#AKA 'if commitment issues were an oc'

[vultures-and-scavengers]

2019 vs 2025; random sith concept vs ex-fallen jedi and mandalorian

because sometimes its just fun to redo old art and old ocs.

[arolesbianism]

Remembers Tali exists and starts wailing and crying

[daemon-in-my-head]

I was once again reminded of one of the Hunger Games core msgs; "Who do you hate more, the atrocities or the people who commit them against you" and while I don't want to derail the OPs great post it does remind me of Gortash and Durge.

Gortash doesn't hate the atrocities. He committed them himself. He hates Raphael and his parents but not what they did to him by itself, and that is precisely why he can't break the cycle and won't ever attain that true freedom he longs for. He's a self-fulfilling prophecy in that regard. His warped view allows him to continue committing these atrocities and shift the blame from himself or the atrocities themselves onto others. That whole "lesser evil" thing I've talked abt before.

And perhaps that's also what irks me so much about the Durge conclusion. Because yes, sometimes you need violence to end the violence, but usually the people who commit these acts remember how they were wronged and come to realise that the act itself is the issue and not the people behind it—but for Durge, as is presented in-game, it very much feels like a personal vendetta against Orin rather than them recognising that the acts committed against them were wrong. I mean, fuck they don't remember what happened to them, so how the hell are they meant to realise, as the blank slate they are, how vile Bhaals actions were and how wrong it is for this shit to happen to anybody. Like there's a dissonance there, and yes, I suppose the character itself seeks to answer the question of "nature vs nurture", but like they don't fucking remember the nurture or nature. It's like telling an anti-war story but not talking about the war itself. You can obv do it, but it sucks, there are loopholes everywhere, and the message is buried between fuck all and harder to recognise. You can do it, but it's a shit way of doing it.

Tldr; it's half arsed. What I am saying is the Durge story is half arsed, they should've committed to it rather than make it comedic horror relief. And I love that story, mind you. But still half arsed.

And on a more personal level, I think that may also be what contributed to me creating Fine and him being how he is. Cuz he can't remember the atrocities. He knows smth happened, but he doesn't truly remember, and instead, his hatred is directed solely towards Bhaal. And while he isn't directly inflicting those atrocities on others after some point, he still doesn't consider them wrong or worse, and instead, despite feeling utter hatred for him, he ends up sympathising with some of the shit Bhaal did. He, too, is a self-fulfilling prophecy in that regard cuz he hates Bhaal and the Gods more than what they did, so he inadvertently ends up trapped in the same cycle yet again and eventually becomes incapable of truly breaking it. Because he, too, failed to realise where the actual issue lies. Which I'll gladly dive into in a different post cuz Durges response, the lack thereof, and all that comes with would derail this too much and it's a very very personal hc aka just shit i put my oc thru. Eitherway, my point stands.

[lilas]

OC SMASH OR PASS: AVI’LI SOSTOMI

Rules: pretty self explanatory. include physical descriptions or pics, and propaganda. the “other” label can be used for “sexuality misalignment” (ie: oc is femme and you’re gay, vice versa or you aren’t into smashing but a specific thing you wanna do with them like perhaps hug or study them under a microscope idc).

saw @ghostwise do this and thought it’d be so fun! tagging @galadae @redwayfarers @thevikingwoman @lavampira @impossible-rat-babies @hythlodaes @birues and anyone else to join!

Quick Facts

Height: 5’4, short king

Age: currently 32 in MSQ

Gender: Male

Pronouns: He/Him

Sexuality: Bisexual

Pros

Confident and comfortable with himself

Will try anything once; a very fuck around and find out guy ;)

muscles…. boeuf….

Very experienced at kissing tall people

Charismatic, makes friends like he breathes

Quick witted and smarmy

Travels all across the world (and beyond)

Comes from a big, loving family

Clean and tidy; takes care of what’s his (aka this man loves doing chores and housework)

Cons

Will forget to call you

Commitment issues

Fuck around and find out (mad scientist edition)

Severe mental health issues (he’s getting better)

Sleeps during the day and won’t spend the night

The food he cooks is either the blandest thing ever or has the thickest combination of spices

Questionable choices with money (7mil dropped on one hover bike)

Has bo sense of fear; his fear got wrung out of him long ago

Exes that he can’t fully get over

Details

Smart and routinely goes down research rabbit holes

His eyes glow in the dark 👁️👄👁️

Picks up new fields of study just for kicks

Will pick up and neatly fold any clothes that were torn off in the lead up to sex

He has a wandering eye but is ultimately faithful

King of queerplatonic relationships

Wants to experience all the world can offer, rarely in one place

Sexually—enjoys topping the most but can enjoy bottoming occasionally; really into servicing his partners

Romantically—please don’t ask too much of him in this regard his brain will melt omg (he is demiromantic and navigating romantic relationships is a particular struggle for him)

[lunarspiral1127]

So, there's a prequel comic for the upcoming Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man animated show. Here's what happened on the first issue (SPOILERS):

Cover and first two pages show this version's Spider-Man outfit, and honestly? He looks like he's gonna play some hockey with that jersey on. Not really digging it that much.

He's thrown off a building by somebody. Dunno who it is, but it could be Tombstone.

We got Peter meeting Nico Minoru and then getting bitten by the spider. The comic doesn't show the events or the attack that led to the spider. I think it was to keep it mysterious until the show comes out, but info on how the spider got there and what happened to the school was already revealed.

Peter faints, wakes up, and is okay in two pages. He doesn't get sick, nor does the side effects of getting bitten last long. It's like passing out from the bite and BOOM! Spider powers.

Aunt May looks like MCU's Aunt May.

Delmar exists in this series.

Nico's foster mom is named Susan O'Hara. No idea who that is, so it could be an OC. Although, the last name makes me immediately think of Miguel O'Hara.

Peter and Nico are becoming friends, but no sign of Nico's powers yet.

Uncle Ben is already dead. So, Peter gets his spider powers before Ben's death. Why, though? The death of his uncle was what made Peter become Spider-Man. It's how he learns, "With great power, comes great responsibility." So, how is he gonna learn this lesson?

Mention of Silvio Manfredi AKA Silvermane.

Demonstration of Peter's abilities when fighting Manfredi's goons. Turns out they committed arson on the school to get the land.

It seems that this Peter Parker is more of a Captain America fan than an Iron Man fan. I dunno if Steve will be in the show, but we didn't have a lot of opportunities of Peter interacting with Steve in the MCU. Plus, the Avengers were mentioned, so they might be in the show too.

There's a mention of Hell's Kitchen which could be a reference to Daredevil protecting that neighborhood.

Manfredi's gonna come after Peter since they know the kid has superpowers and wants him taken care of before he becomes a problem.

And that's pretty much it. It's okay, I guess, but having Uncle Ben die before Peter gets his powers is a bit off-putting for me, especially when Ben had a major impact on Peter's life and the choice he made in becoming Spider-Man. I don't know why we keep getting these versions of Spider-Man that merely write Ben off. The next two issues will be out in January and February, so I guess we'll see what else happens.

[youreobsessedwithtoomanyfandoms]

putting this one here because i wanna put it here instead of my oc account:

but the way that so many of my oc's would be so fucking pissed at the state of the US right now and the fact that once again, people fucking voted for a rapist instead of a woman. as well as the fact that we are literally in a fucking obvious as shit oligarchy and this shit is fucking stupid because why the fuck did some of the fucking people in america decide this was what we needed?

why the fuck was my first fucking election against the motherfucker that even at age 11 in 2016, i knew was a fucking rapist and terrible guy who NEVER should have been president in the first fucking place?

anyways, here's a list of my oc's that would very much be possibly committing a crime over this and why (only for my american oc's that would be alive if they were real):

Elizabeth "Lizzy" Rogers: literally was living during WW2, dealt with actual fucking n@zi's, is literally the fucking older sister to Steven fucking Rogers aka Captain America and was one of biggest people in support of Sam becoming Cap because "who else makes sense?"

