#come to me off anon and i'll give you plenty of things to read

[sweetaswithscottymac]

Yeah let's put women with fully developed 6'2 male body structures to compete with 5'9 women who have much smaller shoulders and wider hips etc which are definitely not disadvantages, especially not in swimming, not at all. Absolutely nothing wrong with that right.

i had no intention of replying to this, because you've clearly not come here with good faith of any kind, and i don't want to give air time to people like you.

but i like to think you might be open to actually hearing something. i'm sure you know how to use google so i'll leave it to you to actually engage with the topic, there's plenty of writing on recent stuff by people like katelyn burns, a columnist for msnbc who writes about a lot of trans issues, or the women of the Burn It All Down podcast, who cover women's sports, or katie barnes who writes largely for espn.

what i'll say is, at the end of the day, trans women are simply not taking over elite sport in droves. it's simply not happening. the current panic around trans athletes is being stoked by the conservative machine that desperately wants to get trans people out of every part of society.

last year we got the first ever trans woman weightlifter competing at the olympics. she came last in her category. we've had scraps of progress that are now being clawed back by people who want to legislate trans people out of existence. the backlash against a trans woman, for the first time ever, winning an elite level race in swimming has been swift, ugly, and incredibly cruel. these institutions - fina, usa swimming, governing bodies in essentially all sports - already had policies regarding trans women's eligiblibilty to compete. a blanket ban on trans women is unnecessary, ugly and, i cannot stress this enough, unscientific.

(also, dude, you know cis women can also be 6'2'' right?)

(on the topic of the fina ban specifically, banning anyone who has gone through """male puberty""" in an atmosphere where there is a escalating pressure around gender affirming healthcare for children is abhorrent. it, like so many policies, will disproportionately exclude girls who couldn't access the healthcare they needed, whether because they live somewhere because it's literally illegal, they didn't have parental support, or they simply couldn't afford it.)

cis women who think this has nothing to do with them are deluding themselves. the people who want to police trans women's bodies want to police yours too. everyone loses when biological essentialism wins. besides which, plenty of sports already have policies in place that define who is "woman enough" to compete in certain sports, in certain events, that do exclude cis women too. the treatment of caster semenya is well-known at this point, but that doesn't make it less horrifying. grow a sense of solidarity for god's sake.

and as for jamie.

even the most charitable reading of her comments suggests that she hasn't done any real thinking on the topic. which, in my opinion, is completely indefensible when 1) you're as high profile as jamie (deservedly, in my opinion) is, 2) you're driving for a race team owned by a trans woman who holds extremely harmful opinions on trans athletes (and lots and LOTS of other things, caitlyn jenner is trash), and 3) we're in the middle of a huge anti-trans panic, with conservative politicians in the us, the uk, and other places actively working to roll trans rights back, and to exclude trans people, in particular trans girls, from sport at all levels. sport is for everyone. end of story.

i understand that jamie's in a difficult position, but no one forced her to race for caitlyn jenner. these questions were going to come up. the least she could do is reckon with them honestly, and not hide behind "it's not my job to decide these things thankfully".

if success for women in sport means success for cis women only, means throwing trans women and girls under the bus, i genuinely wholeheartedly don't want any part of it. fuck that.

[unclewaynemunson]

I definitely think it takes Eddie a while to accept that Steve changed. He remembers what he was like in high school.

When Steve asks him out, for whatever reason, Eddie says yes. But he’s determined not to fall in love, because deep down Harrington’s still a dick. But he’s cute, and Eddie can smile and play pretend.

But then! Steve goes full happy relationship mode, he tells Robin (obv), introduces Eddie to the other adults as his bf, and is just generally being sweet.

MY SWEET ANON I HOPE YOU'LL STILL SEE THIS!!!

I'm so sorry it took me ages to answer this one! But I really loved the idea of this (the good ol' steddie + misunderstanding about what they mean to each other with a dash of terrible communication skills my beloved) so i wanted to give it my proper attention, which i didn't have enough time for over the past few months. Buuut the words have finally found their way to my keyboard so here is the first part of what probably will turn into a 3-part ficlet, I hope it's something like what you had in mind when you sent this ask to me <3

---

Eddie has been acting weird all day. Maybe Steve is too much of a romantic, but he can't help it: he wanted to celebrate this day. Exactly a month ago, he asked Eddie out. And it's been good. They've spent a lot of time together. They've been on lots of dates, spent plenty of nights together... But today, things are different, somehow. Eddie is different. He turned Steve down for a dinner date, he didn't stop by Family Video during lunchtime, and when Steve shows up at the trailer to surprise him with flowers, he merely frowns and pulls back from their kiss before it can even properly get started.

'Everything alright?' Steve asks, trying to catch his boyfriend's gaze – which isn't exactly easy with how Eddie is turning away from him to not-so-gently put the flowers down in a corner of the trailer's living room.

'Yeah, sure,' Eddie mumbles, not really looking at him. 'It's just – I didn't really expect to see you today. We didn't have plans.'

Steve chuckles, trying to get the tension out of his chest. 'Didn't know I was expected to schedule an appointment before coming here.' He tries to play it off as a joke, but the tone of his voice doesn't really want to cooperate.

Eddie finally turns back towards him and Steve catches the end of an eye-roll.

'I'm just not feeling too great today, alright?' It sounds a bit stiff and Steve pauses. He wonders if he did something wrong, if he somehow invaded Eddie's space – even though he has showed up at the trailer on countless evenings in the past month.

'What's wrong?'

'Nothing,' Eddie answers, a little bit too fast. 'I told you, I'm not feeling so well.'

And now that he can see his face properly, Steve notices that Eddie is indeed looking paler than usual.

'Hey, don't worry about it,' he says. 'I can stay to take care of you, if you want to. We don't have to do anything. You can go to bed early and I'll keep you company. I can make you some soup, read to you... You could've just told me you're not feeling good, you know. I would've picked up some fruit on my way over here and stopped by the library for you.'

'You don't have to do any of that, Steve.'

Steve tries to ignore the fact that it's been ages since Eddie has last called him by his official first name. He doesn't like the sound of it.

'But I want to,' he says instead. He takes a step towards Eddie, lifts his arms to wrap them around him – but Eddie swats his arms away before he can properly embrace him.

'Don't.' He sounds cold and detached, so different from how he usually sounds. 'Don't act like this is something it isn't.'

'Like this is something –' Steve echoes, completely caught off-guard by this turn of events. 'Like what?'

'Jesus Christ, you really don't know when to stop, do you?'

'What?' He takes a stumbling step backwards, driven away by the force in Eddie's words.

'We're not – like that,' Eddie stutters out. 'We're just fucking around, aren't we? So you don't need to pretend. You don't need to bring me flowers. You don't need to take care of me when I'm sick. You don't owe me anything, alright? You can go home.'

Steve takes another step backwards, until his back collides with the door of the trailer. He blindly grabs the door handle behind him.

'Alright,' he says, trying desperately not to let his voice tremble audibly. 'I hear you, loud and clear. I'll – I'll leave you alone, then.'

Read pt2 here (Edit: it's actually 5 parts now. You can read the whole thing on ao3 here)

[zushikiss]

may I request a scara college au, with him as our secret admirer, being sweet in the letters he sends us but irl being really rude and mean. He one day catches someone messing with us and then stands up for us and confesses everything in panic after that<3

summary ; scaramouche drops his "i don't care about you" facade to protect you from this annoying boy who just won't stop trying to get your number, he reveals his identity afterwards too ;)

warnings ; red for kazuha, orange for hu tao, green for alb*rt, scara threatens your admirer but none of the actual violence, just him saying he'll break a few bones if albert comes near again, cursing

pairings ; scaramouche x gn!reader

notes ; ahhh i love this idea sm, thank you anon! also i made the letters pictures so that it's easier to read <3

you showed off your dozens of letters to your friends, though they were disinterested since this wasn't exactly your first time ranting about your oh so dear secret admirer, in fact it probably was your nth time talking about him in that week alone, your friend kazuha takes a closer look at the letters before letting a small smile take place on his lips.

"The handwriting looks familliar."

"Huh? Really?"

"Yeah, looks like Scara's handwriting to me."

Ah yes, Scaramouche. The person who you were sure only existed to make your college life a living hell, he pestered you daily, borrowing simple stuff like pens and when you ask for it back he shrugs you off with a "i forgot it at home" or a "i lost it."

"That gremlin? Pfft no way, he hates me with his whole being."

"That's not a lot of hate now, is it?"

And with that your group errupts in laughter, you couldn't help but join in, but kazuha's comment made you think, what if it really was scaramouche writing to you? nahh it can't be, your secret admirer is so sweet, they even bought you your favorite snacks and drinks the other day, comparing them to that evil goblin is truly offensive.

And when you parted with your friends to go to your respective classes you kept thinking about kazuha's comment, I mean scaramouche is attractive yes, but you just can't imagine him doing all the things your secret admirer has done.

On your way to your class you bumped into albert, this creep who just can't seem to read the room, you've rejected him plenty times and you've ignored him for plenty more but he just can't seem to get the hint.

"Name! Oh yeah by the way, are you free tonight? Wanna have dinner with me?"

"Oh albert, I'm sorry but I have to go uhh study for a quiz.."

"Aww c'mon, it'll be quick i promise! Or an even better idea is why don't you give me your number? So we can make plans for when you're finally free."

