#it's fucked up thinking because like. a lot of people who aren't out or who aren't SURE about their sexuality will joke like this

[kikitakite]

I saw your callout in the Gale tag for that one user (no comment on them, tho ty for the callout bc i'd seen them in the notes of my fics) and was curious if you could elaborate on some of the Mystra incidents you described towards the end of the post? I'm new to the lore of the setting and find it hard to research (which makes sense given its importance to dnd), so I've heard a lot of conflicting things about Mystra's portrayal in the wider series. No pressure, obviously!

No problem! And yea, I've seen her arguing in the posts of a few people I follow or just Gale-related posts I find interesting. Usually I don't get involved in stuff like this, but I noticed a constant pattern and then all the homophobic shit so I went off a little.

Unfortunately it's hard to find exact examples of the Mystra lore because certain modules aren't very popular or even free to access, but if you're interested the best way to learn about her is by reading the Elminster novels. There's twelve total, dating all the way back to 1994, and they detail Elminster's adventures. I'll be honest though, some of them are a hard read and written through the lens of a man who's admitted very creative, but also has a lot of problematic ideas.

In the first book Elminster is a child. His entire town gets wiped out by mages, thereby making him hostile toward magic. He sneaks into Mystra's temple to deface her statue one night, but she appears before him and basically gaslights him into learning magic and becoming her rare Chosen. He becomes a wizard and cleric basically overnight, until eventually he multiclasses into pretty much every class type in DnD. As you can imagine a lot of players aren't too fond of Elminster, as he's a well known self-insert of the author and pretty annoying to run into during campaigns. None of my dungeon masters like him anyway.

He also becomes one of Mystra's most loyal followers, but she fucks with him over and over, turning him into a woman to teach him a lesson and SLEEPING with him in that form, berating him when he struggles with the torture he endures when he gets stuck in the hells, making him reproduce without his knowledge and getting jealous when he gives his partners more attention. Because she's a very jealous goddess, which I think the game vaguely touches on but not really.

I wish I had the time to flip through all the novels and give exact citations but the best I can do is suggest them, because they're so eye opening. She's considered a neutral good goddess, but neutral gods often do terrible things for the sake of their domain. I think it needs to be noted that Mystra, as with all gods in the pantheon, only cares about her portfolio. She isn't wrong for that, but it doesn't mean she's blameless when she messes with people's lives. She's done a lot of good but she's also made horrible decisions, especially where her followers are concerned.

For example, Elminster having children he doesn't know about. He has a daughter named Narnra. Her conception was... pretty fucked up. Basically a song dragon named Ammaratha Cyndusk was an occasional lover of Elminster's (he has a lot of those because of course he does) and she wanted to bear his child, but since he's a Chosen of Mystra he can control his fertility. Magic birth control, basically. He didn't want a kid so Ammaratha went behind his back to learn a counterspell that would make him fertile during sex. The man she asked refused to teach her because...duh that's messed up, but then Mystra intervened and told him to teach her the spell because she wanted Elminster's "seed to spread". Ammaratha never told him and neither did Mystra. No matter what the reasons, that was NOT consensual on Elminster's part, and it happened two more times, resulting in two more daughters with different women. If I remember correctly Elminster did eventually find out waaaaay later when they were all adults, but it never amounted to anything.

The sisters I was taking about are the Seven Sisters, Mystra's "daughters". And I put "daughters" in quotations because Mystra possessed the body of a woman named Elué and impregnated her without her consent. She slept with the woman's husband (again, while possessing her body) and made them sire seven children. This of course lead to Elué's death because the constant flow of magic in her body was too much for her to handle. Her grieving husband broke after she died and eventually left, abandoning his daughters and earning Mystra's scorn...as if he was in the wrong. The sisters were then orphaned and raised by foster families.

That said, most of the awful things anyone can say about Mystra were the doings of her previous incarnations so ultimately it doesn't apply to the Mystra of BG3. In fact, this third Mystra is supposed to be a new and improved goddess who's nicer to her followers. So her portrayal in BG3 annoyed a lot of DnD fans. I should also point out that Mystra has two types of fans: ones who will defend everything she does, even when it's fucked up beyond all comprehension, and the ones who will tell you she's a true neutral goddess capable of good and bad. I'm the latter. There are plenty examples of Mystra sticking her neck out for innocents, but there's also examples of her doing the most horrendous shit imaginable.

A lot of veteran players, at least the ones I know, are upset with the portrayal of Mystra in BG3 because her plan to end the Absolute is, quite frankly, stupid. Your party is the best chance anyone has of ending the threat, but she asks Gale to nuke himself and possibly tens of thousands, which makes no sense because she could've just sent her mages/clerics to deal with the problem. And there was no guarantee the bomb would've worked anyway. She put all the responsibility on one man and it DEFINITELY comes off as vindictive. That isn't out if character for her but she's not SUPPOSED to be that bad anymore. For a lot of DnD players it felt like she was reverting back to her old habits.

I think there's also a part in the game where you can directly ask Gale why she doesn't just blip the Absolute out of existence and he says something like, "She could but Ao won't allow it." That was also really strange for a lot of veteran players to hear because Gale drops Ao's name like it's nothing. Most people (especially if they're new to the franchise) wouldn't know this but most people in Faerûn don't know who Ao is! Because he wiped people's memories of his existence! I suppose it does make sense for Gale to know that name, since Mystra probably explained the pantheon to him, but it's VERY unlikely tav would know it. So during that conversation all I could picture was tav tilting their head like, "Huh? Who? Whaaa?"

And on top of that......Ao absolutely WOULD allow it because the Absolute effects the Weave and every other god! It had the potential to ruin the balance of the universe, which makes Ao a very angry boy. Balance is one of the ONLY things he cares about. The Dead Three were stealing souls and worshippers, which gods needs to survive, and dying gods disrupts the balance. It's a whole circle of chaos. So the only conclusion left for me to extrapolate is this: Mystra just really, really wanted Gale to kill himself to prove his devotion to her. Which...isn't great. Bad look for her.

It's kind of like how Raphael thinks the Crown of Karsus is going to help him end the Blood War and take over the hells. DnD players laughed during his epilogue because...no it won't lol. He doesn't stand a chance even with the crown. He's arrogant and he's gonna get slapped by his daddy and all the other archdevils, the same way Gale gets slapped by Mystra if he ascends. Even the Absolute ending of the game wouldn't last long because the gods would go to war with the Dead Three, wipe them out and rebuild Faerûn, which has happened many times in past DnD campaigns. Mystra alone has torn worlds apart and glued them back together. The main crisis of BG3 is saving the world you live in or everybody dies. For the gods it's just a Tuesday. I mean look at how Withers owns the Dead Three with a wave of his hand at the end of the game. Mystra COULD'VE killed the Absolute, just as she could've removed the orb from Gale's chest the moment it happened. She just didn't WANT to. She wanted him to die. She wanted him to chastise himself. She wanted him to suffer and come crawling back to her as an obedient follower. She wanted him to learn a harsh and honestly unfair lesson, which is a terrible throwback to her previous incarnations.

#mystra #gale of waterdeep #gale dekarios #baldur's gate 3 #bg3 #elminster #dnd #dungeons and dragons #raphael

[letorip]

casual

"i thought you thought of me better, someone you couldn't lose, you said, "we're not together," so now when we kiss i have anger issues"

===+++===

pairing: natalie scatorccio x reader

summary: you and nat have been hooking up, but it seems the label of "no attachment" just seems to hurt you both.

warnings: explicit sexual content, mentions of sex, friends with benefits with feelings, you're a little bit of a dick

word count: 4.6k

A/N: it's come to my attention a LOT of people have used the chappell roan song casual for nat and i want to say i legitimately discovered this after i started writing. i tried to make it different from the others but there's definitely similarities just because they're based on the same song, but i want it known this was not an attempt to copy other people and i think so many of the other authors are insanely talented and i love reading their works.

