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#probably badly written fan fics with bad ships
olderthannetfic · 4 months
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When there was an anon about "To Gaze Upon Wicked Gods" a few months ago (or so?), I got curious and looked at the Goodreads reviews linked and at other reviews and the description.
Haven't looked at them this "round" of the asks regarding it, but IIRC I got the impression that it may originally have been a fanfic that had its names and some details altered to be published as an original work because IIRC some reviewers said there was little exposition as if one were already knowledgeable about stuff like the characters and world setting. Of course, I may also be (and most probably am) absolutely incorrect in this assumption.
The "mob" of angry reviewers also kinda gave me the impression that they may have been a friend group (based on their very similar phrasing and vocabulary and accusations, which may still also just be coincidental) who disliked the author for fannish reasons or something else and decided to take their (fannish?) dislike to the published literary world with the author's first publication... but again, I may just be wildly misinterpreting things and may have read their reviews in bad faith.
Regardless of whether or not the book is a "colonizer romance" or badly written or even disrespectful or tasteless or something else, I feel sorry for the author...
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I wouldn't assume this. Usually, when het fics get the serial numbers filed, they're from one of the big het ships with a whole culture of doing this and it's all very open and liked by the fans. Some review would say which ship at the very least if not what the original title was.
However, I would absolutely assume that a book that reads like fic is by an author whose past experience writing is mostly with fic and who reads a lot of fic.
I also have the impression that some authors in the romantasy space are people who like sff settings on TV but don't have a lot of practical experience in how one establishes sff world building in a novel. They may have cool ideas, and these ideas may show up by the end of a book or later in a series, but the beginning doesn't have much flavor. Someone coming from a more book sff background would probably either explain more up front or whet people's appetites to understand the sff elements by giving a lot more sense of the setting. (But they might fall down on the romance aspects.)
There are also plenty of cliques in booktok, booktube, book twitter, etc., so a group of angry reviewers could be coming from somewhere like that and not from fandom beef.
It's also possible that the reviewers all sound the same because they read/watch the same book influencers who talk a certain way rather than because the reviewers are friends with each other.
Very likely, you're picking up the vibes accurately. I just think there are some other possible reasons for these vibes.
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Poking around goodreads reveals a bunch of Corrain drama spillover. Search 'corrain', 'youtube', 'reylo', etc. for the reviews that give a sense of where samey-sounding people might be coming there from.
It's very clear that many reviewers heard all about the book long before they read it.
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officialpenisenvy · 10 months
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no preferences for media/ships, just wanted to see how such dynamics unfold in works an Aficionado & Expert™ would award their seal of quality to 🥰
okay so this is mostly jjk with two. sigh. notable exceptions. im SURE there's some works i missed but unfortunately ao3 doesn't let you sort your history by tags so you will have to forgive me for that 😔
black sheep, green pastures is a family drama about the fallout from an alpha teenager going into unexpected heat and raping his kid brother. it's genuinely a masterpiece and the omegaverse element is very understated, it's not in-your-face at all but it works to accentuate and deepen the already complex themes the fic tackles.
one good thing is a blessing is a bodice ripper set in the edo period, as an alpha outlaw meets a pregnant omega on the run from his clan and helps him escape. it's my golden standard for well-written a/b/o longfics, and it's definitely a fic for the omegaverse fans, featuring many common tropes and lore elements that blend seamlessly with the historical setting to create a fun and romantic story that is a great intro to the average omegaverse.
honey drop is an abandoned longfic about a young alpha man who finds himself adopting an omega-to-be young child and grooming him into compliance. it's very heavy on the omegaverse, and it's a very uncomfortable read at times, but to me that only adds to the story being told, which is very self-aware about its own darkness despite being cloaked in sweet possessiveness (also worth noting that they don't have sex in the fic, the author abandoned it just before that narrative beat).
ripe is a very dark and short fic about an alpha man taking advantage of his child ward's heat, brought on early due to the boy having been molested by his father in the past. the omegaverse here is more of a pretense, an excuse for the horrific and mundane abuse more than anything; i really love the way it's written, it's incredibly evocative and the author always writes the point of view of the rapist with staggering accuracy (if you like fics where gojo is a disgusting creep you will love this author).
this heart, pierced by a sword is an insane star wars prequel fic where alpha child anakin is the antichrist and obi-wan is his mother mary. it's fucking crazy and weird and lowkey disturbing and well-written enough to keep you hooked for 30k words and also palpatine is there. go read this especially if you've watched the prequels or are in the star wars fandom. it's fucking batshit
the omegas will play is a fun and simple smut fic about two omega best friends fagging out in front of their alphas. it's very uncomplicated and it doesn't explore much of anything (though it has some interesting tidbits such as an omega with an alpha complex), the sex is decent, this foursome dynamic is quite fun to read and it's a trashy indulgence of mine.
head above the water is. sigh. an attack on titan omegaverse fic which has unfortunately grabbed me by my heaaart with its dirty claws. it's about a troubled alpha boy whose father is sexually abusing his younger omega stepbrother and if anything about that premise sounds appealing to you i promise it's not worth reading it. it's not well written at all (though it's by far not the worst fanfiction prose out there) and the omegaverse tropes are present to the point of being overbearing and cloying. to me it's camp but i understand that not everyone can share my delicate sensibilities. i read this out of morbid curiosity and it ruined my life so don't read this unless you're also ready for that or at least for a very bad fic. im only including this out of intellectual honesty lord have mercy on me.
yeah that should be about it as far as omegaverse fic recs. obviously i have read a lot more i probably have read them in the hundreds. however most of them are VERY badly-written and not particularly compelling. they're still great to jerk off to if you're like me and get turned on by a light breeze but definitely not worth examining out of intellectual curiosity. this is like a cream of the crop from my personal omegaverse history. hope you enjoy ❤️
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set-in-stardust · 1 year
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I just finished read TCC and,,, uhhhh
i regret everything
u see, i’m a big sucker for grumbo probably my #1 ship so obviously i read w&w for like 5 times???? (love it sm) yeeeeah. And so, i have been waiting for an update (without looking at your tumblr for info until yesterday) or even info that you will no longer continue writing this work. While i was waiting, i started read works for scarian/mumscarian and saw Veritatem Dies Aperit. Ive never been a fan of big fics especially when they’re still in progress, cus, well, u know,,, not all works reaching their ending. So, yeah, I began ignore this fic as hard as i could.
Months pasts and then i finally choose to look at your tumblr and see maybe u already told everyone that you will no longer continue w&w, but then i read your pinned post and remembered about TCC. I was bored and wanted to read something so i gave it a chance.
And i regret everything.
I regret ignoring this work so badly, i’m so sorry. I read it literally in one breath. I love it so much you have no idea!!!
The concept????? Holy fuck 1900s, past lives, some creepy stuff, and them!!!! Relationship between characters???? they’re so silly! Mumscarian (together/separated) written so perfectly omg!!! The last chapter(12) with wholesome grumbo AND THEN ending with that dream?? i’m so scared /pos!! Can't wait to see what happens next and how they're going to solve everything! (and also can’t wait for talk between grian and scar🤭)
I’m so sorry for bad grammar but dude!!!! idc about translation rn, just wanted to express my feelings about this work.
Thank you for all your hard work!!!
AAAAA THIS IS SO SWEET IM SO HAPPY YOU LIKE IT!!!
i totally get ignoring unfinished works!! i'm guilty of it as well, so dw about it at all and I'm so glad you gave it a chance!! no worries about grammar either, you're all good
i'm so happy you like the concept and this ask just totally made my day!!!! I was only checking my inbox because I was about to continue working on the next chapter, too... LOL good timing!
the next chapters to the end are a total ride, so strap in!
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maxthesillyy · 2 years
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I hate it whenever in a story- another character has to push character 1 and character 2 together- because they say theyre being oblivious. when in reality its just a bad ship and the writer couldnt find a way for them to come together.
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valc0 · 2 years
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What I wanted to know is how you do you feel about thasmin. I'm conflicted because
It was very rushed
Madip Gill is leaving which made it studid to get attached to the thought of it.
It felt like a cheap way to bring fan who probably don't care about the of the characters
I'm not going to lie and THIS IS MY OPINION but I think it's just Chibnall's poor one dimensional writing. And I'm not say all his work is like that because I quit enjoyed a few of his episodes.
There really wasn't much to support the ship. In context there was not much prior history about Yaz liking the Doctor.
Ok I'm not say Yaz isn't a person but she doesn't have much to go on but her star struck nature when she's around the doctor.
Those are my reason so far on why I'm not sure it's a good ship. But I'm only so many years old and I might not have the best take on this kind of stuff so yeah.
Before hand thank you for answering
I don’t think I can agree with all of what you said because, although you made some fair points, I think the concept of "bad ship" it’s flawed in itself.
There is no such thing as a bad ship. There are badly written relationship, and I agree with you on the fact that canon mistreated the potential of Thasmin tremendously, but I don’t think this makes the ship any less interesting or valid.
I’m sorry if I’m being pedantic and this is exactly what you meant and said "not a good ship" to get the point across, but I think it is important in this context to clarify, because it could very easily make Thasmin shippers feel bad or blamed for enjoying their ship, which is something I’ll never condone.
And I want to make something very very clear here.
A ship does not need the original creator’s blessing.
A ship doesn’t need its canon representation to be well-written to be valid.
A ship doesn’t need to be canon at all to be valid.
Ships and canon relationships are two separate entities and they shall remain like this.
I find the "ship not canon so not valid/badly written therefore bad in all ways" mentality terribly worrying, I’m seeing it increase in fandom spaces by the day, whether because studios caught on fandom trends and are disperdetele trying to please their audience (henceforth canonising the most popular ship rather than the one they were thinking abt in the first place), or because fans feel more involved in the creation of the canon material itself, leading to ship wars with real life stakes and prizes in the form of canonisation.
My personal opinion on Thasmin and Yaz in general is no secret. I don’t like the ship or the character, I personally find both boring and lazily put together. I think the ship came out of nowhere and was definitely written in after season one or even two. I even think they were trying to set up a Ryan/Yaz thing before they were even thinking abt Thasmin.
But you know what’s actually rad? Fan content!
Thasmin Fics and fanarts are single-handedly feeding this ship with dedication and depth, a depth that I’m bitter the show never gave us. And this would’ve never happened if someone forced themselves not to ship something because deemed bad or not deep or well written enough in canon.
I said it before and I’ll said it again.
Fuck canon. Canon is only the starting point, you, whoever you are, are the one that gives it meaning, whether by enjoying it in your own personal way with your own motivations, or by creating with its premises.
So what I’m saying is…you don’t have to enjoy it, I of all people (Thoschei trash and proud) will never foce you to, but if you feel like these characters are a case of wasted potential I’d give ao3 and the Thasmin tag a look, you might discover it ain’t that bad after all.
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thetaoofbetty · 2 years
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Do you truly think Bughead stands a chance at getting endgame? I’ve tried to hold out hope these last two seasons. I thought once upon a time that eventually the payoff would be worth it, but the nonsense just goes on and on. I feel like BH’s get kicked in the teeth every episode and are punished for their years of devotion. And it’s not even like BA and JT are written well or have anywhere near the level of BH’s chemistry, but sometimes it feels like we’re stuck with them because RAS has disdain for his audience and is fixated on the “new” above honoring these characters and giving the show the ending it deserves. I’m sorry for being so negative. I just feel so stupid for continuing to invest anything in this show. I don’t want to discover a year from now that my time has been wasted and that the show is still trying to convince us that Betty and Jughead belong with other people and can’t even be assed to let them discuss anything not plot point related.
i've been avoiding these asks for a while because i don't want to come off like i'm telling anyone how to feel but since i keep getting asked i guess i'll try and give my honest opinion but hopefully without offending or upsetting anyone (jinxed by even saying it, i know).
bughead is not the first ship to get kicked in the teeth. they're not even the first ship to break up and have the writers ignore the fact that they dated for a good portion of time. they are not the first ship to date other people and totally act like they never dated until it's time to ramp up any drama. they are not the first ship to date, break up, date others, and then tell that new person that they love them.
and every ship i am thinking of for the above? they ended up together in the end. so yeah, i think it's possible. stories aren't told in a vacuum and shows that go on for 22 episodes or more need to drag out their narratives. these are not 8 episode netflix or hbo max shows that have limited time for their stories, they are filling a lot more air time. they have and will drag things out if they're trying to get to a certain point. yes, riverdale does this worse than others. 100%. 1000% even.
maybe it's a product of us all bingeing and watching shows with 8-10 eps a season but recently i was rewatching gilmore girls with my exchange student and i legit kept leaving the room because i felt like it was dragging on even tho i watched it when it was on week to week and was invested. there were a lot of episodes that just felt like they did nothing past fill some time. which is probably what they were doing when you need to make 22 of them in a season.
and listen, i'm not the biggest fan of anyone writing this show overall (how no one seems to know what anyone else is doing is just such a bad way to write?) but i don't think roberto actually has a disdain for the audience. ted? sure. we don't appreciate his genius and therefore suck. his arrogance is well known. evan? he wants attention. he got it. it was a dumb move. raise your hand if you're a bughead fic author who has written more interaction between betty and archie in your fics than this man (their king!) has written onscreen.
this show is badly run, written, and promoted. that's pretty obvious at this point. not a lot of people are watching, not a lot of people care anymore and i totally get why. i'm not going to tell you to continue being invested in something making you unhappy, your fictional escapes should bring you joy so taking a break when needed is always a good idea.
personally, if they're going to drag out this whole timelines mess, i don't think everything that happened will be ignored, it's just a continuation—and i'm not going to assume anything about the 50s thing, we don't even know how long it's going to last or what will happen within it. but we haven't even seen the finale yet and at the end of the day, i feel like they didn't have tabitha tell veronica it was 50/50 for the fun of it. but that's me and i think everyone should do what works for them when it comes to this show and fandom.