Anora: is, to an extent, an illegal alien herself if we wanna get into it (i will if wanted), lived with Natasha and Steve during those five years (Nat for more), while she is over 300 years old, she also really is a (currently in 2025) 19 year old in college and is tired of the way everything is

Annabeth Nelson: is a lawyer from Hells Kitchen and was a DA in LA, specifically dealing with crimes and saw how badly people with less were treated (hence why she does so many pro-bono cases)

Maria Peterson: she's a mutant, her father-in-law is literally a survivor of the holocaust

Rebecca "Bex" Evans: grew up in DOWNTOWN Gotham, knows how shittily people with less are treated, knows EXACTLY what its like to have less, raised by a single mother, knows EXACTLY what people with money can do, forces Bruce to spend even more money on help programs, also underlying health issues that made her be denied insurance as a fucking baby

Lydia Swan: she literally hires anyone who needs a job, doesn't look at background (just makes sure they are not CURRENTLY an active henchman), pays everyone a living wage starting out with anything else they need (insurance and housing), opens her manor up to the homeless during the winter and summer so they don't freeze to death or overheat

Ashlea Moore: a journalist and (to quote Clark in Smallville) is married to an illegal alien, plus her entire family is military

Doctor Abigail "Abby" Brown: FBI agent

Tiffany Miller: government agent, underlying health issues and used to be denied insurance because of it, daughter had underlying health issues, knows just what the government could do because her husband was in Racoon City

Evelyn Allen: former member of the US Army, government agent, underlying health issues that led to insurance being denied, daughter also has health issues and was denied insurance at one month because of it after insurance needed to be renewed so was on state insurance until the affordable care act, was raised by a VERY VERY democratic father that was literally known by democrats so much that the election after he died, she would be asked abt him (not that important but thought it would be nice to add), husband basically raised his younger sister by himself as a teen after the death of their parents, literally knows EXACTLY what the government can do because she was IN Racoon City (and the fucking Arklay Mountains) (there's more but ima stop here)

Charlotte "CJ" Redfield: father is literally Chris Redfield, a journalist (well, studying), is gay, underlying health problems, perpetual anger issues

[forest-of-stories]

Throwback Thursday, Fandom Edition: Sidetrasked

This is a collection of Silver Age X-Men comics that I’ve now owned for over two decades, and brought to Fan Expo Boston (then Boston Comic Con) in August 2014, hoping that artist Neal Adams would sign it.  

And this is the reason why.

When I tell people about Larry Trask today, I sometimes refer to him as "Blorbo From My Comics."  He is one of my favorite villains in the X-Men universe, and, at least for a time, was one of my favorite characters overall.  He also, at least for a time, embodied the anti-mutant bigotry that has been part of that universe almost since its beginning.  I want to avoid going on a tangent about the morality of villain fandom, and I resent the social obligation to attach an "I Hereby Acknowledge That My Fave Is Problematic" disclaimer to an exploration of how and why I liked a fictional character, but I also want to give people who don’t want to engage with any kind of love for such characters a chance to stop reading.  If you’re not inclined toward sympathy for an antagonist who makes terrible, destructive choices based on a lack of information and for what he thinks are the right reasons, and later has a tragic and redemptive ending (which might not actually be an ending; more on that further on) once he realizes what is going on, then this is not the character or the post for you.  And that’s fine.

Otherwise, I hope you're interested in reading a pretty long post.

Bolivar Trask, who originally created the giant mutant-hunting Sentinel robots, appears in almost every media adaptation of the X-Men.  What none of those adaptations have shown thus far is that both of his children were mutants.  Tanya’s time-travel abilities eventually stranded her in the far future, where she became known as Madame Sanctity and entangled with the extremely convoluted Summers family tree.  Her brother Larry could see the future, but their father created a very ostentatious Silver Age medallion that suppressed Larry’s powers and scrambled his memories so that he didn’t even know he had them.  When Bolivar was killed in a battle between the X-Men and the Sentinels, Larry blamed mutants everywhere, not realizing that he was one at first, and made the extremely smart and good decision (she said sarcastically) to create a bunch of new giant robots.  

I first read those comics in the early 2000s, when I was already drawn to characters who couldn’t trust their own memories, and to stories in which parents or authority figures manipulated or outright mind-controlled the young people in their care.   So the Trask family backstory appealed to me immediately, especially when I read a flashback issue that explored it in more detail.  

I was fascinated by the dramatic irony of a villain who trusted, adored, and committed atrocities to avenge, a father who continuously deceived and gaslit him "for his own good" (and also for the good of their giant robot plans).  I knew that there was a lot of material for fanfic in there, one way or another.

At the time, a couple of other significant things were happening in my fannish life.  Firstly, I was working on the Wallglass series, aka the Writing Project That Ate My Adolescence, in which a lot of my creative choices amounted to "let’s throw in this ingredient and see what happens." My decision to include Larry, not as a villain but as an ordinary teenager and love interest for one of my original characters, was no exception.  Although I eventually incorporated his precognitive powers into the story, that wasn’t necessarily the plan at first.  (X-Men: Evolution, the canon in which my big project nominally took place, did introduce the Sentinels, albeit in a different context than the one I chose.  I was already writing an AU simply by virtue of my OCs’ presence, but past a certain point, I diverged from continuity completely. One of my biggest regrets, of the many regrets that I have about that project, was not making Larry an active antagonist in the final installment of my series.)

As in canon, Bolivar Trask plotted to block his son’s mutant powers and memories of same, but unlike in canon, he outsourced the actual mental meddling.

The second important thing that happened during this time was that I started communicating regularly with the author of one of my favorite XME fanfics, which featured our OTP of Lance and Kitty.  She was reading my fic as I was reading hers, and at some point, we moved on from leaving each other comments (or “reviews” as we called them on fanfiction.net) to exchanging emails about our writing projects, our feelings about the current season of XME, and other things that were close to our fannish hearts.  We subsequently friended each other on LiveJournal, and later Facebook, and have mailed each other gifts and attended a convention together and remained friends to this day.

Back then, as she got to know my version of Larry Trask, I encouraged her to seek out the comics in which he first appeared.  Although he wasn’t the catalyst for our friendship, he did become another one of our shared obsessions, fueled in part by my personal conviction that we were The Fans Who Understood And Cared About Him The Most.  We informed each other whenever we caught a glimpse of Larry in comics or in fic; we once stayed up past midnight, chatting online about the issues of Avengers in which he sacrificed his life to stop the Sentinels from destroying humanity; and we devoted many, many more email and IM exchanges to discussing his narrative potential (which we recognized even if the people writing and adapting the comics apparently didn’t) and how else we might explore it in our own writing. 

My attempts to do just that, post-Wallglass, mostly amounted to scribbled drafts or outlines in various notebooks.

Sometimes I tried to explore Larry’s upbringing or the period in his life after his Sentinel project fell apart and he was dealing with more amnesia and more lies from someone he trusted; sometimes I made overly ambitious plans to integrate him into the Ultimate universe or back into XME. 

Trying to write about Larry was often as frustrating as it was fun: as one of the Fans Who Understood Him The Most (which is how I wanted desperately to be known, even as I was thrilled every time another writer, including a BNF in the X-Men movie fandom, included him in their fic), I felt obligated to Do Him Justice somehow, and was unreasonably frustrated with myself when I didn't feel like I'd managed to do so.

The term “Blorbo” didn’t exist when I wrote those entries, and I kind of wish it had; the fact that I was throwing around phrases like “fictional preoccupations” shows how much we needed a word that meant, roughly, “character with whom I am obsessed even if I don't have a crush on them, or am not sure whether I do or not.” If nothing else, using a silly nonsense word might have helped me take my creative angst a little less seriously.

Although I haven’t followed the comic books in years, X-Men is one of my forever fandoms. And although my attachment to Larry Trask, Blorbo From My Comics, became less pronounced over time (which is probably a good thing), I don’t think I’ve ever detached from it completely.  I haven't wanted to write fic about him in a very long time, but when a podcast (like Jay & Miles X-Plain the X-Men or Graymalkin Lane) mentions him, or when blogs like @summerstrash post about him, I always sit up and take notice.  And when I met Neal Adams at that Fan Expo ten years ago, I made sure to tell him how much I loved the character he’d helped to create.  He signed my book, as well as one that I bought for my longtime fandom friend.  When I learned that Adams passed away in 2022, I was immeasurably grateful for that experience, and I still am.

And now, based upon recent comics news, it turns out that Larry’s story isn’t over after all.

[bananasofthorns]

banana's oc masterpost

I am very fond of my little guys and you should be, too. so here's the rundown on all of them, plus links to learn more! feel free to send me asks about any of them I will love you forever if you do

(I was two or three ttrpg PCs in when I realized I had accidentally named them all with something starting with the letter A. after that, I decided to commit to the bit. so here we are)

picrews/art for everyone will be beneath the cut!

