#on account of already being the more popular fictional characters

[napoleonic-sexyman-tournament]

In order to make this bracket work nicely, we need one less person. So....

The one with the least votes after 24 hours will be voted off the bracket. We repeat, the least votes. Vote for who you want to stay, not who you want to go.

Propaganda under the cut:

Tom Pullings:

“have you seem the james d’arcy depiction? come on.”

Jonathan Strange:

“Incredibly weird. Somehow both a wifeguy and ignores his wife to get back at his former mentor. Eats a dead rat to become insane. Panics when the French attack unexpectedly so he moves Brussels to America. Also he is ginger and has a big nose <3” admin side note: the casting for the live action apparently didn't keep his ginger-ness

Anthony Trumbull:

"Portrayed by Cary Grant!"

William Laurence

“The man rode a dragon and treated it as a person (character is important!”

#napoleonic sexyman tournament #please note that Sharpe Aubrey Maturin and Hornblower are all safe #on account of already being the more popular fictional characters #vote fast we want to get the full bracket posted this weekend #provided he doesn't get kicked off #I would be eternally grateful for a better quality image of Tom Pullings in his slutty open shirt

[gothwineaunts]

I tried my best to replicate the post that Tumblr ate earlier.

It’s not as good but you'll get the jist I think. :’)  

---

Hi again! I wanted to follow up on my post from yesterday. I’ve been mostly offline since then, and I feel much better now, especially after seeing the thoughtful responses y’all left. Where did you all even come from!? I don’t think I’ve ever posted this account anywhere, haha. But thank you so much. I’m horrendous at taking a damn compliment but I read all the replies and reblogs and I’m just incredibly humbled. You all brought up my mood a lot and highkey made me feel sane again. I’ve been so confused at why everyone in the WEBTOON comments seems to be so mad all the time, it kind of does my head in if I’m being honest.

But please don’t worry about me or Flynn. Or about Nevermore! We’d never change the story to fit what we think the commenters want us to do, for a lot of reasons. The most important of which is. If we had to do that, I think we’d rather just stop making it. What they seem to want is a story we’re not really interested in telling.

Wholesome wlw is a wildly important thing to be able to find if you’re looking for it. That really cannot be overstated. Until very recently, queer characters have been subjected by popular media to a disproportionate amount of anguish and violence. So the concept of seeing two women just, living a safe and fulfilling life together? I get why people want to see that so badly. And there’s so much beautifully written aspirational content for queer audiences out there now, and I’m pleased to death over it. But the thing is, it’s just not what we’re making.

Nevermore was always intended to be a dark gothicky romance with horror elements. Like Wuthering Heights, or Phantom of the Opera. Because those were the stories that always inspired us when we were young. Bloodsoaked stories of melodrama, intrigue, grief, and passion. Those stories would captivate me and get me asking all kinds of questions. Why can’t the Phantom be a beautiful woman? Why does Christine have the agency of a desk lamp? Why can’t sapphics have something cool like this?

So we decided to make it. Nevermore is not a wholesome romance. It doesn’t try to be. The point was never to explore sapphics having a healthy and (heavy air quotes here) “normal” relationship, like heterosexual couples get to have in real life. We already have that, together, Flynn and I. We live it, everyday.  In Nevermore, what we wanted most was to explore a sweeping sapphic romance full of danger, like heterosexual couples get to have in fiction. That’s why we love those kinds of stories so much, because of how divorced they are from the mundanity of real life. They’re fantasies.

I know that I'm preaching to the choir, aha.

But my point is: if you go to a hardware store to order a cake, you’re probably going to be disappointed. If what you crave is aspirational wlw content, there are so many bakeries you can go to that will give you exactly what you’re hoping for, and more. I especially recommend Muted by Miranda Mundt. It’s also on Webtoon, it’s completed, and it’s free to read.

And please know that I’m not saying to stop reading Nevermore, just maybe to adjust your expectations a little bit. We don’t sell cakes here, but I am pretty sure I've got a few 12ft tall skeleton lawn ornaments in the back if you're interested.

#red post

[genericpuff]

Genuinely curious as to if you asked permission to use Rachel’s characters and she said yes or if you just decided Lore Olympus is popular enough to make a fan comic of and are hoping you don’t receive a cease and desist? Can anyone create a remake comic of original content and just change what you don’t like about it and it’s considered legal if you say the characters belong to the original creator? There is plenty of disappointing media out there that could be remade. I understand you cannot use their characters for profit so is just posting it ok?

Yes, anyone can, because it's called fanfiction lmao Obviously in my case the term "fan" is being used loosely here as at this point it's more like "foe"fiction LMAO but the same principles apply. Unless I try to claim LO is my own creation or make a profit off Rekindled, I should be in the clear. If legal action was taken against me then it would set a precedent against all forms of fanfiction, rewrite, redraw, etc. content around LO which are all essentially doing the same thing Rekindled is doing. I think people tend to view Rekindled as somewhat of an "exception" that's vulnerable to legal action because it's an actual weekly comic put into practice in the same playing field as LO (though they're on massively different bases obviously LOL), but there's not much more separating it from the LO redraw accounts or even the genuine fan accounts that have learned how to draw in Rachel's style (and use it to make their own LO self-inserts and whatnot). I had the time and resources and experience to do what I do through Rekindled, but every redraw, rewrite, fanfiction, etc. account are making the exact same statement I am, whether intentionally or not - "I do/don't like the canon, but/so here's what I think it would be like if it went like this".

