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pandoraroid · 2 days

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redacted filipino hcs & thoughts! lol

mostly about shaw pack + vamps + guy&honey

inpsired by @erial-c nahiya akong itag ka pero hiiii po

the trivia and translations are probably not accurate 🧍‍♀️please forgive my very scattered brain thoughts

darlin probably does arnis. it's why they fight like a menace 😈 sam has never known peace since he's seen em wield an ital

arnis - a ph martial art

itak - a bolo sword(?)

asher doesn't call milo "tol" bc he's not tall /j

"tol" is like the equivalent of "dude" as in a way of calling your friend

lovely & darlin would probably call vincent & sam their asawang (gets niyo ba asawa + aswang)

asawa means spouse or wife or husband

aswang is a ph mythological creature. different sources tell different things but what is mostly agreed upon is that (1) they're nocturnal (2) they usually pretend to be humans in the day time if not (3) they hide in the woods (4) they prey on children, pregnant women (specifically for their unborn child), and maybe new borns. they often get lumped with vampires though i'm not too sure how accurate that is.

aspins have a very special place in darlin's heart. sam's cabin in the woods usually have attract lots of them and they never had the heart to turn them away. in a way too, they know what it's like to being wild, dirty, street dog.

aspin - a dog breed in the ph that is sort of a mix of other breeds. they often get a bad rep for being street dogs and not having a particular breed.

vincent n his cars get featured a lot in those carspotting around manila tiktoks. whenever lovely finds em they make sure to send those to vincent lol

(this is me also hoping that vincent gets to keep at least few of them when they leave the house of solaire)

not entirely sure how the entire mate thing would translate into ph culture but even with all that david & asher would insist on doing things properly before marriage - they would mamanhikan to their partner's parents respectively hehehe

mamanhikan or pamamanhikan is a like a traditional practice of going to the fiancee's family's house and asking for their hand in marriage lol.

whenever they drive down shaw boulevard, the pack would turn to david and go "taga dito ka di ba?" or something to that effect HAHAHAHHA

"taga-dito ka 'di ba?" = "you're from (around) here, right?"

angel know it's general cleaning morning whenever david is blasting opm songs or old timey songs around their house.

asher would take panliligaw very seriously!!!!! magpapaalam sa magulang lagi ni baabe paglalabas sila!!! aabangan niya after work si baabe tapos "sabay na raw sila umuwi" galawan mo asher talbot !!!! dyan ka magaling !!!! and ofc it never stopped kahit naging sila na ni baabe :)))

panliligaw or ligaw is a more traditional pre-dating courting stage in a relationship. lol

marie has definitely said to david & asher & milo & darlin at some point na "kakaselpon niyo yan". it doesn't matter that they're adults.

"kakaselpon niyo yan" = "it's because of that (damn) phone"

this one is a bit more in general: vampire houses have THE filipino family drama. territory/progeny disputes? grudges? backstabbing? been there done that.

speaking of vamps: pre-turning, sam was once an altar boy (darlin: hahaha samkristan)

speaking of sam (again): pre-turning, he has a picture in baguio, riding a horse & wearing a cowboy hat. when darlin found it they couldn't stop staring at it for a loong while.

sweetheart LOVES singing. marie loves having them over for karaoke.

marie would drag milo's ahh every night for simbang gabi.

simbang gabi - mass service for the nine nights leading up to christmas eve.

guy's filipino nickname would be "totoy"

"totoy" is another way of refering to a younger male. addtionally, it's also often used as a euphism for a dick HAHAJAHA

guy definitely has a tiktok acct tapos don siya nagpaparinig kay honey HAHAHAHA lagi niyang kinakanta "crush" by tweens of pop

guy always does those cheesy, poetry pick up line jokes to honey like:

"cheese, cheese, cheese. gusto kita i-keese (read: kiss)"

"mga 6 out of 10. medyo pilit yung rhyme"

"honey naman 😭😓"

translation:

"cheese, cheese, cheese. i want to give you a k-eese."

"a 6 out of 10. the rhyming was a bit forced."

"honey, c'mon 😭😓."

guy and honey are definitely oa x nonchalant pairings but may i also suggest na they are jeje x pogi typings. they both definitely have kanal humor though HAHAHA

- after returning to the pack, darlin couldnt help but cry tear up after marie called them "anak" again

anak = child

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somegrumpynerd · 2 days

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What kinda style do you think Nightmare would paint in? Like do you think he'd have something more classical? Maybe realism? old timey stuff? Or impressionism maybe, I feel like he'd enjoy painting outside

I wanna hear your thoughts on this!

Hm yes yes, I definitely have thoughts about this (<- failed their art exam and very quickly googled painting styles lol)

If I'm understanding what I've read right, I think he'd be into realism or impressionism, I can see him spending ages on lots of little details in a picture. I could definitely see him painting outside though! It's easier to just set up in a secluded area than get anyone to look normal while the king of negativity stares at them for a few hours lol

It kind of goes hand in hand with the idea that he documents aus as a hobby as well I guess, like maybe he tries to paint little scenes of certain aus that stick out to him or just to keep as reference in case anything happens to them. Maybe Horror has a little painting in his room of his snowdin to help when he gets homesick?

He definitely doesn't have several paintings hidden in a closet somewhere of his own au before the incident, with a big tall apple-filled tree and a little yellow flag around the trunk and two yellow and purple dots nearby that are probably just a mistake didn't mean to add those don't read into that

Also not that I read your tags on that post but imagine him trying to do a family portrait. First problem is none of them will sit still. Okay that's a lie Cross probably would stand completely still for hours he has royal guard training, but the others are definitely not. I give it 10 minutes at most before Killer's annoying Dust into trying to kill him, Horror probably forgets what they're doing after an hour and starts walking off and has to be called back. At the end of it all he miraculously has a painting but immediately gets hit with "hey wait this is just us!! why aren't you in it? D:" as if he was supposed to go stand behind them and paint himself somehow??

About a week after he hangs it up, he finds somebody has drawn a little cartoonish version of him and taped it onto the painting like he was in it too and he pretends it doesn't make him as happy as it does.

#UTDR #UTMV #Ask #Pigeonstab #Sorry if this makes no sense I'm a fake art fan I don't know all the painters #But I think he does landscapes and maybe dramatic scenes #Like maybe he does illustrations of important events from aus for documentation purposes #Also after a truce do you think he would ask Ink about how Cross's au looked so he could try and paint him a picture of it?#Whether he gets it right or not Cross WILL cry #I also hc that he steals nice art and books from aus they're terrorising #Like a dragon but his hoard is all art and literature #It also makes it harder to tell which things he actually painted/ wrote in the castle

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training4theapocalypse · 3 months

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PLEASE do what Scots actually say I’m so curious

Soap x Reader Scottish Dialogue Inspo

To celebrate Burns Night, here are some realistic smutty Scottish terms and some general stuff to do with relationships. Feel free to use this if you find it helpful 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿

Disclaimer: my tiny country is made up of countless accents and Soap is canonically from Kilmarnock but his voice actor is from Elgin so who TF knows what he’d actually say.

