeatedly touching a hot stove even when you are told not to lol. IT IS AN ACT OF SELF HARM. And crashing out over this next year after two consecutive years of BULLSHIT will only make you look stupid.

[somewheres-woods]

if the human were to spar with Auhta and somehow managed to pin him would he either get embarrassed (unlikely) or profess his love (not sure about that one) or would it be a secret third option? 🤔

Also does radiant might still dislike Auhta even after she said he'd be an elite one day? I just read that and wanted to know.

Amazing work btw, I refresh your page often.

Oh, honey, it's very unlikely that you'll pin a 7'10" tall brick house of a yautja... the only reason you'd be able to is if he's letting you. Which he would, seeing as he's pretty playful, he'll let you win a few times. But it's very obvious that he's letting you win, so it takes from the feeling of victory when he trills from beneath you.

However, if you did manage to actually take him down, he is beyond impressed! Will likely grab onto your shoulders and shake you with excitement, hoping you can teach him some things as well. Or trapping you in a bear hug if you did an exceptional job of defeating him.

Radiant-Might doesn't necessarily dislike Auhta. It's just that she's old and doesn't want a bunch of Youngbloods running around in her cave. That's why she chased him off. Other than that, she just sees him as a loud brat who's both mildly entertaining by her standards and has spades of potential.

And thank you! That's so sweet! I'm really glad to hear that people refresh my page to see updates, lol! I will be pretty busy these next few weeks, so I may not upload as often or at all for a bit... but I'll definitely try to write longer fics in my downtime! Next up on the chopping block is part two for Starboy and Ve'theal's story, which will be a very long one chapter story!

[femsolid]

I don’t know if you’ve already answered this, but I saw your reading count post recently. Can you share what books you’ve read and which you recommend? Whether radical feminism related or not.

With pleasure!

These are some of the books I've read this year. All books written by women. From best to worse.

5/5 books

I Who Have Never Known Men is a mysterious story about a girl who's been locked up underground her entire life and doesn't know why. She's caged with other women, and they're all guarded by men who refuse to speak, for years. It's the story of their escape, leading to even more questions. I often found myself wondering what I would do if I were in their shoes. Dark. Very intriguing. Well written.

Hung Jury is the diary of a female juror on one of the most famous American murder case. When it came to the verdict, the jury ended up divided by sex, because the male jurors were sexist and homophobic, resulting in a mistrial and the public's fury. It was interesting to learn how the justice system works from the inside, especially how it is to be a jury. The writing is light-hearted despite the subject, which emphasize the fact that juries are just... people.

Woman At Point Zero is the true story of a woman sentenced to death for killing a man, as reported by the journalist she confided in. As you read it, you realize that you don't know which man she's going to kill, because her entire life has been mapped out by misogyny and betrayal. She concluded that men can't be trusted.

One Child is the true story of an elementary school teacher who welcomes a six years old girl, who was trialed for attempted murder, in her class. The girl is smart, capable of extreme violence and also very scared of adults. It's a very moving book, not for the faint-hearted, that promotes the not so popular idea... that children are people, too.

French books: Far-Ouest and Une Belle Vie. Highly recommend them to my french readers!

4/5 books

The Left Hand of Darkness is a sci-fi book about a man joining a planet where people are all hermaphrodites. As an intruder from outer-space, he doesn't fit in with their political intrigues and ends up in deadly trouble. It's probably the book that was most recommended to me when I asked for book suggestions on my blog. Clearly a popular one. I liked it a lot, read it in one day, but I was left wanting for some romance because it would have been interesting with the hermaphroditism.

Not So Quiet... is the story of a woman working as an ambulance driver during the first world war. It tells her everyday life; picking up dying soldiers, avoiding bombs and accidents as she drives in the dark, being mistreated by her captain, cleaning blood and vomit, petty fights between her coworkers, not being able to wash, the propaganda at home pretending they're having a great time serving their country, her new perception of war as wasteful patriarchal nonsense etc. It was good, the only thing I didn't like was the bullying between women which wasn't really addressed as such.

French book: "Défaire le discours sexiste dans les médias" a feminist book about sexist propaganda in media.

3/5 books

I'm Glad my Mom Died is the autobiography of child actress Jennette McCurdy. It was interesting to learn how children are used in the entertainment industry. I'd always been curious about how it works and what kind of parent lets their kid play roles such as "child beaten to death", "raped child", or "crying child in a concentration camp"... well, they're narcissistic and abusive, is the answer. However, I got bored after a while and actually had a hard time finishing it. Maybe it was a bit repetitive.

The Haunting of Hill House is a book about a group of people hired to stay several nights at a supposed haunted house to uncover evidence of a supernatural presence. It's really more a character study than a horror book. It's not the house that's interesting, it's the main character. However, the book probably suffers from the numerous haunted house movies and shows that have come out since it was written. Nowadays, it feels pretty bland.

I read tome 1 and 2 of the horror manga Adabana (one more to go) and I have mixed feelings about it. It's about a girl who is arrested after confessing to the gruesome murder of another girl. Tome 1 gives us the point of view of the killer and tome 2 the point of view of the victim. Except, the story changes depending on who's telling it, which leads us to discover who lied and what really happened as it progresses. The drawings are gorgeous, I love the style, and the manga is in a bigger format than usual, it's the size of a real book, very pretty. But there are some really graphic scenes of abuse, including sexual abuse, as the story focuses on how men treat girls and make pornography out of it. It felt very gratuitous at times, too long, too vulgar, I was uncomfortable. The author also seems to be holding our hand a little too much while telling the story. Some things don't need to be spelled out. But I'm intrigued enough to keep reading, so we'll see.

The Housemaid is about a homeless woman desperate for a job who agrees to start working and live at a rich family's house. Only, the housewife is unstable, to say the least, and tries to make her life a living hell. The daughter and the gardener are also strange and not very welcoming. The only normal person is the husband. oR iS hE? I'm giving it a 3/5 because I read it really fast, which means it did the job of entertaining me. But boy was it poorly written! Was it stupid at times! I got so tired of hearing the author fantasize about male protagonists' biceps strong enough to carry heavy boxes and shit. I sent pictures of the most ridiculous lines to my sister all throughout my reading, which made her laugh a lot, eventually she said: "I don't understand, everyone's talking about this book, how can it be this bad?" I think the author publishes one book a year, maybe even several, which explains a lot.

2/5 books

The Vegetarian is a horror book about a mentally ill woman who becomes a vegetarian from one day to the next; her entire personality changes, she becomes withdrawn and no one around her understands what's really going on. The first part of the book is from the point of view of her repulsive boyfriend who is annoyed by her, the second part from her repulsive brother-in-law who just wants to have sex with her, and the third part from her sister, who doesn't understand her. So, as you can imagine, it makes for a compelling read... The book feels like it was written by a man, which is probably why it got so famous and got a Nobel Prize. Every five seconds, you'll hear about the woman's nipples being visible under her shirt. In fact, the female character is relentlessly objectified throughout the book. There's also a really disturbing and graphic depiction of the family dog being tortured, killed and eaten (the book is set in Korea where it's legal to eat dogs) that serves no purpose other than to shock the reader. I'm sure I'll be told that it's deeper than that, that it's a book critical of boring middle class life and principles, or misogyny even, but it just felt like being subjected to the male gaze, and that's not what I want when I read from women. It's a shame because she's a good writer.

1/5

Her Body and Other Parties is a book compiling short stories which are advertised as feminist. They're not. The first story is about a woman who meets a man and has lots of sex with him, described in great details, over and over and over again. There's a ribbon around her neck that he's not allowed to touch. I suppose it represents consent or something. Then she marries him, more descriptions of sucking his penis or walking with his sperm dripping down her leg under her dress at their wedding. She gives birth, the "husband's stitch" happens (title of the story), never talked about ever again, they have a son, she doesn't know about the stitch, her sex life is seemingly not affected, more descriptions of sex, the husband is still curious about the ribbon on her neck, she finally lets him take it off, her head falls off, the end. I guess it was about trust. The second story is a woman describing every sexual partner she's had, male or female, threesomes, whatever, more of the same, for pages. Didn't finish it. The third story isn't a story; the author wrote a fanfic of Law & Order. I'm not joking. She wrote made up synopsis for 272 (272!!!!) Law & Order episodes and published it. It's not "like" Law & Order. It's the actual show with its characters but with made up synopsis for each of the 272 episodes. That's a big chunk of the book... that I didn't read. I decided to give her one last chance and read the story about a woman who wants to get surgery to make her stomach smaller. It was okay, I suppose, but by that point I was still annoyed by the Law & Order bit and decided to stop reading the book anyway.