===+++===

===+++===

“Nat I swear to god I’m going to kick you out of this bed if you don’t stop moving,” you groaned, smushing your face further into the pillow. The thin cloth casing smelled like her floral shampoo and cigarette smoke, and you pressed it with your nose to make it last longer, squeezing your eyes shut and drawing a slow, heady lungful.

Natalie scoffed at you, pinching your bare side gently with her soft fingers, and you squirmed with a laugh. “This is my bed and you’re hogging the sheets, jerk. I’m trying to get comfortable.” If you had more of a conscience about the whole thing, you would have felt worse about leaving her out in the cold air of the room in what little she was wearing, but you were having all too much fun.

“Mm,” you hummed in response, bunching her comforter up in your hands and tugging even more towards you with a mischievous smile, to the point where the entire thing was wrapped around you and absolutely none was left on Natalie, who you could hear shift on the mattress behind you.

“You have got to be fucking with me,” she said in disbelief, and you grinned. “Give it here,” she demanded, reaching for your burrito of sheets and you jerked yourself away with a laugh, rolling over to see her staring at you with narrowed eyes. “Come on, give me my comforter,” she said again, trying and failing to seem assertive. Nat never scared you like she scared other people.

You raised your eyebrows at her in amusement and stuck your tongue out, rolling back away from her. “Are you serious??” she asked, reaching for you, but you moved from her grip again. “Come here, you idiot,” she laughed, wrapping a hand around your clump of her bedsheets and climbing on top of you, straddling your waist with her legs so you couldn't escape.

You squirmed underneath her, trying and failing to break free. She was a soccer player like you- though you didn’t play for the school- with strong legs so you could barely nudge her. "Are you done?" She asked with a beaming grin, hands next to your head on the bed to box you in. Her soft blonde hair fell around the both of you and you would have stopped for a moment to admire the view if an idea didn't suddenly pop into your mind.

"Hmm, let me think," you said, and Nat's smile immediately wiped away. "No," you said, and in an instant you shifted your weight, rolling her right off of you and onto the carpeted floor with a soft thud.

"Hey!" She called up from the floor, but you were too busy laughing. You sat up, tossing the sheets off to look at her down there in your triumph. "Jerk," she said, but not unaffectionately.

"Looks like you fell there," you replied, propping your head up on your hand and grinning from ear to ear.

"Aren't you funny."

"I like to think so."

She went silent for a moment, humming at your response and then just staring for a while, looking you over with an unreadable expression. You swallowed, letting her stare with a growing lump in your throat as you watched her eyes trace up your legs slowly from where they hung off the side of her mattress, landing on your waist and then trailing up again, to your chest for a while, and then finally up to your face.

The air in the room had been sucked out by a vacuum, and the two of you were left in a rising warmth and muggy heat. She stood up then, locking your eyes on hers and slowly walking towards you until she stood right over you, close enough to where you could feel her warm breath fanning down over your face.

Her own pale cheeks were flushed pink, and when her hands came up to rest on your shoulders your own went up to her waist, sliding your thumbs up further until they brushed against her ribcage. She shivered and tensed under your grip and you felt it.

Nat leaned down to you in a gentle way one would never assume would be her style, softly pressing her lips to yours. You sat like that for a moment, smiling gently into it as she clambered up to straddle your waist again, never once breaking contact. Her lips grew more hungry, moving against yours with a rising intensity and desire for more, softly breathing into your mouth and pushing on the bare skin of your shoulders.

Your hands moved down to wrap around the back of her thighs, holding her tight against you as she broke the kiss and moved down towards your neck. "Nat," you laughed in between attacks from her lips and small bites here and there. "We literally just did this. Like, not even thirty minutes ago."

"And?" she asked, going back to her business and moving her mouth to the space where your neck and shoulder met. You squeezed your eyes shut, trying to stop yourself from groaning and instead to form words. "Your hands are so rough," she whispered in your ear, before retreating down again.

Your hands slid up from the back of her thighs. "Sorry. It's the tennis and the water polo," you rushed, a tad apologetic. But Natalie shook her head, pulling back and leaning her forehead against yours to catch her breath.

"Fuckin' rich people," she said, smiling. You nodded, reconnecting your lips together before you trailed your mouth down her neck and to her collarbone, leaving small kisses as you went. One of her hands came up, fingers grabbing and threading at your hair to hold you there. "Wait, you have a butler don't you?" she asked, but the last part was cut off with a breath as you sucked right over her pulse.

You rolled your eyes in amusement at the question, pulling away and raising your eyebrows at her. "You really want to talk about that right now?" Nat had always harboured a fascination with your lifestyle you failed to understand, but you indulged her when she asked.

"I'm just saying," she laughed. "What's his name? Jeeves?"

"Nope," you shook your head in amusement, already knowing how she'd react. "Reginald."

"Now that's hot," Nat joked, smacking you on the shoulder playfully before she wrapped her arms around your neck and pulled you tighter to her.

"Yeah yeah, get it out of your system, idiot," You shook your head, looking up at her where she sat over you. Light warmed over her blonde hair from the window behind you both.

"Mhm," she hummed, kissing you one last time before she pulled away. "You should probably go soon," she said, looking over at her alarm clock with a frown.

"But I like this position," you teased with a smile, hands back on her waist and slowly tracing patterns on the skin there. Her skin was soft and you dragged the pads of your fingers up and down, tapping gently and doodling random shapes.

"Yeah well, my dad will be home soon. I don't think he'd like seeing us in this position," Nat said back, clambering off of you with a smirk. You felt the weight off your lap the moment she was gone and had to stop yourself from grabbing her hand and tugging her back towards you. Damn her father. From what you had heard of him from Nat, he wasn’t too nice anyways.

But you stopped yourself, watching Natalie go, walking to the other corner of her room to where you had thrown her jeans earlier. She turned to you as she tugged them on. "You're going to practice tomorrow, right?"

You nodded. "Couldn't escape soccer if I tried."

Nat nodded, grabbing a nearby shirt and throwing it over herself. “Want to meet up after? Continue what we started?” She asked with a smirk.

You rolled your eyes at her, shaking your head with a smile. “I can’t. My father is back from his business trip. We’re having my cousins over for dinner- it’s a whole big thing. Reginald is making a roast.”

“Okay,” Nat said, leaning back for a moment to think. "What about Lottie's party on Friday? You going to that too?"

"Couldn't escape Lottie if I tried," you said, throwing your head back against her bed and splaying out. Lottie Matthews held a special place in your heart as not only your neighbour but one of your best friends, and that meant being dragged to whatever social gathering she so desired to attend or host.

"Ooookay, so...would you want to maybe…go to Lottie's together?" That caught your attention and you froze, looking up to see Nat uncomfortably glancing around her room, arms crossed and mindlessly tugging on the ends of her sleeves.

"Uh...," you stuttered, propping yourself up on your arms and frowning. "I kind of already told Jackie I would go with her and Jeff. I thought you would be going with Kevyn and that one kid...so."

Nat nodded, looking down at the floor and frowning. "Yeah, it's... it's fine.”

“Okay…” you trailed off, watching her fidget. “Are you…?”

“Yeah, I’m fine, Jesus Christ. It’s one party.”

“Okay,” you nodded. Nat was very clearly not fine, but you knew better than to push her buttons. She tended to explode upon confrontation, especially when she didn’t want to talk about it. You stood up, stretching your arms out and you could feel her watching you again, soft blue eyes looking over you.

“Listen,” she said, in a tone that was disarmingly sweet for Natalie Scatorccio. This was far from the tough girl who shoved you against lockers after practice or who argued with you about everything and anything she could. Her cheeks were flushed and she fidgeted with her fingers.

“When I said… earlier, when I said you had really rough hands. I like your hands. It wasn’t- I didn’t mean it in a bad way.”

“Um…okay,” you replied, nodding gently at her. You had no clue why she was being so timid all of a sudden and it was a bit puzzling. You turned back from her to grab your shirt from the floor next to her bed, tugging it over your head and turning back. "Have you seen my shorts?" you asked, running a hand through your mussed up hair and attempting to tame it.

