#i fucking hate this fandom this house is a nightmare

[stuck-in-the-ghost-zone]

DANNY PHANTOM SHIP NAME INSANITY INCOMING

[killmebythebeach]

God fucking damn it he opened the fucking door.

[everywishway]

Headcanons for Junior Year

Cassandra still has Kalina as a familiar. I have two ideas for this

Number one is Kalina was hurting the whole time due to being a literal plague and she was also under the influence of the Nightmare King's power so she's better now. Still standoffish and a trickster but in more of a "tired, goth older sister" way

Number two is that she's a grouchy house cat and is stuck in this tiny body that has a love/hate relationship with the Bad Kids (especially Riz). Like one day she's wrapped around his neck till she claws his nose and runs off. She can't talk either so all that pent-up anger is in a tiny body

I just want more Riz and Kalina pls! They were so good together SY

Garthy Obrien and Aguefort have a nice, long "chat" behind closed doors… It ends up with the both of them deciding how they are going to Co-parent Ayda but Aguefort does end up with a scar in his abdomen.

Ayda substitute teaches a Magical Theory class Adaine and Fig have to take when the teacher leaves for maternity. Hijinx ensue.

Fabian and Aelwyn break up or have already broken up by the time JY starts (i love how most of the fandom doesn't like these two together, lol)

Kristen and Tracker go on break while Tracker is away and Kristen is suffering in silence while Tracker is partying and having a lot of fun (same vibes as Priya and Pete)

All of Fig's Dads (Jawbone, Gilear, and Gorthalax) go get drinks every other month, one-month Sandra-Lynn and Garthy come and drink them all under the table (Sandra-Lynn was banned after that. Garthy still occasionally comes around)

When those nights happen all of the Bad Kids have a giant sleepover and completely take over the first floor of Mordred Manor (Jawbone proceeding to play hopscotch around them to not wake up his spare children)

Nobody actually addresses the Night Yorb during Junior Year and if somebody does Brennan goes in his true New York accent "what Night Yorb?????"

Fabian and Zelda go to both dance classes and kickboxing together, becoming friends around the winter of Sophmore Year

Fabian and Sam do not get along well. Mostly due to the fact, they are both dramatic rich bitches who are fighting over Zelda but also over the fact Sam is mean to Gorgug and Fabian goes "only I am allowed to be a bitch with my friends? Fuck off, Nightingale."

Antiope and Riz shared some sort of stealth elective class and accidentally became good friends? Like, they both watch their gangs of idiots tiredly and corral them up and take them to get ice cream.

On the other hand, Kristen kinda dreads her religious studies course due to Ostentasia being loud and snarky but also kinda appreciates it? Like, you know those class clowns that get on your nerves but they state the obvious when everyone is done with the teacher's shit? Yeah, that's their relationship

She does chill with Yelle tho, like they both smoke weed then go to pet stores and animal shelters and play with animals until they pass out on the floor.

Penny and Adaine are both nerds and Penny is Adaine's tutor when it comes to the history of spells, who made them and why (because Adaine is a practical caster <3)

I have way too many ideas, some of them are on the bingo board :)

[pessimisticpigeonsworld]

am I the only one who's scared for the upcoming Aegon the Conqueror adaptation...? The Dance is a lost case. It's destroyed, ruined, made into a minced meat and served as dog's food. It's unsalvaegable atp. But HBO wants to do the same to Aegon and his sisters and it makes me both furious and frightened. Mattson Tomlin will be the screenwriter. Ok, so far so good. He seems like a decent guy. He didn't post anything that'd imply he's going to turn this series into his own fanfic. But what next? I've researched the process of making a tv show, and if I'm not mistaken, Tomlin's sole job is to write the "core" of the story (the sequence of events, how it might begin and on what note should it end, a rough draft of dialoques, things like that) And then that script will be passed forward to five other screenwrites who can do with it whatever they want. What if Condal and Hess - the biggest f**cking hacks in the whole world - will be among those screenwriters chosen by HBO?? It's going be a nightmare. Oh god, the villainization of Rhaenys and Visenya while also making them a total weaklings without ambition or agenda. And yes, it's more likely than not that these asshats will make the Conquest, as well. They're HBO's favorites, since they made the ever successful House of the Alicent.

Oh, and I'm sure they gonna fuck the dragons just as much as their riders. Do you want to see Aegon riding a saggy, rotting Balerion with a dropping neck? Well that's exactly what you gonna get.

They hate Targaryens and everything that's associated with them.

Oh no, I'm right there with you anon. I honestly hope this show somehow dies like the Snow show. His perception of Daenerys is extremely telling of his inability to understand the bigger picture of the story.

Him accusing Dany of being "genocidal" in season 3 is fucking ridiculous. He's somehow construing her actions to overthrow a monstrous and oppressive system as genocide. Like, media literacy is just not present apparently. Since Dany shares parallels with the Conquerors, this perception is very... concerning. So, from my perspective, this is already doomed to be another shit show.

Considering how often people in the fandom like to interpret the relationship of the Conquerors as strained at best, I have very little confidence anyone HBO hires will be much different. HBO definitely hates the idea of any healthy relationships, romantic or otherwise, as we've seen in GOT and HOTD. I definitely think Visenya will end up hating Aegon and/or Rhaenys, and Aegon will probably resent Visenya and abuse Rhaenys.

I've always thought the GOT dragons were extremely uninspired. They dulled their colors and made them all look the same. I liked the HOTD dragons a lot more; but I agree that Vhagar looks kinda bad (she looks like a turtle 😭). Since Balerion is supposed to be older than Vhagar is in HOTD, they might go with the same idea for him, which is sad. Especially since they did a good job with Caraxes and Syrax (aside from keeping her the same size the whole show).

It's so sad and frustrating how determined HBO are to just destroy everything connected to ASOIAF. Time and again, they've proven that they just don't understand what GRRM wrote at all.

[stormblessed95]

Hi, sorry if it's late, but can I ask for your persoal top favorite queer books and (maybe) your top fav fanfiction (from any fandom but your all time fav)? Thanks so much.....

Also why do you think mlm or wlw romance is more interesting than mlw (het) romance?

Feel free if you want to ignore the last ask, thanks for your blog....

Why do I personally enjoy gay romances to het ones? Preference and taste probably. I also tend to enjoy the angst, longing, tropes, passion, etc in the way its written more than I do in the ways those things are written between a straight couple. And that's not to say I don't enjoy straight romances either! I have plently of het ships I love too, and a few good romances that aren't gay 😂 I just have a preference, and that's okay! As for recommendations!! I have a LOTS! If you want to tell me about what YOU like to read, I can give even better recs. But for in general, some of my favorites...

I have posts about QUITE A FEW here already that you can check out (please do)!:

^ you'll find queer characters in most of the lists of recs honestly at least somewhere. BUT I do have posts specific for Sapphic, Achillian and Ace recs there. So start there!

I'll also throw in that I'm recently quite obsessed with fantasy Sapphics with swords in my books lately! So books like "The Jasmine Throne." "This is How You Lose The Time War." "Priory of the Orange Tree." "Gideon the Ninth." "Girls of Paper and Fire" and "Legends and Lattes."

Come back for me if you want more!

And some of my favorite fics (of various fandoms! Exciting!) In no particular order, I'll link a few for you!

That Isn't Nothing by Taekookschanbaek

(I KNOW OKAY, in my defense I didn't realize the authors name until AFTER I read and loved the fic lmfao but it IS SO good, I promise lol)

Fandom: All For The Game

Ship: Andrew x Neil

Summary: "A look into the lives of pro exy players Andrew Minyard and Neil Josten. The world says they hate each other, but when Andrew gets transferred to Neil's team, their teammates begin seeing something else between them."

In Which Neil is a PR Nightmare by CoverYourEyes

Fandom: All For The Game

Ship: Andrew x Neil

Summary: "Eve was not the best person in the world. Sometimes she didn’t hold the elevator open when she saw people rushing to catch it from the other side of the lobby. Cutting the line at Starbucks was a semi-regular action. But Eve did not deserve to be Neil fucking Josten's publicist.

**********

Or, the one where Neil does what he wants, picks fights with reporters, discovers Twitter, breaks the internet, and really shouldn't be allowed out of his house. Andrew does nothing to discourage him."

The Men In Apartment 22B by jjmash

Fandom: All For The Game

Ship: Andrew x Neil

Summary: "Andrew and Neil's new neighbors are extremely confused about the two mysterious men in 22B. Are they dating? Are they in the mafia? Are they rival assassins who've fallen in love? As always, the truth is stranger than fiction."

Blame It On My Youth by youreyestheyglow

(Locked fic, you need an account. This fic is THICK but it's by far one of the best Andriel fics I've ever read or just in general. SO GOOD and so emotional and so sweet and so cute)

Fandom: All For The Game

Ship: Andrew x Neil

Summary: "10 years after the end of The King's Men, Andrew and Neil have decided to foster a kid. They have low expectations for themselves--they're not exactly ideal parenting material--but at the very least, the kid will be safe with them. But neither Andrew nor Neil do temporary very well.

Full disclosure: highly character-driven, minimally plot-driven."

(Wangxian and MDZS IS my newest hyperfixation and I love the juniors dynamics fics so much lol)

The One-Body Problem by metisket

Fandom: MDZS

Ship: Wei Ying x Lan Zhan

Summary: "The good news is that Lan Jingyi has found a mentor, friend, and constant companion through the difficulties in life.

The bad news is that that’s because he’s been accidentally possessed by the Yiling Patriarch."

Operation Old Men by Chiharu

Fandom: MDZS

Ship: Wei Ying x Lan Zhan

Summary: "An ill-fated parent teacher conference reunites Jin Ling's wayward uncle with Sizhui's father. AKA: A matchmaking disaster as told by Jin Ling, Sizhui, and Jingyi."

And Time Is But A Paper Moon by Sami

Fandom: MDZS

Ship: Wei Ying x Lan Zhan

Summary: ""Zewu-Jun. You once told me about a house surrounded by gentians, where you visited once a month, and how Lan Zhan still waited there, even when the door no longer opened."

