#anyway. this doesn't really convey that so i will probably come back to the subject at a later time

[wordsofnoconsequence]

The Border Of All I Knew Once

As a child I would run up with my Heart in my hands, bounding up to The borderline, clamber up the fence To look beyond, beyond, as far as I could see. The seas of green, the fireflies flickering, The stars above me gently smiling. The summer wind sweeping past, whispering To cast in amber this one stilling memory. I used to want to walk wherever the path unfurls, Now I've grown older, and I know how it goes. But that prayer is not to start walking, but to keep on. To get back to that wonder, simmering all along. I touch my hands to that rough wooden bend, And look, unharried, above my unknowing head. This drowsing summer song, balm to my soul. This view I've always known, one of a million homes. I can still enter this living memory, I can ponder that which it is beckoning. And when it comes time to for me to return, This wonder will push me into my own momentum.

[missjellyhead]

I love your writing and I saw your requests were open, this is perhaps very specific and maybe dumb lmao so if you think it's dumb you don't have to answer it.

What are your headcanons on how the sinclair brothers, Thomas, and Brahams would react to a s/o that barely eats? In my head, a couple of them wouldn't realistically know what an eating disorder is, or maybe wouldn't even notice, but what's your take on it?

HEADCANON | slashers with a gn!s/o who barely eats

includes brahms heelshire, thomas hewitt, bo sinclair, vincent sinclair and lester sinclair.

note: I am back! I've been away for a while for personal reasons and I have so many requests, so sorry for the delay. I don't know much about eating disorders either, but I did some research before writing. Sorry if I messed up somewhere!

Warnings: eating disorder.

BRAHMS HEELSHIRE

Brahms has probably read about eating disorders, but it wasn't something he made much of.

And he still doesn't give much importance even when he realizes that you don't usually eat.

The possibility of you having some disorder didn't even cross your mind.

I think he would be so interested in other things that he wouldn't even talk about it.

But if you get to mention to him that you have an eating disorder, you can be sure he'll worry.

Why does this mean that your s/o's health is impaired, right? And tragedy can happen, right?!

And if you die or get hospitalized or whatever, this man doesn't want to be alone!

Brahms creates a lot of paranoia.

Brahms takes care of his things and keeps them in order.

And you are his!

He will try to help you minimally, but expects you to help yourself too.

THOMAS HEWITT

Thomas doesn't know what an eating disorder is.

But anyway, he's super worried about you not eating.

He wants to see you strong and healthy!

He will ask Luda May to make her favorite dishes (or at least try, as she may not have the necessary ingredients) in the hopes that this will encourage you to eat.

If that doesn't work he will be just as sad and more worried than before.

I truly believe that this man will give you food in your mouth.

Seriously, he just does it because he's already desperate enough to do well.

The subject of "eating disorder" will come to him randomly, when he hears two victims talking about it.

And then he realizes that might be what you have.

Thomas won't talk about his suspicions to you, but he will watch you closely in order to diagnose you.

(Obviously there's no doctor in that place to tell you what's really going on with you, so it's up to Thomas to draw his own conclusions.)

If you really have an eating disorder, he will hug you affectionately, trying to convey some security.

He wants to help you. Everything will be fine, don't worry!

Other family members will likely find out, and some of them won't be very kind about it.

Hoyt will say it's fresh and you have to stop being an idiot.

Luda May will scold Hoyt. She will be one of the Hewitt members who will support you and try to help you.

Monty doesn't care, but he looks at you weird.

Thomas will make sure these things don't affect you.

Lots of angry looks for Monty and Hoyt and lots of kisses for you.

BO SINCLAIR

Bo Sinclair knows what an eating disorder is, but doesn't know much about it.

And he didn't care that you didn't eat.

Because he never imagined that your case would be an eating disorder, only that you had little appetite.

So why bother?

In addition, he would only notice your lack of appetite when you started to lose weight.

But it still didn't feel like something that needed attention.

It will only intervene if the situation worsens.

Wants to force you to eat.

It probably won't work and he'll be frustrated.

It will put you up against the wall and ask what the hell is wrong with you.

He is shaken and distressed.

He's afraid you might pass out or something.

Bo doesn't know how to show his feelings, though.

Over time it will soften.

On days when his appetite is less he pats his head and says "go eat".

He hopes it will work, although he knows it's not enough.

Bo is still thinking of ways to help you.

VINCENT SINCLAIR

Vincent spends a lot of time focused on his art, trapped in that basement.

He didn't realize you weren't eating well.

Bo who warned him (in a very rude way).

Then he started to notice how you had no appetite.

Will worry instantly.

But Vincent has no idea how to help you.

Vincent will ask Bo for suggestions.

Bo will say "It's not my problem".

Poor Vincent.

He's not sure what an eating disorder is, but he'll think about it.

He knows it's a sensitive subject, so he has no idea how to talk about it with you.

Try to be as pleasant as possible when he asks you if you suffer from an eating disorder.

If you admit it, he'll hug you and pat you affectionately on the back.

Vincent doesn't speak, but tries to look like he cares.

If you deny that he has a disorder, he will be suspicious and not believe it, but he wants to make it clear that he supports you even if you don't confess.

He hugs you too.

It will watch you more closely, watching how much you eat.

Try to find tasty foods to influence you to eat.

Even if they are not healthy.

He just wants you to eat and be well.

LESTER SINCLAIR

So sad.

What's wrong? Please talk to him!

Similar to Bo, Lester will only notice your lack of appetite once you start losing weight.

But unlike his older brother, Lester wants to understand what's going on right away, because he's extremely worried about you.

He himself goes many hours without eating because of work.

He drives along the roads picking up hit-and-runs and forgets to eat.

Did the same happen to you? Were you so busy you forgot to eat?

Difficult, considering you have nothing to occupy yourself in the cabin in the woods you two live in.

Maybe boredom took away your appetite? Was that possible?

Well, he didn't know what was going on and how to make you eat.

Lester is going to make some trips into town and buy you some delicious food.

(It doesn't cook well, so it's the only option.)

He'll offer you any edible wild plants he finds around as well.

