#but it gets fucking annoying when people just do it so they can justify shipping aro/ace characters

[unnamed-idi0t]

hey btw i don't really appreciate my identity being used as an excuse to ship aro/ace characters

[verosikastrikerstellaexcuser]

The new episode made me rewatch some of the older ones to think about some things, and it made me realize.

There is something so insidious about the “Striker is just a bigot” thing to me.

Viv said he’s basically just a mean bigot that doesn’t like rich people along with feminine and same gender attracted men. There’s nothing big going on outside of him just being hateful, apparently. Yet he is completely right in being angry at the upper classes given how time and time again the show has shown us how horribly imps are treated. Now the other thing he hates, of course disliking femininity in men and LGBT people is not acceptable.

But why did they then go ahead and pair that with him constantly being sexually harassed by the show’s other male characters 🤨. Seems awfully sketchy when you realize that it’s just a way of making him being sexually harassed justified and funny and fun. He’s bigoted so it’s ok if all the show’s other male characters make lewd unwanted remarks about how he’s giving them a boner. Since he’s a bigot he deserves unwanted sexual attention, he’s asking for it! Sexual harassment is used as a punishment for antagonists in this show.

Now combine that with the way Striker is a bad mean bigot yet the LGBT men and women in the show can get away with smacking Moxxie around for being somewhat feminine. Bigotry towards feminine men is ok if you are gay or a woman apparently.

Then add the whole Stolitz thing on top of that. Blitz is framed as an asshole for being mad after enduring constant unwanted sexual attention from Stolas. Him not accepting it is just him foolishly blocking the inevitable endgame ship, and for saying no Blitz is considered annoying and hatable. It’s fucked up. Blitz is blamed for not liking sexual coercion and for not wanting to accept a relationship with Stolas.

You begin to see a pattern in which the show paints men receiving unwanted sexual attention, especially when it’s from other men, as different from when women do. When men are harassed, it’s fun and hot, it’s not serious. And that is gross.

[orchideous-nox]

what are some problematic opinions you have??

I really don't think any of my opinions are problematic? Idk, I guess I'll let the people be the judge of that. I want to preface that these are how I feel personally and I would never try to enforce my opinions on others. Ship who you want to ship, love who you want to love. If you disagree with any of my opinions then that's fine but please don't try and convince me to "see your reasoning", these are opinions I'm pretty set on.

I don't particularly multiship, not because I have no sense of fun but because I genuinely can't understand how people ship Barty with Sirius or Narcissa with Lily or Evan with James etc. It makes so sense and no amount of reasoning will ever convince me that anybody other than Evan can stand Barty to a degree that they want to fuck him. He's so annoying and I mean that with all the love in the world as an Evan kin. I think Sirius needs Remus to mellow him out. Lily and Narcissa is just a no from me. Period.

I think sometimes the fandom forgets that relationships can be platonic. Friends exist, not every character needs to fuck all of their best friends because they understand each other so deeply. Yes, they have great chemistry...as friends. Platonically. Do you want to fuck your best friend? .......actually you're on tumblr and a marauders fan so who knows

People are so desperate in this fandom for others to talk about the girls more but then when people do post about them there is like no interaction. From experience, the boys get more hits, more kudos, more notes etc. I write about Rosekiller expecting not much attention, I'm not in it to get popular otherwise I would stick to Jegulus and Wolfstar rather than my precious murder husbands. But whenever I post about the girls the comments are dryyyyy and it's not fun. I love getting comments and replies so I can interact with others and talk about headcanons. It feels like as soon as I post about the girls people forget that they were encouraging more of that content in the first place.

Fanon and canon are blurring and not in a fun way. There are certain headcanons that people take from fanon or even from specific popular fics and start stretching canon to fit the fanon and then get angry when people don't stick to it. Saying a character is canonically a certain way because of implications in the canon can be really harmful.

I don't particularly care for OCs in fics. I read these stories for the characters I like and if an OC has like a massive chunk of a chapter on their own or even whole chapters or whole fics I will likely skip or even DNF because that's just not what I'm here for. Like I don't care.

If a character isn't attractive in this fandom, people don't care. Just because someone doesn't have rippling abs and perfect skin, it doesn't mean you can write them off as being bad. People can be hot and fat, ugly and fat, ugly and skinny, ugly and a good or interesting person!!! As a plus size person, I have spent my whole life looking at media portrayals saying that I am not worth attention until I am skinny, only then can I be attractive, and this fandom can be just as guilty sometimes (I'm looking at you people who make Snape hot to justify liking him, and making Peter have no personality besides being fat).

People are way to eager to interact with content they don't like to tell them they don't like it. Look up what an algorithm is, hun, I'm begging you. (this isn't controversial unless you are one of those people who does that)

Okay, hopefully I've not lost anyone along the way. Like I said, don't try and convince me I'm "wrong" in the comments, these are opinions and cannot be factually incorrect < 3

[just-antithings]

can I rant a bit ? Feel free to ignore it if it's not something that alignes with the blog

Has anyone else noticed this new thing where Antis are really obsessed with canon ?

I feel like shipping for fun isn't allowed anymore it has to be canonicaly accurate or you'll get dms of people reminding you that it isn't accurate to canon it doesn't even have to be a ship with taboo themes or anything it just has to be fanon

I absolutely hate the new wave of this character is *some random sexual orientation* you can't ship them with this other character

Maybe I'm old but it's the same thing homophobic people in fandom used back then to justify bullying people for shipping gay ships

This character is straight you can't ship them with this same sex character

What antis are saying (I don't know if they are intentionally doing it or not) is that now that we have represention we don't need to ship non canon ships anymore witch is stupid people ship for fun not for representation and 90 percent of the media is straight so we aren't allowed to ship anything anymore (my picky self could never I need variety)

It's kinda stupid but I just want to ship radiodust without Antis dming me "gentle reminder that Alastor is aroace so you shouldn't ship him with anyone or sexualize him and that your taking represention from aro ace people by doing so"

Like I'm aroace but I mostly write romantic dynamics because I like them , when I tell them this they accuse me for lying , and hey I don't care about them I block all of the time it could be death threats for gods sake but it's annoying as a mosquito bite

I just want two dudes to kiss leave me alone antis

I have particler beef with asexual antis most of them are just plain anti sex and give asexuals a bad name and this is coming from someone who hates sex , me not wanting to fuck is a me problem people being horny on the in appropriate places is their problem as long as I'm out of it I'm fine

how can they spout the same thing as conservatives and still think they are the good guys is beyond me

Antis are really stupid

.

[seth-burroughs]

Still genuinely so fucking shocked and appalled that people STILL sexualize Yomi while knowing he's literally 3. That is a child no matter how many proshitter mental gymnastics you do in order to convince yourself you aren't a predator. It DOES NOT MATTER whether he was an adult with a job before the cloning, ALL IT MATTERS IS THAT HE IS TECHNICALLY, LITERALLY, LEGITIMATELY A SMALL CHILD(!!!) RIGHT NOW ACCORDING TO ALL LAWS. A normal, non-icky person wouldn't even doubt that, so if you, like, thought that far in order to justify it that's pretty weirddddd imo lolll likeeee why are you so adamant on sexualizing 3-y*ar oldsss lmaoooooo

I didn't want to mention this at first, but I cannot just leave it unadressed, no matter how sick to the core it makes me... and that is, the concerning rise of m*koy///omi content in Rain Code fandom. No matter how much Yomi himself is minor-coded, Makoto is minor-coded to a way higher degree. You cannot argue with this. Listen I don't want to hear anything about "ohhhh but he is an adulttt" I do not care. I do not care about how much proof there is that he's a major, that does not fucking matter if he LOOKS LIKE A FUCKING CHILD. Is THIS your fucking waifu? Is that the hill you wanna die on. Then do it. Not like I care. I'm making a callout post. I'm hunting down all your mutuals and telling them you're a sicko that fetishizes minor x minor-coded minor content. I wonder what you'll do then.

But, you know. Whatever. Shit like this happens every day in fandom. People are disgusting. People dissapoint me. People leave me. Discard me. Because I tell them how illegal their ships are. No one cares, because they're all sickos, and I am the only normal person in fandom. I don't let it get to me. Life goes on, you know? If I ever get too stressed out scrolling yaoi on tumblr I can always scroll yaoi on twitter. My own son won't even speak to me. He's 6 months old, but I know he's just giving me the silent treatment. Because he fucking hates me. Because I'm the only one in this fandom to try and keep the fucking order, and people hate that. They hate all authority.

So please. Sophia, sugarplum. Please. Unprivate your likes tab. Don't let the fucking likes tab get between us, Sophia. Show me the yaoi you've been looking up. Why are you scared? Because you've been lying to me? Because, when my back was turned, you were romanticizing abusive relationships? No. No, Sophia. It's not just fiction. It's my life, Sophia. So. Unprivate your likes section. Unprivate your likes. Why won't you discord call me anymore. Do you remember how we used to run. I will not lose my twin flame to the fiendish predatory height difference. Not ever again. Not ever.

