#but then you disagree with them and you’re any manner of bad person

[wewontbesleeping]

the worst part about a lot of the anti-feminist content online right now is it’s pushed by people who know progressive words and call themselves feminists.

[empress-simps]

Line That Leads To You

Pairing: Sirius Black x Fem! Reader AU: Soulmate AU CW: Language, Genre: Angst with a happy ending (don't worry guys) Summary: You make Sirius realize that having a soulmate isn’t all that bad— that he too, will have his happily ever after.

Note: One of my favorite tropes to write, soulmate AUs! Sirius just needs love and affirmation. I love writing for this! Enjoy! Picture is from pinterest, credits to the owner!

You know, Sirius never really believed in those pesky soulmates stuff. It irks him to no end, and makes his head hurt.

The topic makes him snappy, bitter, and it leaves him feeling angry. To whom? The world— the one who’s responsible for everything that has to do with soulmates. He thinks it is a bunch of bollocks. It’s a pathetic little concept that everyone seems to be too invested in.

Sirius would be very much happy to tell you it doesn’t really end with a happily-ever-after.

“I’m telling you, Prongs. It’s just a bunch of crap.” Sirius tells James one time at the drawing room in the Potter Manor. James shakes his head, disagreeing with his best mate.

“It isn’t always like Walburga and Orion, Pads.” James gently tells him, eyes swimming with empathy for Sirius. “Just look at me, Lily and I are together, finally.” Sirius can’t help but scoff, shaking his head in a disagreeing manner.

“That’s because you were already pathetically in love with her before you even knew she was the one, Prongs. Same thing for Lily, but she was quite stubborn trying to deny what she felt about you. You guys are actually made for each other.” James lets out a laugh, the memories resurfacing making a love-struck smile appear on his face (Sirius gave him a disgusted look)

“That’s what soulmates are, Pads. You’re supposed to complete each other, balance the other person out” He pursed his lips and sighed, there’s no way Prongs could understand his opinion on the matter.

Complete each other, huh?

Then can someone give him a reasonable excuse on why his parents broke each other? One descended into madness; the other doesn’t really seem to care as long as the noble house of Black lineage will continue.

Sirius bites his bottom lip, deep in thought as he stares at his pinky, willing the connection to be seen; a red string that was tied into a bow that leads to Merlin-knows-where. It serves as a connection; the string that he and only his soulmate can see whenever they want. He tugs on it curiously, awaiting any reaction with bated breath. He almost scrambled away when he felt the other end also tug it. Sirius was utterly terrified, a shiver crawled up to his system, it’s foreign feeling for the Black’s eldest son. It made everything feel too real. A fact that he desperately tries to deny.

That night, before they returned to Hogwarts as sixth year students was the last time he ever willed to see the annoying little string in his pinky, not caring if his supposed other half was finding him or already found him.

Maybe it had to do with his twisted upbringing. He saw how his father cut the string tying him to their mother, the purple string that bound them together turning gray and withering away.

He saw how Regulus flinched, no one should’ve seen a scene like that, but they did. Someone severing their connection to someone who should’ve been with them through better or for worse, the one that fate intended for them. Their life got worse just after that, forcing him to flee and leave his younger brother behind at the deranged hands of Walburga Black.

“You should eat more, Reggie.” You turned towards the quiet and reserved Slytherin, pushing his plate closer to him, which made him wince. “I am quite full.” You raised a brow “None sense, all you did was sip pumpkin juice so you better do as I say or I’ll tell Evan and Junior.”

“Do you know that you boss people around quite well?” He grumbles, shoving a few spoonsful of dinner in his mouth as you hummed in approval, cracking a small smile. “I was told.” Your eyes flickered to the Gryffindor table, it seemed to gravitate you, pulling you in.

Looking down at your pinky, you willed the string to be visible to you. Seeing the red string attached to Sirius Black made your stomach churn; was it butterflies? Unease? You don’t particularly know, having mixed reactions to the string that leads to your other half.

You’ve known for over a year now, keeping it to yourself as you quickly figured out that he wants nothing to do with his soulmate.

“Reggie! Reggie!”

You exclaimed, slapping the poor boy’s arm as he was currently staying in the L/n Manor. He looked in your direction, quite annoyed, he was interrupted reading his book. “I’m reading, Y/n. You know, you should too. It’ll do you some good.” He sassed, trying to find which part he stopped reading. “My soulmate! They tugged the string!” You gushed, “They must be looking for me too, right?” You asked no one in particular, you can still feel the tingles you felt, how your heartbeat picked up, and how you felt like you were in could nine.

Quite the opposite from what Sirius felt, huh?

You never told him, never planned to. It was quite clear what his views are on the concept of soulmates when you saw him snogging different girls every week. It wrecked you; you swore you felt your heart stop beating every time you see him loving a girl other than you even just for a week. It sounds stupid and all, but you would give up everything just to know what it feels like; how he will look at you with love and adoration in his eyes, how his touch and kisses would linger on your body, and how his voice would sound like as his breath fans in your ear, whispering promises of love.

You looked at him from the Slytherin table; so close yet so far.

Regulus noticed, the all too familiar broken look in your face. His heart hurts for you, even if you do not tell him, he already knows. Seeing his brother’s indifference, Regulus’s gaze hardened. How could he have the guts to do this to his soulmate?

The memory of their mother's despair, the way she withered away after their father severed the bond, was etched into his mind. Regulus does not wish for anyone to feel that way, he does not wish upon it even in his worst enemies.

It was a pain no one should endure, a lesson that should have been learned.

Yet there sat his brother, laughing with his friends and willfully ignoring the pulls of his heart. The person who held the other end of this unseen tether, was beside Regulus. Your soul ached as you watched your soulmate. It was a betrayal of the heart's deepest connection, and it stirred a tempest of fury within Regulus that he struggled to contain.

“My brother is foolish. Eat.” He states, pushing your food and placing the cornbread on his plate to yours. She cracks a smile, chuckling. “Alright, Reggie. You’re lucky I love you.” You pat his curls, proceeding to eat the bread, smiling a little. Reggie never really shares his food with anyone, except for you. You’re the only exception.

“Padfoot.” Remus starts, looking out of the window as Sirius lays down lazily in his bed, looking at nothing.

“What, Moons?”

“If I say that I have an inkling on who your soulmate is, would you… look for them?” Remus asked cautiously. Peter and James perked up, eyes wide with shock. How could Remus possibly guess who his soulmate is? Unless… They’re also in Hogwarts?

“Don’t start with that crap, Moony.” Sirius sat up; a scowl displayed in his features as his grey eyes turned stormy.

“Don’t you even feel the slightest amount of guilt in your system as you snog other girls?” Remus frowned.

Sirius’s scowl deepened, his hands clenching into fists. “Guilt? For what, Moony? For not wanting to be chained down by some ancient magic?” His voice was a low growl, barely containing the emotions that surged within him. “I won’t be dictated by fate. I make my own choices, and I refuse to be bound by a bond I never asked for.”

Remus’s expression softened, the lines of concern etching deeper into his face. “It’s not about being chained, Pads. It’s about finding someone who complements you, who understands you in ways no one else can.” He paused, his gaze steady and piercing. “You’ve seen what happens when that bond is severed. You’ve seen the pain it causes. Is that what you want for yourself? For your soulmate who’s probably hurting somewhere?”

Sirius looks down, biting his lip and playing with the rings on his fingers. “I don’t plan on severing our bond, Moons- “

“Then what the fuck are you doing?” Remus spat, Sirius flinched, looking at anything but them. He knew deep down that Remus was right. He can’t deny he also wants to look for his soulmate. The only thing that was holding him back is that he’s scared. What if your story would end similarly like how Walburga and Orion’s did? Dread fills his system as he reflects on how he slowly realized he’s becoming like his father. Peter and James exchanged a glance, the weight of the conversation settling heavily upon them.

“I’m scared,” he admitted, his voice barely above a whisper. “Scared of finding her… Scared of repeating the same mistakes.” He paused, his gaze lifting to meet Remus’s. “But you’re right. I can’t keep running from this. It’s not fair to them, and it’s not fair to me.”

James offered a supportive smile, feeling happy for his friend. Sirius stood up, his posture straightening as if shedding the weight of his fears. “I’ll do it. I’ll find her,” he declared, his voice steady. “I owe it to both of us to at least try.”

“That’s our Padfoot.” Remus breathes a sigh of relief as Peter nods encouragingly at Sirius.