They're not very appetizing, but he expects you to eat them.

sorry for any spelling mistakes, english is not my first language

[queen-scribbles]

Since she's on my summer exchange refs, figured I should actually make a post about how things play out for Ody--specifically relating to Chance--post-class story. (This wound up. uh. long than planned at just over 1k. heh)

As I've mentioned, their relationship starts with her visiting him after the end of the Agent story. She sneaks into Coruscant, visits him in rehab. She smuggles in that drink he offered bc she doesn't want to wait until he's out and they talk. There’s a lot to talk about, starting with him apologizing for using her control word even though he knew it was wrong. (Being afraid to die explains but doesn’t excuse) She forgives him-more easily than he thinks she should-bc it’s the nature of spy business and Kothe wasn’t wrong about her being a plant. She maybe teases him a little about being too soft for spy work. He takes it in stride("Maybe I am. Might wind up a moot point." with how extensive his injuries were, there's low odds he'll go back to field work for a long time, if at all).

At the end of a few very frank conversations, they acknowledge there’s definitely an attraction between them still, and agree to see where things go. She told him about the Star Cabal, some of what she’s been through, being a double agent for Kothe, and promises to check in when she can. She is supposed to be maintaining cover in Sith Intelligence, so it’s not like she can pop over to Coruscant whenever she feels like it. They trade real names. She knew his from tracking down where he was for rehab, but Chance tells her before that clicks he's still on a lot of meds and Ody reciprocates. She was planning to tell him anyway so he didn't have to keep calling her Legate. (He is the only one who calls her Des or Dessa instead of Ody as a nickname)

She finds a way to actually visit after finishing on Yavin 4. While there's a very small part of her that couldn't help wondering if he was a Revanite through the Rishi portion, she always shushed it. That's her paranoia talking, Kothe and Watcher X rubbed off on her etc etc. She finally shuts it up for good when she finds the complete list of Revanite agents and his name's not on it(SEE!!)

She doesn’t give him all the details, just enough to convey what they were up against before changing the subject to ask about him. How’s his recovery going, will he be shifting career focus, made any friends in rehab? Chance accepts the redirect since she clearly doesn’t feel like talking about it anymore. (He’s coming along, still limps and probably always will, but at least he can walk. It does look like he’ll be switching to desk duty, probably as an analyst but maybe a handler. Not sure how he feels about the latter option.) They get a few days together before she has to leave so her people don’t get suspicious. There's a small boring period where they think about each other, she maybe hacks a couple systems to check up on him, and they make a habit of finding ways to contact each other with short messages that won't get either of them in trouble. Things are too tense with renewed hostilities for her to actually visit Coruscant again for a while.

After Ziost she comes back and she’s a wreck. Chance is semi-out of rehab at this point; it’s like monitored independent living. Doctors on site and biometric tracking but they largely leave you alone unless you call or the biometrics alert them to an emergency, so they have a bit more privacy. He’s immediately just “What’s wrong?!” and she tries to hold it together at the beginning, but by the time she gets to watching Vitiate consume the entire planet her hands are shaking and her voice cracks and Chance is pulling her in for a hug. It turns into their first kiss. Ody stays for awhile. Intelligence isn’t tracking her currently, Lana trusts that she knows what she’s doing(and she’s infiltrated the Republic before, she has three separate excuses prepared if anyone questions). She takes some time for her, for them, to really solidify the relationship. Her family is from Ziost, even if they've since relocated to Dromund Kaas, so she's really rattled and in a mood to prioritize personal stuff. Focus on the "little details" that matter. She spends a week or two there, and barely does any "work". Sometime in there also comes sex as part of that focus on being alive and both of them want it(they double check) and Chance is healed enough it’s not going to cause problems for him.

It's shortly before she has to leave that Chance brings up the possibility of just... walking away. Not from her hunt for Vitiate; he knows he can't talk her out of that. But from their respective intelligence agencies. Set up their own freelance investigative service, or walk away from that line of work entirely and do something different. It's very, very tempting, especially with her feeling on the Empire now, but she says no. The resources of Sith intelligence/Darth Marr are too vital in this hunt, she can't give that up o matter how big a problem she has with them. (Plus there's this new mysterious army that's started hitting both Republic and Imperial targets to worry about...) Chance says he figured but had to try, Ody promises she'll be safe, she'll visit again as she's saying goodbye.

They get one more visit between Ziost and the Wild Space Expedition, and it's not a long one. A day, at most. Stolen time in the middle of chaos. Then she has to leave for the Wild Space Expedition and that's the last time they see each other.

Ody comes out of carbonite five years later and, at some point after all the running and fighting and almost dying, finds out Chance was killed while she was MIA, sometime year 3 or 4. I'm still deciding whether it's the Sith or Eternal Empire that's responsible, bc either is a whole lot of juicy angst. Either it's one more thing the Empire she swore to uphold took from her, or it'll make her interactions with Arcann really interesting and I'm not sure which would be more Fun. 😈

So she's trying to process the grief of that, wondering if things would be different if she'd agreed to his "Let's just go" suggestion since he was KIA, while also standing against the Eternal Empire and trying to get Valkorion TF OUT OF HER HEAD. Not a fun time for her.

This is already longer than planned for it to be, so. Basically. Healing process from KotET through EoO, then she's gonna flirt with the cute space pirate Mandalorian and hopefully that'll end better.😊😉

[yjwhatif]

With the semi/cryptic confirmation of Ed and Barts relationship in the series I have a question:

Do you think everyone knows about them (in world) or do you think they’re keeping it secret from some?

It’s just a thought that’s been in my head recently. It is most likely fuelled by the whole drama of G&B not being able to depict a “specific character” (it’s definitely Bart) as gay. They’ve had to hide the relationship from their audience - because of ridiculous reasons - but there are still moments that bring up the question - Are they? Before the reveals from AskGreg, I kinda thought- well they are clearly not together yet, but perhaps they both have feelings for one another and are just waiting for the other to make the next move because they’re nervous idiots who don’t want to have read the situation wrong — all while their friends are like - seriously guys? just get together already. Kinda like they did in s1 with Wally and Artemis - and I guess early Supermartian as well - which I would have been okay with... though with the likelihood of there being at least another two year time skip you’d probably have missed the getting together moment - which would kinda suck. Anyway. With the information about the chances being they were supposed to clearly be in a relationship throughout S3 — which makes the whole structuring of ILLUSIONS just make sense — it’s got me viewing their moments with a whole new energy. Also, I saw this post by Greg —

And let me just clarify, I have no idea if this is actually referencing the Ed and Bart stuff, it might not be (probably isn't). This is purely me speculating.