There is definitely plenty of media out there that could be remade, and a lot of them are by the fanfiction writers out there who are filling that niche within their respective fandoms. LO is the one I want to do because it's the one that interests me and compels me the most to rewrite.

Not to mention, it's already a bold statement in and of itself to say that I'm "using Rachel's characters", a statement that likely wouldn't hold up in court LMAO Her "characters" are literally just stylized self-insert versions of public domain figures. She did not write The Hymn to Demeter. She did not create Hades, or Persephone, or Hecate, or any of the other characters she writes about. She does not own an entire religion or its deities. The only thing that she really "owns" is the licensing rights to the name "Lore Olympus", and while the style of LO is very unique and identifiable, you can't trademark/copyright a style because that uproots the entire foundation of what art is (ironically no one has had an original idea SINCE the Greeks, we all just learn and adapt our styles based on other artists that we get inspired by and learn from).

Shit, there are series completely unrelated to LO that get harassed or otherwise warned that they could cross into "legal territory" with LO just because they're Greek myth comics. Punderworld, Theia Mania, H x P Ficlets, all of these are comics that also tackle the H x P myth, and while they aren't attempting to do the same thing as Rekindled (as they exist on their own terms) it's really disappointing when I see people talk about these comics purely through the scope of Lore Olympus as if LO invented Greek myth. If WT/Rachel tried to pull rank over the story's "characters", they'd be picking a fight with every other Greek myth comic, book, movie, etc. and they oughta know that's not a fight they're gonna win lol

So everything beyond LO's branding is, in and of itself, fanfiction. Rekindled is just another level deeper by being fanfiction of a fanfiction. As long as I'm not profiting off Lore Olympus' namesake or distributing my work with the misconception that I created LO, it's legally fine. Morally, I'm sure it doesn't exactly make me a saint to do it, it definitely took a lot of hubris for me to say "yeah I don't like how you wrote your story enough that I felt the need to rewrite it completely" and I wouldn't blame anyone for thinking doing so is icky. There are certain lines I won't cross - I don't use the general LO hashtags because my content is very critical and my work isn't really for the fans, I don't encourage anyone to "show Rachel" what I do here because none of what I do here is obligated to be seen by her (and I know it wouldn't be in her best interest to see it anyways, she's literally said that she doesn't like criticism so why tf would I wanna show her a comic that exists to criticize her work lol), and I'm not planning on posting it to Webtoons because that's Rachel's territory. I don't want to overstep both in the legal sense and in the moral one. I think it's more than enough for me to just post my stuff here for the people who are seeking it, and not profit off it or directly affiliate it with LO/Rachel beyond crediting.

All that said, in a moral and legal sense, what I'm doing is literally the basis of fanfiction, and I wouldn't be going to such lengths and spending this much time every week putting out episodes every week if I never cared about LO and how it made us all feel, even if some of us don't love it as much as we used to.

#also just as some food for thought and because i couldn't find a place to fit it in the post #sonic mania ended up being one of the best games in the sonic franchise in over a decade and it was made by a sonic fangame dev #a lot of shakespeare's most beloved plays were also 'stolen' from other works #and don't get me started on the screenwriting industry #many of the books they adapt into film are completely rewritten from weaker source material or material that just won't work in movie form #obviously sometimes it's for worse and not better #but rewriting works you're dissatisfied with is an age old tradition IMO #fifty shades of grey exists and it was literally twilight fanfiction when it started LMAO #innovation is found in fandoms #i could just be haphazardly defending myself tho LOL maybe i'm just an asshole #lore olympus critical #lo critical #anti lore olympus #antiloreolympus #ask me anything #ama #anon ama #anon ask me anything #lore rekindled #lore rekindled comic #lore rekindled ama

[nicoleanell]

By POPULAR DEMAND (a couple of people said "hey Nicole I care about your Renfield 2023 meta")

Ever since I made this gif set of something that's grown to be one of my favorite moments in the movie, I was a little wary of responses to it? Not just whether the source or my highlighting of it would be interpreted as victim-blamey, but that some might actually use it as a jumping-off point to say something more insensitive and victim-blamey themselves in the comments/tags. (Which thankfully hasn't happened! But the first thing is a take I've seen from a couple of people.)

Now, I feel pretty strongly like "victim-blaming" or being anything but 100% on the side of the abused is the LAST thing Renfield (2023) is trying to do, considering [GESTURES AT THE ENTIRE MOVIE]. But I do think it needs to be unpacked a little bit.