I also don’t think you need to write in Scots either - I’m Scottish and I don’t (unless am absolutely ragin aboot somethin’) but I can see why you’d want to for Soap’s dialogue.

Behave yersel’

This is easy - it’s just ‘behave yourself’ but it can be used as a smutty admonishment.

“I’ll sleep on the couch - you take the bed.”

“Behave yersel’,” says Soap, unfastening his belt.

Bonny / Bonnie

Spell it whichever way you like. This is primarily an adjective but I see it used as a noun in fic. All. The. Time. It was used a long time ago as a noun - and maybe it still is further north - but where I / Soap are from it's really only used as an adjective these days.

“What do you think of the new recruit, Captain?”

“Aye, she’s bonny, awryt.”

But use this sparingly - and only to describe a person as a whole and not individual body parts. (e.g. you wouldn’t say “Your tits are so bonny.”)

Darlin’ / Doll

The two most common pet names I hear from men here. It is ROUGH as anything and makes me melt. Ughhhh. 🥵

“D’ye like whit ye see, doll?”

Fuckin’ hell

An exclamation that’s pretty ubiquitous across the UK. Soap would 100% say this after sex or if he was surprised by something that made him horny. From clips of Soap I’ve seen I know he says “Steamin’ hell” too but I’ve never heard this IRL.

You sit in Soap’s office, perched on his desk wearing your new lingerie.

He opens the door and freezes, jaw on the floor.

“… Fuckin’ hell.”

Gads

This is a very specific Kilmarnock / Ayrshire thing (which is where Soap’s file says he’s from). And it comes from a very old-timey phrase ‘egads!’ which is hilarious to me.

Gads can be used as an exclamation for something shocking (OR something cringe depending on the context).

“You honestly think that I snuck into your room because my bed was uncomfortable? I want you to fuck me, Soap.”

He swallows. “... Gads.”

Gantin’ for it

AKA Gagging for it. Juvenile way to describe being horny. Soap would probably say this about himself in a jokey way.

“You alright, Soap?”

“Aye, aye. I’ve just been gantin’ for it ever since that new lassie joined.”

Lassie / Lass

Girl. Younger. (Pop off age difference fics)

Missus

Literally “Mrs” but surprisingly not just used to refer to your wife. Really commonly used to refer to a girlfriend.

“Look, whatever the missus wants she gets. Awryt?”

Wee (insert expletive)

Literally call me whatever you want as long as you put ‘wee’ in front of it. Wee bitch, wee slag, wee slut (omggggggg).

Soap tuts, as you writhe against his thigh. “Yer an impatient wee thing, aren’t ye?”

Anyway, that's all I've got for now- if I think of any more, I'll add to this. You don't need to credit me if you actually use this - I like to think of it as service to my country 🫡

P.S. This made me realise I've only ever had sex with Scottish people so maybe some of this is just normal sex stuff and not Scotland specific???? HAHAHAHA

P.P.S. I was getting really into the dialogue so I've written a short fic about Reader x Soap.

#scotland forever #soap x reader #john soap mactavish #task force 141 #smut #soap cod #soap mw2 #john mactavish x reader #burns night #cod fic #cod mw2

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a-dux · 11 months

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What I either know or guess about Trigun because it keeps appearing on my dash:

- The guy named Vash is the one who looks like edgy Elvis. I will continue to refer to him has Vash in this post. He's probably the main character. He looks like he'd go to Denny's, ask if there's still a smoking section, and then glance over the menu before handing to the waiter and politely order a filet mingon even though it isn't on the menu and he knows that. He's an assassin tasked to kill That Other Guy.

- That Other Guy is a fellow in a coat that looks like if one of those old-timey lab coats folks like to draw Victor Frankenstein in was dyed red. This makes me think he is a nerd, but I think I might be wrong since I think spikey hair and those sunglasses meant you were cool in the 90s or something (which is when the manga was written and then adapted into an anime), at least for character design. This is probably the mental connection with Frankenstein but maybe he played a roll in the creation of his horrifically unwieldy gun, or even made the whole thing. He's also really old, but secretly.

- There is at least one woman.

- I think the overarching plot is that Red Coat is some impressive, upstanding guy, maybe a war hero or something, and he has a big gun. Or he's a criminal with a big gun. Anyways, Vash is hired to kill him but then they become friends. However the path to that is rocky what with the murder assignment, so they do shoot each other a bit before reaching friendship.

- There has to be at least one other important person. It's called Trigun. I've only counted two guns. Maybe they have a friend who is less keen on killing.

#trigun

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tervaneula · 8 months

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Hmmmm a little PSA of sorts, if you may.

To start, I'm always so happy when I hear that I've inspired someone to draw or write something! It humbles me, it's an incredible feeling and I love it more than I can put into words. Inspiration and creation are precious things.

However:

Please always be mindful of the OP's boundaries;

Please don't repost my art, or anyone else's for that matter, and instead just tag the OP and link straight to the original post;

Please ALWAYS use the appropriate relationship disclaimers/tags! For reference, platonic relationships are referred to with an & (et) – if it's a romance, the / (slash) is used instead. For example, Leo & Usagi would indicate a friendship, and Leo/Usagi is a romance. Never mix up these identifiers because it will result in upset. Also, if you need to use the old-timey list of disclaimers and your work is platonic, please opt for "relationship" instead of "pairing".

There are probably more points I could make but these are currently relevant – you guessed it, I'm making this post because of something that happened and I ended up hurting a person's feelings because I took their fic disclaimer at face value. For obvious reasons, I will speak out and absolutely won't read a fic with shipping tags just to check if those tags were correctly used, no matter how happy I was at first (reposting aside) that someone was inspired by an art piece I've made.

All of us are here just to have fun and using correct tags and disclaimers contribute to everyone's good time. It's 100% worth it to do your research before posting!

