#I HOPE THIS IS COHERENT LMAO

[soft--dogs]

Getting ready for pride month with a new YCH for 2023! It’s $60 per character, and you get to choose eye, mouth, and flag styles! I can add simple accessories for free (glasses, hats, jewelry, etc), but full outfits will be an extra +$10-$20 depending on complexity. - most animal species ok, humans too! - any gender - can change body type slightly (bigger tummy, add boobs, etc) - any pride flags ok! - turnaround time ~1 month (probably less!) - no slot limit for now - payments through paypal invoice only DM me if you’re interested in grabbing a slot, I’ll send you a quick form to fill out! ^_^

[girlmikeyway]

"you only live forever in the lights you make" is undeniably a line about legacy, with the 'lights' being what you create and and the grand mark you leave behind, but i think it's also fascinating to consider it in the context of mcr's recurring theme that light is an enemy. "stay out of the light or the photographs that i gave you", "these bright lights have always blinded me", "a light to burn all the empires", etc. all mark light as something to fear. so if examined as part of this motif, the line from the kids from yesterday appears to imply that you're only immortal and remembered by the villains you fought. the people who made you stand out because of your stark contrast to them, and the conflict between you that lit up the sky. in this way an earlier line in kids is recontextualized too: "i'll find you when the sun goes black" changes meaning from a sort of 'i'll be there to catch you when you fall' type comfort, to saying 'i'll find you when it's safe, when it's dark so they're gone and they can't find you. now keep running'. these readings of the lines give kids as a song an overall more active presence within the general defiant, unapologetic, go out on your own terms message of danger days, and bear more thematic parallels to songs like save yourself, i'll hold them back and scarecrow. just a thought

[onismdaydream]

its hard to say no to yuuji when he gets needy. he's never been afraid to be vocal about what he wants, but it cranks up to the max when he's desperate. he'll be pressed up against you, his lips never leaving your skin as he begs you to let him fuck you. please, please, promise i'll be gentle, i'll be so good, please, just let me feel you - his hips stuttering as he bucks them, wanting to relieve any of the pressure that's been building up - anything, i'll do anything, baby, please, need to be inside you.

and when you finally let him, he still can't stop. he groans loudly as he slides inside, mouth wide open and eyes screwed shut, sweat beginning to bead at his hairline. god, baby, feels good, so tight, so fucking good - his thrusts are sloppy, never able to find a steady rhythm - perfect, like you were made for me baby, so good, never wanna pull out, wanna fuck you forever.

most of his words are slurred and mumbled, far too drunk off your body around his throbbing cock to make any coherent thoughts. not like you're faring much better, though, what with yuuji fucking you like it's his last chance, his drippy cockhead rubbing against that sweet spot that makes you clench around him. yeah, fuck yeah baby, do that again, oh god, i'm gonna come, you're gonna make me come - he holds you close to his body, his arms wrapping around you as if he's afraid you'll disappear - please, please, so close, wanna come inside you, can i baby? wanna fill you up, oh god, please.

you're barely able to nod your head before he's spilling inside you, his forehead pressed against you as he catches his breath. fuck, thank you, thank you, don't deserve you, you're perfect - pressing soft and gentle kisses to wherever he can reach, his fingers moving down your body to make sure you get off - love you, love you so much baby, gonna make you feel good too, promise.

[realbacchus]

I would LOVE to hear your Adolin thoughts

All of my thoughts are pretty surface level, and horse related lmao. Adolin’s character is so refreshing when I know of a million real and fictional people who are scared of horses. For many reasons, I will not speak about any of my horse related interests with my irl friends, so because of that, and because I listen to the audiobooks, when Adolin starts about horses it's like I'm listening to a conversation I crave to have with someone. What he says (”says” does not feel like the right word here) about that subject just clicks with me. Itches my brain. An example is the switch to Gallant. It is something I dwelled on while reading, because same hat! I became a primary rider of my mom's horse a few years back because I don’t have my own now. It's a very odd feeling. And it's brought up! Oh my gosh it's brought up. Adolin is interesting outside of this, but the horse stuff is just reason 2/??? he's a very important dude (to me). 