That's all I can remember right now.

Currently reading: "Le coût de la virilité" (the cost of virility) a french book that examines with great precision how much money we would save if men behaved like women instead of sociopaths.

[beatrice-otter]

Life in the Mid-Century US: a primer for fic writers

I read a lot of MASH fic recently, and while most of it was very good, there were also a ton of inaccuracies about what mid-century America was like. I'm not an expert, but at the same time, I did listen to my parents and grandparents when they talked about what life was like when they were younger. And also, I know what's changed within my lifetime (born in 1982), and quite a lot of things people today take for granted are actually new within my lifetime, and thus not around prior to the 1980s. Now, this is fanfic, and if you don't care about historical accuracy in your fic, that is a fine and valid choice and I salute you. If, however, you do want to at least try to avoid major gaffes, here are things I've noticed that people get wrong a lot: 

Ms.

Nobody used "Ms." as an honorific prior to the 1970s, and it was highly political into the 1990s. Although the term was coined earlier, it was not part of the public consciousness until the publication of Ms. Magazine began in 1972. In the magazine's early years, when they called someone or answered the phone, they had to spell out the title of the magazine and explain it because nobody knew what it was. Before that, you were either a Miss (unmarried) or a Mrs. (married). There was no honorific for women that did not state your marital status. The magazine was highly influential, and people started knowing about and using "Ms.," but in the 70s and 80s, choosing to use it was a political choice, a way of asserting resistance to the dominant culture and adherence to feminist beliefs. I remember up through high school in the late 90s, depending on who you were talking to it could be a bit of a minefield, because "Ms." was very commonly used by then but some conservative women got offended if you used it, and some feminists got offended if you used Mrs/Miss.

Now, the thing is, while Ms. wasn't a formal title, people did not always articulate "Miss" and "Mrs." clearly. Depending on the dialect and situation (and whether or not you knew the marital status of the woman you were talking to) people might drawl or slur it so that it sounded like "Ms." But it was still meant as Miss or Mrs. And even if you pronounce Miss and Mrs. the same, you would write them as Miss and Mrs. unless you were doing really heavy-handed phonetically-written dialect. Like, "Gee, shucks, Miz Mailey, Ah don' reckon Ah kin do that." (In such heavy dialect, it would be spelled "Miz" and not Ms.)

Women's lives were restricted in many ways. Employers and schools were legally allowed to discriminate openly against women until the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (and after it they still discriminated, they just didn't advertise it in job listings). (Fun fact! The addition of "sex" as one of the categories you couldn't discriminate against was a late addition to the bill, designed to stop its passage, which fortunately didn't work.) In most places, women would have trouble opening a bank account in their own name without a man (usually a husband or father) to cosign for them until the 1970s.

There were a lot of places "good" women simply did not go, or didn't go alone. For example, before the 1960s, most women would not go to a bar. A club or dancehall or something upscale, sure, especially with a date or a group of friends. A bar … there were a lot of places where the majority of women in bars were working there, either as waitresses or as sex workers.

This doesn't mean that women didn't have fun; my grandmother spent the late 40s/early 50s dancing until 2 or 3 AM most Friday (and sometimes Saturday) nights. (Sometimes later.) She and a group of friends (men and women) would go to their local dance hall and dance until it closed, and then carpool to the nearest club that was still open, and sometimes to a third depending on how early the second one closed. She also spent a lot of time hanging out with friends at bowling alleys, drinking beer and bowling (this is how she met my grandfather). But I don't know if she ever set foot in a bar in her life, because for her generation, 'nice' women just didn't do that.

Travel:

Up through the 1960s, planes were the province of the rich and famous. Most people, when travelling long distances across America, would take a train or a bus or drive their own car. When travelling across the ocean, most people would take a passenger liner. Even very rich people and movie stars would take the train or ship instead of flying.

Long-distance car travel increased in the 50s and became more common. Among other things, the Interstates were built starting in 1956, making it much easier to navigate across the US when you went places you weren't personally familiar with.

Plane travel also increased, starting in the 1960s but exploding in the 1970s as the size and comfort of airplanes increased while the price per ticket dropped. Wide-body jets like the Boeing 747 could carry many more people per trip than earlier planes could, which meant a dramatic decrease in the price of tickets, which meant ordinary people could afford to fly places starting in the 1970s. The movie "Guess Who's Coming to Dinner?" came out in 1967, and in it a working-class couple flies from one end of California to the other on the spur of the moment. This is an astonishing novelty that is the standard topic of conversation they keep returning to when things get too fraught.

Car safety:

Cars were much different than today. Seatbelts did not come standard in most US cars until the 1960s, when the federal government required them. There was a series of ad campaigns starting in the 1960s encouraging people to buckle up. Even then, many people didn't actually use seatbelts, and when laws requiring people to wear their seatbelts started being enacted by states in the 1980s there was a lot of grumbling and pushback about "having to wear a seatbelt" being an unreasonable intrusion into peoples' lives.

I know a woman who was a poor single mother in the late 1970s. She had two kids, and drove a then-20-year-old car (i.e. made in the 1950s) that didn't have seatbelts. The two kids would sit in the front passenger seat next to her, and any time she had to jam on the brakes unexpectedly she would throw out her hand to catch them if they slid forward. I know this because this reflex got written deep in her brain and she will still sometimes throw out a hand if she has to brake suddenly.

Kids sat in the front seat all the time. Airbags didn't become standard in cars until the same safety-push in the 1980s that got states to require using a seatbelt! No airbags=no reason short people can't ride up front. If there was an adult passenger they got the front passenger seat and the kids were in the back, but if the only adult was the driver, the kids would usually sit in the front. You know what else became a Thing in the 1980s? Car seats for children! Because if you have to be buckled in, and you have a three-point safety belt, it's going to be dangerous for a small child, so you need a special seat for the child to protect them, and voila, the carseat was born.

On a less serious note, for the first half of the century cars were not equipped with a way to heat the cabin. There were a variety of aftermarket add-ons and optional features, of varying quality. GM was the first auto maker in the US to include a heater as a standard amenity in every car they made, starting in 1962. This expanded to all automakers in 1968 when federal safety standards started requiring windshield defrosting, which required a heater.

Money and credit:

Credit cards were not common until the 1980s. They existed before that, but most people didn't have them—they tended to be used by business executives and people like that, for the first several decades they existed. Instead, people paid most things by cash or check. It was fairly common for people to carry around large sums in cash for just that reason. Businesses could (and did) refuse to take a check for any reason, because just having a checkbook didn't mean you had the money in the bank to cover that purchase, and (unlike with a credit card) if you didn't have the money in your account, the bank wouldn't pay the store and the check would "bounce." Naturally, women, people of color, visibly queer people, and people from out of town were the most likely to get businesses just randomly deciding not to take their checks.

People without credit cards did still have access to credit, however! The most common type was store credit. That is, they would have an account with the store they were buying from and when the purchased something on credit they would then have a monthly bill to the store until it was paid off. Nicole Rudolph has a great video about the history of store credit and credit cards (focusing on how it affected women, specifically).

When people did have credit cards, they were a lot more cumbersome to use than today. There were no chips, and not even any magnetic stripes. The cards would be embossed with your name and credit card number, and the business would have a small metal and plastic device called an imprinter that the card would be fitted into. (The device would have a metal plate with the business name embossed on it.) A three-layer carbon-copy receipt would be filled out by hand, signed by the purchaser, and place on top of the card in the imprinter. Then the imprinting arm would be dragged across the top of the receipt and credit card, imprinting the name and number from the card (and the business's info) into the carbon paper of the receipt. The customer would get the top copy of the receipt, the business would keep a copy, and the last copy would be sent to the credit card company who would then pay the business. It was cumbersome, slow, and easily spoofed, which is why a lot of businesses just didn't bother to even take credit cards until the 80s.

Oh, and credit card companies, then as now, take a percentage of every purchase made with a credit card, which is another reason a lot of businesses were slow to accept them and would often have minimum charges. Also, if a business did take credit cards, they might not take all of them, because they had to have an account with the credit card company in question. By the 1980s Visa was the most common, and if a business only took one it would be that; American Express was a lot less common because they took a higher percentage of the purchase.

Alcohol:

American consumption of alcohol has changed over the decades. It was very common through the middle of the 20th Century for people to drink regularly, but less heavily. There were people who had a glass or two of spirits every night; it was common for homes to have a bar with alcohol in various types ready for consumption, though in many homes they didn't actually drink unless there was company. However, there was far less binge drinking. It happened, but it was less common. There was also far less understanding of alcoholism, and far less awareness of it. People that we would today understand as "functional alcoholics" were not really on the radar of society as having a problem. Addiction was seen primarily as a moral issue, not a social issue or a trauma issue or a medical issue. This is still true today, but less universally so.

