#are authors even suppose to hate the characters they create?!

[taintedsoul-if]

It’s me again and I still don’t know how we if it’s possible to end Yesenia life.

The only way I would assume we could hurt her would be to make her seem mad or crazy but since she can rewind time if I remember correctly then she will be the most difficult opponent. I will come up with a solution that I promise.

The only I got was if she used her power make it were she goes to pocket realm or dimension. And she would be stock in a time loop but the man question is how far back can she go because if she really sees the Mc as a threat then Yesenia can go back to the beginning and frame you for stuff you didn’t do.

This right here is difficult but my brain my come with a solution. This has in a way given me something to do when I just need a break from the real world

Oh also

Bear hug 🤗

Hi anon I do hope all is well with you! 🤗 hug!

I was hesitant about whether or not I should add that OP power to the pc character stats page but just for you I've decided that I would add this ability. I'll allow the character to have the ability to create their own dimension. Then again 😏 god I want to spill all the juicy details but I can't.

And you do have a point! This is why she's an undying cockroach. In the past when Lady Anaya saved the crown, Yesenia deliberately went back in time, schemed against the OH just to switch places with her that faithful day. Just so she could get all the fame and merit that came with that tragedy. The poor OH has been living in her shadows for years. An excellent child turned into a waste under her own sisters hand.

The worst thing is that, if it weren't for the OH mother, Yesenia's mother would still be a whore in a brothel. But ones ungratefulness knows no bounds!

Don't feel discouraged anon! I believe that you'll most certainly think of a way to defeat this undying cockroach! Whenever you have another brilliant idea, please do share it with me!

Also anon I do hope you have a wonderful day! Stay safe! 😁

[rweoutofthewoods]

fanfic/fandom ettiquite guide

Okay, I've seen some things recently that make me think there is some need to make a master post of some general fandom and fic ettiquite just because some people may not know and I think there's a huge wave of fanfic becoming more mainstream especially on apps like tiktok.

If you don't like it, don't engage with it!! I think this above all, is the golden rule of fandom. The internet is made for you to be able to mute, hide, and censor things you don't like. DO THAT! don't make a career off of hating things. This goes along with the three laws of fandom, which u should check out FIRST OF ALL.

DON'T GATEKEEP!! If you're posting about a fic, art, ANYTHING link it, credit it! Don't post a tiktok about a fic and then refuse to give the name. Not only are you failing to credit the creators of this content, but you're taking away from the fact that fandom is a COMMUNITY where content is meant for everyone.

Ao3 is an archive. You're going to see things you might not like or even find offensive or uncomfortable. But fanfic is not meant to be censored. Ao3 is made to be unfiltered, people can post anything and everything. Posting fics on other sites simply to shame their content not only brings MORE attention to it, but it's pointless. If you want a website that is censored go to wattpad. And of course, if you don't like it DON'T READ. You can filter your tags and warnings on ao3 so it won't show you that content.

Along those lines LEARN HOW TO USE AO3. There is no algorithm, it is not tiktok. You don't need to censor words in your tags. Your fics are not magically getting pushed out to people. Make sure you're using "person 1/person 2" for romantic relationships and "person 1 & person 2" for non-romantic relationships. Make sure things like non-con and underage are tagged under the warnings. AND AS A READER, know how to filter ships and tags to find the content you want. You can filter by kudos, certain tags, exclude certain relationships or characters etc. USE IT.

Do not create placeholder fics or other "non fics" on ao3. This is against their terms of service. You can (and probably will) be reported, this annoys people endlessly. We don't want to find a fic and open it to see "I haven't written this yet, sorry!" JUST SAVE A DRAFT OR DO IT IN A DOCUMENT? this seems like way to rack up hits, and it comes across as disingenuous, I don't see a real valid reason to make placeholders.

HOW TO WRITE AN ACCEPTABLE COMMENT: long is not important. A simple "loved this!" will make an author happy. DO NOT say any variation of "update pls?" regardless of how nice you think it is. Authors update when they can.I'm not the only author I've seen unhappy with this. JUST WAIT, either it will be updated or it won't, and either way you will live. If you have nothing nice to say about a fic?? MOVE ON. Don't leave a hate comment.

Do not rate or publicly shit on fanfic! A lot of authors know many people, and the chances of that author seeing whatever you're saying about their work is very high. If you don't like it, click off and read something else. If it's still living rent-free in your mind, that sounds like fan behavior to me. And there is no standard fics are supposed to meet, don't rate them.

Don't cross-post fics. Don't put fics on other sites, don't put translation on other sites. DON'T DO ANYTHING with a fic without checking with the author first. On that note, also don't post fics on GoodReads etc. unless an author explicitly says it's okay.

IF YOU DO NOT MARK YOUR BOOKMARKS AS PRIVATE AUTHORS CAN SEE THEM!! If you're going to say anything that isn't positive, you better mark that as private or better yet, move on. Don't say anything on a public bookmark you wouldn't want the author to read.

YOU CANNOT PROFIT OFF OF FANFIC, don't sell bound fics! Don't bind fics if the intention is to sell them. You're potentially creating a lawsuit for the authors of these fics and putting the existence of fanfic in danger. I've seen multiple authors debating taking fics down because of binding issues, just don't do it. AND IF YOU'RE BUYING BOUND FICS YOU'RE PART OF THE PROBLEM. it's selfish and I wish bad karma upon you.

You wouldn't think I'd have to say this but don't plagiarize or use AI to create fics/art etc. firstly making ai write something IS a form of plagiarism. bUT ALSO just write your own content. If you can't, then writing fics etc. is just not for you. No shame about it!

DON'T ASK AUTHORS TO BETA FOR YOU!! You wouldn't believe how many people have asked me to beta their fics for them, I AM NOT A BETA. I HAVE a beta because my proofreading skills are shit. If someone wants to beta they will offer, or go find a blog or somewhere where people are looking to beta. Like @needabeta You can even make a post asking around for a beta, but don't go bug your favorite authors to proofread your fics.

Really just don't harass authors. Of course, don't be afraid to send nice dms, asks, or comments if their inbox is open, but don't spam them especially if they don't reply. Respect boundaries! Don't send nasty anons, everyone knows this is a sign of jealousy and obsession. You're only succeeding in making yourself look bad. Ask yourself why is this author living rent-free in your mind, hm??

If you don't like a ship, stay away from the content geared towards that ship. There's no reason for you to be in people's inbox harassing them over a ship. It's never that deep. If you truly hate it so much, go consume the content for ships you DO like.

Stay grounded. This goes to both fic authors and readers alike. Hits and popularity are not the mark of a good fic. Getting a lot of hits doesn't mean it's good and NOT getting many doesn't mean it's bad. I'm tired of seeing tiktoks asking "so what's the next big fic?" WHY DOES IT HAVE TO BE A "BIG FIC"? go look through the ao3 tag and find something you like to read, it doesn't have to be what everyone else is reading.

Headcanons are not law. People can think whatever they want about the characters. If you disagree with someone's hc, just move on... and just because a headcanon is popular, doesn't mean everyone has to abide by it. Be creative!

Don't treat artists and authors like celebs! We're all in this together! We're all losers who like the same characters and ships. Of course, compliment and be kind to all creators because we put a lot of time and effort into creating fan content for you all, but don't worship anyone. Don't treat them weirdly or make a post like "omg x followed me!" that's a bit weird. If you want to be excited, dm your friends and giggle together, but acting like authors and artists etc. are celebs only creates the room for people to stop seeing them as normal people and start acting rude or entitled. And many people are uncomfortable with it!!

TLDR; stop creating so much negativity in fandom spaces. At least in MY fandom it's just constantly shitting on ships, fics, art. It's hate anons, antis, and constant fighting about every headcanon. I'M TIRED OF IT! Learn to filter out content you don't want to see, and move on with your life instead of spreading more negativity.

If you have anything you think I should add shoot me a comment or an ask and I will add it! I'm sure I didn't get everything :) this mostly applies to my own experience being in the hp/marauders fandom for a good 10+ years, and I'm sure it varies slightly from fandom to fandom.

[aronarchy]

Why we don’t like it when children hit us back

To all the children who have ever been told to “respect” someone that hated them.

March 21, 2023

Even those of us that are disturbed by the thought of how widespread corporal punishment still is in all ranks of society are uncomfortable at the idea of a child defending themself using violence against their oppressors and abusers. A child who hits back proves that the adults “were right all along,” that their violence was justified. Even as they would cheer an adult victim for defending themself fiercely.

Even those “child rights advocates” imagine the right child victim as one who takes it without ever stopping to love “its” owners. Tear-stained and afraid, the child is too innocent to be hit in a guilt-free manner. No one likes to imagine the Brat as Victim—the child who does, according to adultist logic, deserve being hit, because they follow their desires, because they walk the world with their head high, because they talk back, because they are loud, because they are unapologetically here, and resistant to being cast in the role of guest of a world that is just not made for them.

If we are against corporal punishment, the brat is our gotcha, the proof that it is actually not that much of an injustice. The brat unsettles us, so much that the “bad seed” is a stock character in horror, a genre that is much permeated by the adult gaze (defined as “the way children are viewed, represented and portrayed by adults; and finally society’s conception of children and the way this is perpetuated within institutions, and inherent in all interactions with children”), where the adult fear for the subversion of the structures that keep children under control is very much represented.

It might be very well true that the Brat has something unnatural and sinister about them in this world, as they are at constant war with everything that has ever been created, since everything that has been created has been built with the purpose of subjugating them. This is why it feels unnatural to watch a child hitting back instead of cowering. We feel like it’s not right. We feel like history is staring back at us, and all the horror we felt at any rebel and wayward child who has ever lived, we are feeling right now for that reject of the construct of “childhood innocence.” The child who hits back is at such clash with our construction of childhood because we defined violence in all of its forms as the province of the adult, especially the adult in authority.

The adult has an explicit sanction by the state to do violence to the child, while the child has both a social and legal prohibition to even think of defending themself with their fists. Legislation such as “parent-child tort immunity” makes this clear. The adult’s designed place is as the one who hits, and has a right and even an encouragement to do so, the one who acts, as the person. The child’s designed place is as the one who gets hit, and has an obligation to accept that, as the one who suffers acts, as the object. When a child forcibly breaks out of their place, they are reversing the supposed “natural order” in a radical way.

This is why, for the youth liberationist, there should be nothing more beautiful to witness that the child who snaps. We have an unique horror for parricide, and a terrible indifference at the 450 children murdered every year by their parents in just the USA, without even mentioning all the indirect suicides caused by parental abuse. As a Psychology Today article about so-called “parricide” puts it:

Unlike adults who kill their parents, teenagers become parricide offenders when conditions in the home are intolerable but their alternatives are limited. Unlike adults, kids cannot simply leave. The law has made it a crime for young people to run away. Juveniles who commit parricide usually do consider running away, but many do not know any place where they can seek refuge. Those who do run are generally picked up and returned home, or go back on their own: Surviving on the streets is hardly a realistic alternative for youths with meager financial resources, limited education, and few skills.