[temtamtom]

Please ignore the fact I accidentally posted this and then deleted it okay anyways

These two have had a myriad of personal conflicts over the years. They had a difficult relationship as children and then spent the rest of their adolescence and early adulthood separately. They interacted, of course, and they saw each other as brothers, but that was it. We are related by blood, but I don’t see you as FAMILY family. If that makes sense. But if I had to pick their biggest fight, it would be:

Tl;Dr: Emotions were running high and unchecked after Italian unification, leading to a blow-out fight when Romano announced that he was moving to America for a little while.

I need to provide some context and explain my headcanons, so this might be a long one kjdfgk I hope it makes sense! Also, a warning because my Feli isn't all that canon-compliant ;; but I think he's a bit more accurate to the northern attitudes of the time

There's a common headcanon within the fandom that Romano was entirely against unification and resisted it from the start. I think this is a bit of an inaccurate and an over-simplified perspective. By the early and mid 1800s, there were many instances of uprisings against absolutism in Southern Italy, which strove for more liberal ideals. The revolutionaries wanted a constitutional monarchy, or even a republic. Through their uprisings and the creation of a secret, revolutionary network across the peninsula, revolutionary ideals began to spread throughout and inspire others.

This is of course a gross oversimplification of the history, but I’m bringing this all up to illustrate the idea that Romano was starting to grow tired of the “status quo”, and was desperate for a change. Unification wasn’t necessarily what he had in mind at first, especially when we consider that he and Feliciano were pretty distant at this point in time. However he soon got swept up in the fervor and optimism of the patriots, and he began to believe in their vision. He believed in a future where he could finally be truly independent- free to call the shots and live his life freely without the worry of being tossed around and claimed by other European powers. He believed in a future where, maybe, he could have a family again. To fix what was broken between him and Feliciano. Romano may come across as quite crude, but he’s a very passionate man. Someone who loves and craves so deeply, to the point where his heart/imagination can far outrun him.

So imagine the betrayal felt when he realized that unification wasn’t working in his favour. He was practically discarded, and seen as “lesser than” his northern brother. His brother, who treated him as an oddity, and had an air of moral superiority over Romano. They kept each other at arm's length, as though they were roommates forced to endure the other, rather than two brothers sharing a home. Disillusioned and hurt, Romano felt like a fool for believing in a dream that didn’t come true. 

Feliciano struggled with many emotional grievances, which Romano wasn’t privy to. He lost his long-time husband/partner just a few decades prior, and instead of taking the time to confront the grief, he picked himself back up and turned his attention towards independence and unification. He threw himself head first into uprisings, wars, political negotiations, and rallies- all to achieve this patriotic goal of forming “Italy”, and perhaps to distract himself from the loss (though he won’t admit it). He also thought, maybe foolishly, that his life would get better after unifying with his brother. That he would have a family again, that he wouldn’t feel so alone, that he would love and be loved and they could hold hands and skip happily into a field of sunshine and rainbows and everything would be okay– 

What should have brought them together, they both realized, seemed to drive a deeper wedge between them. The reality was that they were incompatible. They couldn’t stand each other. To Feliciano, Romano was nothing but an uncivilized brute who only complained and never wanted to work, and lived to insult him every day. To Romano, Feliciano was a pompous, stuck-up elite asshole who refused to acknowledge the very real pain and disillusionment of his new, southern citizens. Both brothers felt as though everything- all the blood, sweat, and tears- was just a massive waste.

As you can imagine, it was a VERY tense and unhappy household for many reasons. They began to argue. A LOT. Fights that were far uglier than the scraps they had as children. It got to a point where they couldn’t even stand to be in the same room as each other.

