#anyway sorry if my tags are a little weird for some folks. i just like being able to clear my mind.

[olderthannetfic]

Do you have any idea why authors of multichaptered works INSIST on putting things like "Good news! We're about X of the way to the end folks" and "Sorry folks! I keep thinking it's almost done but then a new chapter happened and it's not going to be done as soon as I thought"? Like, are they fishing for compliments? Like, the fic is getting read. It has subscribers. Ppl are leaving comments. Do they think ppl WANT it to be over? I mean, these are writers we're talking about. So they were naturally readers first and presumably still are. So the concept of fellow readers not wanting what they enjoy to end shouldn't be such a novel concept to them! So why remind us and remind us and remind us that we're closer to the end? If the chapters are already numbered, we can see it thanks! We don't need a reminder! And if the chapters are written like "5/?" we don't WANT to know when the story is going to end! And the apologizing because there's more story? It's so unbelievably infuriating I have often just closed the tab because I was so mad I didn't want to read anything by someone so moronic (or fake-modest or fishing for compliments) anymore. So many writers seem to absolutely have no awareness or understanding or respect for the concept of a reader being immersed in a story. In published multichaptered books, you don't find little author's notes full of unfunny self-deprecating jokes and anecdotes and life updates at the start AND end of every chapter. You're immersed in the story and eagerly going from chapter to chapter. But sure, chat about anything and everything under the sun and completely break the hold your storytelling had on me! Author's notes are not a chat room. It's for stuff that affects the story or a heads up about a tag that hadn't been in the tags until that specific chapter but warrants a warning. Ugh to be honest lately I've completely stopped reading author's notes. From weird "haha see what I did there" after the most achingly written pining and temporary heartbreak scene, to smug and inane and ridiculous declarations of "X and Y switch because I believe in equality" as if it's a moral issue instead of a very real life preference for many men who sleep with men, author's notes are just idiotic most of the time. I will only read them by authors I trust, who will add a quiet few lines about the translation of a Latin phrase, or a link to pictures of a real-life place they featured in a poignant scene. Otherwise they just make me wring out my hair and who needs that. And for the crowd that LOVES to get offended: No I don't mean this is gospel. I mean this is MY experience. And since I'm clearly not one of a kind because no one is, there's bound to be others like me. So authors who WANT to keep ruining the mood they managed to craft can keep doing it -- most of their readers probably don't mind! The authors I trust though (the ones whose notes I will read, and whose notes have never ruined the mood for me) never do that anyway. But this is a heads up to those who are interested in finding out what makes SOME readers tick, because there's a first time learning about something for everyone. Thanks for letting me vent!

--

[treysimp]

Trick Or Treat! (Part 3)

(GN!Reader/Ruggie / Jack / Leona)

Part 1 // Part 2 // Part 3 (This one!)

Rating: T

Introduction: After the Ramshackle ghosts had whipped you and Grim up some intensely cute wizard costumes, you decided that you were going to go hunt down all of your friends and offer them a trick or a treat! Which one will they choose?

Tags: Reader’s body not described nor are pronouns used, fluff, kissing the homies good morning, friends to flirting heavily, sorry for all of you that are good cooks I decided that Reader-chan is not for this one (you can blame the Ramshackle kitchen if you want), eating baked goods (food and food consumption warning)

Words: 2k

Author’s notes: We getting hella smoochies in this fic folks.

Want more TWST? Here’s my masterlist!

Now that you had finally escaped the heart-pounding grip of your Heartslabyul besties, you were making your way to the Savannahclaw booth at Grim’s request.

It was an almost shockingly impressive sight. 

While you loved the graveyard that the previous location was at, the shimmering shipwreck felt so mysterious and surreal. You recalled that they had a pirate theme, and looking upon the stranded vessel on the shore you felt almost hypnotized with the curiosity of wanting to see what treasures lay hidden inside.

It wasn’t all that crowded, but making your way to the stamp location was a bit more harrowing than expected. Due to the plethora of Savannahclaw pirates who were ready to try and jump-scare you around every turn, your voice was getting a bit more hoarse by the minute.

You felt a little more pathetic with each yelp of surprise, but since Grim was already bawling comical tears, you were trying your best to not have both of you sobbing in fear.

Much to your chagrin though, the sudden grip of a hand around your wrist startles you into another undignified scream as you feel yourself being pulled inside a hidden door with a snap.

It was completely dark, and you couldn't see a thing. Other than the fact that you could tell someone else was in here with you, you were completely clueless. 

Well, that was until you heard the laughter anyway.

“Shyee-hee-hee you should see the look on your face! Priceless!” Giggles your fluffy-eared captor, eyes watering from breathless laughter.

“Ruggie!” You exclaimed, slapping him across the chest. “You scared the shit out of me! I was about to start swinging, you know!” 

You huffed, crossing your arms and glaring at the ground to try and obscure the embarrassment at both the shrillness of your screaming and how close this little broom closet had pressed the two of you together. 

You could feel every minty breath of Ruggie’s wash over your skin with his unending giggles, it was an overwhelming sensation.

“Hit me again, maybe you’ll feel better?” Ruggie said teasingly, leaning his head against the wall that your shoulders were pressed so firmly against. 

What was with everyone invading your personal bubble today? Did Twisted Wonderland have some weird Halloween tradition you were unaware of?

“I think you should give me that bag with my name on it first though,” Ruggie added, bringing his face dangerously close to your own.

You looked down at your pail only to see that the plastic bag was already in Ruggie’s hands.

“What’s the point of stealing it when it was for you in the first place?” You said with a frown.

“Aww, come on. Seeing the faces you make is reward enough.” He laughed, eyes sparking at the glare you gave him.

You bit back a retort at that one. Ruggie clearly was just trying to tease you and it wasn’t worth playing into it.

“Fine. You got cookies and got to see me scream. Happy?” You huffed.

“Hmm… I can think of one more thing I’d like?” Ruggie said, playfully tapping his chin in thought. 

“Such as?”

“I’ve read that a kiss from a cute wizard can give you good luck?” 

For the nth time today, you could feel the blood rush and settle on top of your cheekbones. What in the world had gotten into these boys?

“Fine.”

“…if that doesn’t work, then-!” Ruggie’s eyes got almost circular in surprise.

“Fine?”

“Fine.” You repeated. 

“Oh ah… I wasn’t expecting you to say yes.” Ruggie flustered. You took a bit of joy in being the cause of someone else’s embarrassment today for once.

You pinched your nose as the awkward silence grew. At this point, you just wanted out of this closet.

Taking a step forward, you placed a palm on either side of Ruggie’s head and planted a kiss on his soft hair. As you removed a hand, you took the opportunity to stroke the base of his hyena ears, which caused him to lean into your touch ever so slightly.

Throat dry, eyes wide, Ruggie stared at you for a moment. 

With a heady swallow and a cough to clear his throat, he muttered a quiet ‘thank you for the luck’ and reached behind you, pushing a near-invisible hinge that re-opened the door that he had snapped you up from.

Grim, who was seconds away from burning the wall down to get you back out from the trap door, was very relieved.

After Ruggie’s devious detour, you felt incredibly relieved to see Jack waiting at the booth for visitors.

Eyes bright, Jack cutely put up his hands into claws and gave you and Grim an enthusiastic, “Happy Halloween!”

You were delighted to see how cool his costume looked on him and also incredibly relieved to spot a large bowl of candy on the stamp table. 

That got rid of one possible problem.

“Jack! You look so awesome!” You exclaimed, delighting in the way that your friend visibly puffed up at the compliment.

“You look great too, Prefect. You really should see Leona though, out of all of us he looks like he could be the real pirate.” Jack said modestly, clearly trying to change the subject rather than take the compliment. 

His bashfulness was always so cute for such a tough-looking guy.

Shuffling up to make pointed eye contact with the candy bowl, Grim hollered out his new favorite words:

“TRICK OR TREAT!” 

Jack's face split into a sweet smile, grabbing a handful of candy and dropping it into Grim’s bucket.

Grim was ecstatic upon seeing the haul and immediately sat down to begin cataloging his newly acquired loot like a crow with its collection of sparkly garbage.

Well, he did eat like garbage sometimes, you supposed.

“Prefect?” Jack called quietly, extending a candy you hadn’t seen before out to you in his palm.

“I saved this one for you. You mentioned how you liked the one I gave you before, so…”

Oh! That sparked a memory. Jack had shared a small sweet from the Sunset Savannah with you the other day, this must be another one of those.

Taking the piece of candy carefully in your hand and cradling it like a treasure, your heart felt a little warmth that Jack had remembered something you had said so off-handedly.

“Thank you. I brought you something too.” You said, handing him his cookie bag.

An emotion you couldn’t quite place flickered over Jack's face for a fraction of a moment.

“For me?” He asked, eyes darting back and forth between the cookies and your face. You couldn’t know what this means, right? He bit his lip. 

No, even other non-beastmen Twisted Wonderland inhabitants probably didn’t know. The tips of his fingers were tingling at the thought. 

Maybe he would have to tell you someday. 

What would you think if you knew?

Unluckily for Jack, you took his extended silence as displeasure.

“You like cookies, right? Um... if you don’t, I can also make you something else?” You offered, hand reaching to grab back the bag you had given him.

Jack shook his head so fast you were worried that he might get dizzy, protectively holding your cookies to his chest and then quickly stuffing them in a hidden pocket of his frock coat.

“I love yo-them. I love cookies.” He said affirmatively. 

You were curious just what he was about to say before he corrected himself, but if you knew anything about Jack it was that he was good at keeping his mouth shut when he was done talking.

“I’m glad.” You said with a laugh. “I’m sorry we both took so much time. I’m sure you have other people to help." Walking over to scoop the candy your buddy had laid out on the ground, you helped Grim to his feet.

"Grim, let’s get to the next place, okay?” You said, extending your hand to hold the paw of the feline.

Grim looked at you puzzled, and then over your shoulder at Jack meaningfully.

“You ain’t gonna kiss him too? Everyone keeps asking for you to kiss ‘em today…” Grim asked curiously, feigning innocence with the question. 

He knew exactly what he was doing though, as evidenced by the soft gasp that escaped Jack behind you and Grim’s innocent expression curled into a devious grin.

‘You little jerk’ you mouthed at him, before turning on your heel to look back at Jack.

He seemed exceedingly flustered, eyes wide in shock.

“You’re um… giving out..?” Jack couldn’t even get himself to finish his sentence.

“People keep either asking for or giving me kisses for some reason,” you say with an awkward laugh, “If you…”

“Yes! I mean-! I don’t want to be left out? No! Um…” Jack seemed deeply conflicted, switching between a volley of emotions between stammers.