Aphim

My PC for @/herethereverywhere's life series campaign! He is a Watcher currently in the game to prove himself and maintain his Watcher status. He is also the worst. (We're using the monster of the week playbook - his class is "the divine")

posts I've made about him | posts I've vibe checked him with | writing | campaign tag

Aster

My PC for @/superioritycomplexes's post-empires season 1 campain! He's a tiefling inquisitive rogue. He has a few identity issues and a lot of daddy issues, both of which have recently come to light. It's very awkward when you steal from an empire's most prestigious/powerful Church using your father's name as an alias only to return to said empire five years later and run in to said father. Oops.

posts I've made about him | posts I've vibe checked him with | writing

Avery Teck

My PC for a Supernatural-inspired monster of the week campaign one of my irls is going to run! Currently, he's a night shift gas station attendant in a tiny, rural Kansas town. He's also sharing a head with a demon, but this is actually not that big of a deal for him, because he's the host of a system (even if his other headmates haven't fronted in a while) (in their defense, last time they fronted they fucked around and found out with a cult, so they're chilling for a while) (the cult is, in fact, why Avery is now minorly possessed).

posts I've made about him | posts I've vibe checked him with | writing [none yet]

Aphim - picrew by caramael

Aster - picrew by crowsen

Avery - the one on the left is how he normally looks; the one on the right is from The Demoning (aka when he got sacrificed by a cult but, instead of dying, got possessed by the demon they were trying to summon. picrew by makowka, art by @/acentrics

[paging-possum]

just realised that when you’ve tagged posts with ‘cape kids’ that you were talking about ocs not an already exisiting show/comic shdsdgjdgdj they seem rlly interesting tho!!/gen

LMAO YEAH cape is the ttrpg I play with friends :D we play a bunch of teens on a superhero trainee team except they haven’t been doing a lot of superheroing lately. most of them are on the team as a probation thing for crimes and theyre currently trying to keep two of the team members from getting killed (rip in advance leo you would have loved good luck babe by chappell roan) and they recently found out one of the many magical people in their city wants to kill all of humanity. one of them is in a coma, they might kill a woman who is both a high ranking superhero organization official AND a member of the aforementioned group of magic people and also the last time they actually did a superhero trainee mission a woman died…..if u wanna see more actual art of the guys I blog about incessantly you should go to @scoutisnthome (plays a biohazard with mommy issues and is one of the more rational members of our team aka more hesitant to commit murder) or @bodbred (our wonderful DM) because everytime they draw them I go crazy and start eating drywall 🫶🫶

[superdummymags]

I'm gonna hit you with that 31, 21, 12, and 11.

31) thaaat's a tough oneee. i'm gonna say mt terajuma though? i love the vibes.

21) honestly! either Nimpossible Predicament or A Teila Fire and Ice. new terajuma is just really good i like it a lot

12) matthew changes the way his beard looks every once in a while just to make an 'inconsistency' joke to eizen

11) ( more under the cut because you just opened the floodgates sparkie )

so let's give a quick overview of all of them! let's start with the classic

Hephae Canestus! She's a mechanic at Xen with unhealthy loyalty issues. She likes to stare at people a lot, and she's got a fairly thick southern accent. She comes from Unova and got her love for automechanics from her father.

King Caliburn! He's a grunt in Bladestar who has a hyperfixation on crustaceans. His entire team is crustacean Pokemon, and he aspires to become a veterinarian for aquatic Pokemon- but he also can't stand the way GDC is run, so he's going to help put a stop to that first.

Lusca! King's best friend and boss. A Bladestar Admin who uses mollusk Pokemon, they were the reason King got into Bladestar in the first place. He's also studying to become a veterinarian.

Queen Caliburn! King's sister. A teacher at Axis High, she has no clue what's happened to her brother. She knows he's in Bladestar, but him telling her that went worse than poorly, so now they're out of contact- after the events at the ball, she's worried he died.

Eleanor! She's a "Destroyer of Aevium" - aka the people under Vitus who use wield eleki and drago. She's the owner of Regidrago! She's a very violent and angry person, having been raised to be an aggressive weapon by Vitus since she was a baby. She has a crush on Hazuki which unfortunately leads to her death in the Sanctuary.

Raiden! The other "Destroyer of Aevium", he wields Regieleki. He's the strong, silent type, and usually lets Eleanor speak for him. He's also Eleanor's impulse control- otherwise, these two would just be getting into constant fights. He can and will beat the shit out of you, though. He manages to live into the modern day, but he's no longer a Destroyer. He's busy traveling.

Nathaniel Goode! Not much to go over with him; he's basically Zeight's antivirus system while also being a virus himself. He also coincidentally looks like a Garufan programmer also named Nathan Goode. Why he does is unknown because trying to communicate with him is impossible ( he's too busy fixing the rendering engine )

whew okay breather time.

alright breather time over back to it-

Gale Suite! She's a part of a family of travelers that extend over the rebornverse for the fun of it- she lives in Aevium and helps one of her family members hunt down Zygarde Cells. We'll only go over one of the other Suites to keep things as brief as humanly possible...

Kim Suite! She's the eldest of the Suites and the scariest. She's got a perpetual smile and a shade always over her face- this is hiding the fact she's actually a 25% Zygarde. She's the one who gathers Cells- mostly Just In Case Something Happens. She tends to go between Reborn and Aevium.

Apho! Xen Mage who has a grudge against Hephae, for some reason. Regardless they're a very quiet person who also happens to be one of the creepiest people ever, constantly muttering about doing very violent things to people they don't like.

Ray and Yra! ( Yra's the one with the hat. ) Interceptor OCs based on the concept of making one different decision. Ray's paragon while Yra's renegade-- the turning point is the aftermath of Mt. Valor, where Yra decides to close herself off from everyone while Ray decides to help everyone get through it. Both are heavily committed to the Bit and tend to fail upwards in most battles.

aaand i think that's it! there might be a few i'm missing but theyyy probably dont have enough characterization for me to discuss or put here. sorry for the too long i aint reading all that post lmao

[gigiwritess]

IN ORBIT

dr. jack abbott x f!resident!reader!vega aka "wildcard"

wc: 2,047 synopsis: ten weeks of dr. vega surviving in the pitt. eight weeks of dr. vega and dr. abbot stuck in each other's orbits. tl;dr: dr. abbot and dr. vega start to get close to each other.

contents: 20-year age gap (vega is 26, jack is 46). slight mention of vega's worsening mental health issues; description of back problems (which are entirely based on my own). usual pitt dynamics. probably lots of medical inaccuracies that im not gonna apologize for. this is totally self-inserted and vega is totally based in lots of aspects of myself. gonna probably update this list when i have more creativity.

gigi's notes: whats up guys!!!! i have absolutely no words to thank all the love you've given the first piece of this thing (because i'm not really sure what it is yet). i'm in a kinda deep depressive crisis at the moment (pretty much like the one vega's in) and when i wrote it i was trying to force myself to write in the hopes that i'd feel the same joy i used to feel (and i did!!!), so seeing how many people enjoyed this bit of myself really mattered to me. thank you. ALSO: THANK YOU FOR 500 FOLLOWERS!!!!! now, about the fanfic: vega isn't exactly an oc (at least i think so), but, like i mentioned before, she is entirely based in myself (including her mental & back problems, poor thing), so i understand if any of you don't really see her as reader and it's okay. i feel like i kinda repeated some stuff too much in this piece and i feel like there are lots of things that aren't that good or i could've written better, but i still liked the way it turned out, so my self-doubt and impostor syndrome can go fuck themselves. also, like i mentioned in the previous, i HATE slowburns and i had something totally different planned for this piece, but then i started writing and having ideas and it felt right to write a short one just about their interactions. i PROMISE that the next one will be less slow and have a lot more burning. also, i had no intention to do so but i ended up following a stellar pathway to this fanfic. which is really fitting considering myself as a person. university is still kicking my ass (when is it not?), but i'm gonna try to commit to write & post weekly (let's call it exposure therapy). this was reviewed once but it's possible to have typos; english isn't my first language. i'll probably remember other things to tell you later so i'll probably update these notes in the future. enjoy!!!! :))))

PLAYLIST | NAVIGATION | MASTERLIST

PREV | NEXT

Vega was day shift. Jack Abbot was night shift.