At this point your back hit the wall behind you since albert just keeps getting closer, you're clearly uncomfortable and you pray to archons above that someone passes by and helps you.

"I really gotta go, I'll be late-"

"Class doesn't start for another 5 minutes, name. What do you say we-"

"Finish that sentence and i'll crush your skull."

Out of nowhere a familiar tuff of indigo hair appeared, his hands were wrapped around albert's collar as he pulls him away from you.

"Hey man?! What the fuck is wrong with you??"

"Name said they're gonna be late. If I hear that you ever come near them again, I won't hesitate to break both your legs so you won't be able to go anywhere."

And with that albert ran off, scaramouche looked at you, his eyes no longer holding the dark aura that they possesed not even a minute ago.

"You okay?"

"Yeah.. Why'd you do that?"

"..do what?"

"Save me? You kinda don't give off that knight in shining armor energy you know?"

"Cause what kinda sick fucker let's the person they like be harassed like that? I spent so much time asking around to know what your favorite foods are so I can get them for you and you think I won't punch a bitch for you?"

And when it finally sets in that he basically just confessed to you his first instinct was to run away, and so he did. He turned his back to you as he started walking away, you grabbed his wrist as a way to stop him before he looks at you, he looked adorable, his cheeks stained red while he averted his eyes, trying to avoid your gaze.

"Are you really?"

"Yeah, look just reject me and let's get this over with."

"Reject? No! You owe me ice cream since you finally introduced yourself."

"What."

"I'd like to go out with you, Scaramouche."

[whywoulditho]

ough... sorry for jumping in when you said you're still reading stuff, i hope this doesn't come off annoying or anything! but that thing the prev anon said about timkon is... a WILD take.

tim wasn't trying to "replace" kon, he was having a grief-induced mental health spiral and was doing anything and everything to get a chance of getting his best friend back. (the "resurrection of ra's al ghul" event goes over this too - tim and dick have a short fight that ends in tim crying in dick's arms because tim was tempted to use a lazarus pit to try and bring back his dad, steph brown, and/or kon.) it's an unhealthy coping mechanism he exhibits during a period of his life where he's experienced several catastrophic losses back to back, and he's coping poorly. moreover he literally apologized to kon for trying to clone him in adventure comics (2009) #3.

also saying that kon is created as a replacement for superman is true, but acting like he never has an established character outside of "replacement for superman" or that other characters treat him as just a replacement superman, is not. in world's finest three (tim and kon's first meeting) we literally see tim initially turn to kon for backup with metallo, a superman villain, and at first he's dismayed that kon doesn't have all of superman's abilities, but over the course of the two issues, he admires kon's use of his ttk and they establish a mutual respect with each other (they both save each other's lives at the end).

and generally, kon & clark have a very positive relationship in postcrisis comics (aka the continuity that the cloning stuff with tim happens in) - if you want to see more of it, i'd rec "adventures of superman" #506 and superboy (1994) #59 and #70. kon definitely has plenty of issues, but his identity and relationship to superman aren't really the ones in question. (although i'll admit there is the caveat that kon's [lack of] superman-related identity issues is kind of soft retconned in teen titans (2003), which is where the lex luthor retcon is introduced - fun fact, luthor has nothing to do with kon initially!)

this got long i'm SO sorry - it just gets my goat when people tell straight up lies about comics to people who are just getting into reading comics 😭😭 i hope i didn't come off aggressive bc thats def not my intention but i'm sorry if i did!! and i hope you enjoy your comic journey and have fun with it overall!!!

do NOT apologize! i really appreciate this!!

i have a couple more people on my inbox yelling things like "how dare you even entertain the thought of them together!!!" i wasnt expecting to see so much passion on this subject when i first talked about it but it seems like DC comics fans have very strong opinions about that pairing hahaa

as i said in my previous reply to that anon, i really need to do my own reading before i form an opinion on the ship but your reflections seem very fair and i really appreciate the comic recommendations! and honestly, the whole reason i was interested in timkon was that their relationship seemed very complicated, and therefore very angsty, which is what i live for. so i do really understand why some people like it and some hate the idea of it. from what i've seen so far.... i like it. but i can't really speak on whether or not it is compatible with the canon dynamic of the characters. does that make sense?

also like on another note. HOW do you guys give such specific references when talking about these things?? 😭 DC universe seems HUGE and i have no clue where to start and then i see people giving like the exact issue number of events and stuff and i'm like.....HOW?? and also like. teach me. guide me. i'm lost 😭 HQJSKFKCJDJ

[cardicoven]

hi!! could you share any of your experiences interacting with persephone? or how has it felt to communicate with her? or even just fun anecdotes. ive given her an offering and im so happy to worship her... but god theres so little info or people talking about her!!!

Hey! So thanks for the lovely question, its great to hear that your reaching out to Persephone and are looking into worshipping her. I've been working with Persephone for around 3 years, giving weekly (often daily) offering and have maintained an altar space for her throughout that time. I say this not to boast or seem all knowing on the topic but to give some small context on my practice with her. Like many others my practice and worship of Persephone varies with the seasons, I feel her most strongly in Spring and Summer. During this time when light her candle I feel her presence, almost in that way when a Parent/Mentor/Guardian looks in your direction and you feel their eyes on you. When I leave offering during these months, I often experience feedback sometimes emotional, rarely I'll hear an affirmation, 'Thank you' or 'how thoughtful' kinda thing. When I call for her assistance in ritual I feel her behind me, sometimes guiding my hand, or I'll smell/taste something she advises for the ritual, only for the feeling to pass when I lay my hands on the herb/oil/item suggested. When it comes to divination she a dedicated card in my Tarot the 10 of Pentacles (which in my deck is the Pomegranate 10 of Crops, I use the Bottanical Deck link) and in my experience she's always happy to make it appear when she has something to say during Divination. In Autumn and Winter my experiences with her is very different, she feels distant, less patient, she's in the Underworld and has stuff to do. I don't feel her when I light my candles or leave small offerings. Only when I Invoke her and ask for her help in ritual do I feel her presence, its powerful, not stern per se but business esc, she's there to help and her time is not to be wasted. During this time I only invoke her when I really need her, most often in death work, or partially important banishings/protections and I always have a sizable offering at this time. That's not to say Persephone is not comforting or compassionate towards me in the colder months, her attention is elsewhere, and her responsibilities are with the dead.

That's all little heavy so here's a fun Anecdote. A few Years ago, myself and some witchy friends had a Party, there was plenty of drinking and debauchery (we were celebrating a friends bad break up). During a lull in the evening we pulled some cards and did some Tarot, nothing serious just good fun freaking out a few non-witchy friends, nevertheless Persephone had a word or two to share on the breakup, and while I don't remember much of it, it consisted of pointing out the Guys flaws and highlighting my friends strengths. After we put the cards away my friend asked how she should thank Persephone for her insight, I said leave her a wee offering, pour a shot out for her outside. My friend did so and said the following 'Thank for your wisdom Lady Pomegranate', before going back inside and passing out. I guess it's the thought that's counts.

Just gonna finish this off with a small list of recommended Reading since Anon is just starting out, and hopefully it might be useful. I'll link to Goodreads, but you should be able to find copies of these online somewhere if you try to. o Persephone's Pathway by Jennifer Heather: link : a wonderful exploration of Persephone from a modern pagan perspective but not without flaw. (my review) o Greek Religion by Walter Burkert: link : Currently making my way through this, it's academic and a heavy read but so far enlightening. o Old Stones, New Temples by Drew Campbell: link : an older book about Hellenic reconstructionism, reading it atm, so far its heavy but good. o Underworld Gods in Ancient Greek Religion by Ellie Mackin Roberts: link : On my reading list, 'This volume presents a case for how and why people in archaic and classical Greece worshipped Underworld gods.' o Hellenic Polytheism: Household Worship by LABRYS: link : I haven't got around to this yet but it's comes highly recommended. Hope this helps, and thanks again for the ask.

[avelera]

Genuinely curious, in GS what are some of the reasons Dream starts falling for Hob? In the beginning he’s more open to talking about his grief and relating to another human being, why is that? I do absolutely get the answers of this from the fic I’m just interested in hearing your thoughts 💖

Ooh, thank you, Anon, this is such an exciting question! Consider this an official "Giving Sanctuary" Behind the Scenes look!

Let me just quickly get the Doylist reason for Dream being so in love with Hob from the beginning in GS out of the way first:

I had, at that point, seen a lot of fics where Hob has the uphill battle of wooing Dream and/or Dream spent most of the fic coming around to the fact he was in love with Hob. Which makes a lot of sense! Dream is very closed off with his emotions and in denial about so many things about himself. There is a lot of evidence for a read that any relationship between Hob and Dream is going to require Hob to continue to be the emotionally open one and slowly chip away at Dream's reticence and denial of any and all emotion.

But it's been done. It's been done by really heckin' good writers so around ch. 2 of writing GS I had a discussion with my incredible beta reader @thornfield13713 (without whom this fic would simply not exist) and the outcome of the conversation was, "Hey, what if Dream did know that he's in love in this fic? And what if Dream fell head over heels with Hob in 1689 right there at the White Horse and acted upon it?"

I was so excited and amused by the idea I couldn't resist going with it! Further discussions with amazing people like @fishfingersandscarves made me even more convinced of the hilarity of a fic that extrapolated on Dream's heart eyes in 1689 when Hob says he has, "so much to live for," to full on teenage crush territory, doing the Dream equivalent of giggling and twirling his hair. Why? Because Dream is sadness-sexual and Hob is suddenly (after a bath) hot to him! He has this long romance novel cover hair, an open shirt revealing his manly chest hair, and an air of tragedy about him which was catnip for Depression of the Endless here. (Fishy did some HILARIOUS doodles while we were brainstorming this!).