It did seem like he wanted the kiss though. Well, you could do that much, right?

Slowly stepping closer to the handsome wolfman, you reach for his chin in hopes of coaxing him within kissing distance.

His skin is burning hot, and for a moment you thought he might not have been realizing what you were trying to do, his unfocused eyes scanning over your face. 

It seemed like the message got through to him after a moment though, as he hesitantly got his face close enough to yours to touch.

Leaning forward, you planted a kiss on the tip of his nose, quickly separating from him with a giggle.

Jack’s hand shot up to touch the spot your lips had brushed against, but you could swear that he had visibly brightened from the contact.

“What’s this I hear about you going around smooching the student body, herbivore? You lost a bet or something?” A familiar voice laughed from behind you.

Spinning around to see the sudden company you had gained, you spotted Leona casually leaning against a wooden beam. His white teeth were practically glistening with each sardonic laugh that escaped his perfect lips as he tilted his head curiously at you.

How did Leona always seem to find the exact time to show up in order to ruin the moment?

“What, are you jealous?” You counter, eyebrow raised and fists planting onto your hips. “Better ask fast if you want one, me and Grim were just about to leave.”

Leona was silent, staring off at something on the wall behind you rather than making eye contact. He seemed to be thinking uncharacteristically hard about something.

“Y’know… I was considering going sightseeing to scope out the competition. The ah… Stamp Rally competition, that is. Should I tag along with you? I do love seeing all the weird trouble you can stir up.” Leona said, his grin growing impossibly wider.

You weren’t sure exactly what Leona was expecting you to say when he had the whole conversation with himself just now.

To his credit, Leona seemed to have done a great job convincing himself of his proposal by the end of the last sentence, because his hand had made it around the crook of your elbow and was dragging you off of the ship.

“Jack, you’re in charge while I’m gone. Don’t let Ruggie sell off too many of the props, alright?”

“Aye, aye captain!”

You sighed. Here we go again.

“So where exactly were you goin’?” Leona drawled, his grip on your arm one degree away from discomfort.

“Diasomnia's booth. So, Ramshackle. I guess.” You replied, hoping that the prospect of seeing Leona’s least favorite fellow dorm leader might dissuade him from whatever this weird whim was.

“Ugh, really? Fine, but you owe me.”

“I didn’t ask you to come along, you know.”

“You didn’t have to. Not with you looking like a helpless sheep in the middle of my den of wolves. Keep that up and we’ll have a problem.” Leona groused, pulling you to walk faster.

“Ugh, I don’t get you.” You complained, shooting Leona a weak glare.

“That makes two of us, sheepy.”

Leona is gonna get more time to shine next chapter, I just wanted an excuse for him to argue with Malleus, haha.

What do y'all wanna see happen? Any guesses?

Love you, reader!

Requested tags:

@readinganas, @yandere-kou, @daeda21, @sideofblog, @buckketboy, @hxlcyon, @aikochan4859, @kumiko-desu, @ninjas-are-the-shit, @star-gods, @fragmentedstarlight, @sarahyumiko2, @sunnyseaside, @rosalie-in-twisted-wonderland, @chopid, @rebel-faes-writing, @stillserene, @witch-waycult, @fr0llo, @bluesylveon2, @dari-kun, @kit4kat256, @leonkae, @riddle-simp, @fightmeucowardlmao, @lovelynai, @shytastemakerthing, @chillywinterbreeze, @venniin, @acherrytart, @omg-its-ailatan, @youaskedfurret, @supernatural9000, @angrybees, @lotus-sukimono, @the-mermaid-of-stars, @scapemindsblog, @bunntsu, @kawaiisimp, @cupidflower, @mcandynismydream, @probablynoposts, @hitoshitoshi, @maxxthecatblob, @cecilisthebest, @naniky,

[shesmore-shoebill]

since you mentioned an angel in neon blue as one of your faves…..your top 5 amangela fics perhaps? some honorary mentions too if there’s too many? 👀

Sorry for the delay on this, life got busy and then more busy instead of less busy and I wanted to give this ask its deserved amount of consideration.

anyway. Five is HARD. I will do my best. Order is not indicative of anything bc I've agonized long enough as it is. I've tagged folks + linked directly to their posts where I could find their associated tumblr post, and links to AO3 where I couldn't.

Also I cheated and made a separate list for NSFW ones. Partly because I know some people don't want to read NSFW. and to cheat a little on the 5 restriction.

As always, RPF with F as in fiction. From what I recall, none of these are attempting to speculate or make any actual statements about real people, they're all just works of fiction I like.

if anyone wants me to remove a link to their fic or a tag for any reason, let me know.

close my eyes (and fantasize) by @baflegacy

listen. I am a fucking sucker for well intentioned and realistic miscommunication that stems from care and then goes wrong. I love a thing where someone cares about someone and thats why they're worried and the worry also means they are a little mad and a little hurt bc fuck, i want to help you, why arent you talking to me about this, did i do something, crossed with the other person doing everything in their power to do the exact thing driving them up the wall, because they genuinely care so much about the other person that its skewing their judgement. People who care and people who fuck up. I'll eat it up every time, and this one is written in a way that feels so real. 👌👌👌👌

the devil is in the details by @skiespeaches

this is a newer fic and its still in progress atm and so theres a chance it gets bumped into NSFW territory 😅 but im really enjoying it!!! The dynamic between Amanda and Angela takes the competitive edge we can see in videos and makes it into something phenomenal. Its got such strong tension and pacing, and its also got. REALLY GOOD COMMUNICATION. People react realistically and have reasonable fears and doubts but everyone also talks about them and trusts each other and its just so satisfying to read as a result. And it STILL does the tension and the 👀👀👀👀👀 so well. Guess its kind of funny to put this and the prior recc right next to each other but I genuinely love both of these. Communication and humans are weird.

not strong enough by @moviemandy

i love a disaster angela fic as much as anyone but because I feel like that trope is established among smosh rpf, I love having that get subverted even more. More Amanda getting comforted!!! yeah!!!!!And the way the dynamic and emotions are written in this one is especially satisfying to me, they all feel very real, and sweet. :') Also, Im always a sucker for the trope where someone tries to deflect from their issues by taking care of someone else and then gets CALLED OUT FOR IT. also, double bonus, this fic can be read completely platonically. :]

a field of yellow flowers by @unknownteapot

gah this one has so many layers and elements to it, its such a damn delight to reread. the bittersweetness of it all really 👌👌👌👌. Grudging respect and admiration in an awful space, magnetism of people who both deeply want to love each other and really don't (but they do). The world feels very realized and that's so important bc the fic clearly sets up the interplay as like. The two of them and also the world they are in as a distinct three players in the story. This fic has so many emotions!!! gut punch of an end! you feel for both of them so deeply by the end.

i've been having revelations by @poppyfamily

slight cheating bc this is courtmangela but it should still count imo!!! It contains another classic trope of people who care about each other deeply and it being percieved by other people before they clock it themselves. Its something I like specifically as a writing trope and only executed in specific ways- caring deeply and being affectionate does not HAVE to mean you want to sleep with or are in love with someone, and IRL assumptions about that can be. Infuriating. But love how this fic does it. :) Also its funny and it feels very genuine and the voices all sound. right. I love fics with lots of cuts where so much is said in tiny details and tiny moments, it makes the world feel very fleshed out. Also, Courtmangela as a band is just a blessed concept.

NSFW fics:

lets make this bed get squeaky by baflegacy

This rewrote my goddamn brain chemistry actually. Like yes, this one is hot, but the parts that really hooked into my brain are not exclusively the spicy bits. Pining RPF Amanda is SO important to my brain, and that dynamic of an Amanda silently losing her mind and Angela also silently losing her mind but slightly more at peace about it, combined with their very genuine friendship keeping things fine and then. and THEN. well.

personal leisure by unknownteapot

hey this fic is hot as hell. Its extremely well written. But also besides the nsfw parts the banter and the sort of instant connection all feel very real and unforced and i love that the end of the fic feels so open ended but also so light and hopeful and sweet. choosing to believe they meet for coffee the next day and it all goes swimmingly.

like she wants to try me on by baflegacy

this fic is about amanda in the submissive and breedable outfit and angela. It accomplishes eveeything you could want from that. Its Very nsfw. its VERY good. Writing smut is difficult on multiple levels- keeping it logistically and emotionally sound while keeping it spicy. It does all three really well. also the aftercare moment is really sweet. :]

bonus: its the subject of this ask so i didnt include it but shout out to an angel in neon blue- the tension is INCREDIBLE and the way the ending recontextualizes everything and leaves you unsure who was really in control the whole time is like. really impressive. The characterization is SO strong and feels so true to the Sarah Christ we know and creates an equally strong Creekside Killer characterization to juxtapose it. 👌

[soullessjack]

Hello sorry for an ask. I am very sick, my asthma is at its maximum level, my nose freezes, I have no medicine or food. I am in bad shape financially, I am a black disabled, who uses multiple medications, I pay for my food and lodging

Unfortunately I do not have all the resources to keep me safe, that is why I need your help, whatever you can contribute to me will be of great help.

there’s no way you thought this would work when this is the second time you’ve tried your little loser scam on my blog you stupid fuck 💀

anyways folks there’s a very common pattern I’ve noticed in some of these scams that I’d now like to point out to y’all

1) they’re extremely recent. 1-5 days old at best. this one is a day old.

2) they have that tumblr-generated name that never makes any sense, and if they try to make another blog again, the name is usually related in some way

3) they’ll almost always have this pfp and header. Sometimes the pfp changes (usually stolen from real campaigns) but the header is always the same. I shit you not I’ve already seen it so many times before now

4) their fundraiser or PayPal links are always multi-colored?? For some fucking reason?? and the name given on their account is either completely different from the name given on their blog, or they just don’t have a name given. they also have extremely minimal or vague information given about their identity, health issues etc.

5) they’ve used those specific tags — artists on tumblr, donations, free Palestine, etc — before. I use cross tags for donation posts as well but for someone who gives zero indication of being Palestinian, that’s a weird fucking tag to use for reach.

6) they usually reblog something related to activism, especially posts related to Palestine currently, but there’s always something else completely unrelated in there — like this fanfic.

I won’t go on a spiel about how that’s also a normal thing for nearly all blogs to do and isn’t always indicative of a scam, but for ones that claim to be in an active and severe health or housing crisis (hence their asking for donations) it’s something to look out for

again, these are just patterns and signs I’ve noticed personally from scams that I’ve been sent, I’m not an expert on any of this stuff. honestly just searching their username or other common scams on tumblr is a quick way to figure them out before you go ahead with anything else. but remember to stay safe and cautious, and know how to distinguish these from people who are actually in need.

