#audience for this post: me

[strangesickness]

what if i wrote an IT competitive swimming AU... what then...

i have so many fic ideas and so little time... in the meantime... the losers as competitive swimmers (this is so niche oh my god)

lots of hyperspecific headcanons can be found under the cut lol

mike hanlon: he's a butterflyer mainly but also strong in backstroke. weirdly good at counting his strokes and has never hit his head going into the wall on backstroke. his favorite race is the 100 fly, but he's not the type to complain when his coach puts him in the 200 fly or an IM race (IM is individual medley, it means all the strokes back to back in one race). he brings snacks to share at competitions but doesn't let anyone eat on deck. got into competitive swimming fairly late (about 14) because he enjoyed doing the distance swim when he was getting his lifeguard qualifications. he's a strong swimmer and probably has the most endurance out of the group, but not in a long distance race kinda way, more in a "i could swim across the lake if push comes to shove" kinda way. he's the only one who can correctly keep track of what rep they're on during training, everyone else always turns to him when asked.

bill denbrough: he's been with the swim club since he was seven and has basically always been a freestyle (basically the same as frontcrawl, except you can technically do whatever you want. everyone does frontcrawl though) sprinter. excels at the 50m freestyle sprint and broke the club record for it when he was seventeen. he leads warmup and organizes everyone for cheers and travel competitions. dislikes breaststroke but is frustratingly good at it so his coach frequently makes him swim it. can't stop hitting his head on the wall on backstroke and has been banned from doing crossover turns (special turn between backstroke and breaststroke used in IM, your face gets very close to the wall) in races after an unfortunate incident involving his face and the wall. he's responsible for drawing mini heat sheets (packets of paper with all of the race information, including athlete names and lanes) on everyones arms, he does a little grid too, its all very professional. he is the keeper of the spare caps and goggles. when they were younger he kept track of everyone during warm-up to ensure no one got trampled in the mess of people.

stanley uris: backstroker through and through, wishes there was a 400m backstroke, once his coach put him in the 400m freestyle and he did backstroke out of spite. his best race is the 200 backstroke. he takes every opportunity presented to him to talk shit about butterfly. makes sure the losers don't miss their races and is the only person allowed to touch the heat sheet. you know he cares because he highlights all the losers names in colorcoded markers on his heat sheet. he's not here to be the best he's just here to humble richie at backstroke and have fun with his friends. he gets split times for the other losers and keeps track of everyones personal best and qualifying times. he complains his friends are the ones always nearly missing their races but he has been known to get distracted highlighting everyones names on the heat sheets when he really should be warming up.

beverly marsh: good at every stroke so mainly an IMer but she's a big fan of 200m races which disturbs everyone around her (200m races are detested by many for being an awkward distance between a sprint and long distance). is really good at dives and turns and has on more than one occasion gotten disqualified for going too far under water off the dive. has an extremely powerful kick but frequently forgets to put strength into her pulls. if richie's doing backstroke in an edge lane she will lean over the edge of the pool and mimic kicking with her arms ("kick faster!") because she knows he hates it. has planned 99% of team building exercises which always go terribly wrong in some way but she finds a way to save them from disaster. past team building activities have included: laser tag, bowling, and tracking down a ghost house in the middle of the woods. this last one was not well received but they did find the house so she won.

ben hanscom: long distance swimming legend, he's a freestyler and his best race is the 1500m. incredible at knowing what pace to go and recognizing how much energy he has left so he doesn't go too slow off the start but doesn't die in the first half either. is strongest in the third quarter of a race and tends to overtake people during this period because he doesn't let the pressure get to him (the third quarter is typically the hardest and most stressful of the race, you are tired and likely in pain, but don't yet have the adrenaline rush from being in the final stretch). he used to crash and burn during the third quarter, but one day something just kind of clicked and he got it. he still gets nervous before races but when he's in the water he doesn't falter. he always gets the best spots at meets and the losers build bag forts in the bleachers to camp out in for the long stretches between races. he also always finds the best places to hangout outside the pool deck while the losers are waiting for finals to start.

richie tozier: mainly a flyer but he got really tall when he was sixteen and his coach started putting him in more backstroke races, he's pretty even between the two strokes at this point and does a lot of IM. number one breaststroke hater in the WORLD, it hurts his knees because he does it wrong but no matter what corrections people make he can't get it right. does not understand how people like breaststroke and isn't convinced it doesn't hurt for everybody. cheers a ridiculous amount. his voice is always hoarse for days after a competition because he cheers so loudly. he's always leading group cheers, even when he was a crackly-voiced 13 year old he was insisting he lead cheers. he's really loud because of it and is great at throwing his voice over the noise of the pool. they're always at races until the very end because ben is usually in the 1500 and richie will cheer for nearly 19 minutes until all the losers are rushing to the end of ben's lane to get him water and help him stay standing and richie can just give him a thumbs up because his voice is totally gone.