And the thing is, there is evidence for this version of Dream! Dream goes from zero to a million with Nada, the whole relationship lasts about a day I think?? So there's actually plenty of evidence that once Dream knows he's in love, he's not actually that repressed! He goes for it! Even with Alianora they basically get introduced and he says more or less "if we're to be lovers, I'll give you my heart, my constancy, and my love forever". They just met!

When it comes to love, Dream in the comics is actually quite a romantic! To the point where the popular fanon that he doesn't know love feels like might be a disservice. If anything (and this appears in GS) the reason he's hesitant to be demonstrative at first with Hob is because of traumatic events in his life like Nada?

So I asked myself, what if Dream does actually have a modicum of a sense of responsibility to not repeat that mistake that he made with Nada, and so he knows he's in love with Hob but hesitant to give in until he can be 100% sure he's not going to hurt the person he loves again, and then he's hesitant because, like a self-aware adult, he realizes that Hob feels beholden to him for getting him off the street and so Dream resolves to let Hob make the first move? (Made all the more hilariously tragic because Hob decides to let Dream make the first move because of his fears of losing the friendship.)

So anyway, that was the reason I wanted to write a Dream that knows he's in love from the outset BUT, let's dive into the Watsonian, in-universe answers to your question because I adore talking about it so much!

So in the fic, Dream's original, "Oh," moment where he fell in love was the one we see, in my opinion, canonically on screen in the show when Dream gives Hob that ridiculously soft and wondering look when he says, "Death is a mug's game, I've got so much to live for."

However, the actual divergence point from canon, the reason Dream doesn't just feel the first soft stirring of An Emotion towards Hob but then still just fucks off for another hundred years, is the decision to prolong the night by going to another pub but more importantly, it's when Hob offers his sympathies about Orpheus.

But even then, when Hob offers his sympathies? Dream doesn't offer almost anything back! In fact, if you read the dialogue closely, Dream is pretty much entirely focused on himself and only himself during that entire conversation, up until the very end when he offers Hob a place to sleep for the night.

Thing is, Dream in GS is the softest I ever write him, but he's still not a great person in Ch. 1, he's actually incredibly selfish and self-centered, and there's a very deliberate reason for that! This ties into your question of exactly how and why Dream falls in love so hard and fast with Hob there. Let me explain:

It's my belief that one of the most insidious aspects of grief and depression (clinical or otherwise) is how it isolates us. But more important, how it makes us turn inward, which exacerbates the isolation. Dream has been mourning the death of his son at this point for give-or-take 2,500 years. He's marinated in that grief. He has turned inward, and selfish, and cold, and cruel because of it. The pain is real but it's a pain so intense to him that it makes him completely blind to the pain of others. It has arrested his development, his maturity, and his empathy for others entirely, so he is effectively operating at a teenage or early 20-something emotional level ever since. He sees slights everywhere, he thinks subjectively if not objectively that no one has suffered as profoundly as he has. He feels abandoned by his family and he feels like no one in his life understands his grief.

Some of this is based in fact! He is, in fact, the only Endless to have a child they care about (that I know of so that is canon to the fic) so none of his other siblings could really empathize with him or offer him more than platitudes.

Even worse, Destiny, Destruction, and Death, his three favorite siblings arguably, all directly or indirectly led to Orpheus's death, with Destruction encouraging him to go to the Underworld after Eurydice, Destiny warning Death not to offer the boon of Super Immortality, and Death abiding by Destiny's recommendation since he gives those so rarely. But not only did they not stop Orpheus they didn't warn Dream so he could take this moment more seriously and possibly intervene.

Now, would Dream have listened? Probably not! But with 20/20 hindsight, his bitterness was compounded by the (likely incorrect) belief that if he had just known everything that Destiny, Death, and Destruction knew, he could or would have prevented Orpheus's death. Or at the very least if he had known that he was about to lose his son, and there was no stopping it, he could have at least enjoyed their final days together. Of course that would have altered events significantly but it's also very unlikely Dream would have altered his own actions even with the knowledge that Orpheus was going after Eurydice. Dream's conclusions that he would have taken action if he'd known everything (except that Orpheus was doomed) are illogical thoughts based on grief, not objective reality or self-awareness, but they've compounded Dream's bitterness and isolation towards his own family before the fic begins, unlike in canon, where Orpheus still being a severed head means Dream's grief and blame is much more complicated and thus intractable.

Likewise, Calliope also officially broke ties with Dream as a result of his coldness towards Orpheus after he met Eurydice and his failure to prevent Orpheus's death (viewing Dream much the same way Dream views his siblings' lack of intervention) so Dream was truly alone and stewing with his grief for millennia.

Enter Hob Gadling, who recently lost his son. Who, counter to everything Dream expected after seeing that Hob had a son and a wife he loved in 1589, has not given up on life the way Dream has. Dream is actively wishing to die in GS as a result of Orpheus's death and only held back by the weight of his responsibilities, which I think is pretty much canonical to the comic series.

Now, I've ranged far from my point, but to swing back to it: Dream is still in a very selfish and inward-facing place in Ch. 1, even as he helps Hob. To be clear, he doesn't fall in love for Hob's sake in that moment, he falls in love very narcissistically with the projection of his own grief in another person. When Dream says, "[I'm not weeping for you] I'm weeping for myself," he's telling the truth. He sees in Hob's misery and rags and suffering the outward projection of how Dream feels every single day since Orpheus died. He sees in Hob's isolation how Dream feels after being (he feels) abandoned by Calliope and his siblings. Dream feels like he's looking in a mirror at himself right after Orpheus's death (absurd as that might from a material angle given all the power he has vs. Hob's destitution). He's not quite taking Hob out for another drink at that moment, he's taking "Dream the Day Orpheus Died" out for a drink and only slooowly over the course of the conversation begins to see Hob for his own sake, not just a reflection of himself.

Arguably he didn't invite Hob out to the Penny Whistle to help Hob but because he's having feelings for this reflection of his own pain. He's still too depressed and inward-facing to really be cognizant of Hob's grief, he only sees his own, so being with Hob is still a form of sort of wallowing at this point.

But the thesis of the story, and indeed, my own emotional thesis around grief and depression and healing, is that helping someone else begins to break down those walls. Not entirely, but it's a start. Hob's moment of selflessness, when he takes a break from his own grief to care for Dream, is the first crack in the ice that's encased Dream for millennia. Taking care of Hob over the course of the story helps Dream widen that gap and, in the course of their conversation at the Penny Whistle, just enough light breaks through the grief that has buried Dream that he begins to see that he has been buried by it.

Up until this point, Dream has just sort of... accepted that his pain and grief are just the world itself. It's just the way of things. The fact that other people like Hob (when he's enjoying life, unlike 1689) can't see that the natural state of the world is pain and darkness make Dream think those people are stupid. It makes him hate them and himself and life. This little crack of light that Hob allows in by showing Dream empathy illuminates for Dream that there is something out there besides his pain. That maybe he is wrong that there's nothing to life but misery. Maybe he is, in fact, trapped by his grief. Maybe, in fact, his grief isn't the truth, but has actually blinded him to the true state of the world around him.

That is really the moment Dream goes from fond of Hob and nominally invested in his survival to head-over-heels, Nada levels of love-at-first-sight obsessed with Hob in an instant. And it's still selfish! I'd argue his love for Nada was selfish in a similar way, falling for someone who made him feel things.

But Dream realizes he's in love! He realizes it the moment that Hob takes his hand and won't let him go and tells him he cares if Dream is there in 100 years and he cares not in any sort of transactional way other than it makes him happy to know that Dream is out there, hopefully happy as well, and that it's an entirely selfless love of Hob's or that it's selfish insofar as Dream's simple continuing existence gives Hob hope of a familiar face every century. He tells Dream, whose parents treated love as transactional at best and unwanted at worst, that Dream doesn't have to do anything for Hob to continue to wish the best for him. Nothing is expected! In fact, Dream didn't have to do anything in the first place, even be kind to Hob, to win this love. In fact he's been pretty awful to Hob, but it doesn't matter, because Hob cares about him anyway just for being himself and being alive and being there in accordance with their agreement to meet once a century.

This is incredibly revelatory for Dream, to simply be cared about and wanted by someone who isn't dependent on him (like a subject) where he can argue that they don't really care about him, they care about his function as Dream Lord. Even Jessamy and Lucienne Dream can dismiss as caring about him because of how he fulfills his function. Which, when one is in a deep depression, can overcome the obvious facts that Jessamy and Lucienne love Dream for who he is, not just for being the Dream Lord! But with Hob, even depression can't make the argument that Hob cares about the Dream Lord and not for Dream, since Hob knows nothing about Dream's function as of yet.

It's impossible to understate how revelatory this moment at the Penny Whistle is for Dream. To have someone who understands his grief about his son, who reaches out in sympathy, who basically says he will fight God for allowing Orpheus to die and says it with complete sincerity. To have someone care and be invested in Dream without any possibility that he does so for his role. To have, for the first time, someone ask Dream if he's ok now about Orpheus's death, even though it was 2,500 years ago! Unlike everyone else, even Calliope, Hob is the first one not to assume that Dream is over it yet, or that he never felt anything at all. Hob is the first fellow grieving father to see Dream and ask him, as a father, if he is still grieving his son, and if he's going to be ok, and if he's actively suicidal about it!