[carmenized-onions]

NEW CHAPTER, 14, new recap (can you believe the first one i recapped was chapter 5 oh my) lets rip some coke and goooo

“I thought it was a good bit!” “Cause I’m a piece of shit?” - IVE MISSED THISS

CHARMIN SOUNDS LIKE CHARMING 🥹🥹🥹

the deer in headlights bit is v funny, you’ll see when you see the memes (which i made before the chapter, i am nostradamus)

she is fruity for sure

nodding like i understand food talk (tf is a3)

unrelated but the same therapist thing reminded me about something i keep forgetting to bring up - RICHIE IS HR. so when you mentioned the bear needs an HR, well they do. and as long as carmy treats chip right i think he’ll accept the co-worker relationship (anything to be able to work with chippy)

THE CAT. he is those cute curly kitties. the shat, iykyk

the fact carmen wants to say ‘i love you’ this early (something he struggled a lot to say to his family) IS SOOOOOOOOO

OMG CHIPPY GOING TO WORK FOR THEM FOR REAL????:333333333

This has been Carmichael Burrowski, folks! Don’t call no one— — DNEKRKRIOELEKDKFODNEKE CARMICHAEL BURROWSKI

Ugh, boyfriend? What kind of word is ‘boyfriend’? That's fucked. - THEYRE SO SIMILAR AND PERFECT TOGETHER

And you cannot say you love him because that would be weird. - OH SHUT UP THEYRE SO

“I’m going to kiss you.” “Yeah, okay.” - THAT IS SO FUNNY SJDJFJKF

He’s fine with the touch of hair pulling, on your part— Possibly more than fine. — *giggles in meme*

“You’re so pretty.” You tell him anyway, speaking into his half open mouth.  Whatever thought he had, it’s dead now.“—Jesus fucking Christ.” - i need them to know how much i love them jesus fucking christ

“I’m not a fucking virgin.” - LMFAOEKRKKEOEKEKRNRKRKRKEKEKEKE

“It was a recent development, okay?” “Darn. Sorry I was late.” - 🥺🥺🥺 imagine -

“I want you in every sentence.” - FUCKING KILL ME WHY DONT YOU CARA MIA😭

to bite you like a cannibal - this man and his hickeys🤭🤭🤭

“Fak is still outside, I’m pretty sure.” - CHIP??1?2?2?3kr3kr3kr3kr838484kr4&4&4

“Wait— Are they?” Oh, so Richie’s here, too? Good. - oh great everyone’s here, bet squid is there too

NUZZLING NOSES

her old cat, her old pu-

Nuzzling your face into Syd’s cheek - squidink as she’s holding carm’s hand?? wild

“First of all, wrong placement.” - ofc it is

When shit happens, you call me - 🥺🥺🥺 bestie!!!

“Get your weird little hands off my Chip, you perv—” - LMFAOOOW DJEJEJDJDJ I LOVE HIM SO

and syd’s reply sidjdifi

“Y’know how going to a different barber is like cheating—?” - SJDJDJ GET HIS ASS CHIP. they swapped her for fucking ted fak???

“You’re still— We’re still sharing, right?” - SYD SHENJEHEJE

I’m sexually normal - very normal thing to say, it me tho

OMFG IF CHIP RECOGNIZES DONNA AND PETE FROM OUTSIDE THE RESTAURANT

“Baby’s do traditionally experience time, yeah.” “You n’ that smart mou—” - their dynamic is unmatched

You have to respect the power in that. “Damn.” - that reminded me of marcus

“Oooh, Charmin gets his first paycheck suddenly he’s all that—” “You wanna come up to my room or not?” - i was gonna comment on the charmin thing but HELLO1??1?23)kr3:kr

THEY CAN HANG. SURE BRO

THEYRE WATCHING RATATOUILLE OMGGGGG

Sleeveless black turtleneck? Maybe black palazzo pants - HOT

Please say yes to the white apron. Please say yes to his team. He'll get your initials monogrammed and everything. - *passes out*

the wonderful rat chef

ON GOD

“Yeah. I’ll answer.” - bc 🥺😭

“You’re fucking Carmen!” - GOODBYEEEE. not carmen outing them YET AGAIN

“So fuck you, actually.” - 🫶🏼🫶🏼🫶🏼

“Fuck off! I’m already coming to fucking Time Square with you, don’t be whiny.”  - this is giving when dwight was like ‘of course i’ll get that stuff for you so just shut up’

“I nominate Carmen.” “I second the nom.” - tag-team<33

Don’t fuck in a fuckin’ Holiday Inn Chip’s worth mo - he’s so sweet and yet so???

HE CALLED CHIP BABY I REPEAT

It's absolutely going in Carmen's top five favourite expressions of yours. - 🕊️🕊️🕊️

“Syd said she will be knocking violently if I’m not back at midnight on the dot, yeah.” - SQUID GIVING HER GF A CURFEW

THE BERF SHIRT

“God, it’s over—” - squidink is so over rn😔

“Baby, just say you’re happy for me.” - BABY. THEYRE SO BACK

squid can stab men, a little, as a treat

You hand her your water bottle when you spot her looking at it. - 🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍🌈

her instinct is to call chip, oh OH oh

“I didn’t ask you to be great.” Syd says it before she thinks it, and it’s enough to make your eyes water - MINE ARE RUNNING TOO ACTUALLY

God you’re dehydrated - *careless whisper plays* i mean what I SAID NOTHING

squid out🦑🦑

“It’s so crazy that you think that’s gonna happen—” - I LOVEEE SHEEE

Your shoulders touch as you both stare at the ceiling. - CUTIES

She hums, pointing to the popcorn tiles - namedrop! jk…unless?

“Oh my fucking God it’s that bad—”- GET THEIR ASSES SQUID

In front of everyone, accidentally while saying goodbye, off-handedly while hanging up, over text, and so on and so forth. - all of those are cute actually

“Now it’s three.” “Fuck, it’s gaining interest?!” - WE’RE SO BACK!!!!

“Wait, what the fuck, Syd, say it back!” - REAL!!

this was so cute!! just them and their adventures

LETS. GET. ROLLLINNGGGG!!!! (papers!!!) (we both can do drug jokes in this house!!!) (there will be a wip under all this as a treat I promise)

I’m honestly shocked Charmin isn’t a canon nickname (yet!!), cause like. IT DOES SOUND LIKE CARMEN!!! AND THE TOILET PAPER BEARS!!! AND THE TOILET PAPER BEARS ARE BLUE NOW TOO!!! WHAT THE HELL!!!

You are frfr an oracle with your memes, occasionally I look at em like hmmmmm,,,, this is gonnna be a lot funnier after the next one. My comedic Nostradamus genius. (the secrets of the universe ARE in the popcorn ceiling!! U!!)

The benefit about writing about food for people who did not come for food is that I also don’t have to fully understand what I’m saying. Had to look at a wagyu chart and make a lot of assumptions. I am not going to make steak with pop rocks to find out if it’s any good.

OKAY WHAT THE FUCK I S RICHIE’S JOB I’M BEING SO FR I DO NOT !!! Carmen’s Exec, Syd’s CDC/Head, Richie is… HR/Co-Manager/Host??? No wonder he can afford fuckin eras tour tickets bro is getting THREE DIFFERENT PAYCHECKS WHAT!!! But this does make sense. Bro IS THEE Human Resource.

Had to look up photos of sheep cats. Yeah that’s him. That’s Carmen but a Cat for sure.

RAHH. The held back I love yous are very. Very rah. Theres a lot of thought behind them for me but I shant share because I feel like that may give too much away I fear?

Carmichael burrowski is brought to you by seeing Carmichael company vans a lot and Mae Burrowski from Night in the Woods. Thank u both for ur service.

I completely forgot about the ‘that’s fucked’ convo with Fak until I saw a gifset and went OH YEAH…. It IS fucked. They are so stupid. They are also both unable to say I love you because that would be WEIRD!!!!!!!

I am so happy with the incredibly funny smooch because it was very much to mimic Carmen’s —

I think funny kisses are the way to go. There is something very charming (CHARMIN!) to me about awkwardly expressed consent.

YOU DIDN’T PUT THE RATATOULLIE MEME IN THIS ONE FOR THE PUBLIC TO ENJOY AND FOR THAT!!! YOU’VE DEPRIVED OUR PEOPLE!! i knew if I was gonna make him watch ratatouille and have him relate, he’d have to relate to more than just remy.

I’ll call them and let them know you love them, promise. Whenever they get out of the bathroom.

Carmen 30-Year Old Virgin Berzatto— Or 28-29, time line is UNCLEAR!! Regardless, I couldn’t take away my man’s one W. He fumbles most people, I had to let him have the one he canonically got. And also it was too fun to consider him absolutely STEWING as Tony recounts her emotional relationship with Mikey, just thinking in the background “I need to tell her I am in fact. NOT . a virgin!” I hate this man.

I WANT YOU IN EVERY SENTENCEEE RRAAAWHWHWHEHE!!! Loved that. Loved writing that paragraph. Love love. Love wanting to have someone so intrinsically in your life that in order for someone to know you they have to know them. WOOOOOO!!!!!!!! Carmen give her a hickey before we have to confront the emotional implications, GET HER BOY!!

Well how much did you bet on syd being there because now I owe you

CHIPS GOT TWO HANDS FOR A REASON BABY!!! I’m kidding the triangle would never work. But they should try anyways.

Whole Richie scene makes me :)) it’s fun to navigate these two going through like, so many internal emotions obviously over Chip’s trauma dump, and deciding what Richie would actually take a moment to comment on. And I think it absolutely has to be the ‘imagine your friends are dead’, bro 100% HAD TO BE HELD BACK FROM RAMMING THE DOOR DOWN TRULY TRULY. Don’t imagine I’m fuckin dead cousin!!!!!! I’m not a fuckin ghost!!! Call me!!!!!!!!! I am literally your guy!!!!!

Watching season 3 and seeing half of the season unnecessarily focusing on a Handyman (Ted) really had me clutching my pearls like. Bro. where’s my baby. Who the fuck does this guy think he is. This is CHIP TURF!!

BIG SHOUT OUT TO SYDNEY ‘THE SQUID’ ‘SEXUALLY NORMAL’ ADAMU!~

Donna!! Donna!! Finally semi-time that I have to face my white whale of writing,,, da mom… I’m still mentally tackling how to write her, but we’ll get there when we get there…. (truly thought she was gonna fucking die this season I didn’t think I was gonna have to DEAL WITH IT!!)