eddie kaspbrak: was a breaststroker for most of his life until one day his coach was like. yknow what. fuck you. butterfly time. and now he's a flyer. his best race is the 200IM though and he hates 200m fly. he gets really in his head about it and has on multiple occasions completely died in the third quarter because he's so anxious. he always gets out of the pool after 200m flys feeling like he's going to black out because he's so stressed about it. every once in a blue moon though he just doesn't stress for some unknown reason and does amazing. loses his mind at the losers when they don't wear flipflops on deck or in the showers. like do they know how gross pool decks are? no they want infections? if they're doing single length sprints during practice the other losers will walk his flip flops to the other end of the pool so he doesn't have to touch the deck with his bare feet. you would think swimming would be the most miserable sport in the world for him due to the general... disgustingness... of pools but he loves the sport so much that it manages to outweigh his neuroses most of the time. hates backstroke, its a stupid stroke and he keeps getting water up his nose and what if he hits his head, why do mike, stan, and richie even stand it?

also i did my best to explain anything that might be unintelligible if you weren't deep in the trenches of competitive swimming as a teenager but if anyone has questions, either about the AU, or just clarifications about swim racing in general, feel free to ask! i love talking about this stuff.

[sylvies-kablooie]

i do unironically think the best artists of our generation are posting to get 20 notes and 3 reblogs btw. that fanfic with like 45 kudos is some of the best stuff ever written. those OCs you carry around have some of the richest backstories and worldbuilding someone has ever seen. please do not think that reaching only a few people when you post means your art isn't worth celebrating.

[samwwise]

mum said it’s my turn to do the good omens + text posts meme pt. 4 (pt.1 / pt.2 / pt.3)

[scarlyrubies]

will “this is the 80s and the only girl i know personally is my mom” byers

[martyrbat]

well maybe if you look at bernie wrightson's frankenstein art youll calm down!

[portraitoflestatonfire]

louis de pointe du lac as old hollywood starlet

[bluegiragi]

ghost gives konig a private lesson feat. soap as a very happy spectator.

read updates early on patreon

[batshaped]

morning people

[spacebubblehomebase]

"Say My Name."

Tumblr "Poll Results" for my #HHStargazersAU are out and so I'm releasing ALL the currently available titles of my future posts for this story!!! Though to not completely spoil the plot for everyone, I redacted some parts on the list. Just know that, while I DO have plans, they could always change and not everything is complete. But if you're still willing to be patient with me, here's a taste of my writing and art! Nothing serious. Just to see if it's to your liking. I won't always stick to such style, but there WILL be consistent world building as it's my favorite part of starting any AU! And if you like Chaggie or queerplatonic Radioapple centric stories then you're in luck because that's EVERYTHING I'm here for! It'll take a lot of effort, but GOD will it also be a LOT of fun! XD Still a show is nothing without an audience and according to my list, it's time for an INTEREST CHECK, so what say you? 👀✨️ -Bubbly💙

(For more context, check out "Part One" of my story! "A New Day Will Dawn...")

[anthonycrowley]

i don’t mean ‘we had money’ or ‘we struggled.’ did you know (roughly, within ~$10k or local equivalent) how much your parents made?

[beatcroc]

what, didn't you know most amphibians shed and eat their skin? what did you think was going on there, peppino? this is normal frog stuff. come on now.

many more sketches bc i had way too many thoughts about this to try and illustrate all in a comic. horrid beast fp agenda ❤

[thatonefananticinclass]

[uncanny-tranny]

Good news! You aren't required to make your hobbies and passions "marketable." In fact, your crafts, hobbies, and passions don't even need to be public if you so choose. You don't have to spend all of your energy becoming perfect if you aren't enjoying the process. You are not a product, you are a person, a creative, and your work also does not need to be a product.

[blemiish]

I love the Wheel of Time on Amazon Prime

[shripscapi]

I’m extremely normal about the fishing game 👍

[deltaruminations]

what if gaster in a future chapter calls out the audience for speculating so much about him. the guy canonically has some amount of access to Real Life Social Media. like i started this mostly as a joke but there are definitely some real metanarrative opportunities for a character with recklessly curious impulses, and possibly a fragile sense of self, having nearly limitless access to streams of debate over whether or not he’s a bastard. rude to talk about someone who’s listening etc