Yet, despite that slight difference, whenever she was working, he seemed to be too. Whenever she rounded a corner, he was there on the nurses’ station, charting or talking to someone, irritating Robby, or making Dana laugh without even trying. Whenever she worked a case, he seemed to linger around. Whenever he worked a case, she seemed to linger around, too. They were in each other’s way. And they weren’t avoiding being there.

Jack attributed that to an ever-growing lack of sleep. She happened to be on his mind more frequently than he wanted. Anything she did made him aware of her—aware of her face, aware of her voice, aware of her presence in the Pitt.

He didn’t see her often; she was always busy, always treating someone or charting or doing rounds or sometimes even triage. Jack didn’t talk much with her. Not that he talked that much with anyone else—but there was something about her. Something about her made noise feel irrelevant. She was quiet, but she wasn’t shut off, not in a cold way; guarded, as if she’d learned early not to give people easy access to anything she didn’t want touched. She was assertive, self-assured in her words and actions. She didn’t say much, but when she did, it cut clean. Still, he caught himself looking when she wasn’t more times than he expected, caught himself wondering how someone so quiet could take up that much space. Physically, in the Pitt, or in his mind.

Vega would catch herself searching for him in the Pitt way more often than she intended, almost as if there was a string tethering them to each other. She didn’t want to be aware of him, but she was. She was aware of him in the way one’s body reacts before the mind does—like a storm brewing just outside the window. He didn’t crowd her, didn’t flirt, didn’t even look too long. But he watched. And she noticed.

They seemed to be stuck in the same magnetic field, like two forces stuck in each other’s orbit, getting closer each time, both acutely aware of each other. Like Andromeda and the Milky Way—two beasts that would, eventually, collide.

She’d often brush past him at the nurses’ station. Stand just a tiny bit closer than she had to. Whenever they traded words, it was usually there—like the first time he threw her a compliment.

“You did good today,” he said, not looking up from his charting, his scrubs still stained with blood from a massive bleeding they dealt with together earlier.

She turned to him. “You sound surprised,” she replied, keeping her face neutral.

He put the chart down and looked at her, his eyes always tired but always steady.

“I’m not.”

Then he put the chart away and walked away, not saying another word. But those two words stayed with her longer than they should have.

From then on, working the same cases started to be more frequent; standing side by side, handing each other equipment and charts without even having to ask. They were learning to read each other’s silences, they were learning each other’s rhythms.

The next time she found herself noticing him, he looked like hell. She was on shift; he was working overtime. That much was clear by the way his shoulders were heavy, pen moving slowly across a chart, scrub top wrinkled and littered with dark stains—he wasn’t one to change scrubs often, just like her; they always had bigger concerns. He looked like he hadn’t slept in well over three days; his brows were carved in a deep line, the fluorescent lights cutting hard lines under his eyes. He wasn’t even supposed to be there.

She didn’t think, her body moving on its own accord. Just grabbed a fresh cup of coffee from the vending machine and, silent as a predator, set it down next to him with a soft thud, keeping her attention on her tablet.

Jack’s eyes flicked up, slow and heavy-lidded, but never without that sharp flame underneath. He glanced at the coffee and then, for a beat, he just looked at her.

“You trying to earn a gold star, kid?” He said, voice low, his mouth twisting into something lazy and rough.

Vega leaned an elbow on the counter, close—too close—, her sleeve brushing his. Her eyes met his.

“No,” she said, head tilting just enough to make it feel deliberate, her mouth just slightly tugging at the corner. “Just don’t want an old man dropping dead on my shift.”

He laughed—a real laugh, low, rough-edged, caught between surprised and something else, the kind of laugh that cracked through his exhaustion. He shook his head slowly, his eyes not leaving hers, something sharp and warm and unknown stuck between them.

She liked making him laugh.

His fingers wrapped around the warm cup, his fingers grazing hers—not by accident. Vega didn’t flinch.

“Careful,” he muttered, low enough for her to hear, “or people’ll notice you have a sense of humor.”

She smiled. Small, sharp. Just for him. A silent moment passed before she answered, her eyes analyzing his almost as if trying to decide if he was worth her time. Trying to recognize what it was that she saw in his eyes, the familiarity of it.

“See?” She said in a softer voice, the glint in her eye unmistakable, starting to push away from the counter. “You’re already imagining things. Drink it before it gets worse.”

Jack didn’t answer, just lifted the coffee toward her in a half-ass salute, finally sipping from it. It tasted better than he expected. He watched her walk away, his lips tugged upward in a tired smirk that lingered even after she disappeared down the hall, his eyes trailing after her.

Somewhere along the way of starting to work together, she’d learned how he drank his coffee. That warmed something inside of him.

There was something there, something he couldn’t quite name yet. It was quiet, simmering, growing—almost like a current humming just beneath the surface. Like a prickle slowly getting under his skin.

A few days turned into a few shifts, which turned into days, which turned into weeks. In a bit over two months since joining the Pitt, Vega had been working more with Abbot than with Robby—but she wasn’t complaining.

They still didn’t talk often, but it wasn’t only the strictly necessary, either. Sometimes he’d throw her a rare comment, always adding a “kid” at the end, and she would retort with something just as fitting, “old man” always on her tongue—it usually earned a laugh from him. They always ended up drifting back to each other’s orbit, standing almost too close, brushing fingers when handing each other things, finding their eyes already on the other, sharing a few loaded glances. Working side by side in sync, reading each other’s silences and minds.

There was something about the way he didn’t push, he didn’t demand more than she was willing to give, that spoke to her; that made her see him in a different light than she expected to. He was showing her that he wasn’t quite like she expected him to be. There was something between them—something unknown, something unspoken, and she hadn’t yet realized just how deep it was.

It was a week and a half after the coffee moment—in that meantime, he’d gotten her two coffees in return. He’d learned how she drank her coffee, too, without asking, and it touched something strange inside of her that she did her best to ignore. But it was there.

This time, she was the one working overtime. Her mind was full of too many dark things she didn’t have the strength to face at the moment, so she chose to keep working. That way, she kept busy; that way, she didn’t need to spend too much time alone with her thoughts.

Around eleven pm, the ER was finally calming down—not that anyone dared to say that out loud. After a massive car pileup, the voices finally started to give way to whispers and quietness, everyone disappearing into any rest they could get. Vega was finally able to take a deep breath. So was Jack—she’d barely seen him today.

His voice was suddenly by her side.

“You should sit down.”

She glanced up at him, brows furrowing. “What?”

He gestured toward the nearest chair.

“You’ve been on your feet all day,” he replied, putting a chart away and grabbing another before pointing at her back. “It’s not good for your back.”

Vega froze, completely paralyzed in what she was doing. Her water bottle was forgotten mid-air, watching his back as he walked away normally, as if he hadn’t left her with the most dumbfounded look she’d ever had, as if he’d said the most normal, trivial thing in the world.

But it wasn’t. It wasn’t the most normal, common-knowledge thing in the world, because she had never mentioned her back problems to anyone, not even Robby—let alone Jack. She was too used to keeping her problems by herself, dealing with everything on her own, unused to asking for help. And he’d noticed.

Her back was hurting.

She had good and bad days; sometimes, the pain would barely make itself known. Other times, no matter what she did—stretches, sleeping without any pillows, pills, having the best mattress possible—, it never left, like a pointy pebble stuck in one’s shoe. Sometimes it’d start in the early morning hours and only get worse throughout the day.

Today was one of those days, where with each passing hour that she was on her feet, it only worsened. The only painkillers that, in fact, made the pain go away also made her sleepy, totally knocked her out (like the time the pain was so bad she had to take a Tramadol injection), or left her feeling in a dazed state. She couldn’t be in any of these situations at the moment, so she was stuck with it for a few more hours. She was already used to it by now, had gotten good at ignoring it.

Somehow, Jack had noticed. Somehow, Jack had read through the narrowed lines across her face, had read through the way she kept trying to shift her weight to hide the strain, had read through the pain she was trying to ignore, through the way she clenched her jaw and closed her eyes when the pain got too loud to ignore, when she thought no one was looking.

He hadn’t said it to make her flinch, hadn’t said it like an accusation, hadn’t said it to tease. He simply noticed.