"Yeah," said Nat, still weirdly quiet. She held them up in her hand, outstretched towards you, and you walked over, grabbing them from her and tugging them on.

"Thanks," you smiled, pulling the drawstrings tight and going to get your socks. The entire time she just watched you, not saying much but clearly thinking a whole lot. "Are you sure you're okay?" you laughed. "Stop being weird, Nat. Just say it."

"Okay...Look, I know you said-" but she was cut off. From outside her bedroom down the hall, you heard the front door open and slam shut. Natalie's face went white in panic and she stood right up, running to the window and throwing it open without even a second to waste.

"NATALIE, GET THE FUCK OUT HERE!" the old, gruff voice called from her kitchen, and you knew this was a code red situation.

"Go! Go! Go!" She whispered at you, pushing you towards her window. "Get the fuck out before he finds you!"

"Wait, my shoes-" you said, hopping through the window and landing on the hot pavement in your socks. She laughed, turning back around and grabbing your sneakers off the floor, throwing them out the window and smacking you in the head, bouncing off you. "Ow!"

"Sorry!" She whispered, sticking her head out the window. "See you tomorrow?" Her eyes softened for a moment, looking hopeful.

"Yeah," you nodded, grabbing your shoes off the ground.

"NATALIE! NOW GODDAMMIT!" Her dad called again, and she spun around, heading for the door and leaving you outside her window. You didn't even bother putting your shoes on as you ran off in your socks, to where you had parked your car several streets down.

===+++===

It was always Wednesdays in the cafeteria when the food looked most disgusting. You didn't eat it, but Shauna did, sitting right in front of you with a plate of what was allegedly turkey and gravy, and you always wanted to poke it a bit with a straw and see if it would get up and crawl away.

"Stop staring at my food," she laughed, and you shook your head, gagging a bit with overdramatic performance.

"It looks like a science experiment.”

"Yeah, well not everyone can have their food packed for them, now can they? Not my fault I don't have a maid like Lottie or a butler, like you," Shauna said, gesturing at you with her fork.

“Sorry,” you winced.

"You can have some of my sandwich, if you want," Lottie said, turning to Shauna and pulling it from her bag. "The housekeeper makes too much for me anyways."

Shauna shook her head. "I'm really fine, thanks Lottie. It's not as bad as it looks. Tastes almost good, in a weird way.”

“Maybe you’re just weird,” you shrugged with faux integrity, and Shauna stuck her tongue out at you.

“Are you guys going out for track in the spring?” Jackie asked, arms crossed out in front of her.

“I am, yeah,” said Lottie. “My parents think the more sports I do, the more colleges I get into.”

“Mine too,” you nodded. “I’m doing track but only if it doesn’t interfere with spring tennis.”

"What are you going out for?" Jackie asked. "I'm debating if I should even go out."

"Yeah, you should go out," Lottie said. "Track is always fun. (Y/n) and I both do relay and high jump, but you could probably handle the hurdles or short sprints."

"You think?" Jackie asked, staring off in contemplation.

You nodded again. "You'd do just fine. It's no big deal if you already know how to run, and me and-"

"-Oh. My. God." All three of you looked over at Jackie, who had straightened up completely. She was staring off behind you, into the distance with her mouth a bit agape. You hadn't even noticed she had stopped listening to the conversation.

"What?" You asked, puzzled by her expression. "Something on me?"

Jackie nodded, smirking. "A certain someone's eyes are."

You rolled your eyes. "Do I even want to know?"

"Oh come on," Jackie said. "You already know. Nat. She keeps looking over here from her burnout table."

You frowned, turning around and following her eyes. Natalie sat on the opposite side of the cafeteria, at one of the round green tables in the corner near the vending machines. She was indeed looking at you, headphones over her ears and cassette player on the table. When she saw you look back at her, she looked away quickly, turning to Kevyn.

"She's, like, stalking you at this point."

You scoffed, looking back to your table. "She's not stalking me, drama queen. She's probably just looking around."

Lottie turned back to the table, shrugging. "I mean, she does keep looking over here."

"Oh, not you too," you groaned, facepalming.

Lottie held up her hands defensively. "I'm just saying what I'm seeing." Shauna sent you a sympathetic look from across the table, retreating to eat more of her turkey. When someone gave Jackie crumbs like this she was like a dog with a bone. True investigative journalism at its finest.

"You said you two are hooking up right?" She asked, leaning forwards and almost whispering the last part. You frowned, not entirely sure why she was acting like it was a secret.

"Yeah, we hook up. We're not together though," you answered her.

"But she wants to be," Jackie said, flat out like it was a statement and an obvious one at that. She looked back over your shoulder where you assumed Natalie was still watching you. You shrugged.

"Maybe? I don't know. She hasn't said anything to me, so."

"She follows you around like a lovesick puppy, it's genuinely so weird. I've never seen Nat in love before-"

"Woah, slow down. She's not in love with me."

"Come on!" Jackie said, laughing. "You can NOT be that oblivious. Nat practically drools over you all the time whenever you're doing tennis at the courts next door!"

"So? We fuck around. Becoming a thing hasn't been talked about by either of us."

"Tell her that, then," Jackie giggled. "That nutcase is stalking you, I'm serious."

"Stop calling her a nutcase," you glared at her.

"It's just funny," Jackie shrugged. "So the cool, stoner burnout girl fell for the valedictorian, jock, key club president whose parents own a third home in Long Beach."

"Drop it, Jackie," Lottie said from next to you, shaking her head in irritation. God bless Lottie. But Jackie smirked at you again.

"It's just funny. Romeo and Juliet. It's cute, really," she laughed.

"Shut up," you said.

From overhead, the school bell rang, and you stood to gather your things for the final period of the day, bumping into Lottie as she did the same. Jackie spun to you.

“I’m gonna go find Jeff! See you guys at practice.”

“Bye,” Shauna nodded, giving her a warm smile.

The three of you grabbed your stuff and headed for the chemistry lab, turning down the hallway and up the stairs.

“Sorry about her, you know how she gets about Nat,” Shauna said to you, turning as you walked.

You shrugged. “It’s fine. She just needs to take it out on me next time, and not Nat. Nat didn’t do anything wrong.”

“She knows, yeah,” Shauna said, shuffling the books around in her arms so they were easier to hold onto. “You said your dad is back in town, right?”

“Yup. He was in Tokyo for some business or whatever. I don’t know, it’s boring stuff, a merger or something.”

Lottie shuddered. “I still remember when he yelled at us for pieing that old groundskeeper. He's like, scary."

You laughed. "He's not scary. He's just a business dude. No nonsense. And you and I know we were nonsense kids."

"Would he care if I went to the dinner? My parents are having date night and Taissa and Van are busy," Lottie said.

"I mean, I don't think he would care. My mother insisted on making a whole thing out of it. Pretty sure she invited the new neighbours, the Roosevelts."

"Wait, as in-" Lottie stopped, beginning to grin.

"It's not funny," you said, rolling your eyes.

"What? What's wrong with that?" asked Shauna.

"It's nothing, Lottie is being stupid."

"Hey!"

"My mother keeps trying to set me up with their daughter, since she's on the golf team and likes science," you explained to Shauna. "She keeps trying to find me a match in our neighbourhood. Literally almost killed her when I said me and Lottie were just friends."

"Have you told them about Nat?" Shauna said. The three of you turned the corner, walking up to the water fountain you would hang out in front of right before class started. Shauna leaned back against the lockers nearby, and Lottie went for a drink.

"Uh, first of all, they would probably kill me, and second of all, we're not together officially or anything," you shrugged. "We mess around a bit, but we both say it's casual and give each other space. Nat's tough, she knows."

Speak of the devil. From where you stood leaning against a pillar, Nat walked by with some kid you didn't know, shooting a small smile in your direction. You just watched her go, giving her an awkward grimace and looking back to your friends.

===+++===

"Eyes open, Lottie!" Coach Ben yelled from across the field near the bench. You could see Misty and Trevor, the manager for the boys' team, in the distance next to him, watching the scrimmage.