This idea of having partially gotten yourself into a situation and that means you can get out and get better… that's not going to relate to EVERYONE'S experience. (Certainly not, for example, a person whose abuse started in childhood.) It's not a universal truth and I don't think it's meant to be. See that tumblr post going around about how fiction that's harmful (or just lightly off-putting) for some people can be healing for others, and vice versa.

But for this character it IS really important that he's not a perfect innocent victim but not an irredeemably bad person either. And it's also important that any Redemption he's capable of is not through shame and punishment, something he's had quite enough of already, but being alive and happy as the person he wants to be.

They have him acknowledge before the end of the movie - in a way that is framed as correct and honest - that he bears responsibility for where he ended up, on a very literal in-canon level. Although Dracula is manipulative and he's implied to have some degree of hypnotic power to influence/charm people, what did not happen (contrary to some versions of the story) was Renfield having his sanity and/or free will magicked away entirely. He made CHOICES. He continued making them!

But… there's something about the fact that he gets to own that without hating himself. He has to own it without hating himself. A not insignificant thing for him is to be able to say that he made mistakes and bad choices, and he takes responsibility for that, but that doesn't mean he deserves to suffer for those choices forever. He's allowed to move forward and be happy.

It's such a huge and weirdly nuanced take for this movie's version of Renfield to be fully accountable for his actions AND extremely sympathetic AND go basically unpunished.

Relatedly, I love the fact they acknowledge shame as a motivating influence on him, which is so fucking dark and sad and complicated coming from this movie?!?!?! A lot of people took that line to be specifically a queerness/attraction thing, and I think that's there and valid. But I also just took it to be like over time the primary way Drac manipulated him was through his shame over what he'd done & become.

Which is such a heartbreaking thing to throw in there, because everything else on that list (dreams etc) is a positive reinforcement -- the devil on your shoulder appealing to the things you want -- but then it crashes into this understanding that he didn't want to want some of those things, and that was also a button to push. There is something equally powerful to Dracula knowing what shames him and the exact ways he hates himself, maybe to take it away, maybe to just keep pressing it until he agrees he's worthless and deserves to suffer. That is MOST of the dynamic we actually see between them in the timeline of the movie, regardless of what their earlier relationship was like.

So the answer to that is not to say he's totally good and has done nothing shame-worthy, but it's also not to say he should be more ashamed actually, it's just… knowing all this and still believing he deserves to be alive and free.

IRL it's not uncommon for there to be a self-blaming factor within abusive relationships and some guilt and shame that goes along with that. It's not always incorrect to realize like: some of this was in my control, I gave a lot of power to this person willingly. I emotionally relied on them, I let my identity get wrapped up in them, I should've known better or stood up for myself or put up stronger boundaries earlier, and the fact I didn't just reinforced how hopeless I felt. It hits the same way for anybody struggling with addictive or self-destructive behavior. The flip side of all that can be understanding and forgiving that version of yourself and reclaiming that power rather than feeling ashamed and trapped by it.

And again! That's not necessarily the story or mindset that resonates with everyone, and it could be perceived badly if one feels it's speaking for all survivors. But if it resonates, it really does.

Last note: The movie also says very firmly that it is NOT as easy for everyone as simply "loving yourself, standing up for yourself, accepting responsibility etc." Like, I actualy think they made a pretty loud point that when your abuser is violent and vengeful and threatning to hurt you and others, you actually fucking CAN'T get out so easily and the self-help affirmations are kinda bullshit. HE NEEDED ALLIES AND SUPPORT IN A VERY REAL AND TANGIBLE WAY. Without Rebecca and also Tumblr he would've been fucked several times over. :) But the bullshit affirmations were still something that mattered to him emotionally, and something he drew strength from, to even get the belief it could get better into his own head.

#renfield #renfield 2023 #robert montague renfield

[redflagtag01]

finalboybyers is heart_byers on Twitter (tw: rape, pedophilia, and abuse).

When they post about Henry and Will, likening them to Father and Mother, Hades and Persephone, Hannibal and Will, Lestat and Louis, Villanelle and Eve, and other romantic fated pairs, they're trying to semi-subtly get more people on the Henwill train.

Don't believe me? Take it from Yarrow themselves (Tweet's date is May 20 and their first Tumblr post is soon after on June 5):

They don't censor their tweets in any fashion and they have a public account, which makes them easy to find when conducting a regular content search about either character, the cast, or simply looking in the Quotes of popular tweets. You don't have to be a proshipper or devils sacrament attendee to find them—they're out there in the open.

They're a proshipper that enjoys child/adult relationships, uses pictures of Noah where he is as young as eleven in their fantasies, ships Henry and Will romantically, and habitually posts explicit sexual and romantic content about them, all of which feature both Will and Noah as minors.

The ages listed on both accounts and their general speech patterns are the same. They post about the same parallels, same ideas, and same desires for the pair. They react to the same things and share their same findings at similar times. Their Tumblr is practically the exact same as their Twitter, just with more sugarcoating, denial of this behavior, and less explicitly romanticized rape.