My reading of this is they got told they couldn’t depict Bart as gay pretty late on and that specifically affected ILLUSIONS where they likely intended to confirm the relationship with that first shot - the kiss on the cheek moment. Even now that moment is just odd - because it’s there but it’s not - because technically there is no actual kiss… which I think is absolutely the point. It plants the seed without actually breaking any rules - all by keeping the momentum but removing the specific kiss frame. It’s the only moment that I feel is explicit in saying they are in a relationship - everything else you can just read into and imply there’s something - but they technically don’t confirm anything.

The whole thing is actually quite interesting - despite the reasoning for it being totally ridiculous. By keeping/showing what they did... People notice it. People talk about it. People reflect on it. More people talk about it. People writing. Make. Create. Discuss it. An entire audience is formed who want and support it. It’s a whole thing now because people noticed it and generated a positive response to it - and that was before all the AskGreg information. The whole reason YJ got a season 3 is because the fans fought to get it back. Enough people talked about it - and kept talking about it - to convince TPTB that the show should come back. Greg and Brandon know this. They know the power the fans have and maybe they hoped that power would help them again in freeing Bart from these ridiculous restrictions. #letbartoutofthecloset

Obviously, we can't know until S4 is released whether G&B got the permission to confirm Bart's sexuality the way they envisioned - but maybe the responses that came during the release of 3b were enough to convince TPTB that they were fighting a losing battle. But who knows, people in power can be very stubborn at times, so we will just have to see what we get. Fingers crossed they eased up though - and not just because of the Ed/Bart relationship (which I am obviously a fan of -- it's fine if not everyone is) - but because these restrictions on LGBTQ+ content shouldn't be a thing and need to stop -- there is just no validity in them.

Anyhow. despite their not being allowed to officially confirm the relationship, Greg's comment about Ed's having a boyfriend they can't name basically confirms the fact without technically breaking any rules again. Masterfully done Wiesman. With this, it implies the pair are in fact dating during S3 which brings us back to the original question... but who knows??

With the comments of Virgil during ILLUSIONS, it's easy to assume their friends do in fact know. They also seem to have no problem being close and interacting with one another whilst in the presence of others -- that is, except for one moment...

Ever since the first time I saw this episode (ELDER WISDOM) I have always found this moment strange - because Ed seems to get kinda awkward when Barry comes to check on Bart. (Or that's how I see it at least.) He realises Flash is standing there and immediately pulls his head down averting his gaze -- almost like he doesn't want to be seen by the elder. But why? Does Barry not know about the pair -- or maybe he doesn't know about Bart and Ed thinks their current closeness is too revealing -- who's to say Bart's even fully out to the world yet -- who's to say either of them are? We certainly don't since we weren't allowed to be shown. We can't know until we know - so until then we can play the speculation game while we wait.

Bart is certainly a bit of a secret keeper when it comes to being himself. I'm still convinced the Bart we see onscreen is merely his interpretation of what he thinks people expect from a speedster in this time. We saw 'real' Bart, he was snarky and cynical and nothing like the Bart we've had for the past two seasons. He said it himself - he's playing a character - and I don't think he knows how to break out of it - not while the possibility exists that it might hurt those he's grown to care about. Bart wants to be seen a certain way to avoid acknowledging the truth of the past - if people see him as happy and smiley, then no one will question him on things he doesn't want to talk about. The problem with that is you can't hide yourself forever - cracks begin to form and eventually, the truth comes out whether you want it to or not. So who knows how comfortable Bart is revealing any of his true self to those he cares about. Maybe his relationship with Ed will be the thing that finally helps him find comfort in being himself, whilst also trusting others to still accept him as himself... and maybe getting him that bit of therapy he really needs.

This brings us to Eduardo… First, can I just say it made me so happy to see Greg’s confirmation of Ed being gay - though it is slightly annoying that he was robbed of his explicit onscreen reveal in S3 thanks to the drama with Bart. His whole relationship to his powers in S2 to S3 fits the representation of coming to terms with your sexuality/identity from a very negative point of view. Feeling like it’s something that needs fixing or needs to be “cured” - to then finding the light and freedom in accepting yourself for you. His growth between seasons is brilliant. He understands the hate and insecurity the teens are feeling because he felt it himself. He does all he can to help them because he never felt he got that help when he needed it - and no one deserves to feel worse for being who they are. Obviously, the things he talks about are framed in the context of dealing with/accepting the meta-gene - yet there are certain moments where it seems he’s saying more than that…

All of which got me wondering - why did Ed originally runaway? It certainly wasn’t because of the meta-abilities he did not yet have. All he’s ever said on the subject was he thought he wanted to be with his father - the man it seems he barely had a relationship with. No, I think Ed has been running from himself for a long time and his dad just happened to be an actual direction for him to aim for. The way he speaks about his wanting to be “cured” and “praying to get rid of his powers” suggests an upbringing around religion and traditional ideas of there being a ‘normal/proper’ way to be — while anything that doesn’t fit that way is treated as other or something that needs to be changed or 'fixed'. Maybe he ran to avoid being found out and run the risk of being ostracised by those he loved. Or maybe he was found out and leaving wasn’t entirely his choice*. If this was the case, I can certainly imagine him not wanting to come out to his dad for fear of his reaction and completely losing all chance of that father-son relationship they’re both trying so hard to keep. It can seem easier to live in secret than risk the reality of loss. So while the meta-gene likely wasn’t the main thing he was angry about in S2, it was able to become a physical thing he could blame and focus his anger on - without having to think about where his issues truly lied… Though with a bit of time it also became the thing he was comfortable conveying his feelings through...

“I’ve learned to accept, even love my meta-abilities”

I love this line so much and it’s all because of the delivery by Freddy Rodrigues. There is the slightest hint of a pause before he says “meta-abilities”, which gives the impression he was about to say something else before then remembering himself and who he was talking to. Then there’s the small inflecion he put on “love”, which makes it sound like it’s the first time he’s heard himself say the words out loud. I don’t hear him talking about the gene - I hear him talking about finally accepting himself - all of himself - for the first time in maybe ever and finally feeling happy because of it. I hear growth... From being the angry 14-year-old skater who just wanted to run away and escape any way he could. To the 16-year-old councillor/Outsider jumping straight into the danger to protect and inspire those who need it. Both he and Bart are such strong characters with so much more to be seen - especially when it comes to the insecurities which lie behind their masks. They both compliment each other pretty perfectly - both powers-wise and personality-wise - meaning while they try to hide themself from others, I don't think it'll take long for them to realise they can't hide from each other.