By far, the severely abused child is the most frequently encountered type of offender. According to Paul Mones, a Los Angeles attorney who specializes in defending adolescent parricide offenders, more than 90 percent have been abused by their parents. In-depth portraits of such youths have frequently shown that they killed because they could no longer tolerate conditions at home. These children were psychologically abused by one or both parents and often suffered physical, sexual, and verbal abuse as well—and witnessed it given to others in the household. They did not typically have histories of severe mental illness or of serious and extensive delinquent behavior. They were not criminally sophisticated. For them, the killings represented an act of desperation—the only way out of a family situation they could no longer endure.

- Heide, Why Kids Kill Parents, 1992.

Despite these being the most frequent conditions of “parricide,” it still brings unique disgust to think about it for most people. The sympathy extended to murdering parents is never extended even to the most desperate child, who chose to kill to not be killed. They chose to stop enduring silently, and that was their greatest crime; that is the crime of the child who hits back. Hell, children aren’t even supposed to talk back. They are not supposed to be anything but grateful for the miserable pieces of space that adults carve out in a world hostile to children for them to live following adult rules. It isn’t rare for children to notice the adult monopoly on violence and force when they interact with figures like teachers, and the way they use words like “respect.” In fact, this social dynamic has been noticed quite often:

Sometimes people use “respect” to mean “treating someone like a person” and sometimes they use “respect” to mean “treating someone like an authority” and sometimes people who are used to being treated like an authority say “if you won’t respect me I won’t respect you” and they mean “if you won’t treat me like an authority I won’t treat you like a person” and they think they’re being fair but they aren’t, and it’s not okay.

(https://soycrates.tumblr.com/post/115633137923/stimmyabby-sometimes-people-use-respect-to-mean)

But it has received almost no condemnation in the public eye. No voices have raised to contrast the adult monopoly on violence towards child bodies and child minds. No voices have raised to praise the child who hits back. Because they do deserve praise. Because the child who sets their foot down and says this belongs to me, even when it’s something like their own body that they are claiming, is committing one of the most serious crimes against adult society, who wants them dispossessed.

Sources:

“The Adult Gaze: a tool of control and oppression,” https://livingwithoutschool.com/2021/07/29/the-adult-gaze-a-tool-of-control-and-oppression

“Filicide,” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Filicide

[shesjustanothergeek]

His Love

|Aegon II Targaryen x Fem!Reader|

Part One

Master List of Series

Summary: Being a bastard born in the slums of Flea Bottom was all you were known for. Not the streak of white you had in your dark hair, the violet ring around your pupils, or how your sharp tongue and skills with the blade resembled your father, Daemon Targaryen. You were just a bastard, nothing more, but to him, to Aegon Targaryen, you were everything. You were his love.

Author's Note: This is based on the depiction of Aegon in HBO's House of The Dragon and not the books, though I do change some details about his character here and there. I fully recognize that he is a horrible person in the show, especially, but it still makes me want to fuck him just as badly. Please give me hate for this, so I know what to add to the story to piss you Aegon haters off. Toodles!

Chapter Warnings: Graphic depictions of childbirth and complications, death, reference to sexual assault, Aegon speaking inappropriately to a minor.

Screams echoed throughout the dark streets of Flea Bottom, the sound emanating from one of the many brothels that occupied the townspeople and even certain royals. The usual moans the whores had listened to were gone, replaced with their encouraging words and the shallow pants of a woman in labor. The establishment was closed for the night, which was unusual. They were always open, even on holidays that were supposed to be observed in silence, but this, they believed, was far more important.

One of the fellow women was giving birth to the firstborn daughter of Daemon Targaryen, a bastard.

"Push Elaina! Push!" the Madam commanded, holding her sweating hand.

The whispers of the other girls were the only thing Elaina Black could hear, even over the pound of blood through her ears. She had taken all the proper precautions to avoid this, but it seemed the Gods had other plans for her. Elaina had been the private whore of Daemon Targaryen, reserved only for his cock. Typically, the Madam would refuse such a demand, but he was a prince, and only the best were given to the Highborn.

"I can't," she whimpered, tears streaming down her temples. Unable to hold herself up, she lay on her bed, legs held open by her fellow girls. It had been hours, and the babe had not breached the canal. She was exhausted, sweat coated all her limbs, and she had given up on the birthing chair.

"You must!" A young girl to her side whispered, dabbing her forehead with a cool, damp cloth.

"The babe is stuck," the Madam said, her gruff voice turning into a soft, worried sound. Her callused hand rubbed her stomach.

"I-I need something, anything, for the pain," Elaina cried, her whole body feeling like she was lying in a bed of flames.

"I am sorry, sister, but it might harm the child," a girl holding her leg spoke. Elaina grunted, baring down and pushing with all her might with a scream. She felt as if her eyes were going to pop out of her head with force.

"Yes!" The Madam shouted. "Yes! Yes! Keep going, Elaina! It is moving!"

"Oh Gods," she groaned, attempting to roll on her side, but was held down.

The Madam had a bright smile as she stuck her hands inside Elaina's canal, feeling the soft hair of the newborn as it slid forward. She could feel the child's head moving against her pelvis, creating an indescribable pain. A few more contractions and the babe would be free.

Elaina tossed and turned, gripping the stained sheets and nearly ripping them in half as a soft tuft of brown hair appeared. She screamed, her back lifting as she bared down, knowing that would be the last push.

A searing pain surged through her body from her core, traveling up her spine. She felt like she was being ripped open, all her insides tearing apart and coming out with the babe.

"Good. Good," the Madam soothed, the cry of a newborn echoing in the room. "You may rest now, Elaina."

And Elaina tried, she did, but the contractions did not stop. She kept pushing and pushing. The sighs of relief all the whores let out were all that could be heard. They left Elaina to tend to the babe, ignoring her raspy breaths. Though they were still in the room, she felt so alone and helpless, lying there with her legs spread open. She assumed her body kept pushing for the afterbirth, which was something to be expected, but she didn't think it would happen so soon. She felt her body pop like a plug pulled from a drain, which she assumed was the placenta exiting her body. She finally relaxed, her body exhaling all her pain and tension.

"May I see them?" Elaina asked softly, barely containing any energy.

The women finally turned to Elaina, and the newborn swaddled in one of their arms. Their faces all paled, the Madam passing the child to another girl as she ran to her parted legs.

"Wh-what is the matter?" Elaina looked down, seeing a pool of blood between her thighs. She sat up, finally gaining the strength to move before someone could push her down as she saw her organs.

She nearly fainted in shock but willed her eyes to stay open. She could not be done until she held her child.

"My baby," she whispered, but nobody listened, everyone panicking as they tried to get Elaina's internal organs back inside. "My child," she shouted, finally finding her voice. "Give me my child."

The young girl holding the still crying babe looked to the Madam, asking permission. She nodded, hands wrist deep into Elaina's heat.

Finally, she got to hold her child, numb to the poking and prodding of people's hands inside her. She wrapped her arms around the small bundle, the child as if knowing they were in their mother's arms instantly calmed. Elaina shifted the blankets to see the babes sex, smiling to herself.

"A girl," her trembling voice whispered, covering her daughter back up and whispering her name. "My beautiful girl."

She rubbed the soft lanugo hair on her head, noticing a small block of skin lighter than the rest of her scalp, white hair growing from it. The newborn closed her eyes at her mom's soft stroking, a yawn escaping her tiny mouth, smacking her gums. She knew that her daughter would have a piece of her father with her, even if she never knew him. Elaina had never felt such love for another being in her life. How could such a small thing make her feel this way?

She was oblivious to the panicky talking of the Madam and other girls, a few entering and exiting the room with different supplies. All that mattered in the world right now was her daughter in her arms, her eyes slowly opening as she stopped stroking her head. Rings of violet wrapped around her pupils, almost sparkling in the candlelight.

Suddenly, the babe was removed from her arms, and Elaina shouted, attempting to jump out of the sweat and blood-soaked sheets, but was shoved down by four women. Her daughter's cries mirrored her mother's, wanting to be in her warm embrace again.

"Where," Elaina's breath caught in her throat, realizing how exhausted she was, "where are you taking her?"

"Elaina, calm yourself." She ignored the girl's words demanding her to hold still.

"Give me my baby! Give me back, my child," she screamed, but no one listened, holding her down with all their strength.

"I need to stitch you up, Elaina! The babe tore you down to your arse!" The Madam shouted, getting frustrated with her violent squirming.

"I do not care! Give me back my child!"

"Restrain her."

"We are trying, Madam," the four girls responded as Elaina managed to free a leg and kick one of them in the face.

"Get her Milk of the Poppy, now."

It was only mere moments before a whore came in with a small glass bottle, asking another girl to help her open her mouth as she poured the liquid. Slowly, Elaina began to calm, her thrashing coming to a halt as her mind left the realm. Her child still wailed its deafening cries, never ceasing even as her mother settled.

"There, there little one," the girl who had taken her cooed. "It's alright. Your mama will make it out alright. I am sure of it." The babe continued to cry, almost as if she could sense her lies.

"Lyra, shut her up or leave the room," the Madam said, her voice returning to her routine. Lyra chose the latter, closing the door quietly behind her as she rocked the newborn in her arms.

The infection took Elaina Black in three days' time. Even though they managed to stitch her together, her insides still kept coming out. It was as if her body refused to heal without her daughter's presence. The Madam refused to let the child see her dying mother for fear that she would somehow make her sick, but she could not handle seeing her in that state. She felt like a failure. Letting one of her whores get pregnant in the first place was shameful enough, but her dying from said pregnancy under her care was terrible. She was supposed to take care of her girls, and she failed.

It was early in the morning, a week after Elaina's death, and all the brothel women were confused about why the Madam decided to call a meeting instead of letting them sleep. They all gathered around in the small room they designated for meals, waiting for Madam to address them finally. She was babbling to the bundle in her arms, letting her play with the finger she was swirling over in her face.

"I called you all here today because word has gotten to me. Rumors that some of you have broken our unspoken agreement to keep the child safe," she spoke, her eyes never leaving the babe.

"Madam," Lyra spoke up before anyone else could dig them a deeper grave. "We would never put the child at risk. Whatever whispers you have heard are false."

Madam hummed in response, finally looking at the frightened girls. "You all know her parentage and why she should be kept out of your mouths, and yet," she paused, looking at every one of their faces, "someone has spoken, and word has made it to the Red Keep." They gasped, knowing what this could mean for them and their business.

"The child is my concern, and I want no word of her to anyone. Do you understand?" The sternness in her voice was enough to make even the strongest of men falter. "Or I will have you all kicked to the streets."

They all nodded without protest, knowing that she would follow those threats. Madam took a breath, turning around to dismiss them as she kissed the babes forehead wordlessly, her purple-lined iris' glinting up at her. She knew she wouldn't be able to hide her from the royal family forever, but she would try. She'd be damned if she failed you too.

Several Years Later...

You giggled as you ran along the Streets of Silk, a mischievous grin plastered on your face as you dropped a few apples from your tiny arms. A few City Watchmen chased after you, and their shouts for you to halt fell deaf on your ears. You weaved your way through the crowds of people like a snake in the grass while the guardsmen ran through them like bulls, bumping into almost everyone they saw.

It was easy for you to get away, slinking down an alley and hiding behind a corner in your dark cloak. You turned, making sure the men ran past before you stepped out of the shadows, putting the rest of the apples into your brown satchel but leaving one out to eat. You took a bite, smiling triumphantly that you had gotten away with your crime as you skipped back to your home in Flea Bottom.