Xichen feels light-headed. He feels shocked, and angry. He has never told anyone such a thing, but Lan Zhan is giving Xichen a look of utter betrayal.

"You told him?" Lan Zhan whispers. "When?"

Wei Wuxian takes Lan Zhan's hand. "About twenty years from now."

*******

Wei Wuxian starts again from the beginning."

(the first time) he kissed a boy by buzzcut__season

Fandom: Sk8 The Infinity

Ship: Langa x Reki

Summary: "Reki is insecure about his lack of kissing experience. Langa just wants to help him feel like he's good enough, even if teaching Reki to kiss means breaking his own heart."

The Gambler by MooeyDooey

Fandom: Sk8 The Infinity

Ship: Joe x Cherry

Summary: "Joe and Cherry run into a problem. Conspiracy theories have started to surface in some fan forums of "S" that the two of them are secretly dating one another.

Both of them agree that the idea is absurd, but can't agree on which one of them would be the better boyfriend if they actually were dating. So they decide to have a competition, to see who can be the better romantic partner when pitted up against one another."

The One Where Nico Has 30 Boyfriends by a_million_stars

Fandom: PJO

Ship: Will x Nico

Summary: "“Seriously? Me and Lester?” Nico looked ready to kill him. “If you keep speaking to me I think I’m going to throw up.”

Or, a new friend from college desperately tries to figure out who Nico's secret boyfriend is. He messes up. A lot. If only Nico didn't have so many weirdly close friends from high school."

Burgundy (not Maroon) by Eggplant_Crusader

Fandom: Wednesday

Ship: Wednesday x Enid

Summary: "They're driving each other insane. It can't last. One of these days, one of them will surely kill the other. Enid wants to avoid that. Wednesday can't wait."

Like Everything Glows by Annie_Vi

(One of the only people I'll read RPS fics from. Everything this woman writes is gold, this is my favorite though, and the first i read of hers)

Fandom: BTS

Ship: Jimin x Jungkook

Summary: "Jeon Jeongguk watches the sun rise and set on the water every day without wondering what may lie far beneath the surface. One nighttime walk along the beach upheaves his entire life, sending his human morals into a tailspin as he questions what his beliefs really are."

(I need more shows with good wlw ships that have good fics too!! If anyone has any good recs, send them my way!! Also there are so many good fics I've read that i realized i never bookmarked and now i cant remember what they are. Lesson learned. Bookmark everything! Thanks for the ask!!)

[twopoppies]

Now see I think I did a very good job staying away from the holivia debacle in 2021 and 2022 so i could very nicely fully enjoy Harry's house (opposite to the anon who couldn't cause they were tuned in, feel so bad for them 😭)

And now I come to know that cinema is about that God awful woman???? Please that was my favourite song on the album. I hate how I can't get pure joy listening to it anymore cause it will remind me of #her.

On a side note, I am so so extremely glad #she is not a musician. Cause I know she would milk this narrative so fucking hard that we would have to deal with 2 Taylor Swifts. She might even have put Taylor to shame ngl. And if that is not the worst nightmare of this fandom as a whole then I don't know what is. 😭

If you clicked on the link in that post, I shared a theory about the song being written from the POV of his character from DWD. To me, that makes much more sense than being a stunt song about her.

And I totally agree about her milking this worse than Taylor has. She’s probably LOVING the new movie. 🙄🙄🙄

[arwamachine]

20 questions for fic writers

Thanks for the tag, @discordantwords!

1. How many works do you have on AO3? 18 fics, plus 1 collection of poetry

2. What's your total A03 word count? 1,032,993 (I am a wordy motherfucker)

3. What fandoms do you write for? Currently only BBC Sherlock

4. What are your top five fics by kudos?

Indefinite Lines

To Stand Before the Storm

Sleepwalkers

You Might Just as Well Be Blind

Matchmaking for Solitary Animals

5. Do you respond to comments? Why or why not? When I'm actively posting a fic I do, but when I'm not posting I fall behind and then the inbox gets overwhelming so I avoid it and then it gets even more overwhelming so I avoid some more and now we've really reached critical mass and aaaaaaaaaaaaaaa

I do read them all, though, and they make me happy in my heart

6. What's the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending? We don't really do angsty endings over at ArwaMachine, LLC. Monsters in the Woods come close (iykyk - I see y'all's screams in that last chapter), and Oh How the Ghost of You Clings ends with Sherlock still on hiatus, but we're all about that happy ending over here (...for now)

7. What's the fic you wrote with the happiest ending? They've all got happy endings; the heavier the angst, the happier the ending! I feel like Indefinite Lines has a pretty happy ending, and if you consider the Bonus Lines then we're really in Fluffy McFluff territory.

So Grant Us All a Change of Heart also has a pretty happy ending (and a hefty dose of angst in all the preceding chapters)

8. Do you get hate on fics? Not really, thank god. There's been a few frowny-face comments here and there, but overall folks have been lovely.

9. Do you write smut? HECK YES I DO! C'MON OVER TO ARWAMACHINE'S HOUSE O SMUT AND LOAD UP ON YOUR SPICE! WE SPECIALIZE IN TOPLOCK AND I WILL NOT BE APOLOGIZING FOR THAT

10. Do you write crossovers? Nah, not really my thing

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen? Not that I'm aware of...

12. Have you ever had a fic translated? I have! Sleepwalkers has been translated into Spanish, and Storm has been translated into Russian! Always happy when fics get translated :)

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before? No, and let me tell you that I would be the worst co-writer in the history of co-writers. Nobody ever write anything with me ever--I am a fucking nightmare

14. What's your all-time favourite ship? Sherlock & John, although these days I'm also feeling myself some Gentlebeard

15. What's the WIP you want to finish but doubt you ever will? I have a goddamn post-fall fic where John develops panic disorder that I've been "working on" since 2021 and I AM GOING TO FINISH IT. I AM. I AM GOING TO FINISH THE MOTHERFUCKER IF IT'S THE LAST THING I DO

16. What are your writing strengths? I think I write the feelings well, and I'd like to think I can create scenes that bring out the intended feels in readers. I also think (/hope) I handle scene pacing decently--action scenes feel fast-paced but not rushed, slower scenes take their time but aren't slogs, etc.

17. What are your writing weaknesses? Fight scenes. Dear christ do I hate writing fight scenes. I also really don't understand how commas work.

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language for a fic? I have exactly two words in Russian in Lines and that is going to be the extent of it! Trying not to make an uncultured ass out of myself over here...

19. First fandom you wrote for? BBC Sherlock. I'm like that kid who married their high school sweetheart. That is to say, I make questionable decisions.

20. Favourite fic you've ever written? Okay, so I love all of my fics and my answer tends to be whichever fic I've most recently written, but I've got to say that I love Lines so much. I put my whole soul into that fic for, like, over a year of my life, I researched the ever loving fuck out of it (who's reading up on amputation procedures? this gal!), I created a working cypher for the motherfucker, I permanently changed my relationship with Brahms' lullaby, and I got to meet Rosie, who remains my favorite character that I've ever written, ever. So Lines is my favorite child. Good child.

I tag anyone who wants to be tagged, for I am bad at tagging!

[emotionalcadaver]

Part 19: In the Bleak Midwinter

Fandom: Peaky Blinders

Pairing: Tommy Shelby x Grace Burgess x OC

Summary: One of Tommy and Lucy's worst nightmares is realized during the opening of the Grace Shelby Institute for Orphaned Children.

Word Count: 5,061

Notes: Warnings for depictions of kidnapping, panic attacks, and references to pregnancy, pedophilia, and suicide consideration.

Masterlists: Main • Series • Fic

Previous Part • Next Part

Chapter 23: Terrible Silence

“What the fuck is that?” 

Tommy looked up from where he was standing on the gravel of the drive. Lucy was half out of the car, frozen with her eyes staring at the hat clutched in his hand, lifted halfway up to set upon his head.

He raised an eyebrow at her tone, settling the gray fedora on his head.   

“It’s a hat, Lucy,” he explained, holding out a hand to help her the rest of the way out of the car. Once her shoes hit the gravel she straightened, pushing her hair back behind her ear, still staring up at the hat resting atop his head. Tommy pulled out his cigarettes while she assessed him, raising one to his lips and lighting it as the cars carrying the other family members pulled up. 

She stared at him for a long moment, brow creased. “I hate it,” she said finally.

“Oi!” he protested, offended. 

“It just looks weird,” she huffed. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen you wear anything besides the peaky cap.”

“Yeah, well, this is a formal occasion.”

“You wore your peaky cap at your wedding.”

“It was my wedding! I could wear what I liked.”

She raised an eyebrow at him. The other vehicles around them were starting to park and kill their engines. He spotted Arthur helping a very pregnant Linda from the car and jerked his chin in their direction.

“See? Arthur’s wearing one too.” 

Lucy cocked her head, eyes appraising the hat that his brother was also wearing. “Hm. See, it doesn’t look so strange on him, for some reason. I think it might be the mustache.” 

“...So what you’re saying is that I should grow a mustache?” 

She looked horrified. “Absolutely not.”

Tommy chuckled. Lucy had made it clear in the past that if he ever got it in his head to try growing out his facial hair, she wouldn’t be above chasing him down with a razor and shaving cream to remedy the situation. 

Adjusting the hat on his head, he looked down at her, more amused than genuinely offended by her distaste of the fedora. 

‘Least she was willing to be honest with him about it.

And, truth be told, he preferred the peaky cap himself, too.

But still, when he saw an opportunity to get her back for all the teasing she subjected him to, he was going to take it.

“I think you’re being rather mean, love,” he said, shoulder knocking into hers, smiling and waving to Charlie who made a babbling noise when he spotted them, squirming where he was currently clutched in Polly’s arms as she stepped from her car. “Here I am, trying to experiment with fashion–” he chose to ignore the sputtered laugh she released “--and you’re making fun of me.”

Lucy cast him a shrewd look, her eyes narrowed. “...They asked you all not to bring in the razors, didn’t they?”