And it unsettled Vega—because it meant he was paying attention. Not the kind of attention that grazed the surface, the way most people saw what they wanted to see. Not the kind of attention an attending gave a resident, not just assessing her professional skills. So, she did sit down. Because, somehow, Jack Abbot saw right through her, as if it were the easiest thing in the world. As if it were simple.

She wasn’t used to that.

She was the one who saw. She was who stayed, who stitched, literally and figuratively, people back together and asked for nothing in return.

She was who always put everyone’s needs above her own—

She was who had spent her whole damn life making sure no one ever noticed the cracks—

She was who gave and gave and gave until she almost forgot she had anything left to want—

He just wanted her to sit. To take care of herself.

It hit her sideways, knocking her off balance, making her forget how to breathe. It slipped under her skin before she could stop it, sharp and tender all at once, settling somewhere deep in her chest. Like a bruise she had never realized was there until he touched it without meaning to, the part of her that still wanted—desperately, stupidly—to be seen.

The part of her that wanted it to be her turn. That still wanted to be known, to be chosen, to be kept.

And Jack—

Jack looked at her like he already had.

And it scared the living shit out of her.

NEXT

gigi's notes: PLS tell me what you guys think, im sooooo looking forward to see your reactions!!! <3 i also started working on a different jack fanfic based on a request of a love triangle, so heads up for a future jack x reader x langdon (but here dilf supremacy always wins so don't worry folks) hehe AND i've been thinking... what do we think of a jack x firefighter!reader? 👀 i'm gonna take the big ass test for joining my state's military firefighters (i probably won't be approved bc i haven't studied at all but i would truly like to be approved [even though i'm graduating in archaeology lol]) so i kept thinking what it'd be like of jack in a relationship with a firefighter so i might write it anyway lol also, can you see how much i need therapy for my people-pleaser issues? im trying ok i took the liberty of tagging below the lovely people who said such nice things about the fanfic and commented and reblogged. if you'd like to be tagged in the future, please let me know! @cosmoscoffeee @mackycat11 @sunfairyy @starkgaryan @amandarobertsboyce @starlight-starbright-8080 @patatesliomlet @saynotononsense @sweetestcowboy @diaryofafeelsaddict @kimsgarden

[inkshine]

(reblogging from my main account due to technical issues)

Thank you for the tag! Sorry for the late response, I didn't see the notification for this for some reason?? Well, now that that's been remedied, let's jump in!

How long have you had your writing Tumblr/Writeblr? A fast and loose estimate is fine!

I made my first Writeblr sometime around 2022-ish, but I hardly ever posted anything there. Then one night, after really getting my stride on Writeblr for the first time, there was a Tumblr glitch and the blog was accidentally deleted in 2023. I remade it that same night. So 2023, but 2022 if you want to be specific about details.

What led you to create it?

I had just self-published my first book and was trying to promote it on social media more. I was super shy at first and hardly posted anything, but now that I've relaxed and figured out how this site works, I love it!

What’s your favorite thing about the Writeblr community?

How many new people I've met and how many people's writing I've gotten the chance to read. I never would have made these connections without Writeblr, and I'm forever grateful.

What’s one thing you’d like your mutuals to know about you?

If I'm being brutally honest, I still have some shyness I'm working through. For years before I published, and even for some time after getting published for the first time, I didn't really tell anyone about my writing unless they were close friends or family. I had never even posted any long-form writing online before self-publishing. I went straight for the big guns lol. But a side effect of this is that sometimes I still feel awkward talking about my writing sometimes, so if you've ever talked to me about an oc and my response seemed cryptic or weird, I'm sorry. It's not you, it's me. This doesn't mean I don't want people to talk to me about my writing (please do!) it just means I want you to know I can be awkward sometimes.

When someone asks the dreaded, “What do you write about,” question, what do you usually say?

I usually just default to "YA fantasy" lol.

Let’s Rotate Blorbos

Name any characters you created.  Side characters, protagonists, antagonists, characters who’ve never been written, the first original abomination you ever pulled from your ass; whomever you’d like!

Ursa, Isabella, Peter, Gemm, Claudia, Kahzeh, Su, Kazik, Kainma, Iwa, Nai, Leeva, Yufei, Hayde, Agath, Troopi, Tamsen.

Who’s the most unhinged?

Oh, that's a tough one. I'm going to go with Kazik, the main antagonist of Splintertown. He committed a crime far beyond the pale and spent three years running from it, twisted up inside by his own guilt and instability. While his villainy isn't on as "grand" of a scale as some other antagonists who want to take over the world and stuff, he's just sunk to such deep lows that he feels he has nothing left to hold him back. There's nothing hinging him, so he's well, unhinged.

Who comes the most naturally for you to write?

To be honest? I don't know.

Do you ever cringe at them?

Oh yeah. Some of them are pathetic, but what can I say? They're my pathetic losers.

How much control do you feel you have over your characters?  AKA, do they ever “write themselves,” refuse to cooperate, or do things you didn’t expect? To what degree? Are some less cooperative than others?

I feel like I create an outline for the plot of my story, and then my characters create their own path through it. (I guess that's a fancy way of saying I figure more of the minute details and exact order of events by experiencing it through them). Things have definitely gotten pretty unexpected, I would say all of them take things into their own hands at some point.

Do you enjoy people asking questions about your characters? And do you have a preferred means of receiving said questions? For example, as Asks, as replies, as reblogs, as tag notes, as comments on AO3, etc.

I *love* asks, replies, all of it!

Is there anything you’d like to see more of on your dash?

Not really, I'm pretty satisfied with how it is right now. Keep being awesome, guys!

What makes you decide against following?

If a person expresses bigoted beliefs, or a lot of other common DNI criteria. Although I'm gonna be honest, I just straight up don't follow that many people. I just don't get the urge to follow someone very frequently, even if I genuinely like them. I should probably change that. But just if you're seeing this and I don't follow you, don't worry, it's not you, it's me.

Which Works-in-Progress (WIPs) or writing projects are you noodling about, lately?

I am *deep* into working on a third novel, which I'm not going to talk about here because 1. I have so much to say about it I would probably end up derailing this entire post and 2. I dislike talking about my WIPs before they're finished. I feel like giving people too many details or expectations would make me feel pressured to stay within the pre-existing idea I gave people, possibly hindering my own writing process. (I will answer the next WIP related questions, just avoiding details.)

How long have you been working on them?

Shadow's Hidden Blade took about 2 years. I started in 2020, and it was finished in 2022. The earliest concept I had for something that would become Splintertown was all the way back in 2018-2019, and I kept that vague concept on the backburner until about 2021, when I started working on it in earnest. It was finished in 2024. As for my secret work in progress, I got inspired to create in 2020, and it's still being worked on, potential completion date unknown.

Do you remember what inspired them/what got you started?

Shadow's Hidden Blade and Splintertown were both inspired by music! In 2020 I heard the song "Something Wicked" by Vernian Process, which is about a creepy circus. I started toying with my own ideas for a magic circus in my head, and something very large and strange began to grow from that initial very small idea. The earliest drafts of that story are nothing like the final product, and for that I'm honestly glad, because now it's the Shadow's Hidden Blade we all know and love.

In 2018-2019 I heard the song "Nightmare Parade" by FAKE TYPE, which is about the Japanese myth of the baku. I was hynotized by the music and the concept, and wanted to create my own creature in my head that ate dreams. Splintertown grew from there over the years. (Disclaimer: I am not Japanese. The dream-eating creatures in Splintertown are not baku, they are my own creation with a similar ability. I am not claiming to have any right or ownership over the Japanese myth in any way.)

Secret Work in Progress was also initially influenced by a song and some music, and also a dream I had. It's now totally different than all of the things that initially inspired it, though!

How much time, in your best estimation, do you spend thinking about them?

...a lot.

Do you interact with non-mutuals often?

A lot!

Do your mutuals’ characters occupy space in your noodle?

I really enjoyed The Tengu and The Angel by @alinacapellabooks and I thought about Kunio a lot when I first read the book. I loved The Silver Birds by @apolline-lucy , it's a treasure!

Tagging @thebearthatreads

✨Writer Questionnaire Tag ✨

Thank you for the tags @wyked-ao3 here, and @thatuselesshuman here ! Y’all are great! 💛✨

How long have you had your writing Tumblr/Writeblr? A fast and loose estimate is fine!

I’ve had this blog since….end of April? Early May?