This beat was based on real anecdotes I've read from parents who lose a child, how the mother is often flooded with sympathy and support, but fathers are often ignored as far as their need for support after (just one more way toxic masculinity fails men). My partner said it rang true that, as a man, no one had ever really asked Dream if he was ok after Orpheus died, beyond the initial condolences, and he's not ok. In fact, he's been actively buried in the darkest despair about it ever since!

So Dream falls in love with Hob here. Yes, it's for selfish reasons at first, that Hob finally gives Dream the sympathy he's always craved. But that selfish love of Hob for comforting him is the thread that helps lead Dream out of the dark. Then, over the course of their time together in the Manor House, that hole in the walls of his despair begins to break open even wider. Dream begins to see Hob for who he is and his good qualities. He begins to see Hob's grief over Robyn and sympathize with it for Hob's sake, not just his own. He begins to want to help Hob for his own sake, not just so Hob can say more nice things to Dream, but because he realizes he wants Hob to be happy, and that Dream wants to be happy, and that together they don't need to suffer like this. He begins to look around, finally, and see how Lucienne is afraid of his anger, though she's done nothing wrong, and that Jessamy cares deeply for him and suffers discomfort on his behalf because of her motherly love for him.

The selfish love leads him to selfless love and really, that's why it's all over for Dream with regards to Hob. He has been drowning for millennia and Hob is the first breath of air he's had. He's basically high on the first positive emotions he's felt since Orpheus died, and it's thanks to Hob.

Dream's emotions are immature as a result of that arrested development, because Dream hasn't felt anything consistently good since Orpheus died. He is, in fact, effectively a teenager! He gets a crush! He's doing the Endless equivalent of giggling and twirling his hair and complimenting Hob for pointing out blindingly obvious things. Dream's body, that he's been basically ignoring except for possibly the occasional physical release of a one-night stand, suddenly springs back to life in embarrassing ways because he's not buried in misery anymore. Dream begins to feel things, physically and emotionally, because finally someone cares about him in the way he needed to be cared about. And so he falls in love, Big Love, Forever Love, with Hob for being there, being the person he needs, for loving him the way he needs. And very fortunately, Hob is over the moon ecstatic to get the chance to shower Dream with that love, because he feels the same way in return!

This is already insanely long. Obviously I have a lot of feelings about this. But it was amazing even to me how much Dream in 1689 specifically clicked with Hob the minute Hob began to share his grief and offer his sympathy to Dream in return. After that, it was amazing I could keep their hands off each other for as long as the story did! Which was, minus Destiny's intervention, one whole entire week lol.

[hot-take-tournament]

Omg the reblog person is so real for that. I understand that Tumblr doesn't have an algorithm so liking doesn't functionally do anything but I get extremely anxious about reblogging so the guilt trips are really awful for me (and I assume it's the same for others with similar issues.)

Uh- bit of a tangent/rant below. For context I'm an "Audhd-er" (I think that's the term people use, it means I'm autistic and I have ADHD)

I understand most of the time they are over-exaggerating their feelings on the matter. In posts about reblogging stuff from writers and artists it's always kind of a "LIKES DO NOTHING SHOW YOUR LOVE WITH REBLOGS LIKES MEAN NOTHING"

I've always found that a bit odd. As someone with two mutuals (one of whom is rarely online) and 1 normal follower my reblogs really aren't gonna do much so I mostly reblog stuff my mutuals might like and occasionally make my own posts. (Keeping everything else private for the most part) When I get a like it always brings a warm fuzzy feeling because it means someone enjoyed my reblog or post enough to share with me that they liked it.

I've only had one post that breached containment and it was a fun weekend of checking out the blogs of people who liked it! All in all I think maybe people are just unaware of the anxieties that come with being online and the people who experience those anxieties are too anxious to really speak up about it. I mean look at me I'm chilling behind an anon mask rn (I rarely send an off anon ask lol.)

For a website dubbed by its users as the neurodivergent website, some people forget to consider that learning and working within the culture of a social media platform can be extremely stressful for many types of people, let alone an autistic person such as myself (the ADHD doesn't help either). Some of us would prefer to lurk in our private blogs, only coming out of our comfort zone when we feel ok to do so.

All in all, a reminder to reblog is perfectly fine, but please refrain from the guilt-tripping and social obligation type of thing— or at least be aware of it and try not to be offended if one of your mutuals struggles to reblog.

Now this is all my personal perspective, other people will likely have completely different experiences but I wanted to share in case people were confused on why it's an issue for some people. Thanks for reading this whole thing and I hope you have a lovely day <3

I think I get what you're saying -

For a lot of people it genuinely takes a surprising amount of guts to put themselves out there on the internet in any way, even if it's anonymously, and that includes things as simple as reblogging a post.

It's not just Tumblr either. You also see it on Reddit and Twitter, and in online games where people just want to keep to themselves and not interact with strangers. Some people just want to lurk, maybe liking or upvoting, but not commenting or reblogging, because that feels like making yourself more "visible" somehow, in a way simply liking posts doesn't.

It's difficult to put into words, but I feel it's kind of like being in a university lecture with 50+ strangers. Liking is sitting in the back quietly taking notes. Reblogging is like putting your hand up and giving an opinion when the professor asks for one.

It's true that only reblogging actually contributes anything functionally, but there are plenty of people, especially neurodivergent people, who might struggle with that kind of thing, but still want to show some appreciation, or just save it as a bookmark.

So, I think that's partly why that kind of guilt-tripping or threatening reblog bait can be so stressful. Tumblr is a comfort app for a lot of people, who just want to curate their own little private space. Reblog baits are like someone banging on your door, telling you that you're actively doing something wrong by keeping to yourself, and (in the case of "I'll block/unfollow you if you like/read but don't reblog" baits) people will hate you for doing it.

It also implicitly takes away the sense of control you have over your own personal online space. Ideally, you should be able to do whatever you want with your own blog - no one should dictate your own online experience. So, if you just want to reblog things you like or want to share, at whatever pace you feel comfortable with, there shouldn't be anything wrong with that.

But reblog baits seem to suggest that you shouldn't have that control, and there are certain things that you have no choice but to put on your blog, and it has to be right now. And I feel that sense of having control suddenly snatched away from you without warning could also be a major source of anxiety for a lot of people who see Tumblr as a source of comfort.

With all that in mind, while I do believe that it's not quite this simple, considering artists and writers, and especially those who rely on commissions, do need exposure from reblogs, I also feel it's difficult to blame people for finding very aggressive reblog baits stressful, especially when you're suddenly blindsided with them.

At least, those are just my initial thoughts based on what you said, but absolutely let me know if you disagree with any of this or feel I misrepresented what you meant <3

[kimbapisnotsushi]

you seem to have a good read on HQ and your takes are great, so i have a question...and if you'd rather not go there, please ignore this! but i see oikawa get called "arrogant" quite often and i'm curious, would you say he is? what is it that makes people think that? imo he has a plenty of flaws, but i truly don't think arrogance is one of them. self-centered, sure, but not arrogant i think. i'm open to being wrong, i'm just legit so confused by that particular criticism, it makes me doubting my reading comprehension. i feel like that one post that's like "free my man, he didn't do that. he did a lot of other stuff tho" LOL. if you do answer this, then thanks for your time!

oh, dear anon. this is a very very big question and i'm honored you think i am capable of providing an answer that does it justice!! i don't consider myself an oikawa expert by far, but i'll do my best because he's still very beloved to me, and i hope whatever i say helps!

(but also - maybe take what i say with a grain of salt LMAO)

anyways, to get the main point out of the way: i completely agree that oikawa isn't arrogant! i actually haven't seen any commentary about that myself (bless!!!), so i can't say for sure why some people might think that, but my guess is that they think his pridefulness = arrogance — they think that the confidence he has in himself and seijoh contributes nothing to their actual power and is utterly meaningless if they don't win, especially in the face of ushijima. which, like, come on. what kind of captain would he be if he wasn't confident in himself and his teammates? is he supposed to tell them that they're going to lose??? is he supposed to discourage their hard work and effort???

or maybe it's because oikawa acts like he's all that, but doesn't have anything to show for it. who does he think he is? what does he think his pride is worth? what right does he have to go around making grand declarations when he has nothing to his name?

(which isn't entirely true, either, but we'll get into that, promise.)

now, do i think that he can, occasionally, be flippant, shallow, and/or petty? yeah, sure. he's got one hell of a personality about it. even iwaizumi says as much. oikawa is great at being a little shit. it's one of my favorite things about him!

but is oikawa genuinely arrogant, or self-centered? well . . . i don't think so.

see, here's the thing about oikawa: he knows he's good, but he doesn't think he's good enough. i think it'd be easiest to really explain what that meant if we broke this down into two separate parts, so let's give it a go, shall we?

(buckle up, friends, because it's about to get LONG. also: TIMESKIP SPOILERS!! and there's a tldr at the start of the tags because. WOW.)

so, first things first: if people are calling oikawa arrogant, then i'm like 99% sure that they don't actually know what the word "arrogant" means.