I found that they tend to post first on Twitter and then refine it into a more elaborate post on Tumblr, but not always. Here are some examples:

It's the same user. If you can stomach that content and decide to see for yourself, then you'll note the similarities listed above and many more (assuming they don't go private or change usernames). Seriously, you will find every parallel and complaint on both accounts, as well as the same typing style and manner of speaking.

Using pictures or the likeness of real minors should never accompany such fantasies. They don't use drawings with no resemblance to real children; that is a real child plastered all over their account(s), and his name is Noah Schnapp. They're using his likeness from when he was a minor, anywhere from eleven to sixteen, when picturing Will and Henry as a couple, as one can see based on their Tweets. Here are some examples (Likes, Retweets, and one of their own) to get the point across swiftly (though they do have their own similar Tweets too):

If you wouldn't feel comfortable with someone thinking of any random non-famous child that way, why would it be okay in this instance?

The fact that they romantically ship Henry/Vecna/001 and Will is clear from the way they speak about them in their Tumblr posts and Tweets, the way that they liken them to romantic ships or dynamics while admitting to there being a romantic element (which is in line with their many Tweets, some below), but just in case you weren't already aware… now you know.

If you're turned on by minors and/or enjoy thinking of them in that way, then you need to seek help. Pedophilia can't be cured, but it can be treated with therapy. That isn't a kink—it's a paraphilia that is one act upon that desire away from being a psychiatric disorder. You wouldn't even have to interact with a child to reap criminal consequences; just producing or consuming any visual depiction of their engagement in a sexual act is a crime itself—and yes, that includes fan art and cartoon depictions.

Most people understand there's a difference between fiction and reality—ergo, enjoying the drama of a fictional abusive ship does not mean you support abuse in real life. However, things change when real minors are involved in sexually explicit materials. No child should be spoken of or viewed that way by adults that should and do know better. Noah could not have consented to have his pictures, or his likeness, used in this manner, and he likely still wouldn't. Children cannot consent and have the right to exist in the world without being sexualized by adults.

Will is fictional, but Noah is real and his underage likeness is the face of their fantasies. Artwork of Will engaged in sexually explicit conduct would be illegal and considered obscene under the federal law of the United States. Such content is illegal to produce, distribute, receive, or possess, and those convicted could be fined and imprisoned. Historically, this has even extended to textual depictions, too.

There's a reason why it's prohibited on many platforms, why these specific proshippers get suspended and have to remake accounts multiple times, and it isn't because evil conservative "antis" are "kinkshaming" the oppressed proshippers again. The material they produce and share is obscene by legal definition. They're not only picturing Noah's underage face in their mind and their works when they romanticize Will being raped and groomed, but they're proving that by always using pictures of him when he was underage, and only those underage pictures.

Yarrow admits to having interest in and consumed such prohibited materials, as noted by this Liked Tweet, and their own admission (one of many):

The fact that Will is a child and was played by someone with a baby-face is a deliberate and crucial part of the appeal to these people. The corruption of a child's innocence and naïveté, tarred by sexual exploit, sinister intentions, and his lack of consent, is all Henwill's charm (and they say this themselves in Tweets added below). It doesn't work if Will is aged up to an adult and that's why he never is in their fantasies. He has to be a child, helpless and pure and preyed upon, and he has to look like Noah's eleven, twelve, thirteen, fourteen, fifteen, and sixteen year old self.

They know that it's pedophilic and that's what they like about it. That's the entire point (again, see for yourself beneath the cut). That's why they shamelessly Tweet about it, but deny it here on this platform, where they [hopefully] are not among like-minded company.

I've included an array of tweets that show they do not view Henwill in a platonic fated enemies fashion and never have—no matter how many times they deny this now. You may notice similarities between those Tweets and their posts, how they "refined" their Tweets into something more palatable, as I mentioned earlier. Read at your own risk, but this should be available for viewing to all unless they change their Twitter handle, go private, or delete/unlike them.

There will always be people who become involved after being exposed to this content, but if you already liked to think of children that way, then there wasn't anything anyone could've done to deter you. Pedophilia is resistant to treatment—a Tumblr post wouldn't have cured you and you would've found this eventually. Still, I have blocked out usernames to prevent further exposure. With this post, I hope to inform others who don't share this paraphilia and who were unknowingly helping spread their thinly veiled pedophilic content.

If you cannot stomach explicit pedophilia or rape, then do NOT continue reading this post or visit their Twitter.

#byler #will byers #vecna #henry creel/vecna #vecna/henry/one #vecna/henry/001 #stranger things

[nateofgreat]

I don't think I've ever been more apathetic than when I heard that Disney's doing a "Tales of the Empire" show and that there's a trailer out for it. I just don't care, and I'm not even the slightest bit curious because I ALREADY KNOW what the show's going to be.

It's not that a show about villains, a spy within the Empire, or even a hapless rookie who doesn't know what they're getting into couldn't be fun. It's that I don't trust Lucasfilm to MAKE it fun.

After all, almost every show made by big studios today follows the trope of "moral grayness" as an absolute law of fiction due to its recent popularity, and are furthermore very lazy and predictable in how they write it.