The next daylight soon came. Sirius gulps, looking around the great hall, feeling quite overwhelmed at the number of students entering for breakfast, eating, or chatting amongst themselves. For the first time in a long time, he willed the red string of fate to reappear within his vision.

Ah, there it was. The red string connected to someone from the Slytherin table. Sirius felt his heart drop, seeing the end of the string connected to your pinky. “Y/n?” The name left his lips in a hushed awe, his heart skipping a beat as he saw the string connected to your pinky. You, who laughed with such ease beside Regulus, were the missing piece.

Whether it was some brotherly instinct, Regulus looked at him, shooting him a warning stare as if to say: ‘If you hurt her, you’ll never see the light of day ever again.’

Remus raised his eyebrows in surprise, knowing eyes set on his friend. “Found her, Pads?”

“Yeah. Found her, Moony.”

“Then what are you waiting for?” James chimed in, a grin spreading across his face as Peter silently cheers him on. “Go on, before you lose your nerve.”

Sirius took a deep breath, trying to shake off the weight of Regulus’s protective stare. It was a silent challenge, a vow to keep your heart safe from his brother. With a nod of acknowledgment, Sirius stepped forward, crossing the small distance between the Gryffindor table and Slytherin.

“Y/n,” he said, standing before you, the red string pulsing with a life of its own.

You stilled, slowly looking in his direction. Eyes wide with surprise, searched his for a moment before softening. “I was wondering when you’d come around,” you teared up, making Sirius’ heart ache.

Sirius extended his hand, the red string wrapping around both your destinies. “Let’s talk, yeah?”

And in that moment, as your fingers intertwined, Sirius knew that whatever the future held, he had made the right choice. For in finding you, he had found a new path that began to unravel, one filled with hope and courage. The buzz of Great Hall continued, but both of them felt time still, feeling the bond weave into their souls deeper.

Sirius’s and Y/n’s story had its flaws, but it was theirs, uniquely woven by the red strings of fate.

[oscconfessions]

the Osc is such a wonderful and genuinely wonderful place.

until you bring up tacomic or people seeing yin Yang/bot as kids/teens.

Then people write essays about how you’re wrong, and I’d like to say that I don’t know those people. I don’t know their likes, their dislikes, (sometimes) their name, their personality, anything about them.

it’d be stupid to make any judgement on them as a person (or to even dehumanize them, because I’ve seen that happen before) just because they said something that I disagree with.

because all I know about these people are that they hate (insert topic/character), and specifically on this blog you see people at their most enraged, their most passionate, so that’s the only context I have for these people. it scares me. how angry people get. I try my best to respect everyone’s opinions, but- still, half the time I get a bad taste in my mouth and don’t know how to communicate why I don’t like something, while still wording it in a non confrontational manner (I.e. instead of saying “im so angry at you” saying “what you said made me upset”)

I don’t want to down play people’s feelings by saying ‘they’re just objects’ or ‘it’s just fiction’ but I don’t know how else to word it.

Like, I like the headcannon that yin Yang is a teen because I feel it suits the image of the character I have in my head. But that’s just my opinion, and I don’t understand why people would tell me that my version of the character is wrong. It’s a matter of opinion and I feel that people tend to forget that.

also there was a person who said that “everyone who ships tacomic is a pro shipper” which 1. Is a very generalized statement to make ans assumes that all tacomic shippers have the same reasons for shipping it & 2. I just, don’t understand the hate around tacomic?? Like I get it’s Manipulative and toxic (and I don’t mean to down play That and sorry if it comes across as such) but people hating everyone whom ships it, & people also assume that it’s not post cannon, or in and au, but that it’s just during ii s2. Like I’m pretty neutral on the ship my self, but just I don’t know why people hate it so much.

anyways sorry for the rant, at the end of the day your opinions are yours and that contributes to you being a unique human being, & if anyone wants to leave an essay explaining their reasoning I’d love to read it /gen

.

[asteral-feileacan]

"I know 😔I recall coming across an interview from a showrunner who basically denied Bucky's lack of agency, called him the bad guy, said he needed to be punished for what he's done and then had the gall to say that they hoped trauma survivors felt represented by "what we did for Bucky's trauma".

Excuse me? EXCUSE ME? Bucky was literally captured, experimented on, tortured via electrocution, brainwashed to the point he had no memories and did not even know who he was.... as well as incarcerated against his will for 7 decades and they deny his lack of agency?

Yeah- on some level he does perhaps deserve to be punished but I blame the rich and powerful people who did that to him- and the powerful people who commissioned him to carry out those "missions" far more than I blame Bucky himself.

THEY deserve to be punished more than he does. How do people not get that? Or do the makers of the MCU just love the US government so much they don't understand how messed up it is to blame the person who was lliterally tortured until he couldn't remember who he was more than than the people who tortured and exploited him for their own ends? Sorry if that's too political for you.

Apologies, I've now written a very long post, all because I went back to find the screenshots and got angry about seeing them again XD

I think this is just really problematic for a number of reasons.

First, it's not an "excuse". One of the best things I've ever read anyone say in response to this topic is in this post. Pasted the quotes here:

The analogy is not “if you lost control of your car and killed someone you still need to be responsible for what your car caused”. It is not “if you’re a soldier who followed orders you still need to be responsible for the life you took”. Bucky was not distracted or indoctrinated. He was induced into a state where he had no idea who he was, could barely recall what he did, and where “he will do anything you tell him to”.

The correct analogy is “if someone hijacked your car, tied you up and locked you in the trunk, then drove your car into people, you are not held responsible for what happened to the victims because you were as much a victim as they are”.

I disagree that Bucky deserves to be punished in any capacity for his time as the Winter Soldier, and the quote I pulled from that post explains exactly why in a clearer and more concise manner than I'm about to from a storytelling/character perspective.

So, starting from the end of the first screenshot and moving backwards because I noticed something aggravating:

"I remember every kill. And that means that a part of me was there for one of those."

This is such a POWERFUL sentence. This is a GREAT sentence. This is Bucky admitting his misbelief, which he completely believes, which is not the truth he thinks it is. The misbelief in a character is a device that can elevate the story so much if done well. I mean, this is a man who has suffered one unimaginable cruelty after another, who was tortured and brainwashed to the point that he couldn't remember who he was, to the point that he was controlled into killing people, targets, whomever his handlers wished him to get rid of. And he remembers the faces of every person that the Winter Soldier killed.

That's a hell in and of itself. He's been freed from Hydra, he's recovering himself, he's relearning who Bucky Barnes is, he's trying to figure out who he himself is now in the wake of it all, and in the middle of everything, the world hates and fears him. He hates and fears himself. So the seeds of doubt get planted: why didn't I do more? I could have tried harder. It's my fault.

So he's stuck in a negative feedback loop - no one, not even his own therapist, is helping him to get out of it, and is only perpetuating it. So that's a deeply internalised untruth he can't let go of. He feels guilty.

(Thanks for bearing with me through that) And my point? Spellman in this interview undermines that, intentionally or not.

Stan Lee himself talked to Sebastian Stan about how Bucky is one of the good guys. I'm watching some interviews now, and it's genuinely confusing to me how he has this same point about how it's what Bucky feels about himself, but then in the previous lines he's painting Bucky in this light where it's "an excuse" that Hydra manipulated him. And then I remember the show - again, Bucky is treated so badly by the other characters in this series. That could have been another good storytelling device, but it's the fact that the narrative itself wants Bucky to BE guilty, not FEEL guilty. It's that fact that other characters are put in a good light for dismissing Bucky, and Bucky is put in a bad light for existing. Don't get me started on that therapist.

It's just. UGH. The series had so much potential, and Spellman, despite odd remarks, DOES understand Bucky's psyche in these interviews to some extent. So how did the show end up being such a mess in regards to his trauma, only just managing to scrape together an end note for him there that would have been much more effective if the show had been committed to Bucky, ONE OF ITS MAIN CHARACTERS?

Sebastian Stan, from what I've seen, is pretty much our only saving grace, as I remember reading comments from him that were such a breath of fresh air in the heat of all this.

And you're completely right - Hydra is completely to blame. The government treated Bucky horribly as well, just casting him off while still thinking of him as a threat and doing virtually nothing to help him.

Anyway - I'm so sorry for this lengthy rant. On the upside, now I'm remembering the exact reason that, about a year or two ago, compelled me to start preparing to re-write TFATWS. Maybe I'll go dig out those notes again and give it another shot. That post I linked is brilliant and covers all my gripes in extremely well-composed arguments, and it was worth scrolling through all my posts to find it again XD

TL;DR: The show was nice, but not only could it have been WAY better, it also handled trauma very poorly. As both an avid Bucky fan and a writer, I was and am extremely disappointed. For what it was, it was passable, and I liked it, but it started out on so many deep thoughts about the characters and basically gave up halfway through pretty much all of them.