"Here!" She yelled. Lottie spun on her foot, sweeping the ball right from between Daniel DuPont's legs and up to Luke Miller, who was being covered down by a kid you didn't know. He looked around desperately, eyeing anyone she could pass to, finally locking eyes with you and booting it in your direction.

You caught it with your chest, letting it fall and then moving forward until Nat could catch up, Jeremy from your English class hot on her heels. You passed it out to her on the wing, letting her take it up the pitch.

She dribbled it, keeping it away from Carter Avery. He was a real prick, with a nasty sneer while he played, and he kept yelling at her, chasing her down the pitch while she ran. You moved up along with Jackie, ready for Nat to cross it to you, but she couldn't make it.

You watched Natalie push forward, but Laura Lee was nowhere to be found, covered completely by Shauna, who was an amazing defender and kept her completely boxed out. Taissa was on you and Jackie, and any pass in Jackie's direction would've immediately let Taissa run away with it.

Instead, Nat turned to Carter, trying to bounce it off his shoe and out, but it ricocheted, knocking off her own cleats and out. "Out on Natalie!" Coach Martinez yelled. "Natalie, if you're going to pull those tricks it has to work, come on!" He said, throwing up his hands.

She nodded, but Carter looked pissed, stalking over to her. "Play some good soccer, why don't you?" He sneered, coming right up to Nat's face. "Pull that bullshit again and I'll show you what happens."

You rolled your eyes, walking over. "Shut the hell up, Carter. It's your throw in anyways."

Carter Avery leered at you, trying to seem tall. "Got something to say to me, (L/n)?"

You put your hands on your hips, glaring right back at him. "Yeah, maybe I do, Avery. There's a reason the girls are going to nationals and the boys aren't. If you played just as well as you talked shit, maybe it'd be a winning team."

"Fuck off," he said. "I don't need your shit, country club."

"You're gonna get it anyways," you glared at him. "Just as long as you keep being a quivering pussy."

"Bite me," he said back.

"Can we play some soccer? Hellooo?" yelled Jackie from behind you. Carter grunted, but didn't say anything else, grabbing the ball from the ground and stalking towards the sideline. You rolled your eyes but backed up to your position, just behind Nat so you could give her support. Laura Lee came up, ready, and you looked back to Lottie to make sure she was behind you when-

-BAM!

A soccer ball collided right with your face, knocking you right off your feet. If it didn't hurt so damn much you would've been impressed by how good of a throw it was. Instead, you were left looking up at the sky, feeling blood begin to waterfall from your nose.

"Carter!" A voice yelled. "What the fuck!?"

"Oh my god!"

"Jesus Christ!"

"A very worried-looking Jackie was hovering over you, blocking your head from the sun. You saw Lottie behind her in a moment, and then everyone was crowing around in a weird halo of concern and disgust.

Nat elbowed her way through the crowd and was right by your head. "Are you okay?" She asked you, insanely worried. Her blue eyes were shining and distressed, and her blonde hair fell around you again like it did in her bedroom. You managed a weak thumbs up and a smile.

"Yup. Never better," you mumbled in pain, and she laughed, shaking her head.

"So stupid."

"How do I look?" You asked her.

"Covered in bruises, dude," she replied, with a smile. You heard some movement in the background and then you were being made to sit up. It was Misty, right behind you, carrying some nose plugs, bandaids, and a first aid kit.

===+++===

They let you sit out for the rest of the scrimmage for obvious reasons, and you sat right on the patterned blue and yellow tiles that led to the locker rooms with an ice pack against your nose and eye, head resting right up against the wall.

You didn't know what they did with Carter and you didn't particularly care. The pain in your eye and your nose seemed to radiate through your whole body, and you squeezed your eyes shut. According to Misty it was a miracle you had avoided a concussion, but it wasn't a miracle for your nose, which currently sat stuffed with blood-soaked tissues.

From down the hall near the field you heard the heavy metal door open. "Hey," she said. You didn't move, trying to stop more blood from pouring out.

"Hey Nat," you replied.

"Carter is probably getting detention. Everyone knows it was on purpose."

"Coach Martinez can do that?" you asked.

"Apparently. He gave us this whole long speech and pretty much dissed the boys team for not being good. It was funny."

You smiled at the thought, nodding a little bit. "Remind me not to cross Coach Martinez."

"Will do."

"Is practice over?" You asked, opening one eye to look at her.

"Not yet," Nat shook her head. "I volunteered to check on you."

"My hero."

She rolled her eyes at the title, smiling in that cheesy, toothy way she liked to smile. You liked it when she smiled like that.

"Well, Carter's a douche," she said after a moment.

"I know. Kept on contemplating if it was worth it to knee him in the balls."

"You should've. That guy could fuckin' reproduce one day. There could be more, miserable, little clones of himself that other kids will have to put up with." Natalie walked over, sliding down onto the floor with you.

"Tell me how bad it is, would you?"

She winced. "It's definitely a 'black' eye. Your nose is busted, too."

"Great. My mother is gonna throw a giant fit about it, then," you groaned, imagining it now.

"Why?" She asked.

You laughed. "She's supposed to be setting me up tonight. Has this neighbour girl- Julie Roosevelt- picked out and everything for that dinner I told you about. She's not bad, she's at least nice, but I don't-"

You stopped talking when you noticed Natalie had tensed up next to you. She was staring at the opposite wall, looking absolutely beside herself. "She what?"

"She's trying to set me up..." you muttered. There was suddenly the overwhelming sensation you had just said something very very wrong. Nat stood right up, turning around to go back out the doors. "Nat, what's wrong? What did I say?"

She whipped back around to you, eyes watery, her bottom lip quivering a bit, in a way you had never seen Natalie either. "And you're letting her?"

"Um...I mean, I don't really have an excuse."

"Oh, you don't, do you? God, you're such a fucking asshole!"

"What did I do??" You asked her, standing up too.

"You really don't know?"

"No, Nat, I don't."

She shook her head, tears beginning to fall. "Go to hell, (Y/n)." With that she turned around, bursting through the metal doors. You were left in the hallway all alone, watching her go with a deep frown.

"Ahem," cleared a throat from behind you.

You nodded. "I know Lottie. I know."

===+++===

so this took awhile. first non jenna ortega fanfic of mine, so it's probably a little bloated, but i wanted to get it out there because there will definitely be a part two. i like nat so much and i love the show, and there will definitely be more nat and more lottie from me and shauna (?) but next will be a tara carpenter fic

#natalie scatorccio x reader #natalie scatorccio #yellowjackets #nat scatorccio #natalie scatorccio x y/n #nat scatorccio x reader #nat scatorccio x you

[jujutsustraycats]

Hey ish! Your school would be starting in a few days and here a few things I wish someone told me when I was about to start my journey for 11th! Some of these might apply to you too even though the paths I have and you will be taking are completely different.

Next 2 years are gonna teach you a lot. They'll put you through the highest of high and lowest of lows. They'll change you as a person. They'll teach you so much about life (and also how people can be). Things would get overwhelming at times. You wouldn't understand what the fuck is going on at times. A lot of times you'd be left confused and hurt and alone for both, academic and non academic reasons. Also, you'd get a lot of career advice so you need to know how to filter out the useless ones! The best way to check authenticity can be reflect on the achievements of the one giving advice.

Even though your classmates might be in the same stream, you'll realise that everyone has a different story and that, in the worst ways possible too. There'd be times when it'd feel like none of your peers understand your visions and aim for future, there'd be times you wouldn't have a buddy to chat about your life philosophies with who also has the same opinions as yours (but remember to not give up on people as a whole okay? You'd find people you vibe with at the end of the day, you just have to be bold enough to put yourself out there!)

There'd be also times you might end up severely over worked and sleep deprived (but make sure not to drink so much coffee that your hands and shaking and your heart is beating so fast that your body goes into fight and flight mode thinking you're having panic attack lol). You know ish, these 2 years might completely make you or break you, but remember to not give up despite whatever situations you might end up in.