It all came to a head, however, when Romano announced that he was leaving. He had his motives, reasonable ones too, but Feliciano didn’t see that. All he saw was his no-good, lazy brother abandoning him and their country after all the effort they put into creating it, leaving him with all the stress and work while he galavants off to America. This was the straw that broke the camel’s back. The announcement devolved into an explosive fight. Things were said that, to this day, haven’t been fully forgiven. With all the anger and tension, they probably threw in a few good punches as well. Romano eventually left, and Feliciano thought to himself “Good riddance”. However as time wore on, they couldn’t help but think about the other, wonder how they were doing, and reflect on how they parted ways. 

Things were still a bit tense when Romano returned, and they didn’t acknowledge the fight for a while. However, they began putting a bit more effort into rekindling their relationship. It took some time, and it wasn’t an easy journey, but they’re in a much healthier place now than before. They’re glued at the hip, they share everything, they know every little quirk and detail about the other, and they’ve begun to love each other as family (though teasing and head-butting is a common occurrence). 

If you asked them back then if they would go through unification, they would be incredibly iffy. But if you asked them now, they would likely say yes. They wouldn't trade their brother for anything in the world.

[pomegranatesandtangerines]

how would Laios interact with isekai-ed reader if they met during the main story line

in response to @sisterlilybug's comment on this post :)

I see an isekai-ed reader approaching the group (mainly Laios) through asking about the monsters they were cooking

I feel it would be very similar to his first thoughts about Kabru

he mostly thinks "aw gee man they're nice, I like to talk about this stuff with them"

he still however, is very suspicious of the fact that they want to be friends with him

this would be multiplied by a ton if they met after he and Toshiro got into a fight

he just kinda doesn't believe them, even if they say it

it takes time but I think he would come around and truly appreciate them

I feel that the key difference would be that if they had both met as a children there would be more time for small sparks of jealousy in how reader just gets people while if they met later there would be less time for it to fester

he still would regardless feel just so seen by them, not even creeped out about it (definitely curious tho)

its rare for him to feel deeply understood, in fact at several points it feels that its just Falin that gets him, so for this person to show up and just see him,, he just is very grateful

if reader joins his group, he will not shut up about the meals and still loves talking about monsters

overall I think the relationship would be very similar, there would just be less time to harbor deeper feeling both negative and positive

still though I can see him being the only one who is the least suspicious of reader, but definitely one of the most curious if that makes sense

[ourstaturestouchtheskies]

web-weaving — eldest daughter syndrome

Repose – John Singer Sargent // Eldest Daughter – Isabel Pless // Old Soul – The Highwomen // I Miss Her and I Blame You – MALINDA // Goodbye – MARINA // Surface Pressure – Encanto

Violet Sargent – John Singer Sargent // Study for Carnation, Lily, Lily, Rose – John Singer Sargent // My Ego Dies at the End – Jensen McRae // You're On Your Own, Kid – Taylor Swift // The Hardest Part – Bre Kennedy and Hadley Kennary// Older Than I Am – Lennon Stella // seven – Taylor Swift

The Black Brook – John Singer Sargent // Eldest Daughter – Isabel Pless // 26 – Carol Ades // Eldest Daughter – Isabel Pless // You're Losing Me – Taylor Swift // champagne problems – Taylor Swift

Girl with a Sickle – John Singer Sargent // The Breakfast Table – John Singer Sargent // Surface Pressure – Encanto // Older Than I Am – Lennon Stella // Control – Bre Kennedy // Surface Pressure – Encanto // Old Soul – The Highwomen

A Dinner Table at Night – John Singer Sargent // this is me trying – Taylor Swift // Let the Rain – Sara Bareilles // The Hardest Part – Bre Kennedy and Hadley Kennary // Half Truths – JOSEPH // this is me trying – Taylor Swift

[windcarvedlyre]

Rewatched part of ch1's trial and found something else that's really interesting in hindsight!

We're all familiar with Komaeda's FTE; over a decade later, there's still some room for debate wrt whether he was telling the truth about his diagnoses or not. My stance was already that he was telling the truth, instantly regretted it, and lied that he was lying, and I will die on that hill. I think the above lines reinforce my stance further.