Anywho, that’s all the speculatary nonsense I’ve got for today. This turned into such a patchwork of vaguely linkable thoughts I’ve had which barely relate to the one I started with - but that is usually how it goes. Take it as you will…

Also, completely unrelated to YJ, but Bi Tim Drake now exists in dc canon which is really cool - seeing all of the joy it’s sparked has really given me something to smile about this week… There is hope after all. 🌈

— LB ⚡️☀️

* OK so here’s a little random snapshot into the chaos of my mind— as I was writing the Ed stuff I had a scene pop into my head of Ed finally -for whatever reason- having to tell his dad that he didn’t leave his abuelo’s home - he got kicked out. His dads confused about this and asks Why? What did you do? And Ed’s like Nothing… I didn’t do anything wrong… he just… found out something. So Seniors like Found out what Eduardo? And Ed’s getting really nervous now because he doesn’t want to say it - That I, um… I’m… Senior step a fraction closer as he picks up on Ed’s anxiety but remains an appropriate distance - Son? Then after a tensening silence he finally says it - sounding the most vulnerable he has ever been - I’m gay… The silence is there again, heavy and unnerving, neither saying a word. Ed can’t move as he’s lock in his elders unreadable glare. Expecting the worse his head drops to take in the floor - anything that isn’t the disappointment ahead - he feels the urge to disappear burning up inside him - consuming him. Then just as he’s about to escape he’s suddenly grounded by a steadying hand rooting itself on his shoulder. Tentatively he lifts his gaze to witness his father, there, with nothing but love and support in his eyes - Mijo. The clamping in his chest dissipates as all the tension escapes at once, along with the breath he hadn’t realised he was holding. Ed embraces his dad and the elder embraces his son. Together. A family.

Anyway. That’s probably a load of rubbish but hey my minds full of it… but basically I really want to see a tender moment between Ed and his dad. For whatever reason. Something where Ed’s in a vulnerable state and in need of some emotional support from his father - and without hesitation his father steps up - because that’s what we haven’t seen from them yet. It would perfectly portray the strength of their relationship as father and son - despite their previous struggles - and prove that Senior is willing to support his son no matter the situation as the father - not just the scientist. Its the final step in their healing journey and I wanna see it so bad!!

[monty-glasses-roxy]

Okay neurodivergent animatronics for @softichill! I'm... Not entirely sure what comes under what label so I'm gonna say sorry now for that. As a neurodivergent person you'd think I'd know yet here we are.. anyway

For Roxy, I don't think I have anything to contribute to a conversation about the anxiety and/or depression thing going on here. I will, however, die on the hill that she has a chewing stim. It's calming and it probably stems from her wolf base which of course chews a lot. I like to think that all the animatronics kinda default to their base animal characteristics when things get too difficult to handle. Roxy tends to fall back on body language and various dog noises like howls and whines when the pressure gets too much or her emotions too hard to accurately convey with words. This has led to a lot of miscommunication but she's doing her best. Not sure if that's neurodivergent or not. Oh she probs has OCD honestly. She's obsessed with perfection after all and that seems to feed heavily into her self-worth so maybees?

Monty has anger issues I don't think I can add anything else to that specific subject. Maybe he has some form of ADHD with too much energy and very few outlets? I'm fairly certain being a himbo isn't neurodivergent but if it were... Anyway, he seems like he hyperfocuses with a special interest in either golf or some really obscure thing he heard someone mention. His chewing stim is pretty big too and management had to arrange for some very big chew toys specifically for his big muzzle. I like to think he also has that stim where it's like... Pressure or something? The one where the weight of something on top of him helps calm him down or feels good. That one. He loves both having a weighted blanket and being the weighted blanket. He also struggles with communication. He doesn't tend to default back to alligator methods of communication but he definitely struggles with his words. Oh actually something that might be interesting to see, maybe he's pretty smart but has dyslexia? I dunno that could be pretty interesting to explore. Could be someone the kids with dyslexia look up to. Or maybe dyscalcula? Hm

Chica uhhh probably an eating disorder there that I won't go into. I'm sure people have talked about that before anyway and I am definitely not knowledgeable about that enough for that talk. I wanna say she has dyslexia too. She practices and finds ways of working with it with the ultimate goal of making everyone friendship bracelets with their names on. She is constantly making some sort of noise. She can't not. Loves the sounds and feel of her feet on the floor, claws lightly on tile and the occasional hum and caw. Maybe she has a form of chewing stim too?

Freddy is uhhh... He doesn't get sarcasm. Like, at all. Not ideal when Roxy and Monty start a back and forth full of it. He's pretty spacy and has a relative amount of separation anxiety. Can't be left alone too long or he starts getting antsy. He's got the lowest intensity chewing stim. He encourages the others and makes sure they all have adequate things for their chew stims. This is not often an easy task given how Monty goes through chews like no tomorrow and Roxy insists she doesn't want to sit and chew open an overstuffed Freddy plush. He will sit there for hours giving you wiki definitions of things that you really don't need and didn't ask for and he loves pressure like Monty does.

Now I'm insanely tired so I'll leave it there but I may come back to this later

[topconfessions]

Thank you for taking time and reading my confessions. I really appreciate it!

Yes, I guess we couldn't agree more with each other.

On a positive note, I just talked to her and learned she actually only deactivated her account, phew. She said she deleted so I would not bother her anymore :D. She is back in business in her ig and vino.p has not liked any of her posts since the comeback neither has she.

I understand her pov, I may have influenced her in a bad way by telling scary stories of fandoms.

I hope I was able to bring some insight on top. I never expected this to happen , but at the same time,it gave me hope that he could actually have interaction with real and good people. Why would he keep on coming back to her account otherwise? Maybe it made him smile. That's all I could ask for.

But like yourself, I am kinda done. If her ever breaks free and does his thing, I will be back to support him. But now, I just don't see or understand the point of anything.

Once again, thank you for taking time. You are precious.

Much love,

The most annoying work colleague ever :D

No problem at all.