I personally was a several-Olympiad-gold-medalist kinda overachiever till 10th (even in 11th lol, i didn't sit for it in 12th because my priorities changed. And I overlooked it, don't do that. Celebrate your smallest wins and remember to appreciate yourself for the smallest milestones or you'll end up severely burnt out. It has happened to me twice over the span of last 4 years till now.) But even I ended up seeing the greatest academic downfall i ever had in front of my eyes at many times during these 2 years. And you should know that it's okay. A lot of people are going to be tough on you but try your hardest not to be one of them. Being kind to oneself can be difficult but try your best okay? And you said you are a perfectionist aren't you? Take care little dove.

I've seen a lot in these two years too. A lot of your academic experience also depends on what kind of teachers you get and me, personally, oh my teachers were pos and sadists. They'd bully me for the most stupid reasons (haha losers. You said i wouldn't be able to do it? Well. fuck y'all ✨ [you'd have to learn to be indifferent at times and not let their or anyone else's words get through you. Learn to develop a strong self belief.]) and I seriously hope you get better teachers.

But oh ish not every elder is bad, you'll get some amazing teachers whom you'd never want to break ties with. Hold on to them! okay? You'd also get really amazing friends who you'd know are going to last a lifetime and would be there for you in your toughest times. Hold on to them as well! Some bastards are too good to let go. Ha!

And also, in return, remember to be kind to your peers because you don't know what they might be going through (not to scare you but I had 2 of my friends who'd almost commit suicide, so yeah it can get scary for both, you and them at times but remember to heal them with your love and support. It's an age you all need each other!)

It's gonna be fun, full of lessons, scary, exciting and adventurous at the same time. You'd hate it sometimes and you'd love it sometimes, but despite all MASTI NAHI RUKNI CHAHIE!!! You won't ever get these 2 years back so make sure you don't walk out without making some amazing memories!! Vandalise stuff, copy the sign of principal to escape the school, bunk the classes (to study or not, your choice) have deepest conversations and most light hearted jokes and banters the exact other day, sleep in the class, eat from under the bench, give impromptu speeches on seminars and farewells, break rules....whatever ish. Whatever gets your heart pumping and adrenaline rushing. Because while it's the starting of peak years of your career, you should remember to be a human and have fun at times too. It's okay. It's normal. It's needed. One shouldn't be guilty about it.

Getting less than perfect marks on a few tests isn't gonna harm you as much as you think it will. The ones who love you will continue to love you. The ones who admire you will continue to admire you. The ones who support you will continue to support you.

Baki, main hun idhar hi ❤️ kabhi bhi kuch problem ho toh AA Jana apni badi behen se advice lene, I'll try my best to help you out. As I said the other day, the pain and trauma these 2 years have put me through has only served to make me more empathetic and protective of my juniors so if you come to me with loads of rants i won't say cliché things like "Stay strong". I'd first and foremost listen to you and simply that. I'd listen to you for as long as you want me to. Because sometimes you'd simply just wanna be heard ❤️

I'll try my best to be there for you! If nobody got you, I do! Remember that, okay? ✨

... Dear gods, I don't even know what to say. You made me cry. Like, tears actually sprung up in my eyes. Happy ones, though. Don't worry too much.

I'm not one for physical affection but I would've hugged you so hard if I were there. Thank you. This genuinely made my day.

#you're so sweet chechi thank you thank you for taking the time to send me this and to offer your support #never thought 🥹 would be me irl but here i am #hugging you tight rn virtually hope you know that #and i want to say that i'm here for support too okay? it's a two way thing. i'm also here to listen. #asks: nami! #familia nami #ish's favorites

[steifel]

Ok hear me out I haven't seen anyone else say this but here are some trans Johnny head canons

(Yes i know the outsiders takes place in 1967 and so none of this would happen but these are my HCs so shut up)

When Johnny came out to the gang nobody was surprised it just kind of made sense

Two bit had a lot of questions (he was very confused)

It took almost no time at all before he was just "Johnny". And they almost forgot that he wasn't always 'one of the boys'

Dally doesn't understand at all but he is super supportive of whoever Johnny wants to be

He tried to ask questions to understand but he noticed that it started to make Johnny uncomfortable so he dropped it (he doesn't need to understand to support)

Johnny and Dally are like that tik tok audio thats like "this is my friend Valentina she's an ally talk Valentina" "ally"

Two bit occasionally makes insensitive jokes it doesn't really bother Johnny anymore but it pisses Dally off

Dally has punched Two bit at least a couple times over these 'jokes'

"Gosh im sorry Johnny you know i didn't mean nothing by it". "I know Two bit". "dont let it fucking happen again it will be a hell of a lot worse"

Actually Dally has beat up quite a few people just for looking at johnny the wrong way

"Who the hell do you think your looking at.. Do you want to live?... Get the fuck owuta here man"

Johnny told Ponyboy first

He was crying because he was really scared to lose Pony

Pony was like "ok... Can we go to the movies now?

Ponyboy helped Johnny tell the rest of the gang and Johnny really appreciates having his friend there with him

Johnnys parents refuse to accept him which is a big reason for why they treat him the way they do

The whole gang hates them for it but especially Darry. He can't fathom something like that making him hate Ponyboy or Sodapop and they aren't even his kids

AN: i have more of these if anybody is interested. Also please excuse any spelling or grammar mistakes i have real bad dyslexia 😊

#the outsiders #johnny cade #dallas winston #dally winston #ponyboy curtis #transmasc #transgender

[cluescorner]

I cannot imagine being a Damian stan right now. You've got both Zdarsky's bullshit (where he clearly doesn't give a shit about your boy) and The Boy Wonder (where Juni Ba clearly gives so many shits about your boy) coming out on the same day. The whiplash must be insane. I hope y'all get some nice warm soup for your efforts jfc

#damian wayne #damian al ghul #damian al ghul wayne #batman #batfamily #for all of the issues that come with having Steph as your fave having too much wild shit happening at once is never one of them #btw I quite like The Boy Wonder Issue 1. wow shocker an artist and writer who I have liked everything they've ever done #has once again written something that I am enjoying with art that makes me want to be part of its world. #it's almost like Juni Ba is really freaking talented or something #like I have some problems with it but it seems like many of those are part of the point. Damian is learning that his siblings are more #three-dimensional than he realized and that is part of this 'coming of age' story merged with fairytale #so I can't be mad at the oversimplistic defining of Dick and Jason and Tim until the conclusion of the series. that might be the point. #I hope that the series will address Steph as a Robin but if not then frankly it's not an issue unique to this series. #I'll be annoyed and disappointed but ultimately roll with it like I am with Babsgirl being here. There's too much good stuff here to get #hung up on shit that seems to be almost an editorial mandate at this point. at least that's where I'm at. #I am also very sorry that Chip Zdarsky is massacring your boy. he has 'X (Tim for him) is the best Robin so everyone else must suck' diseas #where a writer really likes one specific Robin and in trying to uplift them demeans all of the other Robins. instead of like...just writing #for that one character only or alternatively not demeaning the other characters in order to make his blorbo look good #it's wild because I actually think his writing for Tim is pretty solid. but he's not writing a Tim series. he's writing a Batman series. #and if you are going to write a Batman series and include other Batfamily members you need to actually write them well. #instead of assigning them like 2 personality traits while Tim gets to be a whole character #I accept that behavior in fanfic where I have lesser standards because it's fucking free. not a comic run that wants me to pay #tens of dollars in order to understand what the fuck is going on. he's been going for a while now it's gotta be a lot of money. #I can buy Steelworks with that money. I can see John Henry and Natasha Irons in a trade. Fuck you Chip. #it's why it takes such a special person to write a good ensemble story/a good Batfamily story. you have to be good at writing a LOT #of different characters. which I don't think most people are. I sure as hell am not. I can write maybe 3 at a time confidently well. #and you also have to give all of them at least SOME love or else people will be upset that you aren't focusing on their fave #and also the writing as a whole will suffer. Chip Zdarsky is a pretty good Tim writer. I'd maybe read a Tim solo written by him. #I would not read a story focusing on multiple characters that I like written by Chip Zdarsky. because every character who isn't Tim #is at least a bit weak/inconsistent/out of character INCLUDING FUCKING BATMAN. THE NO. 1 GUY MOST ARE HERE FOR