Do Not Fucking Interact with this post if you are a: basic DNI criteria, timeskip plot apologist, axclusionist, support lesbians, an abuser/racist/groomer/illegal ship supporter/a serial killer, below 18 or above 19, engage in k*nk, if you enjoy irredeemable media such as D*nganronpa, Homesfuck, Gr*vity Fa//s, Mcyt, H*zbin H*tel, FnaF or musicals (complete list at pinned), ship Yuma or Makoto with adults, ship Yuma or Makoto with minors, are a Sh*nigami apologist, a self-shipper, if you have impure thoughts, are anti-harassment, a system, toothpaste flag users, h*llectro shipper (IT'S LITERAL ABUSE YOU FREAKS), do not approach all media critically, do not approach all media with contempt, annoying people, icky people, bots, do not approach state-sanctioned executions uncritically, if you support abuse especially in fiction, sexualize Fubuki (minor-coded), yanderes, if you enjoy gross characters, cannot respect my safe space, interact positively with my disowned disgusting daughter, are an asshole, are a freak (you know who you are), if you reblog from my mutuals (they are mine. no one elses.) s*th fans are fine ig but on thin fucking ice. will be updated with time always check the og post for edits before reblogging or I will make a callout post for your offense

[mecachrome]

Hi I would love to hear about the elaborate secret wag au you hinted at in the pastries post if youre up to talking about it. I think I need it injected directly into my veins I love it so much

ok note to self i have to stop calling things elaborate when in reality i mean that i think about them really hard before i fall asleep and then promptly forget anything interesting afterward. but of course i'd love to discuss this very vague universe some more!! :')

honestly this is all an extremely self-indulgent exercise because i'm just a huge sucker for the combined secret relationship + famous/non-famous trope, and i will always read/write it for any ship iteration that presents itself! like there is nothing i love more than understated displays of devotion, especially when it plays into the 4th wall socmed fuckery space of one half being famous and having an otherwise large social profile and the other being very lowkey and resisting any publicity about themselves... in that vein i can't tell whether the concept is super cringe & embarrassing (well i can & i know it is, but the question is whether that is enough to Stop Me!!!) because obviously lando dating some Boring Dude requires a er... certain suspension of disbelief (also sorry for any unintentional disrespect to maxf), but what is fandom for if not making stupid shit up <3

anyway the secretwag concept also developed from two things, 1) how much i enjoy & endorse oscar's private-not-secret relationship philosophy + 2) lando's extreme loyalty to & dependence on all of his childhood relationships, so the idea kind of took root as "what if oscar→lando what lily→oscar (and also kind of what maxf→lando)" but just with more of lando's friendgroup dynamix & his streamer identity folded into the mix. the origins of their rship are what remain the most ambiguous & handwavey 2 me but in short they'd somehow meet when they were younger (maybe oscar is the same age as lando, maybe lando stayed in school longer, maybe oscar moved to the uk earlier and they met during their karting days... idk!!!) except then because of finances oscar decides to go into engineering and gives up on motorsport pretty early on.

(tbh i always struggle with justifying non-driverness in canon divergence fic because i'm like WELL REALISTICALLY oscar would just go into another professional racing category if f1 weren't feasible, BUT ignoring that) i think oscar would objectively be a super adjusted engineering student and would thrive academically / not stew in self-pity about giving up racing, so i really like this idea of like... sure, oscar is One Of The Lads, but unlike most people in lando's life who revolve around his work somehow or otherwise reflect his level of celebrity—drivers, the quadrant team, d-grade influencers & djs & social media personalities—oscar is just... Oscar. he's the smartest person lando knows and his love language is quality time and lando is the one usually doing acts of service for all his friends but oscar always wordlessly & unquestionably reciprocates that for him (lando annoying oscar into giving him a massage every night and oscar conceding immediately like ok... jon who❤️) and while lando has to go out of his way to navigate/manage the emotions of those around him and feels indebted to all his friendships he's never had to do that for oscar because oscar is the steadiest part of his life. and then obviously at some point when they're young dumb & drunk they get fucked up about it and start dating on the dl

(waves hands) anyway IDK but i'm just stuck on the image of like lando at 19 starting his first season of f1 and being raw and uncertain of himself and constantly catastrophizing about the future and trying to build out his brand and prove himself, and even like maxf is racing full-time that year, but at least he has oscar who's away at uni (in slightly aged up verse) and shows up at his place every weekend to ground him... like oscar never sugarcoats anything OR doubts himself OR needs lando to be any less open about his irrational fears so lando is like damnnn your cringefail earnestness and clear-eyed perspective of reality has kind of bewitched me *momentarily healed* etc. ft. domestic bants & the birth of master baker oscarpastry when covid hits and everything goes virtual & they quarantine together... lando starts streaming regularly and there's just this random dude in the background of half his streams and chat is like "???" every time like. Who is that + Why is he australian + Why is he cooking you dinner at 1am. his only social media profile is a private ig page with 50 followers.

+ after grad they keep living together and oscar becomes a wfh developer and i imagine him being very financially steady and self-sufficient but also like... deeply LAZY, so he has 0 ambition or intention to chase anything more demanding and is happy to just do his boring software job + be lando's househusband after hours LOL. like bringing lando pastries at quadrant shoots (ty chel 4 this image) between dull code reviews & expertly ducking away from the landolog camera & letting lando drive them around in his stupid gimmick cars and just generally toeing the line perfectly of being invested in lando's success and caring as deeply about motorsport as he does and even kicking his ass in iracing sometimes because he's kept up with sim racing but also keeping his ego in check and not making him engage in the world/politics/circus of f1 more than he has the capacity for on their off-weekends *__* finally lando is like babe i need to go commit tax fraud in monaco and oscar is just like ❤️ ok ❤️ we can move out tomorrow ❤️ and they find a tiny flat that's deeply overpriced but it's Them and it works. oscar plans his days off so he can go to half the races but nobody ever even notices him because the photographers don't know he exists.... except for maxv who lives in their building and met oscar once and was immediately like I Respect You #fellowsimracer so now whenever he sees oscar they get caught up in a conversation for like 30 minutes about random nerd shit and lando is very discombobulated about it every time. on the other hand maxf has been trying to be chill about lando of all people having been in a healthy committed relationship for the past 6-ish years so he frequently gets into trouble for making bad jokes about their sex life on stream that everyone thinks is them being homophobic etc. etc. ANYWAY YOU GET THE GIST OF IT!!!

[nari-writes]

What's a fic you want to write but are scared of?

Oh man. Aw man. I presume you mean something like "dang this is gonna be massive and I don't want to dive into it" but.

But.

This is a perfect excuse to segue into: I don't want to write this fic because I'll stick my foot in it. 'Cause of the relationship focus (PLATONIC!) that would just. The two factions of people who would see it would Both be angry/annoyed. Reading comprehension in this decade is horrendous. And I don't want to get death threats from people who won't read my explanation/won't get that I'm doing this for comedic purposes and ALSO as someone who ships a tiny-ass rarepair I do not want to engage in the....adjacent queerbait of "this is possibly an inherently romantic concept but I am playing it ENTIRELY straight"???

And then ALSO I don't ship them so I also don't want to fall into the trap of my OWN DANG SELF where I LOVE writing romantic drama and will potentially-possibly actually-accidentally turn it romantic simply because I love writing pining so much. It could be fun! I can see why their dynamic would be SO PAINFUL (and fun) to ship but I don't, but I know writing this WOULD MAKE ME want pinning involved. Because I love writing Romance. I'm a goddamn romance/fluff/plot author. It'd be there. A spectre. Haunting me. Cackling in a little :3c fashion. I know myself. I know myself. I will fail. I'm weak and the internal pressure of writing this would lead SO well to pining and then I'd probably get attached because I can justify so much so easily and when I write people stuck in romance-esque situations I make it Work for what I Like and I DON'T want to do that because I DON'T want to con myself into shipping this.

"what the fuck are you talking about Nari," you ask, "and why the hell are you adding so many disclaimers before you even go into the fic idea???"

So Dick Grayson gets married to the Red Hood.

(this is platonic) (BEAR WITH ME) (THIS IS PLATONIC)

1 x Bludhaven Cop finds out that he's gonna get called upon to testify against the Red Hood and due to some absolutely WILD Shenanigans that will never make more than a singular mention in the fic, the Bludhaven court currently is running around with Diana's lasso of truth and/or some other artifact that makes it LITERALLY IMPOSSIBLE to lie on the stand. You WILL tell the truth. It is great for weeding out false confessions. The crooked cops and judges are incensed and trying to get rid of this thing ASAP but Dick has spent months trying to keep it safe and Still Working and he- he can't get rid of it.

And if Dick Grayson, Bludhaven Cop, current third witness in a case revolving around the Red Hood, gets on that stand...Oh Fuck He Knows So Many Red Hood Secrets. He 👏 knows 👏 so 👏 many 👏 secrets 👏

So Dick Grayson, Bludhaven Cop, sleep-deprived and panicking, goes: FUCK.

Well I can't be forced to testify against my spouse.

Jason howls when he hears what Dick has decided. He is absoLUTELY going along with this, this is the dumbest shit his brother has gotten himself into, how the FUCK is he gonna explain it to his co-workers. Jason is DELIGHTED at how stupid Dick is being. This man's a moron.

"oh I need to work within the confines of the law" YOU ARE A VIGILANTE, DICK, says Jason, cackling. Steal the damn thing!

BUT IT'S BEEN SO HELPFUL FOR THE COMMUNITY AND DECREASED FALSE ARRESTS, says Dick, so, so sleepy and so so emotional as a result. I CAN'T TAKE AWAY THEIR HOPE, JAY.