Hear me out. I might as well make this a comprehensive 'Komaeda wasn't lying' post while I'm at it.

For reference, here's the entire final FTE.

The reasons I already had to believe him are as follows, ordered from strongest to weakest:

Komaeda almost died from despair disease; he was much more severely affected than Owari and Mioda. Lymphoma can weaken your immune system, leaving you more vulnerable to infections. While Komaeda's degree of illness could also have been due to bad luck, this could easily be an intentional hint about him.

He claims he's wanted someone's love all along. Again in chapter 3, after the trial, Tsumiki targets his lack of loved ones and seems to genuinely perturb him, indicating this is a real insecurity:

Behavioural variant frontotemporal dementia, or bvFTD, can have symptoms that align with a lot of his social and behavioural issues in the game. bvFTD symptoms can include saying socially inappropriate things/being rude and insensitive, rash/impulsive behaviour, empathy issues, and rigid thinking, among other things. Do I even need to cite examples of these? He can still hide things and manipulate people sometimes, but his ch4 investigation segment proves he's genuinely socially impaired. He sometimes fails to understand the emotional nuances of other people and the impact his words will have. For example:

(Though he still has moments of self-awareness and introspection; he acknowledges he's pessimistic in his introduction and worries he'll make Hinata hate him by saying weird things in Island Mode.)

Issues with memory, cognition in general, etc, are more of a thing in later stages of the disease, so Komaeda having significant social impairments but still being extremely sharp and lacking noticeable lapses in memory makes sense.

Physically Komaeda just doesn't seem healthy in general. He's pale, skinny, his hair is white (possibly fading into a pinkish brown that I could see being his hair colour in the past), and- at least in Japanese- he sounds really breathy and wheezy. I once laughed in a way uncannily similar to his ch1 breakdown when I had a chest infection. With asthma. Stage 3 lymphoma symptoms can include chest pain, shortness of breath, weight loss, loss of appetite and fatigue. If it's still stage 3 it's present in lymph nodes above and below the diaphragm but hasn't metastasized outside of the lymphatic system yet, but if it's advanced to stage 4 since his diagnosis then it may have spread to his lungs as well- having further potential to cause respiratory issues.

In his second-last FTE he starts to tell Hinata about something before he entered Hope's Peak but stops himself, not wanting to 'burden' Hinata. And leaves immediately to end the conversation. He'd just told Hinata how his parents died in front of him, showing zero awareness of how bad it was or how it would affect Hinata, so it must have been real bad for him to do this. And makes it less plausible he was impulsively repeating something from a book later, imo.

Iirc at least one spinoff manga runs with it being true, depicting him in a doctor's office during a nightmare. I'm too tired to hunt this down now; maybe I'll edit it in later.

On a meta level I just find it less compelling for the final reward for spending so much time with him to be 'Here's some actual vulnerability- lol psyche, remember he's manipulative? He might still want sympathy, you be the judge'. It would make the aborted confession at the end the only thing we can't infer from elsewhere in the game already. On the other hand, the diagnoses being real, and him trying to take it back and distract Hinata with an incitement to kill him (before also trying to confess his crush and aborting that too, he's a mess there), really really adds depth to his character.

Semi-tangentially, some people with bvFTD also develop neurological problems that affect movement- eg. making them slow and stiff. There's no evidence for or against Komaeda having this in canon afaik, and I've read it's more of a thing in later stages of the disease, but in the ch1 trial he talks about the threatening letter as if it's in his actual handwriting, and if so... it looks pretty stiff, doesn't it? Either it was angular on purpose or the writer has trouble with fluid hand movements. Let me know if he displays fine motor skills anywhere else, I guess.

The only real counterargument is that he's outlived the 6-12 months he was expected to, but:

The estimate is presumably from the cancer, which is treatable. FTD can take years and years, even 10+, to reach the later stages.

That's an estimate, not set in stone, and real people have survived after being told they have X months to live without supernatural luck.