So just like how "Tales of the Jedi" focused almost exclusively on showing the "flaws" of the Jedi on account of them being the heroes. I'm almost certain that "Tales of the Empire" will focus almost exclusively on the "good side" of the Empire.

I don't think Disney will ever actually posit that the Empire is good or anything but they'll want to present them as morally gray instead of evil for the sake of following modern tropes. Which will only further the silly perception that SW isn't about good vs evil and is actually some gray mush of a story with no good guys and bad guys.

So, yeah. I'm not interested.

Oh and I refuse to watch anything that goes along with Dave Filoni's mangling of the character Bariss just because he wanted Ahsoka to leave the Jedi and he was the only friend of hers that he could remember her having.

#Star Wars #anti Tales of the Jedi #anti totj #totj critical #The Galactic Empire #The Jedi Order #Tales of the Jedi critical #Tales of the Empire critical #Dave Filoni critical

[lansangprincess]

As someone who's Asian and also told you to watch Heartbreak High, I just wanted to vent about the racism in this fandom. It angers me how white characters like Spider and Harper are held to less high standard than characters like Sasha who's East Asian and Dusty who's half South Asian even from season 1. While I don't like those characters and didn't defend them in season 1 the way the racist fandom is reacting now makes me defend them from being held to a higher standard. People use "As a woman Harper doesn't feel she has more to offer than her body" and her past as a reason to justify her actions towards Malakai. The woman card and whatever her past is no excuse and she's as guilty as Dusty. Also Dusty only touched Malakai's shoulder and looked to Harper for what she had in mind, so I don't get how the fandom is saying he initated it to justify them liking Harper. Harper initiated the threesome by kissing Malakai first, not that it matters who initated. People don't use the race card for Dusty and whatever his past may be in regards to that. They loved Spider and campaigned for him getting development and showing his past in season 2 which he got out of popularity even though he too was a complete asshole in season 1. Spider sexually harassed Quinni by spreading rumors about her vagina even though he never slept with her and they shipped him with Amerie even though he was a bully who had a creepy obsession with her sex life. Spider blamed Malakai for the police case and it seems he may have a fetish for WOC. Spider didn't treat Amerie any better than Dusty did, so if it were a MOC in his place they wouldn't ship him with Amerie. Harper did regret the threesome but it wasn't for Malakai's sake but her own and she never apologized to Malakai. She regretted it because of how it affected her friendships, because she didn't like Dusty anymore and found the experience not enjoyable enough. People criticize Dusty for saying she took pleasure in the threesome and while he should be criticized for the part where he showed how insecure he was over Malakai he shouldn't be criticized for holding her accountable for the fact that she did take some pleasure in the threesome like he did. Also Harper was no more high than he was. I don't think she was criticized for the threesome in season 2 since she became friends with Amerie and Malakai after she called it slut shaming in season 1 when Missy criticized her while Dusty was rightfully criticized by Cash in season 2. It bothers me how she became friends with Amerie again after how badly she bullied her which was unjustifiable. If Amerie was in her place fans would hate her. They already criticize her. Devi from NHIE was hated on for less and it upsets me as a brown woman that they had her end up with Ben who never apologized to her for bullying and being racist to her, but the fandom loves him. He got mad at her over Aneesa because she didn't accept her apology for being cringe but never apologized to her for treating her like shit and didn't get mad at his white ex who actually started the rumor. She had trauma from him and cried over experiencing mean treatment in school. Made racist comments masculinizing her appearance and when he asked her to be his girlfriend talked about how big his ex's tits were. Tried to kiss her multiple times at his party but didn't help her out of his pool. I don't ship Daxton but Paxton had better arc than him but isn't liked as much as he isn't fully white. When Fabiola tried to hold Ben accountable for bullying he was like yeah but she broke my heart. I don't judge people for shipping them but I do judge them when they have the audacity to judge my morals as a brown woman over which fictional ships/characters I like.

Hi babe!

First of all, I saw this was a two-parter so I wanna let you know that I don't know when I'll be able to get back to you on the second part since it's also pretty long. Thanks so much for putting me onto HBH!! I've lowkey midkey started to love it a lot more than TSITP, which by the way, sorry if you have messages in my inbox about TSITP that I haven't responded to—the shipwars was hella draining and it took away the fun of being a fangirl for me.

Anyways, I'm still trying to digest all the points you've made and I'm just going to go with an assumption that you want to vent more than anything so I don't think I'm going to react on every point. Glad you feel safe to share in my inbox! (Even for tsitp).

I'm Asian also but regardless, I definitely agree that the support people gave Spider (esp in S1) to have redemption was disproportionate and weird >< Like, just because there was a plot twist that the reason for his behavior was he had a crush on Amerie—that didn't justify his behavior at all in my eyes ?? He was hella bigoted throughout the entire season and being rejected by the person you liked is not a reasonable excuse for that. Sasha was completely in the wrong for how she treated Quinni and she does require a redemption from that imo but her personality majority of the time is just being annoying and performative which doesn't beget hatred comparable to Spider's. Though for me, Season 2 Sasha didn't do anything bad, she was just entertainingly insufferable lol. Spider's redemption was well-written, I'm onboard for it but he still has a lot of work to do (and tbh I could've lived with Spider just continuing being a villain but that's not what we got and I'm just going with the flow of what our beautiful writers have given us). Sasha doesn't need a redemption for me bc she didn't do anything in S2. My forgiveness of her is dependent on Quinni's forgiveness of her and Quinni seems to have been able to move on, we'll see more of it when they work together in S3.