You had just reached the back entrance of the brothel you called home, always listening to what Madam said as it burst open, revealing an incredibly drunk patron as you fell to the dirty sandstone, the cloak of your hood dropping.

"Ouch," you cried, rubbing the back of your head from where it hit the ground. All the apples roll from your bag.

You looked up at the man, only to realize it wasn't. It was a young boy, barely looking at the age of ten and three, with a leather patch over his left eye and tears in the other. He, too, had a cloak of his own, now pushed back and revealing hair as white as snow. It took you a moment to comprehend what that meant, a young boy with hair like that, but then you realized, quickly scrambling up into a clumsy bow.

"Your grace, I-I did not mean to-"

A hard shove knocked you back to the ground, but this time you caught yourself staring at him with an angry look. You knew you couldn't do anything to him, he was royalty, but that did not stop you from trying.

"Get away from me whore. I have had enough of you." The prince rubbed his tear-stained cheeks with his sleeve as you attempted to get up again, but he pushed you back down, stepping on your hand as he ran away.

It was your turn to cry now, the pain and anger mixing as you whimpered, clutching your hand to your chest. What had you done to offend him so dearly? It was his fault he ran into you. Maybe he could have seen you if he wasn't such a baby. You did nothing wrong. You had half a mind to chase after him for hurting you the way he did as you got up, debating if you could catch up to him in time. You probably could. He was a selfish, pampered palace ass, not a street rat like you.

"A bit young to be whoring yourself out, aren't you? But I suppose it never hurts to start young." A tall but stocky man stood in the door frame, eyes roaming your body. He had the same white hair as the boy from before, only shorter and curly and reeking of sweat. You stepped back, trying your best not to scrunch your nose up in disgust at his smell.

"I am not a whore," you spat, putting your hands on your hips. He crossed his legs, still leaning in the doorway as he observed you, an almost calculating look on his face.

"Ah, my apologies then, dear maiden. I only meant whore in training," he said with a smirk. You scoffed, fixing your pouch as you knelt to pick up the red apples on the ground.

"Hardly. I do not whore myself, nor will I ever."

"A pity," he said, crouching down to be level with you, "for I would love to see your body once fully grown."

You grabbed the last apple, ignoring his comment and putting it in your bag as he placed his hand over yours, staring into your eyes. You grew uncomfortable at his unwavering gaze, heat rising to your cheeks as he ran his fingers through your white strand of hair, comparing it to your eyes. If you weren't any brighter, it would seem like he was about to kiss you. He hummed to himself as if he was inspecting a relic he did not understand.

Your name being called sharply moved your gaze from his, standing up as you shoved the apple back into your satchel. The prince stood up, his knees cracking as a part of his tunic moved, showing an indentation of teeth in his skin, and suddenly you remembered why he was here in the first place.

"I am coming, Ma." You brushed around the stranger, his fingers ghosting your arm, sending gooseflesh throughout your body. "I brought us some apples," you offered in peace as she clutched you to her bosom, hiding your face from his.

"Thank you for your patronage, my prince. I hope on your way home, you and your brother offer the upmost discretion of your time here." She stroked your soft hair as you peeked, catching his eyes for just a moment before Madam pulled you closer. "After all, it was a joyous celebration of Prince Aemond becoming a man, and special memories like these are best kept close to the heart." You knew she was trying to protect you, as she did with any man or woman you met on accident, but this time she spoke in riddles.

A thick air of uncertainty hung between them before he responded. "Of course, Babette, I would not dream of soiling such a memory with loose lips," he replied, walking away with a curious expression. "Though," he said, causing Ma to tighten her grip on you, "I must admit, your daughter has the most beautiful eyes I have ever seen." She nearly suffocated you now, shoving your face in between her breasts. "The hint of violet in them, oh, how exquisite. They remind me of my own," he turned to her with a devilish grin, "or perhaps someone else who has frequented this brothel, my Uncle, maybe?"

You weren't ignorant to his words, you knew what he was implying, but you did not have any of the same features of Daemon Targaryan. You did not have the same silver hair as him, nor the purple irises he has. You would hardly call yourself related.

"Thank you, Prince Aegon. To have my daughter be compared to the likes of royalty is the highest compliment of them all." Ma bowed her head stiffly. "Now, if you will excuse me, I have a business to run."

Before he could utter another word, Madam shut the wooden door, locking it with the keys she always kept on her swaying hip. She released you, crushing your small frame with her large one.

"Oh, I love you, little one," she let go before smacking you on the side of your head. How many times were you going to get hit today? You didn't want to know. "Don't you ever talk to a stranger again, or else I will have to send Lyra to be your chaperone." You tried to squirm from her firm grip, but she tugged you closer.

"Ma, I cannot breathe," you complained. She laughed, nuzzling her face into your neck.

"If you can speak, you can breathe," she said plainly, waiting a moment before letting you go. "Now, what did you say about some apples?" You smiled, showing her the bag as she took it off your shoulder. "How did you get all of these? I did not give you that much coin."

You giggled, looking away as you tossed the money she lent you. "I am very good at haggling, Madam." She sighed, knowing you must have stolen them, as she pulled you into another hug, kissing the top of your head.

"Oh, my sweet girl, whatever shall I do with you," she jested. Half scolding and half praising that you managed to get a dozen apples on your own without getting caught.

You ignored the loud moans and squeaking beds from the rooms above, going to the cramped kitchen. You stood next to Madam as she began peeling the skin off the apples, handing you a knife to do one. Ma had made you gather some ingredients throughout the week, but she did not tell you what she was planning. She knew how much you loved this dish.

It was your mother's favorite, too, so she should have known. Madam did not make it much for her, though, as she was just one of her many whores that came and went. She did not care for Elaina until she realized the prince had taken a liking to her. He had brought in most of the brothel revenue at the time, and when Elaina fell pregnant, she was angry. Any appreciation Madam had towards her was gone. She thought Elaina's stupidity would surely bring her to ruins under the realization that she would have to refuse prince Daemon now in fear of the bastard child's life, but the Gods seemed to favor her when another prince decided to frequent the halls. He made up for any loss in profits.

Madam did not want to lose you; she had grown quite fond of you over the years and knew the girls under her care did too. She didn't want to turn Aegon away, for that was a risk she could not take, but your safety came first. She would have to be more thoughtful about this. Madam would need to pull some strings and ask some favors of people to make sure you were either hidden or not here when he came. That was the only way you could remain safe.

"Ma, will I be a whore when I am grown?" Your question nearly caused her to faint, shocked something like that would even be on your barely-of-age mind.

"No, sweet thing, you will not," she answered curtly, cutting off a big chunk of fruit instead of a peel. You paused your actions, pursing your lips in thought before asking another question.

"What will I be then? Like you?" Madam sighed through her nose, putting the apple down on the cutting board.

"If you want, yes." She placed her hands on her wide hips. What had Aegon said to you? "Why do you ask, sweet one?"

You mirrored your caretaker's actions but didn't reach her eyes. "I-I do not know, Ma. It was just a silly thought. It does not matter." She could see you recoiling within yourself, hugging your young body. Her urge to comfort you overpowered any worry she had as she softened her posture and voice.

"It is not silly for you to have thoughts. Do not ever let anyone say that to you. Everything you think or feel is valid." You furrowed your brows at her, confused at where this sudden sentiment came from. "But do not worry yourself with thoughts of the distant future; you still have the breasts of a toddler." Madam pinched your slowly stretching skin as you yelped and swatted her hand away, chastising your guardian. "Now, go to the cellar and fetch me the items you got at the market this week." Your face brightened at finally knowing what Ma was going to make you.

"Apple Muse! Oh, Ma, I love you so much," you squealed, wrapping your arms around her in a bone-crushing hug before running down a hatch. Madam smiled, though it did not reach her eyes. For now, she was worried about the thought of your future. 

I know, I know— such a boring chapter. No smut, which is crazy for me, but don't worry, it'll get nasty eventually. On that, I can promise you. ;)

Master List of Series

[no-where-new-hero]

omg I need your thoughts on the terminally o line author culture bc ngl it makes my eye TWITCH, there are authors I deliberately avoid even tho I've heard their stuff is good bc they're like that 🙈

HHHHH oh good lord, okay, from how I see it, there are two angles on this, both aggravating and sad: the official decree one and the spontaneous ecosystem one.

The officious one is that the nature of publishing nowadays demands an author have an online presence. You need Twitter/X. You need to let every potential reader know your book is coming out. You need engagement through reviews and pre-orders incentives (if you buy now you’ll get a special keychain!!) and word of mouth assurances from your peers that yes your book is as cool as you say it is. You need a newsletter with links (more buying! more voting on lists that are simply popularity contests!) and promises you’re still working on the next thing, don’t forget about me in the morass of everyone else doing the same thing. You need an Instagram and TikTok now to post pretty pictures and videos because one or two authors made it big off this kind of promotion and now everyone thinks it’s the ticket to the bestseller list (sadly, it seems to be working). You need an OnlyFans (a joke but I do recall a twt spat that was a joke/not joke about how rupi kaur will always be more beautiful than her critics and people who took issue with the conflation of beauty with talent). At the end of all this, you’re basically an influencer, a content creator creating content for the content you should be focusing on creating, the finished novel. And the novel itself seems to be disappearing behind the masks used to promote it (fanfic-style tropes, moodboards, playlists, memes) until I now no longer trust the book that I’ll pick up to have any resemblance to the enticements that brought me here. I’ve seen an author or two complain about the stress all this self-promotion generates, but it’s become such an entrenched part of the industry, I think people just accept it. And thus spend too much time online hoping that if they tweet just a little more, produce just one more reel, maybe that’ll be the difference between a sale and no sale.

The other side of this, distinct but obviously connected, is the ecosystem created by this panic of being perpetually visible coupled with the fact that so many of the new authors came of age during the rise of internet fandom culture. That opinionated community mindset that blurs the line between anonymity and friendship is the lens they bring to their own work. I mean, it makes sense I suppose—if you love yelling about characters and words, why wouldn’t you do that once you start to produce your own? This really came home to me hearing about that reviewbombgate “scandal” and how people involved were in reylo circles and that was used to provide receipts. You’re interacting with your readers and peers about your intimate work but they are also all strangers. They will not always give you the benefit of the doubt, and now—as opposed to the past when maybe the worst that could happen was a handful of bad reviews in newspapers—you will either be tagged in hate reviews, sub-tweeted, explicitly called out, demanded to atone for your sins. It’s no longer the morality of consumption but the morality of production. Of course, the easy answer is just log-off, touch some grass. But that can work only when you and everyone else are separated by anonymous accounts or when you have no platform to maintain. As an author trying to make your livelihood from this, suddenly it’s do or die. We’re in a strange moment of authorship bringing the Internet’s echo-chamber and claustrophobic into the real world (this is a lie: publishing now is no longer the real world. But it looks like it) and thus you can kind of no longer escape things.