They do not have a ceremony. Jason grabs one of his lieutenants to act as signatory/witness and they go to the one branch of city hall that's in Crime Alley because Dick needs it done now and the case is in a week. There are three leaks in the ceiling. They are taking advantage of Jason's reputation to a) skip the line and waiting period and b) convince the magistrate to accept Jason's so incredibly fake ID:

(Chew. Chew. Pop.

Dick kinda wishes there was a polite way to say 'hey can you spit your gum out before it makes my brain explode from how not-seriously you're taking this super serious matter?' but he has a feeling something will get lost in translation, and the look on the registar's face is already deadpan and unimpressed.

Chew.

Chew.

Chew.

"And that's your legal name?" she asks, and the gum pops. Jason tilts his helmet, and Dick can imagine his grin; can hear it when Jason says,

"Definitely a legal one."

"You file your taxes under the name 'Red Hood'?" she inquires, her drawl filled with such a level of derision that Dick knows why she's chewing gum, now. It's to highlight how much she doesn't give a shit. Why is every resident of Crime Alley like this?

Her name tag says her name is Monica - Monica, like this is a normal day with a normal person! - and there are four people behind him with cellphones. There's a security guard behind them with a cellphone. He's not even calling the cops, he's definitely just recording them. Dick wants to vibrate out of his skin.

"Yep," says Jason, popping the p obnoxiously. "I'm an LLC, baby."

"Look, Monica," Dick says, shoving the bystanders out of his mind and giving her his most charming grin. "When secret identities come into play, getting married is a bit difficult. Dick Grayson is definitely dating the Red Hood-," holy shit he finally managed it without sinking into the depths of his 'how the fuck did we end up here???' self-spiral! "-which means if I want to marry him I have to marry the Red Hood. If I suddenly show up with some new, random husband that doesn't have this shiny primary-coloured helmet, isn't it going to be a bit weird?" And here's the part he can actually say with sincerity, even if, in this context, it'll mean something different- "I love him. I want to get married. But I need to protect him. Please?"

Monica looks at him. She looks at Jason. She pops her bubblegum, and then reaches for her stamp.

"Congratulations," she says, and slides the wedding certificate under the glass. "Enjoy domestic bliss.")

(We #loveMonica. She cares just barely about the legalities of marrying a crime boss and is Not Paid Enough to Deal With Anything Else).

Anyway, other things that occur that @midnightluck and I talked about, everyone say <3 <3 to Lucky for having the funniest goddamn words. Wildly out of order/messy/random humour things that occur (under readmore because this post is INSANELY long):

Precinct is Not Surprised by Officer Grayson revealing he has a partner, due to conversations like this:

(phone rings) "Grayson here. Wha--oh, hi. What? No, I didn't touch your book, you know I don't read your books. No, I'm not saying there's anything wrong with Chaucer, I just don't have the time-- can we. Can we not. Look, I don't know, maybe it's on the nightstand where you left it after that concussion last week? No, not the one with the grenade drawer, though we do need to talk about that, how do you go through so many so fast? No, I know that, that's why the spare room is your armory, I don't have a problem with that--yes, I know, but that doesn't mean-- ugh. You know what. No, I'm at work. This can wait. Uh huh. Uh huh. No, I want Thai. Thai. You owe me satay for this and you know it. What? Yes, we're still on the Robinson case; whatcha got for me? Uh huh. Uh huh. Really, them? Oh, I know that address, isn't that that warehouse where Timmy--yeah, haha, right? Oh, right? For sure. Let's get that picture printed; he'll hate it. Uh huh. Okay, gotta go, some of us have a day job--no one pays you to be a zombie, okay? Okay, see you at home. Bye."

Reasons why people think it is the Red Hood:

police officer Dick is doing a thing at work and suddenly! The Red Hood appears at his raid/bust/whatever! And he's all "drop the weapons or I'll get another duffle bag" and Dick goes, "Everyone chill a sec," pulls out his phone and is like, "Hey, Red Hood, are you in Blud right now?"

"No? You know I've got that thing at the harbour tonight. Why would I be in Blud?"

"Well, I've got a Red Hood and that's definitely your jacket and hood he's wearing, like, a couple iterations ago but it's yours. You piss off any magic users lately? Trip into any time slips? Dimensional mirrors?"

"No? Shit, when's he from, can you tell?"

"It's that jacket with the high collar, with the stain on the sleeve, you know the one? The red piping?"

"Huh. I haven't worn that one since two summers ago, so careful, he might be riding green?"

"Lemme check. One sec--hey! Mr Hood! How do you feel about Tim?"

"…Tim who?"

"…That's not me."

"That's not you. It's not a time dimensional thing, is it, mr Hood. You're just a copycat."

"I bet he found an old safe house, he stole my shit--Hey, asshole! Wait, am I on speaker? Put me on speaker. Hey, copycat! I want my stuff back! And I'm coming to get it!"

and later when the precinct has gotten sort-of-used to Dick Grayson "being married" to a vigilante:

Grayson and partner walk out the station doors and Red Hood descends upon them, gun out, gets right up in Dick's face and says "I swear to god Dickolas if you leave your wet towel on the ground one more time I will start washing it with peppers and make you regret everything."

2. The Precinct All So Fully Aware of Dick Grayson's secrets yeah man they all know it! Dick Grayson is....dating the Red Hood!

"Grayson? Yeah, he's dating the Red Hood, they're basically married--"

"W h a t, we are not--how--what--"

"oh shit, my bad man, y'all broke up? Sorry to hear it. Anyway, Grayson is the Red Hood's ex--"

"I'M NOT."

"-you're still together?"

"We were never together!"

(precinct decides to set up Officer Grayson and the Red Hood because OBVIOUSLY they've got a bond.png)

"you can encourage him away from crime, grayson!!!"

"I can't encourage him to do shit," dick grumbles, "i cant even get him to have a shower if he doesn't feel like it." (dick ignoring the times he has actively bullied jason into taking care of himself)

Every single not-dirty cop is just: no no of COURSE Grayson won't admit it. That's not fair! He loves being a cop. It must be so hard to balance justice with love.

3. married behaviour: Dick Grayson is Never Beating the Allegations

the Red Hood waltzing into the Blud police station all "here to see Grayson please--that way? (The guns are out but then he asks for Grayson and everyone's like oh shit yeah we wanna see this first hand) "Thanks. Dickiebird! Honey bun! Your forgot your lunch at home, puddin' pie!"

"…what."

"now, now, all these nice folks here have told me we're together, so we must be, mustn't we?"

"No?"

"Oh? You don't want your delicious lunch I handmade for you out of love?"

"…I…didn't say that…"

("Don't you love me?" Jason asks, and every single warning sign yells: this is a trap!! Dick contemplates burying his face in his hands.

"At work?" he says instead, wishing he could transplant his pain so Jason would stop finding such joy in his embarrassment.

"Oh, so you aren't bummed you forget your wonderful home cooked lunch at home? You're happy for me to turn around and take your lunchbox back home with me?"

Roll back- his what?

Jason smacks a bento box on his desk, the clear lid showing off tiny red sausages cut into mini replicas of Jason's helmet and tiny guns, and Dick chokes. Jason's face, he can imagine, is gleeful; his tone certainly gives it away. "And after I put in so much effort…"

"No, no, I love you," Dick says, lunging for the box and mentally discarding the stale coffee and sandwich made with slightly-off meat that he'd been planning to get from the cafeteria.)

Gives him the lunch, goes to kiss him on the head but with the helmet he just straight up bonks him painfully, waltzes out again. "See you later for dinner, sweetheart!"

"Sooo, Grayson…"

"can we arrest him? Why aren't we arresting him? He's super wanted, let's arrest him."

"Please, like we'd get involved in your domestic affairs"

Dick torn between Homemade food and god jay why are you doing this. Do you exist only to make him suffer. Why are you the most evil sibling.

The fake is the biggest one, the kickstart, because how would officer Grayson know that wasn't hood unless he knew the red hood well? - but then it's bits and pieces, that Dick doesn't even do consciously, and then Jay finding out and the Lunch Situation Dick gets called in by his captain and he's like no sir I swear sir it's not, I'm not-

I'm doing an undercover op

His captain, not buying that shit for a minute: uh-huh

Barbara: "okay but Deathstroke was bad enough, now you're going after the Red Hood? You've got a dangerous type, boy wonder"

"babs why are you doing this to me"

"don't pretend you don't know >:/"

babs hanging in the bludhaven office during Dick's lunchbreak and ABSOLUTELY supports more rumours. She's Dick's best friend!!! Of course SHE'D know about Dick's ~paramour~.

Dick is going to hide under his desk and Never Ever Come Out Again

His captain realising red hood is less violent when Grayson's on the scene and finally awkwardly is like "look….if it's because the Precinct isn't a safe space for you…"

"IF I REALLY WAS DATING A CRIMINAL IT SHOULDNT BE A SAFE SPACE."

so his co workers start working around it but then Dick gets into a situation where he'd Have to testify and he's like. Shit. and he goes NOPE SORRY CAN'T DO IT, CAN'T TESTIFY AGAINST MY SPOUSE WHO IS. THE RED HOOD. :) MY SPOUSE THE RED HOOD. (is dying)

Moment of quiet then "wait who won the pot? Was it Johnson? Mick, you owe me $20 personally--"

Jason is going to be insufferable.