There was also less awareness of "drunk driving" as a problem. Sure, people drove drunk and sometimes killed people (or themselves) by accident. But this was mostly accepted as a normal tragedy, and just part of life. Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD) was founded in 1980 and grew quickly to prominence in the 80s, with very effective advocacy, advertising, and consciousness-raising. This helped spur a national conversation about alcohol and driving that resulted in laws against drunk driving throughout the nation. The most effective slogan for changing behavior was "Friends Don't Let Friends Drive Drunk," (from the Ad Council, not MADD). See, the first thing that goes when you're drunk or high is judgment. People always think they're less impaired than they actually are, so asking people not to drive when they're drunk is futile, because even people who are absolutely hammered are going to think they're fine. Asking people to intervene in their friends' behavior was more effective, because people want to help and protect their friends and also tend to be more objective about other peoples' level of impairment than they are about their own.

Childcare:

Until the 1970s and the rise of women's lib, childcare centers and daycare centers were rare. Most middle-class and working-class mothers did not work outside the home; only poor mothers and lower-income working-class mothers did so. And they usually couldn't pay for childcare. So there wasn't a demand for daycare in the modern sense. When childcare was needed, it was usually provided by family members or neighbors (because most people had female relatives or neighbors who were home all day) or older children in the family.

There was a much more laissez-faire attitude to childrearing. Most parents expected kids to be out playing with friends all day from the time they were in elementary school. On days they weren't in school, kids might not even come home for meals, instead eating at whatever friend's house they were nearest when mealtime came around. Girls were more likely to be kept close to home so they could help with chores, but even girls were given a great deal of freedom. Most adults in the neighborhood would keep an eye out for the kids and intervene if they were doing something really bad or really dangerous, but for the most part the kids were left alone to play however they wanted. Sometimes this was a good thing (it allowed kids to develop independence, problem solving skills, and just generally figuring out how to live without their parents breathing down their necks) and sometimes it was a bad thing (if the kids got into danger over their heads, or if the parents used this as an excuse to neglect their children). Freedom to explore and learn and grow is great. Not being there to help when your kids really do need help is not.

CN: child abuse

Physical punishment was the norm, including using things like belts, wooden spoons, and fly swatters to spank children. This was not considered child abuse unless it was extreme, or if it left scars, or if the child was beaten anywhere other than the buttocks. Not everyone used physical punishment, but most did, and there was almost no awareness of other means of enforcing boundaries and modifying behavior. In the 70s research started coming out that hurting children as a form of "discipline" was not very effective and often caused long-term psychological damage. While some embraced this, most people did not. In the first place, it would require them to admit the damage they had from the "discipline" their parents inflicted on them, and also require them to admit that (despite meaning well) they were hurting their kids. In the second place, the advocates of no-physical-punishments didn't often have very good advice for how to enforce boundaries and discipline in children without hurting them. There was also a faction of young left-wing parents in the 1970s who had an extreme "anything goes!" approach to parenting, believing that setting any boundaries or expectations or structure was harmful for kids. They also did damage to their kids, because children need boundaries and structure both for protection and as a guide for growth. Unfortunately, they were an excuse for parents who believed in physical discipline to dismiss all the research as merely the product of people who believed children should not have boundaries or structure.

Communications:

Obviously, they didn't have the internet or cell phones! But even the way people used landlines was much different. In the early part of the 20th Century, most phones were on a "party line." That is, each street would have one phone line, and every home on the block (that had a phone) would share the same line. Only one house could be making a phone call at a time. Anybody on the block who picked up the phone and listened could hear whatever phone call was happening at that moment. While listening in on other peoples' conversations was considered rude, nosy people still did it. Each house would have a different pattern of rings so that you could tell by listening to the phone ring which house a particular call was for. They did this because it was a lot cheaper than each house having its own dedicated connection, especially in rural areas. This was standard up through the 1980s in many places. People who lived in cities often had individual lines in the 60s, but in rural areas party lines were not replaced until technology changes in the 80s automated a lot of things. The last party lines in the US were not replaced until the early 2000s. Income level also matters; even in the early days, wealthy people could pay to get private phone lines instead of party lines.

On a party line, you can never be 100% sure your phone conversation is not being overheard by a nosy neighbor. Usually, you could hear a click or other background noise when they picked up the phone, but not always; and if they got to the phone and picked it up before you did, there wasn't anything to hear. In addition, most houses had only one phone, installed in a central place where it was accessible to everyone. Even if your neighbors weren't listening in, the operator might be, if it was a slow day. As you can imagine, this meant that most people didn't even try to have private or confidential conversations over the phone. If you wanted to talk about something private, you did it in person or in a letter. (Tampering with a physical letter, once it has been handed over to the post office, is a federal crime.)

The other thing about phones before cell phones and the internet was that long distance was a big deal. Every phone call, before the automated telephone exchange became common in the 70s and 80s, required an operator to manually connect the call. Every town or local area had an exchange. (In cities, big enough buildings sometimes had their own operator.) If you were calling someone in another town—even the town next door!—that required more people. Your operator would call the operator in the town you were calling, and they would connect the call. It took time and people power, and that means money. Also, the further your call was going, the more time it took on the line. Before fiber-optic cables were developed, the number of calls any one line could handle at any one time was sharply limited. Scarce resources tend to cost more, and long-distance calls used up more resources. Calls were divided up into three categories: local, long-distance, and (later) international. Local calls were fairly cheap; you could talk on a local call for hours relatively inexpensively (although a long call might annoy the others in your house or on your party line, as it meant they couldn't send or receive calls).

Long distance calls were different. They were very expensive, and charged by the minute. And the earlier you go in the century, the lower the audio quality would be, and the harder and more expensive (and thus rare) they were. In his 1986 album "Graceland" Paul Simon has a song called "The Boy in the Bubble" which is all about the technological achievements of the 20th century (positive and negative) and their effects on people. The chorus starts "These are the days of miracle and wonder/This is the long distance call."

Usually, "local" meant your town and the towns nearest you (perhaps every town in your county) and "long distance" was everything outside of that. It was expensive enough that even middle and upper-middle-class people didn't call long-distance very often, and when they did, they certainly didn't stay on the line for long conversations. If you wanted to communicate with someone who lived far away, you wrote letters. The price of long distance calls decreased over time relative to the cost of living, but even in the 90s a long distance call was expensive enough that I always thought twice before placing one. (One of the major drivers for cell phone usage in the early 2000s was the fact that some cell phone plans charged the same for long distance as they did for local calls.) As for international calls, those were extremely expensive. Each individual long distance or international call would be a line item on your phone bill for the next month. But in all of this, remember that usually you got charged to make calls but not to receive them. That is, if you picked up the phone and dialed your friend in the next state over and talked for two minutes, the call would be on your phone bill, not your friend's phone bill.

If you wanted to call someone and you didn't have the money but they did, you could place a collect call. You would dial the operator and tell them you wanted to place a collect call, that is, a call where the charges were paid not by the person initiating the call but by the person who received it. This was more expensive than a regular call. The operator would connect the call, and ask the person if they wanted to accept the charges (that is, were they willing to pay for the call). If they said yes, the call went on their phone bill. If they said no, the operator ended the call and nobody paid for it. This meant that if you were poor and you needed to signal something, you could do it by placing a collect call that you knew was going to be rejected. So, for example, if you had an abusive husband and needed a friend to come pick you up in an emergency, you could arrange with them ahead of time that if you called collect they needed to come pick you up. In the days of in-person operators, you couldn't do this too often because they would notice. But once automated switchboards came into common use in the 1980s, you could use collect calls for lots of things on a regular basis. You'd place a collect call, the system would dial it, when the person picked up the system would ask you to say your name so they'd know who was calling and could decide whether to accept charges … but there wasn't a real person listening, so you could say something besides your name, as long as it was quick. Like, "Practice is over, time to come pick me up."

So what did you do if you were out and about and needed to make a call? Well, if you were at a friend's house or a business and the call was local, you might ask to use their phone. Or you could use a payphone! Payphones were common in urban areas, and they were coin operated. You could either pay for time as you went, or you could place a collect call. This is where the fake-collect-call to pass on messages was most useful.