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phantomphangphucker · 3 years
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Phic Phight: [REDACTED] “Oh Goddamnit. DANNY!”
Prompt Creator: @mr-lancers-english-class
Even Danny’s school projects cause ghostly issues and Lancer really should have seen this coming.
Alright fine, Lancer knew this was a bad idea. He knew it. And yet... here they all are, with each of his students doing their self-chosen presentations. And as he should have expected, Every. Single. One. has been on Phantom. Sure at least there’s been some variety. Star’s piece on his fashion and how that reflects on his personality and the era he died was actually fairly interesting (if it wasn’t for the fact that Phantom spiced up his jumpsuit with t-shirts and whatnot sometimes then this would have been a very boring one). Kwan also surprised him some, apparently he’s spent the past year or so sneaking photos of Phantom eating and did a piece on Phantom’s rather peculiar food tastes (who dips their pickles in milkshakes???) as well as effectively providing proof for the existence of ectoplasmic food (there’s no way any earth apples are neon green on the inside). Dash’s wasn’t even correctly calculated, trying to figure out how far Phantom could throw footballs based on his known strength and if he could kill someone by tackling them (disturbingly the answer -regardless of Dash’s bad math- was decidedly yes. Daniel seemed particularly disturbed). And Paulina’s was quite literally a badly written self-insert ship fan fic; the added drawings of what their child would look like only made it worse (Daniel left, not that Lancer could blame him. Lancer’s also glad for the ghost fight interrupting the presentation). Emilie’s was... disturbingly about ghost hunger and purposed the thesis that Phantom, for the good of the town, should eat the aggressor ghosts (he actually had to cut her off for getting too graphic).
But the single most interesting thing was that a ghost apparently caught wind of this and literally Every. Single. Presentation so far had words that were permanently replaced with [REDACTED], which, needless to say, caused some chaos when Samantha gave the very first presentation.
-
Lancer clicked his pen, crossing his legs and resting the evaluation sheet on his thigh, “alright, Samantha. Feel free to start whenever you please, though soon would be preferred”, by ‘preferred’ he had meant required, but no need to be mean. He chooses to ignore the goth teen's eyeroll.
Predictably the projected screen doesn’t work when she opens her file so Lancer has to spend ten minutes fiddling with the outdated tech that they wouldn’t give the school funding to replace. Eventually, he does get it up and running showing Ms. Manson’s title screen reading ‘Phantom And Hate Crimes Against Blood Blossoms’. Lancer’s positive ‘blood blossoms’ are a type of flower, figures she would do something nature-focused. She’d make for a great herbalist or botanist someday. He does catch Daniel and Tucker giving her ‘death glares’, as the kids call it, though; Samatha doesn’t look any less smug. The second page has what he thinks was supposed to be a detailed drawing of a flower but it’s severely pixilated, almost as if it been blurred; Samantha looks visibly upset so he’s going to assume something when wrong with the file or pasting format. He’s not marking on artistic capabilities though, so effort is effort there.
She quickly clicks to the next page, where the actual writing of the assignment is and looks decidedly pissed; Lancer even quirks an eyebrow since at least two-thirds of the words are a very bold noticeable [REDACTED]. Lancer watches her yank out her physical copy while glaring with murderous intent at Daniel -Lancer will have to dock him marks if he messed with another student's project- before looking at the physical copy in bafflement for a few seconds. Half the class shrieking when she drops the papers and basically launches herself over the desks at Daniel, “OH YOU LITTLE FUCKER!!!! HOW THE FUCK!”.
Lancer’s sighs and stands, “language, Ms. Manson”, moving to pick up the papers and quirking an eyebrow over them looking the same. Sighing again and eyeing Daniel, who’s being choked -or throttled perhaps?- by Samantha yet is grinning innocently. “Daniel, messing with other students' work is against student policy”, sighing yet again, “and I’ll let Star go while Samantha fixes her document”, summoning up the blonde while glaring at Daniel. Some days that boy was more trouble than he was worth but he was also insanely bright and had a heart of gold. Lancer knows he’ll do good things someday, and that’s why he still tries with him.
Half the class is snickering or laughing now and Star is very clearly trying not to laugh as she sets up.
However, as soon as it opens up the class is met with a very familiar sight. [REDACTED] litters every single page; he checked. And Star’s physical copy was in the same state.
Kwan blinks, “okay seriously, what is going on”, before scrambling to grab out his own physical copy; the rest of the class going wide-eyed and following suit. Lancer just puts his head in his hands and sighs very audibly while shaking his head. Why could nothing go right? Sighing again as the class erupts into noise.
“Mines all weird too!”.
“Same here!”.
“Okay there is no way Fenturd messed up everyone’s work”.
“And I actually tried on mine! It was about the merits of Phantom getting armour!”.
“Oh damn do we just get auto hundreds now? Please please please say yes”.
“Oh damn, Phantom would actually look awesome in armour”.
“I know right”.
“Can we just skip class entirely now?”.
“Oh my Zone a ghost messed with or work”.
“Holy Shit”.
“Wait! Wait! Wait! You don’t think Phantom did do you?”.
“Why the heck would he do that? How would he even know??????”.
“Oh I hope Phantom was inside my computer. That would be so hot”.
“Oh I don’t know, maybe someone told him or he overheard shit. He’s a ghost, he can be invisible. Heck, he could be here, right now, invisible”.
“Invisible and laughing at us”.
“No! No! Hold up! What if he doesn’t want us writing about him or maybe someone wrote some sus shit and he just nerfed us all for good measure”.
“That would mean Phantom totally read my stuff, aw Hell yeah man. That was some boss shit”,
Lancer sighs and stands up, “alright that’s enough”, sighing again because why did this have to happen to him, “and I apologies for blaming you earlier, Daniel”.
Samantha snaps, “oh no, I still blame him”, and continues glaring at the teen. Lancer suspects Samantha would continue blaming the boy even if it was firmly proven he wasn’t at fault.
Addressing the class again, “here’s what we’re going to do, you’re going to read off what of your projects you actually can and allude to the rest. Please reframe from repeating what you know was there beforehand as I’d rather not have whatever ghost responsible -Phantom or otherwise- come here pissed off”, glaring at few students who look slightly encouraged rather than discouraged by that prospect, “anyone who does will receive automatic zeroes”, ah and the encouraged looks have deflated. Good. Gesturing at Star, “you’re already up here, so do continue”. Better to not bring the clearly infuriated Samantha back to the front until she’s had some time to calm down.
Star nods and clears her throat, thankfully everyone quiets down. “O-okay, well, um”, gesturing at the screen, “I did my piece on Phantom’s sense of fashion and the cover image was one with him dressed in one of the Spook Sense stores meme shirts....”.
-
Lancer shakes away the memory, he honestly slightly regrets giving this project. But regardless right now is Daniel’s turn and Lancer is honestly slightly fearful of what his file is going to look like. Thankfully all their files were saved to his computer before the [REDACTED] debacle, so no one could go back in and edit theirs to add [REDACTED]’s for an easy grade. Lancer’s still not exactly sure how he’s supposed to mark assignments that were anywhere from one-fifth to one-third [REDACTED]. That word will be burned into his head after this grading period.
Lancer moves to find the boys file, but stares when clicking it crashes the computer. Not once. Not twice. But thrice. The fourth time rebooting the computer he inspects the file and is a bit dumbfounded, “Daniel, your entire file’s corrupted. The file type has even been changed to redacted, which I’m fairly sure, isn’t actually any possible file designation”. Everyone’s silent for a bit before bursting out into laughter.
“Just what the Zone did you write, Danny!”.
“Oh we so have to know what this is now”.
“Danny has the forbidden knowledge! We haft found him! The keeper of things forbidden and Ghostly! Haza!”.
“Ha! It was probably so lame that Phantom wanted to save him the embarrassment”.
Lancer sighs, but Daniel gestures Tucker up, “hey Tuck, feel like trying to fix the file”. Tucker chuckles and walks up, though apparently glaring at the boy. Based on Daniel’s smirk he finds this quite amusing.
Tucker does manage to make the file viewable at least. Lancer nods and leans back in his seat, “thank you, Mr. Foley”, while the file loads on screen.
Tucker sits back down with a head shake while Daniel stands at the front and gestures to the screen, “aight, as you can see from my not redacted title-”, that earns a couple laughs, “I did mine on Phantom’s portfolio of crime. Every single time our dear Phantom broke ghost law. Including such wonderful things as, that time he caused not one, not two, not even three, but five, prison breaks in one day. Or that time he invalidated a Observant spectator duel by bringing an inflatable sword”. Samantha slams a hand on her desk, “IT IS YOUR FAULT YOU DICK!”.
Lancer has some serious questions as Daniel clicks for the next page, the entire class going dead silent as a screen comprising of almost nothing but the word [REDACTED] shows. Lancer sighs very audibly. Eventually the class starts up again.
“Fenton... actually has forbidden knowledge”.
“If it wasn’t for the teacher computer saved thing I’d think he was fucking with us”.
“I mean... he is a Fenton, right?”.
“Okay the fact that this entire presentation is on ghost crimes is concerning alone. But they’re forbidden ghost crimes at that”.
“Shit I wanted the tea. Damnit”.
“Better question, how does Danny know?”.
Daniel clicking the button to go forward is very audible. And, Chicken Soup For The Soul, every single page is [REDACTED] to the point of being completely and utterly unintelligible. There are occasional lines pointing out how Phantom apparently ate confetti at a ghosts third wedding (which is apparently illegal for some reason) or that time he beat someone up with a violin that had a pie inside it (Lancer can see this one, Lancer himself has smacked a ghost with stranger).  Literally the only photo that isn’t blurred beyond recognition is one of Phantom in a prison uniform (Paulina was very vocal about liking men in uniform here). Lancer is absolutely positive the end of his conclusion ‘[REDACTED] are a bunch of [REDACTED]’ is an insult.
Samantha chucks a boot at his smirking face, “YOU IDIOT. Of course they were going to block you from talking about them. Ancients, I can’t believe you”. Tucker’s busy laughing into his hand.
“Oh my Zone, they know too”.
“They’re really earning that weirdo trio title, huh”.
Daniel snickers as he sits back down, “they broke into my room and wrecked that epic puzzle I was working on. They shoulda seen this shit coming. Literally”. Tucker snorts, “they probably did but couldn’t do anything else about it. They can’t stop you and your endless bullshit”.
“Damn fucking straight”.
Lancer isn’t going to claim to know what exactly they’re talking about but apparently Daniel effectively orchestrated this entire fiasco just to annoy some ghost. Lancer is honestly more impressed than disturbed. A for effort but an A- for making everyone's work nigh unusable.
End.
Prompt: For the last project of their senior year in high school, Mr. Lancer is letting his class do presentations on literally whatever topic they want. He is very, /very/ sure that this is going to go poorly, but that's a problem for later...