"arrogant" is used to describe someone full of themselves. it's used to describe someone conceited and pompous. it's used to describe someone so assured of and invested in their self-importance that they don't care for other people, and if it seems like they do, then it's usually wildly off the mark and still serves to inflate their own egos.

oikawa has never once been like that. he's been pretty much the exact opposite, in fact.

and yeah, sure, by his third year of high school, he knows he's good at volleyball, and that's fine! it's perfectly all right to claim you're good at something if you have the skills/experience to back it up. confidence is healthy as long as it isn't in overabundance, and we actually see a lot of this throughout the series!

(not to mention that this was where ushijima fell short. he was overflowing with confidence. he did not believe, for even a single second, that hinata shouyou and his meager, scrappy little flock of crows could beat him.

but oikawa? he knew. he knew what it looked like to make something bloom.)

the key to oikawa's confidence that made him better was that he could pinpoint others' strengths and weaknesses just as well as he could with his own. and (bear with me, please, i might get kind of boring here bc it's nothing that hasn't been said in the manga before) i don't mean it in the way we see the coaches or more analytical players do, as observations to be taken advantage of by everyone else; i mean that in the sense of how vital it is to his position as a setter. that was always the biggest difference between oikawa and kageyama: no matter how much more raw talent kageyama had, no matter how much better oikawa believed him to be, kageyama, especially in the beginning, struggled to do what oikawa could with a team. kageyama struggled to bring out the best in each player. and it wasn't because he didn't know how -- oikawa freely admitted that kageyama had the skill for it, that kageyama, once he got his shit together, could win against him -- it was because kageyama didn't have that same confidence in himself.

(not until much later, anyways. but that's another story, for another time.)

so, oikawa's confident. he knows he's good. he can bring out the best in each player. he's got a killer serve (and a killer smile!), a mind for tactics that borders on machievallianism, and cherishes the trust he is given like it's something precious. his coaches let him lead without leaning on them. his team has the utmost respect and admiration for him. he has a reputation. from karasuno to shiratorizawa to the whole of miyagi -- there is not a single character who knows oikawa tooru and would believe that he is, in any way, bad at volleyball.

but it's not enough. despite all of that, oikawa still doesn't think he's good enough. and that, friends, brings us to the second point.

oikawa tooru is nothing if not passionate.

so were the others, of course. kageyama kept going after his grandfather's death. hinata kept going while being a nobody from nowhere with no one to back him up. atsumu kept going while osamu didn't. it's not even about just those who went pro -- kenma, kuroo, noya, and everyone else found things that they were passionate about and kept going with it. the entire story revolves around loving what you do and trying to keep that love alive, and, sometimes, that can be really, really difficult when it seems like it doesn't love you back.

oikawa was so insecure over kageyama to the point where he nearly decked the poor kid. oikawa got crushed by ushijima-- who kept telling him that his team was not good enough, that his choices were not good enough, that there was nothing good enough to be proud of -- for years in a row. oikawa was taught that there would always be someone better than him no matter how skilled he was, but if he let that stop him then he didn't fucking belong on the court in the first place.

oikawa tooru is intimately acquainted with not being good enough, but he keeps trying to be. he keeps going. he tries to keep the love alive even if he's not loved back. he pushes and practices and takes a plane far from home to become even better. even if he doesn't have the skill, even if he doesn't have the talent, even if he doesn't have the love -- he still has his pride. and what does that mean, in the end? how far does that take him?

in the end, oikawa tooru walks across a world stage and sees people who believed in him on the other side and calls it a family reunion. in the end, he gets to play the volleyball that reminds him of why he loves it and how it gives him so much love back. in the end, his pride is unyielding and unbreakable, a product of the forge. he molded it with his own two hands. he will not let it falter so easily.

arrogance would not have taken oikawa tooru this far. i hope this has proven that he is anything but.

remember: instinct is something you polish. talent is something you make bloom. and never, ever let anyone else tell you what your pride is worth.

[stupendousfoxthing]

It's so annoying to me when I come across people who say that tkkers base their belief in taekook on edits and videos that overanalyze. Not saying that there aren't shippers like this but I know this is not the case for alot of tkkers I know and certainly not for me. I had no interest in shipping and theorising on band mates being in a secret relationship when I got into BTS. I just really loved their music and their story.

I noticed taekook while catching up on lives and binging BTS content trying to get to know the members more. I wasn't trying to ship any members, but I was picking up on things with taekook that made me side eye them ngl. The odd tension in lives, the hot and cold behaviour, being overly touchy and familiar with eachothers bodies and personal space while also sometimes acting like they don't know eachother. I tried to brush it off but the vibe they were giving off was like when you start noticing tension between two people in a friend group but nobody talks about it and it becomes the big elephant in the room, only to find out later they were secretly hooking up lol.

After awhile I felt like I had gotten a good grasp on all the friendships and dynamics within the group and yet taekook remained a big question mark to me and fandom discourse certainly didn't help at all. It's only then that I fell into the rabbit hole out of curiousity and most of what I learnt has solidified my suspicions about them. You really don't need analysis videos or shipping edits to notice them because the vibe they give off and the things they do, the way BigHit handled them, these things are enough to make you question. Remember when locals at 2020 Grammy's were asking if they were a couple? Yep, taekook give off boyfriend vibes and we all know it, even the naysayers know it deep down.😂

(Btw I love reading your thoughts, please post more 😭)

It doesn't annoy me when other people say that about Taekookers, because I know for a fact that's not what I base my belief on and I think a significant portion of people who say that are trying to convince themselves there's nothing between TK, we just really want there to be. A lot seem to believe that if they get rid of us Taekook's relationship will stop existing, whatever the nature of that relationship is. Personally I hate analysis videos. Like I said previously, when I first starting looking at Taekook those kinds of videos weren't very popular yet. The two big YouTube accounts I followed just posted compilation videos of moments with no analysis. That's all I need. There are so many moments that speak for themselves. I'll be screaming about the nape kiss until the end of time. I'm sorry but there's no way you're going to convince me there's anything platonic about that. Two recent moments I think about a lot are the Sweetheart shirts and Tae's live where we found out Jungkook always sings "To Find You" to him. Those are very loud and obvious imho. I don't need to analyze them. I've also in my own life accurately called these same "vibes" between plenty of people who ended up together. The tells aren't any different for same-sex couples, but some people will readily read romantic/sexual interest into every interaction between a man and a woman but dismiss way more sus moments between two men. I think there would be no question about Taekook for a lot of people if they were a het pair. I do remember the buzz around them at the Grammys. I was just recently thinking about reactions I saw on Twitter to the live where Tae played "Oh No Oh Yes" (where he intentionally "twin flamed" with Jungkook as an anon recently pointed out). That had some people questioning things. I remember seeing people talking back and forth in a thread about the lyrics and how they usually drag Taekookers but maybe we're onto something. 😂 I still think that some people who call us delusional just don't follow what happens between Taekook, because they were more suspicious than ever during solo era. Thank you for the message, sorry it took me a bit to get to answering ❤️

[ahmedmootaz]

Good evening! As I was ubering to my house I had 2 questions that I think you'd be able to give good insight on.

If you had to kill a cast member in AiP (LC+LOR), who would it be and how would you execute it in your fic? I know we've had our close calls, but I do wonder how you'd handle having to get rid of a character, as I always find trouble on what to do with characters after they've had a journey.

What are some scrapped/ saved for other fics ideas you've had while creating in AiP?

Dear Anon,

Now that's quite the questions you've got there. I've given it a passing thought once or twice before, but now that you've asked, I've thought about it long and hard, so thank you for the fun thought exercise! Now, for the answers...

When it comes to a character I'd personally kill off, I'll be fully honest and admit that this probably comes back to my personal bias. I find it difficult to let go of characters which I like, so killing a member of the cast would probably need quite the strong and compelling narrative in order for me to follow-up such a task. In a way, the aftermath is the most important thing in such a scenario, not the death itself, as the interesting thing to read/analyse would be the reactions of those who have to grapple with the fact that someone they knew -and likely held dear- is no longer there. It's also a tough balance because I personally wouldn't want to always remind the readers about the passing of said character, but rather have the subtle yet permanent presence of their absence, if that makes any sense.

And with the AiP cast in particular, I'm not ashamed to say that I am quite attached to all of them, so choosing one to kill off is by no means an easy endeavour, but if I were forced to choose, I think I might cheat a little and go for X as my poor sacrificial lamb.

Now, the reasons for this choice are plentiful, seeing how X has a positive relationship with most of the cast, enjoys a long-enduring history with Ayin and Angela, and none of the Librarians think badly of him. By all means, I think that his absence can fulfil the sorts of reverberations in the plot that I think would justify his killing, where the knowledge of his absence is, in its own right, a silent presence that cannot be filled since he would be long gone.

As for how I'd go along with this idea, then I admit that I once entertained a little plot bunny about such a scenario. For me, I think that I'd either go for a sort of sacrificial death against a stronger foe, perhaps even the Distortion, during the inevitable re-confrontation with the City that Angela is planning, or I'd go with the hinted plot point of TMFoA where X has the ten year timer above him before his duration as a clone 'expires', as both situation offer a very interesting perspective to explore from the point of the view of X, someone who was mostly untouched by the vileness of the City thanks to his close presence to the Light and to the fact that his memory was constantly wiped, albeit imperfectly in my interpretation, which prevented him from succumbing to the City's cycle one way or another, even if it wasn't all that good for his health in the long run.