Everyone simultaneously did a record scratch at ‘do you want to come up to my room’ and I think that’s beautiful. I think that’s everything I wanted and more. They can hang bro. and watch ratatouille. Like hang out and be normal and fantasize about easily removable aprons with monogramming done.

Carmen is a certified shoe in his mouth yapper. Sugar, hand the crown to your brother, you may step off your throne; because this fucker has gotten caught like three separate times simply by being himself.

VERY DWIGHT Very like, sibling texting ‘fuck you I hate you what do you want from mcdonalds im omw home’. That’s the Richip dynamic to me. And then they kill carm.

Chip baby!!! This is not a drill he finally called her a pet name!! men, to your stations! And she didn’t even have the brain to COMPUTE IT, alas.

The post squid scene was so tough I was like, ‘do I cut this and just end on carmen?’ but then I knew, I’d never write this scene, cause spoiler alert, we’re doing a very slight time skip. So like. I just wanted Squidink to have their actual last beat to their sad no contact era because!!! So many feelings to be had over not contacting your boy in forever!!! But god its so OVER!

‘Didn’t ask you to be great’ is SUCH a punch to the gut, esp for a people pleaser like Chip (or me, man). Like. Fuckin. GOD. It’s the same sentiment Richie had in Just Dropped with ‘I’d love you even if you weren’t useful’, but like, this side of it is pre-useful. Like. Not only would I love you if you weren’t useful, I would never ASK you to be useful. HELL.

All of those I love yous are cute you say? Well I will have to up my game in coming up with something truly mortifying, then.

Shout out to me, directing on set, and demanding that my crew says it back when I say I love you. Genuinely my ‘Heard’ is a reciprocated ‘I love you’. No one call Richie/HR.

also the memes. immaculate as always. AND THE AUTHOR/CHIP COMPARISON,,, ART IMITATES LIFE, what can i say? if carmen/chip manage to live together at a point i really can't imagine him denying anything she wants. i think he would only have opinions on the kitchen and maybe efficiency of moving through spaces. (WE NEED TO PUSH THE COFFEE TABLE BACK!!! SIDLING AGAINST IT TO GET TO THE COUCH IS CAUSING A 3.4 SECOND DELAY IN MOVIE TIME!!!!) psycho.

Anyways. As always, a pweasure to hear your thoughts. I am hoping next weekend will finally be the fucking weekend I put something out. It’s hard slugging through this next chapter because it’s basically our so much fucking dialogue chapter, and navigating action and meaning AROUND that has been a nightmare. I think I’m probably over thinking the fuck out of it, to be fair. I feel so bad making y’all wait, so here is a juicer snippet.

THANK YOU LOVE YOU APPRECIATE ALL UR PATIENCE AND ALL UR THOUGHTS I LOVE TO HEAR FROM YALL!!

[bylertruther]

no cause the last anón is so right. I scrapped a 50k byler fic because I actually got worried people might call me weird or a freak like they do others. I was on twitter when the whole fiasco went down and it pissed me off but if you even tried to speak there were so many accounts saying you were “speaking over minors” and calling you a predator/pedophile. So many of my moots deactivated bc of the hate- they eventually started attacking people for their ages alone saying it was weird that 20 year olds theorized and talked about byler. Literally word for word “you’re a freak if you’re 20 and read byler fics. Why are you fantasizing about two little 14 year old boys making out” if they would take a step back and think that maybe people are so interested in this relationship is bc they see their younger selves in these two characters then maybe they wouldn’t say such stupid shit. Anyway sorry for ranting I just have been fuming since that whole thing happened. I just wish they would take a step back and stop and think about why they see a kiss between two boys written and immediately shout creep.

oh no, anon! i'm so sorry to hear about your fic & your experience. i hope you feel comfortable enough to post it one day, if you still want to. 🥺 and don't ever apologize for expressing yourself!

not to be a cunt, but i am a cunt, so, ahem. from the bottom of my heart... fuck them kids. 🫶 i literally do not give a single shit about any of the ""discourse"" they inflict on us all. "speaking over minors" why are you even speaking to begin with, huh? 🤨 why are you buzzing into an adult's space and picking a fight when a) literally no one fucking asked you to, and b) you're just going to cry "waaaaah but i'm a minorrr :(" as if you're somehow the victim in this situation after they dare to defend themselves against your serious and unsupported allegations? be normal or piss the fuck off and do your homework.

and why do people take them seriously? disregarding the fact that anyone of any age can be a shipper & the awful homophobia laced in such rhetoric...

this is the internet. no one owes you shit & the wild web will never, ever cater to you. you need to curate your own space and protect yourself. this is, like.. basic shit. like, bare-fucking-bones basic shit. it's not anyone else's responsibility but your own. they taught me that in school, my parents told me that, and also i have a functioning brain that can come to that conclusion, too. people need to stop pretending like what these people are asking for—which is your silence and your shame—is reasonable. it's not. content gets tagged, there are multiple extensions to blacklist any tags you don't like, some of it gets put behind a privacy wall, block buttons exist, many websites have filtering options, and so on and so forth. there are multiple measures people can take to both find things and avoid them. and a lot of the time, content is something you have to seek out yourself. so, if you don't like it, why did you click on it? why spend any time on it when you could've just backspaced? how is your ineptitude anyone else's problem?

also, people need to stop throwing the words pedophilia, pedophile, and predator around. you're being an insensitive jackass when you do that. someone writing about two fictional characters is not abusive scum of the fucking earth. you're watering those acts down and showcasing your ignorance for the world to see when you throw their names around carelessly. a child predator does awful, sinister, repulsive things to real life people who did not deserve that. someone writing a first kiss or practice kissing fic is not anywhere near that and i'm tired of people pretending like this is an okay thing to say or even think. just shut the fuck up and stop saying those words if you don't actually understand the gravity of what they mean.

another thing: a lot of these people aren't just kids. grown folk fall for the same shitty rhetoric, too. it's all just groupthink and herd mentality. no one wants to get attacked so they just repeat the same shit without thinking about it beyond "protecting" themselves (which is senseless as well because conditional acceptance is not true acceptance, but i digress). this fandom would be in a much better place if people were willing to stand their ground and defend their friends when this stuff happens. it gets worse and worse if you just turn a blind eye to it and fall in line. we're all waking up and finally seeing the consequences of that now.

of course, this doesn't really apply to when you're getting attacked by hundreds of people. that's... just shitty and hard and demoralizing. i'm not victim-blaming, because no one wants to be on the receiving end of that and i know that you can't control what others do.

my argument is that it gets to that point because the fandom as a whole just lets it slide by never holding the right people accountable for their actions. they allow the needless bullying to happen. they allow the rhetoric to get crazier and crazier. they allow people to get fucking crucified for shit that isn't even remotely inappropriate. they reblog posts they don't believe in because they don't want to be the odd one out and get accused of something by someone with more followers than them. it's just... we, as a whole, need to support each other more and put our foot down when shit like that starts happening.

it isn't normal. it isn't okay. it hasn't ever been okay.

like... i KNOW that you KNOW that it isn't weird for them to kiss, for people to want them to kiss, or for people to make them kiss in their creations. i KNOW that you KNOW that it isn't weird for anyone of any age to enjoy a love story of any kind. we know these things. some of us just pretend like we don't online for whatever fucking reason. and i don't get it! i don't get why they would do that and willingly allow this place to become worse for it. you don't get anything good out of that.

also, a lot of those people are being trolls. they get a kick out of attacking people as a group, because that's the only time they feel brave and the only way they get attention in life. they don't think before they say things, because they don't see you as a human being—you're just pixels on a greasy screen. they use catchy social justice lingo to make what they're saying sound like something you should support, but at the end of the day, they're literally just gussying up the same right-wing shit we've been subjected to for ages. it's regressive rhetoric that's clear to see once you've allowed yourself to see it.

like, i agree with you. i do. you're absolutely, undoubtedly right in what you say, but... i just can't bring myself to argue that, because it's in response to what was a senseless attack to begin with. and we shouldn't need to defend ourselves and our communities against what isn't true.

homophobia, bullying, and trolling are irrational, illogical pursuits and i can't stand the idea of treating them with any ounce of seriousness in this context. to apologize would be to accept their absurdity and validate their accusations—accusations we know in our heart of hearts to be incorrect and baseless. and i won't ever do that! i won't give them that satisfaction and i wish others wouldn't either.

they keep doing this, because they haven't met any opposition yet, because we keep acting like we have any reason at all to feel shame for wanting stories about people like us, about something as basic and universal as love and connection. they don't care about our reasons. they don't care about our defense of ourselves. it's not ever about us. this is their cry for attention, good or bad, at our expense and they need to be starved out already.

like.. this is just unsustainable. it's mind-boggling and i remember kicking and screaming about it months ago in what felt like an empty room. and look at where we are now! we're already at the point where you can't win in any kind of way no matter what you do. you can't age them up, you can't leave them as they are, you can't ship them if you're older than eighteen, you can't write AUs, you can't write canon compliance, you can't write canon divergence, you can't make them kiss, you can't make them anything more than friends but you also can't make them not-friends, etc etc. we've officially been shoved into the "fuck it, we ball" stage, because this is a pissy fandom and you are never going to please everyone so you may as well just do whatever the fuck you want.

i sound soooooooo unbearably preachy in this response lol, but like... literally... all we have is each other! we all love byler and we're all here to have fun and find like-minded people. we can't keep acting like this in-fighting lunacy is reasonable and just a difference of opinion, or like it's based in any kind of sense at all. we know that it's okay to ship byler at any age. we know that it's okay to have fun and enjoy ourselves. these people want to make us feel bad. they want to silence us. why let them and give them that satisfaction? why is what they want more important than us and our happiness? i hate the idea of anyone ever feeling any kind of shame or fear over something as innocent as this. i hate the idea of them winning by getting into any of our heads like that. i just hate it.

now, this last bit is specifically for you, anon, but it goes for everyone else, too: please, please, please, i am holding your hand in both of mine and begging you to not let anyone take away the things that you love and bring you joy or your wonderful creations that you've put so much of yourself into. i promise you that there will always be people who will see you, understand you, and cherish what you have to offer, and they are the ones that matter most (after you of course hehe). we all have to find our people and just go crazy together and block out everything else. that's the only way to get through this without getting burnt out. 💛💙

[crowtrobotx]

I know this is out of the blue, but thank you so much for being a real one 👍✨️

Like I have nothing against people who see Heisenberg as a gay man, they’re entitled to think that. But I draw the hard line at people who feel the need to bash others just because their views don't align, and then when confronted use the piss poor "it's just a joke" or "it's just an observation" excuses. If you're going to be a bitch at least have the balls to own up to it.