But also yes, Dick getting wildly congratulated for "finally managing to put a ring on it" or some shit and he's like/ Don't put your head in your hands don't put your head in your hands, don't --

"So how'd you two meet?"

1: "he stole my dad's tires so we kidnapped him" (true)

2: "he attempted to kill my little brother and also my dad" (true)

3: "he saved me from a mugging?" (Embarrassing lie)

and you KNOW he has to say 3 tho, the other two may have come up earlier about Jason and he canNOT let anyone connect them

The bullpen dissolving into yelling as everyone tries to sort out bets. Dick being asked who/how popped the question.

4. Dick Grayson and "I was trying to infiltrate the dirty cops of the precinct but goddamnit being Red Hood's fiance has revealed there are so many of them- and now they're throwing me a stag party. great.

Dick trying to salvage any of his dignity: Red Hood proposed. He was very romantic about it. Read me Shakespeare. Threatened to maim my enemies. Very sweet

"awww.. it's really great that he's so enamored with you Grayson, you deserve it :))"

"and you stopped him at only maiming!!! Dude, nice!!"

"yep. That was his (grits teeth) proposal gift. No more killing."

Jason, busting into their apartment later: DID YOU TELL PEOPLE YOU WERE ENGAGED TO THE RED HOOD?

Except Jason busts in on a contingent of tipsy and delighted cops. Who are like oh!!! Grayson friend!! Celebrate with us!

Jason forcibly cuddled and celebrated with, trying to yell at dick in code: "YOU'RE MARRYING THE RED HOOD? ARE YOU CRAZY? WHAT ABOUT HIS REPUTATION."

Dick: "I CAN'T TESTIFY AGAINST HIM JAY. HE'S IMPORTANT TO ME."

Cop: "Wait you didn't tell your brother you were gonna have a wedding?!?"

"It was- it was a city hall thing! It's hard to be discreet- Hood didn't want witnesses-"

"Not gonna want witnesses for what happens next either," jason mumbles.

5. Tim Does Not Need to be Blackmailed into Humiliating Dick:

"Here to see Grayson please. That way? Thank you." (deep breath) "D--Dick?"

"Tim? Timmy, oh no, why are you crying, what's wrong, Tim, what--"

"How could you?"

"Little bird no, what did I do, Timmybird talk to me--"

"You're dating a supervillain? What if you get hurt??? Dick, this isn't like you!"

"...how much is he paying you."

"How could you think that of me!"

"Oh. What's he blackmailing you with?"

"I JUST WANT YOU TO BE CAREFUL," Tim howls, scrubbing his eyes and using his stupid babyface to great effect and Dick's gonna kill both of them

Dick finally get him to "calm down" and as they hug and say bye, Tim whispers, "if you think this isn't the funniest shit I've participated in all year you're out of your mind. Blackmail isn't required."

Dick, uncomfortably aware that Tim will help Jason stir the pot in cackling delight if he thinks something's funny, is not comforted by the fact that they're bonding. He is immediatly right, because he later finds pictures of himself drooling on Jason's shoulder, but they've been edited so Jason has on the hood. Several guys in the precinct think it's very sweet

("Aww I just thought Dick would like some family photos for his desk, y'know, officer John? Let him know we support him🥺")

6. Post-wedding wedding gift from the precinct:

"We had a whiparound for you, Grayson; here."

"…Uh. What."

"Well since you're with the Red Hood--"

"UH!?"

"--right, since you're totally not with the Red Hood and have no contact with vigilantes ever and James totally didn't see anyone crawl through your window the other night bleeding, we got you a good first aid kit. So you can learn and be a more supportive boyf--I mean. Just in case. First aid kits are a good staple of any mixed household :)"

Dick later delivering it: "Guys at the precinct got us a wedding present. It's a first aid kit."

"Oh? Cool, we're out of Oxy anyway, good timing--"

"it doesn't have Oxytocin in it, Jay, that's a controlled substance, they're cops!"

"Well then what use is it!"

"Its usefulness isn't the point! Anyway, they themed it."

"WAIT THEY DID WHAT" (immediately delighted and digging through the kit)

Someone has individually drawn tiny red hood helmets on the bandaids

A note like "eyo dick, washable red pen works rlly well if u wanna write notes to your beau on these too"

Jason cackles and puts a bandaid on his perfectly fine helmet because he's so charmed

Dick goes into work one day with a black eye, a small cut on his forehead, and a Red Hood bandaid over it. Jason has written a tiny message on the bandaid like "healing kisses applied".

One of the secretaries who works DV cases very worriedly and subtly approaches him but Dick just immediately says, "No I got mugged, he saved me"

"damn. You get mugged a lot in front of him huh-"

"Well I have that kinda face, I guess"

"good thing you've got someone to save you!"

"…Yes. It's a good thing I get saved. Yes indeed. Love it."

(gasp) "Is this a flirting thing???"

7. Dick Grayson Has a Type, don't you know?

Red Hood manages a short appearance with just the domino, not the hood, and he's dyed his hair temporarily red

(this backfires: Dick shamelessly takes the opportunity to glomp on and brag about his super smart so strong really amazing (little bro)

"he can bench me!! It's so cool! And he's so supportive when he does I feel so safe in his arms :)))"

"you're a loser and I'm gonna hurt you."

"and my enemies~")

8. FAMILY DINNER, BABY

Bruce: so. I heard something interesting the other day. The bludhaven Precinct got to celebrate an engagement

Dick: no

Bruce: congratulations, Dick

Jason, also lowkey dying bc he figured bruce would know but was also kinda not expecting him to bring it up in front of the WHOLE ENTIRE FAMILY

Bruce: I'm sure you've put plenty of thought into your....choice.

Dick: I'm going to self combust and then you won't have a son OR a dining room table. Is that what you want? Is that what you want, Bruce?

Bruce: I just wish you'd invited more family than just. Jason.

Dick: you're dead to me

Jason, mumbling: hey tbf I had to be there

Bruce: "I want you to know I support you, no matter what. Just because Red Hood is--"

Jason: "what, a vigilante? A zombie? A mass murderer? What am I, Bruce?"

Bruce: "--male, I don't see you any differently. You're my son, no matter who you love."

Bruce: I just wish- well, no, it was your choice. But I hope you know a private wedding won't get you out of wedding gifts.

Jason/Dick: nO

Bruce: I took the liberty of having them delivered already :)) And if you would- Just a small ceremony, in the backyard--it would mean a lot to Alfred, and to me--

Jason: OLD MAN WHAT DID YOU DO

Dick: there better be a return policy---

and because it's fucking Bruce he's absolutely using the excuse to get them So Much Fancy Bitch Shit

(And a dog 🐕)

Bruce: a home for a family :))) if you'd like. I know the Red Hood cares deeply for children. --and you know how I feel about your place in Blud, Dick, it's no place to start a family.

Dick: "Please don't tell me you bought us an apartment."

Bruce: "Don't be silly, boys. I bought the whole building. it'll give hood plenty of space to store his things away from the kids!"

Jason: what kids.

Bruce: well, I always presumed, from red hood's behaviour, he'd quite like a few children. Even just to foster.

Alfred coming out stone faced, "congratulations on your nuptials, master Dick. Felicitations."

Dick: "Not you too."

Alfred: Miss Gordon informed me.

Alfred, sounding disappointed as fuck: I'm glad I was informed by someone.

Jason: Bruce I'm absolutely gonna bury you

Bruce: may I meet my grandchildren first?

Bruce: Anyway that was Dick's present. Please give this to Mr Grayson-Hood--oh, did you not hyphenate? I assumed you would, apologies. It's full tuition to Blud U for however long he wants. Do give him my best wishes too.

And then Bruce just. So soft. "And please make sure he knows he's always welcome, if he'd like to join us for family dinners. No matter his profession or choices."

I feel like this line would be Way Too Much for Jason and he'd storm off tho 🥺 and Dick would have to go get him to Chill out.

"it's just Bruce. You know what he's like."

"Overbearing and insufferable?" Jason sneers, hands curled around his elbows, and being "married" has been awkward but at least it's finally started to mend the physical distance Jason's been keeping. Dick knows, when he slings his arm around Jason's shoulders and pulls him in close, that Jason isn't going to go stiff and angry.

"Hey. I have an idea on how to make you feel better," he says with a tease, and Jason grunts. "Okay, no, little wing hear me out. How are we gonna get divorced?"

[beauspot]

Loki Matters a Lot to Me *Long Post*

If you go on my page you’ll see that I’ve never posted about the Loki show or Lokius before so you might be wondering why now that the show is (probably) over? I always liked this show, and I considered myself a fan but coming out of it I wasn’t shipping anyone.

Don’t get me wrong I enjoyed the dynamic Loki and Mobius had but I was just happy to have Loki alive so I savored that. Also I sensed some history with Mobius and Ravonna which I still think exists. I found all of the characters interesting. That includes this season but something about season 2 was different for me and I couldn’t figure out why.

Why did this show affect me so much? Why did this second season affect me so much? And particularly why did this ship, Lokius, affect me so much?

To understand where I'm coming from you should probably understand that first of all I am queer and even before I knew I was queer I had a want for queer representation. For me oddly enough it started with Owen Wilson in Night at the Museum. Jedtavius was a pairing I didn't even realized I shipped til I was older. The enemies to lovers thing was so cute and it pretty much got confirmed in the last movie.