In either case, it doesn't matter how dire the prognosis is if Komaeda's involved. If the chance of him surviving something isn't zero it will probably happen. When he finally managed to kill himself it wasn't even real.

Anyway, the thing I started the post with! Compare the lines below.

In both cases he's said something that could make others feel bad for him, immediately takes it back, and claims he did that on purpose.

But he wasn't actually lying in the first line, albeit hamming it up a little. He wanted someone to kill him. This happened while he was still pretending to be the killer, after Saionji asked him why he sent the letter. He dropped a hint about the truth and then deflected away from it, likely intentionally antagonising people to distract them from thinking too hard about what he just implied and make them more averse to empathising with him.

So what could that imply about the lines from his FTE?

TL;DR: He told the truth about having cancer and dementia, your honour. There's not only strong evidence for this but precedent for the sort of deflection he made afterwards.

[crafteeauthor]

I do like the concept of Crystal helping Charles figure out things with Edwin but personally I don't think Charles would go to her. I think she'd hassle him into talking about it if necessary because that's How She Is but I really don't think Charles would want to initiate that conversation with Crystal. I do really want him to be the one to reach out to someone about this as like a sign of his growth

I know the obvious next choice is Niko, but honestly as fond of her as Charles is i don't think he'd talk to her either. From how he is with Edwin it's safe to say the closer he is to someone the less of his problems he'll want to share; he thinks it's a burden on them to talk about his feelings or problems. Niko is a friend of his, and she's a very close friend of Edwins, so he'd probably not want to talk to her first. Also, Niko is a sweetheart, but Charles isn't really at that "just try to get yourself out there" stage where Niko tends to specialize in terms of love advice

If he does reach out I think he'd more likely go to Jenny, actually. Jenny's got actual serious gay experience under her belt and I'm willing to bet he'd find the punkish vibe comforting. He'd go to someone he was sure would have solid advice and who probably wouldn't judge him

[magnus-rhymes-with-swagness]

thinking thoughts about swords symbolizing the corruption of the institute and the control it has over the kingdom. the sword motif is absolutely everywhere - banners and art, kids’ games and cereal commercials, the statue of gloreth at the center of the kingdom. the institute building itself boasts even more - there are tons of statues and suits of armor, all holding swords. swords are everywhere you look!

another example is the way ballister and his swords are used as a tool by the director. he’s knighted with the same fake sword that kills the queen, highlighting how the system can only thrive on manipulation and deceit - the director can only have control over the kingdom if she lies to it, which she does primarily through ballister. he also immediately tries to go to his sword when he finds out nimona is a shapeshifter, as he hasn’t yet unlearned the values taught to him by the institute. the director keeps his real sword the whole time and uses it to try to kill who she thinks is ambrosius, planning to frame ballister for that murder too, which becomes a major turning point in his arc as he decides to abandon the sword as he no longer wants to be part of her game.

but even though he’s made the choice to reject the institute, he still struggles to unlearn its values. he’s been brainwashed from a young age, and had plenty of time to internalize false notions about heroes and villains and monsters. while he cares deeply about nimona at this point, he still instinctively goes to draw his (other) sword when he learns she’s the “monster” from the legend of gloreth.

one of the ways the director retains power is through gloreth - since she’s considered the symbol of righteousness and heroism, the ideal to which all knights should strive, she’s invoked at every moment possible. the scroll bearing the legend is used to justify killing nimona, and “the will of gloreth” is used to justify practically everything. ballister’s sword has a G on it, which is visible right before he gets knighted, and ambrosius’s sword looks just like the one the statue holds aloft. (gloreth didn’t actually have a sword like that, at least not when she knew nimona, but nobody knows this - the real story had been warped and twisted to fit the narrative so much over the course of a thousand years.)

ambrosius, being her descendant and the golden boy, finds it even more challenging to realize the institute is corrupt. he’s also been brainwashed and forced into a role, and there has always been an immense amount of pressure on him to follow in her footsteps. so when he meets ballister in the tavern he places ballister’s sword on the table and suggests killing nimona, as this is what the institution wants. ballister, who knows that nimona isn’t the one to blame, angrily walks out and leaves the sword laying there, trying to leave both it and the institute behind again.