Will the average reader who isn’t aware of all these machinations care about reviewbombgate? Would a reader browsing at Target think about the controversies around Lightlark? Very likely not. But the impression I’m getting more and more is that the average reader isn’t the one buying all the books. Or shall we say—a bestseller’s status relies on bookstore stock. Bookstore stock is only huge when they know a book will be a good investment. They’ll only know a book is a good investment if it and its author has street cred based on booktokkers, bookstagram, bloggers and reviewers (have you noticed how many books out these last maybe 1-3 years have these kinds of accounts thanked in the acknowledgments? Yeah), and THESE are also chronically online people who will Know. And decide the cast of fate.

Honestly, @batrachised, I see why you avoid these kinds of writers, though I wonder how long it’ll be before the disease becomes epidemic.

[bliss-in-the-void]

Gege Akutami, You Do Not Understand Gojo Satoru, and Here is Why

I was reading this article to help me cope with the traumatic events of Chapter 236 when a certain portion didn’t sit right with me.

Long post, click to read the full analysis:

(this is probably the most important post I've made so far)

Now, we all know that Gege doesn’t like Gojo. They don’t make it a secret in the slightest. Which is fine in itself, as an author you are 100% within your right to hate a character you created, and I respect that—it gives dimension to the dynamic of a story.

What I don’t care for is the reasons Akutami lists for their dislike of Gojo.

Reason #1 as stated in the above blurb of the article: Gojo doesn’t have depth.

To me, this is a wild statement to make as an author, but especially as the one who wrote Gojo. Where does he lack depth? Genuine question.

I believe he is an incredibly complex character.

He is the first sorcerer in centuries to be born with the Six Eyes and Limitless techniques, which automatically sets up so many nuances. Coupled with the fact that Akutami has stated that he grew up spoiled, that right there should tell you some things about why he is the way he is. He has a bit of an inflated ego when it comes to his powers. And why wouldn’t he? From the time he was born, the people around him treated him like some sort of God. How else was he supposed to grow up? He’s told his whole life he possesses unparalleled power, and he’s going to believe that.

Even still, it really isn’t as unchecked as Akutami seems to believe it is. Despite his distaste for authority, Gojo still reports to the higher ups, goes on missions, exorcizes curses, and works collaboratively with his fellow sorcerers. If he was really the giant egomaniac Akutami argues that he is, he’d say ‘to hell with authority’ and run off to do whatever he wants like Yuki. I mean, COME ON, this guy is the most powerful modern sorcerer and he still attended all four years of high school. He could have easily never attended—who was going to stop him?

He has a peculiar sense of humor that can get inappropriately timed in certain moments, but it’s obvious that it’s a deflection and a coping mechanism for the horrors of a sorcerer’s reality. He doesn’t just joke about death and dying because he doesn’t care. He cares too much and he doesn’t know how to deal with it, so he suppresses and laughs it off. Moments like this are seen after Suguru dies in JJK 0 when he was clearly crying afterward, but had to put on a cheerful facade for Yuuta and the other students.

He is a very good teacher. It’s hard for a naturally gifted prodigy to effectively teach things which come automatically to them, and somehow he finds creative ways to do it. Teaching Yuuji to control cursed energy by using one of Yaga’s dolls and giving him a movie marathon? One of Yuuji’s favorite hobbies? Genius and so considerate for Yuuji. He’d just been thrown into the sorcerer world, learning all these new things, and Gojo decided to introduce a foreign concept to him through something familiar and comfortable to him. That is amazing, and the mark of a very kind, understanding teacher. He’s also really patient with his students. Yes, he gives them tough love sometimes by throwing them into missions, but it really is to make them strong. How else will they grow if they aren’t put under pressure?

His motivation for being a teacher is very selfless. He himself has stated that he isn’t suited to be a teacher, but that he has a dream to raise a generation of strong allies to prevent isolation from occurring like what had happened to Suguru. He felt guilty about growing apart from him, didn’t see the warning signs before he snapped, and regrets not being there for him more. His entire purpose now is dedicated to making sure the new wave of sorcerers have a tightly-knit network so that no one ends up alone and on a dark path like Suguru.

He constantly sticks his neck out for the helpless even when it’s far from his benefit. He paid off the Zenin clan to save Megumi, the child of the man who ruined his high school years and nearly killed him. He then raised him. He threatened the higher ups to keep Yuuta alive, and then did it again for Yuuji. He does this to preserve their youth, because his own was taken away from him. His whole life he’d been controlled by the higher ups and people around him because of who he is in the sorcerer world, so by waving his own status in front of authority to hold them back from his students, he acts as a sort of shield to take as many burdens off of their shoulders as he can so that they can remain carefree. As much as he can within his power.

With all of that being said, I really don’t understand where Akutami is coming from with lack of depth, but another argument I say to that statement is: well, you’re the author, give him the depth you think he’s missing. (Personally, I believe he’s one of the best-written characters in any anime I’ve seen).

Reason #2 is that according to Akutami, he doesn’t have a likable personality.

What about his personality is unlikable?

He is cocky, but not to the point where he stops caring about others, not to the point where he never considers how other people feel or how his actions affect other people, and not to the point where he never feels guilt and remorse about his shortcomings. Like I said, he lives his life trying to prevent his past from repeating itself, to save the fates of others.

I really don’t get it. In JJK 0, after Nitta gives her report on the shopping mall, Gojo thanks her and praises her. Would a cocky asshole do that? No. If you wanted to characterize him as unlikable, you could have made him dismiss her, or ignore her.

He makes pop culture references, he has endearing flaws like not being good at drawing, being a lightweight drinker, and overdoing it on the sweets. He’s funny, he’s kind, he’s considerate…he is a very likable character.

Honestly, the self-absorption he displays when he’s fighting is probably a result of his upbringing. Being told you have so much power you have so much power you have so much power over and over again instills this belief that yes, he’s needed by Jujutsu Society to fight curses as a weapon. As. A. Weapon. The Six Eyes & Limitless user is a formidable weapon, but what about Satoru Gojo, the person? The only time he feels useful is when he’s fighting curses. That’s where he gets his self-worth. We can see that expressed in this panel, from Chapter 236:

In the second half of Gojo’s second text bubble, he says, “でもどこかで人としてというより生き物としての線引きがあったのかな”.

This translates to: “But I wonder if somewhere there was a line drawn between being a creature rather than a person.”

Rather than having drew the line himself, being constantly treated like the strongest, being handed over the difficult missions, being relied on so heavily pushed him away from other people. It distorted the perception everyone had of him, and it distorted the perception he had of himself. He also believed he could never lose because he let his human side fade into the background. The world didn't need human Satoru Gojo, they needed sorcerer Satoru Gojo, the one who could bend rules to his will with his might, the one who could exorcise any curse and save the day no matter how bad things got. Why would he remain human when that part of him was treated as non-existent? The only person who did treat him as a person with weaknesses and flaws has been dead for eleven years. Of course that voice of reason is going to fizzle out.

How can you possibly vilify him for that? It would be a disservice to everything he has had to endure his entire life.

Reason #3 and the last point I want to touch on is when the article says, "Akutami believes that much of this adoration is based solely on his striking appearance, overshadowing his more abrasive personality traits."

Okay. Where to start?

Honestly, and I know this is probably not Akutami's intention, but that comes off as so condescending. It's so presumptuous. It's as if to say we're all going "ooh look at pretty man, pretty man do no wrong because too pretty" mindlessly with dilated pupils and drool coming out of our mouths. Uh. No.

Yes, Satoru is a good-looking character, but no, that is very far from why we like him so much as a character, and it's also very far from why he's so popular. Aside from all of the points I've made above explaining why he's so universally loved, I'll make another one that isn't superficial and tired.

He's so relatable.

This is a man so incredibly traumatized by his high school years that he is mentally and emotionally unable to move on. Suguru Geto was his very best friend, and for reasons he took too long to understand, chose to abandon their friendship for his own goals. For anyone who has grown apart from a best friend, this hits so hard.

Because of his upbringing it was hard to become close to anyone. But somehow, Suguru was able to break past his walls, and for that, he became entirely too dependent on him. This is common for anyone who finds it hard to make friends and get close to others. Once someone is allowed in, you cling so hard to them and imagine them being there for your entire life. So, when they leave, you take it entirely too personally.

Everyone has a right to live their own lives, and as we see with the divergence of Suguru and Satoru, sometimes our paths aren't leading to the same place. It's not personal. But Satoru took it personal, and that's so beautifully human. When you lose a best friend who was important to you, you think "I like being around this person, they put me at ease in a way no one else does", and you assume they feel the same way about you. So when they leave and show you that no, they didn't feel the same, it hurts. It's almost as if they're saying "I actually do think you're unlovable like everyone else, that's why no one likes you, you are too much."

Someone you thought was safe, isn't anymore.

That is such a relatable thing to watch a character go through! Especially someone as awe-inspiring and charismatic as Gojo! As an audience, we think, "he's just like me!" and we like him for it.

So, as I stated in the title, Gege Akutami, you don't understand Satoru Gojo at all. I commend you for writing such an amazing, iconic, universally loved character, but I will never understand nor respect the superficial way in which you perceive him.

[steddieunderdogfics]

This week’s writer spotlight feature is:  Penny00Dreadful! @penny00dreadful has 29 fics in the Stranger Things fandom with 25 of them being in the Steddie Tag!

@hbyrde36 recommends the following works by @penny00dreadful:

Crossroads

Cat and Mouse

I'll Tell You My Sins and You Can Sharpen Your Knife

And They Were Roommates!

The Parting Glass

Sam, on top of being an absolutely amazing writer (AND artist!), is one of the brightest lights in this fandom (in my humble opinion). She is incredibly kind and encouraging, always ready to uplift other authors in the Steddie and ST fanfic worlds. I have had the incredible pleasure of being her beta reader for quite some time now, and am consistently blown away by her talent. There isn't a single one of her works that I wouldn't recommend, they are all fantastic reads. -- @hbyrde36

Below the cut, @penny00dreadful answered some questions about their writing process and some of their recommended work!

Why do you write Steddie?

Opposites attract has always been a major draw for me, especially in my fandoms. Every pairing I’ve ever gotten into in every fandom I’ve been in have all been opposites attract and I’m not going to lie to you, I did not make that realization until this question. 😅 I had a very “Huh… that tracks” moment about it. 🤣 So the opposites attract factor is definitely big for me and while I suppose you could say that’s true for many, many pairings in fandom, there’s something about the complete opposite of both Steve and Eddie that is just enrapturing. From their aesthetic, to their personalities, to their upbringing, it creates such incredibly interesting parallels and options for building stories around them. On top of that, the two of them are so compelling as characters. Their various hang ups and traumas, their loves and hates, the time period and the genre of work they originated in all coalesce into something so captivating. I adore the two of them so much, they’re so fascinating. I think everyone can find a little bit of themselves in either one of them, but especially with the addition of Eddie into the series we got a character who was ‘other’, in the same way so many of us feel and are seen, he speaks to us on such a personal level. So, yeah. I love them.

What’s your favorite trope to READ?

Oh boy. There are so many. Enemies to lovers, hurt/comfort, fluff. But if I had to pick one that has been my longest standing love, it would have to be a slow burn. Like, when it hits, it hits. And it hits hard.

What’s your favorite trope to WRITE?

I looooove writing some tasty hurt/comfort. There’s just something so addictive about someone needing to be taken care of after something bad or traumatic happens or they’ve just had a really shitty day. It’s so cathartic. And also, I cannot like, I love getting comments screaming at me that I’ve made people hurt or cry or feel things because I know I’m going to make it better, I’m gonna give them that comfort. And it’s such an incredible compliment from people when they tell me that my writing has made them feel feelings. Like it is the highest praise possible that I could induce that in someone. It feels amazing.