Landline phones did not need a power cord. The cable that carried the audio sound also carried a small electric charge—it had to, in order to ring the bell in the phone so you would know when you were being called. This literally saved lives, because even when the power was out the phones still worked. Today the old-style analog audio cables are gone in the US. Even if you have an old-style phone that jacks into an old-style port, everything on the phone company's side is VOIP (Voice Over IP), which sends sound through the internet instead of dedicated phone lines. It's a lot cheaper this way, because they're only maintaining one set of cables. But it means that when the power goes out and the cell phone towers get overloaded (for instance, in a natural disaster), all phone service goes down … which did not happen in the 20th Century.

Leftist terms and concepts

Many of the terms and concepts common in liberal spaces these days did not even exist until the 1970s or 1980s and weren't really part of common consciousness until later. Intersectionalism? The term was coined by Dr. Kimberlé Crenshaw in the 1989 and was an obscure legal theory until the early 2000s. Colonialism was a little earlier, being first written about in the 1960s and popularized by Edward Said in his 1978 book Orientalism. But when I say "popularized" I don't mean that everybody knew what it was in the sense that we understand the term today, I mean "academic left-wing people in the 80s knew what it was."

Even the social-justice ideas that did exist tended not to be very well known outside of small activist communities. For the vast majority of Americans, there simply wasn't a way to access the communities and resources that talked about such ideas. Even if it got published, your local bookstore or library probably wouldn't carry it because it wouldn't sell well enough or be checked out often enough, and they certainly weren't putting it in newspapers and on television. The House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) had an extreme chilling effect, but even besides that, without the internet, it was just harder to connect and share information. That's why "consciousness-raising" was such a big thing in the 1960s, especially in feminist circles. Groups of people getting together and talking about problems that they had all experienced individually but which society decreed were "normal" or "right" or simply ignored. The idea was that people would go "oh, I didn't realize, but you're right, that is messed up!" and break out of the dominant cultural paradigm. But unless you were already leftist-leaning, and in an area that had a lot of leftists (like a big city or a college/university), you wouldn't have much access to such things.

So what, you may ask, did they know about? What would you expect the average person on the street (especially the average white person) to know? What signals that they are good/liberal in that context? The problem for the author who is trying to be historically accurate is that quite a lot of the rhetoric that is currently right-wing rhetoric on the subject of race and gender and sexuality was actually left-wing in the 60s and 70s. That's how far the conversation has moved.

If you have specific concepts or terms for various ideologies that you want your character to know, or you want to check what they would realistically have known about, the best place to check is Google Ngrams (books.google.com/ngrams/). Google Ngrams has the text of the vast majority of books published in the 20th Century in its database, and it will tell you how common a particular word (or series of words) were over time.

Ad Council

The Ad Council is an American non-profit founded in 1942 to produce, distribute, and promote public service announcements on behalf of other organizations (usually either charities, nongovernmental organizations, or the US Government). And they're really good at what they do; they have changed the conversation on a bunch of issues, over the years. Looking at a list of their influential campaigns can tell you a lot about public awareness of issues and what was going on culturally at any one time. Ad Council slogans include: "Only you can prevent forest fires!," "Friends don't let friends drive drunk," "Loose lips sink ships," "A mind is a terrible thing to waste" (encouraging people to give to scholarship funds), and many others. Some of their campaigns have been great forces for good. At other times, they've been a government propaganda machine. But they are a useful barometer of mainstream American awareness of various issues. Looking at the wiki page to see what campaigns they've run in various eras can give you an idea of what issues were in the public consciousness.

Like many public service announcements, the Ad Council doesn't usually pay for airtime on radio and TV. Instead, their pieces are given out to stations to use whenever they have unsold commercial time. So, for example, if there are eight commercial slots during a half-hour program, and the station only has seven commercials sold, they'll put in an Ad Council PSA for the eighth slot. This means the Ad Council doesn't control when their stuff is aired.

Entertainment

There were far fewer forms of entertainment at your finger tips. There were movies, radio, and television, of course, but there were far fewer channels. For television, nationwide there were three for-profit TV networks (ABC, NBC, CBS) and one non-profit network (PBS, launched in 1970). Each area would have local affiliate stations, which broadcast content from the network they belonged to, plus maybe a bit of original content if it was a big station. Most stations would have a half hour of nightly news twice an evening; later in the 20th century that changed to an hour long nightly news show. If you wanted any news more in-depth than what you could get in a half-hour broadcast, you read the newspaper.

There were books and albums, but the selection was far smaller unless you were in an area with enough population density to have specialty stores, or were ordering from a catalog. Unlike digital distribution, physical items take space to store and display and sell. Physical stores are limited in the amount of merchandise they can offer, and can't afford to keep anything in stock that will not sell reasonably quickly. Which means that it has to appeal to the broadest demographic. It doesn't matter if there are 100,000 people in the US who would be thrilled to buy a book with a certain theme if they are spread out evenly across the US, because there won't be enough of them in any one city to form the customer base for a store to cater to. Specialty printing presses did exist, which sold mostly by catalog and through niche shops in large cities, but there were far fewer than there are today. When a book or album came out, it would be in the stores for about a year, and then it would disappear, never to be seen again. Only extremely popular stuff would be reprinted, simply because of shelf space. If your favorite record broke or got scratched, you could probably only replace it if you were lucky enough to find one in a second-hand store.

Blue Laws

Most states had laws limiting what businesses could be open on Sundays. Most stores, for example, were not permitted to be open on Sundays. Restaurants and hotels, yes; shops and bars, no. For this reason, it was common in many areas for people to go visiting on Sunday afternoons—there wasn't much you could do besides go to your friends' houses and hang out. Blue laws started being repealed in the 80s; some are still on the books in some states.

Given the narrower range of entertainment options in general, and especially on Sundays, people spent a lot more time inviting friends over. Lots of people had standing card games, where a group of friends would meet regularly at someone's house for dinner and cards. Sometimes these groups would be mixed-gender, sometimes not. Mixed-gender card parties were usually in the evenings or on weekends, as were men's card parties, because men worked during the day. Women's card parties (at least for middle and upper class women) were usually during the day because they didn't work outside the home. A wide variety of games were played (bridge, poker, canasta, whist, pinochle, hearts, etc., etc.) but poker was usually reserved for male-only card games. Playing basic board games like Sorry and Life and Scrabble was also quite a common activity either for children or for the whole family.

Police

There was a certain ambivalence to the police in popular culture; the idea of cops as the "thin blue line" protecting Good People from "thugs" didn't become dominant until the 80s with the sharp rise in violence, drug use, and dogwhistle politics. This combined with the New Jim Crow efforts to criminalize people of color while valorizing police in the public consciousness. Prior to this point, cops were only sometimes portrayed positively in popular culture. There were good cops, bad cops, folksy-down-home cops, corrupt cops, lazy cops, a whole gamut. For every Dragnet (TV show about police detectives) there was a Smokey and the Bandit (movie about trucks/races and smuggling where cops are ineffective buffoon villains). They were not yet central to the culture wars.

In addition, US police forces had not yet begun their march to militarization and huge budgets. SWAT teams (Special Weapons and Tactics) were only created in the late 1960s in response to a series of sniping incidents against civilians. They were quite rare, initially, and only found in very large cities. They did not become part of the common consciousness until the 80s. Police did not begin to equip themselves with military surplus until after 9/11. A beat cop in the 50s would have a sidearm, and possibly a shotgun in the trunk of his car; the most backup he could call would be a squad of cops similarly armed (but he might not have a radio to call them with; he might have to stop and ask to use someone's phone). Obviously, a group of men with shotguns and handguns can do a lot of damage, but still less than the same group of men with body armor, riot shields, tear gas, and heavier weapons.

These are just a few of the things that have changed in the last fifty years. And, of course, I'm only one person and might have got things wrong. Let me know if you see things I missed.

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[rooksamoris]

FALLING IN LOVE MID-SPARRING !!

💞 — in which silver realizes he is down-bad for you mid sparring match 💞 — silver vanrouge x reader. 💞 — gender neutral reader. 1k words. warnings: none. this was fun to write!! im liking silver more and more each day <3

He took a step back, holding up his blade in a defensive position, his brows furrowed and his posture practically perfect. Silver had been trained with a sword for the greater half of his life after all, and if Lilia's teaching taught him anything, it was to always be in an attack position. He stepped to the side as you did, circling as he looked for the weakest part of your defenses.

This became a routine since it had become apparent that you were well acquainted with the sword. Of course, your proficiency was not at Silver's level, however you were quite creative and you knew how to catch him off guard. It was great training for his reflexes, and it was great training for you as well. 

Plus, he seemed to enjoy your company. You were good-natured. And you enjoyed his company, for much more complex reasons that had to do with the racing of your heart in his presence. You liked him a lot, but you kept your feelings to yourself, lest you make things awkward. You would hate for these sparring sessions to become a thing of the past since you adored his presence so much. And his voice was just so dreamy whenever he gave you tips... not to mention his arms, or those brief moments where he would guide your arms and hands into the proper positions.