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aelaer · 2 years
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I came here to say thank you for your dedication on writing stephen-centric fics (especially the whumpy/angsty ones). There's a lack of fics out there with stephen being one of the main chars that don't involve the author putting him as a 'plot-setter' to give other characters more 'spotlight'. I love all marvel characters, I really do, but sometimes when I try to find anything to read from the Stephen Strange fandom or alike, it never really fulfills my craving/reaches my expectations. Especially with ironstrange being an extremely famous ship. :/ I may come out more of like an ass on this one, but I really hate fics that make Stephen ooc just bcs. I dunno. To give their fav char the stage? And ppl praise those fics. Say they were good. It's super annoying tbh. I'm probably just biased, idk.
So yeah, thanks for writing your fics. I would really have given up on this fandom if it weren't for you. Real grateful.
k;efw;ijogrz;ogzihoggdio grd <33333333 Thank you! Whenever I am having a writing slump or just a bad day, I try to think of messages like this instead of negative thoughts. People taking the time to just say nice things, it's just -- real nice.
Always great to see another fan of Stephen whump around. PEOPLE, he's so whumpy! Tony and Peter get wayyyy too much whump in fics where the three show up, and in Loki & Stephen fics, it's usually Loki getting the whumping treatment. Whumping the *competent doctor* is way, way more fun. Trust me. I know there's a lot of whumpy writers in the MCU, give Stephen some of your whumpy love. Please. And then tag me after you're done writing it, thank you!
Also, you opened a can of worms with that last comment, because I agree with you and it's been like, a year since I made a comment on this on tumblr, so it's about time I made another one, ahahahah.
Warning: superrrr critical of anti-character writers/Civil War Team Iron Man Only writers below. Sorry if you, the person reading this, are included in that group. I just don't think it's good stuff and bad for the fandom--and my blog, my opinion space sorta thing. But this doesn't mean I think you're any less valuable, or less moral, as a person. This is still just fiction we're talking about.
There's definitely a segment of IronStrange fics that make Stephen OOC. I'm thankful that it's not all of them, but there's still enough to make a Stephen fan just annoyed. It's one reason I refuse to read non-Team Cap friendly fics, or any fic labeled "Civil War Team Iron Man", because 9 times out of 10, Stephen's just a prop character in those instead of a character with his own agency and beliefs. And usually Tony's made into this perfect messiah type character which is just *weird* for a guy who did make his fortune off weapons, like the writers are willfully ignoring that. And beyond that, Tony's definitely a flawed char, which is one reason I enjoy him as a character. Exploring his foibles is one of the best parts of writing from his POV. So making him perfect as anti-fics/Team Iron Man fics tend to do? Not my cup of tea.
There's a tendency to make Steve's character stupid or a bully which is just more bad writing, even worse than what Endgame did to him (talk about bad writing). Folks can write what they want, but I have yet to read a good anti-character-fic that keeps the characters true to their characters instead of serving as some sort of mouth piece for the author which is just poor writing. It may be popular, but there's a *lot* of really badly written books in the NYT Best Sellers, so popular doesn't mean good!
Also, it's not to say that these writers aren't capable of writing better, as I will see their other works and see that, yeah, they can write in a more nuanced POV or have a technical ability that's already present. But they've surrounded themselves with opinions and meta that fit their mold and their mold only and, well, handicap their own growth and their talent by sticking to OOC characterizations. It's their choice, of course, but I find it baffling because they stick to it for *years and years* and I'm still of the opinion that that's not healthy. It's 2022; Civil War came out 6 years ago. It's time to expand your horizons, and probably rewatch the film because you don't remember it as how it really happened if you're still sticking with the old, tired tropes these fics tend to have.
I did almost leave the fandom at one point and delete all my fics in a dark place at the end of 2019/beginning of 2020 (before the pandemic) because I was so tired of this trend to only IronStrange and the amount of vitriol in many of those stories. Thankfully other senses prevailed, and I got some outside assistance that helped make me realize that I still had a place in fandom, even if my opinion was a minority opinion. And asks like yours let me know I made the right choice in sticking around.
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8, 24, 27, 33, 42 (tried to ask ones I didn't already know the answer for ^^)
8. What hero doesn’t deserve their hype?
My immediate knee-jerk reaction here is Wolverine. Dear God, am I sick of Wolverine. I never found him all that interesting to begin with, and he has been in every thing X-Men related for most of the time that I've been reading comics. Back when he was first introduced, the writers knew he was supposed to have flaws, but nowadays, he's the biggest badass of the team who is also friends with or respected by everyone and has dozens of women throwing themselves at him and mentors more teen sidekicks then Batman, even though he's supposed to be an anti-social jerk. And I don't mind Wolverine softening and changing and becoming friends with, say, Storm and Nightcrawler, but when he's written badly, he's an anti-social and murderous jerk who can say and do whatever he wants, is still loved by everyone, and is sometimes inexplicably the moral center of the team. To be honest, I dislike a lot of the manly-man soldier types that seem like male power fantasies, like Cable. Interesting character, too many damn guns. (Bishop's cool, though, he can stay.) I would probably tolerate Wolverine much more if he wasn't everywhere. Phoenix Wolverine? Give me a damn break.
But with all that being said, I know Wolverine has some depth to him, and he can be interesting when written well. The character is popular for a reason. So instead, I'm gonna say Fantomex, who has all the power fantasy bullshit of Wolverine and none of the depth, and who has become a writer pet character for some reason. Every time he shows up I lose interest immediately. Also, he killed Darkstar.
24. Ship(s) that makes you cringe.
Hmmm.....there are a lot of ships that I don't love, but I just kind of tolerate. I've never been particularly fond of the Rogue/Magneto thing. It just doesn't work for me, and I don't see any reason for them to be a thing. It's all good, though, Rogue/Magneto shippers, you guys keep doing your thing. At least it's not as bad as Rogue/a certain other villain. One who likes.....apple pie. Also, I've actually never really liked Scott/Emma. Give me Emma/Banshee or Emma/Namor, or what the hell, Emma/Jean.
27. What comic book trope do you hate the most?
Probably hero vs. hero fights, at this point, especially in the form of a massive crossover event. AvX, IvX, Civil War, fuck off already. What could be an interesting and nuanced story in which no one is really completely right or wrong usually turns into a cluster-fuck in which characters from both sides get dragged through the mud. And then fans latch into the bad characterization that villianizes or sanctifies certain characters, and won't let go for years.
Also, the constant limited runs and rebooting of series, especially compared to how long series like X-Men or X-Factor previously ran. Just when a series is finding it's way and giving the characters great development, the whole thing shuts down, and the characters may or may not land on new teams, where their development may or may not be acknowledged. Series need room to grow and breathe.
33. Which character that deserves a solo didn’t get one?
Pyro, obviously!
Nah, just kidding. I'd read the hell out of that, but I accept that my boy's a D-lister. Although a Mystique solo that focuses on the Brotherhood boys and Destiny as her supporting cast would be *chef's kiss*
I think a lot of the classic "core" X-Men have gotten mini-solo's of their own over the years, and I'm not sure which of the new characters I'd potentially elevate to solo status. I'm gonna say Callisto. A Callisto solo could show her leading the Morlocks and further develop some of them, with Storm and other X-Men guest-starring as regulars.
42. What’s a fandom trope you hate?
In terms of fan-fic, probably omega-verse stuff. I generally won't read it, even with characters I like. Just not my thing.
In terms of fandom discourse - this trend to treat favorite characters and shipping as some kind of moral declaration as opposed to just liking the stuff you like. I mean, if people want to discuss aspects of certain ships that bother them, that's all perfectly fine. I've delved into over-analyzing this stuff myself, many times, and there are often real-world issue to be discussed. But when it turns into "You can't ship that because it's toxic and abusive," that's when I stop paying attention. We're all doing this for funsies, after all.
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xz1005fanblog · 4 years
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2021-02-27 Some things I want to say
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WARNING LONG POST
Context first, translation of his post above will follow:
Disclaimer: I have no interest in other artists other than Xiao Zhan, and I am merely explaining the situation of the fandom in China that led us to the fiasco in March 2020. I do not care for bjyx, I ship WangXian but I do not ship real people as a basic principle.
My opinion as an international fan of Xiao Zhan and as an AO3 user (yes, I am not Chinese nor do I live in China, I just happen to be able to read Chinese) is that C-entertainment industry is TOXIC and celebrities are not free targets for you to cyberbully. They are human just like you and me. 
Everyone needs to learn a bit more about compassion. 
I am sure all of you read about the cyberbullying Xiao Zhan went through last year. There were multiple factors that started all of this, most of which XZ doesn’t talk about in this letter because of how sensitive the topic is in China. I’ve never explained entirely what happened because I personally thought that this is not something overseas fans should worry too much about. Especially since most of you don’t have a wb or db account, there’s nothing you can do about it anyway. But since Xiao Zhan himself decided to post a letter to respond to this subject, I’ll put in my 2 cents just that so everyone is on the same page.
Basically, after The Untamed aired in China, the show fandom split into 3 groups. XZ fans, WYB fans, and CP fans (or bjyx, whatever you wish to call it, those who love shipping these two real people together - not just the characters in the drama). Of course there are still people who would watch the show without becoming a fan of the actors.
At the beginning, most people thought they were good friends with each other, with all the short BTS clips from The Untamed. However, fans slowly discovered that it wasn’t the case. Some unofficial BTS clips emerged where WYB said XZ was shooting multiple dramas at the same time = 轧戏 (which is very frowned upon and a disrespectful thing to say to an actor), whereas in reality, XZ only asked for a couple of days days off during the shooting for The Untamed because his scenes in Joy of Life had to be redone and he was bound by contract. On the contrary, WYB had to ask for most weekends off because he was participating in Produce 101 at the time. Other clips shows them fighting about somethings WYB said about WWX, which made XZ mad. So this broke a lot of CP fans’ image of their relationship, and they either stopped shipping/became XZ or WYB fans only. This angered WYB’s fans, of course, which made them blame XZ for the entire fiasco.  
Other incidents continued to happen after the show which increased the friction between these 3 fan groups. XZ fans and WYB fans would fight about various voting charts, and fight with CP fans because they don’t like seeing the two actors together. In the meantime, CP fans continuously feminize and weaken XZ in order to ship the 2 actors together (it’s rather an unhealthy trend in China, I’ve been in multiple other western fandoms before - not real person shipping - but we rarely glorify weakening/feminizing the bottom of a ship, because of the underlying prejudice against real homosexuals, who are not synonymous to transgenders).
Some incidents added oil to the fire afterwards. It’ll take me too long to explain everything, so I’ll just put here the main ones to explain why there’s so much bad blood between these 3 groups of fans.
On XZ’s birthday, some CP fans found XZ’s parents’ apartment building and yelled BJYX is real. This angered a lot of XZ fans, because of how disrespectful it was towards the old couple and the clear breach of privacy. WYB fans and some CP fans were also angry that XZ didn’t reply immediately to the birthday wish on wb that WYB sent at midnight (??? XZ was busy shooting a drama, can you blame him for not being on wb at midnight? Give the guy a break.)
In November 2019, WYB filed a lawsuit against some of XZ’s fans (instead against of his own haters!) for dissing him (although I’ve never seen any proof, and a few of those fans remain active on wb now, one of whom has even defended WYB's portrayal of LWJ before...). This angered a lot of XZ fans and CP fans who didn’t understand how he could have done this to his “friend”, and further proved that their relationship wasn’t that fantastic to begin with. WYB fans felt justified in hating XZ and all XZ fans as a result, and openly bullied XZ fans on the grounds of the Nanking CQL Concert. 
In January, The Untamed was named to Beijing Journal Drama award. CP fans and WYB fans were unhappy that XZ was named to the Best Male Lead category and WYB was named to the Best Male 2nd Lead. They attacked the award committee wb by spam commenting all their wb posts and the entire drama was pulled from the nomination afterward. XZ fans were especially angry that they started all this only for the nomination to be pulled out - because the only possibility was one Male Lead per drama, and anyone would agree that if chosen between WWX and LWJ, the character with the most scenes and importance in the story is WWX. 
Yadda yadda yadda, fast forward to February 2020, it started with a fanfiction written by a CP fan that depicted XZ as a prostitute transgender woman and WYB as a highschool kid (UNDERAGE) = AKA very sensitive material in China. It was posted on AO3, but the author posted the link of said fic on wb and a lot of CP fans broadcasted it around, so much that XZ fans became aware of it. Due to how sensitive the material is and how badly it would taint XZ’s image for his future roles, some XZ fans started reporting the wb post that contained the link (NOT AO3) and the author’s wb page. This is common practice in fandom on wb, usually done to get the wb posts taken down. This caused panic in the CP fans crowd because they thought XZ fans were reporting AO3 and that they were gonna lose the website (which is impossible, because AO3′s servers are in Sweden and not subject to Chinese laws anyway). 