He sighed, caught. “And they requested certain attire for the picture.”

“Certain attire?”

He nodded. “Gave me a list of acceptable clothing items everyone could wear and everything.”

“What the fuck.”

He rolled his eyes. “Something about how ‘the picture will be hung near the entryway for all to see’ and ‘we want to provide an example of respectability to the children this institute will house.’”

“They do realize it’s our institute, right? We’re paying for it.”

“Mm. I reminded them of that to get you out of having to wear a dress.”

Her head whipped around to him. “You did?”

“Mhm.”

Her face softened. “Thanks.”  

He shrugged in response to the gratitude, taking her hand and beginning to walk with her towards the front doors of the orphanage, where they would be taking the picture with the whole family. 

“The children are wearing peaky caps,” Lucy pointed out, when one of John’s boys trotted past them. 

“Because they’re children, and not burdened by the fashion expectations of being a professional adult.”

She snorted, turning her smile to hide it against his arm. The rest of the family had joined them in the procession towards the front. It took a decent amount of wrangling of the children and positioning everyone properly before the photograph could be taken. 

Tommy left his cigarette dangling from his mouth, perhaps in silent rebellion of the ‘proper attire’ manifesto the board had sent him. Or perhaps he simply forgot…he’d never tell.

He had to bite back a smirk at the thought. 

The mood shifted the second they passed the sign, on it printed in massive, gold letters: Grace Shelby Institute for Orphaned Children. He could physically feel it in Lucy; how any playfulness or joy drained out of her at the sight of it. Her fingers curled around his arm, and he gave her hand a quick squeeze as they led the way through the front doors, swallowing down his own lump of renewed grief and guilt that had suddenly appeared in his throat. 

The opening ceremony went off without a hitch. He had to give a small speech, but Polly did most of the talking, with hymns sung at intervals throughout. He managed to sneak away after the first one, ducking into a hallway. To the right, at a dead end, Grace’s picture, surrounded by flowers and circular windows of shimmering light, stared back at him. 

Swallowing hard, he approached the picture slowly, coming to a stop and leaning against the wall a few paces away from her. She looked beautiful; her blonde hair pulled back, expression serious and stern. 

He stared at her without blinking, as if the picture would suddenly move. He wondered if she would approve. If she would be proud of what he had accomplished. 

His treacherous mind sent him a flash of memories from the Russian orgy, from Vincente Changretta chanting prayers in Italian as he sat bound to a chair, of Tatiana cackling as she raced through the walls of Arrow House.

No; he couldn’t imagine that she would. 

He could still hear the singing in the distance.  

“You hear that, Grace?” he asked. 

The picture didn’t respond.

There were footsteps behind him, and for a moment his temper spiked, annoyed at whoever had come to likely drag him back to the ceremony. That was until he smelled the familiar scent of sweet rose perfume, and felt Lucy’s strong arms wrap around his waist, head tucking against the place where his chest met shoulder. He relaxed, cheek falling to cushion against her soft curls. Neither of them said a word, just standing there and gazing at Grace’s picture in silence, allowing themselves a moment to fully sit within their grief. 

Somewhere, a door opened, and they reluctantly drew apart. Footsteps drew nearer, and Lucy glanced over her shoulder and then made a face like she’d just drank spoiled milk, hastily looking away and back towards Grace. 

It wasn’t lost on Tommy how she inched a little closer to him, and when the person approaching them started to speak, and he recognized Hughes’s voice, he realized that it wasn’t a movement seeking comfort or safety, as he’d originally thought. 

It was a subtle movement of protection. 

He didn’t say a word as Hughes spoke, tauntingly swinging a ring of keys in his face and explaining how he’d taken the liberty of allocating for himself an office in the institute. For a moment, Tommy thought he might throw up at the thought. Less than an hour ago, he had given a speech about how they would keep the children brought under their care safe, and here he was about to let a fox into the henhouse. 

Hidden from Hughes’s view thanks to Lucy at his side, Tommy flexed his fingers, curling them into a fist tight enough that his nails bit into flesh. 

Not long, he tried to remind himself. Not long until we can take care of this fuck once and for all. He won’t even have a chance to harm any of these children.

But still…what he would give to be able to just give Lucy the order, right then and there, to rip Hughes’s head off with her own bare hands. 

Tommy didn’t respond to anything the priest said. Not once. Not even when he stepped in front of him, cutting into his line of sight and blocking Grace’s picture from view. His threats were nothing new, but still Tommy felt Lucy tense beside him in reaction to them. His eyes lowered as Hughes finally left them alone and started to walk away, and for a moment, he was taken by the sudden, intense urge to cry. 

As if sensing his sudden drop in mood, Lucy shuffled closer to him, even as she watched Hughes carefully to make sure that he actually left. Her side pressed up flush against his, warm and comforting. 

Behind them, he could hear the distinct sound of children running excitedly about. The singing in the other room had stopped. The ceremony must be over, then. A moment later, Michael approached them, mumbling something about an invitation from the Lord Mayor to come to a reception. But his voice was unsteady and not quite there, eyes focused back down the hall, towards the direction that Hughes had retreated. 

He must have seen him, then. Perhaps Hughes was still there at the end of the hall, holding a door open to allow children and visitors inside another part of the building. Tommy had no intention of turning around to see for sure. If he did, he might do something rash. Besides, the look on Michael’s face told him enough. It was the same one he’d seen on Lucy’s face, all those years ago, when one of Matthew’s friends had shown up outside of the yard and she’d spotted him watching her: a look of pure, haunted terror and trauma.  

Before either he or Lucy could answer Michael, he was already staggering away. Tommy sighed deeply, struggling to comprehend just how the hell he was going to get through several more hours of having to smile and socialize when all he wanted to do was go home, snuggle Lucy and Charlie, and maybe have a bit of a good, quiet cry. 

No time for that now, he thought tiredly. 

Lucy squeezed his arm. It had grown quiet again, the bulk of people released from the room where they’d held the opening ceremony disappearing into other parts of the orphanage. 

“Only a little more. Just twenty-four hours,” she said softly, thumbs stroking his arm and cheek resting against his bicep. “Then it’ll all be over,” she pecked his jaw and he closed his eyes, arm wrapping around her and pulling her closer. 

He really didn’t know what he would have done without her. Probably would have followed Grace to the grave, mostly likely. Her arms wound around his waist once more, giving him a much needed squeeze. 

“Stay close to me,” he rasped out. He had woken up that morning with a pit of dread in his stomach that hadn’t abated for the entire day. If anything, it had only grown. He needed to make sure she stayed safe. “Please.”

“I will. Promise.”

He released a small sigh of relief that she didn’t try to protest or argue. Probably because she wasn’t too keen to let him far from her sight either. Face turning, he kissed the top of her head, squeezing the arm he had looped around her. She hummed, eyes fixing back on the picture of Grace.

“I wish she could have been here,” she whispered. Tommy clenched his jaw, not responding. If he spoke, he was sure that he would start to cry. Lucy sniffled, squishing closer to him. “It was one of her passion projects, after all.”

He made a sound of agreement, hoping that she wouldn’t think he was just ignoring her. She was always so in-sync with him, he doubted that she would, but still he hugged her a little tighter, just to make sure she knew there was no intended malice behind his silence. She squeezed him back in understanding. 

“I think she would have liked it–” her voice caught on the end, growing wobbly as it filled with tears. Turning her silently in his arms, he tucked her face fully into his chest, dropping his own to her shoulder, rubbing her back soothingly. She only cried on him for a moment, pulling herself back together quickly, sniffling once and wiping hastily at her eyes before the tears could cause her makeup to run. “Sorry.”

He just shook his head, stroking away the remnants of her tears with his thumb, forehead dipping to rest against hers for a moment. Lucy squeezed her eyes shut, taking a deep breath to right herself, and when she opened them again, her gaze was steady once more, grief shoved back into the little box in her mind where she kept it contained so it did not consume her completely. He knew, because he did the same exact thing. 

“We should probably head to the reception soon,” she sounded just about as enthused about it as he was. 

“Yes,” with a sigh, he straightened, taking her hand in his. 

With one last, longing, sorrowful look cast towards Grace’s picture, they turned and started to make their way down the hall. 

∗ ∗ ∗

Lucy stuck close to Tommy during the reception, not just because he had asked her to, but because she really wasn’t in the mood for much socializing. She knew that she should probably be out there, smiling and working on getting some of the business men milling about involved with the company, but she just really couldn’t find it in her. Besides, Ada and Michael seemed to be doing a fine enough job without her assistance. 

They stood near one end of the room, John and Arthur briefing Tommy about progress with the tunnel in lowered voices. Periodically they were interrupted by women approaching to speak with Tommy in sweet voices about the orphanage, offering condolences about Grace…he managed a startlingly charming smile through each encounter, dealing with each person gracefully and seemingly effortlessly before sending them on their way. 

But when one of the women started to pull him away, the expression of a man internally screaming crossed his face beneath the mask of the charming, ever-indulgent businessman. The sight of it made Lucy smile a little to herself as she watched him get dragged over to a grouping of finely dressed ladies.

“Here.”

Her head swung around to find John holding out a fresh cup of tea to her. Brow raising at the oddly thoughtful gesture, she took it from him. 

“Thanks.”

He nodded silently, looking down into his own teacup. He must have noticed that she wasn’t having the easiest time with all this. Lucy doubted she and John would ever be capable of being all that warm towards each other, especially after the part he played in Grace’s death, but still. 

It was something. 

Taking a sip, Lucy sighed at the warmth spreading through her chest, soothing her dry throat. She’d woken up that morning anxious and jittery, and outside of getting to torment Tommy over the truly awful hat he’d worn that morning, things hadn’t improved all that much.

So much was riding on today. If just one thing went wrong…

She tried to shake the thought away, taking another swallow of tea.