Your swords clashed again when you lunged forward and he parried. You were quite close to him now and you took a moment to admire that determined furrow in his silver brows. He was so effortlessly pretty, it was unfair, “I managed to make you sweat this time, huh?”

Silver pushed you back with his blade, before pointing his sword at you, “You’re improving. I’m glad that these sparring matches are useful to us both,” he said, before letting his gaze drift over your stance. Your legs were open for an attack.

He quickly lowered himself to kick your legs and make you lose balance, but you were quicker, jumping back before he could get you. It seemed that trick would no longer work on you, “Falling back on old tricks, I see,” you grinned.

Silver stood, taking a step back from you again and waiting on the defensive for your next attack. The knight had quite the rigid style of fighting. There were rules and stances which he memorized with many calluses and blisters on his pretty hands to show for it. He wielded his sword with ease, following an ancient code formed by hundreds of fighters before him. When you lunged forward, he parried your attack and gave a quick riposte. His blocks were quick and skilled, and his deflections were nearly perfect. 

You were more creative with your blade. You wielded it like a painter would wield a brush, quick and confident strokes to create the image you most desire. You had the capacity to be clumsy at times, but you were clever and artistic about your attacks. You had the ability to catch him off guard. As you did now, with your captivating style.

Woah, did you always have an angel’s halo over your head and sparkles surrounding you?

You caught the distracted look on his face and went in with a quick chop, and just as you expected, he dodged with his right leg taking the first step back giving you his left to kick down. He fell back with a soft thump.

This brought a grin of victory to your face and you loomed over him, bending forward and showing your teeth with your smile, tilting your head in a way that caught his eyes.

Why in the world was his heart racing so quickly? He felt a heat rush up to his cheeks as he gazed up at your bright face. It really was like the clouds seemed to part just for the most perfect rays of sunlight to meet your face, causing it to shimmer with the sweat that glistened on your face. You had your hand on your hips in that silly pose you did whenever you were happy with yourself or the outcome of things. By the Seven, he was whipped. Silver felt a painful throbbing in his heart; your name was being carved along the inside of it, and he did not know how to stop the dagger which cut him.

“Huh? Silver? Are you okay? Ah—did you hurt your head?” you asked, suddenly becoming concerned. 

You were so cute. He frowned and took the hand you offered, shaking his head, “Merely caught off guard. My apologies… but I would like to take a break.”

“Don’t worry about it, Silver. I was getting tired too.”

You both went to sit at a nearby bench after Silver properly stored your weapons. He took his water bottle from your hands and wished for a moment that it was his face your palms were cupping. 

He was unaccustomed to these thoughts. Most days his mind was filled with the tasks that needed to be completed. Now he was thinking of things like the many times he straddled you or loomed over you during your sparring matches, or the times your pretty lips would be tugged into the sweetest smile. How badly he wanted to kiss them and feel them smile against his. He could only faintly hear whatever words were spilling from your lips, something about Grim and the poor state of Ramshackle. 

“Oh, and then— woah, Silver, your face is red!” you exclaimed, noticing he finished his water bottle. You frowned and held yours up to his lips, “You need to drink up.”

His blush only deepened. You wanted his lips to touch the same bottle you just drank from. Too gentlemanly to decline, he took a sip and then looked away, “Thank you…” he trailed off. This was bad. 

Silver stood and bowed his head, hand on his chest, “Excuse me. I must… go discuss something with Lilia.”

©rooksamoris 2025. do not steal or translate my work!

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[blockednddeleted]

you know, up until this point, i was never really a fan of jax.

in fact, i actually really hated him. despised him. but the recent ep has got me thinking and i feel differently about him now.

thoughts below but tl;dr -> I have more interest in Jax as a character now because this ep showed that there is more to his asshole bullshit than i had previously thought. he's still an asshole, but that's the point.

As I said before, I really really didn't like Jax. Like at all. Not even a tiny bit.

It's not that I can't appreciate the asshole archetype. I was actually surprised to find I didn't like him when I first watched through the episodes. I usually like characters who have a bite to them, jagged, jaded and thorny. However, there is a limit to my enjoyment of them when they bully other characters. Especially when said characters are sympathetic like Gangle. To me, that crosses a line. (I would say when characters are undeserving of the treatment but, despite the meaning of that being obvious, the truth of the matter is that no one deserves to be bullied - which huh, what an interesting thought actually.)

Typing that out just now, I have thoughts clicking together in my brain, I've connected some things.

The cactus has a thorny outside to protect it's soft, juicy inside right? A prickly character type, most times, follows the same logic. Jax, I believe 100% fits this mould.

Jax, like the rest of the gang, is just as stuck there as the rest of them. Assuming that like Pomni, he got trapped entering the circus for the first time and couldn't leave rather than some other alternative like entering the circus with the full knowledge of what doing so would mean. Similar to Pomni and the others, this is a trauma that has also happened to him and that, just like the others, he has had to find a way to cope with.

Not much is known about Jax's life before the circus, something he intentionally obfuscates. This avoidance with sharing about himself along with several other avoidant behaviours he has displayed (e.g. making light of heavy subjects, dodging genuine emotion with humour, his flagrant disregard for the feelings of others whether they be an npc or not, etc.) shows us a character who has a significant issues with any kind of sincerity and vulnerability. Thus, his apathetic posturing via cold disdain, merciless teasing, and even his cruelty is part of an effort (be it consciously or subconsciously) to keep his real self, the vulnerable one, safe from being exposed and harmed. Just like the cactus, he's gotta protect those ooey gooey insides of his. And viewing his antagonistic, often hostile actions through this lens, I feel like I've gained more understanding for his character. Something tells me that the Kreider quote, "if we want the rewards of being loved we have to submit to the mortifying ordeal of being known," would have Jax running for the hills just like in the meme.

I'm realizing i could write a whole goddamn essay about this topic but i don't want this post to spiral out more than it already has. I really meant to write a little blurb when I started, I swear! I want to keep writing but I don't want the original point I was making to be lost so I'll wind it up for now.

There were a few critical moments with Jax in the recent episode that clued me into this train of thought that has shifted my opinion of the character. I still don't like that he bullies the other characters, but from a writing standpoint, it is an excellent character flaw. It can be a difficult dynamic to balance in a story and this episode has me really feeling like the show knows what it's doing.

As for these critical moments i mentioned, they include his reaction to being forced into the maid outfit, and his reaction to Ragatha's comment and her apology later on.

The main significance to these moments being that for a brief few seconds, Jax's mask slips and his genuine emotions are on display. Some, more easy to interpret than others.

But for a character like Jax, who distances himself through maintaining a stubbornly perpetual performance of ironic detachment and cool apathetic indifference - these kinds of moments are devastating. His own emotions betray him.

Take for instance, when Ragatha made the comment about Jax's previous friend who abstracted. And his reaction to this.

The comment brings up the fact that Jax has lost a friend. His only friend, Ragatha's comment would have us believe. Naturally, this would be a sensitive subject for Jax because loss and grief by their very nature are vulnerabilities. Something to which Jax is allergic. Making it worse, it's in front of Pomni, a person new to the circus and someone who wasn't there when the loss happened and thus had no knowledge of it. Being that Jax has kept up his act while interacting with Pomni up until this point, it's safe to say that had Ragatha not mentioned this loss, Jax likely would never have brought it up. So, not only does this comment already touch a pretty dangerous area for Jax, it also puts a crack in the image of himself he was trying to project. That being someone who is completely unattached.

The context in which Ragatha's says this - is at best, an ill-timed quip meant in jest or at worst, a cruel barb meant to sting and harm. Regardless of her intention behind making the comment (and I'm no Ragatha hater, so this isn't to heh, "rag" on her, heh.) - the impact of it is clear. Barely contained rage.

It clear that bringing this up hurt Jax's feelings. Anger is often the secondary emotion that flares up when the primary emotion is sadness. It's a defence mechanism Jax would absolutely jump to. Sadness, pain, fear, grief, these are all are vulnerabilities. Embarrassingly vulnerable for many and certainly not within the zone of cool ironic detachment that's for sure. Thus, the act of making a comment like that thrusts Jax into what is not only uncomfortable territory, but dangerous to his own identity within the circus - the guy who doesn't give a fuck about anything or anyone and just wants to have some fun.