(Just inconspicuously having your cowboy character quote Brokeback Mountain no big deal.)

I enjoy a good ship. As I got older however I began to crave real queer representation and I was lucky enough to find it in places like Steven Universe

And Adventure TIme

Then as I reached my mid to late teens I was able to see films like Brokeback, But I'm a Cheerleader, First Girl I Loved, The Miseducation of Cameron Post etc. Seeing these made me feel more secure in my sexuality.

Of course along the way I got dragged into non canon ships some of which were queerbait like Stucky or even worse, Stormpilot/Finnpoe.

The malicious part about all of these ships is the teams behind them waving these pairings out in front of people like a dog with a bone, hoping to draw them in to get their money knowing they had no intention of following through.

And I have become disillusioned with that. I have also become annoyed with fans of straight ships that oppose those queer ships acting like we're reaching.

I bring this up because there is a certain segment of sylkis(not all) and on a broader scale fans of straight ships that have this sense of persecution because fans of a queer pairing don't like their ship. It's weird and I am tempted to say it stems from homophobia. If you simply don't enjoy a ship that's fine. There are queer ships I despise, but try and assess where that hatred comes from.

There is a language that conveys romance and it seems like only when there is a minority involved do you guys become unable to understand it. This is an issue within most fandoms when it comes to not only sexuality but race in popular ships. For example, The Bear fandom in regards to Chef's Kiss, but I digress.

When a character feels the need to constantly touch another character that signals something, when a character fixes themselves so they look nice before they see another character that signals something. The way they talk, the way they act, how they are with and without one another says A LOT.

So why is it when we point these things out we get called delusional? Why do I feel like I'm going crazy every time I speak with someone about a queer ship? And why do I always feel the need to justify it?

Straight, white, pairings never have to justify their existence. They just are. Sylvie and Loki can fight, yell at one another, hurt one another, literally be the same fucking person and people will find that ok, but suddenly when people see Loki fixing himself before he meets Mobius we can't see love in that(you’re telling me this isn’t how someone acts when they see their crush unexpectedly)? We can't see loss in Mobius when he can't even do his job anymore now that Loki is gone? We can't grieve what could have been even if we find Loki as the God of Stories cool?

Why?

Mobius is the first person in probably thousands of years to tell Loki he’s not evil and he can be good if he chooses to be. We see how much this means to him. From this point on Loki is attached to Mobius like a puppy. Mobius becomes his person. I find something so refreshing about Mobius calling Loki out but then also offering him a path to redemption. He doesn’t let Loki slide, because he cares about him enough to know he can be better and Loki deserves to be better for himself.

So I was bothered by the way the finale was set up. I know they have the conversation about “the burden of glorious purpose” and often I am honestly a supporter of not everyone gets a happy ending even if they “deserve” it in a storytelling sense. I find the tragedy in that intriguing, but this didn’t feel good to me on a personal level. I didn’t walk away from the finale feeling sad but fulfilled, I walked away from it feeling miserable and empty. And I recognize that I attach myself to characters more than the general populace but I don’t really care? This hurt.

Loki wanted nothing more than for somebody to be there with him, to be for him, to love him and instead he ends up alone. Mobius ends up back in his timeline but he can't go back to his life. A version of him is already there and our Mobius doesn't even remember his children. Mobius doesn't smile at the end because he isn't happy. He's alone. They are alone and realistically there's a high chance these versions of them will never see each other again.

Does Sylvie seem bothered by that? No. She's ready to go live her life. And there’s nothing wrong with that, she took the gift Loki gave to her but Mobius is clearly, deeply hurt by Loki being gone. Because they found purpose in each other. In the order and chaos.

Having watched Good Omens and Our Flag Means Death season 2(along with the movie Bottoms starring Ayo Edebiri which everyone should watch 😁) in the same year I have become quite used to seeing queer rep in my mainstream shows. As the years have passed more and more queer characters are able to take center stage. So even though I knew Disney's track record I still held out hope because even the writer and composer saw the potential in Lokius.

Tom and Owen did too somewhat, but at the end of the day actors don't write the shows.

I think what bothers me most is that Loki is the first queer character in the MCU, we've seen him struggle and grow and learn to love and finally last season his queerness was made explicit (more than in Thor Ragnarok where he like fucked the Grandmaster or something). And they immediately paired him off with a version of himself.

Loki isn't gay so I'm not saying he had to end up with a man or anything you can be queer and end up with someone who is a gender different than yours my issue is a broader one which is, this story wasn't made to validate bi/pan people who date the opposite sex or whatever it was made to close Loki off to any other possibilities. One of those being Mobius.

Rewatching season 1 this decision is exacerbated because there are moments where they could have had him flirt with a man like when he was D.B. Cooper and boom we have on screen rep, but they decided “nah let’s just have him say it one time and then never acknowledge it again.” Again I want to reiterate, you can be queer and not be in a same gender relationship, but this is a television character. We don’t know their innermost thoughts like we’re reading a book we have to take them at their actions and we never got the opportunity for our first queer character to express that(at least in his own show because remember the grandmaster, but somehow that feels worse).

The executive producer recently came out and said Loki and Mobius were always meant to be platonic because they were trying to dismantle toxic masculinity by portraying “platonic male friendships”. A phrase I have grown to hate over the years because ALL WE EVER SEE ARE PLATONIC MALE FRIENDSHIPS. This is another parallel with issues I have with The Bear in which the cast and crew were like “why can’t women and men just be friends?” but only in reference to the black girl. Back to the topic at hand though.

Have you ever met a queer person who acknowledges they’re queer once and then never talks about it again? Especially someone with as much showmanship as Loki? Does that make sense to anybody? Even if he ultimately ended up with Sylvie(which I wouldn’t have liked but I digress) that would have been enough for me.

But instead we had this troubled character give up everything and everyone they love to sit on a throne they didn’t even want so that their friends could have a choice. So that they could have a life. And again I can find beauty in that, but that doesn’t mean I have to like it. And I won’t pretend I do.

🥀End of Post🥀

sidenote ouroboros is so autistic tell me i’m wrong. he’s literally an autistic with no experience of ableism just pure autistic sunshine.

[iridescentis]

for the ask game :)

001 - perfectdolls

Ooo fun!!

when I started shipping it if I did:

I wanna say a couple months ago? I think? the earliest perfectdolls reblog I did was early june and that makes sense since I got into RTC in april, so I've shipped them for roughly that long :)

my thoughts:

LOVEEEEE <333333 My darlings my favs they are WONDERFUL I could talk about them foreverrr

I think they have SUCH a fun dynamic with tons of potential like okay so Jane and Ocean, ADORE, the beauty of Ocean's character development coming from seeing the human in a lost girl with no identity and sacrificing her own motivations to give someone she never even knew the chance is poetic PERFECTION AGH <3 the love is just so complex and beautiful I could SCREAM, then we've got RTC fanon Penny and Ocean, so essentially Penny the blank canvas, which I also ADORE, I love seeing their dynamic with different Pennys since every writer has a different take on her

BUT ANOTHER THING. TELL ME LEGOLAND PENNY AND OCEAN AREN'T WONDERFUL. like you've got this girl who has ultimately done some fucked up stuff but doesn't swear, is very anxious and is trying to be a good person, and then little miss perfect over here with her high and mighty attitude THAT IS A WHOLE COMBINATION I LOVE (and will explore in my next multichap I mean what cough cough)

What makes me happy about them:

I think they have such cute potential, just from seeing how Ocean starts to soften to Jane's presence within the show but also outside of that, it's two girls who have done fucked up stuff, whether it was justified or not, finding each other and healing in a way. They have kinda similar backgrounds, and I think they would really ground each other. They just complete each other in that way, Ocean has the determination and outspokeness that Penny needs to stand up for herself and be confident, and Penny has that deep understanding and care for other people that Ocean needs (both for herself and to learn from)

What makes me sad about them:

THEY ARE SO TRAGIC. THEY ARE PEAK TRAGEDY TO ME. I WILL NEVER STOP WRITING FUCKED UP POETIC RAMBLINGS ABOUT HOW FUCKING SAD THEY ARE.