Anyway, loved your work since 2021 and wishing you all the good vibes. 🤗

Oh my goodness, thank you!!! This is such a kind message and I appreciate you so much. ❤️ Good vibes right back at you. I’m glad that my rantings have resonated with folks because sometimes I wonder if *spongebob voice* I’M the maniac. Getting dragged into this stuff really makes me feel like it sometimes, haha.

Yes! To be clear I also truly do not care what your HC’s are! I love that there are people for whom gay Heisy is their thing and I hope they are having fun and keep making their art/fic/etc! Even if I really can’t stand the popular fanon ship I’m so glad it exists for folks who enjoy it and I am not going to spend my time posting about what I don’t like/agree with when they’re not hurting me and I can spend my time on stuff I do like!

And like. I know. I KNOW a lot of these people are teenagers. And I struggle sometimes because “do not fight literal children” is a rule I try to live by lmao but I also really don’t like seeing people target and mock folks for harmless fun. (It’s on sight if a 25+ year old starts putting this shit in the tags tho. I know they’re out there.)

Still, it’s extremely weird because they always defend themselves with “it’s just a joke/it’s not that deep” or “oh my god no one is stopping you from liking x why are you so pressed 🙄 i can’t believe you’re letting my nasty opinions bother you just because i put them right where you can see them with the intent of insulting you.” 💀💀💀 Like what could possibly be the point of doing this if not to, at the very least, actively try to dissuade people you don’t like from engaging with the community? Obviously no one can stop me but if I know that there are dickbags out there who are going to vaguepost and make fun of me when I do, I don’t care how confident and thick skinned you are (and I am very,) it’s still going to sting!

People are not bothered because they’re disconnected from reality and think they’re really married to a pixel man, they’re upset because life is hard enough and you come into your hobby space to have a good time and then find lame ass idiots infesting it. I also think the whole “ohhh my god why are you so upset he’s/she’s not real!!” is a blatant attempt to discredit the hurt parties by once again insinuating that they are “crazy” which once again conveniently ignores multiple realities, chiefly that 1) most people are not upset by a simple opinion that their fave wouldn’t fuck them IRL, they are upset at the blatant meanness of the person making the accusations and 2) even if they are genuinely hurt by the thought because it’s a coping mechanism for them, why does that make it okay for you target them? What gives you the right to harass and mock people who are not bothering you? Do these people think they’re doing these folks a ‘favor’ by forcing them to contend with what they perceive to be some kind of delusion? Shut the hell up. Why do people decide it is their god given right to hold strangers on the internet accountable for psychological “problems” that they’ve completely made up.

Anyway SORRY I have a serious problem shutting the fuck up lol. I have never been good at phrasing my thoughts in a coherent way especially when I’m grumpy. I am very glad my little circle is full of awesome, open minded and levelheaded folks and not gatekeepers/weirdos (derogatory) who have decided that diversity of opinion in fandom is bad actually and that women and femmes specifically are enemy number one.

[lumpsbumpsandwhumps]

okay now give us YOUR controversional whump opnion. i know you gotta have some good ones >:)

Mmmmmm I dunno, I really had to wrack my brain for this one, I don't know if I have a lot of thoughts that can be considered 'controversial' by a majority but:

I think some whump trigger tags are a little too specific. Like, if you're in the whump community and you need that many tags to not ruin your day and cause you to send hatemail to a random blog...then maybe whump isn't really for you? Especially if it's with popular tropes, too, like, I'm sorry, but that's like going to Subway and getting mad that they have pickles and don't have it separated with cucumbers, vinegar, and salt labels. You're in a sandwich shop, you know what they're gonna have, and you know what those ingredients are gonna contain.

BUT...I am also someone who has 0 squicks and just genuinely can't relate to that, you know? I don't know what it's like to get icked or distressed by things like pulling teeth or amputation. So, yeah, I'm sure I'm the one in the wrong with this hot take. I know it's actually super important to be as nitty gritty as you can with tags, even if I see no difference between "hand whump" and "fingore" and think it's weird to tag specific body parts anyways.

I'm obviously not going to be an asshole and not tag it when it's clearly helpful or I'm politely asked, though. I respect different strokes for different folks. If it makes the rest of the community happy, then what does it matter that I think certain tags are kinda dumb? It's not gonna kill me to use 3 extra seconds to add said tags to my post when needed lmao

[bornitereads]

The Mongol Empire - John Man

Read: Feb - Mar 2024

This was an interesting read. The Mongols are such an interesting topic. The way they spread all over Eurasia is still very impressive. So I was intrigued to learn more. I should have paid more attention to the tag line however, because I was mildly disappointed when Man kept his focus on China. Truly in terms of scale the Mongolian Empire was so vast and disparate that it would be hard to cram it into one book. But I definitely thought I was getting a more overview of it all situation. Instead we got the humble beginnings, which are always relevant, and actually it's kind of wild how little we do know about said beginnings. Man's discussion on sources made it abundantly clear that there are things we just will not know, despite the Mongols importance to history.

Some surprise amount of mystery around Genghis's life and death. More than I would have thought, especially considering Kublai was Emperor of China and China had the tools, resources, and learning to have an history written. Which to be fair, one was, but it's just surprising that it's the state propaganda one. Like I'm lowkey annoyed that there's not more material written about it. Sorry, annoyed that more wasn't found/survived. I'm sure there was reams written about the new invaders, alas, most seems to be gone. Historians are really piecing it together from all the weird pieces left and making a narrative of found facts and educated guess work. Still no amount of guessing will produce the grave of Genghis, unfortunately. Gods, could you imagine someone finds it by accident? That would be so funny, but also so juicy, and I'm sure politically fraught.

Anyways back to the book, after Genghis we spend time with his heirs and especially Kublai, who founded the Yuan Dynasty. As an aside: my personal folk etymology for dynasty, is because royals often die nasty. Anyways Man takes us through Kublai's life and then, the book is wrapped up at warp speed. Only whispers of the rest of the dynasty and then a brief account of its fall. Barely a word about what happened to the more western parts. I wanted more. Which of course I can presumably find elsewhere, I'm just being silly expecting Man to do it all. In any case I learned a lot reading this and it was totally worth it and so interesting. Man definitely is not a dry history writer, so it was easy to be brought along.

Info: Corgi Books; 2014

[floosies]

Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas

steve harrington x poc!fem reader

summary: always the babysitter, but has the father figure found the mother figure to help put up with the nonsense?

warnings/tags: friends to lovers, fluff, cursing, (p.s. despite mentions of s4, eddie is still alive here)

a/n: stevie deserves the world and if a fic is how to do that then so be it. merry xmas to my favorite golden boy ❤🎄☃️

tagging: @reidsbtch for the beautiful moodboard 🤍

The holiday season in previous years for the Harrington's meant trips to Australia or Florida, anywhere else where there isn't midwestern cold air blowing around them. Steve would begrudginly string along, forgotten in a hotel room or given spending money and told to have fun in the resort.

It was 1990 now though, and at 23, he was spending this Christmas at his own place with his own traditions now. One of which was choosing a Christmas movie or show to watch as a group. Though his and Robin's place was considerably small they always made it work. This year however Home Alone had just come out and the plan had been to get tickets on a night everyone could make it.

Only scheduling was becoming hell, everyone had plans or work. The Wheelers were planning a family trip with the Byers, Eddie had gotten a new job with more hours so his uncle could have some more rest time, Robin and Vickie as well as Lucas and Max were planning family centered stuff, which left the always trustee Dustin to promise Steve he would go with him.

It was all he would talk about to her, how everyone else had basically ditched him and here he was again relying on Dustin to step in. She heard him intently as they shelved vhs tapes onto the tinsel topped displays, "how do you think I feel? This is my first Christmas away from home. Although I do enjoy being able to hear Wham singing and not my folks yelling over it." She quipped as he sighed, his eyes rolling, "at least your parents hung around for the holidays, I think mine are in Florida right now." She shrugged, "oh Steve lighten up tis the season and you have little Dustin to cheer you up." She further taunted him by throwing him one of the candy canes from their small tree they had on the check out counter.

She'd moved to Hawkins earlier in the year with the only goal of surviving on her own away from her previous situation. Within a month she was hired at the Family Video and met both Steve and Dustin in the middle of a heated debate about batteries and star wars. It was Dustin who vouched for her to join their friend group especially after seeing her homemade twilight zone pin and weird al cassette in her car. However he only ever regretted it when he got into trouble, because now he wouldn't hear the end of it from her and Steve.

Considering Dustin, he had come in before the store closed, ever thankful he ran into her first and not Steve. His face worried and guilt ridden, "what'd you do this time dusty? Am I going to have to talk to your mom again?" She joked as he mocked back, "that was so not cool, but no. It's about the movie night with Steve...I messed up." She was curious now but before she could ask what he meant, Steve had come up from the back of the store, "Henderson you better be ready to get all the snacks dude, we are going in heavy this year since-" catching a glimpse of Dustin's sour face he stopped his ramble, "do we need to talk to Higgins and your mom again?" Rolling his eyes he shook his head, "again totally uncalled for and embarrassing. You guys didn't need to be there" She quipped back "Then why are we on your emergency contact list?" He groaned, "whatever anyways no, that's not why i'm here. I'm sorry dude I royally screwed up my schedule -" "No. No. No! Not you too!" Steve cried out in frustration, "I literally had to beg Keith to give me Saturday night off." Dustin felt like shit about this, "I'll make it up to you I promise. It's just Suzie is coming down from Utah with the whole family and my mom has this whole dinner planned. I'll bring her by so you can meet her!"

She really felt bad for Steve now. He was genuinely hurt by now, it was written over his face. In the back of her mind she knew better but before she could regret it or overthink it, the words flew out of her mouth, "I'm free Saturday night if you still wanna go see that movie? I still haven't been to the theatre here so it would be cool to see the rest of Hawkins?" Steve looked at her about to decide whether to shoot down her kindness or ask if she's serious when Dustin speaks, "problem solved! Thanks so much! You guys'll have all the fun in the world. I got run." He started for the door with a 'merry holidays!' as he ran out and back into his mom's car.