And isn't that interesting? The one constantly cracking jokes at others expense, can't take it when the energy is returned to him. Because the comment Ragatha made is absolutely one I can see Jax making himself. But it's the fact that it puts him in the position of being the butt of the joke, he hates it. And given the shit he's done to Gangle, anyone defending him while hating on Ragatha for this need to look up the definition of a double standard, they may find it illuminating.

Ugh, I say I wanna keep the post short and then I keep going on and on. Alright. Fuck. I'll try and finish in a paragraph or two. (or five)

Zooble's attitude towards Jax this episode is very fitting as it drives this point about Jax not being able to take what he gives to home. (heh) By that I mean, how Zooble turns the tables on him and subjects him to teasing and being the butt of the joke. (e.g. the corn, making him vegan, etc.)

His reaction to being put into the maid outfit is also very telling. Having mentioned his masculinity the scene prior, (in a jest, of course. funny how he's the bunny and not the jester right? Although, he def vibing bugs bunny with that look, the biggest jokester of all time so it's fitting) this is where we see just how upset it makes him to have it (his masculinity) and himself undermined. It's not just that he's been forcibly feminized without his consent and despite his adamant disapproval - it's also because this is an action that is meant to humiliate him that he gets so angry. So angry that even Zooble notes it when they remark on how they have never seen him so angry before.

Jax's style of humour is centred in dominance. So to be "dominated" or subjugated in this way is more than just being embarrassed or humiliated. It's a threat to his sense of power, his sense of self, his perceived role within the group and to a greater extent, his place within the circus. Add to this fact, it was Gangle that came up with the idea of the maid outfit, the one he constantly harasses and bullies, the one he has made his inferior, it makes sense how he could lose his cool so entirely. (I'm saying I can understand it, not that I approve or condone it. Two entirely different things.)

This anger betrays his whole schtick for what it is, a mask. Because if he were truly the uncaring apathetic type, being put into the maid outfit would not have gotten a such a rise out of him. A truly apathetic character would shrug and move on, completely indifferent to the costume. And an ironically detached one might make a joke about it to deflect saying something like, "not a look i usually go for, but a look i'm killing nonetheless." (à la bug bunny's style with in reference to his casual cross-dressing tendency)

The point is, someone who is truly cold and aloof doesn't have any kind of strong emotional responses, much less such visibly expressed ones.

But someone who pretends to be that type does.

And realizing this about Jax, I find myself intrigued. There may be more depth to his character than just the simplistic hater asshole type. There could potentially be something so much more complex and nuanced going on with his character than the usual standard fare we are used to seeing. For the first time, I'm eager to find out and learn more about Jax. And that is a real shift from the hatred I felt for him previously, a huge one.

[bearimba]

Reposting some tags from the lovely @wyvernity because it's stuff I've really been wanting to talk about and this is the perfect chance :)

Fair warning: I was going to try and post some relevant context (esp on the dragon cousins) before I dug into this..... but then that devolved from one simple post to several long detailed ones, half of which are still in drafts. And frankly, I really want to post this right now!! Therefore, I'm going to leave this link and this link as supplemental reading, and if you have any questions, the comments/my dms are wide open :)

Without further ado:

This actually had me doing a double-take because I haven't even been able to write about this yet, but Lance's/Lyra's "overworked Champion who's secretly a menace but pretends to be a good role model while smiling for the camera because if they don't they might have a crisis over their life choices" vs Clair's/Silver's "child prodigy raised to reflect well on their family turned resentful outcast who becomes a gym leader to spite their family's legacy and eventually nutures their respective communities in a way their families couldn't have ever managed" parallels truly do run deep >_>

Anywaysss, you're absolutely right that Silver would have an easier time talking to Clair, not just for the reasons listed (even though you're absolutely spot-on, I don't even need to elaborate on that part because you got it so right), but because Clair isn't afraid to kick Silver's ass when he needs it. Lance tries his best, he really does, but he doesn't always push Silver out of his comfort zone enough for fear of scaring him off. I think I mentioned it in the original tags, but Lance didn't really have any freedom growing up. like. at all. and he recognizes that Silver may have had a similar upbringing, so he tries to give Silver the space to speak up when he wants. Only problem being, Silver is a stubborn brat who would rather die than admit to being a Human Being and wanting Normal Human Things so he just bottles everything up instead. That's when Clair swoops in to roughhouse and trade insults, knock him down a peg or several if he needs, then force a hot chocolate in his hands and wrestle him down for a nice long heart-to-heart. Unsurprisingly, he responds much better to such a direct approach than being treated like he's a flight-risk. Both Lance and Clair are his biggest cheerleaders, but Clair's better at dealing with Silver sometimes because Clair is Silver.

So in the personal canon Lance is about 32ish at the start of HGSS? In his early-mid thirties at least. He joined the E4 at about 20 while running from his "duty" to the Dragon Clan, which was a huge at the time because everyone expected him to replace his grandfather as the clan's next elder. So for him to just up and leave like that? It left the whole clan in hysterics. For Lance, it was a semi-desperate attempt to escape the both the responsibility that had been looming for his shoulders since childhood and the guilt of benefiting from a system that had left his cousin in the dust and severely strained their relationship (this'll and more Lance backstory stuff will be expanded on in the future). However, it left him without any kind of real goal except for training his pokemon and doing League stuff. Then like seven entire years later when he's finally starting to question what he's doing with his life, the previous champion retires without warning (explained below vvv). Since the next League tournament is coming up soon, Lance is offered the title if no challengers manage to beat him. There is one person that comes close but forfeits at the last minute (which is a whole different thing that has to do with Red/Blue's story, but basically, a forfeit equals a win for the opponent) so he becomes Champion completely uncontested and throws himself into the position before he can spiral any longer.

Long story short, by the time Silver rolls around, Lance is deeply in need of a break and also a chance to reassess what he wants to do. Even if he didn't already have complicated feelings on fatherhood (might expand on this more during his headcanon post but basically his dad was badly disabled in a dragon taming accident and couldn't really raise him as a result) and if Silver actually wanted him to take on that role, he recognizes he isn't in a space to give Silver the full support that becoming a surrogate parent would entail. It's not until Silver's been living with him for a while and Lance is retired that he starts to genuinely entertain the idea of calling Silver family even though the kid's functionally been adopted since they nabbed him off the streets like a stray cat.

This is true to an extent, but I should mention that in personal canon, Lance actually had no idea what was going on with Giovanni. See, the Pokemon League as a whole is way more like a sports organization than any kind of government/enforcement institution, so they don't necessarily have the same power or access to information that something like the International Police would. To make matters worse, the extent of what the E4/gym leaders can do depended heavily on the champion (who depended on the higher-ups above them, and so on), and the previous champion was an extremely passive person. Yeah, they probably could have helped out with the Rocket situation since it was all over the news, they just kinda... didn't. Nor did they bother policing their gym leaders very closely.

Overall, the chain of events goes: E4 tensions are high behind the scenes due to clashing between the champion and Agatha (who is a highly driven person and despises the current champion as a result, which in turn affects how Lance handles matters as champion. side note but Lance and Agatha's relationship is so so important to me and I can't wait to dive into it at some point) -> Agatha resigns publicly and aggressively, causing media outbursts and a massive PR maneuver from the Pokemon League to save face -> Giovanni's involvement with Team Rocket becomes public after their fallout, causing another media blowout, and this time, the League makes the champion take the fall -> pressure from both inside and outside the League makes the champion resign -> Lance takes up the mantle.

Lance does greatly regret the fact that he could've done something if the circumstances were different, but instead of dwelling on the past, he uses this opportunity to shift his priorities. He's not done running from his personal problems yet (that would be too easy! :D ), but there's plenty of work to be done in restoring the Pokemon League's reputation, repairing trust within the Indigo League itself while also hiring new gym leaders/E4 members, and reworking the Indigo League's ladder of responsibilities.

Also, he absolutely got his ears yelled off by multiple parties for how he handled the Lake of Rage incident. No matter how capable he is nor how great his experience working with the Interpol, there was no good reason for him to charge headfirst into an enemy base with no backup/barely alerting the proper authorities. More than that, he let some random kid follow him inside only to immediately lose track of her (just the one---he kinda "forgot" to mention Silver's appearance). Even he can admit he was in the wrong on many fronts, but realizing what was going on with the Magikarp left him pissed and the Rockets happened to be a convenient outlet...

creaky old man neck......

Silver doesn't need another father. He's already got one of those, technically, but the man turned out to be a weak, cowardly bastard who couldn't face his own problems let alone raise a child. The way he sees it, there's no need to set himself for more disappointment. He's got a roof over his head and food to eat, and that's far more than he could ever depend on in the last... however many years he'd been living on the streets. Lance and Clair are annoying as hell, but while he's training in the Dragon Den, he doesn't exactly have much room to complain. Not out loud, anyways.