Ocean's sacrifice, letting go of Jane and in the process her only chance at life, just to let her last moments go towards something good, Jane leaving the girl who learned to care for her too late, the intrinsic separation between the two of them and life and death, two lovers who can never be together AGH IT'S SO GOOD. I think they are perfect for absolutely heartbreaking angst, cyclone accident included or not, and it will always make me weep

things done in fanfic that annoys me:

This is more of a general thing for RTC fics but it does annoy me in perfectdolls fics especially - Ocean's flaws being ignored. I totally get not wanting to delve into hard-hitting character stuff and redeeming her in a realistic, detailed way, sometimes you just wanna write some fluffy lesbians, I get that! But I do feel like some perfectdolls fics kinda butcher Ocean's character entirely to avoid having to address she's flawed or even that she's more than just a blushy mess in a romance scenario like she's always VERY outspoken and loud and energetic I just can't see her being shy, sweet and agreeable while also ignoring ALL of her faults

it's easier to gloss over her character being simplified when she's not the main one in a fic but it really bugs me when people just. get rid of the bad stuff with no explanation or even acknowledgement. and you really can't get away with that when she's half of the main ship in the fic. my only exception for this would be future AUs, like if they're in their 20s I think you're fine to move past that but still, OOC Ocean pisses me off in all shapes and forms

I think Penny is hard to write OOC because most fics don't use Legoland!Penny and thus have literally nothing to go off, so remarkably Penny characterisation doesn't ever really bother me, AS LONG AS SHE HAS CHARACTER. PLEASE FOR THE LOVE OF GOD GIVE BOTH OF THESE GIRLS A PERSONALITY.

okay I have ranted enough now 😅

things I look for in fanfic:

BACKSTORY. I FUCKING LOVE PERFECTDOLLS BACKSTORY. ALSO ANGST.

perfectdolls have great slowburn potential but sadly I do not have the patience for slowburn unless the fic is incomplete and I'm reading updates as they come out, so with oneshots and stuff I look for solid characterisation, probably post-cyclone but I'm not too fussy with that, some good build up and context, and just a lil bit of spice yk just a dash for some flavour

in a general sense, with fanfic I'm always looking for getting together, in universe, probably friends to lovers although rivals can be good, and like a maximum of 20k words

Who I’d be comfortable them ending up with, if not each other: 

CDPLAYER 💞💓💖💕 MY LOVES. yeah if Penny is not with Ocean she is 100% with Tammy I love them DEARLY <3333

Ocean is a tricky one, I think I would be happy for her to end up with Constance, I'm not a huge blackrose shipper but I'm never mad at them as a side pairing in other fics, I would be comfortable with them together if not perfectdolls, although generally if I'm not writing perfectdolls Ocean won't end up with anyone

My happily ever after for them:

This one is hard because almost everything I have written or come up for them that has an ending always ends badly 😭 I have never written them a happy ending before oops

I think, them living together in the city in their twenties, both of them chasing their dreams, going to college together and moving in together afterwards, I think that could be cute

who is the big spoon/little spoon:

Jane x Ocean - Jane is the big spoon, Ocean is the little spoon RTC!Penny x Ocean - Penny is the big spoon, Ocean is the little spoon Legoland!Penny x Ocean - Ocean is the big spoon, Penny is the little spoon

what is their favorite non-sexual activity:

hmmm again the fact I only ever think about sad ass prompts for them is failing me 😭

this is more of genre of activities rather than a particular one but intimate non-sexual self-care is probably super important to them, like washing and brushing each others hair, doing their routines for each other, meditating together, just simple very close things to take care of each other

I think both characters can have tendency to neglect themselves and be detrimental to their own wellbeing (whether that's self neglect in pursuit of perfection or self-sabotage) and so I think taking care of each other in a sweet and healing way would be their favourite

for more generic answers I think they love doing things together, whatever it is, they love to be productive together like running errands, organising events/hang outs, volunteering (animal shelter perhaps?) and they are DEFINITELY the kind of people who love coexisting while doing their own thing, like doing homework in silence in the same room is precious to them, Penny listening to music while Ocean studies or plans whatever she's got her heart set on, and they would definitely call just to have each other on the phone even though they aren't talking

That's all I've got! This was fun :D

[thrilling-oneway]

You are so right with m/f stuff! I’m not familiar with a lot of VBS shipping discourse, but it’s annoying to see how people can’t write an analysis on how important Tsukasa is to Rui without others dog piling them and saying they’re delusional and ignoring canon for their yaoi “with no content”. (At least on twitter, tumblr is much better with this) And as someone whose also bisexual, it’s so annoying seeing people use bisexuality as a gotcha to ship m/f and act as if its progressive and that it gives them the okay to hate on f/f and m/m pairings.

YES YES EXACTLY. God I hate when people keep saying that ruikasa has no content and their dynamic is underdeveloped whenever anyone talks about them. Like as biased as I am because I like the ship, they do have a very developed dynamic regardless of if you like the ship or not. Literally there's three events about it (potato and pandemonium + it was a pretty big background element in curtain call), one of which is the third event in the game. like if you don't like ritk that's perfectly fine, but when people are dogpilling ritk shippers for talking about their dynamic/pandemonium chapter 8/wtv and saying they're reaching, especially if the person doing this is an account dedicated to another rui ship/are a rui fan, it's a bad look because you're literally ignoring a very significant part of his arc. Ignoring massively important aspects of a character you claim to like just because of a ship is low. This fandom is way too set on everything being about shipping like bruh no one is telling you that you had to view pandemonium as romantic you can view it as platonic perfectly fine and not need to erase parts of rui's character to justify your rui/female character ship.

it's an especially weird situation with VBS as well. as much as I hold the earlier EN fandom to a higher standard there was a lot of discourse around VBS and the fact that they're implied gay. like it used to be a situation where if you admitted you shipped m/f vbs you would get jumped. as a comeback people would accuse biphobia but i never saw huge amounts of people being actually biphobic. saying "an and kohane are quite heavily implied to be lesbians (and it makes some people uncomfortable to see them shipped with men)" is a true statement but people didn't need to attack others over it. not liking a bi headcanon isn't biphobic unless you're actually being biphobic about it yknow? luckily it calmed down after a while but now you get jumped for not shipping m/f which leads us straight back to the statement about an and kohane. gbr the situation with vbs shipping nowadays is much worse than the situation when i first joined, obviously partially bc of the massive increase in fandom size but mainly because people are spewing actual homophobic rhetoric over akty ankh (someone literally tried to claim heterophobia was real bc of people not liking m/f vbs a couple months ago. actually this has happened multiple times).

AND YES GOD THIS FANDOM'S APPROACH TO BI HEADCANONS IS SO FUCKING ANNOYING. Like people only use it as a way to make m/f ships more queer and try to 1 up people with it because oh yes male/female couple are not the norm at all and they're so cool and different and if you add a bi/pan hc on top of that it makes you more progressive (/s). HCing a character as bi does not give you cool points and the fact that so many people only do it for m/f ships pisses me off to no end because people treat it like Straight 2 when bi people can be in m/m and f/f relationships. People can hc whatever they want ofc but it's so obvious sometimes that people are only using bi hcs as a way to quickly round off their hcs for every character so they can multiship or justify their m/f ships as queer and at that point I'd rather they just hc'd them as straight because I don't like seeing my identity used solely for the purpose of making a ship more queer because someone doesn't want their m/f to be a hetship.

[happymagicbee]

***Obx s3 spoilers***

This is just my opinion

1. Why did we get only 10 minutes with them on the island?? I think after s2 finale all I could think about was what they were doing on the island and I just wanted to see a bit more of that

2. I liked that Kiara acknowledged that screaming murderer at Ward was the DUMBEST fucking think to do

3. Rafe and Kiara working together was fun. Kiara pushing Rafe and stealing his boat to save everyone was everything I wanted and more! Also people ship them now???

4. The group dynamics was off the minute they got back to the obx. I miss their little conversations in between reminding us they are still awkward teenagers

5. This might be controversial but I liked jiara. I think being stranded on the island changed things for all of the Pogues but especially them. jj was happy and not in his usual fight or flight mode he had to be in to survive in Kildare. Yeah living on a deserted island is hard but at least no one is beating you and making you feel worthless. And I think that for Kiara saving jj and almost losing him gave her a opportunity to explore her feelings after the whole Pope fiasco.

6. Pope and Cleo were the cutest freaking thing! I just wish they weren't so separated from the group all the time.

7. I don't like John b's father, I think him and Ward are not that different.

8. Also big John isolating John b from his friends and making him lie to them "for their safty" was a very shitty thing to do.

9. I liked the little detail of big John getting shot in the same place Sarah was shot.

10. Wards little Christian awakening was a bit weird but I think it's more of a me thing than a show thing

11. Topper helping to steal the "cross" was hilarious

12. I liked Topper burning down the chateau after being manipulated by Sarah (again). I don't think he should have done that or that it was justified in any way but he did kinda showed his true colors

13. Did kie's parents see big John, Ward and Luke and think what horrible thing can we do that they haven't done yet? They kinda tried with the phone and the money but not really... what I thought could be nice is if she forgave them in the time jump (they were in the crowd cheering at the end) but she would get emancipated

14. The little shove/hug between Sarah and jj was everything to me. I love this friendship and I wish we got to see more of that

15. And just more of all the platonic relationships in the group

16. I definitely think we needed more group scenes. Their chemistry is what made this show so fun and compelling.

17. I liked that Sarah addressed the weirdness everyone felt after getting off the island

18. The time jump was annoying but I get it, they didn't know of there would be a fourth season bc Netflix is known to have canceled shows that seemingly are loved by viewers (I'm still bitter about The Society but that's for another time) so just in case they did get canceled we get (kinda lame) closure.

19. Why did that old dude come to them with the blackbeard thing?

20. Again I'm gonna say I loved jiara and how they handled it because they knew it will have consequences on their friendship and it's something they are not willing to give up on it easily. Kie taking a leap of faith and jj recoilling bc he's afraid to lose it was very touching

21. When presented with the opportunity both John b and pope went for it but jj who is seen as the most reckless one actually took a step back.

22. I liked that Sarah made the choice to be with them, she had all the reasons to stay with Topper but she didn't. I didn't like how cliché they made it but I liked the choice aspect.

23. The scene where jj and John b fighting on the grass and shoupe just standing there chef's kiss

I'm sure I'll have more but I'm off to re-binge it all again

[bi-bats]

for the ask game - JayTim obviously!! or, if that's been asked already, maybe JayRoy?