Regardless, what this presents us with is the first man "born" after the Light's release without any sort of lasting influence from the City beyond some ghostly sensations here and there, and thus in a sacrifice scenario, it would be a testament to humanity's lasting goodness in a way, seeing how even with so much to live for, X decided to give it all up for other people who likely wouldn't even know about him, not to mention if would be a good way to really harken how much the 'greater good' principles were drilled into him and offer an interesting monologue if such a scenario were to be written between X's desire to reject those notions that have chained him for millennia and his will to embrace them because he still wants to do the right thing despite how much the notion of 'the right thing' pained him.

And when it comes to the scenario of the 'slow withering' ending, if we were to call it that, it'd definitely be less climactic than the aforementioned potential sacrifice root, but it would also be very interesting to explore as a way of killing X off since there's always the chance of saving him one way or another during that decline, so it's almost guaranteed that he's the one who rejects being saved. It would present the dilemma of Angela's presumed immortality since it directly relates to her, seeing how a mere ten years was all it took for X to pass, and it would reverberate within her and cause a fear of losing the rest of the Librarians since she cannot age while they presumably do, and it would additionally put Tiphereth in the spotlight since she knows what it's like to have someone close to her who likely doesn't want to be saved, like how Enoch seemed so willing to 'shed his skin', as he put it. So this scenario would not only bring forth the immortality VS. letting life take its course arguments into the monologues and dialogues, but it would also relate to various characters involved, which would make the moment of the death the important part while the aftermath would be less critical to focus on in comparison because at that point, most would have come to terms with it since it was an expected and slow process for X.

And of course, by no means does this mean that I plan to kill off X anytime soon! I like him as much as everyone else, but it is very interesting to explore all of these options and analyse them if briefly, so once more, thank you for such a fun question!

2. Oh man, this is a good one. There are plenty of scenarios I've had in mind about other characters taking up the roles of the Trio of Idiocy as sorts of spin-offs that I thought about exploring at some point, such as a 'Adventures in Motherhood!' side-show with Angela, Gebura and Binah at the foray of the parenting experience instead of Ayin, X and Roland.

But when it comes to unimplemented ideas in AiP itself...I thought about adding a scene where Ayin and Roland make a little makeshift grave for Angela (and...Roland's child, since I assume that Argalia made sure that was also part of her puppet...) as a sort of apology to Roland for everything that has happened directly or indirectly thanks to him, however, I felt that such a scene didn't particularly work for AiP's atmosphere and would be better left for a more specific post-AiP extras segment or event one-shots detailing various events around the Library. I've also canned various different ideas for the "Slices of Life" Chapters, such as a more detailed cooking adventure with the kids, some more focus on X and his girls' history lessons, and I've thought about giving Gabriel some focus in a Chapter somehow, but I just didn't find anything that worked, so I tried compensating for that by involving him more than some of the others in the Sweeper Saga.

I've got to admit that I've had plenty of inspiration for other 'Fics while writing AiP, like exploring what-could-have-beens in certain spoilery situations, exploring more AUs like the 'Adventures in Motherhood' ones, etc...

Of course, if you want any detailed information or something of the sort, I would be happy to provide, but I don't want to bloat this answer too much otherwise.

Once again, thank you so very much for the interesting ask! I always like thought exercises like this, and I do hope that the responses pleased you! Until next time, stay safe, be well, and see ya'!

[darlin-djarin]

Plenty of a rebels fans who loved sabine, especially woc, are unhappy about how she's written in "ahsoka". also yes, for her to be at this age and for white writer dave to think "hey this asian woman needs to behave like a brat teenager and regress as a person" just so ahsoka can train someone is ridiculous. it's insulting to who sabine really is, to asian characters and to viewers who expected better.

for all we know, this series is a separate canon because sabine and hera are unrecognizable and might as well be new characters. and if that's your cup of tea then so be it, enjoy what you like. some of us have better things to do than sit through awful writing or hype up a show starring a transphobe who assaulted someone .

okay well anon. i was going to agree with you, absolutely, and i still do, but you genuinely did not need to get that hostile at the end. i do agree that filoni doesn't know how to handle woc characters like sabine. i did not realize filoni seemed to "regress" her, but this did open my eyes quite a bit. i assume you've read my other post analyzing sabine's and ahsoka's behavior, which is why you sent this. in the end i'll just say that some people are happy with sabine's behavior because they relate to it and some are not happy because of how this east asian(-desi) character is treated by the writers. i'm (west) asian and i hate to see asian (and any poc characters in general) get reduced to scraps just to pass along the plot. it genuinely is frustrating, so i understand your feelings towards the show isn't positive at all.

as for the second bit. i do not promote the ahsoka show. if anything im more critical of it, i just try to post the very few positive things because i try to keep my blog positive if i can. i call out racism and whitewashing and criticize filoni's and lucasfilms' actions all the fucking time. if i'm being honest, i only watching ahsoka to see ezra again. other than that, i don't really give a fuck. this is a mando blog, i don't plan on dwelling on the ahsoka show for long. as for rosario dawson, i know literally nothing about her. idk anything about any transphobia, so if someone would like to explain the situation to me, i'd appreciate it.

anon honestly i'm always open to discussion and different people's opinions but if you're gonna come here to just be fucking hostile to me over things i might not know or understand or have taken into consideration yet, then please just fuck off. i literally said on my other post i'm always open to hearing people's interpretations as long as they're respectful. why can't you just grant me a basic decency

[golbrocklovely]

You say you like both boys, but you seem to be very biased towards Colby. Reading through you're blog you seem to take every opportunity to attack Sam and call out his flaws while letting Colby's slide even way back in your blog in years past. You say people baby Sam and attack Colby while doing the opposite yourself by babying Colby and attacking Sam making you a little bit of a hypocrite.

You should let people know you are more biased towards Colby so that they understand your answers to their questions might be weighted slightly in Colbys favour as people seem to be asking you for unbiased opinions on things when you're not unbiased at all.

usually with asks like this, i just ignore them and move on. but i have the time today.

i'll get all of the initial things out of the way first: everyone has a bias. shocking, i know. having a bias isn't a bad thing inherently, especially in cases like this where we're not talking about life or death topics. we are talking about fandom nonsense and nonsensical things like who's the better singer or who could be a model or what hair style looks best. who cares if i have a bias? none of this matters ! you're asking for my opinion, and this is what my opinion entails. if you don't like it, don't ask. or ignore it if it goes against what you want to hear. if you want someone to just agree with you, find someone that will. i'm not trying to change anyone's opinion, i'm just stating my own. and again, there's no such thing as an unbiased opinion.

out of all the ppl on this site that answer asks about sam, i'm one of the few that is actually nice to him. me calling out things that i think are a bit strange about him, or flaws of his, is not an attack. there are plenty of asks i've answered over the years where i have defended sam from anons who downright hate him (or at least sound like they do). i give him the benefit of the doubt a lot of the time. just bc recently i haven't agreed with the way he manages to not edit videos doesn't mean i'm attacking him.

i've tiptoed around saying my full, god's honest opinion about this fandom for a very long time, bc i think it's gonna piss some ppl off. but i think it's time i say it.

this fandom loves to coddle sam and full on hate colby. personally i believe that some fans that claim they love sam don't even like him. they just hate colby so much that sam is the only other option to them. that's not to say no one likes sam. i love sam. i care about sam. but that doesn't negate when he does things wrong imo. i don't have to turn a blind eye to them just bc i like him. and that applies to colby too.

the amount of asks i have answered over the years pointing out colby's issues in relationships, how he treats himself, his terrible choice in friends outside of sam, his ability to purposefully tease the fandom only to them complain about it, the times he has disappointed me, ect… i've talked about that ad nauseam. but so has the rest of the fandom as well. and not just on here; on sites that colby can actually see it on. ppl point out colby's flaws all the fucking time and no one cares. no one is coming up in my ask box saying "hey guys we don't know colby like that. let's give him a fair chance now." I'M the one saying that. but sam…. i have to walk on eggshells just to talk about in fear that someone is gonna get pissed bc i said he's a bit annoying sometimes.

let me point out some examples.

colby literally gets slut shamed very frequently. hell, there are ppl on here that do it often. i don't do it bc i would love for him to go out and have fun as much as he wants. but anytime he's even near a girl, it's "omg colby's at it again, acting like a fool. when is he gonna give it up and stop sleeping around?" but all of sudden bc sam is single it's "i can't wait to see sam hook up with girls. i wonder who his next gf will be." no issue there. sam was literally dancing up on a girl at jc's party, but colby's the one that gets called out for standing next to the same girl all night. okay then.

colby got berated on here a while ago for having a possible type - white, skinny, dark hair, light eyes. even tho he has been with girls that don't look like that. but bc it's believed to be true, he's a dick for having a type. sam literally followed like 10 asian girls in a row, some of which were onlyfans girls (which btw colby also got hate for following onlyfans girls so there's another example) and it was seen as "omg sam is so funny, what is he doing following all these asian girls???"

another prime example: kat is getting hate for writing music about sam. why? bc it doesn't favor him. bc it points out that maybe he wasn't the best the entire 8 years they were together. she has borderline albums dedicated to that man but all of a sudden it's an issue when she writes a song that doesn't metaphorically suck his dick. yall don't bat an eye when major artists shit talk their exes. it's tea, it's drama. but kat can't do the same to sam bc…. you like him?? not to mention, kat is now getting called a slut for talking to other guys (some of which are just her friends) when again at the SAME party, sam was with a girl and then admitted to hanging out with her after the party.