[nalyra-dreaming]

I hate the way this fandom is attacking each other and I feel bad for you because I do not think you asked for or started any of this. You simply gave your interpretation and theories of a show based on books and some people took that and twisted it and now it’s turning into something else.

Are parts of this fandom racist? YES. And whether we want to admit it or not, I’ve seen the most racist takes from many individuals WHITE and BLACK alike. I’ve seen some of the most hypocritical meta’s ever that support Louis and then others that support Lestat. I’ve seen some racisit shit said and everyone is nodding their head like there is nothing wrong. I’ve seen some individuals fly off the handle and start screaming racism all because someone dared to critique Louis or Claudia. And I’m not sure where the notion comes from that black people can’t be racist toward white people or racist toward other black people because I see this everyday and this is coming from a black person. I’m not sure where the notion comes from that there isn't racism taking place in the fandom and all blacks are being sensitive, they aren’t. Each situation is individual, and much like real life, there are shitty blacks and shitty whites and we shouldn’t lump all Lestat lovers into a category or all Louis stans into a category. We shouldn't assume all whites are racist and we shouldn’t assume all blacks are being aggressive or sensitive. Do y’all know how many problems could have been solved if people just discussed or educated each other instead of name calling and calling people out and responding with vitriol? Damn, let Jacob and Sam set the example. They disagree and discuss and don't let this shit bother them on a personal level. You know what I respect most about your takes? You never tried to reduce your takes on these characters based on their race.

Nalyra, keep being you, if they don’t like it, they can block you. I sincerely hope you aren’t stressing over this shit. You’re above it. You don't deserve any of this bullshit.

👆

And thank you 💕 I really appreciate it!

Honestly, over a year ago, when this started… I was very taken aback. I have never experienced something like this and I come from Hannibal lol. And btw that is what I mean when I say this has been ongoing. The latest iteration is just that - the latest iteration. (I‘m not taking this in any relaxed manner but I‘m far from being as stressed as back then, soooo 💕)

And yes, if they don’t like… they can block me. That’s what I‘m doing now, too. 🤷🏽‍♀️

[gaygryffindorgal]

a psa regarding the upcoming release of hogwarts legacy:

disclaimer: the following is not targeted towards anyone in particular

this has been said a billion times and i’m getting kind of tired of saying this: no, buying and playing the game does not immediately make you a bad person or a transphobe.

however, if you do buy the game, you’re not being an ally to trans people. being an ally requires giving up things you don’t want to give up. it’s recognizing that your entertainment is not more important than the dignity and rights of trans people and the dignity and rights of jewish people, since the story seems to lean heavily on antisemitic tropes.

i really don’t want to hear your justification for why you buy or play the game, that’s your business. but if people don’t feel comfortable engaging with your content anymore, or have an opinion to share that makes you uncomfortable, then i want you all to know, from the bottom of my heart, it’s not trans or jewish people tearing this community apart.

i say this all as a non-binary person who is obviously still creating content for hphl era (and the hp universe at large, but that’s a whole other conversation). i got into hphl not really knowing any of the game’s context. i should’ve looked into the background more, but i saw people creating ocs for late 1800s and i ate that shit up.

i chose to be a part of this fandom. i chose not to drop harry potter once i realised what kind of person jkr is. that was my choice and everyone is entitled to make their own. but choosing to support this particular game, even after everything that has come out about it, is going to affect this small corner of the hp fandom that we have all created together. there’s nothing to be done about that.

however you feel about this issue, i don’t condone hate or harassment. there are discussions to be had here but i really, really hope we can have them in a respectful manner.

i love my hphl era ocs, and i’m not going anywhere. i might start using a different tag for my legacy-adjacent content though, since my story lines really have nothing to do with the game anyway.

i wanted to play this game so badly. i wanted it to be good. but i’m not buying it, even if the story line ends up not being as antisemitic as the trailers made it out to be (doubtful, but hey, it could happen). i strongly encourage engaging in some good, old-fashioned piracy if you want to try it out.

please watch this video, or at least the part about legacy itself (starts at around 2 hours and 13 minutes), if you have the time:

undefined

“i know many people say and feel like ‘well capitalism makes us all complicit in one way or another. why bother fighting this fight? why not buy this game if it makes me happy? rowling’s gonna rowling anyway, regardless of what i do.’ and it creates a cognitive dissonance in people. they realise jk rowling is causing harm but they don’t wish to feel like a bad person if they want to play the game. they want to be made to feel okay.”

“but what discourse like this does is try to comfort those who want to buy the game, to make them feel like they’re still good people if they support a system that causes harm, because they can’t fight it anyways. yet it ignores that you do actually have power. it tries to make you forget that you don’t have an obligation to buy the game. you don’t have to give it your attention.”

to reiterate: i don’t think everyone who buys and/or plays this game is a terrible person, but i do disagree with those saying that buying the game is a non-issue.

finally, there are so many good games out there that don’t support a terf or subscribe to antisemitic tropes!!! i know you all fellow gamers have loads of unplayed games on your devices or libraries just waiting for you to play them. maybe try those out instead. 

[ironwoodprotectionsquad]

Not attacking, and I'm prefacing this cause I saw the previous anon comment, but as someone who agrees without you heavily on Ironwood and not knowing that Arnold guy I don't think his statement was being ableist.

He was commenting on Ironwood hiding his emotions to the point of throwing away his humanity. He didn't mention anything about Ironwood's prosthetics nor him sacrificing his arm to stop Watts.

I still disagree with him, but this is coming off as something that could be said about a character who without prosthetics. It's just that Rooster Teeth has had the repeated comments about Ironwood and absolute tone deaf nature of Ironwood, Yang, and Penny. But I don't think that Arnold guy meant anyting like they did.

Hi anon! People are allowed to disagree with me, that’s fine. It’s when they start attacking me as a person and hurling insults that we have a problem. And while I do see your point I also do have to disagree with it. It’s….impossible really to separate Ironwood from the ableism of his writing because his fall solely relies on it. Arnold here is saying the writing is good despite the extremely rushed nature of his fall. This is a character who just hours in universe before seared the flesh off of his own arm to stop a terrorist no suddenly wants to drop bombs on people. All being repeatedly tied back to his super scary looking prosthetic. Their is just no way he isn’t aware of the extremely ableist nature of Ironwoods writing and this feels like trying to do damage control on RT’s behalf and try and find an “okay” reason to strip Ironwood of his humanity.

I had been thinking about this before I got this ask before you sent it and I even have issue with the idea of a bad person being less “human” it paints this very black and white view of humanity and pretends that really bad people are obvious to see because they are “less human” when sadly that’s not how it works. Really bad people are good at hiding their true nature, it’s how they lure victims in and how they keep their victim isolated from others. It’s harmful because it tells people that if someone doesn’t immediately look or act like a monster then they’re a good person which just hurts people harmed by that bad person.

On the note of intentions. A person having good intentions doesn’t negate the harm caused by the persons words or make them not ableist. A person saying something like “wow you’re so good at X despite being Y” is still harmful. Though the person is trying to say something nice, it still hurts and is harmful.

Back to the main point, I suppose for me, even with only implying he’s lost his humanity due to tossing his emotions away, the question still needs to be ask, why is this being done to the disabled character? Why is it them specifically that over and over again have arcs regarding their lost humanity? How could he listen to RT declaring he lost his humanity when he lost his arm and not see the ableism in that writing and then turn around and continue to push this idea of lost humanity under any circumstance? For me, it’s hard to find any justification for saying a person lost their humanity when we’re dealing with a character who has no say in their actions. They are puppets for the writers to use as they please. Though CR/WBY tries to pretend they’re just telling the factual story of these characters and therefore “had” to do what they did…that’s not the case at all. They chose to give Ironwood more focus then the mains in volume 7, they chose to write him and his motivations as complex and not put that some thought into the mains. They then got mad fans liked him better then the mains, threw a fit and butchered his character to make said mains look better.