[horsemage]

I think we should bring back basic etiquette lessons such as shutting the fuck up when you’re watching a movie in a group that is not exclusively your friend group 🙂

#welcome to another Mick Airs Out Their Grievances and by god is it a VERY long one #prob best if u don't expand the tags #am I being maybe a bit meaner about this than I would be for any other movie? maybe but pac rim is one of my favorite movies of all time #so I think I get a pass on this one. #one of the groups on campus is hosting movie nights & I went to this one bc I've only ever watched pac rim on my laptop and wanted to watch #it on a larger screen. yay yippee I love this movie! #there r maybe 10-ish of us in this room and a three person friend group is sitting on the couch one of whom has seen the movie and two who #have not. okay so far so normal. #and then the movie starts and they won't! stop! fucking! commentating! the whole fucking movie!!! I don't have a problem with doing that #when I'm in just my friend group because I know that I can tell my friend to stop talking or pause the movie or whatnot but not when I'm in #a large group w people I'm not good friends with ffs #and the comments aren't even funny or anything they're all oh this is JUST like in iron widow!! oh they're SO gay and autistic!!! and #they're talking so loud about this that it completely drowns out the movie audio which has already been turned up a few times #like. be considerate!! some of us want to yknow actually listen to what's going on and not whatever bullshit you're saying #I nearly walked out three or four times before I actually wound up doing so #I may have been a bit of a bitch at the end but I don't care. I got up to leave because this was not an enjoyable environment and one of #them offered to turn the movie down if it was too loud. this caught me a bit off guard since I expected them to still be so wrapped up in #their convo and. well. I may have said 'it's not the movie that's too loud' before closing the door #this also reminds me a lot about my issues with online shipping culture and it bleeding through into how we interact with media irl #this is probably heavily influenced by my aromanticism but I'm so sick of people constantly reading romantic relationships into everything #AND placing more importance on those relationships than any other form. I don't mind romance in media. I think if done right it has great #emotional impact on a story but when a movie is running and when other people who may not want to hear it are in the room watching it too #is not the time to be loudly saying 'he's autistic!' 'they're in love!' 'she has a crush on him!' #I have my own interpretations of the movie some of which agree with what they said and some of which don't but that's beside the point of #knowing how to coexist politely in public #anyway. I think they were awful and annoying and they ruined my night out. #I think I'm just so incredibly mad about this because I love the movie and I was looking forward to watching it in a group of people who #found it cool as well while still having some modicum of politeness #I almost wish I had been meaner but that's the extreme annoyance talking I think #hater hour over love u guys bye

[poisonousquinzel]

sorry but if you actually think Cancel Culture ™ is a thing then you're kinda a dumb fuck. Cancel culture isn't real, holding people accountable for their actions is a thing, but this whole narrative around Canceling that's evolved over the past few years isn't real. It's never been an actual thing. Its just a fear mongering tactic to further vilify the groups who were being harmed in the first place and victimize the person who did something wrong.

Your fav being called out for playing an antisemitic video game that directly gives profits to a hugely influential TERF, who's said openly she sees getting profits / royalty cheques from her franchise as endorsements for her bigotry, is not "cancel culture". It's called the consequences for your actions.

You have every right to do and play whatever the fuck you want, but that goes both ways. If you go out of your way to build up and financially support these people who're openly advocating to take away trans people's rights, then you get to deal with people not trusting you because of it. You get to deal with trans and Jewish folks not feeling safe around you, not wanting to be around you or not wanting to talk to you. Because you have shown that you care more about nostalgia and temporary personal emotional gratification over the wellbeing and safety of those communities in the real world.

People have explained why supporting HL is wrong, people have explained why it's harmful, people have explained in detail the issues with this situation. You. Just. Don't. Care. You don't listen, or read, because in the end, you can't be bothered enough to put in the effort of having 1 moment of critical thinking.

It's not that folks don't have arguments or evidence, it's that it clearly does not matter to you. It's that the value of an antisemitic game full of one horrific thing after another is worth more to you than the real, living breathing people who are going to be, and have been, affected by this.

You come across as a bad person. Not because some person on Twitter determined you must be, but because your actions speak far louder. And they're screaming red flags.

I'm not going to argue with you over your own bad decisions and life choices. You've made your bed and are mad that people are telling you to lie in it.

#not dc #i need to not focus on this but it makes me so annoyed #and like the constant 'well hp has been a comfort thing of mine since childhood!' like bitch do you think Harry Potter was a niche little #thing???? #a fucking lot of us had Harry Potter as something important to us growing up #i remember getting all the legos sets for Christmas in 2011. getting the lego video games and i loved them! #but. that. doesn't. matter. #we're not children anymore and she's not on our side. #JKR made it clear that a large portion of her previous fan base are not welcome around her and that frankly #that she would rather them be dead. #she's a horrendous human being who is causing so much pain and anguish for communities that're just trying to exist #and its built upon the empire she crafted. the one full of stereotypes and offensive imagery and tone-deaf themes. #we aren't kids anymore and it's shameful to gloss over what she is actively doing Right Now because You have fond memories of her world. #a lot of people don't get the luxury of pretending like she's not an awful person because they're the ones she's harming #they're the ones she's spreading hateful rhetoric and stereotypes about. the ones that she's pushing to get their rights taken away. #just put down her shitty fuckhng series and read another book. #i promise you there's hundreds upon hundreds of better ones out there with better plots and better world building. #anti harry potter #anti jkr #anti hogwarts legacy #tw transphobia mention #tw antisemitism mention #figure I'll tw tag just in case ya got it filtered 💖

[navree]

in terms of how pervasive the fanon perception of tim drake as this neglected/borderline abused child of the horrific drake parents who are the worst human beings to ever live, i think it largely comes from the fact that i would bet money that 90% of the people perpetuating it just didn't have two parents who both worked.

#personal #the other ten percent comes from people trying to make him marginally interesting by pretending he's suffered more than jesus #(he hasn't he isn't even the character who's suffered most or second most in his own family and it also doesn't work) #(cuz he's still boring) #but like every time people bring up 'oh the drakes went on TRIPS for their JOBS how AWFUL' i give the most intense side eye #there was a period from when i was around 8 to 13 where my dad went on VERY long business trips for his work #like months long business trips #because again both my parents worked but he earned more money #or the fact that i spent a lot of summers with my sister and babysitters before my mom went into university teaching #because neither of them had the free time because they were WORKING #like i think these people just aren't used to having both mom and dad have jobs they need to do #plus the bit where they go hard on jack drake in particular makes me laugh because 'oh he stopped tim from being robin' yeah no shit! #if i found out my kid was robin i'd stop him! #a) unlike his predecessors or immediate successors tim has no internal drive that necessitates robin in his life #b) the last one very famously died! on the job! violently! and it turned batman into a crazy person! #as a parent jack drake is perfectly within his rights to not want his kid to be in very real and present danger #that's not him being abusive that's him being very normal #also i don't even get it because beyond people not understanding the concept of 'parents with jobs' #have some of you guys ever even read tim-centric pre-52 comics? #he doesn't mind his parents' work at all and he likes that his house has a bunch of cool artifacts and the way it's lowkey a museum #just make an oc at this point my god because it makes the tags and ao3 a fucking nightmare honestly

[watchmakermori]

cannot emphasise enough that some of u need to put the term ‘queerbaiting’ back on the shelf until you know what it means. i saw someone in a youtube comment yesterday accusing genshin streamer zy0x of queerbaiting because he *checks notes* jokes and talks about finding men attractive. this comment had a lot of upvotes. like please do explain to me how a Real Human Being joking about wanting an anime husband is bad or harmful to the queer community in any way. some of you think queerbaiting means ‘this person acts queer sometimes but i can’t tell if they mean it or not and that annoys me’ and it really shows