let's get into more, quasi serious, examples.

who participated in queerbaiting? sam, colby, and brennen. who apologized for it? colby. who got yelled at for not doing enough and not being sincere about it? colby.

who got yelled at for not talking about jan 6th on jan 6th as it was happening? colby. who got called misogynistic for wishing happy international women's day? colby. who got called out for not posting links to reputable sources when stop asian hate was trending on twitter? colby. do you know what sam did? nothing. he didn't post anything until colby eventually did, the difference is he didn't get yelled at for it. he didn't get cancelled for it. am i saying that colby didn't make some fuck ups during this time period? of course not. but the difference between what was said to him and what was said to sam over the same exact situations is a bit confusing.

colby still gets called an asshole for the killing best friend prank, a prank that BOTH OF THEM participated in and were in on.

i have seen this discourse happen on twitter a bunch: a lot of sam fans wish that he got recognized just as much as colby does. but do you know what that recognition brings? a tremendous amount of hate. colby receives that DAILY for almost every decision he makes. he loses followers when he grows facial hair, he got a death threat so bad when he was getting cancelled that he left twitter for like a week straight so his mental health would go back to normal. kat's own fucking fans rejoiced when colby lost his journal and was emotional about it. there is a level of respect that sam receives that colby doesn't.

sam and colby fan accounts can exist, sam accounts can exist, but colby accounts get called rude bc they forget about sam, or they get told "it's sam AND colby." yet weirdly, who's saying that to the sam accounts? bc i have a sneaking suspicion no one is telling them "hey you pay too much attention to sam, give colby some love too." bc i'm gonna take a wild guess that you wouldn't have sent this ask if i favored sam over colby.

i could go on, but i think i've made my point clear: do i have a bias towards colby? sure. i've openly admitted to favoring him sometimes or saying that he's my type more than sam. but i'm also right when i say this fandom babies sam. colby gets a lot of love, but a fuckton of hate on top of it. there are things that sam has done that colby could NEVER get away with. the amount of times sam doesn't address shit and just goes quiet and ppl just move on from whatever drama it was…. that could only happen to colby in a completely different timeline. i love sam dearly, but me pointing out that sometimes he's out of touch or isn't the nicest doesn't mean i'm attacking him. i call out colby for the same shit but no one cares bc shitting on colby is an everyday occurrence in this fandom. sam is literally known as the smart one of the two. you don't think that in itself kinda proves my point? colby is literally seen as the dumb one. what about that screams unbiased??

[dogwittaablog]

he def knows this page exists, I mean what else does he do all day but troll and be chronically online?? I’m sure he’s looked himself up and it came up on google, then he made a tumblr account to view it. Changing his Spotify name and his twitter account in general is beyond immature for a 25 yo man. he’s single and unemployed bc he’s entitled, immature, and a terrible person. Obvs he gets “less girls” than his NHL days and I’m sure that’s why he’s gotten so misogynistic, but I’m sure there are plenty of amazing girls who have shown interest since and he’s just such a loser. NOLAN IF YOURE ACTUALLY READING THIS, this page is harsh wake up call u need. Months before his twitter came up a lot about his seemed suspicious and it kinda seemed like he was spiraling but the twitter proved it. I’ve met plenty of guys like him, but none that were so consistently miserable. honestly, I kinda want his ex to come out and talk about the relationship (obvs she never would) but it rlly makes me wonder, he’s probs the worst friend to have to, no wonder he couldn’t keep any friends in the nhl or in his hometown

Yeah literally no actual coherent girl who has things actually going for themselves would probably settle for him ong, but you do have girls who would date absolute losers and even worst then him, so would he be forever lonely most likely not, there is someone out there that'll be willing to go for him regardless. As stated before he's most likely going to hide certain aspects of himself lol.

It's the fact I want to give him the benefit of the doubt when it comes to how he was with his ex because he was still a teen at the time, so there not surprise he was just dumb and immature. I am pretty positive he ghosted her, she also tweeted something about it too. Some folks on here have recalled it happening and I found an old ass puckbunny blog from 2017-2018 that had anons state it as well. So I am pretty sure it's true. Though even with the benefit of the doubt I am positive his maturity level hasn't changed much LMAOOO.

I don't know what makes him a bad friend? Since if we base this off how he acts on his burner I'll be honest most of his friends that are obviously male won't give a shit to drop him for anything he's said or done on there. Also his friends are his friends for a reason so they're definitely all on the same page when it comes to how they think and act. I honestly get a vibe he's the one that closes people off and becomes shady without explanation.

[yooniesim]

Hey nonny, thank you for telling me this! And thank you for considering my well being 💜 I blocked the names out of your ask because... I'm going to be honest, I've never heard of either of these people, I have no idea who they are. I tried checking, but nothing comes up, so I assume the one that didn't deactivate has me blocked out of fear. This isn't unexpected- I've dealt with plenty of irrelevant blogs like this before. They would probably like a mention, but can't handle direct confrontation in DMs. They can only manage anons that agree with them, blow smoke up their asses, and make them feel good about themselves for what they're doing. It's much easier to delete anons that disagree with you so no one else sees them and only post the ones that do, creating whatever narrative you like. Don't worry- I'm well-versed in the tactics of a full-time terminally online hater lmfao. But that being said, off the top of my head, I'm drawing a blank for who they could be or what, if any, content they create. So if anyone is trying to start drama for clout... well, we know who it is, don't we?

(This reply got pretty long/rambly and isn't all relevant, so I'm going to throw the rest under a cut- sorry nonny!)

...I think it's very strange, that even when I've been mostly on hiatus for quite a long time, and haven't done shit, I'm still such a strong presence in so many minds. I don't quite get the obsession, though I imagine it's jealously and frustration that I somehow keep existing when they'd prefer I didn't. Which- I'd kind of understand if it was someone I had history with, but I really have no idea who these particular losers are, so I can only conclude that it's just a need for attention...? I don't know.

Look, I'll say right now, it's fine if someone thinks I'm not friendly. It's alright if they make posts, and answer a bunch of anons about me. People can spend their limited free time however they want, and if they choose to spend it on me for... some unknown reason... that's their right, even if it is odd in my opinion. I don't read these posts. I've been here long enough and pissed off enough people that there are quite a few bigots and generally not well-adjusted people obsessed with me that go to ask boxes to spew untrue nonsense, that morons like the OPs you mentioned gladly eat up, and there's nothing I can do about that. As much as simblr loves to pretend otherwise... it loves drama and toxicity, it loves hating on acceptable targets when they get the chance, and they really love a good circlejerk. It thrives on finding the next conflict, especially if it gives them the chance to feel superior to someone else. That won't change, and as long as it's like that, people like the OPs and posts like the ones they made will continue to exist.

And as much as it sounds that way, I'm not coming at this from purely a lecturing standpoint. I know this so well because, yes- as I've mentioned many times- I've been in the same position of that toxic feedback loop. Drama on the internet can be a rush, it can be fun, it can be exciting. Even if you start with good intentions and consider yourself to just be speaking the "truth", it's easy to fall into a narrative that is much more toxic than you realize. That's something I had to recognize in myself, take a step back, and think about the fact that it isn't about the truth, it's about word choice and choosing your battles. Every little issue and every little thing you dislike about someone else doesn't need to be spoken aloud, doesn't need their own post. But that's what I was doing, to the detriment of myself and those around me. That, yes, was very "unfriendly" and abrasive.

Though I also think that people here don't quite understand the... social pressure that gets put on people that speak out or share their opinions here. I started out just wanting to talk about one issue- paywalls, largely- but once I started, I quickly started to get requests for my opinions on other topics. (A lot like I still do now, but I delete or ignore 90% of them) And since I was very blunt/free with my opinions, people started to seek me out more and more. I got a lot of attention very quickly from people that had much larger followings, and much more of both fans and haters, than I did. They started vague posting me or mentioning me outright, which sent waves of asks my way, and much more attention very fast. From the very jump, I was getting ostracized/demonized by one group of people while getting low-key idolized for being honest by another. I'll admit, it was nice in some ways, but very stressful in others. Suddenly, instead of just sharing my opinion online to a void, it became that people started treating me as some voice of reason, or that I had an obligation to speak for them. I got more and more asks about various topics, from paywalls to bigotry to minor "injustices" from simblr #4632. I started wanting to back off as it got bigger, but there was always something happening, always something someone wanted me to talk about or "bring awareness" to, always someone poking & prodding me whether it was with good intentions or bad ones. It was overwhelming. I felt like I couldn't focus on, well, the sims, because how jarring was it to be in a serious conversation about racism and then posting random gameplay? And the lines between what was an important issue and what was just petty drama started to blur more and more. What was necessary for me to say, and what was just plain mean? It became more and more difficult for me to distinguish in this public persona I had created.