#fandom etiquette #internet etiquette #important #it's terv #rottmnt #rottmnt fanfiction

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nottapossum · 2 months

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YAAAAAS Charlie would absolutely have a stickers rewards chart for every little she takes care of!! Each one personalized to fit any little’s individual personality ofc!! ⭐️❤️🌼

And I love the idea of Velvette having multiple pull-ups/diaper print designs to match her outfit of the day, even in little space she’s always gotta make sure she matches and is fashionable !! ✨

I also like to HC that Velvette out of little space designs little/age regressed clothes as a side gig because little’s deserve fashionable clothes that also are functional and can stand up to even the roughest activities little’s can get up too (like reinforced knees, convenient snaps, frabric that’s easy to move around in ect !) ✨

I’ve been thinking about Alastor’s past life, and how he might of had a rough experience with his father growing up and definitely preferred his mother over him

I like to HC that in Alastor’s past life during childhood he might have been a bed/ pants wetter, and his father would constantly shame/punish him for it, while his mother was very kind and understanding even going as far as too help Alastor clean up his bed sheets/pajamas (or his daytime accidents) before his father could find out

And Alastor regressing is no different, he’ll become extra fussy before bed/nap time and even tries to clean up his sheets/pajamas/pants in his regress state before his caregiver finds out and even after his caregiver finds out 🥺

And after a while of frustrating accidents a caregiver will suggest wearing protection, and at first Alastor is unsure on the usefulness of it, not really understanding the benefits since he was born roughly in 1893 before bedwetting pants or training pants were invented and has no clue what there intended purpose is

But after realizing his bed/pajamas/pants will stray dry with protection Alastor will think they’re the best thing to be invented since slice bread because as we know Alastor loves his old timey puns and references 🤗

Blitz is so adorable and needs to be protected at all times !! I love the way you write Blitz and Fizz’s friendship !!

I like to HC that even though Fizz doesn’t need pull ups/ diapers he’ll occasionally request that Ozzie puts him in one to make his best buddy Blitz feel better about having to wear them because Fizz is so kind and understanding of his friends feelings in little space ⭐️🥺

Im also curious if you have any plans for Lucifer in your story?

As we saw in the season finale of Hazbin hotel, there appears to be an apple shaped building attached to the newly rebuilt hotel, assuming it’s Luci’s room, it appears he’ll also be living at the hotel from now on

I think he could be a fun character to include as an extra caregiver with all of his fatherly advice/ experiences

Ofc to help the other caregivers with their littles or to be the emergency babysitter thats called upon at a moments notice 😭

I also think Lucifer would also be an adorable little too, with his love of ducks, his goofy personality, and being easily picked up and cradled because of his fun size stature 🥺 plus being the big boss of hell, he definitely needs to unwind and relax from time to time !!

You’re doing fantastic with the writing, keep up the amazing work !! ⭐️

1)Yesss!! She's also going to buy them all journals to keep up with all their progress (all specialized for each little one to keep track of their progress 💕)

2) Yesss! ✨️

3) ooo I love that! She would own her own personal agere gear business as a hobby.

4)For sure. We don't know a lot about his father, but I suspect he's no good.

5) Love the idea of Rosie breaking the cycle of trauma/abuse for him.

Her and the others showing him what a good childhood is like. It's truly adorable.

He probably assumes the bed wetting is his fault, that he's broken or something, but Rosie would assure him that there's nothing wrong with him at all and there are ways to help.

I also love that he would just be impressed by these "new" inventions. Seriously, the only thing he stays up to date on is music.

6)Blitzø does need to be protected. Adorable lil gremlin ❤️

Fizz would definitely wear pull-ups if he thought it would make Blitzø feel more confident. They'd do anything for each other ❤️💚

7)Yess!

Lucifer is a flip 50% Caregiver and 50% Little! (Age 3-10)

Book 1 will take place during the events of season 1, and 2 will be after that. So, he'll have moments in book 1, but he'll mostly be in book 2.

But OH do I have plans. Lol

This baby will NOT be forgotten! I cannot wait for more of this king!

8)Thank you 💖

@todayimfour

#ittybittysinners #ittybittysinnersq&h #hazbin hotel agere #hazbin hotel age regression #cg!Rosie #little!alastor #little!Blitzø #little!fizzarolli #little!Velvette

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auteurdefeu · 7 months

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Please I want to know more about your Dan/Hunch and Hunch/Fix/Pasha headcanons I’m begging

Oh yes. I have so many.

Hunch makes sure to devote time to each of his partners, he's practically (unofficially) moved out of his apartment considering how much time he spends the night at either of their places (and then of course, late nights at his office working). Whenever he's at the orphanage, though, he's the go-to for kids who can't sleep and want some company. He makes little cloud puppets for all the stories he tells them <3

Pasha and Dan are platonic girlfriends, thank you. Daniel Fucks is genderfluid, and in this essay I will—

Ahem. Anyway. I just think their dynamic could be pretty fun as pleasure and passion but I don't see them having any romantic chemistry. They do "fun nights out" and dance together, and Pasha is definitely the one to tease Dan the most about how he pretends to dislike the Wayward Interests all while playing with them and making them laugh every time he's over.

If we're using humanoid heights... Fix is 8', Hunch is 6', Dan is 5'6" (short king) and Pasha is 5'4". The height differences make me feral.

Hunch and Pasha would have the most modern-trope-y dates with getting coffee together and going on walks through the park. Fix and Pasha rarely have time to go out on dates together given the fact Pasha has a job and they have to take care of the kids, but when they do, it's mostly domestic stay-at-home stuff, like movie nights or baking together (Fix is too big and awkward for using most kitchen utensils so he is there for moral support and taste testing). Fix and Hunch have the "Good Old-Fashion Lover Boy" kind of dates, and yes I mean the Queen song. Hunch and Dan don't go on proper dates, usually drinking together at Sugah's. They are the type to go out and dance and probably make out in the rain, though, because TROPES!

Hunch has a cane because of how perpetually injured he is (and the old-timey detective aesthetic!), but he always forgets to take it out of his office with him, claiming it's inconvenient to carry around. Fix ends up getting him a more fancy refined one as a gift better tailored to his height, leading him to using it more when he actually needs it.

Pasha and Hunch curled up together on Fix's chest for cuddles :( he's so Big !! It's so easy for him to hold/carry them both.

You'd have to ask @turtlelover59 for their headcanons on the petnames Fix & Pasha give but since I have hyperfixated on Hunch (more specifically HunchFucks but shhh..) I can offer what he'd call his partners <3

Him calling Dan Danny will always live in my head rent free. He started calling them "Princess" as a joke based on how demanding they can be and it just became less of a joke over time. In turn, Dan calls him "Angel" (in reference to waking up and thinking they were in heaven with him) and "My Phoenix" (in reference to his fast healing and supposed immortality). "My dear" and "sweetheart" are classics for Pasha, sweet and simple. I feel like they have such an innocent kind of love, like the Hallmark movies :( as for The Fix... I want Fix to have a more personal name, rather than just 'the fix' because it feels more like a title, his job occupation. That is something I will get into in another post if people are interested but Hunch calls him by the name he chooses for himself to distance himself from his Previous Work™️.

I do not have the time or energy to write more fanfiction but I am hoping that spreading the brainrot might inspire people... :,)

#alex's brain sillies hcs #trying so hard to keep this sfw #i am slowly going insane #dimension 20 #mentopolis #d20 #hunch curio #dan fucks #the fix #pasha n #the fix x pasha #hunch curio x dan fucks #hunchfucks #fuckshunch #fixpasha #pashafix #hunch curio x the fix x pasha #crackship

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wraithee · 6 months

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Guaranteed Aziraphale refers to sex with the weirdest old timey expressions. He’s probably looking at Crowley and thinking ‘Oh top notch, I would absolutely dilly his dally’ or something like that.