Yes he has always been set up to potentially fall, the issue is they sped run said fallen hero arc at breakneck speeds in an unbelievable and ableist manner that makes it impossible to see anything well done in the arc because it happened so fast and out of nowhere. The original falling out was entirely based on RW/BY’s repeated lies coming to the surface and Ironwoods trust in them shattering. He’s under tremendous stress and is having to make decisions I would never wish anyone had to make. It’s a horrific trolly problem that will inevitably lead to death and Ironwood would most certainly feel like that blood is on his hands even though it’s Salem killing people and Salem forcing him to make these choices. Personally I’m not fond at all of condemning someone for making less that stellar choices in a hellish situation where all they’re trying to do is survive (I don’t think Ironwoods decisions where all that bad but like for arguments sake). Until you’ve lived through a situation like that it’s hard to comprehend how terrible it is.

At the end of the day, best case scenario Arnold’s comment was tone deaf and not thought through. And even if that is merely the case it still sits really wrong with me given how CR/WBY treated the triple amputee with PTSD and acted like his prosthetics where what made him lose his humanity. That is harmful and so heavily tied into his fall to villainy it’s impossible to untangle it.

[tastybluesprite]

For the requests Maybe you could do something with the future turtles and little Casey Junior like little Casey wanting Donnie's attention and the scientist agrees to but he surprises Casey by wrecking him with tickles?

Don’t poke the bear (Rottmnt future fanfic)

This was an adorable prompt!!! Thank you for sending 😁❤️❤️❤️❤️

This takes place during the apocalypse in the future and features future adult Donatello and little Casey (no specific age for them but Donnie is in his early 20s here I think, and Casey is possible around 3-4 here.)

Also hate that I cant get a gif or pic of them together in the future for a header of this fic 😔

Warnings: None besides tickling and fluff overload. Also slight slight angst at the end? Like it gets a bit angsty lol, but not too bad I think.

Summery: Little Casey wants attention from Donatello

Donnie noticed Casey was being particularly annoying today. He would keep running into his lab and kept touching his stuff. He kept trying to poke at him playfully, likely to get a reaction from him.

Donnie didn’t like scolding Casey as he was only a little kid. It was only natural that Casey would do that sort of thing and want to play around. And so, he let him play with a tech fidget toy while he worked, just so Casey wouldn’t get in the way and so he’d be entertained in the meantime.

Suddenly he felt a small set of fingers poke at his battle shell again, but particularly harder than before. He yelped with surprise as he turned around to see the little boy grinning with a hint of playfulness.

“You’re being a little bit mischievous today aren’t you?” The genius mutant said with a slight smirk. “I guess I’ll have to teach you a lesson of minding your manners…” He poked the child’s stomach and Casey squealed, turning to make a dash for it.

Looks like he finally poked the bear that was the mutant scientist.

Donnie thought he would have to be slower as he figured he’d be faster than Casey by default, being older. However he was surprised to see he had a hard time catching up with the younger person as his little legs worked quickly.

Casey then dashed into a room down the hall and Donnie followed behind. But he noticed that the kid was nowhere in sight when he made his way in. He scanned the room closely. Suddenly he saw the outline of a small body under a large cloth, and little legs poking out from under it.

Donnie had to fight his own laughter at the sight.

“I’m gonna get you Casey!!!” Donnie called slowly.

Casey let out slightly muffled giggles.

Donnie approached the cloth and quickly pulled the kid out of it. Casey cried out with excited terror as he fought to get out of Donnie’s grip.

“Lehehet mehe goho!!!” Casey pleaded playfully.

“Let you go? You’ve been trying to get my attention all day haven’t you? Isn’t this what you wanted?”

And with that Donnie pulled him in his lap, wormed his hand under his shirt, and began skittering lightly at his belly.

“Nohoho!!! Dohohont!!!” Casey squealed as he erupted into peals of laughter and pushed at the olders hands.

“Nope. You’re going to have to learn not to mess with me one way or another.” Donnie said deadpannedly, now moving to tickle at his feet.

“Nohohohoho fahahahir!!!!” Casey protested, his laughter rising.

“Hmmm. I disagree. You’re merely getting what you asked for, are you not? In any case… Leo tells me your pretty ticklish here…”

Donnie then began digging gently into his ribs and Casey exploded into loud high pitched cackles.

His nose and ears were becoming a faint shade of pink from laughter as he tried and failed to pull the geniuses hands off of him.

“NOHOHOHO MOHOHORE!!!” Casey pleaded, his laughter becoming more frantic and wheezy.

Donnie, noticing this slowed to a stop, leaving Casey to catch his breath right there on his lap.

“You ok there bud?” Donnie asked. Casey grinned and gave a thumbs up as he leaped off him and zoomed out of the room, with Donnie smiling fondly after him.

He realized that they all needed Casey at a time like this. He was the one that brought happiness and joy and positive energy to the dark and scary world they now had to live in.

He hated that Casey had to be born at a time like this. He hoped that one day Casey could soon be able to live in a world like how it once was. With happiness and peace.

[ballsbalb]

Just recently realized I haven’t publicly said anything about WHY I write how/what I write, so, here this is. Please take the time to read if you enjoy reading my stuff, i think this is an important topic to have a dialogue around.

As RPF writers, you have a certain amount of responsibility to understand that the people you’re writing aren’t characters like most fanfics- that they’re real people with real experiences, and it’s important to not objectify or turn them into characters.

Almost all of the SA/related things come from requests (i have a fic from months ago with trent and reece james, which was an idea a friend, who is a survivor, asked me to write about) I am aware that many people think writing these real people with such difficult/harmful issues isn’t okay, and that is a very valid point- especially from survivors. I agree that when I write about such topics, it’s not okay when you, for instance, make a rape scene porn-like- because it isn’t, and writing it as such is harmful.

I have a couple reasons I believe writing about these topics on real people isn’t as terrible as it may seem on the surface.

For one, I think it’s important for people to be able to recognize the gravity of these issues through a usually un-harmful way. I try my best to make recovery/healing in my fics as accurate as possible- I won’t say I’m a survivor, because I am not and it is important to make that distinction. But I have friends who are, family members who are. Understanding the weight people carry when such things happen to them is something I fear many people don’t quite understand.

I am not an SA survivor, but I have dealt with harassment and abuse for much of my life. Writing about those issues through people I admire and respect makes it feel.. better, I guess? I think people read them for much the same reason I write them- we all want comfort. Want to be loved and cared for- so seeing these people we admire in stories being comforted or cared about makes people feel better, because it’s something they’ve never had. Seeing people go through these things that we have been through can help us make sense of our own issues.

I think it’s important to have a firm border between writing about these issues in a meaningful, thoughtful, realistic way and turning it into a romanticization of real, tangible issues.

I do try not to make any of my heavier, more dark fics ‘funny’ or ‘quirky,’ and I’m aware there’s a very real issue of consent when it comes to writing about public figures, as they haven’t explicitly consented to be written about in said manner, which is a very, very real point that is important to consider.

I write because it’s probably the only thing that kept me afloat for years- that and Liverpool. That’s why I write what I write. I’ve got my own fucked up shit that I deal with, and putting those insecurities into writing is almost therapeutic.

Keep reality separate from fiction. The entire concept of RPF writing is extremely blurred ethically, and while I disagree that it’s a bad thing, it’s important to recognize the arguments as to why it’s wrong- and to do your best to make sure you write responsibly.

And, in the grand scheme of things- many people in the fanfic space find RPF unethical. Many people in the space find RPF smut disgusting and immoral. People have different standards of what is okay and not. And, as flippant as it may sound and as much as i want to emphasize that this isn’t brushing off these very real concerns- if you don’t like it, don’t read it. it wasn’t made for you, but there are people out there who it was made for, who maybe wouldn’t like the things that you like, or disagree with you on many things. People are all different.

Sexual abuse & harassment is a very real issue, especially in football- I believe writing about it is minimally harmful when done responsibly. Many people disagree, but this is my personal stance.

Thanks for taking the time to read! I’m 100% open to any further questions you may have.

Thank you so much to @ollieflopkins for reaching out to me about this topic, as well as @lfc-xnda for very thoughtfully addressing it in several of her posts & ask answers.

[weaselbeaselpants]

Not a Receipt-post. Just venting cuz it's twice now I've gotten this really accusatory ask, again:

Q: "Why do you 'HATE' Vivziepop??"

Short answer: I don't hate her. I hate how her fans can NOT take criticism,

because -> they have 0 boundaries with Viv -> whenever someone does criticize the shows in any way, they (the fans) -> embarrass you in front of the Spindlecrew who -> have no reason NOT to take the fan's word on how 'awful' you are, and so -> inadvertently ignore/condone your harassment.

Long answer:

I don’t know Viv and I never have.