What’s your favorite Steddie fic?

Oh my god, that is such a difficult question to answer. I have read so many that have left a permanent mark on my heart or completely rewired my brain. I had to go look through my bookmarks to narrow it down because my god, there are so many talented people in this fandom and even then I was attempted to just give a list of all my top ones because, god they make me feel so many things, people are so fucking talented, I love them. But I would say if I had to choose one, there’s one that lives rent free in my brain. I think of it all the time, it is so god damn special to me and if I’m being honest with myself, it’s the first one that came to mind, It would have to be wouldn’t it be nice (if we could wake up) by kissesforcas  kissesforcas I have talked about this fic on my blog before but it just hits me in the right way every time I read it, it’s absolutely magical. I can’t recommend it enough, please go read it. It changed me completely.  There’s so many beautiful moments in it, the two boys are so protective of each other in it, but they also adore their found family and will defend them at any cost, the two of them feel real, their communication feels genuine and honest and realistic while also being true to their characters, I just adore it.

Is there a trope you’re excited to explore in a future work but haven’t yet?

YES. FANTASY. It is wild to me that I have not done a fully fledged fantasy AU at all yet. Like I adore fantasy, what gives? Why have I not done it yet? Omg ALSO, historical. Like a lot of my special interests are historical based, WHY have I not done that yet?? AND, AND horror maybe? Like a psychological or zombie or paranormal/supernatural or slasher. So many things I haven’t explored that I want to do, and I can’t wait!

What is your writing process like?

Okay, so first things first, I get an idea.  Kind of obvious, I know, but yeah, the idea stage. Usually it’ll be something that hit out of nowhere, I’ll write down one line in the ideas doc and then pretend I won’t be thinking of it for the rest of the day. Then when I admit to myself I want to expand on it, I’ll take all of the brain worms attached to that idea and put them in their own doc. It’ll all be VERY disjointed at this stage, just a stream of consciousness of different situations/conversations/plot bunnies that popped into my head. Once I feel like I have enough of a concept through that, I begin to put them in order, maybe add a few more. Then I outline. I’m an outline kinda gal.  Over a page or two I’ll give a bare bones outline of what the fic will be, almost like it’s a short story? But still very rough.  Then I’ll start writing, usually in chronological order, I find that makes it easier to plant seeds and foreshadow and create consistency with the voice of the fic. Sometimes I will jump ahead if I’m really excited about a particular part of the fic, I’ll get it out before I lose steam on it. HOWEVER, I find that I almost ALWAYS diverge from the outline. If, as I’m writing, things start going in a different direction, I go with the flow, I don’t fight it. Fighting it, I feel is detrimental to my writing, trying to force myself into a box and hey, going with the flow has been working out pretty well for me so far. 🤣

Do you have any writing quirks?

Quirks? I dunno about that. I think I’m a pretty standard writer, but I do end up writing across three devices a lot of the time depending on where’s more comfortable. PC, tablet and phone. I’ll always stick to writing whatever my brain is focusing on at that time, but if I know I need to get a fic out and I’m not really feeling the inspo anymore, I’ll give myself an extra boost by watching movies with similar themes, listening to music related to it, or even just searching the trope on Pinterest can help me generate excitement about it again.Also do yourself a favor and get yourself a Bluetooth keyboard. It’s a game changer for writing on your phone.

Do you prefer posting when you’ve finished writing or on a schedule?

I’ve done both and I much prefer posting on a set schedule. I always try to get the fic at least 50% finished before I start posting to give myself a nice cushion. Yeah, the immediate endorphin hit of posting once I’m done is great, but I much prefer the option to have a fic mostly or completely done before I post, so I can go back in and tweak things to make a theme hit harder or stick in a tad more foreshadowing or even just to edit.

Which fic are you most proud of?

I love all of my works, honestly. I write for me. I write the things I want to read. I think it would be difficult to narrow down a fic that I am the most proud of. Like I’m actually having a really difficult time picking one and saying “This one. This is the one I am most proud of.” Because I am proud of all of them and it’s for each of their own reasons. Like, some are very, very personal to me, some are stories that made me feel completely unhinged and obsessed(affectionately) and some are stories that touched people in very real ways, or made them feel safe and seen and that is so incredibly special to me. It’s a bit of a cop out to say that I can’t pick one, I can’t choose between my children, but I really can’t, they’re all so special, at least to me, in their own ways.

How did you get the idea for Crossroads?

So I have never seen the movie The Old Guard, but I have heard of it and while I know that reincarnation is not an aspect of that movie, I was struck with the idea of someone going through life over, and over, and over again, just to be close to the one they love the most. Like that kind of time bending devotion. And I had a brain worm of various historical ways of dying and I couldn’t figure out a way to write all of them into one fic before the idea of reincarnation hit. The very first image I had in my head of Eddie dying was being burned at the stake, so I had to work my way up to that time period and beyond. I knew I didn’t want it to be something that had only happened a few times over a couple of hundred years.  I knew I wanted it to be an ancient, centuries spanning kind of devoted love which is what led me to Ancient Greece, and in leading me there, I had to figure out why this was happening. Why Steve was traversing time just to be next to his boy again. Hecate appeared out of the mist and invaded my brain and it all kind of spilled out onto the page after that. 

When writing Cat and Mouse, what was something you didn’t expect?

I gotta be honest, the whole fic was unexpected. 😅 It was one of those stories when I originally thought of it, it was only gonna be a short little thing, maybe one or two chapters. By the end of it we were at 16 chapters and over 70K. Apparently I have no idea how to write anything short. But I think what also took me by surprise was how feral the two of them were for each other even though they didn't actually get together until later. I knew I wanted to have them being snappy and flirtatious for the whole thing and it evolved into the two of them being so dedicated to each other after only meeting a few times. I also didn’t expect the wild reaction I got to the fic, people loved it and were chomping for more and I was floored by it, it made me so incandescently happy!

What inspired Cat and Mouse?

So, the short answer is I saw this post from steddielations and it burrowed so deep into my brain, I had to get it out! Long answer is it was a mix of that post, and then a bit of Mr & Mrs. Smith mixed in along with John Wick. I just loved the idea of two deadly people being so soft for each other they’d be willing to burn the world for each other, do anything at any cost to keep the other safe.

What was your favorite part to write from And They Were Roommates!?

Oh my god, the banter. The banter was loaded with bitching and queerspeak and jabs, it was so much fun. I hadn’t really seen a story where the steddie boys had been bitchy queers before, like leaning into it and I just had to, I had to. It was too good of an opportunity to pass up and I could have gone on for ages just the two of them biting back and forth.

How do/did you feel writing I'll Tell You My Sins and You Can Sharpen Your Knife?

Conflicted, honestly. I was worried the POV I was writing from would be a little too out there, you know? There were a few times throughout writing where I thought I’d have to go back and change it out to be more of a standard fic but at the end of the day it felt so right to have the story told the way it was and it also felt very in line with Take Me To Church as well. It’s also the most poetic piece of writing I have done to date and while it’s not something I can see myself revisiting too often, it was a fantastic exercise in moving out of my comfort zone. It got me, right in the heart.

What was the most difficult part of writing The Parting Glass?

Oh boy. The whole fic was an exercise in catharsis. It was a way of processing my own grief after losing a family member and getting it all out into words was very, very helpful. I think the hardest part was just putting down into words how Eddie was feeling right in the aftermath, you know? Like grief is such a personal thing, everyone experiences it differently, so I wanted to try to figure out how Eddie would respond to it, especially considering it was the death of someone so important to him. So to have him looking around the trailer and it being empty but still with bits of Wayne dotted around like he was about to walk back through the door was probably the realest and most difficult part for me.

Do you have a favorite scene and/or line from any of your fics?

Oh god there’s so many! I could pick so many! But the first thing that came to mind is the small interaction between Eddie and Robin in Return of The King, when Steve is demonstrating his newly acquired vampire strength for the kids and Eddie has to hold onto Robin to keep himself from melting into a puddle: “Down boy.” She muttered. “Me next.” He practically whimpered right back. “Oh god, Robbie, I wanna be that stump. Tell him to do me next.” “You’re pathetic.” “What about it?” [...] Robin leaned in close to his ear but continued to stare at Steve. “If you two don’t calm the fuck down I’m going to get the hose.” Wet Steve. “Please get the hose.” I love Robin and Eddie together whenever I can get them snarking at each other, it’s just so entertaining. 

Do you have any upcoming projects or fics you’d like to share/promote?

Oh yeah! A good few things. I’m coming back from my writing break and I’m going to be working on the final two fics for my anniversary event, Through The Valley and Devotion.  I also have a Summer Exchange Fic in the works along with starting on my Steddie Big Bang piece that I am also signed up for as an artist, I’m so excited to start them!

Outside of these questions, Is there anything YOU would like to add?

I think I would just like to add that this blog, this concept is such a wonderful idea, you’re doing great work here to bring people and fics to new eyes and it has been an honor and a privilege to be put forward the way I have, I’m so so so thankful. 🖤

Thank you to our author, @penny00dreadful, and our nominator, @hbyrde36! See more of Penny00Dreadful's works featured on our page throughout the day!

Writer’s Spotlight is every Wednesday! Want to nominate an author? You can nominate them here!

[ikeuverse]

i saw these hate asks and since i'm a teacher (and some of my friends were attacked in this) i just want to explain a little something.

first of all. INTERPRETATION and the meaning of things.

from the moment write a FANFIC (fan: the name explains itself – and fic: of FICTION) nothing there is real. they are characters. characters means: role played by an actor or actress based on a fictional human figure created by an author. FICTIONAL, you see.

and secondly: if memory serves me right, all the blogs mentioned write obscenity for people over 18. people over 18 who can drink, smoke, have sex because, amazingly, they OWN THEIR NOSES. just like all the writers who are over 18 too.

writing something or even dressing up in this scenario is not wrong, because nothing is outside the law. there's no harassment, no disrespect, no immorality. and besides, all fics usually have warnings for exactly that reason.

if people don't like reading, that's fine. there's a whole world of enhypen stories here to suit all tastes, i swear there'll be a bit of everything if you look. now coming anonymously and attacking people who are here purely for fun is ridiculous, cowardly, clueless!

please, let them commit sins, let them live their lives. the only perfect person in this world (for christians) was Jesus Christ and even then he was crucified. i'm not a christian, but i just wanted to remind you of that.

and guys @yeonzzzn @alvojake @pockettwinzz @ja3yun @paralyzedparadiseonmytongue @emi-en

i know some of you didn't care about that, it was funny. but i just wanted to emphasize that point because it makes me furious that an idiot would take it upon himself to say something negative about people he doesn't even know. about something that's supposed to be fun and enjoyable. so count me in, and don't ever stop writing those sins. 🫶🏻

[agent-calivide]

Time for more John Juniper analysis because I am so normal about this man.

Edit: this was posted on April Fools, below the cut is an analysis of Commander Solaris, not JJ

Commander Solaris fascinates me as a character and I wish she was treated as more than just "fabricator's girlfriend" in the fandom sometimes. I love the ship, let's go sciency lesbians, but Solaris is just. Such chaotic neutral with a fascinating dynamic with Zoraxis and even Zor themselves and I love it.