ambrosius becomes understandably reluctant to use his sword for anything violent after cutting off ballister’s arm. he doesn’t draw it when leading a squadron of knights to find nimona and ballister, even when everyone else has their weapons trained. he points it at them and doesn’t use it when he and the other knights have them surrounded. at one point he even places it in front of the director in the effort to protect her. (he seems to be very loyal to her for reasons i’ve touched on here, and is still heavily under the influence of the institute at this point in time.) in fact, the only time he ever actually uses his sword going forward is the fight with ballister, but even then he’s not really fighting exactly, just deflecting ballister’s sword. he doesn’t try to get in a single strike, not wanting to hurt ballister again or give him any more reason to hate him.

nimona, having grown up under very different circumstances, knocks over suits of armor that have swords. she destroys the statues that hold them. when she and gloreth play fight as children, gloreth holds a toy sword while nimona holds a stick.

everything is inverted at the climax - when every other knight is running around with weapons, ambrosius doesn’t draw his sword. he stands in the middle of the street and asks aloud, “what are we doing?” as he’s finally able to see how corrupt and how dangerous the institute is.

and nimona is the one who seeks out gloreth’s sword, and ballister is the one who lets his own sword fall, breaking the cycle and rejecting the institute’s values once and for all in order to save her.

[the-kipsabian]

wrestling fic writers!!

i have decided to be the change i wanna see, so lets do a nice little thing for each other, as a community full of incredible and talented writers. yes this is writer specific only, but thats cause thats where the main problem of people not interacting with creative works lies in this fandom as far as i can tell and have seen people talking about it especially in the last couple of months

if you read this, please add links to your written works. it can be just a single fic youre really proud of, your writing blog, your writing tag, your ao3 account, anything where your works can be found

and if you leave your link here, PLEASE check out someone else that has left their works, and interact with them. leave them a comment, even just a kudos, REBLOG their fic, etc. interacting is the keyword i want to emphasize here, along with building a sort of a masterpost of where to find people writing in this fandom

and if you are not a writer, youre still highly encouraged to interact with this post and share it and show love to the writers in this fandom, obviously!! i think that should go without saying, but adding it in anyways

a bit more about my vision and resources and such under the read more, but thats the gist of it. happy linking and please be kind and supportive to each other!! 💜

nobody is too big or too small to add their things on this list. if you write and post anything in this fandom whatsoever, be it fics or drabbles or headcanons, any companies or any kind of ships or reader inserts or any content whatsoever no matter how 'dead dove dont eat' or hell even if its just meta, we welcome all here and nobody can say that one thing is less valid than another. just please tag your content accordingly, especially if theres content warnings, and feel free to mention what you write, who you write, any info you wish to leave that would help people before they click on your links. but even so, that should not and hopefully will not deter people from interacting, no matter what it is. someones trash is another ones treasure, i promise you

and unless the amount gets really overwhelming, im personally going to be checking out everyone that leaves something here. unless it squeaks me out, but even then, i'll spread the word. and i just wish as many people as possible will do the same, and not just use this as a potential board to only get eyes on their stuff. ofc thats also the point, but you should give as much, if not more, than you get. we need to be kind and supportive of one another (besides, from personal experience, if you show love to someone else, they are more likely to do it back than without you taking the first step, so... pay it forward)

as for resources, heres a few links that should be helpful in leaving comments and feedback. of course everyone does their own thing and no comment is too big or too small to leave, but for those who need them. if you have anything you'd like added to this list, dont hesitate to get in touch or drop it in the post yourself!!