Somewhere in the room, she heard the telltale sound of Charlie starting to cry. Her head snapped around at the sound. Ada had him, already rushing across the room to hand him over to Tommy. Her heart fluttered as she watched him openly coo to his son. It had a similar effect on the women surrounding him, and Lucy had to stifle an eye roll at the way some of them practically swooned. Poor Charlie, probably overwhelmed from all the noise and people, was still crying intermittently, but had settled a little now that his father was holding him. Turning away from where Tommy was taking a picture with the ladies and a sculpture they’d brought him, Lucy returned her attention to John and Arthur. 

“I fucking hate these things,” Arthur was grumbling while John sipped his tea. 

“You and me both,” Lucy said, fiddling with her rings in an attempt to ignore how badly she wanted a cigarette. 

Something prickled at the back of her neck, and she frowned. A sudden feeling of widening dread had opened up in the pit of her stomach, so encompassing she felt almost nauseated with it.

Something was wrong.

Setting down her teacup in the saucer she had clutched in one hand, she looked around the room, frowning, trying to pinpoint what had sent her instincts off.

But everything seemed as it should be. Nothing was out of place.

So why did she suddenly feel so crushingly uneasy? It was like she could hear the sounds of a clock, ticking rhythmically in the back of her head, counting down the seconds to disaster.

Her eyes swerved around the room until they found Tommy. He was speaking to Ada, glancing around the room as though looking for someone, face slowly growing pale. Ada looked concerned, joining him in glancing about the room. 

Lucy finally realized what was wrong at the same moment that Tommy approached her and his brothers; a realization that would come close to bringing their entire world crashing down around their ears:

She couldn’t hear Charlie. 

For a moment, her mind tried to placate itself, logicing that he might’ve just stopped crying and was quietly perched in someone’s arms or playing somewhere in the room. But one quick scan of the entire reception area offered no solution as to where he was, and the pit of dread that had started in her stomach began to creep upwards into her throat. Her ears strained to pick up any sound of him, but where they should have heard crying, or his usual sweet babbling, they heard nothing but terrible silence. 

“Have you seen Charlie?” Tommy asked them. He was calm, but she could see the very beginning sparks of panic in his eyes. When he glanced from his brothers to her, she felt as though the floor was falling out from beneath her feet.

“I thought…I thought that he was with you…” she responded in a small voice. More color left Tommy’s face, Adam’s apple bobbing when he swallowed, spinning around to look through the crowd again. Setting her tea down, Lucy stretched up onto her toes, desperately scanning for their baby. 

Nothing. 

Tommy took off at a fast stride towards Polly. Lucy rushed after him, following him as he flitted from family member to family member throughout the room, repeating the same question over and over again. Her chest constricted tighter with each negative answer, panic building.  

How? How? She’d just heard his cries minutes ago. Surely he couldn’t have gone far…someone had to have seen him.

The memory of Tommy telling her about the threats Hughes had made to Charlie burst through her mind, and for a moment she couldn’t breathe she was so horrified at the idea of that man anywhere near her little boy…

She fought to keep her breathing normal. Having a panic attack right now wouldn’t help anyone.    

Tommy started to sound off orders to the boys, sending them to different rooms to widen the search and to watch the cars to make sure no one left. His voice was steady, but when he reached down and seized her hand in his to pull her with him towards the door, she could feel his hand trembling.

“Tommy,” Ada was rushing over to them. “Someone said they saw a nurse take him through the back door.”

Tommy cursed, spinning towards the door. His grip was so tight on Lucy’s hand that she was likely to have bruises come tomorrow.

“Tommy–!” she choked out, and he looked at her as though just realizing that he was still holding onto her. The sheer terror in his eyes made her blood run cold. 

“Go with Arthur. I’m going to try the backdoor,” he ordered, letting her go, and took off half racing down the hall before she could argue.  

Nodding more to herself than anyone else, she turned back to Arthur, who had already sent Ada away to question more of the people in the reception room and ordered the boys to go cover the other exits.

“Come on,” he said, resting a gentle, guiding hand on her shoulder, steering her to a door. 

“He was just…he was just here…” she stuttered. “I just saw him…”

“I know.”

Guilt opened up in her like a gushing wound. She should’ve been keeping a better eye on him…should’ve been tending to him when Tommy couldn’t. 

How could she be so fucking stupid?

She was hardly able to breathe, blood rushing through her ears and heart pounding as she followed Arthur at a jog, their shoes clattering as they raced down the stairs.

“Arthur!” Ada met them halfway up, voice strained.

“What?”

“Somebody said they saw a woman and a kid getting into a car.”

“Ah, fuck!”    

A choked off sound emitted from Lucy’s throat, hand locking tightly around the banister, and for a moment she thought she might faint or throw up. The world spun. She couldn’t breathe.

By some miracle she managed to make it down the rest of the stairs, shoes skidding against the hardwood floor.

“They said that the car was heading south when it took off. But they didn’t know anymore…” Ada was still reporting to Arthur. She glanced over her shoulder and stopped. “Lucy?”

It wasn’t until she heard Ada’s questioning voice that she realized that she had made no move to follow them, just standing there at the foot of the stairs, one hand gripping white-knuckled to the bannister while she battled the urge to vomit from the panic pumping through her veins.

“Luce,” Arthur went back to her, beckoning for her to follow. “Come on, love.”

She tried to move and couldn’t. It was like all of her muscles had locked up. In her ears, she could hear the whispers of all the things Hughes was rumored to have done. The horrors she’d learned he was capable of when conducting her research on him.

Should have just slaughtered him and dumped his body into the canal. 

Her breaths were coming in tiny little gasps. “Arthur…Arthur, if they put him in a car…” 

“Lucy,” he seized her by the shoulders. “You need to breathe.”

“But he’s–he’s–”

“Where’s Tommy?” Arthur demanded to Ada.

“I don’t know. If there was no one at the backdoor he might’ve made his way to the front right about now.”

“Take her. I need to go tell our boys to set up roadblocks and spotters.”

She was passed suddenly from Arthur over to Ada. He barreled through one of the doors, and before it swung shut behind him Lucy could hear him bellowing out orders to people outside. 

“Breathe, alright?” Ada said, voice soothing, but Lucy could hear fear lurking at the edges of it. “We’ll find him. They couldn’t have gotten far. Come along, let’s get you some fresh air,” putting an arm around Lucy’s shoulders, Ada guided her through the sidedoor Arthur had shot out of a moment ago. 

“It was…it had to be Hughes.”

“We can worry about all that in a moment. Right now I just need you to calm down.”

“N-no…we need to get him before Hughes…” she swallowed hard. “Before he…” she swallowed back bile, wanting to slap herself. Ada needed to be off doing something productive to help, rather than trying to talk her off the edge of a panic attack.

Shaking her head, she squeezed her eyes shut, leaning back against the door they’d just exited through. The side of the building was cool against her clammy skin. 

Ada’s hand squeezed her arm. “Breathe.”

Lucy forced herself to comply, dragging in a deep gasp of air, holding it in her lungs for a few seconds, then expelling it. 

Behind her closed eyelids, the world suddenly snapped into sharp clarity.  

She could not fall apart right now. There was no time for it. Not when every second was so precious. 

So she forced herself to gather up every single feeling of panic that was currently rushing through her veins, pulling it all together into one neat, crumpled ball, and then stuffed it away. Deep, deep down. In the same place where the guilt and grief that she carried over Grace lived. 

Opening her eyes, she stared into Ada’s concerned features. “I’m fine,” she rasped. “Go get Polly. Tell her to come outside. She’ll need to drive me and Tommy to the office.”

“But–”

“There’s no time; go. I’m fine,” she reiterated. Ada looked her over, and nodded, hurrying back inside.

Lucy gulped down more air, raking a hand through her curls and forcing her lungs to expand a bit more with each breath. 

“Where is he!?” her head raised at the sound of Tommy’s anguished roar. Tussling her hand through her hair one last time, she pulled away from the building, following the voices. 

  Tommy was wrapped up in Arthur’s arms, head tucked into his older brother’s shoulder, blue eyes wide and wild. Arthur was holding him tight, mumbling about what they were going to do, taking complete charge of the situation. 

If she’d had the mental capacity to do so at the time, she would have been impressed by his ability to step up and take control with Tommy so distraught and spiraling. 

Tommy was just staring, not looking at Arthur, mind working a mile a minute behind his tortured blue eyes. He said nothing but quiet, one word acknowledgments of Arthur’s commands. 

“Whoever took him is going to call,” Arthur said. 

“Where’s Lucy?” Tommy asked, eyes suddenly snapping into motion, flickering about madly. 

“I’m here,” she stepped closer, and could’ve sworn a look of relief briefly flitted over his face. 

Arthur, with still one arm around Tommy, guided him towards the car. Polly was just stepping outside.  

“You good?” Arthur asked her, as he ushered Tommy to climb into the passenger seat. 

“Yes,” her voice sounded steadier than she felt, but it was enough to convince Arthur, holding out a hand for her to grasp as she climbed into the car after Tommy. 

“You stay close to him, alright?” Arthur mumbled into her ear. She nodded, understanding. 

Tommy would need her now, perhaps more than he ever had before.

Polly climbed into the driver’s seat right after her, slamming the door shut and turning on the engine. She drove fast, and if she was perturbed by Lucy’s presence, squeezed in the middle between her and Tommy, she didn’t show it. 

No one said a word, the trees whizzing past them as the car flew down the road. Shifting closer, until her side was pressed against Tommy’s, Lucy was struck with the sudden need to cry. 

She thought of sweet little Charlie. Her baby boy who instinctively seemed to always know when she needed a hug, draping his chubby little arms around her. Who always smiled and squealed in delight when she presented him with a new wood carving she’d whittled for him. Who giggled when she lifted him high in the air, and clapped his hands when she blew raspberries into his cheeks. Who asked her, in the sweetest voice she’d ever heard, if they could go to the stables to see the horses. His little hand holding tight to hers as he tottered along beside her down the path, face stretching in a smile that looked stunningly like his father’s when she lifted him up so he could give one of the horses a pet along their flank, or feed them sugarcubes or apple slices from his palm.