Steve took his hands into his face with a loud sigh, "I was being serious Steve you literally said you did this every year, don't let the tradition fade out because those gremlins can't make it." He looked up at her, "well I guess it couldn't hurt." She smiled at him nudging his side with her shoulder, "see theres the holiday spirit. I'm going to start getting the store ready to close now though." He watched as she walked off to start turning off the window lights while thinking about how happy she seemed at his approval. He didn't want to read too much into but could it be that she might like him?

-

What was she thinking? Sure he was cute but from what everybody had mentioned so far, he was some sort of big shot around the area. He did say yes though, but it was probably a pity yes, still she could always say it was some christmas kindness is all. That's what she told herself for the rest of the week, because deep down she wasn't sure what to make of him entirely.

He spent the rest of the week pestering himself with the notation, the very idea that maybe he had missed something entirely or he was so full of himself that he was misinterpreting the whole thing. Robin was tired of hearing the same ramblings at work and as he dropped her off at home, "don't be a dingus, dingus. She literally said she wanted to go with you, she even brought up having zero plans." He shrugged as he pulled up to Robin's house, "I mean what if she just feels bad for me?" "Oh I think we all feel bad for you." She said opening the car door, he rolled his eyes, "ha ha laugh it up." Slamming the car door behind her she looked back through the car window, "it's gonna be fine Steve."

-

Saturday came by way too quickly for both of them. After multiple outfit changes and hair stylings they both found themselves waiting for the other. Well Steve found himself waiting in front of her apartment door with flowers in one hand and the other in his pocket where he was fidgeting with his car keys.

When the door opened and he saw her in a black mini skirt with sheer tights and a red knit sweater. She had clearly done something right based on the look he was giving her, "hey Steve those for me?" She asked pointing to the bouquet in his hand. He suddenly came to again, "yeah. Yes! I mean yeah, got these for you, I umm...I didn't want to come empty handed?" He was messing this up already, but in her head it was cute how nervous he seemed, She took them gently from his grasp, "well that was very kind of you. Now I feel bad I didn't get you a gift." She stepped back waving for him to enter. He shook his head, "no no, you tagging along to my misery parade is gift enough." This made her giggle, "c'mon it won't be that bad. Plus everyone is saying this movie is really good." He groaned out in frustration "yeah which was why it was so hard to get some damn tickets." She had placed the flowers on a coffee table behind her, "well lets get going then. Don't wanna miss those trailers." Before they could step out he stopped her, "think you need a coat first." Shit, there went the cool look she was going for, "oh yeah. One sec."

For two adults, they both seemed to come off like thirteen year olds, while they did enjoy the movie, they were sneaking glances at each other much than they were paying attention to kevin mcallister's boobytraps. Still they found themselves laughing at the mayhem the kid was making. She hadn't heard Steve ever really laugh like how he was laughing now and it made her smile, no wonder all the girls of Hawkins were into him. Which just made her that much more nervous. He had felt just as nervous since their hands had accidentally touched while trying to get popcorn at the same time.

The movie was great, as expected and they left the theatre in happier mood even arguing about which trap they could make while they walked around the town. It had happened gradually that their arms were linked together while he showed her around adding small stories here and there. Despite the cold and the dark of the night, it was still fairly early but Hawkins was small enough that all the nice scenery could be seen in a half hour or so. They headed back to his car when he suggested the idea of food, "we could get some burgers or a pizza." She perked up at the idea of spending more time with him, "I just got this new christmas record and a new tin of hot cocoa mix?" He smiled at the idea, "take out?" She nodded.

They got the food and headed to her place. The conservation continuing on about both the movie and the stories he'd told her. It'd been a while since he'd felt this comfortable with someone. Maybe it was the hot chocolate or her very decorated home, but he felt good around her. She felt the same way though, he hadn't made her feel the need to keep her guard up. Into their second mug of cocoa she quipped, "you know, you sure do know how to show a girl a good time." He let out a breathy laugh, "I sure hope so. I was worried I was going to bore you to death. By the way you looked great tonight." Her eyes widened in a playful manner, "is that so? Well so did you, that sweater is pretty cute." He smiled at her, his eyes linger onto hers.

The moment grew while the christmas music played in the background, her hand reaching for his as they sat on her couch. His hand also inched closer towards hers, in a soft voice she spoke up "so...christmas tradition saved?" Matching her tone Steve replied, "oh totally, in fact made even better." There it was again, the laugh he was growing to love more and more. They looked at each other a bit more, his thumb rubbing circles over her top of her hand, in the same hushed tone he mustered up the courage to ask, "am I reading this moment right?" She simply nodded, he leaned in closer towards her "got any mistletoe in here?" With a small shake of the head she spoke, "oh I don't think we need that now." Closing the gap their lips met into a tender kiss they didn't pull away from for a while.

[lightyearssurrogatedaddy]

Should I make a New Year's appreciation post too? Cus I saw someone else do it.

Idkkk this year was pretty wack, I met God for five seconds, met God again, improved my art, bawled like a baby, had sixteen sexuality awakenings before I decided to go unlabeled, and met some pretty incredible people that I plan on canibalistically consuming.

Started last year hating myself and crying, started this year feeling grumpy but that's prolly just because I woke up early today. I learned this terrible, terrible fact that I'm allowed to be loved and I spear fought that for a good few months ngl.

Learned that being cringe is awesome

Learned how to write

Learned that people are more terrifying than what I previously anticipated but that just makes me love them even more

I know the meaning of life (no I don't) (I've scraped it up to "fuck around and find out" and I suggest it as s tier advice) (actually no I don't)

Learned how to make a boiled potato (singular)

Life's pretty cool I didn't expect this at all. It threw me a curveball at half time and I got all my teeth knocked out. It's been a weird experience so far, I think I, did that thing, yk that thing humans do, yeah I think I shed a few cells and grew a little bit. Whoa. Crazy.

I learned that in hindsight this post doesn't really matter, but that's not gunna stop ME from giving a smooch to everyone I love. They like, changed the way I exist. I don't remember feeling this loved and thought of before, it's eerie, really eerie.

Learned how to like myself even a tiny bit, because of all of you. I owe you a lot.

(am I allowed to tag people?) (Sorry I'm still borderline new at this) (I don't wanna bother anyone with my silliness) (maybe I'll just say your names instead of tagging you and hope it magically summons you) (or maybe I won't)

@crunchontoast (for yk, everything. If I even attempt to write it all out we'll be here for days. Summing it up feels inadequate but I realize that I don't have to explain anything in a post to strangers online. Cus you already know and that's awesome)

@karineverse (for being a real one and listening to me ramble. Helping me figure out shapes for characters. You're a silly sills)

@fl0w3rg0at (for being one of my besties for almost three years at this point, I think. Whoa yeah. And for sticking with me through all my crappy phases)

I'm feeling awkward I hate emotions (‼️‼️‼️)

My Mom (thank you mom. ✨How did you survive me✨)

My Cousin (for getting me Hollow Knight for Christmas. And also for texting me once per year) (a real one fr)

My Cat (for giving me snuggles when I most needed it)

I wanna tag Tacol0ser can I tag Tacol0ser? Anyways (for being the silly guy in my Ao3 comments section and giving me bursts of confidence. You're cool)

My Bestie Since 1st Grade (for being like a sister to me, our lives are pretty rough and I'm glad we have each other. Let's hold hands and go downtown for pizza again)

Oh sorry did you expect more people? My b most of them are off Tumblr. Anyways I tried tell me when to delete this cus my nerves are getting the best of me.

Ah wait and thanks for Tumblr for giving me a shitton of new memes to bother folks with.

[bemorekleinman]

thank you for the tag @alligatorbloodmp3!!

tagging 10 people you would like to know better (except mine are open tags to whoever would like to fill this out!!)

relationship status: coming up on one year with my bf!! instagram friends will know him as the guy behind the weird playbill names so y’all have proof he is very fun and cool :D

favorite color: generally it’s some shade of blue, but I am a fan of quite a few purples as well!! maybe I’ll just say my favorite color is Dear Evan Hansen Blue for fun

song stuck in my head: currently nothing, surprisingly! it’s usually a kpop song nowadays tbh 😭😭 but as of the past day or so I’d say I’ve been alternating between the new waterparks album (stream intellectual property‼️‼️) or the falsettos soundtrack because MAN that musical goes hard

three favorite foods: ooooooh definitely udon and dole whip,,,,,, and I’ll say breakfast sausage because I was thinking about it yesterday for some reason

last thing I googled: “kim yong soo actor” LMAO okay let me give the lengthy explanation 😭😭 so I have been obsessively keeping up with the current korean production of death note the musical because I LOVE IT SO MUCH AAAUGH but anyways the father of one of the actors unfortunately passed away so naturally he’s stepping out of the production for some time but the way instagram translated the korean caption made it sound like the ACTOR HIMSELF died and they were just causally going “oh yeah that happened, we’ll put in a replacement for a little while, sorry for the inconvenience haha” and I was over here like “HUH????”

dream trip: OOOUGH hard tie between japan (hopefully I can go next summer after I take some japanese classes??) or greece because I want to visit my friend there lol <3 OR anywhere that they’re currently putting on a (legal or not) production of dear evan hansen. hey wait tumblr folks HAVE I TALKED ABOUT THOSE WITH YOU GUYS YET?? BECAUSE WE SHOULD

anything I want rn: for everyone reading this to have a good day!! and for the issues in my friend group to get resolved painlessly and without any crying lol OH and also for me to not fail anatomy 🫶🫶

tags: like I said, open tags!!! will give @ujustgotghostbusted and @bloodykora a tag if they want to do it but no pressure!!

[fluxweeed]

10 first lines

share the first lines of ten of your most recent fanfics / wips

hi @teeteringpileofunusednotebooks and @nv-md! tysm for the tag + i’m sorry i’m so late!! mari – i’m ridic excited for your stupid number of WIPs – also i feel like you’ve started writing at least? two more? since you posted your version? i’m laughing, but with love. ali – your lines are all so perfect and make me miss ur writing so much! nv-md binge incoming!!! 

the last time i did this was exactly 10 published fics ago, so this is actually perfect timing! last time i also completely ignored the rules and talked in-depth about each line, and u kno what? tumblr is about the only place i feel comfortable being stupidly self-indulgent, so here we are again lmao 🙈

in reverse chronological order:

1. For Lack of Wanting (8.4k, E, unrequited drarry)

I was obsessed with him, you know.

(this line and also the entire first section is so tell-y but tbh i purposefully didn’t care. i just wanted to write some fucked-up unrequited roleplay sex, you know? sometimes you have to forget about writing good and just treat urself)

2. Still the pine-woods scent the moon (15.5k, E, remus/harry)

It seems like a reasonable idea, at first.