TOP does not realise he is breeding this rabid behavior, enabling it and solidifying it through his own actions as well. If he were to loosen up and take the chance with slowly talking to the followers as people and speaking more on a realistic conversation level, stop posting as if he will be gunned down if he even remotely posts normal things with non celebrity / industry friends. I'm just saying. There is a clear 100% reason the fans treat Taeyang differently than they treat TOP. Nobody can argue with me on this period. You / your mutual her treated the way you allow yourselves to be treated. We have two different perspectives on this. I personally believe he just really liked her stuff and it was nothing more than that for a while. This could have been resolved better if he didn't have any crippling anxieties himself

Yes you somewhat did rattle her and it wasn't the smartest decision to introduce someone like her to someone like him and kpop in general. Some people and subject matters don't mix even if they share common interests. She wont understand and probably never will. It's okay. It's one of those situations where you either have the immense patience and open mindedness or you'll only understand if you were there from the beginning, which she wasn't. Hence how doesn't get that it IS possible to be an idol and be esteemed like this. He utilities his resources and money to get into these fields.

But it's all really sad. A good potential internet friendship tanked. Sad. He could have sent her a DM testing the waters but it's that complex risk of him possibly thinking she'll react like a mega fan or be overwhelmed that HE messaged her when in reality like you conveyed he's kind of a random guy to her. So that's the most frustrating thing about TOP and a majority of idols in general to me. They are so out of reach and keep themselves out of reach. I'm sorry i know we live in the age of mental health coddling but the average person who has their ish together wouldn't over complicate this if they're going to keep this pattern up knowing the interaction would gain traction.

Anyways he's stuck for now and it's sad. Just very sad. Wish them both the best. You're not a bad co worker. You just shared a little interesting person to her who matched her interest who she couldn't handle and he in turn wasn't ever ready to take the leap with.

Hence why I did not relent against trolls who were originally upset at me and turned it into a death threat brawl over me making an error about one of his posts bringing mark up (mega run on sentence forgive me lmao) I don't regret any of it cause this story you've shared just shows that real interaction is hard and easier said than done. We can't tell others how to Stan or how to feel but for the very rare minority such as yourself, it's best to wait to see what is next when he takes the leap and begins to really take those risks.

A shame though.

[seyaryminamoto]

I've started the process of writing my own love story. Its not a fanfic, but an original novel that I plan on completing someday. However, even though I already have the main story planned out, Im having a hard time with dialogue and coming up with ways for my characters to interact with each other(if that makes sense) I was just wondering if u have any tips 4 me. I know this doesn't have anything to do with gladiator, but im a huge fan of your writing style and would love to hear your advice.

Hmmm… well, dialogue is a little tricky. From what I’ve been taught in school, there are three different kinds of texts that can comprise a narrative text: action (the actual narration), description and dialogue. Action moves things forward, description somewhat stops time, and dialogue can achieve either thing, depending on how it’s used.

But dialogue also helps a lot when it comes to characterization. Dialogue is meant to convey information between characters, and characters, like real people, have different points of view, disagreements, points in common, and so forth. Each of your characters has had different experiences, and often dialogues are the best way to bring up those experiences (having a character talk about something that happened to them is often more dynamic than simply explaining it in descriptive or narrative text).

So, with that in mind, how to write dialogue? First things first: imagine yourself in the shoes of a character. Dialogue is the best empathy exercise I’ve ever done, because it really forces you to forget yourself and to picture yourself in someone else’s shoes for a moment (kind of like what an actor does). Two characters are unlikely to respond in the exact same way to the same events. Say that there are two characters in a sports game and one team scores: one of the characters cheers and the other grumbles in frustration.  You can know, just through dialogue, that one character supports the winning team and the other supports the losing one.

Dialogue can be difficult, but it’s a really good tool for characterization, too often better than description or narration. Yes, actions speak very loudly, but a character can be incredibly elegant in actions and appearance, only to swear like a sailor once their dialogue begins (then you’d get a pretty funny contradiction between appearance and behavior that makes for an amusing character). In short, dialogue is how a character interacts with the world around them, with their friends and enemies, with their family and strangers (characters also interact differently with each kind of relationship I mentioned here, the same way real people do). So when you write dialogue you give your character a voice, and as in real life, everyone has different voices.

You’ve said you’re writing a love story… dialogue, to me, is essential for romance. I don’t know what kind of story it is for sure, but whether your characters are instantly attracted to each other or absolutely can’t stand each other at first…? You need to bring up situations for dialogue to produce genuine bonding. Physical attraction alone isn’t enough to establish actual love, most fiction these days makes a deliberate effort to go beyond that, so dialogue is a must in your line of work. Dialogue is how you show chemistry between your characters, how you prove to your readers that these two characters have plenty to offer each other and can have a very special bond.

My advice is… generate situations where dialogue can happen between them. Push the plot so that they have no choice but to interact. Their first dialogues may not go too far in establishing meaningful bonding, but that’s where you’ll have to produce situations where they get to bond. Using Gladiator as an example, in chapter 9, when I brought Sokka to the Barge’s deck and he found Azula training there, they end up training together for the first time in the story. Azula’s warrior training shows, but she’s no expert with the sword. Because of this, the subject of why she never trained with Piandao came up, and this is the first time Sokka hears about her conflicts with her mother. Azula finds herself telling him about this, while obviously holding back a lot of information he didn’t need to know, but she’s still sharing something with him that she hasn’t shared with most people (namely… because nobody else has asked her about any of this before :’D).

That exchange is what I consider the first real bonding scene between them in the story, where they first truly respected one another and their many differences, while finding a little common ground, too. Knowing Azula wasn’t allowed to learn how to use swords gave Sokka the chance to offer to teach her, many chapters later. Teaching her becomes not only another perfect excuse for them to spend time together, but it strengthens their relationship because he’s somehow fulfilling one of her dreams.

And it all started with that dialogue!

So, allow your characters to have important things in their lives aside from their relationship (as it is here with Sokka, Azula, training, bending, swords and such). If they have common interests it becomes easier to weave in a romantic storyline. If they have diametrically different interests, you can weave in the romance anyways because of how they try to conciliate those differences. Give them more substance aside from their relationship (which is realistic, as people in real life tend to have much more going on in life aside from just romance), and soon enough you’ll have two characters who can interact at leisure. From casual talk, like what I explained above with Gladiator as an example, you can get a conversation that will move dynamically and organically through many topics. If it’s a meaningful conversation, it can come back sometime later, once one of the character brings it up like “hey, remember when you told me about *insert topic here*…?”, as it was with Sokka and Azula’s interest in swordsmanship, or when Sokka remembered later that Azula’s relationship with her mother wasn’t that good, knowledge he acquired thanks to this particular exchange.