Her baby. They’d taken her sweet baby away from her. She didn’t know where he was. Or what they could be doing to him. In her mind, she could see him looking around, confused. Asking for her or for Tommy. Crying in fear. Crying in pain.

She dragged in a trembling breath, hastily wiping the two tears that had managed to escape from her eyes.

Was taking Grace away from them really not adequate? Had they not already lost enough? 

Tommy’s hand was suddenly in hers, linking their fingers and squeezing tight and strong. When she chanced a glance over at him, he was staring straight ahead, eyes glazed over in a way that she recognized as meaning that he wasn’t really there, lost instead in his thoughts. Likely the same ones she’d just been having moments ago. 

She squeezed back hard and inched closer, until if she wanted to be any nearer to him she would’ve had to have climbed into his lap. The thumb of the hand holding hers brushed along her knuckles, and when she looked up at him again, it was to find him staring at her this time. 

His jaw was tensed, eyes so pained that the sight of them alone was enough to have her lip wobbling a little with unshed tears. He drew in a slow breath, letting go of her hand for one terrible moment. But it was only to wrap his arm around her, drawing her head to rest in the hollow of his shoulder, fingers digging into the material of her suit jacket. Still needing something to hold, she grabbed onto the hand not belonging to the arm around her, free arm wrapping around his back.

In the safety of Tommy’s chest, she allowed herself to let out one single sob. Just one. She would make herself to save the others for later. When he dropped his face into her hair, she was intimately aware of the fact that she was likely the only thing keeping him grounded at all.

The car hit a few bumps, but kept barreling along. The terrible silence, like the one that had stretched on and on in that reception hall when she’d strained to hear any sound of Charlie, persisted. 

And within that silence, she and Tommy sat with the knowledge that what was easily one of their worst nightmares had been realized. 

Charlie was gone.

Thank you for reading! Please consider leaving a comment, reblog, or like. I always appreciate feedback and love getting the opportunity to interact with you and hear your thoughts!

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[the-s1lly-corner]

Could you possibly write about slenderman's ghost s/o trying to make the mansion festive for Halloween bc they're really excited for the holiday and never experienced it before? They have a list and everything as soon as they learn about the custom-

For instance, every room is decked out in decor totally not stolen, they make loads of themed treats, and try to engage the him and the proxies into doing multiple festive activities as well?

-slender anon <3 (sorry if this is too much exposition, tysm for all the cool writing)

Celebrating Halloween w/ Slenderman!

so so sorry for taking a a bit to get to this !! I meant to get this out tomorrow but I got distracted </3 still torn on if i want the mansion to exist in my au but for all intents and purposes we'll say it does for this >:) i might make the mansion like, some abandoned creepy haunted house in universe, like the house from IT or Nightmare on Elm Street (i actually... dont remember if it gets abandoned or not in the later movies, its been a while since i watched the series..) or something something yeah i think ill go with that for the mansion anyways enough rambling

Cue curious head tilts and questions from slenderman, he knows OF Halloween but he doesnt know all the ins and outs and intricacies when it comes to how its celebrated; best he knows is costumes and candy

initially watches you try to hang up all the decorations by yourself but eventually steps in to give you a hand

probably consults in you what basic Halloween traditions are, and probably also tries to ask the proxies if they know anything about it

i think outside of toby, the proxies don't really. remember much of their lives before becoming proxies, but that's because I'm basing my take on them off of the original MH where like, there's brain fog and the proxy/person are internally separate, but that's where inspiration from the original stuff ends; merging two fandoms together is. hard when the canon and fanon are so different

anyways

but also i never really like the creepypasta interpretation of masky and hoodie, at least from when i was in the fandom years back where they were shy and soft, but thats likely changed now- admittedly i dont interact with the fandom outside of creating

im rambling again, but i think masky and hoodie would also be a little lost but ready to do whatever they're told to do in regards to helping deck out the mansion

good news is that the mansion already looks like a spooky haunted house! especially on the outside since it's not as well kept as the inside

the inside is like what comes to mind when someone says old ass house; creaky wooden floors, shitty heating system, crawl spaces and compartments, that sort of thing. old enough that it would definitely have mold and rot, and be falling apart, if slenderman didnt come and keep it in tact

again, it already looks spooky enough as is, but decorations can really tie in the look

fake cobwebs, skeletons, spiders

oh those are real spiders

the mansion probably has spiders, slenderman cant do anything about the spiders sorry

okay anyways

treats! totally not stolen from some store by a teleporting entity that naturally distorts electronics! definitely not

he would make them with you, i think

i sometimes think about how slenderman would probably like calm and quiet activities, domestic ones included, so i think this is something he would actually end up loving especially with you around

learns he hates working with melted marshmallow, that shit is not banned from the mansion as well as marshmallow creme

he even gets those cute little halloween themed goodie bags so you can give them out

unfortunately he's going to have to pass, on account that he can't really eat any non-human meat food, but rest assured if he could safely eat your treats he would

Toby would be fucking that shit up, especially if you make those popcorn ball things. i feel like toby would love those. masky to me seems like a butterscotch haystack enjoyer to me (based), while hoodie fucks up those chocolate dipped pretzels, you know the ones that get decorated to look like mummies? those. he demolishes those (also based)

i kinda miss the popcorn balls tbh i havent had those in years but they were good from what i remember- i think i might make some this evening

moving on once more

if there's any extras slenderman may offer to take you around to give them to others

im still deciding character dynamics and relationships and who knows who in this funky au, but i feel like slenderman knows at least a handful of the other character. at least on a first name basis

so thats fun! you also get to share the joy with characters such as splendor and trender, and perhaps even jeff. i hc that eyeless jack and slender are both in the same forest but not like. buddy buddy. but he can get goodies too. ignore the fact jack is in the same boat as slender in terms of what he can and cant eat- he appreciates the gesture

now activities! i gotta admit i never really did halloween stuff outside of trick or treating; so im a little stumped on ideas

theres the obvious, pumpkin carving (the pumpkin insides get used to make more treats!), apple bobbing, and a few others

while not really a halloween game, you guys probably play a few games in the woods

thats

wait no thats terrifying, do not play hide and seek/tag with them in the woods regardless of if its night time and regardless of if youre a ghost, that shit actually sounds terrifying esp since i think slenderman and hoodie would get WAY TOO competitive

oh scary stories

definately

you insist on summoning ghosts and demons to fit the vibe

" but Dear, you're a gho-" "hush"

you guys accidentally summon one of the ghost creepypastas or something/j

you guys accidentally summon zalgo and halloween gets cancelled'j

idk if this is just a me thing but whenever me and my friends sit down to read creepypasta stories we get derailed and somehow end up reading fanfics and acting them out but i can see this happening as well; though this one also isnt a halloween exclusive activity

overall its a learning experience for most of you guys, and slenderman is totally up to humoring you again next year!

oh oh oh halloween costumes, how could i forget?

good luck trying to find something for slenderman, even if he could fit in anything he probably wouldnt dress up no matter how you try to word it

actually now that i think of it, do you think his suit is just part of his body? like ive seen loads of interpretations where it is; the shitty slenderman movie included. like is it a removeable suit? is it something that looks like a suit but its part of him? is it like a scp 049 situation where it is a suit but its attached to him?

im not getting into that today

masky and toby both dress up as classic slasher icons

hoodie probably would too but i got flashed with a vision of him dressed as pumpkin so im rolling with it

i think thats about everything! i hope you like this! this ended up way longer than i thought it would be but i fully blame that on me still being in my ramble mindset </3 ive been cooking up some major hcs for my au/interpretation as well as smaller stuff so my brain just wants to dump it TToTT

anyways

runs off to go draw spooky stuff (cough cough creepypastas dressed up in costumes)

[lovethistoomuch]

10 characters 10 fandoms

I was tagged by @birdkeeperklink thank you so much! I really had to think on these since, as per my url you can guess there are a lot. (sorry for the late reply. I got no excuse, really, except life continued to happen around me and deciding who to pick was really hard.)

in no particular order (though Loki is Number 1, I'm sorry everyone else), here we go:

1. Loki Odinson from MARVEL

I just love him so much I've written a 78K fix-it fantasy novel (not finished) to give him the happy ending he deserves. there is no other character I identify with harder than this one: a younger sibling full of rage, always feeling overshadowed by the older one, just wanting to prove their own worth and show the world that they are capable (i got over this a lot in recent years but my love for him still remains.)

Tom just plays him so perfectly and I am so heartbroken that the writers at MARVEL did not know what to do with him, so they killed him off (the Loki show doesn't count because that's not him okay.) he's always having a good time, he's snarky and clever and desperately needs a hug. how can you not love him?

2. Mr. Spock and Leonard (Bones) McCoy from Star Trek TOS

Yes, they are two people but I just couldn't choose between them!

The grumpy surgeon with a heart of gold an the emotionally suppressed but deeply loving vulcan live in my heart rent free ever since I was a child. Spock was my first crush ever and his complicated relationship with McCoy has always fascinated me. they are two incredibly complicated people and there isn't enough space here to describe why. writing them is just as much fun as watching them and I actually own the autographs of both Leonard and De.

3. James Wilson from House M.D.

he's a man of many contradictions: he is kind but also House's best friend, he loves people dearly but can also tell them to fuck off. he is confident and funny and he helps people without being a pushover. he loves all of his his wives but cheats at least once. he is a walking mystery which makes him a great friend for House and a nightmare to write. I just love him! also, that smile!

4. Castiel from Supernatural

Cas is the character, truly! he can go from nerdy to badass in the blink of an eye. a cosmic being that plays dress up just to make one human smile, who should be nothing but an ant to him. he fiercely protects the people he loves and always tries to do the right thing. the character that inserted himself into the story against the writer's will and changed the narrative for ever. when he came on the show, I hated his guts. and look at me now...

5. Zuko from Avatar the last Aribender

you simply cannot talk about redemption arcs without mentioning Zuko at some point. an exceptional character amongst a cast of exceptional characters. I once joked that 90% of his lines were just him screaming but that poor boy has so much rage inside him, and with all that trauma, can you really blame him? he is the epitome of character growth and a fascinating example of how the villain can become a hero without taking any shortcuts.