I watched her YEARS ago back on deviantART when she was Vivzmind. I really loved her art and I still do. The few times I ever interacted with Viv, when I commented on her shizz, I remember her being fun, casual, and nice. True, maybe I don't know the "real her", whoever that is, but I have few if any qualms with Viv on a personal level. Judging every single artist who makes creative decisions you disagree with by John K standards is fucking hyperbole. I don't hate her.

What I HAVE always hated, and the thing that eventually drove me to quietly stop following Viv in 2013, are her fans....

we really need to start talking about them, okay?

~~~~Part 1 ~~~~~~ my experience, the Vivziepop standom THEN

There were two kinds of Vivzmind groupies back in the day, 1) the majority, aka ppl like me, and 2) this one very specific kind of Vivz-stan. While the basic majority of fans (me) were as lovebombing and prone to hype as anyone would be about the artist they admire, the people who were REALLY rabid for Viv's attention (stans) felt possessive. They felt hostile. Like, imagine you say outloud that you like the popular kid at school cuz everyone does and there'd be a weird false friend of theirs listening in, constantly @ing you with "yeah, well I like her MORE" or coming to their defense on perceived slights against her. I'm sure a lot of it was based in just social ineptitude and not anything too serious, but again it was beyond what was usual for popular DA artists.

When people say “Viv can not take criticism”, what they really mean is these fans could not take criticism.

I know all I have to go on is heresay given that much of her gallery and old work is gone but here's what I remember:

>>If you were a newbie follower and you accidentally did something Viv vocally didn't like, you'd pay for it. If you were like me and said once Viv’s art reminded you of neopets, Viv herself would say nothing but these fans would tear you to shreds for daring to not know Viv’s comfort zone. >>If you were asking for context on what was happening in one of her pics with characters you didn’t know, fans would inform you in a passive aggressive manner. "HOW DARE you not remember! Viv posted it, ugh yer so annoying, Felicia"

>> One thing Viv def did not like was people “stealing” her artstyle - not tracing or using her art w/o permission, just very clearly being inspired by her in making their own characters or pictures. She hated that. I get how, when you’re JUST a popular artist on the site it can seem annoying, like someone’s Patrick-Star-ing your every move while acting like they don’t know you...that's rough, trust me, but it’s STILL not the same as art theft-! Even so, Viv complained and would post journals about artists “stealing” her style. One time she happened to do this to an artist I did art trades with. Because of Viv's 'endorsement', he left dA forever. His profile was bombarded by passive-aggressive to just straight up mean Vivstans dogpiling him about how he "needed to give Viv credit". One of the few times I talked to Viv it was to say "hey I know you’re mad, but this guy’s kind of my friend", to which she said to me "tell you friend that it’s wrong and not okay to do this." So I did. He told me he more than knew by that point and was off the site within the week. This was long before I just fell out of interest and stopped watching her, but it always left a bad taste in my mouth that I did that. That's the thing: there's no big-style discourse, just a lot of little microaggressions that'd build up and wear you down.

Ppl often characterize "white knights" as being directed by their beloved artist to do the deed, but, as far as I know, Viv has never been the "DEFEND MY HONOR"-type. Viv never seemed to talk to these uber fans AT ALL; she was far more abt chit chatting with her friends and casual viewers. The vibe I always got wasn’t that Viv weaponized her worst fans’ behavior, it’s that she ignored them and also ignored how they may have hurt the rest of us. On paper nothing about Viv saying “ya’ll, I’m tired of these specific comments abt my work; copycats; non criticisms being dished,” is wrong. It’s that her underground stan-base would be the ones to pounce on you for it, for whatever reason I don't know. Maybe it was some kind of bid for Viv’s approval or maybe it was just cuz they felt better doing it; THAT is what you feared. So, when Viv did the bare minimum of get peeved at someone or something, it was a circumstance that meant nothing if it’d happen to any other artist but it would hurt because there was her initial judgment, and then there was her followers' judgment. This is important because while I think this exact attitude/relationship has changed, like hell do I think it’s gotten better...

~~~Part 2~~~The Spindlehorse chain of command, aka Vivziepop now

Now that Viv's the auteur creator of a beloved Indie series, I fully believe Viv's base has matured into a DIFFERENT breed of toxic. I’m always stressing this because it couldn’t be stressed enough: Hazbin Hotel is a preemptive fandom: It was made with the help of numerous internet famous animators collabing with an already devotedly popular creator at the helm; it was promised and hyped and kept up as a fandom before there was ever even a product (the pilot) out, and way before it was properly picked up in 2020; because so many internet people were working on it, it was a darling to many the animation/art scene on youtube+ people had a deep attachment to it; the fans have almost direct access/ability to talk to the showrunners directly and vice/versa, so the fans feel very ‘in’ on the show in a way other budding cartoon fandoms couldn’t really say. All these elements mean that Hazbin+Helluva are made with a great deal of love, devotion, and earnestness to them. It’s a very passionate, very close-knit community and just so we're clear, there's nothing wrong with that.

It just also means that the creator and the fans do not have great boundaries with each other and I think may be a little blindsided by the joy of creation. Where back in the day the 'old verse-same-as-the-first' would be Viv'd have a tiff w someone and that someone w be bombarded by basement stans, now there’s a different kind of vicious circle at play:

when the HH/HB fan communities hear rumors of “a critic” or “a bully” (usually just negative reviews /redesigns/fan theories that contradict what the creator wants) there’s a real threat of that 'critique' working it’s way up the chain of command TO the creators themselves. And by 'critique', I mean the real words and intent being taken out of context or twisted to fit the stans' pov. (ex: "Stolitz is a bad ship and Stella is a wasted villain" get's telephoned into "I hate that these characters are gay; I want Stolas to go back to his abuser")

The creators have no incentive of their own to comment on this bs. They're busy. BUT, because they are just as much the makers of as they are fans of their own show they feel the need to comment on any controversy they hear because they don’t want things getting out of hand. On paper, understandable; But in practice-

-the Spindlehorse crew don’t really know the context of the situation. They take it on good faith that their fans aren’t misrepresenting things to them, to which they then say nothing to stop people from being harassed, OR-

-they casually dish out their own comments in response to a situation they’re not actually a part of.

In 2018 Frootrollup1, a then-underage fan, drew redesigns of the cast of Hazbin because she draws redesigned versions of all of her fandoms → some fans saw her art as mocking/attacking Viv because assholes have done their own redesigns of Hazbin to spite Viv in the past → these same fans took their complaints to Twitter where a bunch of people, including Viv, all dunked on Frootrollup for being another “hater”...and only backed off when they learned her age and that it wasn’t a pic drawn in spite. "Oops." Frootrollup WAS a fan of Hazbin. She’s not anymore because people took her art out of context, had their own kneejerk reactions to it, and embarrassed her in front of the creator directly, who took these people’s sides. This isn’t an isolated incident and it keeps happening because the crew doesn’t discourage fans from reacting or asking for their input on crap that shouldn’t involve them. 

“Lots of fanbases have shitty fans” is not the point here. Hazbin/Helluva are a unique case. Yes all fandoms kinda suck, technically, and any case where you have the creators reacting to fans is gonna get parasocial. My point is that Spindlehorse is waaay to accustomed to their fandom as fans themselves and not outside viewers.

Remember back in 2015, when that one Steven Universe fan was being bombarded for her problematic art when it was really just a glorified hate campaign by some of her ex friends wanting to bad mouth her to the fandom?; and then IT WORKED? Imagine now that one of the people running the hate campaign on her had taken the 'evidence' to the Crewniverse directly, and Rebecca Sugar herself was like “wow, what a bigot!”- adding to the dogpile of hate that almost got that fanartist to kill herself??? Scary hypothetical, I know, but that's what scares me about this. If that isn’t already happening already, with a bunch of critical fans and redesign-artists going silent out of fear of the Vivbase, then it’s at a real threat of becoming a reality. 

-----brief aside, we gotta mention Tapatalk and why they're awful and you shouldn't dismiss them/accidentally condone them----

Complicating matters more is the BadWebcomicsWiki. While not KiwiFarms or 4chan, the wiki forums had the same problem of being made exclusively for bitching and moaning at webcomics ppl didn’t like (many of which were bad, but it's just as likely that should a webcomic DARE to be liberal or furry or lgbt themed it was suspiciously torn apart by people all too eager to note said things..). That is what the wiki and forum were made for. That is what they were always made for. Do not @ me abt how it was 'good once' or people had good intentions and didn't wanna use it for hate. I know, I'm getting to that ->

In 2015 When Zoophobia got a thread and later an article there, a bunch of randos from outside joined the forums simply because it was one of the first and only times where former Viv fans could congregate + explain all the details to the newbies+ talk about the bullying and microaggressions Viv’s base did that hurt them and how she did nothing to stop it; i.e. people started to use the shittybitch forums for genuine talk about the comic and criticism.