Because of how sensitive AO3 was in China and how haters tried to pull in antigovernmental into their crowds, the subject quickly became too dangerous for XZ fans to get involved in. Official fan groups in China unanimously decided to ask all fans to stop participating in the online debate and stay within the fan group circle only. 
Someone on AO3 made a commentary about this incident that you can find here. She dug up a lot of info on the companies feeding money to the trolls online, but as I am an overseas fan and cannot really verify her info, I will not comment on those statements. 
Sometime in the middle of this fiasco, someone started spreading the notion that XZ fans hated fanfiction and were trying to report anything that goes against their image of their idol... And subsequently people who were not CP fans or XZ fans became aware of this problem when they couldn’t access AO3 suddenly because too much curious fans where trying to access it and they crashed the servers. However later on, people could access the website without any problems. I am not personally in China right now so I can’t verify these claims of the website being walled or not for real, but I know from various reliable sources that on March 1st it was only an overload of the server, and people could still access afterwards. 
With this however, haters (which include previous CP fans, WYB fans, and other idol’s fans) attacked XZ for not telling his fans to stop reporting, for not saying anything. They attacked XZ’s endorsements and spammed hate speech on the products he was promoting. They would rate 1 star in all his dramas and songs on db, and then buy accounts to further rate 1 stars (yes that thing exists in China, everything can be bought in China, don’t ask me why.) The reason why I believe that all this wasn’t coincidental, is that barely the day after the fiasco started, someone posted on db the exact list of all his sponsorships, detailing exactly who to call to protest, what words to spam in the comment sections of various official brands’ wb accounts. This entire thing was too well planned to be just a normal fandom fight. 
Whether it was other actors’ fans who organized this to cut down competition, we will probably never know for sure. The following year was laden with fake rumors, hate speech blasting from multiple directions. They attacked his personality, saying that his polite manners are just for show (when the reality is that he has always been a gentleman even when he wasn’t popular). They attacked XZ for faking donations to Wuhan, forcing him to show his donation certificate to prove himself. One of his friends couldn’t stand the cyberbullying anymore and revealed publicly that his grandfather recently passed away (the date on this drawing is 2020.03.03, he couldn’t post this last year). 
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His friend defending him from the cyberbullies, saying that he had plenty of reasons to stay silent. That his grandfather passed away recently and his family has been planning his funeral. 
(Sources also said that his mother was hospitalized a few days afterwards. And that haters went to his mother’s hospital to harass her and her nurses)
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Haters saying that XZ is using his grandfather’s death to excuse himself (??? is he not allowed to grieve like a normal person???)
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Haters wishing that XZ becomes depressed from the cyberbullying and kills himself, wishing that he was dead, wishing that his fans were dead too. Photoshopping his picture into a funeral portrait to curse him
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Haters admitting they are cyberbullying XZ, but rejoicing in the fact that they are so many so XZ can’t sue all of them. They have also reported his upcoming dramas for various reasons just so they cannot be aired. 
The airplane incident I’ve already talked about here.
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A picture antis made to diss on XZ fans: AO3 can be still accessed even if it’s walled, Lofter can be still access even if it’s taken down from the app store. Your gege’s picture are still accessible even if he died. 
I’ve only posted here the tamest screenshots, there are far worst ones that I won’t be posting because the amount of vitriol give me nausea just looking at them. 
In all this fiasco, antis gave him the tag of “idol who didn’t manage his fans well”. But Xiao Zhan never thought fans needed to be trained, he thought of them like normal people, and their love, something to be treasured and not used. But some people in China still blamed his fans for starting all this mess, and partly him and his studio for not being able to stop it. 
Below is the translation for XZ’s letter, posted on the wb post above
Some Things I Want To Say
Today, I have something to say to everyone. I’ve thought of a lot of ways to do this, but in the end, I chose the simplest way to tell everyone about all my feelings and thoughts in the past year. These opinions, maybe they won’t be able to represent anything, nor won’t they be able to change anything, but I still wish to say this today. 
On this day last year, the incident happened very quickly, as if a bomb exploded on my face - endless phone calls, never ending message notifications, everyone’s opinions and questions came in like a tsunami. I wanted to say something back then, but I didn’t know what exactly. I was apprehensive of making a statement, afraid that one wrong word, or one wrong sentence would be taken the wrong way and end up adding oil to the fire. This is why at that time, I chose not to say anything. 
I never thought that the online fighting would grow bigger and bigger like an avalanche, getting larger crowds involved, and gradually leaving one person’s control. Even though afterwards I made repeated statements to make amends, it could not develop as I wished it to anymore. 
This life filled with broken protests and tumultuous noise continued to this day. And I felt I was going through a very dark and never ending tunnel. Unrest, ruminations, turmoil... I have also asked myself what did I do wrong exactly, why did everything after that day became as if it were an uncontrollable vessel. 
I spent a lot of time to digest, and then spent a lot of time to understand, understand everyone’s words and actions. Slowly, I started to understand what everyone was criticizing about me personally. The moment that I chose not to say anything, I lost that window of opportunity to reason with everyone. So I was wrong, from the very beginning. 
At that time, I wasn’t yet able to clearly understand the entire incident, to understand everyone’s feelings, nor did I know what kind of responsibility I had to carry as a public figure. Thus, I missed that opportunity to communicate with everyone, and wasn’t able to withstand the responsibility of letting these antagonizing feelings grow. Now, I can clearly recognize that throughout this year, this criticism that everyone had against me of “Idol Who Lost Its Voice”, was correct. During this year I reflected upon this repeatedly, as a public figure, I have to not only improve myself within the boundaries of my profession, but also have to carry the social responsibility that comes with my influence. To influence those who like me, who follow me, towards the right worldviews within my capacity. Even though my studio and I have already expressed some opinions through wb and interviews, but scars that this incident that brought such antagonistic emotions between different circles are still difficult to heal. 
No matter how late, my own problem has to be corrected. I would like to express my first comment: Xiao Zhan, would like to apologize for “losing voice” towards those who have been affected by this incident. This is my first responsibility towards the public, face the problem and admit my faults. 
Also, I would like to use this opportunity to speak with my fans. This is my second responsibility. In one of my interviews last year, I have said, I do not really agree with “managing” my fans (some celebs in China have hired people to manage fan groups in order for them to behave in certain ways for their purposes. Antis tried to spread the false rumor that XZ also had those people and that they directed their fans to start this mess), because everyone is an individual. No matter my studio nor myself, we do not have the authority to “manage” them like some would manage workers in a company. Afterwards, I reflected many times, maybe I cannot use the word “manage” to define my relationship with my fans, but I do have the responsibility to “correctly influence, and actively advocate”. So today, I would like to tell my fans, everyone has the right to like or hate something, and it should be respected and allowed within their own space. Of course this right should be reasonable, should not hurt anyone else, and remain within the boundaries of the correct values and norms. I hope my fans and friends can understand that no matter which profession, no matter what age, one’s own preferences or actions should not cross the line for one’s professional ethics or disrespect basic principles. 
(Here he is referring to reports of teachers using his name in class or asking children to say his name to cheer for him. This is a problem that occurred also with other celebrities in China, and for which he has already expressed himself previously.)
No matter online or in real life, everyone should be responsible for their own words. I also hope that we are not represented tags like “xx’s fans”, that we do not set this as the basis of where we stand on a topic nor do we let this determine what’s right or wrong. Everyone have their own hobbies and interest, respect everyone’s choice and freedom of speech. No matter whether they like me or hate me is their own right. Passion, this should be a source of strength to everyone, I do not wish for it to consume or hurt anyone. Perhaps I cannot change this kind of environment, but at least for you and me, today is a new start point. 
At last, I would like to talk a bit about myself. Ever since I came into this field, until today, I have always been defined by some tags. But the reason why I originally stepped into this circle was my passion for performance and music. And this is why, I will keep working on becoming a better actor and singer. The sudden criticism of “having lost voice” made me realize that, other than what I have always focused on professionally, I have to also be able to carry the responsibility of a public figure and an idol. I was born in a normal family in Chong Qing, and have lived a normal life, like many other people, for more than twenty years. Today I will also use this opportunity to apologize for the words I have said before as a normal person (I’ve already talked about it here), for the people I have inadvertently hurt. As I work hard on studying to become a better person, I will try to become a better “public figure”, so that these two Xiao Zhan can blend in together, for a better self. 
This past year, no matter big or small, I have to be responsible for the incidents that happened because of me. I can demand this for myself, but I have no right to force it on other people, so I can only hope that those who really like me can really listen to me: please be a bit more reasonable for things outside of personal preferences. Live a healthy life, put more time and energy onto one’s real life, and less on the senseless fighting behind fake IDs and unreliable online world. Only to become a better self. 
(Here he’s referring to an online fight that an anti called 晨小晨 started. I’ve already explained a bit here.  #微博管理员回应晨小晨事件# )
Sorry for any grammar errors, this post was really long to make and I didn’t proofread. I wasn’t sure if I wanted to translate the entire thing for overseas fans since you don’t understand the entire context, and because I wanted my wb records collection tag to be complete, I felt I had to... and I got carried away trying to explain everything. Tried to summarize it as much as I could.
As a fan of Xiao Zhan and also an AO3 user, I would still like to apologize for how this bullshi*t ended up disrupting respectful and peaceful users of AO3. The Untamed tag did not contain hate fics before all of this happened, it is unfortunate that a place where there used to be only love, ended up being tainted by antis and haters.
To the anonymous person who asked me a few months ago if I supported bjyx, this is my answer: You have the right to like whatever you want within your own corner, as long as it doesn’t bother anyone else and isn’t against basic principles. I ship WangXian as characters from a novel, but I have never liked RPS as a principle. 
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andersonsbiceps · 3 years
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Here’s an unfortunate confession - the 20k Shepard/Saren epic (i looked over it and i ached on AO3) was not my assignment for the gift exchange for which it was written. In fact, it actually got in the way of writing the thing I was supposed to, because I wanted to write it so badly and spent so much time daydreaming about how to put it together. 
This post exists because I put like, twelve layers of meaning into that fic that no one is going to notice or comment on because this ship is a teeny little tugboat and I get the sense that most other people are not on it for complex, fucked up relationships that pretty much demand I write Shepard as the sort of character no one wants to project on. So like, if no one’s going to write the comments that I want, I’m going to sit down and do the analysis myself. Be the change you want to see in the world.
So, as far as meaning goes, I figure I’ll start with the characters. Everyone who’s got a POV in this fic is an unreliable narrator in their own special way. 
(Carolina) Shepard’s got a very clear idea of what’s going on in her own head, but she’s prone to making snap judgements about other people and then not changing them until it becomes stupidly obvious that she’s wrong. She doesn’t clock that Saren likes her (even as a friend or a colleague!) for literal years after that becomes a thing, and assumes he’s experiencing mental health issues for the same reasons she might in his shoes and not, you know, reaper mind control.
An example of this that didn’t make it into the story was Shepard worrying about Saren isolating himself from his family and friends. That’s not something she’s wrong to worry about, it IS a direct result of reaper mind control, but Shepard notices it mostly because self-isolation is a very bad thing for her for very different reasons. She’s naturally a more social creature than Saren is, so her mental health is much more dependent on having people she can talk to.
Back to POVs, Anderson is a lot more levelheaded and generally honest than the other two, but he’s got his own problems. Namely, he’s biased. Anderson likes Shepard, because he’s pretty obviously her favorite person (if you want evidence of that, look at how she responds to criticism from Anderson vs criticism from Saren), and who doesn’t like being favored? That means he tends to see her as a better person than she actually is, and often gives her more credit than she deserves. On the flipside, he does not like Saren, because Saren is pretty much constantly a dick to both him and Shepard, so he tends to be more cynical about his motivations and capabilities.
An example of THIS that didn’t make it into the story was the outright confirmation that Anderson doesn’t approve of Shepard/Saren because he thinks Shepard (a certified dumpster fire in reality) is way too good for that evil turian man. Anderson would definitely have given Saren a shovel talk if the two of them had ever made it that far!
And speaking of Saren, he’s definitely the worst narrator of the bunch. Almost every other line in his internal monologue is a straight up lie. I tried to highlight this by having him outright contradict himself several times, but who knows if that came through. I’m pretty sure his self-deceptions in canon are meant to be a result of Sovereign messing with him, but he’s doing a lot of stuff here (i.e. getting significantly attached to a human, attempting to destroy the galaxy) that contradicts his self-image. He’s not really got the resources to properly cope with this, so he lies to himself about it. It’s easier, you know. 