#miscellaneous #it's baffling to me #he's just a dude vibing??? it's not like he's known as some Big Queer Content Creator or whatever the fuck. he's just a guy #it's fucked up thinking because like. a lot of people who aren't out or who aren't SURE about their sexuality will joke like this #making people confirm or prove their sexuality so they're allowed to behave in certain ways is fucked up #especially when a lot of queer ppl start out thinking they're straight #reeks of biphobia too #on an unrelated note i doubt zyox is completely straight anyway lmao #the dude talks about 'bi meta' and literally never shuts up about attractive men and women in genshin #his sexuality is his business. but the fact ppl think he's queerbaiting rather than just like...expressing himself and having fun #wild shit

[finexbright]

instead of listening to a banger of a no skip album, you all are out here having a discourse about something that's not even valid in this case. just listen to the album and enjoy how hard it slaps

#like sorry but i'm honestly fucking tired of seeing ''his team isn't doing enough'' #honestly his team is doing great in terms of rolling out promo and everything around it #just because his style of promo isn't the kind that other artists do doesn't mean they're not doing it correctly #like. louis' music and genre appeals to a completely different crowd and he's doing promo according to that #i don't know what you expect but his ''team'' has actually done a lot #like trying to get his music picked up on tiktok and all the twitter/ig promo all of it has been great #i know louis was sabotaged before but i do truly think he has much much more control over his music and promo this time around #so when you all say ''louis' team isn't doing promo'' you really want to say that they aren't doing YOUR standard level of promo #like. he did listening parties. he did appearances and performances. he was active on social media #and then he broke his hand and couldn't do the signings and his shows and STILL they're pushing the album hard on social media #i know we all love him and love this album but there needs to be strategies in place to get it off the ground #and it has!! the album is doing great numbers #the day you all stop comparing louis' success to other artists' success is the day you'll actually be free #you're all being so fucking irrelevant by saying all of this and doing the open letter bullshit #stop acting like you know better than louis and his actual team when it comes to things #like i know we have loads of people in the fandom who actually do know things because they work in actual marketing/promotional careers #but even then. NONE of us know louis or his team or anything about their plans. stop acting like you know better #stop acting like they're not doing things correctly #and i don't want to be rude but i KNOW this is coming from people who weren't around during walls promo and are just basing this off of #other artists promo strategies #when you compare walls promo and success to this you will realise how much active effort his team is putting into it #so yeah. just shut up and enjoy the album

[devondespresso]

just needed to say but its 100% ok to write characters out-of-character.

if you craft a version of a character that is completely different from the canon character its not necessarily bad writing and that fact alone doesn't make you a bad writer in any capacity.

its ok to use a preexisting character as a starting place to write your own characters even if you're not changing names or changing a lot about them. I've read and adored a bunch of fics where the characters are definitely not like they are in canon and if i saw that version of the character in the show id be so confused. but I'm decidedly not watching the show, im reading your fic and im completely immersed in your version of the character.

using characters as a vessel to make your own story based on your own experiences is not in any way inferior to writing fix-its of canon or adhering exclusively to canon characterizations. not everyone will enjoy it or read it because no tropes or ways of writing will appeal to everyone, but there will always be someone that enjoys your work and appreciates what you do.

writing is fucking difficult no matter which angle you choose to take. and theres no trope or plot or personal experience that you can't write for any character because there are no laws of writing that say you have to stick to your source material.

its still a good idea to tag if you're characters don't adhere to canon characterizations just because like any trope your reader wants to be able to know what they'll be reading beforehand (and it'll help clarify that the mischaracterization is not an accident you forgot to edit but just how you chose to write this character)

basically your writings are still good and valid even if it wouldn't happen in the show. in some cases "they wouldn't do that in the show" is a damn compliment.

#i wrote this with steddie in mind but it applies to most anything methinks #because i canon characterization for steve and fanon don't always line up but that's not a problem #i love that we like exploring different possibilities for his character from what his parents are like to his relationship with the party #and this applies to smut too it doesnt fucking matter how you wanna write it cause we havent seen them have gay sax so its not like we know #and even if we did it doesn't matter! write them however you want dammit #and especially when writing about serious stuff like if you're projecting your experience with eds or chronic pain or abuse or depression #onto a character who doesn't explicitly have that experience #sharing your experience realistically does more good for you and the readers than trying to make the character canon-compliant #and not to say everyone has to like the thongs you write. no writing will make everyone happy. even the most critical acclaimed works dont #make everyone happy (there are people who don't like arcane for crying out loud and thats the most exceptional/adored show I've ever seen) #steddie tumblr #because those are the only fic i read these days #and we have a lot of different popular tropes that aren't canon compliant and i want you guys to know you're epic and cool #fic writing #writing rambles #writing rant #writing positivity #devon thinks sometimes

[prismatoxic]

hanamusa artist: (puts screenshots of the wiki pages for jessie and delia under several comics to prove their ages are 25 and 29)

me: surely this isn't necessary. it's in your FAQ, and people can't really be--

me: (looks at the comments of one such post)

me: (look at the comments of yet another one)

me: i think i give the internet too much credit sometimes

#the amount of people freaking the fuck out about delia having ash when she was 19 is doing permanent damage to my psyche #i don't know how to tell you this. but women have children young A LOT #sometimes because they want to and sometimes when they don't #acting like it's some moral evil isn't fucking helping anybody #like anti/fancop/etc mindsets are bad enough but this is such a weird thing to be nitpicky over when it happens irl ALL THE TIME #my mom was 33 when she had me but serzh's mom WAS 18 or 19 iirc #and i went to an independent study high school bc of my mental health and let me tell you #all the pregnant teens who can't/won't get abortions that you think aren't an issue #ARE IN THOSE SCHOOLS. #i made friends with one she was very nice. felt bad about what she was going through but it wasn't my business #like has the internet really poisoned people's brains so much that they just up and forgot pregnancy is a thing that can happen at any time #and a lot of women can't abort/don't want to abort/are convinced not to abort/think they can handle a baby at 19 #maybe this isn't surprising. i don't know. i really didn't think this was an issue people had. #they're not even making disparaging comments about ash's deadbeat dad who would. you know. be the one who knocked her up at 19. #like it reeks of a moral judgement on DELIA? ARE YOU HIGH? #remind me to not read post comments #tox.txt

[spite-and-waffles]

"But it's not like that in canon at all!" ok but have you considered I. Don't. Care

#it's necessary to have people who can check things against canon and to call out flanderized and one-dimensional fanon portrayals #but sometimes fanon interpretations are more fun for people and their quality entirely subjective #also it's COMICS. It's all fanfiction! Just licensed to a company who pay some mediocre white men to write it #people who haven't picked up a back issue about the character they're writing even if they're literally paid to do it #Sometimes this accidentally ends up making the story and character multi-faceted. Other times it's just a constant butchering #We all have the same right to do whatever we want with our characters #there's no 'right way' to portray anyone. There's just good storytelling and bad storytelling #canon matters when you're doing META #That's where fanon is annoying as all fuck because you need to show your work #And even then bad faith readings exist. Which is different from simply interpreting things differently #meta discourse is supposed to be fun too #Not a game of one-upping each other and behaving like this is a PhD program #where you don't get to have an opinion if you haven't read everything ever #that one popular fandom blog got in my teeth so much because she was not just checking fanon against canon #but imposing her interpretation on everyone like it was fact too #I really think too much canon just makes you lose perspective about yourself #We aren't all here for the same things and that's quite alright #Also those with white queer brainrot seem to think that stanning the correct blorbo is activism #anyway if your main aim in reading comics is to dunk on other people's headcanons I suggest you get a life #It's high-key hilarious if antis reblog this. Absolutely no sense of irony in that lot #DCU #DC comics #Batfamily #Bat meta #DC meta #canon #fanon #fandom discourse #spite waffle

[phlyaros]

im gonna be real anon I don't care about label shit ship discourse I care about if real people are getting hurt and ONE reblog from someone being jokingly aggressive on the subject isn't enough to convince me that people are getting hurt when there's more evidence to the contrary. you've put me in a shitty situation here and I don't want to engage with it. please just ask people what they actually think next time before you go throwing your assumptions at other people.