101 comment starters

ao3 floating comment box

kudos html

dont know how to comment? easy solutions

a quick hot guide to commenting (by yours truly)

an overall guide to appreciating fanfic writers

and just in general.. leave people comments. leave them asks about their projects. just go over and gush about their work. i know it sounds embarrassing but writers love nothing more than to hear that someone likes what they are doing. if you find a fic that hasnt been updated in forever, comment on it. it might just be the spark the author needs to continue. while kudos and likes are nice, and just as valuable to some, its definitely in the words the people leave for them that matter the most. im not saying this to put pressure on anyone, its just how it is, and i feel like unless people are writers themselves, and even then sometimes, thats just hard to grasp, especially if the writer is a smaller and less popular one who doesnt get a lot of traffic in the first place

i think thats all. just be nice and considered to everyone, reblog peoples works, this post with others add ons and so forth. and if i find anyone talking shit here or at other writers for something they share, you'll be blocked and im probably taking your kneecaps. be fucking nice. we are all struggling here and we need to stick together

happy sharing and commenting 💜💜

[itty-bitty-sunshine]

Your art is so cute, but I can't find your username(s) on AO3. Where can I read the Immortal AU?

MNBSJWHWJ WELL,

Immortal au currently does not have a fanfic! It might one day, but for now the story is told through nonlinear comics, rambles and drabbles

You are more than welcome to ask stuff about it if you'd like to read more, I tend to ramble a lot when prompted to

[fryday]

the other day I was thinking about how Dan has not once but twice explicitly talked about something along the lines of in the context of him and phil advertising their relationship and how people feel some sort of parasocial thing like they’re owed information about it (obv in big but more recently in his last meme review video) and I can’t help but think has something changed in the last year or so? we have established as a fandom beyond a hard launch that they know we Know and it’s all fun and games to share bits of their lives without calling each other bf or whatever but I feel like they’re (esp dan) really pushing the No Fucks Given anymore thing and sharing things that would’ve sent us into cardiac arrest years ago and just generally way more open and comfortable and idk if this is clear but I would love to know your thoughts

i wonder if it's been a feedback loop sort of situation that started with the fans' attitude post-comeback. because as far as i remember, their first few videos back, they were making gay jokes and old jokes and no fucks left to give references already, but not specifically with regards to their relationship - just in a general, "this is who we are now" kind of sense. and to be fair i wasn't active in phandom spaces yet at this point, but i figure it must not have been very different from the way it is now: in that the majority of fans just seem to take dnp's relationship as agiven. (whether this is right or wrong is a point i'm not gonna focus on.) people make jokes about their married behaviour and roll their eyes at implied information about their sex lives. it's funny, it's chill, it's treated largely as not a big deal. and i wonder if dnp saw that and started responding to it in turn. opening up more.

i can't say for certain, but i'm guessing the newsletter with that wild "we know you know" line was maybe the start of dnp testing out the waters of this new dynamic. seeing how people responded to it. (i joined the tumblr phandom space maybe like a month after this happened? idk) and boy, i mean. people have taken it and RAN with it. it's an integral part of the phandom lexicon, at this point. it feels like a wink from dnp to us, an acknowledgment, and i guess it's probably emboldened us to just keep getting sillier and more open, and that in turn has fed into dnp acting even sillier and more open, and on and on.

so that's my theory, and i feel like if we're careening towards a hard launch atp it might be because dnp are now convinced that - it wouldn't make much of a difference. sure we'd scream about it for a little, but the point IS that we do already mostly know. we're already annoying about it bc we already mostly know. and maybe it's that lessening of pressure and importance placed on the event that would finally make dnp do it. which is where the signs are, apparently, pointing

[phanyu]

Not to be overly negative, but I actually feel like it's the opposite of a wedding or a hard launch. I get the feeling they're setting us up for a bait and switch the same way they (sort of) did with ii. They lured us in with the promise of "giving the people what they want", just so they could get us all in a room and make us take a hard look at ourselves and our behavior. II wasn't very successful at this because it was all over the place, but maybe they'll actually be able to make a coherent point with TIT.