In any case, this is what I recommend. But for other important things to note with dialogue:

Small talk is a thing: while some people will tell you that you should NEVER have empty, pointless dialogue in a story (because a story should be concise), people in real life can have some really pointless conversations. Yes, your dialogue, ideally, should always convey new information, but don’t be unforgiving with yourself if it doesn’t. Sometimes you need a few lines of empty small talk before you can get to the real meat of the exchange. The main thing to avoid, though, is turning a serious conversation into meaningless small talk, but I’ll expand on that in point 3.

People have different vocabulary: this is something that can cause trouble in some ways. It’s been a little complicated for me in recent times, I used to be better at it. But part of characterization is knowing what kind of words your character would use, and what kind they wouldn’t. You can have characters who are very eloquent with their dialogue (I try to do this with Ozai, because really, it takes some real weirdo to say things like “the universe delivers you to me as an act of providence”, canonically), others who are less so, and some who would just have absolutely no fancy words in their vocabulary altogether.Important thing to note: your characters, unless they’re meant to be you, or are educated exactly like you, probably won’t talk exactly as you do. One particular problem I’ve seen in some writers is that they can’t seem to change the speech pattern of characters, either they aren’t sure how or just don’t know how to do it, and it gives the feeling of mechanical dialogue, because it’s like you’re just reading the narrator’s voice rather than the character’s. Whether you’re making fanfiction or original fiction, your characters should have different speech patterns from yours/the narrator’s, unless there’s a very good reason for them not to have them (example, you can have a character who loves using literary quotes when talking, and you can also have a character who’s never read any high literature: by logic, the second character shouldn’t be able to use any of the quotes the first one uses in common dialogue).

Make dialogue meaningful when it has to be: I am a fan of small talk, of simple conversations between characters that can be pretty easy-going, casual, what have you. I don’t need every exchange between characters to be filled with “I AM YOUR FATHER!”-like revelations. But I recently watched at TV show that had just featured a “character death”, and it provided a perfect opportunity for the character’s best friends to talk about what happened (and to properly talk about how one of them was going to fill the “dead character’s” shoes from there on), and… the dialogue that should have been important was absolutely, entirely, meaningless. It didn’t change anything. It didn’t move either character in any direction. You barely even felt like they were affected by their friend’s “death”, that’s probably the worst part of it all (they shoehorned one of the characters getting tears in her eyes at random, despite the conversation’s emotional charge was equal to zero).In conclusion: when something big has happened, your characters will show emotion, will react emotionally, and if they don’t, there’s a chance they’re just bottling things up (and you should imply the bottling up through dialogue, which can be done). When caught up in awful circumstances, characters cannot simply indulge in small talk, or pointless conversations that lead nowhere. It’s in these cases where strong dialogue is needed. Anticlimactic dialogue is a very unpleasant thing to have in your story, as it can break all suspension of disbelief from your readers.

Don’t be afraid of having multiple characters in one conversation: I’m not a fan of big conversations in real life, but multiple voices in fiction have been ridiculously fun for me to write. Yes, you need to be versatile and switch positions with every new character you write, but for instance, I really enjoyed writing the Gaang talking at the cafeteria table in IHTBY. When you bring together characters from different backgrounds, different experiences, and have them interact with each other, you find yourself with all sorts of different chemistry between all of them: you can have characters who get along well, characters who like to bicker with each other, characters who have entirely different views in life, characters who have crushes on each other… you can have virtually anything. And that provides the opportunity for dynamic dialogue scenes that, for reasons beyond my understanding, a lot of writers seem to avoid like the plague. Granted I’m not saying you should make every single dialogue a multi-character dialogue, but I do recommend that you don’t run away from this, because I’ve seen people who do that and it only seems to hinder their stories in the end.

Your character will behave differently depending on whom they’re talking to: this is something I mentioned earlier, but I’ll mention it again: Azula doesn’t talk with Sokka with the same cautious respect she usually has to muster when talking to her father. When she threw that caution into the wind (as she did in a recent Gladiator chapter), not only was she terrified while doing it, but she took Ozai and everyone else around them by surprise. Likewise, she wouldn’t talk to any strangers the same way she talks to Sokka or her father.Characters will respond differently to other characters, depending on how guarded or how free they feel around the other person. Depending, too, on what sort of relationship they have with the opposite person: Sokka is Azula’s partner and lover, he has seen Azula for who she is, entirely, which means she’s at her most open when she’s with him. Toph, Ty Lee, Mai and others are Azula’s friends, they know she has a her softer side but they haven’t seen it nearly as often as Sokka has, so Azula is more reserved around them than around Sokka. Ozai is her father, due to her relationship with him she endeavors to NEVER show him her soft/weak side, so she’s VERY guarded when talking to him. Likewise, she didn’t show her soft/weak side to Zuko, her brother, until a little while before they parted ways, because she couldn’t let him see she wasn’t absolutely perfect, so she was very reserved with him, too, even if she would lower her guard just enough to torment him whenever she felt like it.An important example, with which I seem to break this rule (despite I kind of don’t…) is Sokka: he’s constantly horrifying people everywhere because of how he talks boldly to Ozai, apparently not holding back at all (truthfully, he holds back a lot more than most my characters seem to realize x’D). He doesn’t get a pass for this: everyone thinks he’s crazy for showing so little respect to the Fire Lord. Ozai thinks it’s amusing, sure, but most other people are horrified. If you have a character who talks to everyone the same way, regardless of authority or different positions in the world, other characters need to respond to it, especially if it’s as far out of place as it is when Sokka does it in Gladiator.

Let the character guide you: once you’ve established your character, dialogue can become a matter of impulse (as it happens to me most times). Only a couple of hours ago I had to backtrack on an exchange between two characters where one of them responded negatively to what the other character said. I couldn’t really write it differently, because the one character could only be offended by the other character’s words. I had to modify the full dialogue so that the response to the first line of dialogue wouldn’t turn a playful conversation into an argument.In short, you can’t force a character to behave or respond to situations in ways they don’t want to. If your character leads you in one direction, you can’t double down on them and make them act differently than they would. Once you feel characters moving by themselves in one direction or another you know for sure that you’ve been able to understand them… but that is a full compromise, so to speak. If you understand them, it means you understand why they respond to things the way they do, and you also understand why they wouldn’t respond any differently than how they do. So, if you’re faced with a problem like the one I described in the previous paragraph... change the situation, or the previous dialogues that can be altered (if changing the previous character’s dialogue disrupts their characterization too, you’ll have to rewrite from further back). Just, don’t force a puzzle piece where it doesn’t fit. That only harms your story further in the end. It takes away the life in your characters, because they feel less consistent and therefore, less believable.