#good omens

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langernameohnebedeutung · 8 months

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(Referring to this post: https://langernameohnebedeutung.tumblr.com/post/725361975543185408/you-heard-of-hating-female-characters-for-traits)

Do you think it's always a case of people being sexist, or do you think there are cases where the problem is the execution?

(sorry, I had my tabs mixed up).

I mean, for one, "always" is a word that I like to avoid because it's a word that is too big of a commitment to me.

I think execution as well as interpretation both play a role most of the time. And most of the time, they overlap and together they can develop their own very specific dynamics.

The thing is, when I entered fandom at now...almost 15 years ago, things were far worse. Far, far worse. Female characters were routinely portrayed as soulless evil and often violent harpies for no reason (the way they're e.g. often still treated in other, more dudebro-y spaces where female characters can basically be sorted into the categories "hot", "helpful" and "hated" (cough, Borderlands reddit and youtube, cough) - or their entire personality was erased to make her the perfect love-interest.

On the other hand, I feel like in the fandom spaces that have kind of reflected on these issues since then - both the misogyny in the original execution as well as the misogyny in fandom spaces - there is a certain anxiety that makes people ping-pong between these two problems and ultimately, shy away from the issue and the characters entirely.

One example is: How do we deal with female characters who are written to be problematic in extremely misogynistic ways (e.g. the nagging wife). Do we pile on by writing long texts about how she is annoying and nagging and doesn't support her poor husband, therefore meriting the poor writing while at the same time being true to her character and taking her at face value? Probably chiming in with the actual misogynists who will openly hate her AS a woman? Or do we ignore her entire personality and re-design her character into some fandom staple trope that feels more salvageable (but is often also ultimately a cliché like the long-suffering but good-natured doormat wife and isn't the act of making a woman more sweet and manageable sexist in its own right?)? Do we simply pretend her relationship with her husband is just a little bit quirky and fun that way? Or should we let her fade into the background? Do we ascribe a higher motive to her actions? Do we write "hey, yeah, Jane and I got divorced a few months ago" into our fic about the male lead to clear the road to whoever we ship him with? Or do we let him cheat because his wife is so horrible?

How do we deal with the female characters from old-timey works who are given basically no agency? Do we call her out for being useless and annoying and not contributing anything? Or do we construct some deeper agency to her actions? Do we turn her into another "reasonable, good-natured mom-friend"?

Another common complaint against female characters I see is that they're "annoying". On the one hand, I think this comes from the habit of writers of canon, who have decided that the peak of female character agency is to turn them into a token hindrance and rival for the male character who ultimately is wrong but still gets a lot of screen-time arguing and disagreeing and working against a male-character that the audience might like. Which often means they dislike her. The obvious solution is to ship them because they clearly have some hate-love kinda thing going on (I'm saying this in good humour, I love those ships). But sometimes that goes to another extreme where that same character who really, really, really hates a male character for very understandable reasons, has her personality erased and her values and priorities and boundaries ignored to ship her with him - and then fans will suddenly call her abusive and mean if her behaviour in canon doesn't reflect that fanon rationalisation. (though to be fair, I think this is also something that happens with m/m ships) Which is where we end up in the original scenario again, only worse.

I also think the low regard for women's experiences and feelings and the prevalence of misogynistic writing play a role. In execution, the female character's pain and experiences aren't given the same stage (especially if they would inconvenience the male characters around her). In fanon, because I think there is a certain discomfort with putting female characters through certain experiences because it is a misogynistic trope or because it has very specific connotations - and meanwhile, the idea that writing a male character dealing with these same experiences on the one hand (best interpretation) removes the lens of misogyny that causes this discomfort and let's us examine the issue from a less mapped out perspective and b) (less favourable interpretation) on the other hand, it might feel like this experience receives an upvaluation when a man is shown to be dealing with it.

For example, ages ago I saw this clip of an interview with...I think a director? and he talked about how he has to frame scenes, where the male lead cries very differently from the way he has to frame a scene where a female character cries because the audience reacts very differently because female characters are portrayed as crying so much more often, while a crying scene for the male lead is a show-stopper. It has a lot of gravity. This is something we also probably reflect at least subconsciously when we let a character cry. And I think this applies to a lot of things - both in our writing and in our interpretation of works that, e.g. are very male gaze-y. Showing male characters feeling love-lorn and sensitive and sexualised or domestic - that's an interesting exploration of masculinity, it is actively engaging with characters who probably weren't written like that in canon.

Showing your favourite action hero padding around his apartment making breakfast for his boyfriend in bed while thinking about how pretty he is (also, just to drive the point home, he might be pregnant now) is...just that tick more experimental than showing a female character in that same role. Especially if she, too, is a super-strong action heroine who can do anything. (and you are the one impregnating her and making her make breakfast? That doesn't feel nice!)

So yeah,...uh. I think both are an issue.

#hope this makes senes this was pretty train of thought

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lord-of-the-ducks · 8 months

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Ok so uh… I was looking on IMDB because I saw someone mention the plot summary of episode 9, and I hadn’t seen it myself so I wanted to look there and see if I could find it, and sure enough there it was

But the title also intrigued me. Like yeah, it matches with the episode description pretty well, but I was curious about the name Morrigan in particular. Mainly because I’m a massive nerd, and I was wondering if it was a reference to some vampire character.

So I googled “Morrigan”, not really expecting much, because first of all it would probably give me results for some random people with the last name Morrigan and I would have to type in something more specific if I wanted to find any specific ties to specific figures, and second of all I was a fucking idiot who mistyped and accidentally searched “morrigN” which would probably lessen my chances of actually finding anything useful. And there wasn’t even any guarantee that this would actually lead to anything. Speaking as someone who likes to think of themselves as a writer, sometimes I do name characters because I think the name has a connection to something specific about them, or because I’m referencing Dracula for the millionth time, and sometimes I’m like “I dunno what’s an old timey name I can use that sounds cool”

Anyway this was the top result and I’ve never been more terrified in my fucking life

#HEY. HEY PAUL.#PAUL WHAT THE FUCK #wwdits spoilers #wwdits #what we do in the shadows spoilers #what we do in the shadows

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jessicas-pi · 3 months

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OOOH WIP ASK GAME tell me about Rebelvengers assemble, Graveyards and Ghost Towns, and they were CELLMATES, and even more adoption! If that's too many you can just choose your favorites from those, or tell me about something Time Heals related

OOOH

Okay so. For Rebelvengers ummm yeah I think I'm gonna ramble/infodump a little!

After the invasion of earth, Ahsoka is taken back to Asgard to be tried. As she's more obviously under some kind of mind control, Obi-Wan is lenient to her, and only sentences her imprisonment until she can be cured.