Lance doesn't particularly want to be a dad either. He's already got too much responsibility on his plate as Champion, and this kid clearly needs so much more emotional support than he feels like he can provide. Simply convincing him to move into his guest room was enough of a struggle, and it only really worked because Lance had promised Silver he could "earn" his keep. What the hell is up with that, anyways? He's not sure what Silver's past looks like, and he's not about to go prying, but the bare minimum he can do is make sure he doesn't have to rough it out in the woods anymore. At least Clair seems to be having fun training him...

Clair is more than ready to be an aunt. The other two refuse to admit to caring for each other, but unlike them, she's not afraid of something as stupid as her emotions. The brat's slowly but surely been mellowing out during his training, and her idiot cousin has actually been taking care of himself for once in order to be a "good example." Silver has even caught on to calling Lance "old man" like she does, on account of those ugly-ass reading glasses the all-mighty Champion has to wear, and she couldn't be prouder. Best part is, she doesn't have to spend a dime except to treat the kid every so often! That's a win in her book if ever there was one.

[multiheadcanons]

250 FOLLOWER SPECIAL: AUTHOR’S PICKS BY MERCENARY

scout: scouts paragraph in mercs and hands is still one of what i would call my best descriptive paragraphs to date. and it was almost the switch flip in my brain that made me go yeah… yeah i see how people can find scout hot. he’s not my particular type, but when i start having to describe scout’s physical attributes i do start blushing a little. he can be cute, as a treat! he’s like the guy all my friends think is hot and i nod along. i don’t want to look in fear that i will agree.

soldier: sometimes i do feel like i write soldier very… flat. but soldier definitely shone heads and tails above the other mercs in the mercs and praise post. it was so on the mark for soldier as a character, while effective in the execution of the prompt, it was just lovely to write! and he’s absolutely lovely in it. i felt the crush begin as i wrote that post. love that funky stupid ass american. he’s so unbelievably stupid. i wish i was better at being more creatively idiotic. i have to do jane doe more justice.

pyro: all of the fluffy pieces with pyro make me feral because i’m so desperately touch starved that i throw it all on them and make them the touch starved one. past that, pyro’s paragraph in flirt with the mercs was so tasty and funny to write! it’s an arguably more dynamic way to write pyro, without going immediately to finding their dynamic via violence. pyro is cool! pyro is a generally affable and almost adjusted person. and i think that came through best on that post.

demo: god, i love tavish. which is why i hate that he is still the mercenary that i have the least confident hold on. however, i think that’s what has made demo so fun to write! as i continue to explore tavish as a character, the more i slowly continue to get a hold on him. but my favorite iteration for our belemoman is any of the romantic posts. flirting, go on a date, mercs with a crush, the funny sex number, any of the romantic posts are so yummy. they were yummy to write, and they’re so yummy to go back and read.

heavy: i loved putting heavy in the crossover posts. the lake post, the reality show posts, every single one of those, particularly with heavy, is such a treat to write! it’s really allowed me to open the door for him to get to be funnier, and lighter, and just the fuzzy-feeling-causing do-it-all man he is to me. and while i do enjoy writing heavy in more serious moments (i LOVE writing serious heavy, that is equally as yummy as writing funny heavy), the lighter moments are so enjoyable to write and put him in. he deserves a break sometimes!

engineer: it’s so off color, but engineer’s paragraph in thieving ass mercs is so good… so good. i’d let him rob me blind. there’s just something about the way i executed it that i really like! suave, professional, though i wouldn’t say this is engineer at his moral best, it is definitely engineer at his best, if you know what i mean. and i didn’t personally write it, but cycs was still so right, and i am still so obsessed with mercs weaponizing their environment. that man commits vehicular manslaughter. i see it so clearly in my mind. ever since cycs said it there’s been a drabble in the works. who knows when it’ll be finished.

medic: all of them. except for mercs in the heat; i butchered the grammar and have no interest in going back through to try to fix it because to me the actual execution of that paragraph was so bad i can’t even go touch it. so it just looks like that. its not the worst, but i’ve done the doctor better, so it’s the worst out of the bunch. i go back and reread my posts because i like remembering all the situations i put this guy in. but the medic-centric fics are my favorite to write, and they’re my favorites to go back and reread. i don’t know if that’s obvious. there is one fic/drabble amongst the posts. it is untitled. that, i would have to say, is my magnum opus. i go cry to that one regularly. it makes me want to throw up. it makes me want to message robin and apologize.

sniper: i think mercs in the city is truly one of the best characterizations i have done for sniper and i don’t think i’ve achieved anything close to it with him since. sniper’s bit in mercs in the city is just perfect, and one of my all time favorites to go back and reread. it’s cute, it’s humorous, it’s charming, and it just makes mick look like a right treat! it was a wonderful way to both push him out of his comfort zone and push me out of mine. i still find i struggle writing him sometimes, but not nearly as much as i did when i started. he’s just the most guy ever!

spy: a silly little moment with the sniper and the spy is hands down my favorite characterization of spy that i personally have written. i feel like i almost can’t give spy the space to shine in the full lineup of the mercs. it’s almost the point of his character, to me. his influence is in his absence. so when i can aggressively pare down who he’s interacting with, and focus more on the relationships he fosters one on one, it is so much easier to allow him to take center stage. and allow myself to write spy almost the way i write medic! i find it fun to explore spy and all of his facets, being the suave conman, being the stupid fucking idiot, being the evil mastermind always forty steps ahead, being APH france but with a balaclava on, i truly find myself enjoying writing about spy! but i have to give him the space to shine. and he’ll never take the medic’s space in my heart, so he also ends up getting the most aggressive edits in his paragraphs.

[dissociativewriter]

current thought process on the princess bride au

Keep in mind, I’m going using the book as well so there might be some stuff that’s book specific!

I really like the idea of having Zayne as Inigo and Caleb as Fezzik. This is solely because I do think that Zayne and Caleb would have had a childhood friendship, if not for their love for MC getting in the way. Similarly to Fezzik, Caleb is only used for his strength (a human weapon). In reality, he’s really vulnerable and scared to be alone. Inigo/Zayne picks up on this and becomes his support system. I really want to emphasize the friendship between Inigo and Fezzik, so whoever their characters are, it’s very important to me that they get along well. (I also think Zayne is sassy and dedicated to what he wants enough to be Inigo)

When it comes to Westley, I’m really torn between Sylus and Rafayel. Yes, Westley is very romantic and attractive, but I don’t think it should be forgotten that he initially kidnaps Buttercup with the intention to kill her for her lack of loyalty to him (this is much clearer in the book). Westley as the Dread Pirate Robert’s has a sort of ruthlessness to him, which is what makes me think Sylus would be a good fit. But Rafayel would work good too 😭 (the ruthlessness is actually the reason I don’t think Zayne would be a good Westley. I don’t think he could ever be cruel to his love, and Westley is, however briefly).

Ive also considered having Rafayel as either Vizzini or Humperdinck. I’m not sure if I want a LI to be Vizzini, though, since he really has a brief part.

I thought about not replacing Humperdinck with a character, or if I did replace him with someone the LI whose so Westley dislikes (like zayne with carter).

I still don’t know who to have Xavier as though 😭 he’s too mellow for Humperdinck, maybe Count Rugen? Actually yeah Rugen could work… (I’m sorry I’m thinking as I type)

All in all, I keep going back and forth. The polls are not helping because people keep voting Westley and it’s like babe I can’t have them all be Westley 😭😭😭

Let me know what you think of my current thoughts though! I’m trying to work with what I think I can write, but I’m having trouble deciding so it’s nice to get some input 🫶

@dolledbunnytail @sleepykittyenergy @orbitraiden @coffeedragonhobbyist @plzdonutpercieveme @sylusgworl @anthrokiaera @destinysrequiem

[mx-jenim]

Best Jeanist Ships

I know Jeanist is primarily shipped with Edgeshot and I fully understand why. But I also raise you these very random ships (in no specific order) and fic ideas I had for some of them:

CoolJeans (Rei x Jeanist):

They have one canon interaction, but that doesn’t even matter because I shipped them before I ever saw that scene.

There are only really two circumstances where Jeanist and Rei would meet before the First War: several years pre-canon at some hero gala or immediately post-Kamino Ward in a hospital. For the former, I imagine it’s a hero family event. One of the Todoroki kids runs into Jeanist by accident, eventually leading to him meeting Rei. They’d get closer over time, but only through the very dangerous link that is Endeavor up until a certain point.