What led you to create it?

When I set up all my socials, I wanted to use this as a way to build a writing community, share my stories, and exploring and sharing the ideas of other likeminded individuals.

What’s your favorite thing about the Writeblr community?

How kind and welcoming writeblr is. The community is supportive of everyone’s stories and OCs, and everyone has some wonderfully unique and fascinating characters.

What’s one thing you’d like your mutuals to know about you?

You are always. Always. ALWAYS welcome to tag me, message me, send asks, interact with me. I absolutely endorse the engagement and excitement in this community, and even though I may miss a few tags, just know that seeing you tag me to see your stories brings the biggest, goofiest smile on my face. Thank you for being you and sharing your creative minds with us 💛✨

Is there anything you’d like to see more of on your dash?

Kindness, support, and creative stories. Keep writing, keep inspiring, keep on keeping on.

WIP it Good

Which Works-in-Progress (WIPs) or writing projects are you noodling about, lately?

Your Wish Is My Command is my current WIP at about 75% complete. I have a little bit to share from Tenshito as well, but the latter will have to get majorly cut down and restructured before it’s ready ✨

How long have you been working on them?

Planning and ideas began a couple of years ago. Writing them down? For YWIMC since early May, and Tenshito since 2020 (took a hiatus to focus on work and big life stuff, like moving twice and getting married)

Do you remember what inspired them/what got you started?

My love of storytelling, video games, and Disney. I wrote and published Peter Hart based off of a few of my favorite video games 🏴‍☠️💛✨

How much time, in your best estimation, do you spend thinking about them?

All the time. At least once a day, if not more. My stories help me get to sleep…when I eventually GET to sleep 😴💤

When someone asks the dreaded, “What do you write about,” question, what do you usually say?

BL romantasy novels. It encompasses every person asking, and umbrellas many subgenres.

Let’s Rotate Blorbos

Name any characters you created.  Side characters, protagonists, antagonists, characters who’ve never been written, the first original abomination you ever pulled from your ass; whomever you’d like!

Oof that’s a big list. Let me just do major protagonists/antagonists from stories: Peter, Benjamin, Davey, Ali, Noah, Tenshi, Itazura, Yoji, Tyr, Gustav, Jak, Johnny, Nathan, X, Ollie, and Callum

Who’s the most unhinged?

Peter 🏴‍☠️💛✨

Who comes the most naturally for you to write?

Peter 🏴‍☠️💛✨

Do you ever cringe at them?

Sometimes….depends on what they do. I never cringe at my stories, but sometimes my characters make choices that personally make me go “😬”

How much control do you feel you have over your characters?  AKA, do they ever “write themselves,” refuse to cooperate, or do things you didn’t expect? To what degree? Are some less cooperative than others?

(Slowly looks over at Peter)

Peter: …..What?

Do you enjoy people asking questions about your characters? And do you have a preferred means of receiving said questions? For example, as Asks, as replies, as reblogs, as tag notes, as comments on AO3, etc.

Oh always!! ALWAYS!! Any method is absolutely fine and encouraged by me, but I ALWAYS love when people leave AO3 comments on my stories 💖💫✨

On writeblr engagement

What makes you want to follow another Writeblr account? Do you follow ‘em as you see ‘em, or take time scoping out the blog to make sure you align with its content? Do you follow based on WIPs, or vibes?

I scope out the content before I follow for sure. Because I write adult fiction, I look through posts to make sure that our interests would align, and that the blog mentions an age that is 18+. If I am ever uncertain or have a suspicion beyond a reasonable doubt that the blog is run by a minor, I won’t follow them (and unfollow if I get suspicious of their posts)

What makes you decide against following?

I use discretion on age, politics, and religion before following. Any homophobic, transphobic, or otherwise hateful conduct gets automatically blocked. The world needs more kindness and uplifting of one another. We need to bring each other up, not tear each other down.

Do you interact with non-mutuals often?

I try to! Usually in the form of reblogs and ask games. My pile for work and tumblr keeps stacking though, so I find myself getting very busy very often (and that’s a good thing! ✨)

Do your mutuals’ characters occupy space in your noodle?

All the time, every time. To name a few mutuals: G.J, Jamie, Gioia, Casper, Tobin, Jay, Wyked, Gina, and Jev have characters that are my current hyperfixations. But there are SO, SO many that are so interesting that I want to learn more!! ✨

Thank you so much for tagging me, you two!! Going to alert the tag list on this one 💛✨

✨Tag list for writing snippets below. DM me if you’d like to be added 👇✨

Tag List for writing tidbits (lmk if you want + or -)

@jev-urisk , @sunglasses-in-the-bentley , @wyked-ao3 , @glasshouses-and-stones , @alinacapellabooks , @gioiaalbanoart , @fortunatetragedy , @deanwax , @dyrewrites , @honeybewrites , @drchenquill , @paeliae-occasionally , @lychhiker-writes , @thatuselesshuman , @kaylinalexanderbooks , @katenewmanwrites , @zackprincebooks , @fantasy-things-and-such , @billybatsonmylove , @madi-konrad , @houseplantblank , @far-cry-from-finality , @froggy-pposto , @fractured-shield , @avaseofpeonies , @thecoolerlucky , @willtheweaver , @rivenantiqnerd @somethingclevermahogony , @noxxytocin , @leahnardo-da-veggie , @addicted2coke-theothercoke , @mysticstarlightduck , @the-letterbox-archives , @theink-stainedfolk , @ominous-feychild , @saturnine-saturneight , @words-after-midnight , @sableglass , @cowboybrunch , @moltenwrites , @pixies-love-envy , @davycoquette , @writeahurricane , @nczaversnick , @greenfinchwriter , @oliolioxenfreewrites , @lavender-gloom , @smellyrottentrees , @aintgonnatakethis , @thecomfywriter

[grilledpook]

fame au lore dump wheee

ive been planning it alot and the au is no where near done, but i want to show you guys what we have right now. i say we because im considering it a collab between me, @/bonnieiscool (using his oc (there'll be more), and story planning) and @/bugwz (making refsheets)!!

a few CWs right out the gate: this au covers some very heavy subjects, such as toxic relationships, substance abuse, self-destruction, and, well, death.

so here's the rundown and some sketches:

over a decade ago, edd, matt, tom and tord formed a sludge metal band, having developed a slow, melancholy but powerfully gritty style. their band name has changed many times since the inception, but they now go by the sludgecans. the group was gaining success on an upward trajectory and for a while, it was great! but then, a very public freak accident took the life of tord, the band's drummer. from then, their fall from grace was a slow, painful downward spiral.

currently, edd, matt, and tom are living in a 4-bedroom apartment building with hopes of finding a permanent 4th member, but the candidates never stick around too long. they deal with what you'd expect of washed up celebrities: rumors, extremely mixed receptions at whatever gigs they can get, and so much invasive media coverage.

most people don't like the bandmates, they just dabble in their music or tolerate them in whatever shoddy gigs they can still get. however, their most loyal fans say that the strife they've gone through as a band adds to their truly unique sound. "there's nothing else like it."

edd has the stage name podge, as a reference to the fact he's the glue barely holding the group together. he refuses to acknowledge this band isn't healthy for any of them anymore, the jam sessions they had as teens are long gone. he keeps things together by simply hoping the glaring problems will go away, obviously a terrible mindset. he cares about his friends but his actions absolutely don't show it. he can't bear to see them break up.

tom (aka checkers, which he hates,) is really not doing well. he deals with his demons in really bad ways (like turning to smirnoff and locking himself in his room.) it doesn't help that gossip journalists won't stop coming around to ask him about his thoughts on matt's hookups... it really nails it in for him. he's in an endless cycle of breaking up, crying it out and crawling back to matt.

matt, who goes by rose matte as a stage name, plays into the vampire thing a lot with his tats and outfits. his family was well off so he's into the finer things in life. he's terrified of commitment, once he gets into a serious relationship he doesn't like the idea that he wouldn't be able to keep his options open anymore, and yet he's in an on again off again relationship with tom. it is quickly apparent that he's incredibly toxic.

oh boy, tord...

i don't have a stage name for him yet, but he was the 4th member until he was crushed by a stage light at a live performance. he and edd had feelings for one another, but didn't get together while tord was alive. edd has a lot of regrets now, often speaking to tord while he's alone as if he's there. these would also be the only moments where edd sheds his optimistic front.

don't worry, ringo doesn't get the angst treatment. she's an old girl but she's still there, usually hanging out with edd since tom isolates himself and she doesn't like matt.

now here's a character specifically for this au: susan. she's tom's ex, former bandmate, and the namesake of his bass. they've both moved on from the band they got their start in, though she felt bad about the fact the sludgecans have comparatively fallen on hard times.

she'll play a major role in the story, coming back to help the band members work through their issues and find some joy in their lives again. especially tom, since he has many more demons now than when they were dating.

there's still alot more for me to do, references to be made, stories to finish planning, and eventually the comic to draw.