Kanan intersperses old-timey slang with vine references. Hera pretends it's not funny.

Sabine learned ballet as part of her Widow training. She first befriended Ezra when he asked her to teach him. They do ballet together now. Sometimes they coerce Jyn or Cassian into helping them out when they need more characters. They choreograph their own dances, which usually have a concerningly dark plotline involving betrayal, murder, and the death of all the main characters. Though one time they did do a ballet adaptation of Frozen (2013). Ezra was Elsa.

After the invasion of Earth, Ezra lowkey moves into Syndulla Tower. He lives in the vents for a week before Hera finds him. He admits that it's just nicer here than at SHIELD headquarters. Hera promptly invites him and Sabine and Zeb to move in... and reluctantly adds that, "Well, I suppose the Captain can come too, if he has to."

And Thrawn is a Frost Giant.

---

Graveyards and ghost towns... a snippet, perhaps?

Hera gently interrupted them, stepping into their circle and putting a hand on Ezra’s shoulder as she spoke to the other two. “Zeb, go get an extra chair from the living room. Sabine, help him to a plate.” The kids dispersed, and Hera turned to Kanan, stepping close and speaking in a low voice. “Where did you find him?” “I didn’t,” Kanan admitted. “Chopper did. We were taking the shortcut past the graveyard and Chop took off running, barking up a tree… I got there and looked up, and there was the kid.”

---

and they were CELLMATES!!

“Do you ever feel it?” Grey whispered, voice dry. It was so soft, the stormtroopers guarding their cell probably thought it was just her breathing. Ezra replied just as quietly. “Feel what?” “This planet. It’s hurting.” He almost asked if she was going a little crazy, because how could a planet hurt, but he stopped. Thought about it. “Yeah. It is, isn’t it?” She slid closer, pressing against him like she needed the contact to ground her in reality. “This used to be a sacred world, Ezra. Now it’s dying, and I’m helping to kill it.”

---

Even More Adoption! This is a VERY cracky AU where Rey time travels to the past and promptly gets adopted by the ghost crew (minus Sabine, who is on Krownest) and she and ezra and sabine have a groupchat full of chaos. Also Sabine is force-sensitive and doesn't know it (but she finds out.)

partner in crime I can’t believe you actually didn’t know You had to know, right? Sabine How would I know IF NOBODY TOLD ME partner in crime How else could you always sense when I was about to get into trouble??? Sabine Your vibes!! partner in crime vibes that you were sensing with the force Sabine Ok Well then Anything ELSE you want to tell me?????? [partner in crime is typing] … [partner in crime is typing] partner in crime we have a force bond also rey is borrowing your room [several people are typing]

#thank you for the ask!! :)#rebelvengers AU #the dumpsterverse #and they were cellmates #even more adoption au #fic snippet #fic sneak peek

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romance-of-three-memes · 1 month

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Something I find oddly fascinating in the various localizations of Dynasty and Samurai Warriors is when they make characters feel more formal or less rude in English versions than they do in the Japanese versions, or in the literal single Mandarin dub that exists in the entire series which of course has to be for arguably the worst mainline entry in the series. Sun Ce does not call Sun Jian 'father', I don't care what any of the English localizations try to tell me, which is literally all of them that he's present in. Even in the Mandarin dub of dw9 Sun Ce doesn't refer to Sun Jian as father, he just calls him the old timey equivalent of Dad that's now mostly relegated to period dramas, 'die'. I remembered him referring to his father as 'oyaji' in the Japanese dubs, so I checked to be sure and yeah, he calls him oyaji, which is pretty much the same as calling your dad 'old man' in terms of sentiment, very informal to the point of being easy to misinterpret as rude if you're an outsider who's unfamiliar with their dynamic or if you're the recipient and you take yourself too seriously.

I wonder why the English localizers so consistently felt the need to do that. Very, very, very consistently. Sun Ce has been a unique, playable character since Dynasty Warriors 3, and I cannot recall any instance where he refers to Sun Jian as anything but father in English, and I've played these game A Lot. Is it because they think people from the past were inherently more formal and making them sound too informal feels weird? Because of the western view of east Asian cultures as being stiff, inflexible, and overly formal, barely even capable of informality? Both? Neither? I don't know, I'm probably putting too much thought into this, but I have an internal monologue that literally never shuts up so something has to be going on in there at all times.

#games

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cromulentbookreview · 3 months

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Fun with Fungi!

Huh, what's this? *cleans away dust* oh, yeah, this blog is still a thing. I probably should've written more reviews, but...

I mean, I could come up with an excuse, but I'm too lazy. Just as I am too lazy to continually update this book review blog that nobody reads. I mean, I just wrote a review *consults calendar* uh. In 2022. Dang, I have been lazy. Oh well.

I'm like a rug on valium, I'm talking lazy.

And by that, I mean: let's have a dual review of the Sworn Soldier series: What Moves the Dead and its sequel, What Feasts at Night by T. Kingfisher!

Those covers, man. They're awesome, but at the same time: poor bun bun. Poor horsie.

So technically, what I'm doing here is not one but two reviews. So I'm actually being really, really productive right now and not lazy in the slightest.

This is a legitimately true story, I swear. Long ago, in a galaxy far, far away...by which I mean, four or five years back or so, I'd never heard of T. Kingfisher / Ursula Vernon in my life until I got into a fight with her on Twitter* on whether or not the fruit of the hazel tree should be referred to as Filberts or Hazelnuts.

For the record, I am firmly team hazelnut. I mean, they're nuts from a hazel tree. Hazel+nuts = hazelnuts. Who in their right mind wants to eat something called a filbert? But, terminology varies as T. Kingfisher is firmly on team filbert. My parents also call them filberts on occasion which is weird to me as we live in an area lousy with hazelnut farms.

Mmmm, Hazelnuts...

Anyway! I had no idea who this person was but I got into a tongue-in-cheek gif fight on Twitter with them regarding hazelnut v. filbert. Feeling bad that I got into a fight with a random person online on their hazel tree fruit name preferences, I went to their profile, saw they were an author, looked up their books and bought the two books of the Clocktaur Wars series. I tore through them, and continued on, reading all of the World of the White Rat series (I just saw that we're getting a new one in January and I might have let out a bit of a fangirl screech), and the absolutely delightful A Wizard's Guide to Defensive Baking and Minor Mage. So far, every single one of T. Kingfisher's books that I've read has been awesome. Nettle & Bone? Amazing. Thornhedge? I'm a very slow reader, but I devoured it in an afternoon.