For the post-Kamino Ward route the plausibility is a little weird because Jeanist probably wasn’t admitted to the same hospital as Rei, but I can bs anything if I try hard enough. So they meet in the hospital while Jeanist is making a gradual, painstaking physical recovery and Rei a gradual, painstaking mental recovery. They help each other heal.

Rei deserves so much better, and I fully believe that Jeanist could be that for her. There’s also a potential stepdad Jeanist arc there. In both cases he’s a massive home wrecker, but it’s Endeavor so it’s okay. /hj

I also think they’re quite fun to doodle together.

DenimHead (Eraserhead x Jeanist):

These two as a collective are so interesting to me. I feel like their energies would clash more than people expect, but when it comes to hero work they make a perfect, fast acting duo. Where they’d conflict the most is probably in public image; Eraserhead makes an active effort to stay in the shadows in every aspect while Jeanist’s entire brand- his entire life even- is about being in the spotlight. There’s a whole colleagues-with-benefits turned full blown secret relationship idea that’s been brewing in my head for a while. It’ll probably never see the light of day, but it’s still fun to imagine.

JeanMic, FashionRadio ,Denim & Leather (Present Mic x Jeanist):

The blonds. They’d be so fun together I swear. I’m pretty sure that their one canon interaction was Mic calling Jeanist ‘Jeany’, and that’s plenty shipping fuel on its own.

I already have a couple of fluffy oneshots about them on AO3, but I’m currently in the middle of writing something a little longer for them as well.

Jeangant (Nagant x Jeanist):

Of all the ships here, this one is probably the one that’s haunted my brain the most. However, for some reason I don’t jive with the ship name Jeangant so let me know if there’s a better one for them.

In my mind they met at the provisional licensing exam, after which they stay in contact with one another as they were equally impressed by one another’s quirk. Nagant doesn’t have many friends (because of her position within the commission) and neither does Jeanist (he’s kind of considered a bit of a weird kid around UA) so the two attach to each other pretty quickly despite not attending the same school.

Their bond extends well into the future as they become pro-heroes at the same time. However, the two start to fall out as their priorities shift. Nagant becomes entrenched in the commission’s dirty work while Jeanist is none the wiser, going on to start his own agency and rise up in the ranks.

Eventually the distance becomes impossible to gap. Nagant’s downward spiral comes to a painful head at her arrest, bringing about as much angst as one would expect. The worst part is that she still can’t tell Jeanist about any of it, so he’s left largely in the dark. In addition to that, Jeanist has to do damage control in the face of the media. Covering for his own image, he denies any personal ties to Nagant, claiming that- no matter how close the two of them appeared before- they were only ever colleagues. Nothing more.

Jeandeavor (Endeavor x Jeanist):

I’m always thinking about the time that Jeanist canonically told Endeavor to “get off his high horse.”

I know that Endeavor’s biggest (one-sided) rival is All Might, but imagine how this man felt when Best Jeanist arrived on the scene. At first Endeavor didn’t care, not until Jeanist, in all his denim glory, ended up right on his heels in the billboard rankings. Then Endeavor’s absolutely fuming. Make no mistake, Jeanist doesn’t like Endeavor either (he thinks his attitude is brutish and unbecoming of a pro) but he has enough class to keep that to himself. But when Endeavor starts publicly talking shit, he’s basically opening the gate for Jeanist to retaliate however he pleases. Cue PR nightmare.

I just think Endeavor needs someone who will bite back, especially in the area that he’s already lacking in (that being public image/reputation). Since All Might has no interest in any of Endeavor’s endeavors, someone needs to step up and knock him down a peg. And who better for the job than Best Petty Jeanist?

JeanMight (All Might x Jeanist):

My thought for these two is split between pre-All Might injury, post-All Might injury, and post-Kamino Ward, and post-everything else. Pre-injury I think that Jeanist and All Might have a very average “coworkers that only have to see each other every other month” relationship. Although, Jeanist is in a unique position in that he’s one of the closest pros to All Might (especially considering the fact that Endeavor is the only other one in that sphere).

Post-All Might injury, Jeanist happens to meet “All Might’s secretary” and they gradually become friends that way. Secret identity business, cliché I know. Of course it gets messy post-Kamino Ward with the identity reveal and the whole collapse of the status quo, but Jeanist is very understanding about it.

The more interesting thing is that the two of them are in recovery together after the fact. For a while the both of them are gravely injured heroes, both ducking out of the spotlight for the time being.

The post-everything else relationship potential is the best in my opinion. I’m personally a believer of the post-war “Jeanist was promoted to No. 1 hero for at least a year” headcanon, which All Might would 100% be one of his most vital supporters during. Because imagine bearing not only the weight of being No. 1, but the weight of being No. 1 while literally everything is in shambles from the hero commission to the state of the nation itself. Having been the very symbol of peace that first appeared when the world needed it most, All Might knows the feeling all too well, and he’d do anything in his power to ensure that Jeanist doesn’t collapse under the pressure the way that he nearly had so many times before.

I’m probably going to do headcanons for these ships at some point too..

Also some other Jeanist ships I didn’t mention:

Fat Gum x Jeanist

Gang Orca x Jeanist

Detective Tsukauchi x Jeanist

Midnight x Jeanist

Ingenium (Tensei) x Jeanist

Gentle Criminal x Jeanist

Mr. Compress x Jeanist

[tenpintsof-sundrop]

1) It's an organization made up of multiple people and I don't know what each of those individuals political beliefs are.

2) If you're saying this because they removed posts based around Palestine, then you're wrong. This is not a political issue, this is a violation of their TOS. (Which you should read before you post things on their site.)

I think people say this based on the fact that they were removing "Free Palestine" posts - but that is not a political stance, that is just them doing their job based on the fact that you have violated TOS. AO3 is not a social media, it is an archive for fanworks. Anything that is not a fanwork will be removed because it violates TOS. This goes for "filler" posts, posts looking for fics you have lost, callout posts, etc. Keep that shit on Twitter and Tumblr instead.

If you post something about a current event or post something that is purely about politics that has nothing to do with fan culture, it will be removed, no matter what it's about. Someone could make a post saying "Donald Trump is bad" and it would be removed because it's not a piece of fan work. Someone could make a post saying "Donald Trump is good" and it would be removed because it's not a piece of fan work.

If you really want to raise awareness for Palestine, write a fanfiction where your favourite characters talk about Palestine and post it.

However, don't post anything about Palestine fundraisers either, because it's against AO3's TOS to post links to raise money - whether it be for personal or charitable reasons.

Any links to any fundraisers for Palestine would also be banned (for the same reason that people's personal ko-fi's and Patreons are also banned - it's in their TOS) - having any type of monetary exchange around fanfiction is illegal, even if it's for charity. If you want to use fanfiction to drive attention toward Palestine fundraisers - it's not a great idea in terms of fanfic copyright, but you can do it on Tumblr.

And I know a lot of people get their panties in a knot about AO3 having fundraisers to gain money for the site but not letting people put links to their personal ko-fi - but that is literally what keeps fanfiction legal. If you as a personal artist accept money for fanfiction, you are profiting off of copy written material, which is illegal. And AO3 needs money for lawyers to fight so that people can keep writing fanfiction based on fair use - and fair use is the idea that we never accept money when writing with copy written characters and universes. It's just that fucking simple.

Before AO3 had lawyers that fought for fanfiction as a whole, individual fanfiction writers were sued and recieved cease and desist letters from authors of the original material when they found fanfics of their work and didn't like it. Do you wanna be sued for reading and writing fanfiction?

3) Way to derail the post? If you want to hate AO3, just say you hate them. Don't look for some clever political based excuse to do it - especially not one that's founded on a rumor.

If you're looking for a reason to hate AO3, don't use politics, because they are literally the only remaining site in existence that uses volunteer only work, doesn't have ads on their site, and is 100% anti censorship. Their politics are sound.

If you want to post about Palestine, do it on Tumblr or Twitter or any other relevant social media - or like I said, write a fic about your favourite characters becoming Palestine activists. But AO3 is not social media or a platform for fundraising. This makes them fair in carrying out their TOS, this does not make them Zionist.

I just saw someone say "there is no ethical consumption under capitalism" as an argument for boycotting AO3

Babe AO3 is a nonprofit. They do not exist under the ethics of capitalism. Fanfiction is legal because no money is ever exchanged around it. (All the money given to AO3 is used to maintain their servers and pay their lawyers to help keep fanfiction legal.)

Fanfiction is one of the few things in this world - probably the one singular form of entertainment that does not exist within the confines of capitalism. So by your own logic, even if you hate some of the content on AO3, it's inherently the only ethical thing to consume in the whole world.