(so this fic actually started off as a sirius/harry after i went on a huge @lqtraintracks bender one weekend [and if u haven’t already, stop what ur doing and go inhale all 19 lqt sirius/harry fics immediately]. then i realised there was nothing i could really add to a sirius/harry fic that hadn’t been done already - but i came across this art and it lodged itself into my brain forever. it’s just the vibes, u know?? how soft remus looks but also the way he’s looking right at the camera?? that man is in CONTROL. so anyway then obv i needed to find a way to get him into grimmauld place so he could walk in on draco fucking harry in the arse. thus: first line.)

3. Ferrety Little Mouths and How to Snog with Them (5k, T/M, soft drarry kissing)

“And she lost her shit, can you believe it?”

(can’t rly take credit for this one; this whole section with draco talking about his ex is almost word-for-word a convo i had with a friend about their ex and their friend who was weird about it. not quite sure the phrase “she lost her shit” was used, but that was def the vibe.)

4. Two to Lie and One to Listen (85k, E, drarry fake relationship [sort of])

She’d got another letter from the Ministry that morning. It was from the Muggle Liaison Office this time. 

(god, this fic. in the very first draft, hermione was the legit villain: the sort of friend who is well-meaning and loudly supportive, but is lowkey bigoted and doesn’t think that queer relationships are as meaningful as straight ones. then before the first big rewrite i started thinking more about her motivations and had the idea of making her trans – both to give her a non-bigot reason for agreeing to help draco hide his sexuality and not tell harry about it [it’s all about the trauma, folks!!], but also as a nice little fuck-you to jkr. so then she needed more of her own storyline, bc it felt like a bit of a cop-out to be like “hey this character is trans i swear! anyway let’s mostly ignore her and have her get in the way of the main pairing” [which, honestly, is still sort of the vibe of the fic], so she got her big Let’s Change The World Campaign.

the first version of this prologue was from draco POV; the second version was hermione POV but she was sooo mean and angry; this one is the third attempt. i wanted to show her desperate attempts at making any kind of change, anywhere at all, so it’s a bit more plausible that when she runs into draco malfoy, she’s like “ok yeah sure let’s pretend to be boyfriendgirlfriend!” lol. also does it bother anyone else that there are three different tenses in this one line? everything about this fic makes me sick lmfao)

5. Per my last letter (I hope you choke on it) (10k, T, epistolary author!harry/publishing-grunt!draco)

CURRICULUM VITAE: Draco L. Malfoy

(can’t remember whose idea it was to start with a cv? it seems like the sort of lazy backstory shortcut i would do, lmao, unless it was actually @lastontheboat​’s idea, in which case it was a genius move to introduce draco’s work struggle and set the tone for his journey thru the rest of the fic)

6. An Auror Error (1k, T, stupid drarry auror fic written in tongue-twisters)

Harry shivered under Malfoy’s stern glare.

(1. wanted it to be left a bit ambiguous what harry’s actually feeling here [reality: he’s shivering bc he thinks draco is sexy when he glares, but also he could be scared bc he’s being interrogated?] 2. playing around a little bit with the s/sh sounds. easing into the nonsense to come.)

7. Eight o’clock, tomorrow evening (11.5k, E, drarry legilimency sex)

It was seven fifty-five, and Draco’s stomach churned.

(listen, i thought i was doing something with the title being a line from the end of The Four Doors, which this fic is a lil sequel to. this first line was (a) tying that together even more and also (b) establishing the POV switch from harry POV in 4D)

8. The Taste of Țuică (15k, E, ron/harry/draco)

Mum always says my problem is that I care too much. I think that’s nonsense, honestly—one of those meaningless things mums say to make you feel better about overreacting to stupid shit. But I can’t deny that I care about my friends. I mean, really care about them. You know?

(i’m including the whole first line here instead of just the sentence bc i was trying to do sooo much here, lmao. first, i wanted to really ground this fic in ron POV, and the weasleys are so very Family [u know??], so i wanted to get that in asap. i also wanted to get in ron’s maybe-demisexuality in there – i love love LOVE getting characters to explicitly state something about themselves while also simultaneously not realising it at all [seriously i do this all the time, promptly forget about this if ever u plan to read one of my fics bc it will be all u can see now haha] and this absolutely an example of that. poor old ron is going “hey i love my friends soooo much, i love hermione, and also i love harry, i just love them both SO MUCH. wait why tf did i kiss harry that one time???” what a chump.)

9. Belatedly Consummated (4k, E, drarry post-arranged marriage fuck)

The problem is: Harry can’t stop touching Draco.

(idk man i just really liked the thought of these two idiots having to cohabit and try to remain platonic while they get a magical boner every time they touch each other ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ this one also gave me a chance to do another thing i rly like to do, which is take the first line and make it the last line, except the last line is somehow Resolved. last lines are fuckin HARD, i use this trick all the time, pls also forget this one before reading any of my fics, ty)

10. Show them the night that they dreamed about before (6.5k, E, percy/harry/draco)

Draco’s first thought is, Huh, Potter’s here again.

His second thought is, What is he doing, bent over the desk like that?

His third thought is, Oh. Weasley is fucking him.

(i think this was the first thing i wrote for this fic and i lowkey still love it. i think it’s maybe a bit confusing? clunky? i feel like one of my beta’s didn’t like it? but it makes me laugh and also i enjoy the mental image of percy going to town on harry and draco standing there experiencing a whole-ass face journey while otherwise completely motionless, so.)

BONUS WIPS:

1. 10k/15kish written, E, silly drarry vagina fic

As soon as Harry wakes up, he knows that Something is Not Right.

(i feel like this might stay the same in the final version? this wip is about 5 years old lmao but i’ve been playing with this beginning section a bit recently. have made it 100% sillier and imo it’s improved it so much. still not sure i’ll ever finish it.)

2. 27k/50kish written, M, drarry polyjuice clubfic

In general, Harry is grateful for Hermione’s efforts to keep him alive.

(i strongly suspect i’m going to rewrite this entire first scene once i actually finish the fic and realise there are secret themes that currently elude me. atm it works as a way of getting them to where they need to be [on a brisk morning walk!] and also as a joke later on in the fic, but there’s nothing else really going on with it.)

-

god i’m so sorry for hijacking a simple tag game to talk about myself at such obnoxious length ;_; hope it encourages more writers to talk about their processes tho, i need more fic writing meta content now galla’s bonus podfic episodes are offline. tag me if u do this / come across this pls!!! love u ❤️

[the-insomniac-emporium]

Tag Game Thing

ayyyye another one (but not one from when I was drifting in the timeless void of Conceptually Tuesday), got tagged by @chthonicsiren , gonna tag @melthedwarf because I can >:) (edit: tagged the wrong person first cuz tumblr autofilled the url, sorry!)

1: Are you named after anyone? Yes! My birth name/not-quite-deadname is a tribute to my ma's maiden name. Without saying what either are, I'll just say that her maiden name followed a patronymic format (ex: Johnson), and my birth name is one of the feminine variants/related named (ex: Johanna?). My chosen name, Jordan Van Daalen, is a fun one! My friend and I were in drama class together, and were paired up for an assignment where we had to write a short script (we were given random phrases to start and end the scene with). We're both Huge Fucking Nerds, so we went Overboard, basically fleshing out both of our characters (and then we napped on each other). Jordan Van Daalen was what a random name generator gave me for my character. Less than a year later I realized I am some sort of non-binary, and decided to use that lil name as my future name, as well as eventual pen name :D

2: When was the last time you cried? Uh. Okay, so, like... sometimes when I'm really tired but can't sleep, I'll start improvising a little song? Just, like, whisper singing to myself? And it usually ends up being an emotional ballad about old traumas (or, you know, stuff from whatever media I've been binging)? also when I yawn my eyes water a tiny bit? so what I'm saying is that every time I can't sleep and end up singing dumb little songs, I end up crying. how often does that happen, you ask? well, buddy, I picked this url for a good reason. (it was probably yesterday)

3:Do you have kids? Does being the oldest in the friend group (and also being the dad friend) count? because I am the Father of some of these gremlins. no? oh. well, I am going to an auncle/ent soon, so that's close enough :D

4: Do you use sarcasm a lot? Depends on my mood? I'm less sarcastic than my brother, but definitely more sarcastic than either of my parents. I know that means nothing to any of you, but hey, that's my answer.

5: What's the first thing you notice about people? Uhhhhhhh if they give off gay vibes asdfghjkl; Honestly it varies, which I feel like is a given? I look for things that stand out- colored hair, piercings, if they have any jewelry, etc.

6: What color are your eyes? Okay, well, my ID says hazel, I used to describe it as "hazel green/green hazel", and I think a poet might describe my eyes as something like "sea foam green around sandy brown". However, a Certified Dick could just as easily call my eyes "snot green with a pinch of yellow". Could also just shrug and go "muddy green?". except in some lightings the "green" part seems like it might be vaguely blue, and I have been slowly driving myself insane trying to figure out a consistent color palette I can use when drawing self portraits/inserts because I can't get a decent pic of my eye to use a reference and I'm too awkward to ask someone (with less shaky hands) to do it for me. anyway, I spent ten minutes drawing what is arguably the best attempt I've ever made at making an accurate portrayal of my eye color:

7: Scary movies or happy endings? Generally speaking I prefer happy endings, but it feels weird to separate that from scary movies. However, I don't tend to watch many genuinely scary movies? I like horror comedies. I also very much enjoy watching shitty/low quality horror movies and roasting the fuck out of 'em. Humor is part of how I cope with actual scary movies/games too, though. That and pretending to try and scare the monsters :3 running through the scary dark hallway going "a-boogily-boogily-boo!" and rapidly snapping the camera from side to side like I'm jumping out at people. the monster goes rawr? I SAY IT LOUDER

8: Any special talents? I mean, I think most folks who follow me on here know that I've got a bit of talent in several types of art/creativity (music and writing are probably my big two)? But I can also beatbox a little, my arms are weirdly flexible (possible double-jointed at the shoulders?), and I am surprisingly good at picking things up/throwing them with my feet. That last one is 50% for throwing dog toys and 50% for picking up small things I dropped when I don't want to bend over. Weird? Yes. A talent? Probably not.

9: Where were you born? I think I was born in Seattle, WA, USA. It was definitely in the Seattle area, it just might have technically been a neighboring city.