Saren doesn’t have a whole lot of cut content, for the same reason he doesn’t have a lot of POVs - as much fun as it is to write a character that’s lying to themself, it’s kind of a pain to get across an accurate picture of what’s going on when they do that, and also the kind of POV you don’t want to write when they’re not doing something they would lie about. Saren doesn’t lie to himself about what brand of broccoli he’s buying at the corner store, but I don’t want to give the reader the impression they can trust the stuff he says, so if he did get groceries in this fic, he wouldn’t get to narrate it.
I very much wanted the central couple of the fic to stand on even footing (which is most of the reason behind the Shepard+Anderson roleswap - I’m not a huge fan of age gaps). That means that I put a fair bit of effort into establishing that they’re roughly the same level of fucked up. Saren lies to himself pretty much constantly, Shepard lies to everyone else whenever she’s not making a conscious effort to be sincere. Saren is paranoid and hostile (especially to people who are trying to help him!), Shepard likes to provoke people and has no compunctions about manipulating them. Saren thinks the ends justify the means, no matter how many lives those means cost, and Shepard just straight up defaults to murder whenever she’s not sure how to solve a problem (I think she contemplates killing someone three times in this fic, something no other narrator does).
Ironically, this means that without reaper interference, Saren would actually be the more mentally stable of the two of them. Shepard would probably still deal with indoctrination better though - she’s self aware enough to notice when something’s messing with her head, and she wouldn’t rest until either the reaper was dead or she was.
On a less depressing interpersonal note, I had a lot of fun with the pseudo-nuclear family dynamic of Shepard, Saren, Anderson, and Nihlus. Like, obviously everyone here is a grown adult and Anderson and Nihlus both have actual parents, but I had a fun time sort of evoking the idea that Shepard and Saren were co-parenting (co-mentoring?) their respective protegees. Saren is absolutely Anderson’s evil stepdad (step-mentor?)!
I also liked writing Anderson’s major relationships. I wanted to give the impression that he was the Commander Shepard character - the universe revolves around him, even if the story is about someone else. His feelings about Shepard, Saren, and Nihlus are as much the focal relationship of the story as the Shepard/Saren stuff - even though the narrative does hinge more on the latter one. 
Stuff I didn’t like so much - you’ll notice that there’s a lot of stuff that didn’t make it into the story. That’s because I didn’t really start this fic until my assignment was done, which means I wrote all 20,000 words in roughly two weeks (about 40% of it was written in two eight hour car rides). I didn’t really have a chance to go back over the story and revise the plot to align with my original ideas for the story.  Nihlus is really more a conversation device than a character a lot of the time, and if I ever did go back over and rewrite this that would be the first thing I fix. I didn’t have time to get this thing betaed either, since it was scraping so many deadlines, and man would I have loved to have someone else to bounce this story off of before I posted it.
Still, I’m glad I got it done. I’m not kidding in the author’s note when I mention that I’ve been wanting to write the Shepard/Saren tragedy fic for years and years.
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2ndblogg · 4 years
Note
Hey! Just read your hot take on novel!wangxian and I absolutely agree. I'm gonna have to say here that I believe it boils down to the fetishization of homosexual men in a lot of the fandom culture that surrounds mlm shipping, as you said it's a space for a lot of women to experiment with their desires and whatnot, but I think therein lies the breaking points between reading novel!wangxian as a good, healthy relationship vs. reading it as a very flawed and toxic one. As an LGBT person, reading the way the author dealt with their relationship made me extremely uncomfortable, it just really feels like something that is written by someone who is more invested in using her queer characters for satisfying her and her reader's own pleasure than a well-built, strong relationship between two characters. Not to take away from the novel in some other aspects, I believe that novel!wwx is a much better, much more nuanced character than what he is in cql, but when it comes to wangxian, I think the intentions are very different for each of them. To each their own, I guess, but I do find it very troubling that some people in the fandom have a really hard time admitting that novel wangxian is not even remotely healthy.
Absolutely.
And can I just say how glad it makes me to see that not everyone is praising this book for it’s lgbt representation...
But I guess that’s also why I just occasionally feel the need to scream my frustrations into the void or try to make sense of the novel.
And why I try to be understanding and accepting of people’s opinion of the novel and not take it ‘personally’ (in the sense of sitting there thinking “holy shit this is how they view ME, this is what they think of ME” etc).
I was in fandoms back when they were really a place dominated by straight (homophobic) women and realism or lgbt representation wasn’t on anyone’s mind (and the occasional dude butting in to say that’s not how sex works or bottoming is experienced was ignored or told to get out). I experienced this change to fandoms being more of a lgbt space, of people becoming aware that media can shape your views of groups of people, of people becoming aware of their fetishizing of fictional gays vs. their prejudice against real life lgbt people etc.
And tbh MXTX just writes like one of those, she writes wangxian like everyone wrote their gay relationships around 2005 and earlier; clear power imbalance, clear roles and attributes that are divided into ‘manly’ and ‘feminine’, certain physical attributes (like the female self insert character aka the bottom being pretty and slight and weaker and shorter), men/the penetrating partner can’t really be raped so anything the woman/bottom tries isn’t really ‘bad’, the male love interest is forceful and self centered but ONLY because he’s so in love and since he’s emotionally stunted he has to express that through sex, men/tops NEED sex and it’s rude/mean to deny them that, the girl/bottom isn’t THAT horny or in charge of their own sexuality but wants to please their partner and what they really get out of it is the emotional aspect, decisions need to be made for them because the dude/top just knows better, the girl/bottom is childish and flirty and the guy/top suffers through it until he finally snaps and shows the girl/bottom who'sboss etc etc. (honestly homophobia and misogyny is so tightly knit in this kind of fiction, if it wasn’t so frustrating it would be very interesting).
Tbh I disagree with novel!wwx being more nuanced (despite a lot of ppl whose opinions I really respect also feeling this way), because I simply cannot seperate him from the wangxian relationship. All I see are tropes and stereotypes applied to make him ‘work’ in the context of the wangxian relationship instead of an actual personality...
To me, in CQL WWX is clearly the main character and you love his interactions with LWJ and want more of them and value them, wheras in the novel most of the time WWX plays second fiddle even when a scene should technically be about him and LWJ’s presence is incredibly suffocating, because he’s always being controlling or at the very least influencing WWX.
I also don’t feel like WWX has much of a character arc/growth. We’re essentially told he had one but the only thing that really actually changes is him hating himself a bit more and letting LWJ smash..., and I guess: he’s less independent than ever, he’s more isolated that ever...
I’ve called novel!wangxian a relationship between an abuser and his victim, because you can find evidence of that in the text. Not because I think the author wanted to portray an unhealthy gay relationship. Like you said, she was fetishizing and wrote for a similar crowd. But to me that ‘realization’ helped...I still don’t see how people can call it a masterpiece but I can at least understand hyping something you like up...
And like, badly written gay relationship or not; gay/straight,man/women, I see how people can find it hot. Exploring your sexuality through fictional characters isn’t necessarily a strictly straight girl phenomena. I probably have read fic that was exactly like this, I can’t judge anyone for it. But no one prints out the last PWP they read and goes, “this is ideal lgbt representation and nothing will ever be this good, the fact that it includes rape makes it so realistic” like????
(Is that part or an effect of the woke and purety culture? you can’t say ‘i like this book but it has flaws’ or ‘i’ve enjoyed this but it’s not up the feminism or lgbt acceptance that i preach/live’ so you have to pretend it’s flawless?)
And like, I do think novel!wangxian is a nightmare when it comes to lgbt representation and I do believe this is largely due to a cishet woman writing about gay men and fetishizing them (the fact that a lot of peoples arguments why novel!wangxian ‘is better’ boils down to ‘there’s kissing and sex’ is also pretty telling). And I am frightend and worried by some peoples response to it.
But is it really fair to see it as just that? It’s a problem sure, but that same thing happens in straight media (which I am admittedly not well versed in). Stephanie Meyer didn’t set out to write Edward Cullen to be a creep and non of the teenage girls that went crazy over him viewed it as such...Reylo fans (aside from some of them proclaiming Finn to be the real villain and saying it’s racist and misogynistic to not find Kylo Ren hot) found a way to view him threatening her as romantic and sexy, Loki fans that didn’t ship him with Thor usually fell into the camp of “he would be a perfect boyfriend” or “what if this OFC was his slave and he raped her everyday <3″... like ignoring/glorifying/romanticizing behaviours or exploring what kinks you might have through the safety of fictional characters and fictional settings isn’t JUST happening when it comes to ‘the gays’...
And not just specifically in fandom spaces either, a lot of ‘romantic’ movies include inappropriate touching, the boy/guy knowing better than the girl what she wants etc. And I absolutely do believe that that’s something that normalized these things for a lot of young girls and guys (I don’t want to get into this too much, I’ve really seen a change in the past few years, but before that it was pretty common for young boys to believe they need to keep pursuing and pressuring a girl that has said no, girls truly thought boys could die of blue balls, girls thought it was their duty as good girlfriends to let their boyfriends fuck them even when they weren’t in the mood, that they couldn’t talk about what they want in bed or what they don’t find enjoyable because ‘sex is for boys and girls get a relationship in exchange’ etc.).
And in much the same way movies have only relatively recently begun being called out for that, it’s also still pretty recently that they’re being called out for having their one queer coded character be a pedophile and a murder or whatever...Like, society as a whole becoming aware of these issues.
But do authors that publish their work with a specific target audience in mind have a responsibility to think about the effect it might have on them? (And I can already hear loud screams of ‘no way, it’s not your fault if your audience isn’t smart enough to understand that this bad thing is bad’, but I actually do believe in a way they do. That doesn’t mean you can’t or shouldn’t write whatever you want, just maybe take a look at HOW you bring your point across. (We do KNOW people are influenced by what propaganda they’re consistantly fed. I mean, you wouldn’t write a pro-drugs childrens book...) )
What if the author isn’t aware of their bias and prejudices? Or their target audience isn’t their actual audience?
And do we, society and media, judge female and male authors differently when it comes to romance and sex in fiction? (The answer is yes btw) But also, where do we draw the line at calling something ‘badly written’ and calling it toxic? Can it be both? As I’ve said before, a lot of people claim that only the physical intimacy scenes of novel!wangxian are bad, because they’re badly written and OOC, some say the book as amazingly written and only the wangxian relationship is bad because the author doesn’t know how to write gay men. In my ‘hot take’ I essentially said that’s not necessarily bad writing so much as it’s simply an (okay, unintentional) toxic relationship. And would this relationship still come across as toxic (or badly written, whichever you want) if we didn’t know the author to be a cishet woman? Or if a gay man had written it? (my personal, eloquent answer for this is: yes, but differently.)
Which was really all just a rambly way to get to my point of: it’s not just fetishizing of gay men, it’s also the homophobia and self-inserting in a safe situation.
You can literally replace WWX in the novel with a female character and it wouldn’t change a thing. The author takes such an effort into building up this power imbalance in every aspect of their life that if WWX were a heroine nothing would change in this (sexist/ancient society) setting.
(And clearly this is something that appeals to people if you look at the amount of female!WWX fics...)
Not even the sex scenes. There are maybe two allusions in all of them combined that WWX might also have a dick but like, you can’t be sure and it sure as hell doesn’t need stimulation.
(and again, that could be written as a kink...but it’s just not.)
CQL is a gay love story. MDZS at it’s core is none of that.
But I also very much agree with your ‘to each their own’, like here I am criticizing and trying to find explanations and whatever, but at the end of the day it doesn’t matter why someone might like (or write) a book like this, I vastly prefer CQL!wangxian but people have their own reasons for not doing so.
The ‘problem’ really only lies in, as you said, people not being able to accept that it’s not a healthy relationship. Or claiming it to be perfect lgbt rep.
And because my brain can’t shut up today:
I also can’t stop thinking that the way some people ‘glorify’ the book as due to their age and ‘inexperience’.
When I was a pretty young kid and got into fanfiction, there was nothing but completely OOC!whump to be found in the first two fandoms I was in. And I loved it. It was YEARS later that I thought I might like to read something with the characters being...in character. What I’m trying to say, in different stages and phases of your life you might enjoy different things, for different reasons...and obviously, in that moment, you won’t think about ‘what appeals to me here/should this appeal to me/etc’.
