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[idle-flower]

Some Dalamar/Raistlin moments that live rent free in my brain in no particular order

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this is a tangent and NOT the same thing but I wanted to mention it here anyway:

there's an old fic that was, at its core, about an exploitative company that would find people who were on the brink of death and pressure them into signing revival contracts where the company would bring them back but they'd become indentured servants to work off the costs. you know, technical consent but under duress and you sure don't have time to read the fine print because you're dying.

Unsurprisingly, the actual catch is that you come back kind-of brain damaged and they reshape your body to be Glamorous and Sexy and then use you as a porn star. And you're vaguely happy because you're being taken care of and you like pleasing your new masters, etc.

The plot of this particular story, however, is that the protagonist in her near-death delirium managed to insist on some CHANGES to her contract. Basically she insisted that if they were going to fuck with her body enough to bring her back from the dead they should turn her into a mermaid in the process (she's a marine biologist). The technology exists it's just illegal to do to a live human being so the same loophole they're using to revive people in general can work here. And the evil company is like "what the hell, exotic mermaid porn, we can work with that"

But being in the regen tank long enough for the mermaid reshaping to work 'accidentally' fixes her brain too, so she wakes up with her intellect intact and starts to figure out something is very wrong - why is my face so much more traditionally attractive, why do I have giant tits, what is going on - and there's an escape and a rebellion and a whole deal.

It was just someone's transformation fetish story but I have been thinking about it for twenty years.

"came back wrong" but it's more explicitly + intentionally about medical and/or caregiver abuse

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between the UK's big push to "save the children" by making us "verify" age everywhere and the visa/mastercard push to ban fictional sex this is being a rough week.

[idle-flower]

dear author (jet lag exchange)

hello and thank you for taking part in this exchange!

I am being perhaps overly-specific with the prompts partly because a lot of my usual yuletide likes/dislikes info isn't appropriate here (for one thing my yuletide info warns that I'm not that into M/M! Which is true in GENERAL but NOT in this particular fandom...) but please don't feel limited by them. Hit me with an angst beam and I'm good. I enjoy the suffering.

DNW: Sam/Adam without Ben. Explicit smut. Fluff without plot. Killing the entire cast (you gotta leave at least one of the trio alive!)

Most of my real squicks are in porn and this is a non-porn request so you don't need to worry about those. The one thing I will say is that while I will happily read some dark stuff psychologically, I have a weak stomach. I can't say 'no vomit' because given my whump request retching may actually be necessary, but please don't be DETAILED about anything gross. If you're going to rip anyone's entrails out, do it offscreen!

Some character traits I enjoy in them:

Sam - extreme awareness of his own responsibilities/honor/ethics leading him to keep quiet about burdens, social awkwardness with mainstream situations or neurotypicals, approaching problems from an unusual perspective, never loses his temper

Adam - manners, the outgoing one, enthusiastic, fierce in defense of his friends/ideals, theatrical, musical, heart on his sleeve, confident (sometimes too much if he runs straight at a challenge he thinks he can handle), can't sit still, so determined you can see every line of his body going that direction

Ben - hiding shyness under comedy, a troll to his friends and unfailingly kind to strangers, not emotionally submissive but a bit masochistic for funsies, attracted to things that are dangerous or bad for him, dark thoughts controlled by drugs/therapy/coping skills

every one of them would leap in front of a bullet to save the others but adam would be trying to knock them all down so no one gets hurt, sam would believe that he's strong enough to take the hit and survive, and ben would not expect to survive it.

S&B&A

Looking for peril, angst, and potentially-tragic bromance.

Please whump these boys up with all the insane over-the-top drama that should never actually happen in the real game. Put them in life-or-death situations. Hunted by men for sport, FOR REAL. Trying to pull someone up who's fallen off a cliff/edge/something in a panic that you'll lose them. Pressed to make horrible decisions about whch friend to help. Cracking jokes to try and keep spirits up while secretly dying. Defusing a bomb. Tending wounds. Rescuing each other from death-traps. Nearly drowning. Pursued by a bear. Trapped in an underground labyrinth with no cell signal. Stranded in a blizzard and trying not to freeze. One kidnapped or mistaken for a spy and hauled off for interrogation while the others frantically search for them. Holding an injured partner's hand and desperately trying to keep him awake and talking in dire circumstances. Declarations of how much they mean to each other when they think all hope is lost.

I would prefer it if you did this with archive warnings off and keep the tension up so I don't know if they're all going to survive this or not. Maybe they pull through, or maybe only one of them is left standing, mourning over the corpses of the others. We'll find out at the finish line. I accept the risk of heartbreak! (You can't tell me you don't want a "Buddy please, please wake up…" in your life) I like poignant pain; I also like happy endings and they're happier if they're a surprise. Seriously, I go both ways.

GET 'EM.

I have flagged this as a friends pairing because I don't want sex or romance to be the focus but I am fine with (and perhaps even crave) subtext-level or romantic-friendship stuff. This is not a story for makeouts but this can be a story for realising someone is the most important thing in your life. Contrived suggestive scenarios (mouth-to-mouth resuscitation, gotta get your wet clothes off so you don't freeze, cuddling for warmth, got to strip you to treat your wounds, holding hands so we don't get lost, There Is Only One Bed in the rest location, etc) are great. They're little treats in amidst the suffering or beautiful ways to recover afterwards. Let us lie on the beach together wet and glistening and gasping for air and glad to be alive.

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Sam/Ben

I ship it but I ship it broken. Star-crossed. Unable to make it work, at least in a mainstream way. I'm here for angst and bittersweet endings, whether that's unresolved feelings that never get a relationship, a relationship that breaks up, or a relationship that's struggling along but has clear issues.