Firstly, we see that above everything else, she prioritizes a love of science and discovery over all, I'd venture to say that Solaris is actually the most dedicated to specifically her field. While the others have the desire for art or revenge or loyalty to Zoraxis as motivators to their passions, Solaris is just all lasers all the time. That's not to say she won't work on other things, it's implied that she invented the Death Engine all on her own which means she has to know how to create or at least implement the gravity controls and life support systems, but at the end of the day it was all in the name of having a giant fuck off space laser.

She also hates it when things expedite the process in regards to her science. On the Death Engine, before the agent is revealed, you can hear her say "Automatic computer?! Who wouldn't want to do their own computing??" I think Prism and Solaris would actually bump heads about this a lot if they were ever set up to work together, despite the fact that they're both scientists, Solaris really has an almost old-fashioned approach when it comes to her scientific advancements. She shows a disdain for computers doing the heavy lifting and doesn't trust them in regards to cybersecurity, which is shown when the agent opens the crate that holds the station's manual override of the armature outside the shuttle. "Ugh, I knew people wouldn't take z-mail security seriously..."

It's clearly stated on her file that she is not with Zoraxis due to a loyalty to them or some power grab, she is simply with them because they are a means to an end. So long as Zoraxis provides what she needs, she will give them her inventions and help make pieces for death traps in the name of furthering her studies and working without restrictions. Her file says she believes in the "life altering" properties of lasers- though I do wonder if that means changing life while one is living or if it's just able to alter a life to... not alive-

We also see that unlike the others, she doesn't respect Zor as anything more than her employer. When Zor calls her, she's surprised and irritated.

"Doctor Zor... what a- uh... unexpected surprise..."

While she's initially confused, as the conversation goes on she gets angrier.

"That's hardly my problem, is it?.... I'll take care of it I suppose. Understood. I said I understand!"

While she respects that Zor is her employer and she does have to do what they say, she doesn't respect them as an authority to fear. She's short with them, straight up snapping at the doctor by the end of the phone call, which shows that she does not fear Zor in the same way others would. Many people would not lash out at someone known for their ability to get people killed, especially when its shown Zor doesn't give a damn if you're a low level miner or a high ranking doctor.

Solaris just straight up doesn't give a fuck until Zor says something, which could range from "it's your job" to "I'll cut your funding" to "I have a button down here that will kill you with poisoned gas" knowing them. Either way Solaris needed a slight push to try and actually kill the agent.

She's also just all around got this funny, spunky side to her that I wish we saw more of. She has a disdain for orange juice because it's all they can drink on the space station, she approves of the agent doing risky but efficient science with the meat can, when you grab the screw drill thing she is so excited because she initially thinks it's a blaster that she's been trying to get the design approved for, only to be so disappointed when it's not. She’s got a dry as hell sense of humor that relies mostly on sarcasm and will make fun of you if you start to accidentally kill yourself.

Then when we cut to IEYTD 2, while there’s not any dialogue directly from Solaris, we do hear Fabricator’s side of a call between them.

In it, we hear that Solaris is not mad at the agent for nearly killing her, she’s mad that they ruined her work. It also seems Zor’s likely not letting her pursue her passion, as Fabricator mockingly calls out how something isn’t fair, and then pushes Solaris into looking into new projects. That Death Engine was likely a five year labor of love that Phoenix destroyed in ten minutes, and Solaris is pissed. Rightfully so, frankly.

We also see that Solaris and Fabricator disagree to some extent on the purpose of their inventions, Fabricator having a note that calls out how “inelegant” Solaris is. This shows that while Solaris and Fabricator are both heavy hitters for Zor, they have very different motivations for why they make the things they do, Fabricator makes her death traps as a form of art that has to be presentable, Solaris makes them as a means to an end for her laser projects, which are likely crude and functional more than artistically inclined.

This does go to show that while Solaris and Fabricator are willing to confide in one another, they also don’t agree on likely many things. Be it the purpose, the portrayal, or the motivation to their work, they have fundamentally different stances on what they do and why they do it.

I don’t believe Solaris left Zoraxis in some big declaration or out of a sudden spur of empathy, I think Zoraxis just can’t provide what she wants anymore. She did not leave Zoraxis because she hates Zor or feels remorse for killing, Zoraxis just had to go underground so she couldn’t do things like make giant orbital space lasers. It’s very clear her position in Zoraxis is conditional on the terms that she can unabashedly pursue her laser research, and with Zoraxis having to go underground, Zor likely cut her resources.

She wiped her hands just clean enough to ditch someone who wasn’t providing any benefits for her before retiring and trying to drop off the face of the earth and dream on what could have been in the country side.

And if you read this far and are still wondering what the hell this has to do with John Juniper, happy April Fool's :)

[wolf-tail]

Even if Rowling wasn't completely off the holocaust denying deep-end, the way she wrote those wizard books kind of pisses me off now that i'm older because they have so much potential to be better than they actually were.

Like, middle school me was eating that shit up for a reason, you don't become one of the most popular authors in the world who created one of the most well-known pieces of literature in the world off of dumb luck. There were things she did right. Unfortunately , now that i'm older I can see everything she did wrong. And my writer's brain mixed with my ego is telling me that I could make it better.

Implant a heavier theme of the wizarding world's patronizing bullshit and entitlement. Like seriously, the complete unwarranted superiority complex that these chuckle fucks have is obnoxious beyond belief. Even middle school me knew that there was no good reason to keep magic away from the people they made up a slur for. Maybe that should have been the main theme of the books.

Seriously, it ties in so well with the evil wizard supremacy sublot. The solution to systemic discrimination is not to get rid of bigoted people. It's to tear down those systems entirely. The wizarding world seriously needs a status quo shake up.

Revamp the house elves or just cut them out entirely. Just don't fucking justify slavery. IT'S NOT THAT HARD!!!

Maybe this is lefist brain talking but do not make Harry grow up to be a fucking magic cop. In fact, I would have had made the Aurors be unbelievably awful and corrupt, just like a real cops!

Give the characters of color less racist names.

Stop describing your female villains as "mannish"

The greedy goblin banker theme is one of the most disgustingly antisemetic things i've ever had the displeasure of putting up with. What the fuck is wrong with you Joanne!? I would just cut that shit out.

The violent fatphobia grosses me out so much. When I was little I wanted Dudley to get a PROPER redemption arc so bad and not be abused for his weight. In fact , if I were Rowling, I would have added in a sublot about Dudley discovering his own magic to and having to unlearn the shit his parents taught him, as well as deal with their painful rejection of him. That would've been really cool.

Apparently lycanthropy was supposed to be a metaphor for HIV??? Ew, Joanne. No. It's like she never talked to a gay man in her life.

The "love" potions piss me off SO BAD. Voldemort's mother was not in love. She was a rapist. I would change that up entirely.

Snape is not a hero. He was an incel in a hate group. Acknowledge him as such and don't have Harry name his fucking kid after him.

Hey, quick question, why does the school have a blood supremacist house???? Why was this allowed??? Why did she write Slytherin to just be openly discriminatory towards mixed blood kids????

Whatever the dad Weasely's name is, I would have played off his whole "weeb for nonmagical people" thing as more patronizing and accidentally insensitive than endearing. He reminds me of white moms who say konichiwa to the waiter at Chinese restaurants and think they're "cultured".

For the love of god, treat the female characters other than Hermione with an OUNCE of respect.

Now that I know more about animal welfare and the exotic pet industry, Hagrid kinda gets on my nerves. I would add a sublot about him learning to respect the boundaries of wild animals.

I can't think of anything else that ticks me off about the books right now but I will come back to this if I do.

[lazaruswaves]

Mirrors

Narrator: "I hate you."

Timekeeper: "I wonder why."

Narrator: "I thought that you of all, erm...people in this Parable would know."

Timekeeper: "Of course I do, Narrator. I was being sarcastic - hey, wait, isn't that something that you like to be often?"

Narrator: "Well...yes! I enjoy sarcasm quite a bit, actually!"

Timekeeper: "There's your answer."

Narrator: "What on Earth are you talking about?! Not everyone here can understand your cryptic way of speech!"

Timekeeper: "For an author, you don't seem to like critical thinking all that much."

Narrator: "That's besides the point."

Timekeeper: "Okay, then let me hand you the hard truth."

Narrator: "I assure you, it won't be."

Timekeeper: "Maybe you'd figure that out if you'd stop running your mouth."

Narrator: "...Go ahead."

Timekeeper: "You hate me because if you were to spend a day alone with me, it'd be like hanging out with your reflection."

Narrator: "I-...You are never and will never be anything like me!"

Timekeeper: "...You know, I visited Curator a while back."

Narrator: "Oh, dear god. Why would you subject yourself to her?"

Timekeeper: "Do you remember when we had an argument about your "bumpscoscity" nonsense?"

Narrator: "Bumpscoscity is not nonsense!"

Timekeeper: *long sigh* ...Besides that. I came to her in confidence afterwards. And I decided to ask her a few questions, primarily about yourself."

Narrator: "And what exactly did you need to know about me that you don't already?"

Timekeeper: "It's good to collect data."

Narrator: "...Go on, I suppose."

Timekeeper: "I asked her what your purpose was, creating me."

Timekeeper: "She told me that you would never admit it, but my character was a projection of yourself, disguised as someone entirely seperate."

Timekeeper: "That's why we end up in these pointless scuffles so often. You can't stand to look in the mirror."

Narrator: "..."

Timekeeper: "But even despite that, you keep the mirror hung up on your wall and uncovered by a sheet. That mirror was the first thing that you purchased with your own money, and it meant too much to you for you to just shatter it in anger and throw it away when the glass cracked one day."

Timekeeper: "And you keep looking at it, because you know that even if it shows you something you don't want to see, you know it isn't the mirror's fault. It was made for that purpose, and you have to live with that if you want to keep it around." 

Narrator: "...But I love the mirror too much to care."

Timekeeper: "You do. And you don't say it very often, but it can tell by the way you interact with it when no one else is around."

Timekeeper: "The mirror loves you too, by the way."

[horizon-verizon]

The “Catelyn never abused Jon” conversation really goes out the window for me when Jon said SHE MADE HIM FEEL GUILTY FOR EATING. I know most of us are joking when we say he’s dramatic about her but some people really think she was justified in her treatment toward him and um… well, no.

And “GRRM said she didn’t abuse him” yeah I know but GRRM also said Daenerys/Drogo wasn’t rape and men who beat their wives can still be heroes. GRRM is obviously the author who decides what’s canon ie. Catelyn never beat Jon, but he’s not the man who decides what abuse is and the way their way relationship is described is clearly abusive.

*EDITED POST* (1/26/23)

Comes from this reblog.

Yeah, agreed. However, I also believe that the idea some try to push back against is that Catelyn is this one-dimensional abuser, that her mistreatment towards Jon is comes from "out of nowhere", that Catelyn's rationale comes from no other precedent or motive.