I’m not sure if I can come up with anything else… but if you have any other specific questions about dialogue-writing that I didn’t answer here, just let me know and I’ll give you a hand if I can do so! :D

[queerasinfvckyov]

You're clearly not getting the other anon's message, so I'll try to explain what I understood of it. Harry doesn't EXPLICITLY SAY anything political. Ever. The only sort of political statement we had from him was that he'd vote for whoever was against Brexit but that he wasn't that well-versed on the matter (and he's been living in England almost exclusively for the past two years, which is when BLM arose). He doesn't do political statements on stage, not verbally. He never has and I don't 1

understand why people expect him to make a political statement now, and why specifically with BLM? Which is a subject that’s completely out of his reach as a British person that lives in London. He was never going to SAY anything about the signs, but I have no doubts that if given a flag, he would wave it, because I absolutely believe he’s for the sentiment of BLM. He wasn’t given a flag. There was a flag folded and thrown on stage, to a side Harry was NOT on towards the end of the show 2

but I seriously doubt he even saw it, and if he did, he couldn’t have possibly known it was a BLM flag (look at the picture of it thrown on stage and you’ll see it’s 1. on the other side of where he was 2. folded so it’s impossible to see what it says). I absolutely understand the outrage towards fans that didn’t show the solidarity to bring the flag to the front, which they always do with rainbow flags. That’s something to point out. The poor girl that organised this movement had to throw 3

it by herself and it was really hard to get him to notice it, and it shouldn’t have been. Harry grabs flags that fans are waving in the front row, only once he picked up one from the floor (and it was very clear it was a rainbow flag, and it was by his feet). I just don’t understand the outrage towards Harry. He said he doesn’t do politics. You can dislike that, and that has been discussed to death, but his position on that subject is clear. He’s for equality as a fundamental right, but 4

refuses to discuss politics and I just don’t think that’s a problem. When he wanted to make a statement against Washington’s position about trans people in the military, he hung trans flags, he didn’t say anything. This is his style. Why are we attacking him for doing what he’s always done? Let’s get mad with the fans that aren’t doing what they’re supposed to, not with Harry. If someone waves a BLM flag in the front rows, and he sees it and he ignores it, then that’d be valid criticism 5 (fin)

Before I get into this I would appreciate if in the future you didn’t call into question my reading comprehension ability. I understood what the ask said, and I expect you mean well (at least I hope so) but I don’t need you to clarify it for me. I wasn’t confused. 

So let’s get into it. 

Harry doesn’t EXPLICITLY SAY anything political. Ever.

Believe me, I am fully aware that Harry doesn’t typically verbalize his political beliefs. I’ve never bothered to discuss it on the blog but I’ve rambled plenty in private conversations about it (and the boys’ politics more generally). In fact, I spent the better part of the day doing just that. I am aware of Harry’s approach to politics and the place politics has re: the image he wants to present of himself to his fans. 

Except. Except, except, except. 

He does make political statements. He’s made them for a while now, even if mostly inelegantly (which I certainly do not begrudge him; he didn’t do his A levels and he certainly hasn’t gone to post-secondary where a lot of people figure out how to convey these complex ideas). It started off with him telling people not to go to Seaworld. Why? Because they treat animals with cruelty. Now, animals are ‘easy mode’, so to speak, when it comes to politics. People generally all agree that animals are deserving of certain rights and should be treated well. This doesn’t seem like a political statement but regardless it is (eg, look at the laws that are being changed in the States re: shooting hibernating bears or the support for fox hunts in Britain; these pertain to the treatment of animals and they are also political). I acknowledge that this might seem to be irrelevant and small, but as I said, it’s a starting point. 

Moving forward, Harry has also on multiple occasions even BEFORE his solo tour acknowledge the queer community and queer rights. He’s acknowledged on twitter (yes, it might not have been him, but it doesn’t matter because it’s was still approved by his team and allowed to be part of his public image) the Westboro Baptist Chruch protesting the One Direction concert (a statement that specifically denounced them, if perhaps vaguely). Furthermore, let’s not forget about “lets have a good equal time” or “It’s looking colourful in here, and for some of you I know why. Happy Pride.” (this might not be the exact quote, but it was along these lines). And what about the picture of the rainbow flag and the rainbow on his instagram the day same-sex marriage was legalized in the States? And we can’t forget his “I study rainbows” tweet and bracelet or the odd rainbow flags he was already waving around during OTRA. 

These are ALL political statements and, with the exception of the tweets and instagram posts, they were all done on stage–but regardless all done on public forums. If Harry didn’t engage with politics he wouldn’t have made any of these statements whatsoever. 

(also, it’s a little pedantic, but BLM has been a “thing” for a little over 3 years now, not two; it’ll be four next august).

He never has and I don’tunderstand why people expect him to make a political statement now, and why specifically with BLM?

As I mentioned in the ask, I don’t get the impression that people were expecting him to acknowledge the signs or wave the flag, but they were hoping he would do so and, as I mentioned in my answer to the previous ask, I expect it’s because he’s been so adamant to create safe spaces for the queer fans. By waving those flags and making damn sure his concerts are a safe space for queer fans he’s making a political statement. He’s drawing his line in the sand, so to speak, and that line is that he won’t tolerate any kind of discrimination towards queer fans at his concerts. He opens up his concerts by saying that he wants people to have fun and “be whoever you want to be”. That is a political statement. 

Ever since that show in Nashville where people’s flags were confiscated, and Harry brought one out for the encore (whether it was his own or one of the fans’ confiscated ones) and stated that he was bringing it back to where it belonged, his waving of the many pride flags has been entirely political. It was a political statement before, of course, at the first two shows, but it was made all the more so after that show. His insistence on always waving a flag, no matter the circumstances, is a political statement, too. 

So why did people specifically want a BLM flag? Because Harry has made damn sure his concerts are safe spaces for queer fans–or, as I mentioned in the previous ask too, his concerts and wherever else he feels like it (the Hollywood Bowl We Can Survive concert was certainly not his own concert, but he made it a safe space anyway). Black fans (and poc fans more generally) exist without being queer. Why is Harry willing to get political with various queer pride flags but not BLM flags? 