I don’t mean inexperience as ‘sexual inexperience’ here, though of course that could be part of it, but also like, inexperience with this genre (is this the first book like this you read, or did you just read 50 in a row that all had the same unhealthy vibes?), with lgbt people and issues (do you know any lgbt people or is your only image of them either the cute boy you can’t have and don’t want to see with another girl or grown men in full kink gear in front of children during CSD? and also: do you think ‘i like this’ and that’s the end of it or do you notice how many people idolize this objectively unhealthy relationship and won’t allow critique on it...)  
I...just wanted to say thanks really.
I just can’t stop rambling apparently and I know I mostly just repeated what you said or what I already said but in longer... I just really do feel very strongly about novel!wangxian and the perception of them and have actually at times felt very personally...worried/affected, by people’s acceptance and love of them and I just... have to try and make sense of it...
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butterflyinthewell · 4 years
Text
I’m gonna lose followers. Oh well... a rant by me.
People who harass others about SHIPPING FICTIONAL CHARACTERS are irksome.
Preface: if you say you don’t want someone role playing a NOTP with you or sending asks about it, or you don’t want secret Santa stuff containing it, if you ask people not to suggest fics with that pairing for your fic collections, if you stay out of your NOTP’s pairing tags, if you choose not to interact with material related to your NOTP, if you blacklist the pairing tag and ask people not to tag your fanwork with your NOTP, if you heed warnings and don’t click something with material you don’t like, I do not have a problem with you.
But if you write novel long posts about why a ship is gross to you and tag the pairing so shippers see it, send people hate over their ships, reblog fanworks of your NOTP with nasty messages to the op of the post, if you make a blog all about hating that ship and anyone who ships it, claim it must be grooming, or if you call people pedophiles or abuse apologists because they wrote something morally heinous in fiction that they will most likely never do irl, I’m not gonna have much respect for you beyond you being a fellow person.
Guess what? Shit you hate is going to exist on the internet. If someone tags their work appropriately or tags with appropriate warnings, you should not be clicking on it and harassing them! They have done what is necessary to protect those pearls you want to clutch.
Banning all questionable material is not going to save people who are targeted by predators and criminals.
Calling people pedophiles because they ship a fictional minor with a fictional adult gives actual pedophiles who go after actual minors a hiding place. These days you can’t tell if someone is an actual pedo or got called one over a ship they ship. Pedos are totally banking on that.
Fiction is supposed to break rules and let people explore dark subjects that are morally messed up because you can close a book or close a website if it gets too weird for you. A child with a predator’s hands on them right this moment can’t click an x or close a book to stop it.
Think about that.
No one is forcing you to go read morally messed up stuff. Not clicking on someone’s creepy fic with your NOTP is nowhere in the same realm as turning a blind eye to actual predators predating on someone.
Running someone off a website because your ass is on fire about them writing a pairing you hate or whatever is not going to stop the bad shit happening in the real world.
Predators and criminals will use anything, so someone’s freaky babyfur smutfic that they wrote to troll a fan website in 1999 is hardly going to normalize bad behavior.
I swear some of you insult the intelligence of people with your moral abuse garbage.
Teaching people to recognize predatory behavior and what to do about it will actually help. Teaching people what is and isn’t a healthy relationship will help.
Remember how people called out Twilight for how unhealthy Edward’s behavior towards Bella was? I’m sure a lot of preteen and teen girls learned to open their eyes a bit more. And I’m sure others still enjoyed the books and movies anyway because it’s fiction. It is the job of parents and guardians to teach their children what is and isn’t healthy in a relationship, but the unfortunate problem there is that can fail if the parents aren’t in a healthy relationship.
That’s why there needs to be more discussions about “this is healthy, that might be fun in a story, but that is not healthy in the real world and anybody who treats you like that is waving abuse red flags” rather than attacking somebody by saying “you’re a monster for shipping that”.
The whole point of art in any form is to create an emotional reaction in the audience.
Fucked up fictional shit exists on the internet. Get over it. I think the fact that people get freaked out by weird stuff in fiction is a clear indicator that it’s not being normalized by that piece of fiction. Flailing about it is not helping anything except your ego. It’s not gonna help survivors who write messed up stuff to cope, it’s going to make them go more silent.
Imagine being someone with an abusive pedo parent who takes comfort in the SessRin ship and being called a pedophile for it, or seeing people in the tag call Sesshoumaru a pedophile. That’s triggering as fuck for somebody.
Imagine being a Starkster going through sexual abuse who takes comfort in the ship, and being called a pedophile for it. Imagine seeing people in the tag call Tony a pedophile. That’s triggering as fuck for somebody.
Imagine having the heinous thing that happened to you being turned onto you as an accusation by people on a moral high horse who forget what pedophile means. That is triggering as fuck for somebody.
Nobody owes you a trauma history in order to be ‘allowed’ to create and post morally messed up fanworks. It’s on YOU to check for warnings and keep scrolling if it’s so offensive to your sensibilities.
What’s better? Discussion of tropes that are harmful if done badly. That’s a place to start. Save the accusations for people who are knowingly doing harm to people and not caring that they’re doing harm.
Go after shit that is actually exploiting actual people right now instead of harassing creators whose trauma you don’t know. Tell pedos their attraction to kids is not a sexuality and they have no place in the LGBTQIA+ community. Warn minors away from MAPs/NOMAPs. Expose predators who have exploitative materials of actual real children. Teach people to recognize predatory behavior like grooming. Find ways to get people out of human trafficking. Question adults if you see them touching or treating a child in a way that doesn’t look right. If you’re a minor and somebody keeps sending you porn material or pictures of their genitalia after you said stop, remind them that you’re a minor and expose the shit out of them. If you’re an adult and know somebody is doing that to a minor you talk to online, help them expose that person. That’s not all you can do, but I can’t think of everything. There’s a lot you can do that will actually help people!
But telling someone not to create something questionable because a predator might misuse it is utter horseshit.
I can bet you anything that every single person who hounds others about their ships has a whole bunch of fucked up stuff they read and never talk about because they know it will get them run off by the same people they use as shields against scrutiny.
I’ve read fucked up shit that I enjoyed because it was done well, but I can grasp that it is not okay to do the same thing in the real world and I would be horrified if I saw somebody doing the same thing in the real world. I am able to experience that moment of being horrified, sit with it and see where the fanwork takes me with that feeling.
I say this after I have just read an awesome morally gray Inuyasha fanfic called “Devour Prometheus” by ladybattousai on AO3. It’s gorey, there is murder, there is abuse, there is exploitation, there are allusions to animal trade and it’s the darkest thing I ever laid eyes on. My stomach twisted several times. It’s a fantastic lens on society right now. (Sesshoumaru’s speech about “don’t hold me to your hypocritical human morality” was epic af.)
And some of you are going to think the author is some kind of violence glorifying freak based only on that.
I feel like a lot of anti shippers and antis in general can’t get past that horrified feeling. They yell that they can’t enjoy the fandom if the material makes a hated pairing canon, so it’s like they don’t want anyone else to enjoy the fandom or the pairing. It’s very immature and scorched earth, and it hurts everyone.
Hey, guess what? I have written pairings with hella huge age gaps. Oh, the horror!
OptimusxMikaela? I headcanon Optimus as being 10 billion + years old, and Mikaela was 18 when they hooked up. Mikaela ages as the stories carry on through the years as my Danceverse series, so she’s in her 30s currently. They fucked and still fuck explicitly.
UnicronxStarscream? Unicron is as old as the universe, so 13 billion + (headcanon), and Starscream is probably 11 million or so (headcanon). They fuck explicitly.
Whouffaldi? The 12th Doctor is 2000+ and Clara is in her 20s. They fuck explicitly.
BeastGojixMiki? Godzilla has been alive for probably close to 65 years in the story, but he acts more like he’s in his 20s and he looks to be in his 20s when he turns back into a human. Miki is 18. They fuck in the story, but it’s written non explicitly.
Bowser JrxOC? Cherry is an oc who is 19. I aged Junior up in that story to be about 20. Their ages aren’t specified, but they’re mentioned to be adults. They fuck in the story, but it’s written non explicitly.
I have written fanfics with rape, abuse, murder, manslaughter, bdsm, stuff that’s morally messed up, etc, and I’m not a murdering rapist who eats children now, am I?
No, because I have no desire to do those things in the real world (because some are not possible...cuz I would date Optimus 😛) and I can distinguish fiction from reality. I can grasp the concept that fiction / art is not always endorsement.
Now get a grip on yourselves, put the pitchforks down and stop policing people’s imaginations.
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totaldramafan-lauri · 5 years
Text
Yearning
W-well...here it is. The product of two weeks’ work.
A couple months ago, I got inspired to start planning a multi-chapter self-ship fanfic, but since I hadn’t written detailed fic in literal years, I wanted to do an unrelated one-shot to kinda...warm up a little, to see if that’s something I really do wanna do...I’m still unsure if it’ll happen, but I did the warmup, and...it became this THING.
This is based on the Vampire!Spinel AU from @su-reader-imagines, which...I ended up liking, like...way too much. X///D I’m not even a vampire fan normally, but...maybe it was the Spinel part. >/////> I-I won’t link the specific post since there’s NSFW content in it and I don’t wanna make anyone read it if they’re not comfortable with that stuff, but...this story in particular has no blatant NSFW (just implied stuff).
Since I started off writing this for myself, I had planned for this to be self-insert, but then I decided to make it more reader-insert to match the original imagine. However, the first-person POV remained, so it’s...weird. The narrator isn’t mentioned by name and details about them are vague, but it’s still kinda my personality, so....it STILL might be more self-insert then reader-insert? I dunno, it’s kinda in the middle...I-I’m not used to this...
It’s probably obvious that I don’t normally make this kinda stuff, but I still did my best...I didn’t expect this to get as long as it did, but I’m a detail-oriented, overexplaining piece of crap, simply put. X////D
Even if nothing comes of this, I at least finished it, and I’m.....kinda p-proud of that, even if....it’s kinda embarrassing....S-so if you read this, I...h-hope y-you...enjoy.....>///////<
Now if you e-excuse me I’m gonna find a dumpster to hide in....
Yandere warning for the very end!
---
It had been a few days since then, but I was still reeling. A part of me was still in disbelief. That couldn't have been real, could it? I mean...something like that, happening to me of all people? I had always been down on my luck...Ignoreable. Average. There was nothing about me worth noting. Occasionally, something good would happen, sure...but nothing like that.
But then I'd look at myself in the mirror, and see the marks on my neck. And I'd be brought back to that night. It was real.
My mind would fill with overwhelming emotions whenever I'd think about it...and whenever I'd close my eyes, I'd see her there in front of me.
Looking back at me with red eyes, grinning playfully, her fangs showing. I'd see myself laying on my back, her hands all over me, as I let her do whatever she wanted...The heat in my body, rising....The sound of her voice, teasing me...
"Spinel..."
Her name, escaping my lips.
Luckily, no one was around to hear, but I caught myself anyway, snapping back to reality. I'd been standing there in the bathroom in front of the mirror for how long? A few minutes? And after I'd already relieved myself? I flushed in embarrassment. Get it together, I thought to myself. After splashing some water on my face, I went back to work.
Never before had work been so frustrating. I couldn't focus on anything. My pace was so sluggish that it felt like I was moving underwater. And I had to keep a poker face the entire time. I couldn't let anyone know what happened. They wouldn't believe me! They'd think I was crazy! And maybe I was, but I didn't wanna bring attention to it. I had already been getting some looks from coworkers due to my neck, but no one asked me about it. That was good. I tried to imagine myself attempting to explain in the sanest way, "Yeeeeaaah, I met an actual vampire and let her drink from me." Yeah, that wasn't happening. I hadn't believed they existed, either, until I met her.
I tried everything I could to distract myself, but the fluttering in my chest would just keep coming back...It was like she had left her mark on me in more than one way...
Even before I knew what she was, she still seemed like someone who would only exist in my dreams. She was lively and interesting, with a unique way of talking and dressing. Even her name was unique. She was charismatic, and confident...and she had a voice that you loved listening to. The way she could switch between playful and downright seductive...Just thinking about it...about the kind of things she said to me...
There was no way I was her first. She was way too good at that. But the very idea that someone like her could pay attention to me, and treat me so well...I should consider myself lucky to have spent just the one night with her...right?
So...what was this yearning I felt...? Was I really that needy...?
The memories were so fresh...Me and her, in the back room, making out, and her drinking from me...and then making me the happiest I had ever been in my life. In that perfect moment, I didn't want anything else. I just wanted to do whatever she told me to. I was hers, and hers alone...
I didn't expect to spend the entire night with her, but I was riding that high for so long. I didn't wanna leave her arms. The aftercare...I could still feel her icy hands trailing down my back. I could still hear her voice, cooing in my ear, telling me what a good girl I was...It had made me so happy, knowing I pleased her...