Though I also want to mention that I disagree with what you said about Harper… From what I've seen, a lot of people hate her. A lot of people don't forgive her for the threesome which I can understand but from my perception all of her decision-making was completely impaired and misguided because of her trauma, and I think that should be taken into consideration—she had no one to help her in the aftermath of what she went through and so had no idea how to handle it. What she went with for her own experience was to just kind of, pretend it never happened and go back to "being normal". If you watch the threesome scene back, Dusty took Harper's hand and placed it on Malakai's shoulder. He 100% had intentions of making things more intimate with the three of them. I can't really say the same for Harper. I can imagine that in the moment when Dusty put her hand on Malakai she genuinely thought she was helping Malakai cope.

#heartbreak high #spider white #sasha so #malakai mitchell #harper mclean #dusty heartbreak high

[bluegekk0]

I’m sorry to bring this up if it makes you feel unoriginal but I love how many troupe headcanons we share

-Divine is the costume designer

-Brumm has feelings for the master

-Grimm cannot cook to save his life (Brumm, a seasoned chef, has actually banned him from the kitchen on account of him burning one too many recipes) and only knows how to make tea

It’s just nice to know I’m not the only one with these thought processes lol

Though it does make me curious. What species of bugs do you headcanon Brumm and Divine to be, and where would they be from if this was our Earth? Also, do Divine and Leg Eater still get together in this AU, and if so, does Leg Eater still… meet his rather unfortunate end?

Oh no don't worry, it actually feels really nice that people have similar headcanons! I know Brumm having feelings for Grimm is pretty common but the other two are such a fun coincidence! I love that.

Something about Divine to me just screams "she loves fashion" (maybe it's the fancy mask?). And rewatching The Hunger Games, Effie's character gave me even more inspiration for my interpretation of her. So I headcanon her as quite eccentric and flamboyant, very much a perfectionist with an eye for beauty. She wouldn't be as shallow or manner focused as Effie, though, I do imagine she has a bit of a snark to her. But that bright, energetic personality, and her impressive talent for costume design, definitely made her very popular in the Troupe. She's very involved in the costume making process from start to finish, she wants to make sure each Grimmkin gets a costume that fits them perfectly, and she'll contribute during the sewing process, instructing her crew and assisting them in any trouble.

Brumm's feelings for Grimm were initially just a small nod to the relatively popular ship of these two, but it evolved over time into something that explores both of their personalities to a slightly larger extent. It emphasizes Brumm's loyalty and commitment, but also implies that deep down he wants something more. He lost his family before Grimm invited him to the Troupe, and one of those dead loved ones could have been his partner. Perhaps there were similarities between that partner and Grimm which eventually made Brumm have feelings for him. But then you might wonder: how much of it is genuine, and is it possible that he's just projecting his loss onto Grimm? I doubt he knows the answer himself, but at least Grimm was clear that he wasn't interested and spared Brumm the trouble of figuring it out. So he got the confession out of his system, and was able to sort his feelings out and move on. Well, at least mostly. I think he does still feel attraction towards Grimm, Brumm's subtle glances at Grimm's body whenever he lifts his cloak tell you that much, but that's nothing new for Grimm. He made his body desirable on purpose, so he's used to it, and in his eyes those stares don't mean anything. But at the very least Brumm realized that he needed to move on from his feelings towards Grimm, so those glances aren't as emotionally driven as they were in the past. Just a quick look to admire, that's all. Or so he says.

I made a post about Grimm being terrible at cooking already, so I won't repeat myself. But that is when our headcanons differ a little bit. While Brumm is definitely better at cooking, I wouldn't call him a seasoned chef. The Troupe has its own dedicated cooks so he doesn't visit the kitchen that often.

---

As for the second half of the ask. I mentioned before that I don't see the "bugs" in the AU as actual bugs (insects). To me they're just fictional species, though some of them do resemble real life animals (bugs or otherwise). So neither Brumm or Divine are an existing real life species of bug, though Divine does take heavy inspiration from termite queens (though she isn't actually meant to be a termite queen in my eyes, shes still a fictional creature). Brumm? He's definitely more mammalian in my eyes, maybe a bit bear like? Or perhaps he'd resemble something like a badger a little bit.

I'm not sure how to answer the Earth question, especially since, again, they are a fictional creature species to me. But maybe I could mention what kind of regions they're originally from.

Divine would be from a warmer region, maybe something resembling the mediterranean climate. Warm and dry summers, and cool and rainy winters. She's definitely from far away relative to Hallownest, Grimm would travel the whole world back then so that is why the two first met. She doesn't handle the Hallownest cold very well, you'll very rarely see her outside during the colder months, and she wears a lot of outfits with furs.