I understood Catelyn as a character, she is not like a Cersei, a Tywin, an Illryio Mopatis, etc., and I sympathize to a certain extent bc this society allows men to spread their fluids anywhere (as long as the "cup" isn't too "golden"/the woman they sleep w/is not of higher rank or royal or the relationship somehow is seen as diminishing the person's-slept-with authority's honor) thus encouraging male infidelity, gendering & diminishing the betrayals of woman/wives or creating more burdens for the wife/woman AND yes a bastard boy presents the possibility of danger more for her than it did Rhaenyra's kids for Alicent's (Rhaenyra had many supporters and we see that Alicent was not like Cat in that: Alicent chose to marry Viserys to become the next Queen; chose usurp Rhaenyra for her own power through her legitimate son when she saw Viserys would not assure her what she married him for in the first place; had no real reason to think Rhaenyra would kill her just for the throne BEFORE she usurped her, as they had had a good relationship before Alicent started spreading rumors and building a faction against Rhaenyra's claim).

...and but I also couldn't like Catelyn even after all that because Jon Snow was definitely made to feel like an invader in the same place he was supposed to see as home. Bastardry is not voluntary. I don't hate her, but I am not enamoured with her either.

Which is fine by itself, we don't need to like every female character bc that's disingenuous. Women are people, we are not going to like every person we ever meet. However, the other side of that coin is

since women are people--and people can be the absolute worst to both choices AND unique blends of sociopolitical and personal circumstances--holding someone accountable and weighing what trait/behavior tips the moral-evaluation scale against or for the character (us as the moral readers) shouldn't make victim=blameless/foreever helpless [cough, Alicent] -> a balancing act

that we can go the extreme in basing her entire personhood on whatever we could understand from her perspective through her mistreatment towards Jon

Sometimes people use the present to say that all that occurred before that situation has no value whatsoever to evaluate how a person can become the way they did, breeding ignorance and unanalytical or uncompassionate hatred. When we keep bringing takes that imply that she's the embodiment of evil or is evil incarnate, we also either choose to ignore OR we don't notice what could lead this character to that situation. Like I said about the Queen Dowager Rhaena, rider of Dreamfyre, who objectively mistreated her daughter to keep her close to her after having her own feelings and person mistreated, sidelined, raped (her uncle-2nd husband Maegor I), etc. for the sake of men/boys accruing or maintaining their power.

[jiangwanyinscatmom]

The SMBH of Fanon and The Spaghetti fixation of Jiang Cheng

A supermassive black hole (SMBH or sometimes SBH). Black holes are a class of astronomical objects that have undergone gravitational collapse, leaving behind spheroidal regions of space from which nothing can escape, not even light. Every large galaxy has a supermassive black hole at its center. In astrophysics, spaghettification (sometimes referred to as the noodle effect) is the vertical stretching and horizontal compression of objects into long thin shapes (rather like spaghetti) in a very strong, non-homogeneous gravitational field. It is caused by extreme tidal forces. In the most extreme cases, near a black hole, the stretching and compression are so powerful that no object can resist it.

What do these terms mean in context of Jiang Cheng? One is at the focal point of part of the novel Jiang Cheng is significantly tied to the thematics and consequences surrounding our main character Wei Wuxian. As our protagonist, Jiang Cheng being Wei Wuxian's emotional antagonist is central to the creation of the novel and it's plot progression for its continued arcs for him. He is important for what conclusions and continued strength Wei Wuxian finds for his convictions and actions.Jiang Cheng is a fellow needed center of our Story universe.

There are irrefutable "laws" of this story universe made by its creator (Mo Xiang Tong Xiu). He had been a childhood friend of Wei Wuxian, he had blamed Wei Wuxian for his tragedies, he had wanted him to be his support, he had wanted him under his loyalties, he tried to protect Wei Wuxian, he immediately regretted this protection when faced with consequences. His jealousy and inferiority towards someone that was supposed to be beneath him that continued to overshadow him in ability and fame grew. This hate overtook any care he had until he was able to see nothing but flaw and wrong and finally used that to say he must be killed and deserved death. This hate was excusable until he was faced with his own part in their unraveling relationship and stark morality that was never the same.

Fandom, likes to twist this center until it is stretched out into unbelievable extremes to say that all that was done by Jiang Cheng was either appropriate by human natural response, or it was one of our natural centers, Wei Wuxian, is actually wrong and needs to be morphed to fit the now widened hole that is distorting the created universe.

This effect now begins to leak out of the intended universe to stretch out into what it means for the fact that the audience is intended to perceive by its creator. The natural facts of the creator are now wrong, they are not intended, it is a lie and now I can say intended natural morality is perceived differently because I see Jiang Cheng as personally correct, or, simply because I feel bad he must and needs a happier ending because his universe's natural conclusion for him is incorrect. I can become the blackhole that stretches his natural intentions to be something that is unfamiliar to the work, I can cover it in falsehoods that seem natural in language as I speak and use human empathy. Reasoning is not needed when I use emotion to distort a reaction I want to invoke that was never intended by creator intent. I feel it, so it must be, if others do not, I will make them even if I need to change the words and actions within his natural universe and creator and even him to cater to this effect.

Jiang Cheng will be changed until he and its world make me feel comfortable to inspire a stretched perception that has voided its original state of being. Fact is not fact any longer when I try to insert emotional fallacy into indisputable story trajectory and author intent is dead.

[vanfleeter]

Mean Daddy // JTK

Characters: Jake x reader, twin boys Warning: All Dad!Jake. Author's Note: Once again I was inspired by Full House to create this small piece.

Summary: The time has come for Jake to put his foot down.

“No, no, no!” You hear Jake shout downstairs.

Quickly jumping off the floor of the twin’s bedroom, where you’ve been folding their laundry to put away, you quickly run downstairs to find Jake in the kitchen and holding each boy underneath his arms. They were covered in flour and laughing hysterically. Some of the flour even got onto Jake’s face and bits of his hair.

“Oh honey..” You say, stifling a giggle.

“This isn’t funny..” Jake huffs. “I thought we had the pantry door locked?”

You shake your head. “You insisted that they wouldn’t–couldn’t–figure out how to get the door open so we never installed a lock.”

“Well I was wrong..” Jake sighs. “There’s flour everywhere.”

“Babe, don’t you think now would be a good time to start..you know.”

Jake shakes his head. “They’re just toddlers, they’ll grow out of it. Like Josh and I did.”

“Jake.. They’re literally destroying everything they get their hands on.” You say as you take one of the boys from Jake. “Yesterday they broke Josh’s salt lamp, how was that even possible? Last week they busted Danny’s snare by stabbing drumsticks through the top, now they made a mess with the flour, what’s next? Terrorize Rosie?”

“Fuck.. Sam would have a meltdown.”

“I think it’s time, Jake. We can’t keep hoping that they’ll learn on their own. You have to put your foot down and punish them.” You say as the two of you carry the twins upstairs and into the bathroom.

“Do I have to?” Jake says as he sets one twin on the ground and kneels in front of him.

“Yes, Jake.” You say as you set the other twin on the edge of the sink and pull his shirt up over his head. “You can’t be a pushover anymore. When they do something wrong, they have to be punished.”

“Punished how?” Jake questions as he pulls the shirt off of the other twin. “I’ve never done that before.”

“It’s not hard, Jake. You put them into a timeout in their rooms. No toys, nothing fun. They can lay in their beds or on the floor but they’re not allowed to play.”

“That’s just cruel.” Jake says.

“It’s not supposed to be good.” You say as you carry the one twin over to the tub and sets him inside before running the water.

“What if they hate me?” He says.

“Jake, they’re two. They’ll be upset, sure but they won’t hate you.” You say as you take the other twin from Jake and put him into the tub. Jake sits on top of the toilet as he watches you fill a cup with water and pour it into each kids’ head. Each one giggles which brings a smile to your face. “They will learn that when they do something wrong, they will be disciplined for their actions. It’s all a part of growing up and learning how to be human.”

After bathtime, you two get the twins dressed in their PJs. Jake takes them downstairs to the living room to begin their bedtime routine. One movie of their choice. But that choice always happens to be the same movie since the first time you had shown it to them.

Peter Pan.

Jake didn’t mind. He loved it just as much as they did.

Once all of their clothes were put away, you got their beds ready before heading downstairs to the kitchen to make a couple bottles of warm milk. Going into the living room, you take one twin from Jake and hand a bottle to the other. Each one cuddles into your bodies as the beginning credits appear on the tv screen.

It doesn’t take long for the boys to fall asleep. You look over at Jake who looks like he’s nearly falling asleep himself. You smile and lean over, careful not to wake the tot in your arm, and gently shake Jake.

He hums and opens his eyes. “I’m awake.”

You stand up from the couch, cradling the twin in your arms. “Come on babe, let’s get the boys into bed.” –

“I’m so glad you could make it to dinner tonight.” Karen says as she sets a bowl of fresh bread on the table. “It’s been a while since we’ve been able to get everyone together.”

All the boys grimace but everyone laughs.

Jake looks over at the boys who are holding their bowls over top of their heads. “Hey, put your bowls back down on the table.” You speak up.

“Come on boys, listen to your mother.” Jake warns as he shoots a look at the boys.

Just as quickly, both acquire a bold smirk and look at each other.

“Tommy, don’t you dare.” Jake says. “Put your bowls down.”

Tommy looks back at Jude and giggles. Jude smiles and drops his bowl behind his head. It clatters to the floor and spills the contents of green beans and sausage onto the floor.

“I’m so sorry..” You sheepishly apologize.

Karen smiles. “It’s no big deal, the boys did it all the time.”

Jake huffs. “No, it is a big deal.” He says before getting out of his chair. “Terrible twos feel more like torturous twos.” He removes Tommy’s bowl from his hands and sets it on the table. “Come on boys,” He pulls them out of their chairs. “We told you twice to stop.” They giggle as he holds them underneath his arms. “I’ll be back.”

He carries them upstairs to his and Josh’s old room and sets them on the floor. “Do you know what a time out is?” He says as he kneels down in front of the boys. Both of them shake their heads. “Of course, you don’t.. Okay.. A timeout is when mommy or myself put you alone in your room–or in this case–my old room, for you to think about your actions. Now what you did tonight was not a good choice and when mommy or myself tell you not to do something, you have to listen.” He leans back on his knees and rests his hands on his thighs. “So, you two will sit here in timeout until I come back for you.”

“Papa, play?” Tommy says looking up at Jake.

Jake shakes his head. “No playing. No fun. You two will sit here and learn that what you did was bad.”

Jude crosses his arms over his chest. Tommy sees and follows in suit.

“Mean daddy..” Jude huffs.

“Yeah, mean daddy.” Tommy says.

“Now boys..”

“We no like you daddy..” Tommy says.

“Yeah, you mean..” Jude chimes in. “Mean daddy..”

Jake closes his eyes and leans his head back. “I’ll be back in a few minutes.” He says before rising to his feet before leaving the room.

“So how’d it go?” You ask when he comes to sit back down at the table.

He shrugs his shoulders. “Could have been better.” He says.

You sympathetically rub his back and lean over to kiss his cheek.

But he sits there for most of dinner, pushing the green beans around his plate as if he were a little kid again refusing to eat his food.

“Dessert anyone?” Ronnie says as she comes into the dining room with Karen. They carry several bowls of ice cream and give one out to each other.

“I’ll save these two for the boys.” Karen says as she carries a couple bowls back to the kitchen.