I remember all the little petnames she called me. My favorite was "doll". That was the one that made me feel the most...special. And I think she caught on to that, because she'd call me it again and again. I was her doll. At that time, I existed only to make her happy, and I was doing my job!
Spinel's doll...
"Stay with me a bit longer? Please~?" she asked, while gently rubbing my back.
"I...wanna stay..." I answered, still dizzy, "But...will we...get in trouble...?"
She chuckled. "Nah, we won't. I told ya, I know the guy. No one's gonna bother us, I promise~..." she assured me gently.
"OK...I'll stay then..."
I turned around and subconsciously scooted into her a bit more, wanting to be as close to her as possible. She didn't seem to mind, putting her arm around me and holding me from behind. My heart felt like it was about to burst...I'd never experienced this level of intimacy before, and this was just the icing on the cake.
"Mmmm, you're so warm, doll~..."
At that comment, I'm sure I got even warmer. I felt so weak, but so happy. We simply laid there in silence, with her occasionally breaking it to hum to me. Soon, I felt myself get drowsy. It was getting late, but...I didn't wanna move.
"...Spinel?"
"Yeah, doll?"
"I'm...getting tired...Is it OK if I fall asleep...?"
"Course it is. You've earned it, toots..." she spoke softly, "And don't worry...I'll still be here when ya wake up~."
After she gave her permission, I drifted off to sleep, which ended up lasting all night. And sure enough, she had told the truth, as I woke up still in her arms.
And I panicked.
I jolted upright and frantically checked the time. I didn't know it would be all night! Oh crap! How would I explain myself!?
I told her I had to go.
"Why?" she asked.
"Because my mom's probably worried sick about- er", Did I really just reveal to her that I still live with my mom? "-I live with my mom, and I've never stayed the night without saying anything, so-" I felt increasingly awkward with every word that came out of my mouth. "And, and...crap, I have work! Wait, that's tomorrow..."
She tried to calm me down, but at that point, I couldn't. My anxiety was through the roof. This was supposed to be a simple trip to a bar, to try something new. But I ended up staying the night at the place with someone I just met. And it was incredible. But now that it was over, everything catching up to me, I just felt bad. I felt...guilty. I took up so much of Spinel's time. She was most likely most active at night, and I kept her in one place for so long. And compared to her, I was practically nothing. I didn't deserve any of that...but she gave it to me anyway. I was a piece of crap who wasted her time.
So all I could do was apologize. "I-I'm so sorry!" I cried out, jumping to my feet. I wobbled a little before steadying myself.
And...she let me go. She didn't protest at all, saying that it was fine, she wasn't keeping me there. She was calm throughout my freak out. She remained sitting in bed, at first with an amused grin...but when I apologized, she looked away. I couldn't see her face anymore, and her voice became more monotone than ever.
"You can leave if ya want," she said.
She didn't care anymore, I could tell. I overstayed my welcome for sure.
Before leaving the room, I turned around one last time, giving a quick but honest "thanks" for the incredible night together...and she finally looked back at me, with a slight smile.
And now...here I was. Stuck in a perpetual daydream, trying to keep myself together. A coworker's voice snapped me out of my memory of the last time I saw her. I quickly apologized, trying my darnedest to keep that poker face I always wore, but it was harder than ever.
Ugh, I'm such a mess...What did you do to me?
My mind was filled with questions. Just who was she? Where was she from? Was she born a vampire, or did she become one? How long has she been alive? What kind of things does she like to do? Does she have friends? There was so much I didn't know about her...I'd been too caught up in the moment to think about those things that night, but now, I couldn't help but feel curious.
I couldn't get her off my mind...As the week went by, I tried to piece myself back together. I tried to think rationally, telling myself to let it go, it'll never happen again, and so on. But nothing worked. The fluttering in my heart wouldn't stop. At first, I hated it, but now, when it was undeniable, I finally had to give in to my feelings...and I finally put together the words in my head that had been so obvious the whole time.
Wanna see her again.
I knew that could easily go badly, knowing me. I'd never been good at social situations, always opting to stay on the sidelines so I wouldn't embarrass myself. If I really knew what's best for me, I'd quit while I'm ahead, right?
But the more time passed, the more agonizing it got...I missed her voice, her touch, her eyes, her lips...everything. After only one night, I already felt so empty without her, so longing...I wanted to be her doll again. Was that so wrong...?
Wanna see her again...
For a while, I was being pulled in two directions, with another part of me shouting that it was a bad idea. Being brave is always a bad idea to me. But I couldn't help it. So I told myself, that, once the weekend came...I'd go with my gut, for once.
Wanna see her again...
---
This was a mistake.
Coming back here was a mistake. That's all I could think of as I sat there, alone, staring at my lap. Here I was at the bar again, but now what? Why didn't I have a plan?
I remembered why I don't come to these kind of places often - I always feel out of place at them. The kinds of people who go here are usually the polar opposite of me...loud, social, sometimes even aggressive, with eye-catching outfits...and there I was, trying not to stick out like a sore thumb. Maybe if I'm quiet, they won't notice me, I thought, I gotta not bring attention to myself...
"Can I get you anything?" an annoyed-sounding voice asked.
I nearly jumped out of my skin when the bartender spoke to me. When did he get there? I hadn't heard him approach! "Um, nothing! No thanks!" I said quickly. I wasn't here for the food or the drinks.
But the way the man looked at me told me I probably should have ordered something. I mean, who comes to a bar just to sit there awkwardly, right? I mean, besides me. Based on the clock on the wall, I had been here for...almost twenty minutes already? I averted my eyes and spun myself around so that my back was facing the counter, as if that would shield me from the embarrassment.
My eyes scanned the room, hoping to catch at least a glimpse of the one person I wanted to see. There were a fair number of people, but she was still nowhere to be found. I sighed, feeling my heart sink.
She had told me she came here twice a week, and it had been exactly a week since then, so...it would make sense for her to be here tonight, right? Or was she more unpredictable? She did seem like that type...Or maybe it was me. Maybe she was here, just avoiding me...No, no, that can't be it, can it?
I squeezed my eyes shut for a moment, trying to expel that thought from my mind. Then I looked up again, watching people dancing to the music playing. My mind was instantly brought back to dancing with her that night, before she led me away. I had no idea what I was in for. All I was concerned with was dancing with this attractive lady and hopefully not making a fool of myself. I remember it feeling like the temperature in the room was rising...she had been so close...
I shouldn't have gotten my hopes up. I thought that maybe, she'd like to see me again, since it had seemed like she liked taking care of me...but I was stupid to think that.
Did I really think I was worth anything to her? If I was, she wouldn't have let me leave so easily. She could've just as easily convinced me to stay. She had marked me. There was evidence I was hers. She could've told me I wasn't to leave without her permission. Or heck, she could've told me she was worried about me after how weak I'd been! But no. She was simply done with me after that.
I was just a food source, that's all. She just indulged me afterward because it was so obvious I was into her. She was humoring me. Why didn't I piece that together? Was I really that stupid? Just look at me!
I started chewing on my fingers nervously as my anxiety took control. Desperate, I scanned the room once again. Did that person just look at me!? I looked away, still chewing. I didn't just bring attention to myself, did I? Was I staring? I turned back around to the counter, looking at the clock instead.
A half hour. I'd been just sitting here doing nothing for a half hour. Great.
Thank god the place wasn't too packed. And that the bartender was pretending I wasn't there at the moment. It was then that I had a thought: maybe he knew her. I could've asked him if she was here. But no, that'd be too awkward for words..."Excuse me sir, is Spinel here?" Though I didn't fully doubt I wouldn't be the first to ask that...
Maybe...she's with someone else right now...
That thought hit me harder than anything else, and I finally started to break down. I leaned against the counter, my head in my hands, trying to compose myself for a few minutes. I couldn't stay here much longer...the music, the voices, the looks, I had to get out soon-
"Hello, nurse~"  
When I heard that familiar greeting, my eyes snapped open, and I slowly uncovered my face. Was it really...? There was no way I was hearing things, right?...After a couple seconds, I looked over...and there she was.
She was looking right at me, a playful smirk on her face, in the same way as I remembered. Her hair was back up in pigtails, too. It was like I had stepped back in time...I felt the heat rise to my face, my mouth hanging open. This was really happening. She was actually here! Now what!?
Say something! "Uhhh..." I cleared my throat. "Hey..."
She giggled. That alone caused my heart to do flips. "Well, gee~" she said, almost innocently, as she took a step toward me, "What brings your pretty face back to a place like this? Is it the drinks? The tunes?" she tilted her head, "The entertainment?"
I could tell she was teasing me. What I couldn't tell was whether or not she was mocking me. I knew I didn't fit in, but having it implied by her made me feel a bit embarrassed. Still, she had approached me...Just when I was worrying this was hopeless, she approached me, just like I wanted...Now more than ever, I wish I had a plan, because I felt like all I could do was sit there, my eyes fixed on her. I didn't know I would get this far...I was so sure I was fooling myself...
"Er...um, well..." I laughed nervously, "I-I know, I don't look the part...but that doesn't mean you gotta rub it in..."
"Oh, I didn't say there was anything wrong with that!" she replied, "I know that a lotta people have secrets to hide...And I'm sure you have your own reasons for bein' here~"
My own reasons...I felt my heartbeat pick up speed at that. She knows. Once again, I made it obvious. Every part of me was calling out for her, wanting me to spill out all my feelings to her...She's right there. Don't back down. Don't run away.
"Y-yeah, you could, say that I-ah!"
Just when I began talking, she leaned down to be at eye level with me. My body tensed up, and my words got caught in my throat. Her face was very close, to the point where I could feel her breath on my skin...She was still smiling, but there was an intensity in her eyes that I'd never seen before. I could only imagine how red my face was at that moment..."A-ah..." I didn't move an inch, but I looked to the side to see if anyone was watching us. It didn't look like it.
Then she reached out and touched my neck. I inhaled sharply as a shiver raced down my spine. She was just as cold as I remember, a sensation I didn't know I liked before...but I welcomed it. I had missed her touch so much...Her fingertips gently brushed against the spot where my marks were healing, and she stared there silently. Her other hand went to my thigh. The intimacy of the moment made me feel like I was gonna burst...
"Miss me, doll?" she spoke again, softly, as her eyes met mine.
I practically melted when I heard my favorite nickname again. I managed a nod. "Mhm..."
A hum. "Good..." she crooned. Then she leaned in further and kissed my cheek. It was small, but it was enough to make all my previous worries disappear...and make me want more. "C'mon," she patted my thigh before taking one of my hands in hers, standing up straight. I followed her lead and stood up as well. And, as if history was repeating, she proceeded to lead me to the back room, where it could be just the two of us.
I liked holding her hand. It felt...assuring, in a way. It made me feel like she really did want me here, and that coming back was the right choice. I didn't know what would happen next...Was she gonna drink from me again? Did she just wanna talk? Or will she...indulge me again? All I knew was that, for now, things felt right.
"S-Spinel?"
"Hmmmmm~?"
"I...I was wondering...uh..."
This was the time to start getting to know her better. I had so many questions for her, so many things I was curious about...but I was getting tongue-tied. Great. Why did I have to be so easy to fluster? It was getting difficult to put my thoughts into words, and I mentally kicked myself. I can't lose my nerve now!
She giggled. "It's OK, dearie~" she said, and squeezed my hand as we continued walking, "You don't have to say anything right now. Take your time. It's not like I'm gettin' any older!"
She laughed at her little joke, and I did, too. Her laughter was contagious. Either that, or I was so enamored with her that I'd follow anything she did. I couldn't tell yet.
But I still wanted to say more. Where would I even start, though? She was such a mystery...I guess there'd be time for that later. Yeah. Later, after I calm down. If she'd let me calm down, that is.
We entered the back room, and I looked around as she closed the door behind us. Had she taken anyone else down here since then? That was my first thought, but I quickly shook it out. It didn't matter. All that mattered was that I was here again. There was no one else here. It was just me and her. Me and Spinel. And Spinel was holding my hand right now...
Almost immediately after she closed the door, she suddenly pulled me towards her, and into a kiss. I squeaked in surprise, before closing my eyes and letting my feelings completely take me over. I felt her free hand trail up my back, slowly, softly, and I felt my whole body flush. This...this was what I had wanted...It was like I never left...
The kiss was short, too short. She pulled away, and I opened my eyes to see her smiling softly at me. It wasn't the teasing grin that she usually wore. She looked more...sincere. I smiled back, in complete bliss.