Brumm is from a colder region, something like taiga. His home land definitely had a lot of forests and long, cold winters, which made him adapt very quickly to the climate in Hallownest. He's covered in fur similarly to Grimm, though his isn't as much for show as it is to protect him from harsh temperatures. Consequently, his home isn't that far from Hallownest.

---

And lastly, no, I decided that Divine and Leg Eater don't meet. There is a lot about my Divine that I changed from canon for personal preference reasons. The charm making process in particular is... A bit too much for me personally hahaha. And I headcanon my Divine as gay, so she wouldn't be interested. Lucky for Leg Eater haha.

#ask stuff #feral pk au #au worldbuilding #save #divine #brumm #grimm

[olderthannetfic]

Sorry if this is just an annoying rant, but antis are at it again.

For fucks sake. Kids.

Reimob or Mobrei literally isn't even that far-fetched as an idea, Bones literally released a bloody HEART-SHAPED pendant for the two characters in question. Literally last month or something.

It's not even that far-fetched by the importance the narrative itself places on these two characters' relationship. Sure, it's all platonic in the text and arguably also in the subtext, but since when has that EVER stopped a shipper? The USPS/FedEx/UPS should have no problem finding workers because professional shippers ship things even come hell fire or high waters. I hear Evergreen is looking for workers too LOL

Literally no one gives a fuck if it is a "student-teacher*" relationship, usually the adult rejects the younger's advances until he is an adult anyway, in the "more sensible" works at least. (In the not-so-sensible works they just straight up fuck nasty. As it goes in porn. Duh.)

It is all fiction anyway.

And wait till you see the people ship Shimazaki and Teru, aka ship the adult with the kid that he BEAT UP GLEEFULLY.

All of it is fiction.

And now you clowns act as if it was the greatest betrayal that a popular fandom artist had a hidden reimob account. You are offended that someone didn't want to get yelled at by idiots like you? Calling them a coward for what? Not wanting to receive death threats on the daily?

Don't you all have REAL problems to be up in arms about? Like, the increasing right wing power due to your idiotic parents and other relatives watching nothing but Fox News all day? Getting to better therapists to be able to survive without your already abusive parents still alive? To be able to find SOME job that you might be able to keep even with your disabilities (because WHAT pray tell, is your alternative? Dying because your parents abused you too much? What are you, a loser?) and that might reasonably hold you over the water?

No, your biggest problem is the fictional forbidden relationship between fictional people who aren't even real. Also the original story was set in 2012, so the younger dude is now at least 26, which is older than most of you little shits anyway.

The younger dude can now rent a bloody CAR at reduced insurance to go fuck is ex-teacher.

*) he isn't even his real school teacher or anything. He's like. His boss at work who teaches him... SOMETHING. The kid could smack him into the wall for getting only 300 yen per hour, but he doesn't. He only walks out on him and effectively strikes when the boss is being overly mean and saying things that are truly uncalled for.

Heck, even in REAL LIFE UNIVERSITY you sometimes have trouble getting your degree if you resist a professor trying to get overly handsy with you. Now THAT'S a REAL PROBLEM to be had.

--

[gentil-minou]

Hi, I'm sending an ask here since i wanna stay anonymous and safe. I saw you being harassed on Twitter today, and that makes me feel very sad. I've always appreciated your analysis posts for Adrien and Marinette and know you wouldn't support depicting them as sexualized minors (which is different from aged up), you love them so much like I do, but some just take it too far to protect their so-called "justice". I hope you take a break when needed and truly wish this wouldn't affect you too much.

With love, from a fan.

I appreciate it, really. And don't worry, I am fine! It's been a few days of just rampant harassment and accusing people of doing things they never did, but in general it's just been ridiculous out there and a reminder why I stay away from mlbtwt.

The fact is that all of the accounts they dragged that I've seen so far have 1. Stated they explicitly draw aged up characters and/or 2. have done it on special nsfw accounts that are meant to be kept away from minors and 3. The people doing the dragging and bringing all this attention are 18+. This tells me that the minors themselves are being smart here and not looking at things they want to stay away from, that is until these people started showing attention to it and turning what might have been a safe space into a hellscape.

The fact is that child pornography is a VERY VERY VERY SERIOUS THING but it is not the same as people drawing/writing fictional characters. Especially when tv shows are becoming more and more explicit about this kind of thing themselves. They've taken what is actually a major concern and essentially created smoke where there was no fire, drawing attention away from a deadly blaze in the distance.

Not to mention, they are accusing real people of something so vile and heinous with complete disregard to what those people may or may have not experienced in their own lives.

I'm a huuuge advocate for using fanfiction/fanart to express yourself and more importantly to explore something in a safe way without causing danger to yourself or others. I'm not afraid to admit that I read and looked at smutty fic and fanart when I was a kid, and that it genuinely helped me learn about myself and my sexuality when I grew up in a setting that made me feel bad about it. And yes, some of what I looked at then was of minors. It is not the same thing as looking at actual child porn and I just don't even know how to explain it anymore. It's like how watching freaking true crime or video games where you shoot someone isn't going to make you do that sort of thing, and I cannot believe we have to argue this ahhh.