Which is a subject that’s completely out of his reach as a British person that lives in London. He was never going to SAY anything about the signs, but I have no doubts that if given a flag, he would wave it, because I absolutely believe he’s for the sentiment of BLM.

People have every right to hope he would have, and be disappointed that the political statements he’s willing to make as things stand now, if vaguely, seem to extend only as far as queer solidarity. And, in the words of a dear friend of mine: “ no one wants harry to draft a 20 point policy on how we begin to eliminate mass incarceration?? It’s actually real simple: acknowledge our existence”. That’s all people were hoping he would do. And once more, as I mentioned in my previous ask, that’s all he would have had to do–acknowledge the signs were there. 

The issue, of course, is that based on the fan accounts we have so far, he was aware of the signs, and there is evidence in videos that there was at least one sign in the front row dead centre in support of BLM. He didn’t mention them. 

He wasn’t given a flag. There was a flag folded and thrown on stage, to a side Harry was NOT on towards the end of the show but I seriously doubt he even saw it, and if he did, he couldn’t have possibly known it was a BLM flag (look at the picture of it thrown on stage and you’ll see it’s 1. on the other side of where he was 2. folded so it’s impossible to see what it says).

He very well might not have seen it. The flag is dark and so was the stage, and as I’ve seen some people say around here they weren’t even aware BLM had a flag. It’s quite possible that if he had known what to be looking for he would have been able to see the flag. 

However. 

He also didn’t pay attention to the people that were apparently shouting about the flag being on stage. I admit this could be down to the general confusion and screaming that happens at concerts. Yet there were, apparently, a good handful of fans shouting about the flags and the signs even when it was quiet, and it should have been easier to hear then. Of course, if he wasn’t expecting people to be talking about the BLM at the concert he probably wasn’t primed to make the connection, but that doesn’t take away from the fact that there were signs in the front row and all he had to do was acknowledge they were there, even obliquely as he typically is with politics. He did not, and people have are allowed to be disappointed and disheartened. 

I absolutely understand the outrage towards fans that didn’t show the solidarity to bring the flag to the front, which they always do with rainbow flags. That’s something to point out. The poor girl that organised this movement had to throw it by herself and it was really hard to get him to notice it, and it shouldn’t have been.

I’m glad we’re in agreement about the poor behaviour on the parts of the fans there, and I and many others have been discussing how the other fans there (especially the ones who accepted the signs and then did nothing) are also responsible for the how things went. It seems like people were being ridiculously pushy and unaccommodating in the pit with one another as well. So much for treat people with kindness. 

I just don’t understand the outrage towards Harry.

As I’ve said before, people are outraged because they feel hurt and disappointed (although I don’t think there’s hatred). Resentment, perhaps, but what else could you honestly expect? Black folk and the black fans in this fandom in particular are tired. And who the fuck could blame them? When this is the kind of fallout that occurs in response to a project with the sole purpose of creating a safe space for black fans and poc fans more generally? Like Harry has been doing for 15 shows +1 for queer fans since his tour began. They’re tired that even in this fandom, in the concerts of somebody who cares so deeply about equality and treating others with kindness, it’s still SUCH a fight just to be given the same treatment as the others have been given.

He said he doesn’t do politics. You can dislike that, and that has been discussed to death, but his position on that subject is clear. He’s for equality as a fundamental right, but refuses to discuss politics and I just don’t think that’s a problem.

I do, of course, take issue with that. Whether he likes it or not, he is in a position of power and privilege and if he desires to think of himself as an ally he has a responsibility to do what he can with his power and privilege to be an ally. I don’t think anybody is expecting him to be an activist (I certainly am not), but he’s really not even doing the bare minimum in a lot of areas–like with BLM. As for seeing equality as a fundamental right, it’s a sweet thought, but the issue is that things he might consider to be non-issues and not up for debate are, unfortunately, inherently political in the current state of the world. If he’s for equality he must take some kind of stand against inequality, otherwise he is being permissive towards the institutional nature of many inequalities (in this case, racial inequality). Silence is violence, because silence is what allows inequality to perpetuate. You cannot be for equality and also refuse to “do politics”. 

When he wanted to make a statement against Washington’s position about trans people in the military, he hung trans flags, he didn’t say anything. This is his style.

Unfortunately I’m going to have to be pedantic again here. First of all, this is contradicting what you mentioned earlier about Harry not explicitly saying anything political ever and also that the only somewhat political statement he made was about Brexit. If you mean the Brexit statement was the only one he verbalized and that he doesn’t typically verbalize political statements, sure, but if you think the only way to be political and make explicit political statements is if you say them verbally I’m afraid I’m going to have to tell you to do some more research (and I don’t mean that maliciously). In fact, I would argue that most political statements are not done verbally but conveyed through via other means–particularly, through action. Look at the way we treat politicians: we only really believe them when they show us they mean what they say, which is done through implementation of policies–through action. Or, conversely, through inaction. 

Why are we attacking him for doing what he’s always done? Let’s get mad with the fans that aren’t doing what they’re supposed to, not with Harry. If someone waves a BLM flag in the front rows, and he sees it and he ignores it, then that’d be valid criticism.  

Firstly, I don’t like the way you’re talking about people’s response to what happened at the concert here. People aren’t “attacking” him. They’re expressing their frustration and their upset and their disappointment, and every single one of those emotional responses is valid. I don’t know if you’re white, but I certainly am, and not a single one of us white people–or even other poc fans, for that matter–have any right to say anything about the way the black fans (and other poc fans, if they are feeling similarly) are reacting to this. As a white person, I have no fucking clue, not a single one, about what it means to exist as a black person in the world to day and I and we other non-black fans don’t possess a single shred of authority about how people should feel and react to Harry’s lack of support for BLM (when, again, he has put the effort into being supportive for queer fans–which is definitely amazing, don’t get me wrong; as a queer fan it means a lot to me, but black fans and poc fans deserve the same) and validation of and solidarity with the black fans. 

Secondly, as I mentioned before in this ask and in the previous one, people are calling out the fans. That doesn’t mean people can’t also expect better of Harry. These aren’t “haters” or whatever you want to call them who are calling out the fans at the concert and Harry. These are other fans who want the fandom and Harry to improve and do better because they care, and because they have a right to expect and hope for better. Black lives matter. Black fans just want people to actually act like they do.