10: What are your hobbies? Other than the aforementioned artsy shit, I play a lot of video games, in a variety of genres. My favorites are probably the Mass Effect series, Fallout: New Vegas, Persona 5: Royal, Horizon: Zero Dawn, and Spider-Man PS4. I need you to know how difficult it was for me to not list over a dozen games. Please understand. THERE ARE SO MANY GOOD GAMES FUCK. Also, idk if it super counts as a hobby in other people's minds, but I love LEGOs! My room is filled with them :D

11: Have you any pets? None that are, like, fully legally mine. My household has a dog, Bella, but I am unfortunately her least favorite. She loves letting me give her chin scritches first thing in the morning though :')

12: What sports do you play/have you played? KENDO, BITCHES. GET SMACKED WITH BAMBOO

13: How tall are you? Soooooo tall. Massive. Giant. A true, genuine image of a Viking Warrior.. ... ..... in other words I'm 5 feet and 3.5 inches. the .5 is incredibly important to me. On a good day with boots I can almost pass off as 5'5" tho, soooooo. I'm also built like a shit brickhouse (yes I know that's not the correct saying), so at least tall people can't throw me (I throw them)

14: Favorite subject in school? Three-way tie between English/Language Arts, Drama/Theatre, and Art class!

15: Dream job? Writer, artist, all around generally a Professional Nuisance. Maybe taking the place of a forgotten, half-dead God at a lonely shrine, slowly restoring it until it's something worth remembering, eagerly having unforgettable conversations with the rare passerby, never gaining enough fame or worship to have any real power over the world. Just enough to be a face that lingers in your memories, in your dreams, the little voice you hear when you need it most.

[always-andromeda]

hiiiii oh my gosh it's story time!! (I'm taking a very un-deserved break from grading tests to write this but sssshhhhhhh, no one need to know)

my school district was pretty large, so both my middle and high school were really big, so it's hard to say if there was one controversy that united everyone, since it was more like you would have your little circle and then within groups there would be controversies

for the crazy academic kids (which I was only a little involved with, but I had a friend who was much more personally affected), the ability to take AP Euro in sophomore year absolutely divided the group. like, those who took it became insufferable snobs and the fact that they were taking AP Euro became a Personality Trait and it was all they would ever talk about. my friend who was more involved called it a "cult," which honestly was pretty accurate. anyway, it totally wrecked that friend group bc the AP Euro kids were kinda mean to everyone else and had this weird superiority complex

oh and I don't think this was really all that much of a ~controversy~ but I will shout out my high school for being one of the first in the country to do a gender-neutral prom court/prom royalty. it was something we had to sign a petition for, but it passed, which was fantastic! so then instead of electing 10 women and 10 men, we just elected 20 people regardless of gender identity and the two with the most votes became the "royalty." courts and dances were something I had like negative 100 interest in, but I still think it was a great step and a really awesome message to send about inclusivity

honestly I feel like there has to be some other ones but I cannot think of them right now, so if any come to me in an epiphany, I will annoyingly send in another ask 😅

really curious to hear everyone else's!

and, as always, thank you for hosting ☺️💙

Ahhhh, hey again, Charlotte!!!! 🥰 I’m gonna give you your own tag on here because uGH I always love hearing from you lol. I’m bestowing you with the little palette emoji since I always love to see your art posts!!

I’m sorry but academic kid drama is always SO funny to me because it’s like. GOD. Aren’t y’all busy enough without worrying about beefing over your fuckin’ GPA or what classes you’re taking?? 🥲 Like I was taking essentially AP classes and bro I was so busy that I didn’t have the energy nor the want to be all cocky about it??

And while that second one absolutely shouldn’t be controversial, I still think it absolutely fantastic!! I was never super into the whole prom thing when I was in high school either, but I still love when I see those little steps being made just to make inclusivity more normal? Because I don’t think many folks truly realize how prevalent cis-normative and heteronormative ideas are in everything. So I love to hear that tidbit. ☺️❤️

[couldbebetterforsure]

I know Engage is almost upon us but thanks to you being gone for so long we never got to hear your thoughts on 3H! So……….character rankings👀👀👀👀👀👀 thoughts on the game itself👀👀👀👀👀

My dear Anon, I'm so sorry I took so long to answer this ask, especially since Engage is released now! But yeah, it's a shame I never did get a chance to state my thoughts on 3H so I might as well get into here! Better late than never, right? Also, I'm actually kinda glad I'm only getting to it now, since I feel like I've had a good amount of time to really get my thoughts together. Certain opinions I have are pretty different compared to what I would've said had you asked me my thoughts a few weeks after release or even within the first year I was part of the fandom! Also, for the sake of trying not to let this post show up in certain character tags, I’m gonna try to avoid name dropping characters.

Overall Thoughts

Despite all the discourse and nonsense of the past few years, I really did enjoy my time in Fodlan! I got the game on day one and I’ve logged several hundred hours into it! I have two completed save files for each of the four routes, one no recruit run and one recruit everyone run. I recently started up a meme run for the Blue Lions where I’m gonna have everyone specialize in weaknesses only/whatever their stats mesh the worst with. For my own sanity I’m just gonna stick with the Lions and the Church folk only for this run or I’ll drive myself nuts trying to work on this with everybody! But maybe I’ll do separate meme runs for the other routes in the future? Anyways, back to the point. I think the story was overall enjoyable but I felt like there was too much left unsaid or left “up to interpretation” instead of stated outright, which ended up fueling a fair amount of discourse to this very day. And that did sour my overall experience. But I enjoyed a fair number of the characters. Though I think I’ve made it clear by now I’m a Blue Lions fan so they’re my babies! Hopes was similar in that I had a fun time and, this is coming from someone who DOES like our dear mercenary friend Billy, I think I enjoyed how our Hopes mercenary friend was handled better (at least character wise, plot wise it could’ve been better). I don’t know, I just don’t think Billy was used well as a “silent protagonist”, and personally I don’t think silent protagonists work well in Fire Emblem games. My only big issue with Hopes is the weird choices they made when it comes to portraying certain characters or how far they wanted to go just to make certain other characters look good or innocent or whatever.

Gameplay Thoughts

I’m a character girl first so gameplay isn’t really what I care much about but I do still have some thoughts. I really like that you can make any unit into almost any class! Sucks they still have some gender locked classes though, but it’s super fun to try out new things. And, like I brought up earlier, it makes for some great meme/challenge runs! I have mixed feelings on the exploring the monastery section in that it felt like too much and too little at once. Too much in that there’s a ton of space to explore but too little in that I feel like much of that space doesn’t really get used so I just feel like I’m walking around for no real reason. And in my no recruit runs I really got hit post timeskip with how EMPTY it was. I also felt like the calendar mechanic seemed kinda...pointless? Well, I guess more that it didn’t seem to work well. Gambits and battling the monsters was fun enough. For Hopes specifically, it was my first dip into a Warriors style game since the other FEW game didn’t get my attention, and I really had a ton of fun with it! It’s fun trying out everyone’s different fighting styles and getting used to them. Plus there’s something weirdly relaxing about just running around kicking the asses of crowds of mooks. Though I felt like support grinding was even more tedious in Hopes than in 3H...

Route Related Thoughts

I felt that AM and AG were the strongest written routes of 3H and Hopes respectively. While I do have certain issues with both (particularly a certain endgame decision in the AG route), I think focusing on the characters most and making the lore take a backseat made everything far more powerful and enjoyable. These routes take the most after classic Fire Emblem stories but I don’t see it as a bad thing at all! I liked that each of the Lions were interesting takes on classic Fire Emblem tropes. The growth of our complex and sympathetic leader, the interesting deconstruction and reconstruction of classic Fire Emblem stories and characters, and possibly the best use of Billy in the story really made AM work well! As for AG, it’s much of the same, but with the added bonus of having the other Lions taking more active roles in the plot. Plus I really enjoyed the chemistry between a certain Savior King and purple haired mercenary, which much like with Billy, really worked well with the story by making me connect with the bond between characters first.

VW is a route I consider kinda okay. As someone who usually enjoys lore stuff, I just found this route boring. It didn’t help that I felt a lot of the story beats seemed tacked on. Especially the end boss. Honestly the only saving grace for this route for me was that I found the Deer as characters, especially their charismatic leader, to be really likable! On the other hand we have GW. I’ve seen numerous people put their thoughts in on why this route fails and personally that is my own opinion too. It has a pretty interesting start but then decides to take both the story and the characters in such bizarre and frankly just plain stupid directions that I couldn’t wait to finish the route out of pure frustration. It also turned the main lord from someone who I really liked in 3H to someone who I couldn’t STAND in Hopes. It’s a miracle it didn’t permanently negatively impact my view of the guy.

CF was....well I’ll definitely try to limit my thoughts here for my own sake. But basically I found I enjoyed it most when I decided to turn my brain off and just entertained myself with all the different angst options it offers. But yeah, it’s a route where sometimes I just didn’t know what sort of tone they wanted to go for or how they wanted me to take certain moments. It didn’t help that sometimes the mood would change so suddenly I was left just being like “huh????” CF came across as a route where there were several ideas that could’ve been interesting or certain plot points that you’d think would be tackled as it’d make the most sense right? But those moments are either not used to their full potential or passed over with no rhyme or reason. The less I say about the route’s center of controversy leader, the better but I originally found her enjoyable in theory rather in practice as a result of said missed potential, but nowadays I can’t stand her much. But that’s mostly thanks to a very frustrating (to put it politely) portion of her fanbase. SB was pretty much more of the same so my thoughts on CF apply here too. One thing I will say is that the finale made me actually laugh out loud. If someone had told me how SB route ended before I played it myself, I’d take it for a silly meme you’d usually find in fandoms. But nope, that’s actually how the writers chose to have it end...Incredible...

I can’t believe I almost forgot SS....But that basically is the issue isn’t it. I think SS as a route suffers from not having a certain Archbishop take the lord role over. And it doesn’t help that it and VW share the majority of story beats. I heard some mention the SS’s final boss and VW’s should be swapped and personally? With a few other story changes I agree that it’s probably work much better that way! Sorry this paragraph is so short compared to what I said for the other routes but I don’t really have many thoughts on SS compared to the others. I think it does it’s job fine enough and, while I don’t care for how it did it’s final boss, I at least enjoyed it better than VW’s.

Character Ranking

I found a tier list that included 3H and Hopes characters so I didn't have to make two separate ones, so here's my character rankings! I feel like they're basically self explanatory but if you have any questions about any of my rankings, just ask and I'll be happy to explain! Also you'll notice a couple of characters I used both the 3H and the Hopes version of in the list. That was only for major characters for who my opinion was DRASTICALLY different for one game versus the other. Otherwise these rankings match my opinion of the character as a result of both games (but primarily 3H to be honest)!