#i trust enough that most of my mutuals understand the nuance needed of media depiction of unsavory subjects. #if i'm wrong then I'm wrong. okay. thank you. #i hate the dichotomy i hate the lack of nuance in this discussion I want people to actually talk to each other #I want people to realize that you can respect people with different opinions than you if they aren't actually hurting anyone #I'm literally. someone who was alone with me a lot as a kid is in prison for CP/solicitation. I think if anyone can say that media- #depiction of fucked up shit that really happens is more nuanced than 'x is bad so it shouldnt exist' #you cant do that in real life. you cant make something not exist. just because something fictional contains it doesnt mean it condones it. #im so tired. im so tired. why wasnt this a dm. i dont really want to have this discussion publicly. #i can think things are gross but understand that there's nuance to depiction and just because I don't like it doesn't mean those people- #-don't deserve to have something that understands them. #not everyone is good at actually. being mature enough to handle that nuance. when they try. people can be wrong #and if people ARE weird I can just not engage with them. there's. I can decide for myself! #and now I'M stuck in my brain is insane and. as if! as if people always reblog things they 100% agree with! #im so tired. im so tired. im in pain and people are messaging me about a singular reblog from six months ago on someone else's blog. #i understand being cautious i really do but thats like insane behavior. why are you putting this on me. why didn't you just talk to me. #fucked up things happen and people deserve to be understood. okay. even if i don't like it. there is no right answer. there is no world- #where all pain can be avoided. saving private ryan made vet suicides skyrocket. did you know that #but it also understood those people. yknow. and there's more people living that it understood too. #there's just so much nuance that's thrown out when you cover everything you don't like with a blanket. okay #it's more complicated. it's more complicated. please. #in my mind it's far stranger to assume everyone is out there giggling and twiddling their fingers thinking about in/cest #than it is to just assume they don't until proven otherwise. #im so tired. just block me if you don't understand where I'm coming from. I don't care about ship disco/urse and i dont want to live- #constantly worried about what other people think about shit that has no right answer. #everyone is innocent until proven guilty and one reblog of a joking aggressive post isnt enough for me. sorry. #phlyaros' nonsense #euurgh. #welcome to the internet where we judge people based on one reblogged joke and nothing else even if it contradicts us #what a perfect encapsulation of what I don't like about dichotomy argument #tw suicide

[buysomecheese]

I want a dissertation on brotherhood in relation to birth order and senses of responsibility focusing on Eric Matthews and his relationship to school, sexuality, *homo*sexuality, and masculinity and how he projects/protects Cory through all of this and I want it NOW!

(Lots of fun little unorganized thoughts in tags <3)

#I feel like I could hella write that this summer #hmmm #thinking about what I'll want to major in starting fall '24 and I'll go into medicine eventually but an english major... looking pretty nic #for now at least #this specific topic is because I Love Eric Matthews like I'm only in s2 but he's so. he loves his siblings so so so much and it's so obviou #I've heard there's some contention btwn him and his father and ofc I've heard about Eric and Jack and AUGH it's gonna give me SO MUCH- #-material to work with! his relationship with Feeny is just starting to become what I've seen people talk about and! there are So many- #-implications with it I just!! #he's clearly such a good role model for Cory and very much wants to protect/guide him from some of the lesions in guidance allowed by their #-parents #(I'm an older brother and I See how much more my younger brother gets away with and I wasn't as good about it as Eric but I have tried-) #(-coparenting before and Eric is just so much more subtle/helpful with it. our age gaps are different which is def relevant but jfdhbdj) #clearly his failings in school act as a buffer for Cory's; clearly he's trying to watch out for Cor falling into the same dating traps- #-(they keep mirroring? hello??) clearly there's something abt friendship models as well #and we all know that shory is SO homoerotic and while his parents aren't like homophobes it's def Eric who's making jokes and treating it- #-so normally (esp! for a 90s show) that is makes me wonder how his friendships have been shaped by his attitudes towards platonic (?) male- #-sensuality/physicality. how his parents had acted in the past that Cor is unaware of (they are 4-5 yrs apart) that fucked up Eric and how- #-he's trying to protect Cor and how A&A are letting it slide more bc of how it fucked Eric. a lot of this is wishful projecting oops #(A&A is Amy & Alan) #and Eric is just so. comfortably masculine like he's such a little guy augh #all of the men in this show are so Generally positively masculine like even Harley is like that- he's amused by these little 7th graders- #-who can't seem to leave them alone and he threatens them a lot but after he saw Eric sticking up for Cor (+ Mr. Turner) he seems to- #-respect the whole family a lot more. and his respect/caring for TK is insane and his Freddie+Joey (clearly in love idc) are simply allowed #-to exist and are protected and supported by him- Harley (the closest we've seen to toxic masculinity so far barring maybe Alan but idk) #and don't even get me STARTED on Mr. Turner and Mr. Feeny ugh. those two + Cor OH SHIT they are the maid the mother the crone but men lowke #motifs of 3 (we started Brodeck's Report in eng today) and mirrors and foreshadowing etc etc #anyways that's why I'd focus on Eric bc I can't stop thinking abt EVERYONE and that would be Too long of an essay #parallels btwn Jason (or Jack we'll see)/Eric and Shawn/Cory could SO work with that #would not bring in GMW though that would also be Too long of an essay #pavloving myself into loving analysis of media bc of IB english <3 stockholm type beat

[jankwritten]

first psychiatry appointment done. feeling....weird about it.

(venting in the tags. cw for what might be transphobia but i'm not entirely sure lmao)

#vent post #tw vent post #she prescribed zoloft which alright whatever i expected that #but what got to me/rubbed me the wrong way was how she responded to me saying i was trans #she didn't ask me my pronouns or my gender identity. she jumped right into 'when did you first know you were a boy' #and i was already kind of messed up at that point (crying about other stuff) so it caught me off guard and I froze #like. i'm not a boy. i didn't say i was a boy. #but i didn't correct her and didn't get the chance to LATER because when I said 'well I figured it out in like 7th-8th grade' #she started talking about how MOST people figure out they're trans between the ages of 4-5 and how there's a lot of #''''''social pressure'''''' nowadays WHATEVER THAT MEANS?? #and i was like. well okay. fuck me I guess my experiences aren't valid then?? #and then she got kind of awkward about it and moved on so i never got the chance to actually. explain my gender identity #idk. the more i think about it the angrier i get. both at myself for not speaking up and her for saying that kind of shit at all #anyways i'm hoping she has nothing to do with my transition when I go to the endocrin people and talk to them abt it in July #and like she was nice and kind about pretty much everything else. it was just that one thing. #i also feel weird because i overheard the secretary guy tell somebody over the phone that she doesn't like to prescribe #stimulants even to people who have previously been diagnosed with ADHD which. ???? isn't that. the treatment for ADHD??? #which makes me nervous because EYE am going to get tested for ADHD and other such potential neurodivergencies and like. #is she not going to prescribe meds for them if I do have those things?? and what if the testing comes back and I AM autistic #is she going to invalidate that too because there's so many people online who think they're autistic nowadays??? #this all on top of the fact that i had a massive massive panic attack trying to find parking downtown where her office is so I was #already fraazzled and out of it going into the appointment lmao #ahem. so anyway. today has been so rough and I want to sleep for 60000 years. #OH OH OH OH AND WHEN I WAS LIKE 'yeah i took a 10mg thc gummy once but it gave me a massively bad panic attack' #she was like. 'good! I'm glad you reacted like that' and ??? what the hell? that also kinda took me aback. like. wtf?? #why would you be glad that I had a panic attack so bad I almost called 911 and got myself taken to a hospital. like. hello.