T. Kingfisher writes amazing fantasy novels and I absolutely love them. She also writes horror. Which is where I hit a brick wall because I'm a baby who doesn't handle horror well. I don't like horror movies. I don't often read horror books. Because the world is scary enough without ghosts and poltergeists and demons and jump scares. Also I watched The Ring when I was 12 and it scared the shit out of me. Anyway! Oddly enough, I've always found myself drawn to horror-type stories. I mean, horror fits so well in fantasy and sci-fi (looking at you, Doctor Who episodes that gave me nightmares). As an adult, I've found myself more and more willing to dip my toe into horror fiction. Season 1 of The Terror, one of my favorite-ever TV series is considered horror (maybe because it's not jump-scare scary, it's existentially scary. Also it's set in the past. Also it's got dudes-on-boats, my favorite genre). Part of me really, really likes horror stories set in the past - no horror like 18th/19th/Early 20th century horror, amirite?

Right?

Well, whatever, I just like horror to be ye olde timey horror, OK? Like Crimson Peak, The Witch, The Death of Jane Lawrence, Mexican Gothic, The Woman in Black, The Hacienda, Vampires of El Norte, The Hunger ... spooky-scary Gothic-y-Romantic-y-type stories that have a historical element to them. Those are awesome. I'm slowly - very slowly! - getting myself to read more contemporary horror stories. I understand that The Twisted Ones and A House With Good Bones are really, really good, but....what can I say, I'm a wuss. And contemporary stories aren't really my jam. I read to get away from the contemporary world, damn it!

(Me, too scared to read contemporary horror but not too scared to listen to 900,000 true crime podcasts).

Right, where were we?

Oh, yeah. The review(s). I'm starting to understand why no one ever read this blog and why I let myself be lazy.

In What Moves The Dead we meet Alex Easton, a Gallacian ex-soldier on their way to visit their old friends, the Ushers, at their delipidated estate in the rural countryside of Ruravia. Alex had word that Madeline Usher was dying, and they wanted to be there for Madeline and her brother, Roderick. Roderick had been a fellow soldier with Alex back in the day and -

Wait a minute, Roderick and Madeline Usher? Delipidated mansion? Unspecified 19th century middle of nowhere...

Yep, this story is, indeed, a retelling of Poe's The Fall of the House of Usher, and it does a much better job than certain series you might find on Netflix.

Moving on:

Alex, Roderick and Madeline were childhood friends, and Roderick and Alex even fought together back in the day. Alex is a "sworn soldier" - something unique to their home country of Gallacia, a small, backwater country located somewhere between Bulgaria, Hungaria and that other -Garia, a vaguely Central/Eastern European nation with a language somehow structurally worse than Finnish, Hungarian and Icelandic combined. The Gallacian language has seven sets of pronouns: there's one set used only when referring to God, a set used to refer to children before puberty, one set specifically for inanimate objects...and, as the Gallacians are a fierce warrior people (though they're not exactly great at it), there's a special pronoun set just for soldiers.

So, in Gallacia, anyone, regardless of gender, can waltz up to the nearest military recruitment post, declare themselves a soldier, and be given a sword and a new set of pronouns within the hour. Hence the term "sworn soldier."

Anyway!

Prior to arriving at the House of Usher, Alex encounters an Englishwoman, Miss Eugenia Potter, a mycologist studying the local mushrooms, and there are some gnarly-looking (and smelling!) mushrooms. In fact, the whole landscape around Usher House seems...off. Everything seems dead or dying. Random hares will stand up and just stare right at you.

And not in a cute way, either.

As if the landscape weren't bad enough, once Alex gets to the Usher House, Roderick himself barely resembles the soldier Alex once knew. His skin has gone bone-white and he's as thin as a skeleton. He seems terrified by something but can't quite articulate what. Madeline is still alive, but in bad shape. Not even Roderick's friend Denton, an American doctor, can say what is wrong with her and Roderick (Catalepsy? Anemia? Hysteria? Roomis Igloomis? Who knows?). Denton and Alex immediately figure it's something to do with their environment - the house is both rotting and falling apart around them - but Roderick insists that Madeline can't leave, and if she can't leave, he won't leave.

Determined to find out what's happening to their friends, Alex resolves to stay. But things in the House of Usher are starting to get weird. For one thing, Madeline sleepwalks far more than a dying woman should, speaking in a strange, child-like voice, there's a lake outside that seems to pulse and shine with odd lights, there's a legion of undead hares wandering around and, seriously, what is up with those mushrooms??? With the help of Denton, Miss Potter, and their trusty batman, Angus, Alex must figure out what the hell is going on with the House of Usher...before whatever it is starts to spread.

What Moves The Dead is short and sweet and the perfect book to read when it's cold and dreary outside - and definitely not one you want to read before eating a giant bowl of mushroom risotto. If you're looking for a fantastic, spooky-type read that reads like if Edgar Allan Poe and The Last of Us joined forces with an army of undead bunnies.

But!

Luckily for all of us, Alex Easton's adventures don't stop with the events at the House of Usher.

It's late in the autumn and poor Alex would much rather be in Paris. Unfortunately, Angus has successfully guilt-tripped them into a trip to Alex's family's old hunting lodge back in the Old Country, aka Gallacia. Nothing like good old Gallacia in the winter where everything is damp, cold, cold, and, you guessed it! Damp.

But the redoubtable British mycologist Miss Eugenia Potter wishes to study some Gallacian mushrooms, and Angus, who is absolutely sweet on her, pretty much voluntold Alex to come along to act as Miss Potter's translator and use their hunting lodge as a home base.

So instead of a beautiful late Autumn/Winter in Paris, Alex is stuck back home.

*Sigh* looks nice, doesn't it?

As much as Alex sulks at the thought of spending several weeks back home, it's not like they're going to say no to Angus and Miss Potter. Not after everything they went through with the Usher House *shudder*.

Unfortunately, when Angus and Alex arrive at the lodge to help get it ready for Miss Potter's arrival, the caretaker, Codrin, is nowhere to be found. A quick trip to the nearby village reveals that Codrin has been dead for the past two months. But the locals are being very cagey about what killed him - Codrin's daughter is very insistent that it was just a lung infection, nothing else, no further questions, goodbye.

Finding a replacement for Codrin proves difficult, as it seems none of the villagers want to go near the lodge because there's a rumor that Codrin wasn't killed by inflammation of the lungs, but by a creature called a Moroi - a woman who sits on your chest and quite literally steals your breath. And the rumor is, a Moroi has taken up residence at the Hunting Lodge.

Yikes.

After some effort, Alex manages to hire a new housekeeper: the ill-tempered Widow Botezatu, who brings her grandson Bors along with her. The Widow immediately hates Alex, thinking them a wastrel, but Bors is nice enough. Miss Potter arrives, complete with terrible Gallacian phrasebook, but it soon becomes clear things aren't quite right at the Lodge. Alex begins to experience strange dreams - dreams in which a woman is kneeling on their chest because, yep, the Moroi is very real, and it can get to you in your dreams, just like Groundskeeper Willie in Treehouse of Horror VI.

Which is to say like Freddie Kruger, but still.

When it becomes clear that the Moroi is after the residents of the lodge, it's up to Alex, Angus and Miss Potter to figure out how to defeat a creature that can infiltrate your dreams.