((never had, nor do I want a BWW account, but I used to check in every day back in 2015 for updates on one webcomic I hated before wising up and realizing the site was run by centrist chudheads. This is how I found out abt the Zoophobia discourse at the time))

The problem being that, when you go to a forum for any kind of dissenting opinion to be made, ANY KIND of dissenting opinion WILL BE made. It doesn’t matter if some ppl meant nothing wrong and just wanted a place to shoot the shit about how bad Viv’s stans were. A "bad-media-is-bad-lemme hate on it cuz I'm cool"-based wikiANYTHING is going to lead to truly bad behavior. That moment came for the ZPBWW forums when one user showed up posting graphic art of Angel Dust raping Viv’s severed head as a joke. If I remember right, and it's prolly still on their forum now, other users on the forum were mad that he did that, but it doesn't really matter. Viv HAD/HAS ALL the right to disassociate w that forum regardless of what, how, or why anyone else used it for. That’s what you do when your understanding of a website is-“oh, that place where people hate on every little thing I do including the guy who mailed me art of myself getting raped?”. And that’s before we even get to LincarRox/theToyTaker drama and how he scoured the BWW forums once he was kicked off the normal Hazbin fan scene for stalking/harassing Viv. 

The Vivstans know this harassment against her exists. They don’t understand the real depth of it, but they know it’s there. What they do is use that harassment’s existence to justify their own dogpiling. 

The most egregious part is, given how big the Spindlehorse fandom is, it’s not very hard at all for other fans- big name or indie creators, to be misinformed and believe only the stans’ versions of events without question → which adds even more stigma because if in this ‘cancel/DNI’-obssessed microculture we got on Twitter and Tumblr. People aren’t questioning or really knowing the situation any more than Viv does. Except, these people are just fans, not the showrunners, and should be more open to hearing (legit) criticism. They’re not and that’s leading to a lot of the regular fanbase to I think develop tunnel-vision. As an outsider, I can't tell you for sure if any of Erin Frost's claims are 'valid' or legit. The most upsetting thing by far though is HOW FAST people were to call her a liar or act like her complaints at Spindlehorse are "nothing".

tl;dr I think two truths currently coexisting at the moment are

Viv has been harassed and treated horribly by people saying they’re “just being critical”. I 110% believe this woman when she says she ‘hates creeps’. I've seen first hand some of those creeps. I don't envy her.

Viv and the Spindlehorse crew have terrible boundaries and foresight into their fandom’s innerworkings and should NOT be commenting on them- because they exacerbate the issues within.

Viv’s base in uniquely unhealthy and overprotective. From the stanbase on the fringe, to the excitable but vulnerable fans that make up the whole, to the creators themselves who aren’t equipped to micromanage or even just manage all this drama. I see a bubble of pent up aggression seeping under the surface of the Helluva/Hazbinverse fanbase and I’m really scared when it pops. 

I have no idea what’s actually going on with the Spindlehorse folks or what’s in their hearts. I’m not interested in rumors, and I’m SO not interested in stupid petty AntiHazbin shit that perpetuates the hateflow (PK Russel, BWW, DaftPina I'm lookin at yoooo). I want to be a fan of Helluva and be excited for Hazbin. I want to take part in all this seeing as I did follow Viv and still do like her art and her general attitude about animation. It’s always cool when someone you followed casually makes it big- you want to support them! But, I’m also just naturally skeptical and sardonic and critical of things I like. So I’m in constant fear that overprotective stans are going to take my words and embarrass me in front of Viv and crew. And that? That WILL def make me hate Hazbin. No, still not enough to join your weirdo AntiHazbinnie tags or stalker threads, but it WILL make me hate it.

I don’t want that, none of you fans want that, and I know the creators don’t want that to be happening on a mass scale with people who're just skeptical of their show.

In comparing Helluvaverse to any other animated show's online fandom, there's no one to one, but consider how rabid and anticritical Steven Universe was- consider how dismissive and gatekeepy the Rick & Morty fandom is, consider how inconsiderate of creator's boundaries the Bronies were. Hazbin isn't out yet and if Helluva goes for all long as Viv and Brandon intend, it's also in it's infancy. We all have an opportunity to fix these problems before it begins- I say we do our part.

[roobylavender]

i mean most abusers do love the people they abuse. abuse isn’t something done with intention or malice half the time, it’s done by people thinking they’re doing the right thing. bruce’s love and need for control are constantly in conflict with each other and that’s why the robins are stuck waging a war against him. i feel like a big part of a dysfunctional parent-child dynamic is feeling trapped by your parent’s love. Even if you hate it, it’s still canon that Bruce has been historically bad with dealing with his kids. Half of them don’t even feel comfortable calling him dad cuz the relationship seems so undefined or shaky. In Dick’s case i feel like he has no grounds to oppose robin and his vigilantism because Bruce (deep down) loved having someone like dick around to fight crime with. They both refer that time as “the good old days” so it’s not like Bruce was truly opposed. It’s only when the actual reality of that negligent and naive behaviour materialises that he realises he fucked up (robin year one eg). Then he treats Dick in such a cold manner that Dick believes if he’s not robin, he’s not wanted. This has been a pattern since the golden days so no it’s not ooc for Bruce. Yes the natural conclusion to all the modern day tension should be for both parties to meet and resolve their issues but Bruce is still the abuser at the end of the day, and even though Dick’s self sacrificing nature might easily forgive him, on a textual level it should be clear that a true resolution between the two would need Dick to dig deeper, and for Bruce to be ready for rejection from his son.

i don’t disagree with that assessment of abuse like it’s absolutely true, but my problem is i don’t think the cold or controlling behavior is really a consistent enough pattern until we move into post-crisis canon. for several decades dick and bruce have a great rapport with each other bc that’s what everyone knows they’re supposed to have. like i don’t think most writers from the golden or silver age if asked that they intended to write bruce as an abuser would agree and say yes, and that distinction to me is impt, bc sure, we can take what we’re reading on a surface level and project our own experience or modern understanding of relationships onto it, but i don’t think that should happen to the extent authorial intent is superseded bc then you start to enter territory where you’re divorcing narrative from genre conventions. if we go by the assumption that bruce is an enabler and abuser for allowing dick to be a hero for so long without purported attention paid to his safety then that establishes practically every hero within the universe possessive of a sidekick as an abuser. and i do get that some people are interested in following that thread like esp in post-crisis we see that exploration a lot but ig for me personally it’s kinda like the thing that breaks the camel’s back and withholds the entire genre from actually allowing itself to explore more pertinent issues. not to say abuse isn’t a pertinent issue, it absolutely is and i do think there’s ways it can still be explored, but the primary reason the genre was established in the first place was in response to fascism. obv the engagement with that wasn’t necessarily complex early on but it’s incredibly impt to the development of the genre and as we can see in a modern context how that response to fascism or lack thereof is conveyed can be incredibly influential in terms of facilitating support or not for fascist government. so my issue is like, yes, it’s impt for bruce’s faults in these relationships to be addressed to a constructive and worthwhile extent, but i also think writers have gone so drastically far in curating those faults in the post crisis era that it’s effectively restricted the scope of the stories they’re allowed to tell, bc they’re more focused on individual instances and relationships within this world than they are on any form of commentary that reflects the operations of the world at large in relation to regulation of crime

[lunarblazes]

I don't necessarily disagree with your take about mcc's ace race but I think it's just not true saying the only reason dteam is still in is the popularity. mcc people like these people!! people like to team with the dteam and have fun when they do! it is not that weird to be upset when you think youve won and then you didn't. sapnap did not complain much at all.