6. Stephen Maturin from the Aubrey-Maturin series

if you read the books, you'll know why. this fucking lunatic is so oblivious to his own eccentricities that you just have to love him. nobody does it quite like him to be honest. no, Stephen, people will not think you're eccentric because you practice sword fighting on deck, however they might think that because you let loose 1000 bees on the ship and run around naked. he has no sense for proper etiquette and i love him so much for it. also, he get's on a ship without being able to swim and performs open brain surgery on deck. he is incredibly skilled and the best damn doctor in the entire fleet. also, his dynamic with his best friend/captain is one of the best friendships I've ever seen/read.

7. Scrooge McDuck

this might be an unusual choice but i grew up reading comics and at one point in my life i figured out that all of my favourite stories were writen and drawn by the legendary Don Rosa, who in his book "the life and times of Scrooge McDuck" created one of the most fascinating and fun to watch characters i've ever seen. starting from humble beginnings and rising to the top through his percevierence, fearlessness and ingenuity, inevitably losing everything he loved and ending up alone, only to be found by his family again, his story is one of my absolute favourites in literature. i know that due the never ending nature of comic books, he can never truly get his happy ending but I really wished he could.

8. Keeley Jones from Ted Lasso

I don't think I've ever seen a woman like her in any media to be honest. she is so clearly feminine and embodies all the traits of a woman that would normally be depicted as bitchy, toxic and self obsessed but she is just none of those things. she is a girly woman who loves pink and cries and she is just so human and lovely and i love her so much for it! her friendship with Rebecca is also so amazing and feels very real and true to what friendships between woman are actually like. I just love her as a beacon of healthy femininity and can only hope that there will be more characters like her in the future!

9. Kim Kitsuragi from Disco Elysium

the voice, the looks, the everything! the moment I met him I knew I wanted him to be my best friend for ever! his deadpan delivery combined with his dorkyness and his shere competence had me on the floor on multiple occasions. I have not finished the game yet but I have never had a companion this incredible in any video game ever! I could listen to him read the phone book for hours. when he went "daba doop doop dead" I died. also him jumping in when I fail a check has to be the most badass thing ever. I love you, Kim. please be proud of me. (also, I know he probably has a darker side to him that I am not seeing right now because I am always choosing the nice options but hey, the best characters are the complicated ones.)

10. Cole Turner from Charmed

this show was so much better when he was in it! the half demon who crosses over to the good side without ever really changing his ways. he burns someone alive and laughs about it, drags a detective to hell and doesn't give a shit about civilians. even when he is completely human his solution to assholes is to punch them in the face. he loves power and controling others and looking good while doing it. I know him beind "good" was a whole thing on the show but to me the most fun about him was that he continued being evil but was now using his powers to help the good guys. show me another character that got redeemed into the hero team without losing his evil edge. Cole was just so much fun to watch but unfortunately his character got totally buthcered by bad writing.

No pressure of doing this but tagging:

@catzy88, @uponxhorhaus, @accrov

[ssaalexblake]

@sapphichymns 

It makes sense and I agree tbh, people are hanging onto how Cool Gallifrey is with its houses, and how you can live basically forever and travel through time and have all this awesome technology but actively don’t Want to see that it’s the proverbial rotten apple in a cartoon. It looks So good until you take a bite out of it and it’s rotten and filled with worms. 

Feel like it should also be said that the gallifrey british empire metaphor ALSO takes the rotten to the core class system in the uk and makes it even More explicitly awful (as opposed to generational inherited power where the same families have the same political sway and power hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of years down the line with no sign of it ever stopping, it’s literally just the same people who don’t die. Permanent stagnation. No progress.) and you only really get to see the aristocrats and royalty in dw (save for our plucky hero, i guess) and it taps into that specific class envy. The kind where people hate the aristocratic system only bc they’re not at the top of the pile, Not because of any moral objections to it. Jealousy, not opposition. 

To them it’s that, if you’re a time lord, not only are you a cool alien who can travel through time, you have pseudo generational wealth and power to go with it! How COOL.  

People still don’t wanna admit that these scummy aristocratic monsters are bad in real life, it’s not surprising slightly metaphorical but “cooler” versions of them aren’t hated. 

Gallifrey is the british class system on crack in the worst way possible. Your superiority for being Upper Class is now Literally Genetic on Gallifrey. 

I cannot read anything about the place without immediately clocking it as a nightmare to the point I can’t fathom an escapist fantasy of wanting to be a part of this. This was before the whole timeless child thing. Now it’s just... wow. 

I mean, I’m not Surprised, because i remember everybody saying how cool it’d be to compete in the hunger games and i think that’s a worse fandom thing to be aspiring to, but I guess in that weird little fantasy they’re not actively wishing to be the evil people??? i guess? Fucked up anyway.  

(also, I don’t actually think the show has been bad at portraying Gallifrey as bad? Like, yeah sure the doctor goes all nostalgia glasses sometimes but Only when they cannot go there which says things. And generally speaking they’re being nostalgic about local wildlife and flora, not, you know, the society. And strictly speaking, when actual time lords Do show up they’re usually doing something awful. So they don’t often say ‘wow these guys suck’ but it’s generally obvious.)

Really, I think the bottom line is people see the concept of being a time lord as some escapist fantasy of coolness where you’re some kind of hero, both missing that A) if you’re not earth level aristocracy you’re the poor people they oppress and B) that the only actual ‘cool’ time lord is the one who is objectively a moron whom did a runner from said society. And that doing that runner is what started their journey into the realms of ‘good person’ and that they’re hated en masse for it back home. 

can’t acknowledge that gallifrey is just a monstrously evil fascist space state with nothing but a good PR (propaganda) team if you wanna be part of it i guess 

[th3w00ds]

‘Cause You Know, Something is Creeping in the Dark

@nwtbobsessedemo @colourfulmes @bondoes-art

Title From: Rainy Day by ICE NINE KILLS (I highly recommend this song, and this band in general)

Fandom: Youtuber Egos

AU: None

A/N: Natemare lore!!! I love writing for him!

Content Warnings: Possession, body horror, coughing up organs, coughing up blood, blood, not proofread

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Nathan Sharp sat up, rubbing his eyes and looking around. It was still dark out, and his room was pitch black. Before he opened his eyes, he could’ve sworn he heard something moving.

Which was impossible. Nate was the only one in his house last he checked.

Was it possible that somebody broke in? Nate hated that thought, but since it was possible, he got up and grabbed a knife that he kept on his bedside. It never hurt to be prepared.

He turned on the light to his room. The light temporarily blinded him like a flash bang, and Nate blinked rapidly. After he could see again, he opened his bedroom door and peeked out into the hallway. 

A few seconds later, he stepped out. Nate didn’t turn on the hallway light just yet. 

“Hello?” He called out into the dark home, “If anyones here, come the fuck out right now!” 

No response.

He turned on the hallway light, then went into his living room, turning on the light there too. Nate still saw nobody. But he knew what he heard. Someone was here. Nate could feel it. 

Tap-tap-tap-tap!

What the fuck was that?! It sounded like something scurrying around. Nate looked back, and saw that the hallway light was off. 

He just turned that on. This was getting weird. Now he knew for sure that someone was in his house.

“I-I’ll call the police!” Nate shouted at the hallway. “Come out now!” 

Someone chuckled, and there was another tap.

“If you insist.” 

It looked as though the shadows themselves took a step forward towards Nate. He jumped back, his heart pounding, yet he couldn’t help but look. 

That fucking thing crawled out of the shadows and into the light. It was spindly, thin and had a lot of very sharp, needle-like teeth. Nate knew that because it was smiling.

It was a wide smile, unnaturally so. The creature had two legs with sharp points that it shouldn’t have been able to stand on, and it had four arms, each finger ending with very long and sharp claws that looked purple in the light. 

Again Nate jumped back, desperately trying to get away from whatever that was. Now he was hyperventilating.

“W-WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU?! GET OUT, GET OUT!” He shouted once more. The creature was still smiling as it spoke. 

“You’re scared of me? That’s not surprising…” it paused, “I’m here for a very specific thing. One that I have reason to think that you can provide me, Nate,” 

That creature spoke as if it knew him. What… what the hell. 

“W-Whatever it is, I don’t have it!” He said, trembling and stuttering. 

“Hmm? Oh no, no no no, silly! I don’t want anything you have, no! I want a host,” It said.

“I don’t understand, what are you, why a-are you here?!” Nathan exclaimed. 

“What I am is complicated. I’m a fucked up amalgam of Fear and two spirits, the spirit of a siren and the spirit of a child. Which causes me to… quite literally be a monster. I don’t… I don’t want this, Nate, you can help me contain this… this power that I have! Most humans would’ve gone completely fucking crazy just by looking at me for this long!” It said, seeming frantic.

“Do you have a… name?” Nate asked. 

“Oh yeah! Natemare,” Natemare responded. “I know, it sounds like I took your name and put nightmare at the end of it, but I had this name before I discovered you, I promise!” Nate let out a nervous laugh. 

“Okay… you don’t seem that bad. I’ll do what I can,” Nate told Natemare. The creature looked like it was beaming, and took multiple steps closer.

“Thank you, thank you, thank you!! I can’t say that enough!!!” He said. Natemare placed one of his hands on top of Nate’s head.

Nate didn’t expect anything to happen for a moment, and then it did. Overwhelming pain and FEAR. SO MUCH FEAR. IT HURT, AND HE WAS SO AFRAID. 

Nate gasped for breath, and started spasming, his legs and arms moving without his input. He could barely breathe, and it didn’t help that he was now starting to cough. 

He coughed a lot, practically coughed up his lungs, and then he actually coughed out a glob of blood. Then more. And a lot more blood. Nate thought he could see some sort of organs in that mix of blood, too, but he didn’t know which ones. 

He was still breathing, so it probably wasn’t his heart or lungs, nor his stomach.  It hurt so much, and he could feel every last drop of blood leave his body by hacking it all up. 