What Feasts at Night is just as creepy, eerie and atmospheric as What Moves the Dead - there is plenty of non-fungal body horror and, mercifully, no zombie bun buns. Kingfisher is fantastic at capturing the terror of having your ability to breathe taken from you, and of the dread of having to fight something you can't grasp while awake. How she manages to pack so much into two short novels, I have no idea.

RECOMMENDED FOR: Anyone in the mood for some short, sweet spooky horror.

NOT RECOMMENDED FOR: Anyone who gets easily queasy, someone in the middle of eating a nice mushroom risotto, someone who really, really, really loves bunnies being alive and living their best lives, anyone who might wake up in the middle of the night with their cat on their chest staring directly into their eyes...

RELEASE DATE FOR WHAT FEASTS AT NIGHT: February 13, 2024

RATING FOR BOTH: 5/5

ANTICIPATION LEVEL FOR SWORN SOLDIER BOOKS: Chigori

#book review #horror #t. kingfisher #what moves the dead #what feasts at night #edgar allan poe #mushrooms #zombie bunnies #Gallacia #sworn soldier #Alex Easton #Angus #Miss Potter #Mycology #Moroi #Dream monster

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clairelsonao3 · 1 year

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Since I've been on Tumblr for about a month now, I've decided it was time to compile a list — for anyone who's curious — of things you'll find in my writing, and things I look for in others' writing. And here it is, subject to change, of course.

My things:

Types of whump:

I'll give just about anything a try once, but I largely gravitate toward:

Prison/captivity whump

Slavery

Pet whump (BBU not so much, though)

Historical whump, with or without fantasy elements

Modern/contemporary whump

Any corollaries of the above.

Alongside the whump:

All the hurt followed by all the comfort. A short whump story doesn’t necessarily have to contain comfort for me to read it, but if I’m going to get invested in something longer, it usually does.

NSFW, including sexy/spicy scenes, sexual references, and sexually suggestive dialogue (always earned and plot- and character-appropriate, never porn without plot).

Romance. The more forbidden and/or seemingly impossible the better. I'll read any type of pairing, but I write M/F almost exclusively. Romance-related tropes I like include enemies to lovers, strangers to lovers, medium and slow burn, mutual pining, forced proximity, (un)resolved sexual tension, flirtatious banter, etc. etc.

Mystery/thriller elements. Probably my favorite genre other than romance. In fact, I would say if I were to describe my ideal fictional story, it would have whump, romance, and mystery in almost equal measure.

Implements and techniques:

Shackles and restraints of pretty much every type, size, and description. This includes both old-timey, rusty shackles/manacles or newfangled law enforcement-style handcuffs/chains, etc.

Collars and leashes, although I usually don't write about them because I just find them too complicated to figure out (not literally, but you know what I mean). I tend to like collars as accessories/symbols of subjugation rather than performing a function, such as shocking the whumpee or controlling their behavior somehow.

In general, whumpees forced to wear accessories, clothing, or other outward symbols of their subjugation/servitude/inferiority.

Chains of every size and kind, attaching whumpees to walls, ceilings, floors, each other, etc.

Physical and emotional torture of all kinds; really, I'm not particular, but it's preferably done while fucking with the whumpee psychologically and preying upon their deepest fears, traumas, and insecurities.

Hands and especially injuries to the hands. Hands are my favorite body parts, so it totally makes sense that I enjoy seeing them maimed and disfigured, right?

Cages and cells, preferably with actual bars and solid steel everything, the harder, more brutal, utilitarian, and uncomfortable the better.

Some types of involuntary body modification.

Tropes and motifs:

Humiliation and degradation of most kinds, whether it's physical, verbal, or emotional (but see the exception below under squicks).

Dehumanization, and even better, REhumanization. Breaking down is good, but building back up is better. Someone who has been thoroughly and consistently dehumanized suddenly or gradually coming to be viewed as a person by others (or by themselves)

Whumpees who compliantly allow themselves to be placed in cuffs or shackles, either because they're just too tired and/or broken or if it's part of a grand master plan to fight back later.

Whumpee being forced to watch another whumpee being tortured.

Whumpee being forced to do menial/humiliating chores and/or hard physical labor (bonus if they're in chains at the same time). This is such an underused trope and I don't understand why because it's a fantastic one! If anyone were to write a story heavily featuring this and tag me in it I would love you forever.

Interesting power dynamics, even ones that shift back and forth within the course of a scene.

Struggles and differences related to social class, money, and wealth.

Character traits:

Male and female whumpees. I'll read and write both, but the way I handle them is sometimes different.

Defiant whumpees. Whumpees can break down as far as it's possible to break, but if there isn't that spark of life or defiance left in there (or even a chance of it coming back) I won’t be particularly interested.

Male and female whumpers.

Creepy/intimate whumpers, whumpers who are just plain assholes, or whumpers who are sympathetic/morally gray/have interesting motivations/backstories. I'm pretty open when it comes to whumpers, actually.

Caretakers who are or become romantic partners.

Carewhumpers and bad caretakers, to a certain extent. This is a new thing for me that I'm exploring and I'm still puzzling out how I feel and how I handle it. Stay tuned.

Other random things:

Humor, wit, and banter, even in extremely dark situations.

Nerdy, oblique references to things I'm passionate about, especially music, theatre, and literature.

Not (really) my things:

These are things I'll generally shy away from, but aren't enough to make me stop reading something I otherwise like:

Hard BDSM. I have and do feature some light bondage and d/s in some of my work, but it's rarely the focus.

Excessive focus on rape/noncon and/or recovery from it. I'll definitely read about rape/noncon as long as it's not portrayed as romantic or positive in any way, but I find myself generally reluctant to portray onscreen noncon, especially of female characters. Noncon in backstories, though, absolutely.

Gags, blindfolds, hoods, and anything that covers most of the face. I do have a thing for muzzles, however, especially when you can see the whumpee's entire face through it. (My characters are pretty, I want to see them!)

Whumpees gagged and bound head to toe with rope, and other heavy bondage-type stuff.

The more ridiculous aspects of the BBU (drugging, memory erasure, sex slaves called "romantics," boys literally shipped in boxes, etc.).

Excessive gore/body horror, especially evisceration and similar.

Vampires/werewolves/angels/fairies/monsters/nonhumans, including superheroes/villains (I'll never say never, but in general, I prefer good old humans)

Pure sexual slavery, when that's the slave's one and only function. (See above).

Totally passive whumpees who are just swept along by the narrative and/or are completely dependent on others for help/rescue.

Conditioned whumpees who never become unconditioned, or slaves portrayed as happy or content that way (again, see above).

Whumpees who stutter, speak robotically and/or in the third person, or behave as if they have the mental age of a preschooler.

Unhappy endings to longer works, although I'm fine with short pieces with ambiguous/unresolved endings or no endings.