hmmm this is interesting! i dont think im totally on the same page though because the whole marriage breadcrumbs thing is sort of, by nature, built upon plausible deniability? if you told anyone who doesnt keep up with dnp about all the little marriage coincidences (and i have) and what you think they mean theyd look at you like you were crazy lol (and they did). it's sort of different to, for example, the tour breadcrumbing where they were directly saying they have something in the works, and at the same time making wink wink nudge nudges to their past/possible future tours. and like you mentioned with ii, "giving the people what they want" was literally the shows tagline, even if the way it was implemented wasnt quite as generous as it sounds. the phweddingspiracy though sort of reminds me of when they look back at their old content and are like "oh we were soft launching the gay there". it's a very consciously lowkey reference that they KNOW their casual audience will brush over, can be taken as clearly a joke if need be, but they know their dedicated fans will pick up on as a pattern because thats the way theyve always done this back and forth communication thing.

also i dont think theyre going to tread the same ground as ii thematically in fact i think it's sort of the opposite perspective on it? by which i mean. this is sort of how im reading it:

tatinof: hahah, we are your dolls, play with us! lets make stories!

ii: we are dolls to you but how can we make YOU feel about that?

tit: we are your dolls but how do WE feel about that?

[adamfanti11i]

i'm still just sitting here thinking about how in the last 6 stanley cup playoffs, bob has been in net to win a series against: 1) 3 presidents' trophy winners, including 2 of the top 5 ever in points and the first presidents' trophy winner to ever be swept in the first round (which was also the blue jackets' first ever playoff series win), 2) was the starting goalie for a 4th presidents' trophy winning team that is top 8 all time in points but got hit by the curse in the second round, and 3) in all but 1 of the 5 playoff runs prior to this year, was knocked out by either the future conference or stanley cup champion.

and he has now won a stanley cup in that 6th of 6 playoff runs where he had to face: 1) the team that won the first 2 cups of the 2020s, 2) a rematch with the team that broke that presidents' trophy points record last season, 3) this season's presidents' trophy winners, and 4) the team with the guy who is doing the kind of things that haven't been seen since gretzky and lemieux.

like, sergei bobrovsky, 2 (3?) time vezina winner and stanley cup champion, you ARE a legend and a future hall of famer and i will love you forever.

[solarsunshine]

something that has been really getting to me as i’ve fallen back into destiel and all it’s insanity, is how little people understand the pressure of being queer in red states. like, in no other fandom have i seen the amount of normal world/no power au’s that i’ve seen in spn/destiel verse, so you would think that there would be at least a little understanding/research onto how queer people live and stay safe in conservative cities or in the case of the small town au’s, places with less than 15,000 people? instead i see an abundance of fics where dean is closeted and that makes him the central focus of conflict/the “problem” in the relationship, or the fact that he’s closeted means he has to be suffering from internalized homophobia. as someone who has lived in red states while being very queer, for a lot of other folks being in the closet means safety, not repression. sometimes the closet door’s purpose is to keep people out, rather than keeping us in. there is a very prevalent idea in the minds of a lot of LGBTQIA+ people that small town/midwest/southern queer folks are all repressed, or that freedom means leaving our homes to be out and proud, and i’m not saying that that isn’t true for some people. but for others, we feel that our liberation comes from loving and being loved in the places we’re rooted in. when living in a largely christian and/or conservative town, county, or even state, having the ability to feel love and be loved is freedom and protest all in of itself. whether the couple holds hands on main street or only in their shared apartments (*whispers* and they were roommates) doesn’t negate the fact that they are living queerly and are alive and finding joy in a place that would rather see us dead. to wrap this up (and bring it back onto destiel lol), i do think that dean would be a character that does repress his sexuality, but i don’t think that it’s solely because he’s from freaking kansas. i would rather see how his relationships with family, he’s own self-worth issues, and past relationships affect him, instead of a lot of the stereotyping the fandom does of both him and queer culture in conservative environments. (and please can we stop with the urban, worldly castiel coming in to bring enlightenment and social reform to poor, hick dean? it’s giving classism and i hate that this dynamic is so popular😭)