You look over to Jake to find him still quiet. You reach your hand over to his thigh and give it a slight rub. He turns his head to look at you. There was a distant look in his eyes that made you realize how deep into his thoughts he was.

“Are you okay?” You whisper.

Jake nods his head. He stands up from the table. “If you’ll excuse me..”

He leaves the dining room and heads into the kitchen. He pulls open the freezer and grabs the two bowls of ice cream and carries them behind his back and sneaks upstairs.

Despite having put his foot down, he hated hearing those words come from his sons’ mouths. And he also felt bad that they couldn’t enjoy the ice cream like everyone else is. As he approaches the door, he hears your voice call as your footsteps come up the stairs. Panicking he quickly shoves the bowls inside of his shirt, slightly wincing from the frozen dairy sliding against his skin.

“What are you doing up here?” You ask as you approach him.

“Oh uh, wanted to check on the boys.” He says as he moves his arms around his torso to hide the bowls in his shirt. “Make sure they’re not tearing the room apart.”

“Mmhmm..” You hum, not believing him. “What’s inside your shirt?” You say pointing to the now wet stains on his shirt.

“What?” He looks down at his shirt. “Oh well, I–”

You reach forward, not allowing him to finish his subtle white lie. You reach inside his shirt and pull out the two bowls of ice cream.

“Now how did those get in there?” He says faking surprise.

You smile and shake your head. “You just can’t put your foot down, can you?”

Jake sighs and leans against the wall. “I did. I promise I did.”

“Then why are you sneaking ice cream up here?” You say through a soft chuckle.

“Because you didn’t hear what they said to me..” He says. He folds his arms over his chest, similar to how the twins did earlier. “I’m ‘mean daddy’ and they ‘don’t like mean daddy’.”

You stick out your bottom lip in a pout and rub your hands up and down his arms. “Honey, they don’t mean it. They adore you, Jake. They’re just upset because you actually punished them for their actions during dinner.”

“But it sucks hearing that.”

“Trust me, babe, it won’t be the last time you’ll hear them “not like you”. When they’re older and you ground them, it’ll be “hate” instead of “not like”.”

“Oh great.”

You smile. “Jake, they won’t mean it. It’s just anger but it’ll subside.”

“So what do I do now?” He says.

“Go clean up.” You say. “I’ll talk to the boys.”

After cleaning and going back downstairs to the kitchen, Jake grabs a couple of clean bowls and remakes the ice cream bowls for the boys. He feels two pairs of arms wrap around each of his legs and when he looks down he sees the twins looking up at him.

“We love you Daddy.” Jude says.

“Yeah, and we’re sorry too.” Tommy pipes up.

He bends down to meet them at their level. “It’s okay boys.”

“Are you still mad at us?” Jude asks.

Jake shakes his head. “No buddy, I’m not mad at you. I was never mad at either of you–just disappointed. When mommy and daddy tell you to do something, you have to listen. It may seem like we’re being “mean” but we’re not.”

“We know.” Tommy sighs. “Mommy told us the same thing.”

“We’ll be better,” Jude says. “We promise.”

Jake smiles and kisses both of their foreheads. “That’s what I like to hear.” He says before standing up. “Would you like some ice cream?” Both of their faces light up and he chuckles. “Go sit at the table and I’ll bring them to you.”

[lgbt-cishet-movie-tournament]

The biggest victims AND perpetuators of homophobia...

How is it cishet media?

The Exorcist: A movie (sort-of) beloved by the Catholic Church that promotes traditional family values. Has a lot of homophobic language, and it was released around Christmas. Only one gay character and they only tell you through a flamboyant gesture. Screen writer and book author was homophobic enough to make petitions to "un-catholic" the catholic school featured in this film (they were reaching out to gay students and having pride so he wrote an angry letter to the bishop) and it shows. The Vatican once invited the director to come over specifically because of the exorcist :(((

The Haunting: In the movie adaptation, Eleanor calls Theo "nature’s mistake" for being a big lesbian. She’s also in love with the scientist and looks at him like this 👁👄👁, instead of her being desperately and hopelessly in love with Theo in the book. Thanks to the tv series, people even think they're het and bisexual blood-related sisters. She was very much a stranger in the closet and gay for her. For the love of god read the book!!!

The Servant: 🤔🤔🤔 Is it homophobic for a butler to ruin a man and a woman's marriage, then systematically create a platonic co-dependent relationship with the ex-groom-to-be and turn him into a sexed-up alcoholic? (it's worse in the book. the butler tries to make up evidence that his master is a gay pedophile to blackmaile him).

How is it lgbt?

The Servant: Tony cries pathetically next to pictures of sexy athletic men in their underwear on his bed and it’s never explained. The conflict is largely pushed by the scene where Tony and his fiancee Susan see his butler Barrett naked in Tony's room after having sex. Also?? The way Barrett yanks up Tony's tie like he's about to dominate him??? They didn't have sex, but they did have sex with the same girl in the same time frame when she was in on it. I consider this toxic yaoi and a psychosexual class war. I'll put photos.

Haunting: Oh my goddddd is Eleanor still so repressed and dealing with internalized homophobia in the movie. She and Theodora have a love-hate-attraction-repulsion thing going on. Theo is lesbian-coded and was even supposed to have a female lover in the movie (her "roommate" in the book) but then came censorship. Eleanor calling Theo "unnatural" in the movie... that is a vintage code word for lesbian (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QF2FKI7Fe-U). Before that, she was totally smitten even if the scientist distracts from that. The book is more lesbian, but at least the movie sneaks it in. And it sucks that Eleanor is so angry and lashing out but I get it. Her family hates or at least doesn't care about her feelings. n it's about how unsafe the traditional family structure really is even when you try to do found family but no one likes you for being gay and uptight. Oh and Theo, who is lesbian, survives at the end in all versions.

Exorcist: Regan is sooo off-putting and a bad daughter. This is just what being queer and having several diseases is like minus the exorcism. Her voice gets deep while she acts rebellious and her mom rejects her. Damien Karras (the younger priest) also reads as so repressedly gay and in the closet in the original book, but the movie squeezes in a bit of that with a scene where Fr. Dyer lays Karras to bed, and they hold hands until Karras eventually recoils with so much pathetic pain. I KNOW what you are. (https://afieldinengland.tumblr.com/post/657429236105248768/they-were-in-love-here) Karras and Dyer are even closer in the book, and Dyer is his stereotypically effeminate "ride or die" gay best friend. He told him to leave the priesthood with him since the gays are doing it, meanwhile all the other local priests were panicking about gay priests. The movie is extremely quotable too and I find that camp. Also found "Mother what's wrong with me?" and "That thing upstairs is not my daughter" to be sooo personal. I know it's homophobic but it helped me come out more somehow because I don't want to DIE like that. Saw some fun Regan MacNeil dragqueens, trans posts and non-binary comics (with regan and karras) awhile ago as well. In the 90s, a reviewer said that the movie was actually a priest's homoerotic wet dream (and that's why they wanted to kill pazuzu the "female element") and it so threw off the director to the point that his biography, an analytical book on the exorcist by kermode, AND some articles will bring it up as a bizarre theory or serious analysis. Well I say the reviewer had a point, but with the wrong priest. Dyer is the only confirmed gay character who gets censored a lot, but I know what those two had. Big closeted catholic energy. That's why Regan was so homophobic. She read Karras' mind.

Haunting Propaganda

The Exorcist Propaganda

The Servant propaganda:

[booktomoviebrawl]

We are not judging how bad the movie is, we are judging which adapted the book the worst. There are good movies that are bad adaptions.

Propaganda below the cut (spoilers may apply)

The Witcher:

Henry Cavill, mostly. Also awful hair and makeup dept.

What they did to Geralt is straight up character assassination and they destroyed his friendship with Dandelion. I will never stop being bitter

completely disregards the themes the books represent and Anglicizing the eastern european literary traditions present. they cast actors who were a poor fit for the roles and the writers expressing open disdain for the books. there is no point to putting work and effort into adapting a media you hate.

Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children:

While Miss Peregrine was one of my favorite books as a kid and incredibly unique in the way the story is written (The author basically took a box of weird antique photographs and created an underlying story behind a handful of them) the movie is incredibly boring. Like seriously I can't remember a single goddamn thing about the movie besides my extreme disappointment with it after leaving the theatres. It's probably because the original is a trilogy but they didn't want to make it a trilogy for the movie so they just scrapped the ending of the first book and rewrote a shitty climax where they threw snowballs at the nightmare child eating creatures or something. I remember THAT scene perfectly because it was so, so dumb. It was so stupid oh my God- ALSO, thank God I have a copy of the book from before the film came out because new copies don't have one of the photographs that the actual book uses as a base anymore and instead have the shitty movie poster! We truly do live in a society.

Changed way too much so it doesn't feel like the same thing. The main characters are these kids with different abilities (called peculiarities) and the movie switches around their powers and changes almost everyone's age. Emma and Olive switch powers so that Emma now floats (they also added that she can kind of control air to some extent) when she's supposed to have fire powers to match her fiery personality. Olive can make fire now and she's also aged up from an eight year old to a teenager and put her in this weird romance with Enoch. Enoch is also aged up from a grumpy thirteen year old to around the same age as Olive. Bronwyn, one of the older kids in the book and sort of a motherly figure to the younger kids, is now one of the youngest kids. Hugh and Fiona are aged down and basically have no interaction at all in the movie, even when their book counterparts had such a good relationship. The only one they didn't really change was Horace and Jacob. They also added these gorgon twins that do like two things. The antagonist in the movie is Mr. Barron who honestly isn't super memorable and isn't in the books whatsoever. The ending of the movie is weird too because they manage to turn back time somehow so Jacob's grandfather isn't dead and then he hops through loops so he can be with Emma and the other peculiars. I guess the problem of wights and hollowgasts is magically eliminated and we do not have to deal with the consequences. It took six books to fix everything. I appreciate that the movie engaged me enough to read the series but once I did, I could not believe they did my kids that dirty.

Yikes where to start. The 3 girl characters are all mixed up. There are 2 teens, one who's super strong and has a brother (I'll get back to him) and one who controls fire and is the love interest named Emma. The third girl is a child called Olive who floats. She's lighter than air.

In the movie, strong girl is the child, olive is now the fire girl and is for some reason super introverted, and Emma the love interest floats and gets given a super breath??? Power?? Like she rises a sunken ship by blowing in and keeps a man blown against a wall by blowing air at him. He makes a remark that she'll run out of breath eventually, which happens here because plot convenience, but not when she's blowing in the sunken ship.

The enemies in the book are terrifying Hollows. Creatures who have lost themselves and devour souls of those with powers... The movie decides they eat eyes now. And turn human again. And get busted up in a fair for the final act of the movie. Ugh.

The movie also decides randomly that time travelling through the loops is a thing; a loop being a pocket of time that replays the same day over and over. But apparently this means Main Character can travel back in time and stop his grandfather dying??? What?? His grandfathers death is the whole start of the movie and motivation for the character.

The movie undermines many of things that made the book amazing and even decides it's not a trilogy anymore!! Fuck the other 2 books, right?!

Tldr; it is terribly hollywood-ised and t tim Burton ruined a franchise by trying too hard to make it quirky and fun when the books already had a brilliant sombre and interesting tone to them.