"I didn't think you'd come back", she said.
"You...didn't...?"
"No one does. It's always one and done with people", she chuckled softly, looking away from me. "They give me what I want once, then never come back. So I always gotta move on to the next one."
This shocked me. Was I really the first one to do this? No one else has ever come back after the first time? I found that unbelievable...I was such a coward...so why me, of all people?
"It gets lonely..." she brought my hand to her face, "even when I'm not alone, I'd still feel so lonely..."
My face fell as her words hit me.
Spinel was...lonely...?
She seemed to carry herself with such confidence, so I never would've guessed...She seemed like someone who would have many friends, and many people vying for her attention. Especially considering how good she was at...what she does...I guess being a vampire would lead to some difficulties with getting people to stick around? I guess not many people wanna experience that more than once...Did she scare them? I remember being scared at first...but she had taken such good care of me that I wasn't scared anymore...She wasn't intimidating, was she? How can someone not enjoy her company?
Was it, maybe...that no one felt they were worthy of her attention?
Already, I was learning more about her, and it wasn't what I was expecting at all...I wanted to help her, but I didn't know how. I was pretty lonely myself. Not many people could bring themselves to give a crap about me. Could it be...that we had something in common?
I didn't know what to say. I didn't wanna ask her about it. She seemed happy to see me, and I didn't wanna ruin it. So, I simply apologized. "I'm....sorry...."
And immediately, she looked back at me, and the playfulness returned.
"Awww, don't be sorry, doll~" she cooed, "Now I know that you're not like that! And that makes me so happy...knowing you're just as special as I thought you were~"
Heat rushed to my cheeks at her words. "I-I'm really not that special..." I tried my best not to stumble over my words, and began talking faster, "I...I just wanted to...to get to know you better, that's all. And I didn't expect myself to get this far, to be honest..." I forced a laugh.
"But you are special!" she disagreed, "Take it from someone who knows uniqueness when she sees it..."
She finally let go of my hand and wrapped her arms around my waist, pulling me close to her. She leaned down, bringing her face close to mine. My heart was about ready to burst out of my chest...
"The way you're lookin' at me right now...I've never seen anything like it."
Before I could say anything more, she brought her lips to mine in a passionate kiss, much longer and more heated than the last. I tried to kiss her back, but she completely overpowered me, denying me barely any room to breathe. I could barely even think as she made out with me, her hands wandering all over my body, claiming every part of me. She was so cold, but she made me feel so warm...I loved it. Finally giving in, I wrapped my arms around her, moaning weakly. She giggled in response, a noise I couldn't get enough of.
For that moment, it felt like she wanted me as much as I wanted her.
Once she pulled back, I was panting, elated, but a complete mess in her arms. I could only imagine what I looked like. I must've looked pathetic, my mouth hanging open as she left it, my face flushed, my eyes closed. My legs felt like jelly, so I leaned into her, resting on her shoulder as I caught my breath. She let out an airy chuckle, sounding breathless as well. I felt one of her hands stroking my back. I tried to collect my thoughts about what just happened. Holy crap that was incredible, you're so perfect, Spinel, thank you, I'm so sorry I left, I don't wanna leave again, I'll let you have me for as long as you want...I'm yours now, I'm yours...
I'd never felt so desperate for someone in my whole life...She was almost intoxicating. Part of me knew I should try and resist, try to be rational...but the rest of me didn't care. I'd been yearning for this all week, and all that frustration had finally paid off...
"How lucky I was to come across a dame like you", she spoke seductively into my ear, "So cute...so sensitive...and so...delicious~" she whispered the last word. I shivered, gripping her tighter as if it'll save me from melting into a puddle on the floor.
All I could do was whimper in response, causing another chuckle from her.
"That's right, doll, I mean every word..." she continued, "And ya came back, just to see me...You're such a sweet thing~. In fact," Both of her hands began wandering up my back, resting on my shoulders, "I missed ya more then ya thought I did...I missed holdin' ya like this...Touchin' ya like this...Do ya believe me? I've been so, so lonely...I missed ya, my sweet doll..."
'My sweet doll'. 'MY'. I felt my heart soar at her words. Spinel missed me...! And I made her happy...!
"...And now, I'm never lettin' ya go again."
Her voice suddenly took on a tone I'd never heard before...Darker, more growly, with her accent more pronounced. My eyes finally snapped open again as she aggressively jerked me back by my shoulders, pushing me into the nearest wall, pinning me there. My heart was racing a mile a minute as I could only look up at her. She was grinning widely, and not in her normal way. This grin was manic, predatory, and it made me begin to shiver. What was going on? What was she gonna do? I opened my mouth, but no sound came out. Warning bells were going off in my mind, but I was frozen like a deer in headlights.
And then, her eyes began to glow. Her red eyes were already one of her most noticeable features, but now, they were the brightest thing in the dark room. I squinted at the light, and instinctively tried to look away, but a hand went to my face, forcing me to look at it. I didn't know what was happening, but I would bear with it for her. And so, I braced myself. My first guess was that she would drink from me again, and I welcomed that thought. She was welcome to use me in that way if she wanted...
But nothing happened. As I continued looking at her, the tension in my body disappeared, and I stopped trembling. In fact, I began to feel weak in the knees. She wasn't saying anything, and she still got that reaction out of me...The sight of her face so close to mine, looking like she could ravage me at any moment...and I, the prey, was so helpless, pinned against the wall...This was an image I never wanted to forget.
With each passing second, I felt myself melt more and more, to the point where my legs started to give out. I slid down the wall a little, and then her hands went under my arms, helping me stay on my feet. But even then, it kept getting worse.
"S-Spinel..." I breathed out, attempting to speak, "I-I feel...I can't...." The sentences weren't forming. I felt my body grow numb, the only thing keeping me from collapsing on the ground being her arms...
"Shhh...Don't worry", she said, her voice as smooth as butter, "I got'cha~"
My vision was starting to blur, but I couldn't look away from her. Her gorgeous eyes were unblinking as she looked back at me, the eerie red glow making them all the more beautiful. I was putty in her hands...It was as if there was nothing else around me...nothing else that mattered. It was just her.
Just Spinel, the woman of my dreams.
My eyelids began to grow heavy, my body fully limp. With the last of my consciousness, I realized that this sensation wasn't normal. Was she doing this? I would've been scared had I caught on earlier, but now, I didn't care. I just wanted to stay like this...it felt so good...
"That's it...~" she purred, "Now, close your eyes for me...Just relax for a bit, and let me take care of everything~"
That was the last thing I heard before I closed my eyes, and quickly passed out in her arms.
When I woke up, I was in a place I had never seen before.
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cannibal-wings · 5 years
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What’s the absolute dumbest shit that went down in the Outlast fandom in your humble opinion?
OH BOY. I have a story.
Ok, so I’ve been in the Outlast fandom since 2013. And honestly, out of all the fandoms I’ve ever been active in, the Outlast fandom wins the award for being the most civil and friendly with little to no drama. Sure there were very brief flare ups of people judging others for how they drew and interpreted Miles, Waylon and Blake, but that usually died down and very rarely did I ever see actual hate being tossed at creators. This fandom is very low on shipping drama, with pretty much the only ship drama I’ve seen being about Eddie Gluskin, but again, nothing super bad by other fandom standards. No waves of death threats, no one ended up in the hospital over “shipping crimes” and the ship metrics have stayed exactly the same since Whistleblower dropped.
Other than that... besides the odd fictionkin drama stuff back in 2015/2016 (when the fandom had people), some personal disputes between a couple blogs, and one baffling instance of minors telling adults that they weren’t allowed in the fandom... you know, the fandom for the game rated 18+, the game made for an adult audience... there hasn’t really been much bullshit.
I think that’s mostly because the Outlast fandom has always been small. Even in the time where this game had an active fanbase with lots of art, multiple roleplay blogs, multiple ask blogs, and tons of AU’s and fics... we were still small. Still only a couple hundred people at best. We were (and still are) a small community and drama doesn’t tend to break out in super small fandoms as badly as in bigger ones. I also think given the subject matter of the game... well it’s hard to morality police a fandom that deals in pretty much every dark fiction topic you can think of...
HOWEVER.
Back in late 2017 I noticed a trend among a few imagine blogs, a few roleplay blogs, and a couple of fics for doing “trap fics”. I will not be giving out names (even if I could remember the names of the blogs) because I really do not enjoy sending people after others. Especially for things done years ago. And if these fics are still up on Ao3 do not go and leave negative comments. I’m a firm believer in just blocking and moving on. ANYWAYS that’s not relevant to this story.
So I noticed a lot of these fics and imagines were getting a hefty amount of likes, hits and kudos which prompted more of them to be seen in the tag. The whole premise of “traps” is widely transphobic and I know this is hypocritical as hell of me to say in a fandom were cannibalism and necrophilia is a thing, but I wasn’t too happy to see them? I think the trap trope is probably one of those things that should die out, again, I know, hypocritical since I always harp on about how dark fiction tropes deserve to be written about.
I made a post talking about how traps and trap fiction can negatively depict trans people, especially trans women, and I asked the fandom to please use consideration in writing them, and I suggested they just not write them at all. In a world where real life violence against trans women is very common because men felt “tricked” I didn’t think it was in good taste to be writing so many of these kinds of fics and imagines. I must state that in this post I did not mention any blogs by name, I did not mention any fics by name, and I encouraged people to not send any hate towards these authors.
Overall the post was well received and a lot of people agreed with me. A lot of people agreed that the trap trope was something that should probably be left behind in fandom spaces. However, there were a few fun reactions I got. One of the authors thought I was directly calling them out and vagued about me on their blog. I was shown screencaps because I was blocked. A few of their fans and readers went ahead to assure this author that they weren’t doing anything wrong and that trans people were just too sensitive and upset over everything.
I was told directly by a few of these people that trap fics aren’t transphobic because they are part of yaoi culture. Legit, actually something that was said to me. I was the one being offensive for stifling “yaoi culture”. I had a great laugh over that one. I was also told that because the character in the trap fic wasn’t trans, then it wasn’t transphobic, completely ignoring the point of the post, which was that the trope itself is transphobic and not characters identity. Again I was told that I was just too sensitive and that trans people are always offended by everything and that I needed to chill out.
Ah yes, me. Social media user Cannibal Wings. Who writes about gore, cannibalism, body horror, murder and graphic transformation, is clearly the over sensitive one for pointing out that a trope has negative real life connotations. Good times, good times.
Anyways, the whole thing only lasted a few days and then everyone moved on, but it sticks out in my mind as the wildest fandom interaction I had with the Outlast fandom. This fandom has been overwhelmingly positive and a good experience and I deeply miss the days when it was super active.
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greyliliy · 4 years
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Someone went through and liked all my old Cars posts (yay & thank you) which made me look up and see my little Die Cast Radiator Springs Lightning McQueen and I was full of fond nostalgia for what is still one of my favorite Pixar series.
It also reminded me of things that I am apparently still bitter about from Cars 3. Lol.
You do not know how badly I wanted Lightning to win and keep racing. You don’t. I desperately wanted Lightning to upgrade, keep up, win, and then challenge Cruz and Storm as new rivals on the race track.
LET HIM WIN. PLEASE. *lies on side*
And get him back in Red. Lord that Doc inspired Paint Job looks bad. I’m sorry if you like it (and that’s awesome!), but I am constantly pretending it never happened. o-o
But in less Bitter news. I reconfirmed: Cars 2 is still my favorite film in the trilogy and I ship Lightning with almost literally everyone.
I did enjoy just about all of Cars 3 except for the ending (which I have mentioned before was not a *bad* ending, just not for *me* so it’s not like I’d want it to be changed...okay that’s a lie, but I at least acknowledge this is a very personal opinion lol).
It’s also kinda crazy that I’ve never written fic for Cars. Like. I love those movies. A lot. There is a reason I bought one of those Cars guidebooks that lists all the names and model types of all the background characters. XD
It’s probably because I never really had a full story in mind. Mostly just little snips that I wasn’t sure I could flesh out.
I might ponder on that after I get through with my SpideyPool fic for MerMay. That’s the only fic I have with a deadline right now.
Because I’m still feeling Cruz x Lightning.
It’s got that Hawks x Endeavor (My Hero Academia) or MCU Peter Parker having a crush on Mr. Stark vibe.
Younger Fan x Their Hero (who turned out to be more human and bitter/old than they expected but they see the good stuff anyway) is just such a great combination.
Don’t get me wrong, I love Sally, but if I want McQueen x Sally I can go watch the first movie. XD
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