YESSSSSSSS okay I'm gonna do both ships, because neither has been asked yet!

We're going to start with Jaytim though, because obviously I ship it 😂

What made you ship it?

There was a fic by Timmyjaybird that I read that had unrequited Jaytim (different main pairing with Tim), and their dynamic piqued my interest. I decided to click into the ship page, read strange fear I ain't felt for years by sister, and then it was over for me. If you know me, you'll know I always say that all it takes is reading one good fic for a ship and I'll start shipping it. Plus I'm a Tim kinnie and Jason is so so hot, so theres definitely a projection character/attraction character thing going on

What are your favorite things about the ship?

All the ways I can play with them. They can be fucked up, unstable, unwell, obsessive (on both sides). They can be bitter and angry and fall into each other (which I tend to favor in longer works). They can be soft and sweet and gentle and forgiving. They can be blushing and nervous and uncertain. They can be petty and annoyed and really into riling each other up. It ALWAYS works. And also, there's something I find so fascinating about the way they accidentally helped create each other. Tim as Robin happened mostly because of Jason, and Jason becoming Red Hood and going after Bruce gets set into motion because he finds out about Tim. They're a feedback loop and neither of them is happy with the results. Okay, I have to stop here before this turns into a dissertation. Or before I spoil a future fic which I already had to erase a spoiler for so next question

Is there an unpopular opinion you have about the ship?

A little bit? I think my only opinion that some people disagree with (but isn't necessarily unpopular) is that I don't like the whole Pit Madness thing. When Jason came back he had a fucked up plan, and he wasn't entirely in his right mind, but he justified it. He was doing the wrong thing for the right reasons when it came to Tim (being mad at Bruce because he's going to get Tim killed and then he almost kills Tim to prove the point). It's something I explore in my fics at almost every opportunity, because I think it's too easy to let Jason off the hook by blaming it on the pit. It also frustrates me because it doesn't really matter whether or not he meant to hurt Tim, because he did. And I like watching him take responsibility for the knowledge that he wanted to hurt Tim, and being forced to confront the realization that his logic at the time involved a lot of mental gymnastics, and grapple with the idea that it might not be a thing he can fix and that even if it is, Tim probably shouldn't forgive him, and definitely shouldn't get involved with him. Okay, halfway through writing this I realized that I definitely have an unpopular opinion about them, but I'm not erasing all that, so you get both. I hate the nickname babybird. I know. I know! I hear you all disagreeing with me. I see you all throwing tomatoes at me. I just don't like it! I don't think it's cute. I like little red or little bird much better, personally.

Okay I'm also gonna do JayRoy but this is getting long, so I'm gonna put the rest under the cut.

JayRoy: I ship it!!!

What made you ship it?

I think one of my friends told me they knew it was a ship and they thought it was cute sometimes and I checked it out? I've actually been reading Jayroy since before I read Jaytim. And as previously stated, all it takes is one good fic.

What are your favorite things about the ship?

Honestly I just love their relationship so much. Roy is one of the few people Jason ever really allows to get close to him after becoming Red Hood (if we're ignoring the whole being brought back into the batfamily thing which I have a Lot of Opinions about, but that's a story for another time, anyone reading this can feel free to send me an ask if you want the rant), and I really just love the way they understand each other and are there for each other. I also love that they're assholes to each other. Roy is so irritating and Jason should hate it but he can't and he doesn't because Roy is too endearing and genuine. It's sweet. It's the angry one and the sunshine one.

Is there an unpopular opinion you have about the ship?

I guess? I think they work better as friends who also sleep together. Like, I don't necessarily think they should date. I think that if they ever ended up in a long-term relationship, it would be because Jason realizes he hasn't slept with anyone else in years and they've been partners for even longer than that. But when it comes to things that healthy relationships should have, I don't really see them having it. It's not healthy to start dating someone because you realize you already are after not talking about it for years. I think too much of the responsibility and emotional labor would fall on Roy, and I think he deserves better.

okay, if you're still reading at this point then thank you for reading!!! and thanks for the ask!! I had so much fun answering this 💚💚💚

[earthgrudgefear]

hidan!!! for the ask game

YES right to it

obviously this is going to be a long post

you've been warned !

favorite thing about them: oh man. i think he's a really unique character. he's only like 2% justified in his anger and he makes it everyone else's problem. he's never depicted as anything BUT evil. the shinobi world is insane right? toddlers are raised as soldiers the second they can hold a knife. and so was he, no different from the rest of them. and the series Doesn't like to push that blame onto people, really early on you hear about all the awful things zabuza did and at the end of their battle he still dies as a respectable shinobi. BUT from start to end with hidan he is ONLY bad. he's doing this for FUN he's not doing it for a mission, he's not doing it because he needs to do it to survive like it was NEVER in question that this guy is JUST EVIL. but you CAN find these human sides to him. he has a Real bond with kakuzu, like they Actually are concerned for each other. in Akatsuki Hiden he meets a kid and he forms a bond with That Kid to the point of giving him funeral rites (burial rites?) when he dies. not as a sacrifice but as someone he cared about. when his village turned on him and he felt REAL betrayal. if he didn't care about them to some extent, he wouldn't still be mad about it. it's just FASCINATING.

least favorite thing about them: i don't even think there's anything i don't like about him. he's so fucking annoying and if i had to deal with him i'd try to kill him too BUT because i don't have to deal with him he's my best friend i like him SO much

favorite line: to be so transparent i like when he's picking on kakuzu for keeping the headband for him.

AND if i can use the book - i like this, it's less about the line itself but more about the repetition of it. like this is how they start every fight and i just think that's delightful

brOTP: y'all already know it's kisame. my defense for this has absolutely no basis in their interactions because honestly? kisame doesn't care for him too much. HOWEVER kisame is the easiest akatsuki member to get along with and hidan is basically impossible to get along with. i think it's a good match.

OTP: kakuhida, motherfuckers. they're everything to me. they were on screen for all of three seconds and i already knew that was it. i haven't been normal about them since. and they're canon as far as i'm concerned. stated or not they were Something.

nOTP: k*nan (sorry for censoring you name queen i don't want it to be searchable) i have such a Visceral reaction to them together i Cannot stand it. their characterization is so BUTCHERED for that ship that they become Unrecognizable. and i don't fucking get it like ??? yes they're both hot PICK ANYONE ELSE. also shipping him with any of the kids. like. that's not cute. he's young but he's not that young also holy shit they don't deserve that anyway

random headcanon: i probably mentioned this somewhere before and it's so easy but i think his favorite color's pink. like red sure because i mean look at him but also. Pink. i like pink for him.

unpopular opinion: i've touched on this before i don't think jashinism is real. i think he made it up and i think maybe he's convinced himself it's real. but i don't think there is a single other person who's ever heard of or tried to join the religion before. there's the kid i mentioned from the book but he learned straight from hidan, and then goddamned ryuki from boruto who i swear to God the writers wanted him to literally be hidan but they weren't allowed. neither of which really compel me to believe it. it just doesn't make tons of sense

song i associate with them: ouuh choke on one another death spells. that's been a big one recently

favorite picture of them:

favorite's a big word but i had this one saved to my phone which is probably good enough

OKAY 10000 points if you made it to the end you win idk what you win but you win

[pkmnomegaverse]

Me not that long ago: I think I need to complicate the protags more. Calem can't be the only messy one. Perhaps Hilbert? He has vibes due to abandoning everyone he knows for like 2 years to track down some guy he might or might not be in love with.

VoloRei happens: Well...that's certainly one way to complicate a protag!

Although even past that, I've been thinking more and more on how Lucas being forced by Arceus to complete some vague mission in a different time period with no obvious way back home might fuck up a guy a little bit. Especially if I really do make PLA last like 2+ years. Arceus never actually says he'll send him home if he completes his "mission," Lucas is just left hoping/assuming that's what will happen if he follows along with what the God wants. If nothing else, would Lucas not have Feelings about it all. I've always characterized Lucas as being very "hero-oriented" which is why he takes to being Champion so well. Wants to emulate Cynthia in how he conducts himself. Be someone strong and determined like her, with a strong sense of protecting the people and Pokemon of Sinnoh. So I think, at first, he's able to justify things to himself as this whole situation is just a way to help the people and Pokemon of Hisui. Since surely whatever Arceus wants with him relates to that? And has he not always jumped to help people in need when they ask.

I don't talk about them near enough since it's not a shipping thing with those two, but Cynthia really is someone who's very important to Lucas' development. I think a lot about how the protags having to save the region so young, often without any direct help, might mess with them a bit. Force them to grow up too fast. But some of them do have people they can turn to and for Lucas, one of those people is Cynthia. Sure, for gameplay reasons, Lucas is the one having to take down Team Galactic, but the way I read it, had Lucas failed, Cynthia would have stepped in to stop Cyrus in the Distortion World. So it wasn't solely on Lucas to solve that problem. The Champion of Sinnoh was right there to help him.