I think people who complain about funneling in dodgebolt (and do so in chat!) are whiny too but I not gonna make a post about it saying that mcc needs to have an intervention??

also some genuine advice do not let twitter drama affect your mcc experience.

hi!! okay this is the kind of opposing opinion i can work with, thank you anon! i respect and genuinely appreciate your response here, and i’ll take this opportunity to further clarify some things.

to your first point—you’re right! they’re not ONLY here because of their fans and it was wrong of me to make that exaggerated assumption in my post. that’s on me. i try very hard not to assume anything about ccs personal friendships or relationships with one another, and i’m sorry i did that there. HOWEVER, i feel as though i am still warranted in being upset with dream and sapnap specifically for their conduct about the ace race decision and other things in the event. for instance, the streamer i was watching was smallishbeans, who got sixth in the first run and dropped ten places in the redo. he was not in favor of a redo but acknowledged it would be the most fair thing to do. he was upset at his score drop, but never once did he argue directly with noxcrew’s choice, MUCH less in the in-game chat. because he’s an adult with manners. being upset because you got a lower score in the redo of the game is completely understandable and that’s not what i’m frustrated about. my frustrations stem from the fact that dream continues challenging and being snarky with the admins in chat when he is not and never has been in the position to make these decisions for an event. nobody else does this. everyone else is simply frustrated and moves on. nobody else feels the need to be an asshole like dream does. now, i cannot remember what sapnap did during ace race in particular, my issue is decidedly more with his behavior about build mart, but my point stands with him as well. he constantly spams messages against build mart to the point where the bit has completely run dry and it’s genuinely annoying to me. people don’t constantly reply to mcc tweets asking them to remove battle box even though it’s a few participants’ least favorite game and that’s because those participants aren’t fucking obnoxious about it. both of them need to grow the fuck up and learn how to talk to people normally.

2) funneling. i admittedly have a bit of bias here because i think funneling is fucking stupid (what a shocker, i doubt you could have gleaned that from anything i’ve ever said on this blog lol), especially with what the yellow yaks did. to me, it makes the event predictable and shows a lack of faith in your team and the fact that dream does it every fucking event no matter who he’s with gets boring as hell. the other participants seem to share my belief and it’s literally not fun to watch if they have such poor sportsmanship they can’t handle giving someone else an arrow for ten seconds, especially if those people are BADBOYHALO AND SKEPPY, WHO ARE NOT BAD SHOTS BY ANY MEANS. i don’t recall anyone saying bad things about funneling in chat, but i wasn’t fully watching dodgebolt this time, so there could have been some comments. regardless, as i’ve said before, it’s not poor sportsmanship to voice annoyances about the event. the difference between frustration and targeting hate is both patterned behavior and direct challenging, both of which dream and sapnap have done. fruitberries thinks funneling is stupid and i know this because he said it on stream. you know what i didn’t do? send hate to dream about it on twitter. i didn’t even mention funneling in my first post even though i dislike it. i wanted to focus solely on direct disrespect. while i can see your point about supposed bad sportsmanship from anti-funneling participants, i posit that it doesn’t have the same horrid effects that dream’s comments do at all.

3) this is some great advice, seriously! i know that some people do struggle with this and it’s truly something to keep in mind. however, twitter drama is not ruining my mcc experience—the behavior of these actual participants is. i have had multiple people in the last 24 hours tell me that they cannot watch mcc anymore because they know the dteam will throw a fit and it’ll be horrible to watch. if this was just twitter drama, i would filter it and move on. but because it is literal, actual behavior from literal, actual participants during the literal, actual event, there is no way i can avoid it. it’s exhausting and the worst constant of mcc. things can and should change, whether that’s a shape up in behavior or a removal.

[fqirycollective]

Room-Temperature with Boiling Water in the Corner Takes

Introduction

These are some of my opinions about the system community that I think others will disagree with, even if it’s just slightly. In order to keep my account a safe place, I do ask that if you disagree, you can comment but do so in a respectful manner. I keep the same respect, so it’s only fair. I typically keep my opinion out of my posts, which is why I want to start off the year with this post because I know a lot of my followers would like to see them. I’ve put them in order based on how many people I think will disagree so the “cool” takes are more towards the beginning of the post. 

1st Take: The healing box shouldn’t exist.

The healing box created by the community is that you should work towards functional multiplicity without any fusion, hate your abusers, source separate as soon as possible, etc. This shouldn’t exist. Starting with source separation, yes it’s important and I will always advocate for people to do it. However, introjects split for a reason and forcing them to separate from source before they’re ready is dangerous. I am very against source calls, even if this is the case, but source separation will often happen naturally by discovering hobbies outside of the source’s hobbies, making friends, discovering more about yourself as a person, etc. These are all steps in source separation and it shouldn’t be forced. On to the abusers aspect, you don’t have to hate your abusers. I forgive a lot of mine because they were children and didn’t recognize what they did as wrong. Some people do change, and it’s up to the person if they want to forgive their abusers. Forgiving also doesn’t mean you allow them back into your life, or that you trust them and are friends. It doesn’t even mean talking to them or letting them know you forgive them. Sometimes, it just means you’re no longer holding past actions against them. Finally, the functional multiplicity. Fusion is not a bad thing. It is a sign of healing. If a system wants to final fuse, it’s up to them. If a system wants to fuse some parts but remain a system, it’s up to them. Why does it matter if someone you don’t even know wants to fuse their parts? 

2nd Take: Fusion and integration don’t need trigger warnings and shouldn’t be censored.

Integration is healing. That’s all there is to it. You shouldn’t trigger warn or censor healing. As for fusion, I understand what it’s like to lose someone I was close to to fusion. I understand the grief of them not existing as themselves anymore and how they’re different. However, it comes down to how fusion happens. They can only happen after integration, which only happens from healing. By trigger warning and censoring fusion, we’re creating the idea that it’s bad to everyone we come across. That would eventually lead back to the idea of how fusion is healing. We have natural negative connotations for trigger warnings and censored words, so people begin to see healing as bad. (Of course fusion isn’t the only way to heal, but it’s still a way and shouldn’t be spread as bad.)

3rd Take: The community doesn’t have to be so hostile.

From callout posts, to fakeclaiming, to both aggressive and passive-aggressive responses to people who are wrong, there is so much hostility. It’s unnecessary, even in a community of trauma survivors. I know it can be difficult to control trauma responses and the fight response is an absolutely valid one, especially if someone says something that may feel like they’re fakeclaiming you (even if they aren’t). Sometimes, it’s important to bring up people to be wary about because they have a history of harming others. But there are callouts about small things, things that others don’t need to be warned against. There are many different ways to be a system (meaning how a system presents, childhood trauma is the only way to become a system), and while some experiences are universal, there are many that aren’t. Fakeclaiming does more harm than it does good. As for the aggressive and passive-aggressive responses, why? Unless they start it first, there’s no reason to not try to politely correct them or offer support. Overall, the hostility divides the community further and further when we’re supposed to be a community and support one another.

4th Take: Trauma work should be the goal.

I don’t say this as a way to tell people how to heal. However, trauma work and learning new coping mechanisms beyond dissociation is the only way to heal. Trauma work leads to integration, because you’re learning to work through the traumatic memories and emotions from them. Even if you don’t want to be diagnosed or medically recognized for whatever reason, you should at least attempt trauma work. (Unless you have and trying to work through it was more harmful to you than being as a system.) Part of being a system is the distress it causes (in the diagnostic criteria and you wouldn’t have realized to look into it without symptoms somehow disturbing your life) and it’s absolutely possible to no longer have that distress, but that only happens through integration because of how integration lowers the dissociative and amnesic barriers. It’s important, and I know a lot of people will disagree with that. 

5th Take: There is way too big of a focus on dating.

It can be nice to have a partner, to feel like you’re apart of something bigger, and to have someone who understands. However, it shouldn’t be your main focus in the community. When I first joined the community, there were a lot of matchmaker accounts. While there aren’t nearly as many now, I still see a lot of systems posting partner applications and it often seems they don’t consider the risks. It’s easy to find someone who knows you’re looking and get into a relationship quickly, before you get to know them. I’ve seen this turn into manipulation and overall further abuse way too many times, unfortunately. Overall, I think partner applications of any type are dangerous because they allow people to know your age, sometimes see your face, know your likes/dislikes, etc. all without needing to have a conversation. Another thing is the aspect of communication between alters, amnesia, trauma responses, etc. There’s also a big issue with dating only for introjects, because you have romantic memories with them, asking about sources before getting together with someone, etc. This romanticizes being an introject in a way, as well as possibly leading to stunting source separation. Finally, and this isn’t nearly as big as the other reason’s I’ve mentioned, some singlets learn to believe this is “dating disorder” when they only see partner applications. I know a lot of people don’t think this is true, but I’ve gotten a couple of Tells that ask me why I have “dating disorder” and I just felt like it wasn’t important enough to answer at the time. This can lead to romanticization and singlets wanting a system.

6th Take: There’s too much emphasis on introjects.