[ursie]

Tell me about your oc Finn 👀📝 (also see I can do that too ❤️)

Adsgsgffsf help I can’t believe I’m being 👀📝 on my own blog..the nerve (❤️)

Anyway Finn is from my brother and I making oc X-men teams because we were bored. Our minds so keep that in mind that they’re designed to exist with the X-men today

Sophie (Finn) Lewis/ aka Ground Zero

19

Comes from long lines of (very self hating tbh) mutants.

He/Him

Butch Lesbian

Absolute chad

Ran away from home. Lived in a very religious (pentecostal to be specific) mutant community. Lot of attempted “cures”

He was raised in a very conservative (and explicitly misogynistic) manner and has a lot of hang ups at doing anything traditionally feminine tbh. He can cook/sew/ect was taught all of that it just carries a lot of baggage too

Accidentally became leader of his group of new kids because he’s the only one with self preservation skills. And common sense.

Their team is called The Vagabonds due to everyone’s relationship to home, people, and the island itself (none of them think it’s gonna last-or that it’s a particularly good thing in the first place)-they’re put in their group due to their high level mutations + distinct lack of love for Prof X’s teachings. Teaching them now to keep them from being issues down the road.

Gambit is their main teacher as he’s stepped down from an active roll to be a house spouse tbh (and his prev injuries are giving him trouble). He didn’t want to but Jean pointed out that aside from the fact he’s actually one of the only good teachers they have-they are more likely to trust him due to his history.

Gambits actually a p good teacher tbh

He has multiple powers due to the nature of his mutation (and being a legacy at that). He can create simple energy constructs/barriers using his own strength/energy to do so-inside his barriers he can boost his teammates power/health/ect (using his own health. Aside from that he can fly + mild precognition (needs to focus on what he wants to know-and can only see ahead into the same day-needs to be at full strength to do so-can project visions on his barriers

Once he runs outa juice his hair/eyes turns white (it fading as he uses his strength)

Leader but is a support/first aide hero. Not a heavy hitter focuses more on evac/medical/boosting his teammates.

Jock just really likes sports-used to sneak out at night to play with their neighbors daughter (became his 1st gf-ran away when she outed him)

Very good at baseball. Plays on the Krakoa team.

Has a nursing degree

Is the mom friend is the dad friend. Hates it

Actually one of the better combatants on a technical level in the team he just doesn’t have super strength or anything helpful against most metas-and what he does have he tries not to use needlessly. Does use a Bo staff when necessary. 

Has a crush on Eddie and Zoey but as they are both in very committed relationships (and Eddie is straight) stays silent-still jokingly flirts with them though

Really does look up to Eddie because he has such trauma associated with womanhood and seeing Eddie’s joy with it and owning it and making is her own (Eddie is a Trans girl) really does make him feel a certain way lotta solidarity between those two (they are bffs-and tbh the crush does eventually go away and it settles into something much more familial)

Just dates a lot of people like dating is normal not being exclusive is normal just. Doesn’t think much of it and wants to explore his options but does eventually settle into a relationship with Amahle and Ivanna (a Wakandan and Atlantian mutant respectively-Amahle is a technopath and Ivanna has super tracking so to speak)

Very protective of Rosie and whilst he 100% gets Lenny’s fear and reluctance to come out does not like him leading her on especially not just to make Micheal jealous

Thinks Leslie is a ditz. Loves xem. Genuinely treats xem like zey’re 12 half the time (in his defense ze acts like xer are 12 half the time)

Lost his one of his legs in a mission (it was a choice) has a cool red one now.

Terrible stutter. Drives all the girls crazy nonetheless. Chad king 😳🥵

Body ody ody built like a brick house

Part of Gambits book club really loves reading all the books he wasn’t allowed to read in his youth

Wears a lot of lesbian slogan tees. Borderline misandrist ❤️

Rare long haired butch (his hair grows comically fast)

Really annoyed by the fact he’s one of the only members who can drive. Not annoyed enough to give lessons though. Remy can do that

[bbq-hawks-wings]

Really long ask - Part 1: Hi, sorry for this long rant, but I just wanted to vent since I saw this latest story posted on AO3 and I am restraining myself on commenting on their story so I'm just letting my anger out here about it and other issues regarding fan-depiction of Hawks. It's vaguely related to your post on how DabiHawks or Dabi+Hawks stories make it all about Dabi and always made Hawks out to be the one who starts the problems in their relationship or is the one trying to get Dabi's

Content warning: passing mention of r*pe in a fanfiction.

LOOOONG post under the cut.

(Cont.)

Dabi's attentions when it's canon that it's the complete opposite. This latest story that came up in my feed was about Hawks "harassing" Dabi (who apparently has a backstory of r*pe) and Twice helps Dabi works out his feelings. Among the hoards of tags condemning Hawks, they decided to use "Hawks is very uncool in this fic heads up" so that's another one to add to my filters. I think I also have to block the "Dabi Needs a Hug" tags too bc he's always woobified like heck. 

I really want to read stories where Hawks interacts with Twice since they have a bond/drama with each other, but people have been adding Dabi and either making it seem like Hawks has been gaslighting Dabi in their "relationship" or with Twice. I can acknowledge stories where Hawks feels guilty for what he had to do or Twice being anger/betrayed over Hawks' actions since that is actually what happened; but I will not stand for Dabi claiming Hawks took advantage of Twice or Twice and Dabi having feelings for each other with Hawks in the way bc Dabi is a) the one who let Hawks in b) knew Twice is gullible and c) used Twice as bait. Even in the stories that are cute/causal+funny, Hawks is always the one who gets threatened with fire, harsh insults, or guilted into compliance but the seriousness of the first 2 are always brushed off and the third kinda makes me want it that Hawks doesn't have friends bc most people write him as a bad friend who only cares about his own problems (especially the ones that write Hawks like a celebrity/night club person). 

On writing Dabi, his issues always take priority over everything else, his family loves him, and the lov is always chill with him. He's usually written as the fun asshole/caretaker (bc of his big brother status or ablity to cook). Those factors aren't bad by itself, but it's extremely irritating when the writers/artists can give that level of care to Dabi, but just reduce Hawks to a meme who is a workaholic for the government/scared of punishment & not bc he really cares about the people he saves/helps. It's not like I hate the DabiHawks pairing, but the majority of the content (esp the recent ones), are frustrating to read & Hawks' character is usually written in bad out of character extremes. I am really mystified that I'm praying for canon content rather than fanmade most of the time.

Phew! After the back and forth it looks like we got to the end of that! (Or did we?! *Dun dun DUUUUN*) If not, though, feel free to keep the asks rolling. Lol Foxy and I are usually pretty happy to receive as many asks as people want to send even if it takes us a while, individually, to get to it. Now to finally address what you sent.

I find myself in a weird place when it comes to OOC fanfic because on the one hand people can write whatever they want, and I don’t really have a place to criticize them; but also when they blatantly and willingly misinterpret a character so they have grounds to bash on them it also leaves me acutely uncomfortable. I don’t think I’d call it “problematic” as much as a squick? Like, if they’re willing to blow past all the obvious proof to the contrary about their claims of a fictional character just because they hate them, then are they willing to do the same thing to a real person? Usually, those kinds of thoughts are pointlessly extreme, but we know those who unironically and/or unapologeticly call fans of the heroes “bootlickers” so... It’s like, ooc vent fics are also fine; and if you want to rewrite a character to fit the narrative scheme you’ve set up that’s cool as long as its tagged (“ooc [character]” or something) and/or just mention in the a/n that they knowingly and willingly mischaracterized them for the sake of the fic. Just. Don’t. Claim. It’s. Canon.