Squicks:

Honestly, not many.

Noncon, abuse, and/or toxicity portrayed as romantic. (In general, this stuff is fine). It's the big one because it shows up in a LOT of slavefic, which is my preferred genre of whump. I think many people have the idea that all slavefic glorifies and/or romanticizes abusive master/slave relationships, and that's simply not the case. And harassment and censorship aren't cool, especially when you haven't read the story in question. Thanks for coming to my TED Talk.

A/B/O dynamics and/or mpreg.

Forced cross-dressing, feminization, or any similar humiliation tactic related to gender.

Humiliation tactics involving exchange of bodily fluids (see above). (Not including NSFW).

Anything foot-related. As much as I love hands and doing things to hands, feet are the opposite. (But ankles are okay, otherwise, we couldn't have shackles!)

Some of the more out-there sexual kinks, which I'll spare you from having to see described here. You can probably guess what they are.

Onscreen harm to very young children and/or animals (threatened harm or as backstory is ok)

If something doesn't appear on this list anywhere (or even if it does), you can probably assume I'm at least open to it!

And of course, obligatory promo for my current WIP, Good Slaves Never Break the Rules, where — if you happen to share any of my things — you can find most if not all of them.

#whump intro #whumpy things #whump community #writeblr intro #writeblr #something else i spent way too much time on

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pancake-breakfast · 9 months

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It might be a bit of a stretch for me to finish Volume 7 before the clock hits midnight on Sunday, but hey, I'll give it a shot.

Stream-of-consciousness thoughts for TriMax Vol. 7, Chapters 3-4 below.

Chapter 3: King of Loneliness

CW: Body Horror

You know, as much as I want to say this title absolutely, most definitely applies to Vash, it might apply to Wolfwood. Or to Knives. At least Vash and Wolfwood have friends along the way. At least they have each other.

Dude. Conrad opposed the experiments? Maybe I was being too harsh with him in my last notes.

It can be hard to know when to have difficult conversations like this with kids. I'm sure that was only further complicated by them being hyper-intelligent, extra-powerful plant babies. But kids are often better at understanding these things than we think they are.

Well, at least Knives admits he's putting up a face here. And he's still young enough that Rem can peel it off. I'm glad he got to cry to her, even for a bit. Even if he rejects her comfort on the very next page and puts the mask right back on.

Now he's starting to look more like the Knives we know.

Ohhh, now he's straight up looking like the Knives in Vash's memories.

They do look pretty happy here, though. I mean, they even fall asleep all next to each other.

Ugh, Baby Knives is not doing well.

He looks too much like Adult Knives here. It's uncanny.

Face stained with blood and tears and twisted in fear, and then blackness. Great composition.

And there he is, celebrating his victory, the ships raining down around like falling stars.

Vash calls him out, but Knives isn't anywhere near ready to admit the truth of his statement. Ironically, he's to scared to admit he's scared.

"This is not fear. This is anger." Ohhhhh, man. I could go on about that from my own experience. Let's just say that a lot of times, those who have spent a lot of time afraid learn to mask it as anger, since anger allows a level of action that fear often does not.

Oooh, she's got some mandible action going on here. Also, not sure, but I don't think she's quite happy about this situation....

Stuff going fwakoom?

Betcha Bagworm Legato is super-jealous of Elandira's ability to run to Knives' side right now.

Alright, that looks both very cool and very uncomfortable. Like, physically, it looks like it would at least be awkward, if not painful.

Oh, yeah. Plant girl isn't happy about this at all. That is not a happy face. But since when has Knives cared about someone else's happiness compared to his own purposes? It's... it's been a long, long time.

He has a double angel arm now? Cool, cool. I'm sure that won't be a problem or anything....

Yeah, definitely thinking the chapter title is referring to Knives at this point.

Chapter 4: Bastards and the Blues

This cover picture of Knives is somehow simultaneously slutty and immensely disturbing.

Ha! It's the rubber band scene! Vash needs this.

Look at that. It's an old-timey mob, here for an old-timey hangin'.

Awww, I know we've just met him, but I feel like Hancock really doesn't deserve all this.

As if there was any doubt what Vash would do in this situation.

Ok, so... I could be wrong here, but this all feels off. Vash is doing Vash things, but he seems waaaaaay too openly depressed while doing them. It's like he's doing them because Wolfwood is standing there expecting him to do them. He's going through the motions (which, to be fair, is a legitimate tactic to get through depression for some), but his heart isn't in it.

Yyyyyeah, hearing people scream about his inhumanity is probably not gonna help things.

At... at least he made two friends out of it? At least this time everyone backed down immediately? But Vash doesn't want people to live in fear of him like that.

Wolfwood playing lookout at the door.

If these guys turn out to be serial rapist baby snatchers or something, I'm going to burn down this whole manga. Vash needs a break. It doesn't need to be a big one.

Gods, his fake smiles are baaaaad here. He's not even trying to hide. He's just smiling 'cause he doesn't know what else to do.

Not sure how I feel about Vash getting drunk again, even if there's a spirit of camaraderie in this instance. I feel like Wolfwood, the actual heavy drinker here, feels the same. It's notable he's staying dry for this one.

Granny here seems chill. Like she's seen enough things in her life to no longer have time for anything but kindness, even if the best she can do is the small kindness of booze.

OMG GENUINE WOLFWOOD PEACEFUL SMILE I SHALL TREASURE IT FOREVER

Actually, these seem like good people for Vash to talk to right now. Sure, neither of them leveled a city (probably), but One-Eye at least has a deep understanding of what it is to be haunted by deep regrets.

WHYYYYY is the alcohol called Blades?!?!

But... Vash doesn't want to be alone. And neither does this guy, for that matter, or he wouldn't have Handcock around. And Vash... he may be running and sad and hiding... but he's not alone this time, either.

Ugh, drunk and depressed Vash is in no shape to fight.

Wolfwood might be indulging a bit now, but he knows he's the designated driver here, and he's being careful enough to make sure he can keep an eye on Vash.

I like how the tails on Vash's jacket get longer when Nightow wants them to look particularly dramatic. These are beautiful, but if they were actually that long, he'd be tripping over them as they dragged through the sand.

Also, flashy light is probably Bad.

Guess they're screwed.

The loss of communication would be really bad. It's always bad in times of conflict. Quick and reliable (or even semi-reliable) communication can win wars... and here I'm guessing Knives decided to take the upper hand for his first declaration of open conflict.

Yyyyyeeeeeaaaahhhh, Knives, honey, that doesn't look healthy....

What's that, Elandira? Were you secretly kinda hoping you'd somehow make it all the way through Knives' pending genocide?

Man, Vash sure can sober up fast.

There we go. Babygirl does genuinely look better here. Like, he's still sad, but he's not lying. He's genuinely grateful for this.

Good, I'm glad they got a bit of a break.