Some possible sources of misery:

I feel way more strongly about you than you do about me (or vice versa) I don't know how to have a healthy relationship (or one at all) I'm not worthy of you, I can never be what you are I can't get close to you because I'm hiding a terrible secret I can't date you because a rich supervillain WILL hold you hostage (AU or someone taking revenge on Sam's dad?) I can't date you because of your/my medical/mental issues I am literally inhuman and using you as a beard and I hate myself (Robot? Alien? Fairy? Monster?) This relationship was a mistake but I'm too scared of the consequences to quit now (which might lead into terrible scheming) You'd leave me if you knew the truth (so I'll do even worse things to hide it and keep you trapped?) Something horrible happened to you and it was my fault and therefore I can never say no to you again

But you can come up with your own! Make it as messed-up as you want! You can go dark (but leave at least one character alive!)

For purposes of this story I would prefer that Badam are not dating, though they can still be super close and Sam can still feel a little jealous if you want, I just don't want "he's Adam's boyfriend" to be the main source of angst. (Obviously no Sam/Adam dating either!)

I would be especially pleased if there's some action going on during the story along with the romance drama (they could be playing Jet Lag! they could be smuggling jewels! They could be escaping a hostage crisis! I don't know!)

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TREAT PURPOSES ONLY BECAUSE I CANNOT PUT THIS IN THE FORM PROPERLY:

I'd love to see someone write a poly V scenario where any one of the boys is dating the other two, but the other two are just good friends and not into each other romantically. It's a fun dynamic gossipping about your shared boyfriend with your friend and plotting surprises for him together and being part of a shared family that follows its own rules.

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ART TREAT PURPOSES ONLY:

any ben/adam cuteness i will adore, fluff doesn't count when it's art! bake cookies together, hand-feed each other, sit on each other's laps, anything

[idle-flower]

sorry to pedant your pedant but i want to add re: your parasocial reblog that being parasocial isn't inherently unhealthy or toxic! it started out as a neutral term to describe perceived relationships towards people who don't actually know you exist. it's not the same as a delusion which refers specifically to something you believe to be true with all your heart even if there is zero evidence towards it. a fan who listens to a musician's songs and goes "it feels like they're a friend talking to me and their music has saved my life" is probably being parasocial but they aren't necessarily being delusional. they could just enjoy the feeling of having a friend while being aware that it's one-sided.

anyway sorry for the rant, i dislike people using parasocial to mean any sort of celebrity/fandom interaction as much as you do. but i'm also iffy on once-neutral terms or common behaviors getting pathologized

fair! and hey ranting is good for us sometimes, right? :D

[idle-flower]

hijacking this to rant about it slightly!

I feel like at the point where we start defining literally anything to do with fandom or even having a vague interest in a celebrity/character as "parasocial" we've made the word meaningless and removed the ability to talk about the actual unhealthy elements.

AS I UNDERSTAND IT, the term originally came up in order to talk about people who believed that they had a meaningful relationship with someone who did not even know they existed. like, obsessive groupies who insist that they are dating a rock star, or idol fans who feel possessive of their idol and get angry about being "personally betrayed" when the idol does something they disapprove of, or tumblr followers who start believing that you are their personal friend because they 'know you so well' and begin DMing you their entire life history.

I don't think "I like this celebrity" should be described as a parasocial relationship.

I don't think "I like this celebrity and wish he would notice me" should be described as a parasocial relationship.

I don't think "I have unrequited romantic feelings for this minor celebrity who I've met multiple times in person, who follows me on social media, who knows me by name, and who has shouted me out repeatedly" is a parasocial relationship. That's a crush on someone who obviously DOES know you exist! Even if you're just a fan and it would never happen.

-> Be Tom

-> “I don’t understand parasocial relationships and I don’t like them”

-> Immediately befriends someone with a deep parasocial relationship for him (Sam)

-> Develops a parasocial relationship with Sam back

Masterful gambit sir.

He really said “don’t get parasocial with me unless you’re tall and muscular and have pretty flaxen blonde hair and handsome blue eyes and autisticly enjoy infrastructure as much as I do.”

hey anon can you define parasocial for me real quick. i fear the world you are looking for is social or friends/colleagues even.

[idle-flower]

reblog and put in the tags the first queer pairing you remember consciously shipping

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excuse me

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i don't want to be hit with a hammer, i want to annoy someone who wants to hit me with a hammer and can't

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ATTENTION XENA FANS!!!

We are just 2 months away from the THIRTY YEAR ANNIVERSARY of our beloved TV show 🤯

In order to celebrate this HUGE milestone, I am proposing an official XENA FAN WEEK. I know that our fandom is alive and well after all this time, so let's prove it!

Let's put out as much new art and community engagement as we can! 📢📢📢

Xena Fan Week will begin the same day that the very first episode aired: September 4th, and then continue for a full 7 days. Save the date NOW and start making those gifs, fics, and art pieces!

Please share this post and tag all of your fellow Xena fans. We are one of the longest running fandoms on the internet, and now is our time to prove that we are still alive and well!

LETS GO XENA FANS!

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Deb from Empire Records 👏

“Let’s not fight, let’s just rip.”

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men be like im fighting demons and the demon is being attracted to your coworker

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I wanted to betray her. I gave her everything and it meant nothing to her.

I hated her for loving someone else. I wanted her to hurt. I wanted her to be punished.

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Christian Dior Fall/Wint 1999

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You did it. You killed me.

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🐺

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