And speaking of canon, as much as I’m sure Horikoshi knew Hawks and Dabi were going to end up shipped I think it’s obvious that he never was going to canonically write them ending up together, yet here comes the “canon must validate my headcanon” crowd calling him a bad writer because the author had some bigger narrative goal in mind than having two pretty anime boys kissing.

And the worst part to me is, I feel there’s a distinct slice of the DabiHawks crowd missing out on some of the possibilities of this ship by intentionally mischaracterizing them. Like, the aesthetic equal/opposite draw of the ship is phenomenal as it is and I don’t even ship them, but I can see a wide range of possible fics based solely on the principle that they are canonically incompatible!

At the end of the day, Dabi is a dime-a-dozen edgelord - that pain in the butt OC that so many newbie D&D players make that they think is so deep and dark and mature, but is about as cookie-cutter as they come. It’s not that this kind of character is unsalvageable or a hopeless Gary Stu character, just that they don’t often come across as compelling in and of themselves or that they need more than just selfish hatred to carry them through a series. Two kinds of edgelords that can be done well are the “Out of the Ashes” edgelord and “I’ll Pull You Into Hell With Me” edgelord. The first kind recognizes there’s more to life than their sad backstory and getting even and thus choose to aspire to more noble causes - think Joel from The Last of Us. The second recognizes they’re actively doing wrong and come to embrace it - being more concerned with getting what they want than taking the moral high ground - think Frank Castle, aka the Punisher - and even these darker, “unsaveable” kinds of edgelord antiheroes can have redeeming qualities such as meeting and helping a young hopeful and telling them, “I know I’m on the road to hell, so if you want to save yourself you’d better not follow me.”

Dabi actually has what he needs to become the second type right now (assuming he’s Touya) and could even evolve into the first not unlike Kratos from God of War, but that potential can’t be fully recognized until you admit that he’s fundamentally self-centered and a bad person as-is. He may have the tragic backstory complete with justifiable hate at his genuinely abusive father, but rather than using that as fuel to see that never happen to anyone else like it did him - he just wants to get even. He burns people alive, knowing well he’s participating in the same destruction that his father committed to make him what he is now. He doesn’t recognize any of the merits of hero society and is only concerned with burning it to ash. He could use what happened to his family to incite compassion in his heart and take others under his wing, but instead he uses people as a mean to his own ends. He isn’t even proper grimdark - he’s just your run of the mill egotistical megalomaniac with a punk aesthetic.

And that’s still a good character in the grand scheme of things, maybe just not alone! Moreso, it’s a good villain and EVEN BETTER when you put him next to Hawks who is at his core:

Fundamentally Hopepunk!

Hopepunk is about being good and kind as an act of rebellion against a cruel and unfair world no matter how bleak it gets or how badly you’re beaten down. Despite his own cruel past, Hawks still has a heart to help others for no other reason than to help them, he constantly changes the odds to save as many people as he can when he’d be given a pass for letting the cards fall where they will, and not only is his aim to “help others” but to make sure that there’ll never be need for heroes again. He’s an active rebel against the system fighting with kindness and goodness, fervently looking and listening for the next opportunity to do good.

In agreement with you, Hawks and Twice are interesting to explore because while Twice is an optimist looking to make the world a better place, he’s still a step or two removed from Hawks’ worldview because Twice refuses to let go of the “family” he found for himself while Hawks is willing to sacrifice himself for others. That dynamic is so interesting, and it’s what made them so initially compatible and subsequently heartbreaking in canon.

And it’s such a disappointment to see this unwaveringly earnest character reduced to “shitty fratboy” so often. For a lot of people newer to his character I can understand the confusion, but there really isn’t an excuse if you’ve been reading the series, and the possibilities for fics with this canon personality are just so much more interesting to explore, especially with Dabi as his sort-of opposite.

For DabiHawks to work well, you have to recognize that something has to give in either of them. Some of the juiciest, most angsty content is when you have two characters grow close together over commonalities only to be reminded that despite everything else they share, that One Thing will always keep them from truly being able to see eye-to-eye. Either Dabi has to grow past his hatred and relearn compassion and empathy, or Hawks has to lose grip of that hopeful vision he has and fall into despair. Both options are good to explore, but both require the acknowledgement that Dabi’s view of the world is fundamentally bleak and selfish, especially compared to Hawks’. For a supposed revolutionary out to change the world for the better whose a diamond in the rough with a heart of gold, that’s not exactly on-brand; and at the end of the day the issue is that some are unwilling to admit that what they wanted Dabi to be is likely not going to happen and they love that fake version Dabi more than they love what Hawks actually stands for which is why Hawks always gets the shaft in the end.

I still personally hold a bit of a grudge against the DaiHawks ship as a whole purely because, as you said, Dabi always seems to take priority over Hawks instead of letting the two build a dynamic together. Hawks is always the one who has to give, and the torture porn some have made him go through to “make the ship work” is downright disturbing to me. Even at its height DabiHawks content completely flooded the Hawks character tags on Tumblr with some of the same problems that have persisted to this day such as emphasizing their aesthetic as opposed to their dynamic and rampant mischaracterization.

Anyway, that’s my long-winded response. What do you think, @autumn-foxfire?

[morihaus]

for the oc ask, just read through your OC page and selecting ones that i find interesting 👀 Vivyne: 1, 22. Ranso: 38, 29. Iachel: 11, 4

omg so many... i'll put it under a cut bc i cannot control myself

VIV

1. Does your character have siblings or family members in their age group? Which one are they closest with?

ive considered that viv has a sibling who her parents like more, probably younger than she is but with their life more put together, contrasting with her aimless meandering through morrowind in the post-red year world. she's not very close with her family, who are a noble redoran banner house based out of cormaris view, and rebukes the responsibilities put upon her to like, work on repairing the entire country with her fellow redorans. sadly i can only imagine she and her sibling have a terse relationship with a lot of misdirected frustrations :( we'll see if i can think my way out of that

22. What does your character like in other people?

she gets along w people who are willing to let her be, non-judgemental, not going to shoulder her with a bunch of menial tasks (it's not fun being a pc in an rpg) she likes people who focus on the lighter side of life, good humor and just funning around, pursuing their passions or whatever else. she grew up in a very serious environment and seeks out the most unprofessional people she can for her personal fulfillment

RANSO

38. Is your character more likely to remove a problem/threat, or remove themselves from a problem/threat?

for ranso i'd have to say physical threats are an avoid, but depending on the severity, they'd be willing to speak out and take care of some issue if it came up. an argument, someone making him uncomfortable, or some more mundane problem, that's in their wheelhouse, but if the problem is like, a bandit running at them with a sword, their gut instinct would be to remove themselves from the problem. he's more into the poetry part of the warrior-poet

29. What did your character dream of being or doing as a child? Did that dream come true?

ranso origins... i think he's from the mainland, never been to vvardenfell, wanted to join the temple there bc that was like the epicenter of vivec's worship. they're a writer and greatly admire vivec's patronage of the arts, and becoming part of THE temple of vivec was definitely a childhood dream. and it does happen :) a nice sword for hire (aka the nerevarine) accompanies him on the pilgrimage of the seven graces and helps them get into the temple, and after some shenanigans they eventually become a high ranking member and even writes a secret apographic biography of the nerevarine before she disappears

IACHEL

11. In what situation was your character the most afraid they’ve ever been?

oh iachel... due to me strategically plotting his route to be in the right place at the right time for nearly every major event of the 4th era, he's seen. a lot. the merchant vessel he was on crashed in black marsh in time to witness the argonians mobilize against the oblivion crisis, a few years later he was up in the old ebonheart area when the red year occurred, he was present in sentinel for the night of green fire (when altmeri dissidents were hunted down and destroyed by the thalmor) and he was in cyrodiil during the great war. his life kind of kept topping itself in terms of fear, but the red year had to have been the scariest in the moment imo he got caught very close to red mountain considering the effects could be felt all the way down in deshaan

4. Has your character ever witnessed something that fundamentally changed them? If so, does anyone else know?

conveniently, the oblivion crisis in black marsh IS what set him on his path of broadening horizons. i think during his travels up toward morrowind with various saxhleel boaters was when he became a less closed off and snobby person, interested in learning about other cultures and able to appreciate the way others choose to lead their lives. it was that trip that made him decide to travel around tamriel instead of grabbing the first ship back to summurset (good call) and he's shared this anecdote often, eventually committing it to print sometime around 4E 200