When it finally stopped, Nate was sitting in a pool of his own blood. There was still pain, but it hurt a lot less when he wasn’t coughing up his guts. He looked at Natemare, who was no longer smiling. The creature’s face was blank now, then it grinned again when it saw that Nate ceased coughing.

“Sorry… I needed to get rid of all that extra junk so I can actually possess you. Possession is more of a mind thing, but I need somewhere to store all my extra power. So, bye bye all that blood!” Natemare said. 

Natemare then went still, and his hand gripped Nate’s head tighter, until it was… gone? Nate blinked, and suddenly Natemare was go- NOT GONE. 

He was in Nate’s body now. Nate knew that. Nate’s body stood up. Hold the fuck up. Nate didn’t want to stand up. He tried to breathe, but his lungs didn’t when he wanted them to. Nate tried to move his fingers. THEY DIDN’T MOVE. 

He- No… Natemare cracked his neck, stretching. He moved Nate’s arms, then his legs, and yelled in excitement. 

“YES!! FUCKING FINALLY! Thank you for the free body, Nate!” Natemare said. “I’ll be sure to take good care of it. Don’t worry, you won’t be going anywhere! You’ll get to stick around, like a passenger! In your own body, which is kinda fucked up if you think about it, but hey! An entity has to do what an entity has to do!” 

[existedwithoutyourpermission]

To Kill, or Be Killed.

CREEPYPASTA X FEM!READER (GENERAL FANFICTION) ❝ Reader finds herself in a situation, that left her lost in a forest. Getting lost in it, it might leave her to her demise as she promises something that might risk herself, even. It was up to her to kill, or be killed.❞ WARNINGS: Profanity (A small bit!)

A/N: Well, i never expected to actually be back in this fandom. But i will happily go ahead and give content. Mostly aimed for the females, sorry male people out there... just pretend reader is your name, of course. EDIT A/N: Added new stuff. Lore increases. | PROLOGUE |

You really shouldn't fucked up this time. You really shouldn't have.

"Death Forest". It... was only 1 mile away from your place. You were getting chills up your spine as you passed by it. You were new at that time, that was only a month ago. As you continued to pass it, your curiosity grew only bigger and bigger as time passed. The stories about it made you want to meet these creatures that are most definitely not real. Slenderman that, Ticci Toby this, Eyeless Jack here, Ben drowned there... But Slender Man was one that you seemed to have a glance one time. You were not sure if your eyes are deceiving you or not, but you were sure that thing... it was real. It was how as they described him. That thing never had eyes to begin with (most probably) but it felt as if he glared daggers at your form. It drove you mad. Feeling watched. Being driven to the edge of your own sanity, paranoia. Fear increased as you saw him more and more often. Your friends knew this, of course. It wasn't that they hated you now and think your weird. Of course not, they are trying their best to make you feel safe and you thank them. You are currently at your house with those few of 3 friends, playing truth or dare after cleaning the party for your 18th birthday. "Reader, i dare you to go to the Death Forest." The brunette with the name of Ruby said. "Hey, this is her birthday Ruby, not her death day! I don't think she would like that anyways. She'll get killed. That's not very good... Its not a joke." The brother of Ruby, Kyle had said, scolding the female. Her brother looked to you and found yourself thinking about the dare. "But its a dare, come on, do it Reader!" Laura, a red haired girl, said. Your friends Ollie and Ruby chant ; 'Do it!' You sigh as you looked at Kyle. … "Ok. I'll do it." You stood up. "Reader. No, don't let their words get stuck to you. Please don't." Kyle said in a serious tone. "Reader, you know you can't do that! You'll get lost!" He worriedly said. "That thing had been haunting my curiosity. Who cares if those things weren't real? All fiction? Something to keep them... away from something we weren't supposed to look for or find in the first place. I want to know what is in there. So starting tonight, I'll pack up and go. And what about Slender Man? I've told you both so many times! That fucking guy had been haunting me ever since I moved here. I want answers. I won't say no for an answer." You said with a serious tone. They simply stared in a mix of awe and fear. "Well? Why are you two just staring?" You stood up and pushed them out your room. "Shoo, shoo! Don't snitch or I'll literally bring you with me to that entrance to nightmares." You threatened. "Well-" Ollie was cut off with you shushing him.

"What?! But-" You shut and locked the door in their faces. Whatever they said, had been muffled. They loudly groan in annoyance and walk down and get out the house. With great determination, you went around your room to gather supplies. Lucky for you, your mother and father had been somewhere for a week, trusting you to the house.

[brookebellamy]

BookTok Needs to Read the Room

by Brooke Bellamy

As a fanfic community, we don’t leave negative, snotty comments in the same way we don’t criticize our kid’s volunteer soccer coach. Well, I suppose some people do but at least that’s commonly understood to be in poor taste to publicly ridicule someone contributing their time, effort and talents to the community for free.

Full blog below the cut but I'd super duper appreciate it if you consider checking it out for free on medium 🙏

Why We Shouldn’t Hate on Fanfic Writers

Spend no less than five minutes with me and you’ll probably — whether you want to or not — be brought up to speed on the latest fandom drama happening in my discord servers or Twitter groupchats.

I’m a fangirl, it’s exactly what it says on the can. I’m a copywriter by day and by night an avid creator and connoisseur of fanfiction — these days mostly about TOP GUN (yes, that TOP GUN) but it tends to vary on a semi-yearly basis.

I get my kicks in weird ways and yet I’m far from alone in that.

Beyond the movies and the characters, I’m interested in fandom as a whole or as we like to call it fandom meta.

The unspoken rules of this wacky subculture dating back to the 1960s. Watching beloved or controversial fanfics get pulled off the web, reworked and eventually published as independent stories in their own right. The constant push and pull against a mainstream that is becoming increasingly aware of something that used to be a shame-filled, hidden hobby only for the nerdiest of the nerds.

Enter, Stage Right: BookTok

Fanfic going somewhat mainstream is thanks in no small part to TikTok, specifically BookTok — the community that reviews and discusses published romance novels. I’m not really a member of that community but from what I’ve gathered BookTok is mostly made up of millennial women who voraciously consume books of varying degrees of quality and really, really, really care about the sex. Or, to use their own lingo, spice.

Like they’re almost getting a little weird about it, not gonna lie.

To an outsider, though I hardly should be considered one, BookTok seems to be a somewhat spiritual successor to the “Mommy Porn” craze that swept through the country with 50 Shades of Grey — the most famous example of a fanfiction (originally about Twilight) that was repurposed into a full-fledged novel.

But I digress.

I’m a creator on FandomTok which naturally brushes up quite a bit with my cousins over on the published, professional side of the street. It’s a mostly peaceful co-existence, but it is TikTok so it also can be a fucking nightmare.

Case in point: I opened up the app last week and was immediately bombarded by a presumably millennial woman from BookTok ranting about how much she hated a popular Harry Potter fanfiction.

I didn’t read the fic she’s talking about but from what I can gather it takes place after the books conclude and focuses on a tumultuous love affair between Hermione Granger and Draco Malfoy. That would be Emma Watson and Tom Felton for the non-stans.

Now, I’m no Harry Potter fan. Quite the opposite, actually.

Some of my earliest and most deeply unpleasant childhood memories are that of older cousins chasing me around our grandparents’ house yelling all sorts of spells and Potter-lingo at me. I’m also pretty sure I got locked in a cabinet at one point — but that’s a story for another day.

So it goes without saying: I’m no fan of J.K. Rowling, her work or her vitriolic hate speech against trans people.

However I do live, breathe and love fanfiction and so that means my support has to extend to the Potterheads and their stories as well.

So back to the video, I’ll give you the TLDR:

OP is upset that she’s spent so much time on what she feels to be a very overhyped fanfiction. She doesn’t typically read fic and so she’s confused and angry as to why the writer changed so much of the plot. She thinks it’s an unrealistic story, that its readers have poor taste and she’s mad that the fanfic’s writer killed off Harry.

She also reduces the entire 380,000 word story into being only about sex, despite it being heavily based on the gender-based oppression and violence that takes place in The Handmaid’s Tale.

OP concludes the first of a series of videos on this singular fanfic by proclaiming that a real Harry Potter fan would never tolerate something like this.

I watched just 10 seconds of the video before I had to put my phone down from seeing red.

Eventually, I watched it all the way through, left a couple of angry comments, made a few video responses of my own and eventually blocked her because I can’t stand internet beef with people engaging in an argument in deliberately poor faith.

But I’m still really annoyed about it, if it’s not obvious.

OP’s video has about 30k views at the time of my writing this. That might not seem like too much for an app that regularly sees content explode with 15 million views, so let me reframe it for you:

Imagine you and a friend dined at a massively successful Italian restaurant (I’m talking reservations a month in advance at a minimum). You loved it so much you spent weeks thinking about the pasta and how much you wanted to go back for more. But the restaurant is popular for a reason and so you couldn’t get another reservation. After a while you decided to try your hand at recreating some of the dishes at home. You even opted to have a little fun and throw in your own take on it. You spent a long time researching the ingredients, practicing your technique and ended up with a final dish that you were quite proud of. In fact, you were so proud of and excited by your creation that you invited that same friend over to try it one night. For some inexplicable reason, she was visibly angered at the invite. She told you that you were wasting your time trying to recreate the magic from the restaurant, but she showed up for dinner anyway. Empty handed, of course. Not even a cheap bottle of wine for your trouble. She took the first bite, gagged, announced she hated it and then for some reason decided to power through your entire meal. Literally licked the. plate. clean. She then stood up and left your house without a word of thanks or even a goodbye. And then the next day you got a notification from TikTok that she made ten minutes worth of videos about how shit your cooking is, and her videos reached enough people to fill up Madison Square Garden one and a half times.

And that analogy, though long-winded, still isn’t even perfect. In reality, the fic author didn’t invite OP to read the story; OP found it on her own.

So really it’s like your friend barged into your kitchen, took a bite of your pasta and then put you on blast for having a bland sauce.