I started spending more time on discord in hopes of backing off some, but that only made it worse- I was inexperienced with having my own server, incompetent really, and the same problems I had here were magnified ten times there. Anything I said or did was under a lense by both the people that agreed with me and those that didn't, the negative and "truthful" environment I advertised only invited more toxic and drama-seeking people to me, and while I did my best to hide behind my blunt/straightforward exterior, it got scary very fast. There was a lot of pressure to do everything "right" at all times, to always be there as a mouthpiece for others and for the "truth", but no one can be correct all the time. And the pressure, along with the weight of what was happening to me offline, was suffocating. It was as if people were always watching me, waiting for me to slip up or be vulnerable so they could get to me, and I couldn't keep that from happening forever. Because quite a few people didn't like me for being annoying or negative or speaking my mind, when I started getting targeted by bigots more extremely, it was celebrated by quite a few big people here, even those that claim to be advocates and allies. They reveled in the chance to get at me in some way, even if they had to rub shoulders with blatant racists and transphobes to do so, and if there was anything that woke me up to the true nature of drama and "activism" here, it was that. The truth was, drama wasn't an unfortunate consequence of speaking your mind about important issues- it was the goal. Everything I had ever done or said was just a spectacle, entertainment. I had deluded myself into thinking I was doing something important, when I was actually just being laughed at and used. There's nothing being done here that's truly important. It's fuel for egos, and something to engage in when you're bored. That's it. But I was the dumbass sitting there at the center of it all, the face that could take it all while everyone else disappeared once they were bored.

But by the time I realized this, well. I was already in quite deep, wasn't I? I guess the question is, how do you extract yourself from a bad situation, and a bad reputation for that matter, when your personality and intentions have already been decided and declared by others? It's been several years now, quite a while since I recognized where I was going wrong and set on the journey to cut that shit out of my life, but it still persists and I don't expect it to go away anytime soon. Truth is, there's quite a few people that really, really dislike me, even people I've never interacted with, and there's absolutely nothing I can do to change their minds. There's people that I haven't mentioned or thought about in years that still mention me regularly, publicly and privately. I've apologized many times, decided to move on and never mention them again, and stuck with that- despite never receiving apologies or the same grace myself. And at the end of the day, that's all I can really do. Change my behavior and try to ignore the people that can't do the same for themselves.

I do find it funny you say that the post is about me trying to create drama for clout, though- because let's be honest, that ship has sailed lol. I've gotten more "clout" for drama than anyone else on simblr ever has, I definitely don't need to say anything to get more. I've been blocked and/or mentioned by almost every simblr, especially paywallers and every "popular" blog that's been forming parasocial relationships here since they were 12, on every platform, from tumblr to twt to discord to anon sites. I can't keep my name out of people's mouths even when I do my best to mind my damn business. When you're that infamous, you really don't have to try, do you? 😂 and since I've never heard of these OPs, I can only assume they're hoping to get a little advertisement from me, which I'm not about to give them lol. at this point, I'm trying to do a reverse on the clout. Let's bring it down a little, how about that 😭

[luvkuvi]

A break from the angst! Before I continue the loop story I'll give something cute (it's silly but I hope you and the other anons like it!)

You are a student of the Akademiya, in the Vahumana. One of the best ones around, even, with good grades and always turning in relevant papers. Recently, a new boy showed up and started studying there, and you think he's really cute but not very sociable.

That's when you have an idea and decide to pull a 'prank'. Well, even if you call it that, it's just a harmless thing. You anonymously write something nice about him and leave it in a board where people usually look. It reads "Hat Guy is the most handsome man I have even seen in my entire life." You position it nicely just to ensure he won't miss it.

And the next day, when you are passing by, you notice he's there, reading the little message you left. His reaction is priceless: he was clearly flustered, but tried to pretend it was no big deal. After seeing that, you decide it won't hurt to do it again.

It ends up becoming part of your routine instead of just a silly prank. You're always finding some new way of praise him in the mysterious paper left in the board.

"People say Hat Guy has a difficult personality, but isn't he kind of cool that way?"

"Hat Guy's last essay was amazing! I have read it over and over again! He's so smart!"

"I hope Hat Guy is having an amazing day today!"

Of course, he sees all of them. And eventually grows used to it, learning to hide how much that made his day, even going so far as saying that the anonymous person is a coward who is too scared to say what they think to his face. Truth is, he just wanted to meet the person who had been the kindest to him ever since he was born.

A certain week, you fall sick and has to take a lot of days off. Of course, no notes left on those days, since you were the only one who did it. However, around the middle of the week, you receive an anonymous gift in your house, with plenty of medicine, as well as some candy that felt more bitter than sweet. Not really your kind of candy, but the medicine would come in handy.

Once you return, you see Hat Guy walking up to the board, sighing once he looks at it. He looks everywhere in the board, to make sure there wasn't anything hidden, but finds nothing. When he turns to walk away, you notice he looks not only disappointed, but also... a bit sad? You knew he looked forward to the little papers with nice messages despite never admitting to it, but... that much?

You sigh. Maybe it wasn't that much of a good idea, after all. For months, you have been giving him sweet anonymous messages everyday. He doesn't know it was you, or that you got sick. It's more likely he thinks you got sick of him.

But different from what he thinks, you're not a coward.

You get paper and pen out, and write one more message to him. But this time, you run after him and hand it in person. After you are done, you turn to leave.

It reads: "Come find me anytime."

After seeing the note, Hat Guy folds it, placing it somewhere inside his clothes. Since you were quite well known in the Vahumana, he knew you had taken a sick week. The timing for it and the notes stopping was all the evidence he needed to figure it out. It wasn't any big revelation. He knew it was you all along.

He grabs your wrist and gets in front of you with a smirk.

"No need to worry about that.

You won't be leaving ever again."

(No cliffhangers this time!)

-♦

AHHHH YAY HAPPY ENDING THIS TIME<3 you should really make this a full on fanifc!!!

[originalhomestuckscenarios]

Hello, I am the 🌻 anon if you still remember me! I rushed in after seeing your post about adding an extra slot for the event, please ignore this if it's full already!!

I'd like to request an unsent letter from Cronus about a love confession, and if you don't mind, I think it'd be cute if it included some personal ramblings like something that belonged in a journal (hence why it was unsent, he didn't think it was fitting). The relationship between Cronus and the reader are childhood friends who have a long history together. (Though they had a big fallout around the time he started losing faith in magic, and it wasn't too long ago did they start to mend their friendship. They're just glad to have each other back in their lives.) To put it simply, reader is a sunny and overly talkative person who's caring towards others. They get along through their shared interest of music and through her dragging him along to do outdoor activities with her. She loves teasing Cronus and the fact that she knew him from way back then doesn't help, since she knows about all those embarrassing childhood stories and quirks that he had. (Just one extra info: Reader is a sylph of life)

Of course I remember you! :D how could I forget?

~

You were always special to him and it's not like you weren't aware of it. As things between you started to change though, doubt had made it's place in your heart. He wasn't the same Cronus, but it was only natural for changes to happen. You just never thought they'd be so drastic.

You quickly started to miss him after you drifted aparat, with his hatred for loneliness he felt the same yet speaking to you about it became a foreign concept. Being away from you also had caused him to realize his feelings for you so he thought that he should write to you instead.

After getting it done he stared at his work with that he realized that there was no point in actually giving it to you. You haven't talked in a while and for him to throw such a bomb out of nowhere just wasn't what your relationship needed.

What you needed was to start being close again. So before he can even consider his confession, you have to be friends again.

Oh how much he missed hanging out with you, when you dragged him out somewhere for the first time in a while he felt like everything was the same again. Although he had changed plenty, you haven't really lost your spark over the time.

Even if not everything was the same you still were happy just with how the things are. Sometimes you'd tease him about how he used to act whenever he tries to play it cool with you, but while he acts upset both of you know he likes to get a little nostalgic with you.

However, there was still a problem with that letter existing. He never threw it out- he just didn't feel the need to. Actually he forgot about it by now. It was just a moment of time before you were to find it.

Spending time at his hive you listened together to his music. He was pretty nervous about your opinion but he was also excited to share. He was a little occupied as he tried to find that one track so you looked around a little and noticed something on the table, you thought it might be lyrics for one of his song. So you asked "Mind if I read this?" and as he was too focused on finding the song he wanted to play just said "Yeah" not thinking much of what you could find.

Dear Y/N

I havwe no idea vwhen you'll get to read this. Or ewven if I'll ewven send this to you to begin wvith. Whatewver wvill it be I just vwant to tell you that ewven though wve'wve just been through a major fall out, so maybe me saying this is vwery much out of place, it doesn't change that I'wve only novw realized that I like you- in a red wvay. Evwery day I only think about hovw much I miss you and that's pretty pathetic so I just vwant to get it off my chest. At this point I wvill be lying if I said I didn't care about you feeling or not feeling the same, but I just vwant to be vwith me again. I'm coming off as really desperate but that's just vwhat I am right novw. So, can vwe go back to hovw things vwere? Or maybe you'd be interested in changing things up a little? Just knovw that I'll be fine vwith wvhatevwer as long as I get to see you again.

That's all,

Cronus

When he finished looking for the song he faced you now that he noticed how quiet you got "I know my stuff can be kinda makin you speachless babe but now it's time to really make you experience something!" he winked at you but your expression was surprised rather than impressed. He was confused and after a moment he recognized what you just picked up.

After the realization hit him your teasing mode was on "Aww Cronus if only you showed me this sooner!"

"huh? What do you mean?"

"I like you too, I didn't know you were just as hurt when we lost contact. But I suppose that if it helped you realize how you feel it was sort of worth it?"

"You're not joking?"

"Why would I? I don't recall making such jokes to you... But you on the other hand-"

"Okay I get it, no need to remind me" he stopped you before you can remind him being oh so not smooth and trying to cover it up by saying that he was only practicing- it was pretty recent too... "But- I suppose now you're my babe for real?" he smirked. Quick recovery- but while you like to see him happy, every once in a while you'll remind him that to you the idea of him being dorky and cool can coexist.