Since Lucas has the majority of his memories in Sinnoh, I do think that colors how he sees Volo at first as well. The similarity in appearance between Volo and Cynthia is striking, he would very much notice it (inversely, Cyllene looking like Cyrus has a similar, but opposite effect in how he views her, not helped by how coldly she treats him during their first meeting). With Volo being one of the first people (other than Laventon) who is kind to him in Hisui before he "proves himself," its a double whammy for why he trusts Volo so quickly. Cynthia had been mentoring Lucas before he's sent to Hisui to succeed her as a proper Champion (technically he was already Champion, but I like the idea that when the Champion is someone too young, the previous Champion lingers to make the transition smoother). So, subconsciously, but likely even somewhat consciously as well, Lucas likes and trusts Volo quickly because he reminds him of Cynthia.

There's still enough differences between the two where as Lucas gets to interact with Volo more, his feelings for him change over time. Sees him and Cynthia as distinct, even as any similarities get him wistfully thinking about the people back home he's lost. I wouldn't say that Lucas ever had a crush on Cynthia per se, he had always had his heart set on Barry, but I think even he knows Cynthia is prime most eligible alpha bachelorette of Sinnoh. Their relationship was always professional, mentor/mentee if you will, but he knows objectively, someone like Cynthia is a catch.

So when he notices his feelings for Volo taking on a romantic edge, he's very much beating those feelings back, but is also kind of annoyed at himself since he never thought of Cynthia this way. Why should it be different with this guy. He chalks it up to being older now, that being on the cusp of adulthood (and for all intents and purposes living as an adult in Hisui) is what's complicating his feelings, but he's still annoyed at himself for it. Had he not decided to wait for Barry? It doesn't help he can never actually tell if Volo is subtly courting him or just being friendly (Akari is having to point out the first few times people try to court him, since different time period means he is not picking up on ye older day courting gestures, and he's not about to ask Akari to interpret Volo's actions for him), so vows to ignore the entire thing.

The larger reason he ignores any growing feelings though, and turns down any advances by others, is that in the back of his mind, he's assuming his stay in Hisui is temporary. He just needs to fulfill his mission from Arceus and then surely Arceus will send him home. In this context, would it not just hurt both himself and his partner if he is going to leave them behind in the end (it's an intentional parallel to why Volo avoids romantic attachments, similar reasoning of leaving the other person behind in the end. But one is kind, one is...less so).

Until the thrown of the the village event occurs and what follows makes Rei unable to ignore his growing feelings any longer.

[ziskandra]

*cackles* 7, 10, 11, 13, and 24

7. what character did you begin to hate not because of canon but because how how the fandom acts about them? hate is probably too strong a word but i've developed a knee-jerk reaction to fellow anders fans over the years because of the subset that truly seem to think he can do no wrong and that all of his actions were entirely justified and had no negative consequences for anybody in kirkwall other than the templars. on one hand, i kinda get it, because i know anders fans have also gotten a lot of flack because... this fandom is incapable of being normal. on the other, i have a knee-jerk reaction towards anyone who assumes everyone plays these sort of games the exact same way as them (or indeed, the same way each time). i totally respect people doing whatever they want in their games and in their fanworks, but it's when it comes out in harassment of others or making bad faith assumptions about the character of actual living human beings that i'm like. no thank you. obviously there are fans of other characters who also engage in this behaviour, anders is just the one where my negative fandom experiences outweigh the positive ones, personally.

oh also, while i'm being salty (the name of the game i SUPPOSE), i fucking love f!handers but m!handers leaves me cold (especially in canon-verse fic, i don't mind it as much in like, modern AUs and the like?) idk i feel like them being the same gender changes their dynamic in a way i can't articulate--probably that hawke being female shifts the power dynamics a bit and. yeah. 10. worst part of fanon

again, 'worst' is probably a harsh word, but when it comes to pervasive fanon that i personally just don't like, it has to be visibly mixed-race alistair. i don't mind it as much when his ears have like, a subtle point to them or whatever, but speaking personally as someone who is visibly mixed, to the point that i have fielded complete strangers asking "what are you" on regular occasions, alistair's narrative would be. quite different if he wasn't human-passing. and while i get that some mixed-race people find solace in making their blorbos more representative of who they are and their identities not causing any issues, it leaves me cold. and again, i don't care what other people do, but it's when some people act like fellow fans who dare depict alistair as he appears in canon are being racist or what have you that i get annoyed. like, yeah, dragon age fandom does have problems with race, but like... this is imo not one of them, and it detracts from like. bringing awareness to actual issues. yeah yeah people can care about multiple things at once, but by the same token, people can only care about so many things at once, yknow? also this fandom in particular has a real problem with treating poc like we're all a monolith, and that includes both white people and poc. i find it especially frustrating that the dominant discourse centers north american race politics the most, but god forbid anyone try to address that directly .... but that's a rant for another time lmao. 11. number of fandom-related words you've filtered i have about 16 fandoms i'm not in filtered mostly bc they just turn up on my dash a lot, and a handful of characters/ships filtered for fandoms i am in! the one that has been consistently filtered the longest is reyes vidal. 13. worst blorbofication

oooh, this one i think is a toss up between alistair and varric. as someone who loves both these characters more for their flaws rather than their virtues, fandom can be. a difficult time! alistair often gets reduced to this...perfect prince charming, which i think is kind of disappointing considering there is so many different ways for his story to develop depending on the the outcomes of origins? varric, otoh, gets reduced to hawke's bestie a lot. and look. i get it. he is hawke's bestie. he is. very uncritical of hawke, which is not as much of a problem if hawke's a good person but. what if they're not? what if they're not, varric. god, what i would give for like. a fucking complicated characterisation-rich fic which explored like. hawke and varric's friendship and how they're like. codependent messes. (and i say this as someone who loves codependent messes lol). and i guess like.... everyone treats varric being viscount as a meme. and yeah, i get it, the dude is everything everywhere all at once. but i'd really love to see more content focused on like... his relationship with kirkwall, and his feelings regarding his friends and becoming viscount and yeah. anyway!! being a blorbo of mine is the worst because i enjoy pain and suffering. anyway, 24. topic that brings up the most rancid discourse

mage rights and also the chantry boom. i don't think i even have to elaborate on this do it 😭 🔥 choose violence ask game 🔥

[thephantomcasebook]

So apparently both Olivia and Emma will be filming in Spain this month (where they film King's Landing exterior scenes) and this only means one thing: the fall of KL is happening in S2 which is a bit too much isn't it? Considering the season will only have 8 episodes…everything is going to be rushed and there will be no time for proper character development, especially for team green. And sadly I already see lots of people justifying this mess and claiming it's all going to be fine because they'll be moving the Battle of the Gullet to season 3 and Rhaenyra taking the city is the perfect ending because they shouldn't just let her sit the whole season in Dragonstone doing nothing and having no win. Rook's Rest and its aftermath with Aemond being crowned as regent would have been a much better season finale but by the look of things right now this battle will probably happen in episode 4 or 5 and Blood & Cheese in episode 1 or 2…

There's a little speculative inside baseball going on right now of what people are talking about in production that I hear going around private fan discords.

1.) Is that the scene in question is another attempt by Alicent to prevent the full scale war after finding out about what happened between Aemond and Luke above Ship Breaker Bay. Apparently Alicent will completely and totally throw Aemond under the bus, in fact, she'll throw all of her children under the bus trying to maintain peace with Rhaenyra, including offering herself as a hostage.

This lines up with a rumor going around in December that Alicent will be framed as being a secret Rhaenyra sympathizer working against Aemond and Criston's war effrort, and that she would be portrayed as, basically, being a captive of her own children and Lord Commander. This was something that apparently Cooke pitched right after Sapochnik got the boot by HBO/Warner.

I'm not saying this is true, cause you've got be fucking retarded to write Alicent Hightower - the woman who loves her children more than life itself - in such a bullshit manner. But if this does turn out to be the case, it might be one the biggest character missteps/betrayals since Jaime took Brienne's virginity and then went to die with Cersei in Season 8 of GOT.

2.) The other speculative rumor is that this scene takes place post "Blood & Cheese" in which Rhaenyra apparently either never knew that Daemon was targeting Jaehaerys or that they were trying to assassinate Aegon and got Jaehaerys instead. Either way, Rhaenyra is apparently absolved in involvement of this monstrous murder by the writers, and she is trying to apologize to Alicent, but Alicent goes fire and brimstone and vows to help Aemond and Criston make Rhaenyra pay for what she and Daemon have done to her baby boy.

This seems a little more believable, in that I can completely see the writers continuing to try and whitewash Rhaenyra further by making Daemon the monster and Rhaenyra his pigeon. It would also fit with Condal's vow to make Daemon more unlikeable and tarnish him in the eyes of the fandom.

My opinion is that I'd prefer the latter much more than the former. I mean, I'm perpetually super annoyed that they're still trying to whitewash Rhaenyra and make her seem a better person than she ever was for going on thirty years of continuity. But I can live with it if it means getting a more book accurate Alicent who will kill every memeber of team black she lays her Mutha'fuckin eyes on!

I am also 1000% done with whatever fucking girl-crush cutesy bullshit going on between Olivia Cooke and Emma D'arcy. If they want to be friends on their own time, go fucking nuts - by all means get matching t-shirts and B&B with their boyfriends on a doubles vacation, and all that shit. But when it starts to effect the work and they aren't mature enough to play the characters as written without putting their own bullshit into it and it starts to show on screen, than we've got a problem.

I'm telling you, right now, if those December leaks turn out to be true and we get an Alicent who is actively working against her children and who proclaims Aemond a monster to a woman who just murdered her granchild cause she's in love with her, I'm gonna lose my fucking mind.