Words (And Where We Say Them) Matter

30,000 views certainly isn’t viral, but it’s enough to drastically alter the fanfic writer’s creative experience. It’s enough to ruin the magic for a devoted fan just trying to have fun and write a little story about their favorite characters smooching.

The disgust and anger OP brought to table is shocking and in blatant disregard for the fic writing community’s golden rule:

If you don’t like, don’t read.

There’s a ton of other fandom colloquial terms — don’t yuck my yums is a particular favorite of mine — but they all mean more or less the same thing.

Don’t be a hater. Don’t spoil the fun. Don’t hurt anyone. Don’t be cruel in this space intended for creativity, community and friendship.

BookTok is increasingly diving into the wonderful, wacky world of fanfic and yet many of creators refuse to learn the unique culture and norms that have existed for decades.

For instance, it’s not an uncommon phenomenon for a single nasty comment to stop a fanfic in its tracks. That may sound like a hypersensitive author, but I argue:

Non-consensual criticism has no place in fanfiction.

I say non-consensual because in fandom we do actually have protocols for critiques. A beta read is a common term for a peer review, where the writer actively seeks out feedback from another writer to improve grammar, story structure, etc. However, this is a closed, private exchange between two community members that have established trust and connection — it’s a safe space.

Fanfiction that is deemed harmful or even dangerous is also fair game, though we tend to keep our commentary mostly to things like:

“This story contains sexual violence that was not properly tagged, please update the tags ASAP so not to trigger others”

When we post, of course we know that technically we’re opening ourselves up to the internet. However, I’m not blasting my quirky little Iron Man stories to the front page of Medium. I’m sharing it with a relatively small, somewhat isolated community filled with others who also happen to like quirky little stories about Iron Man.

For instance, it’s very common for fics to conclude with brief send-offs like:

“This was my first time writing from Peeta’s pov, so be nice please 🙏” “I wrote this for my friend’s birthday — I hope her day is as happy as Edward and Bella ended up here!!!” “English isn’t my first language and I’m not from the UK so apologies if any of the stuff about the train station or taxi cab seems a little off!”

In my opinion, this is not hypersensitivity; this is a request — sometimes a plea — to be kind about amateur work and to treat it as such.

We’re Talking Your Mom’s Pickleball League, Not the NFL Here

Fanfiction is not formally published writing, even though it’s “published” on a website like Tumblr or ArchiveOfOurOwn. More times than not, the fic writer is the only person that has eyes on the draft before the story goes live.

It doesn’t receive thorough review from a publisher. It doesn’t go through rounds and rounds of edits and comment periods like a professional writer’s work will.

Fic writers don’t receive any payment, sponsorship or credit for their work. They can’t because the entirety of fanfiction depends on writers cooperating with extremely delicate copyright laws — a fascinating topic I’ll probably elaborate on at some point.

There is literally nothing to be gained by writing and sharing fanfiction beyond the personal satisfaction and pride in contributing to your community’s collective joy.

Old Men Yells At Cloud, Harry Potter Edition

As a fanfic community, we don’t leave negative, snotty comments in the same way we don’t criticize our kid’s volunteer soccer coach.

Well, I suppose some people do but at least that’s commonly understood to be in poor taste to publicly ridicule someone contributing their time, effort and talents to the community for free.

I guess what I’m saying is that BookTok has some catching up to do. Or more aptly, they need to read the fucking room.

Fanfiction is a labor of love — by fans, for fans

If you don’t like a story, just scroll on by. Certainly don’t double down and read 380k of a story you hated in the first three paragraphs.

And if you think it’s so easy to write a “good” story, well then maybe you should give it a try before hating on the writers that are brave enough to share their work with the community.

And so finally, a speed run just a handful of OP and other BookToker’s concerns because if I don’t formally address these points I will lose my goddamn mind:

You guys were okay with the author just blatantly changing things? The mannerisms, the deaths?

Yes, that’s the whole fucking point of a fanfiction. Maverick and Iceman don’t actually kiss in the movies but they sure as hell do when I’m in charge.

What post-apocalyptic world would this ever happen realistically?

Are we really nitpicking the practicality of a post-9/11 wizarding world?

I’m sorry but this story sucked. Here’s a list of my Did-Not-Finish fanfics

Did-Not-Finish (DNF) lists are a popular tool used by BookTokers intended to help their audiences save money and avoid splurging on books they probably won’t jive with.

DNF lists have no place in fanfic because there is no money to save.

If you were a true Harry Potter fan, this would not fly.

No, no. If you were a true fan, you’d embrace your community members and uplift the storytellers that are keeping the magic alive for us all.

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if you made it this far, thanks! consider checking me out on medium for other blog posts on fandom, pop culture and more :)

[stackslip]

7, 9, 12, tlt?

7. what character did you begin to hate not because of canon but because how how the fandom acts about them?

nobody understands gideon/harrow to the point where i'm kinda bitter seeing any fic or fanart of them bc i feel like there's a huge chance i'd get into a fistfight with the op lmao. i mean the fact that the name of the ship is popularly griddlehark (as in like, the derogatory nickname harrow gave gideon while having absolute power over her and it's treated like a cute soft thing and not representative of the poison between them)....... and also 99% of fandom's take on them is gideon being an ideal soft butch boyfriend to her poor pathetic fragile (coughs self insert) harrow and nothing else so i'm like ALRIGHT ONLY FIVE MUTUALS ARE ALLOWED TO LIKE GIDEON/HARROW AND THE REST OF YOU ARE BANISHED

8. common fandom opinion that everyone is wrong about

i try not to look for tlt fandom opinions bc most of them are bad. but for the love of g-d, as fun as the drama of the nine houses can be, lots of people have genuinely convinced themselves that it's a fun gay royal rp type of situation and not, you know, an empire built on literal death and destruction that destroys everything around it and rots its own people from the inside out. look basically if you're going to do AUs where gideon is the emperor's daughter and she and harrow have a cute romantic comedy courtship, do you really have to make the nine houses into some quirky queer bridgerton thing. we all have fun AUs but i'm always like.............. is this really what you think the nine houses are in this specific story

12. the unpopular character that you actually like and why more people should like them

where's my gideon the first appreciation. his life is a fucking nightmare. his identity is never his own. his relationship with pyrrha is so interesting. he's never given the time of the day either by the narrative or by anybody really, and i find it telling that of the remaining adult lyctors (not couting john) he was the only unambiguously brown man, a soldier and tool for empire whose brain was destroyed from the inside out, and nobody seemed to give a shit about him or even his passing except for pyrrha. it's so fucking sad man.

[artificialstrontium]

dsmp finale spoilers, discussion of abuse

Ok so this rambling might be a tad unorganized but here’s my thoughts: The ending has been worked on for a long while now, so it’s not to say that it’s rushed. But seeing other’s reactions, it didn’t come across or land right, a miscommunication on the writer’s end (as I know people have been very vocal about making sure Tommy knows what a character like this means). 

That was a tragic ending. I know cc Tommy said he wanted his character to have a soft ending, and surface level it is that (having a do-over without pain is a wonderful thought, no?), but i can see why people are upset over a victim coming to an understanding and even unknowingly starting a friendship with his abuser, as well as spending his last moments believing he was just as in the wrong as his actual fuckin abuser. These topics deserve respect when handling on account of everyone whose reality is like c!Tommy’s. And there’s no way Tommy messing around at the start is equivalent to the pain inflicted on him by c!Dream ( & c!Dream planting evidence against c!Tommy before the house burning?helloo??). I’ve seen people say maybe what Tommy was going for was leaving his character’s character good and intact, like a superhero movie, or others pointing out that understanding isn’t necessarily forgiveness. Unfortunately, superhero movies don’t always equate perfectly to real life, people don’t always get the choice to do that or take the morally high road, whatever that is. 

Also from Tubbo’s POV, that’s not a fun ending! He tried so hard and failed to reach his friend in time, and all he could do was wait for the inevitable (not that c!Tubbo was ever guaranteed a good ending). Not to mention there’s loose ends everywhere. (can be taken into account IRL reasons for those loose ends, such as cc’s getting back to their normal lives after quarantine and that stall)

It can be said that stories can have tragic endings, some stories are made to make the reader uncomfortable so they check their understanding of the world (still, fuck Brave New World, me an my homies hate Brave New World). Some stories have a terrible or tragic ending of a season, have a hiatus, and roll right into a new one, which is where some cc’s are probably thinking in terms of lore (off the top my head, SPN season 5 bc it genuinely was supposed to end there and some of the middle seasons of GOT). But I think to the cc’s themselves, it’s also worth pointing out having too much of one thing (c!Tommy being a victim of abuse and never really getting a lasting win, unresolved things with other characters now that we know what happens to the DSMP) is draining to a lot of people in this audience, and that many people have been hoping for a good place to leave off before hopping to other fandoms. 

It can also be said the DSMP was never guaranteed a good ending, writing-wise or feelings-wise (I'll argue there’s a difference), taking in the fact it started out not as a story-based thing.

I’m generally a positive person, so what I’m choosing to do is stick around, wait for that alt stream because cc Tommy said earlier he’d chat about c!Dream being a fucking nightmare of a person. I’ll see what they do for volume two (because it can’t be all if “the dsmp will return” and “This is not the end...” is to be believed), if it’s a complete memory wipe situation or if they slowly regain memories (I can’t be sure, but c!Tubbo calling c!Tommy cheese-haired makes me have hope someone remembers or they’ll do something with that). (For the sake of transparency I will also say that honestly a lot of this writing piece is me making sense of that ending and trying to distract that it made me feel a bit ill).

I’m sorry to the people who were sticking around for just this ending before leaving, I’m sorry you are going on such a bitter note, and I’m genuinely sad for the people whose pain is renewed with an ending like that. 

The DSMP means a lot to me, as someone who’s been watching since before it was a month old. I’ve seen people say this, so I’ll say it here too, but these characters, their stories, also belong to us, the fans. The writers can write whatever ending they want, but in the end, if what you want to take away from a story is just the characters and their middle journey, and continue creating because you loved that part only, all the power to you! If any of that makes sense, lol.