Kind of related to the last one, but it stands true. I know it can feel validating to have the same experiences as another system (such as splitting introjects), but the emphasis on them has gone too far. Source calls are dangerous, I’ve already said how and why (manipulation, easy to be catfished, just wanting a relationship with introjects, etc.) but that’s not the only way. I’ve seen people try to intentionally split specific things because they want an introject of them. I’ve seen people trying to split introjects in general because they want to be introject heavy. I’ve seen people shame systems without introjects and even fakeclaim them. You can see the problem with this, right? Furthermore, I say this as someone who has luckily gotten out of a similar mindset. I used to intentionally try to split introjects while splitting because of how many of us are fragments and if they’re an introject, that’s something they can latch on to for identity. I was scared of having alters I didn’t know about so I tried to use that as a way to increase their identity and know about them. This was extremely unhealthy (especially since it stressed me out more), and I’m proud of myself from moving past that mindset. I know it’s different for everyone, but the fact of the emphasis on introjects for every reason I mentioned above remains.

[retired-yowane]

Out of character ask and giant ass lecture ahead

So I gather that some stuff happened while I was away for a couple hours. I think the situation has calmed down which is good.

Anyway time to get up on my soapbox and give a lecture.

I heard there was harassment being sent from people other than the main parties involved. I understand that when you see someone talking about serious topics in a manner that is inappropriate you want to step in especially if it affects you. But please understand that sending mean messages or unhelpful ones (ie “hey that wasn’t cool of you. Please delete”) doesn’t help the situation.

If the person is aware that what they said is bad they won’t care and it will give them the satisfaction of pissing someone off. If the person isn’t aware hate will make them stressed and defensive and the unhelpful messages will start to feel like personal attacks instead of advice. This makes it harder for the people actually involved to work things out and leads to a positive* hate sending feedback loop. This benefits no one. Give people time to work stuff out in private.

If for some reason you feel the need to send a message to someone please try this method.

Hello (name) I saw you recently said (thing) I don’t know if you were aware but this is (bad) because it implies (bad thing). I wanted to let you know since I believe you made a mistake and didn’t mean to be hurtful. I hope this message has helped you understand a bit better. If you have any further questions on the issue you can [respond to this ask and I’ll send in another in reply / dm on (this blog) / read more about this issue here]. Thank you for taking the time to read my [message/ask].

This might technically take more effort but it’s 100% worth it. People respond better to understanding than isolation. Take the time to choose your words politely. If cannot do that then recognize that fact and remove yourself from the situation until you have settled down.

Trust me if you act polite then you win. If your polite the other person isn’t they’re a jackass. If both sides are polite you can work something out, respectfully disagree or in extreme cases calmly choose to split ways.

TDLR: for the love of miku don’t insert yourself in other’s conflicts. If you want to engage in a discussion be respectful otherwise you’re just engaging in an argument.

*positive in this sense refers to something being added/given in response to a specific action or behaviour. It does not necessarily mean something good.

[docholligay]

So, we all bring ourselves to any narrative we engage with. The window we look out of, is as important as the thing we’re looking at. It changes our perspective. This is not a bad thing, there is no such thing as narrative objectivity, but when we engage with narratives, we need, in as much as is possible, understand the lens through which we tend to read things. My being a lesbian, and a Jew, obviously, affects my read on things, but I am also come from lower-class rural roots, and this ALSO affects how I tend to read and experience narratives.

This is the saddest fucking part of the book for me. This is the part that makes me want to tear up, if I’m going to do it, this is idea that Nan is now so irrevocably changed that she can never go home. And it’s not the gay thing even, except with Alice, but that she has become a city girl with fine clothes and different manners, and she doesn’t fit here anymore.

I know not a lot of people on tumblr can relate to this, but I grew up with this sense of in-group and out-group. @keyofjetwolf laughs every time we go into a tiny rural Montana bar and my voice immediately slips into that variant. The sign that, “Oh, I’m not one of them. I’m one of you.” And there is community and there is pride in that. The idea of leaving that community, of leaving your family behind because now you are so different--as the first person on either side of my family to go to college, that really resonated with me.

Most of the people I associated with even when I first read this were country people, who knew how to ride and rope and for whom the idea of studying calculus was a big ol “to what point and purpose?” (I absolutely did not study calculus, ahaha) I always hate saying this shit, because it fits into that whole “Stupid country redneck lol not cool like me and my city friends with our super useful Literature degrees” (I have a degree in Lit and history! Don’t send letters!) because as much as the internet likes to talk about being different kinds of smart that doesn’t apply to country people in their minds, that applies to people with ADHD who had to drop out because homework is hard (I have ADHD don’t send letters) in the cultural consciousness we have here.

This sense of separation, this sense your family and friends have of being left behind because you are too good for them, that is a REAL THING. And that is POWERFUL and PAINFUL. Saying things like, “oh but a college degree can teach you how to think” I don’t actually disagree, though in the US at least I find many places diploma mills, and met many graduates who still manage to be fuck stupid and without critical thinking skills, but the people I come from hear, “YOU can’t think, because you aren’t educated like me. You’re stupid, and I’m smart.” My mother, who was writing poetry for some of my childhood, who read me books far beyond Hop on Pop and taught me how to talk about them, the woman, who, not knowing a single thing about ADHD but knowing that I was different, taught me how to exist in the real world, how to hack life for me, she thinks she is stupid, because she doesn’t have a college degree.  For one thing to be better, another has to be worse, you know? And that causes pain. I feel that, very deeply.

I feel like I’m not articulating this very well, certainly not for people who have never felt that sense of physical cutting at the way your voice, your manners, your everything, have to change in order to get along, and then you become a stranger to your own people but I get that, and this, to me is that saddest goddamn part of the entire book.

[lizzibennet]

Funny that you claim to love Kate but then you are entirely ok with the way she was treated by her so called "family" throughout the entire season 🤔 The fact you keep talking about family love and sisterly affection when none of these things were something Mary and Edwina ever gave Kate when she needed them the most...wow, truly delusional. And what happened in the book is not canon in the show, all of you fake Kate fans can die mad about it, keep crying about your true idol Edwina, a woman that refused to see her sister's pain and couldn't wait to remind her she did not belong in her world.

funny that you claim to love kate and yet you separate her from her family when the entire season was about how much she loves them. Did you listen to a single word she ever said or do you just project your horniness onto her? Do you care about anything she did when she wasn’t talking to anthony? Have you thought about what her life was like before she arrived in england? Why she and edwina have a wordless conversation in their FIRST scene together in the show, why they are shown to confide in each time and time again until the engagement puts a rift in their relationship? Why mary knew exactly how to comfort her? Why she was in touch with the sheffields for edwina’s sake before they even arrived in england? What her life must have been like for her to make that choice? Did you really watch all of that to come to the conclusion kate is the kind of person who would be okay with cutting off her family? Once again, do you think about her outside of her and anthony?

I do not “claim” to love kate. I love kate and I love this show. I was deeply parentified as a child just like her, and the reason why I don’t think she would react the way I did (cutting off her entire family) is PRECISELY because I’ve been through what was being depicted and I don’t think she would choose to rage. It is also why I love her so much. Not once have I ever said I’m “ok” with the hurtful things that edwina and mary said to kate; you are putting words in my mouth because you lack any other arguments. I simply choose to see them as I would a person in real life: as a whole being and not just a caricature of a “good guy” or a “bad guy”. I am also not “ok” with what happened to me but I still love my mom and maintain a relationship with my dad and brother that I’ve destroyed and mended time and again because that’s a real family for you. My parents did horrible things to me, actual objectively horrible things and not those you claim these fictional characters did, and me seeing them as flawed people doesn’t mean I’m “ok” with everything they’ve ever done to me. Life is more complicated than that. Which is to say your reading of this show is shallow and lacks understanding of humanity. That’s fine - you see things as you are. But you go project that somewhere else, therapy perhaps, your diary, whatever, not my askbox. I’m sure you have reasons to care so deeply about kate that you defend her to this extent, even though you are misguided in the manner you’re doing it (trans: you’re being shitty about it). That does not mean you have the right to come into my askbox and be terrible to me. I’m not “crying” about anything. I’m posting on MY blog about a character *I* love and for some reason I keep getting messages like yours. You have no right to question me like this. You don’t know me. You have no idea who you’re talking to. The fact you would take this to the extent of trying to personally insult me just because we disagree on a fictional character says more about your maturity and you as a person in general than about anything to do with this show. You seriously need to learn boundaries