What makes me the most angry here is that this is actually doing the worst for teens and minors learning about and exploring their sexuality. It's already really hard to find safe ways to learn (look at how popular euphoria or sex education is with teens) or discover something about themselves. By actively making this bs argument that all nsfw art is bad they're making those teens feel actively worse!

And I work with teens like this!!!! Teens who feel shamed for their body's reaction and what is typical curiousity!!!!! Teens who without a safe a way to learn about themselves will often find themselves in the darker places where they are actually in danger and I just I cannot emphasize how much damage these twitter people are doing to the very real people they are claiming to want to protect.

I'll be explicit here and say I'm not saying minors should look at nsfw things! I'm saying that we shouldn't shame people who do, especially when they accuse people of something they aren't even doing!!!!!!!! No one is drawing child porn like ahhhh!!!!!!!!! Like I cannot even begin to explain how awful that is, to be accused of something you arent even doing just ahhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!

Anyways I appreciate your kind words and I am taking care of myself don't worry I've been distancing myself from this fandom for a reason and it's been going well.

I just wish these folks would remember that the lives of real people are worth more than any fictional character. Too many people forget that in this fandom.

#its just annoying at this point tbh #and crazy hypocritical the things being said #but its helping me find more people to block so thats a good thing #if anyone is confused about whats going on just know that it really isnt worth your time and the amountof misinformation is ridiculous #its stupid dogpile cancel culture bs and part of the reason this fandom is one of the worst #ml fandom salt #asked and answered

[blackautmedia]

🥤 ⇢ recommend an author or fanfic you love (Ganondorf please?) 🧃 ⇢ share some personal lore you never posted about before

🪐 ⇢ name three good things going on in your life right now

🍬 ⇢ post an unpopular opinion about a popular fandom character

🧩 ⇢ what will make you click away from a fanfiction immediately?

🥤 ⇢ recommend an author or fanfic you love (Ganondorf please?)

Imani Barbarin aka Crutches and Spice. I honestly started learning so much about communication and writing from her and some of my favorite activist writing.

For Non-fiction, I'm still fairly new to fanfic sites where before I had dabbled in them on and off. I'll come back to you when I'm ten miles deep and can't get out the quicksand.

But now I really want a fanfiction that's written as Ganon writing a self-indulgent fanfic about himself as a story within a story. Could you imagine?

Ganon will also spend time as a leader ensuring the Gerudo have documented events of their battles and disagreements with Hyrule to so doesn't entirely control a propagandized event of what happened…and in his spare time he's also writing fics about himself.

I started an AO3 account because I wanted to get back into writing stories again, but I haven't found the time to finish one I had in mind.

🧃 ⇢ share some personal lore you never posted about before

Muhammad Ali is my dad…or so I like to joke.

My mother's career allowed her to meet a few celebrities when she was working. She has a photo of her and Muhammad Ali together and they look like a couple, so I have it on my phone and like to see if I can get away with convincing people that he's my dad before spilling the beans.

I shared it with a friend of mine who genuinely thought he was my dad even after I told him it was a joke, so…yay? I'm pretty tall if you see me in person (6'3-4 or about 191 cm tall) and about the same height as Ali, so it helps sell the illusion.

Part of the reason I also try to stay quiet about my personal life with most people is because some of my family members are publicly known people for different reasons and I don't want to draw any kind of social attention when I just want to be some TV/gaming nerd on in peace. I'm already very much a black sheep within my family, so it's fine if I stay in the unknown territory.

🪐 ⇢ name three good things going on in your life right now

I have mobility! Life is fragile. Very fragile. It's easy to forget that, but I'm thankful I can still move about easily. I'm lucky that I can feel at relative peace in my body. I haven't felt that way for most of my life, so it's nice.

It's a combo of getting older and unmasking, but it's nice not being bothered by things that used to be a pain, to not care and move on. Whether it's work or a bothersome comment, it's much more tolerable. The ability to stop caring is a virtue.

I got a copy of Sonic Frontiers! I haven't had time to play any new games lately, but I'm looking forward to it. Little things.

🍬 ⇢ post an unpopular opinion about a popular fandom character

This one is Ace Attorney related!

I don't love Miles Edgeworth. I don't think he's a poorly written character and there's a lot to enjoy, but I mean more I feel he doesn't bring as much energy and fun to the cast except when he has the right and very specific selection of characters to bounce off of.

I also wasn't really so wild about his friendship with Gumshoe because so much of it is just him insulting Gumshoe, constantly docking his pay or threatening his salary when he himself is obscenely wealthy and Gumshoe is dirt poor in a way that I never found that entertaining. As far as anime men go, I don't even think he's that fine.

At least he had a lot of fun bouncing off of Ace Attorney's equivilent of Ganondorf in Damon Gant. (I JUST LEARNED THERE'S A DAMON GANON MOD LOOK AT HOW GLORIOUS IT IS)

🧩 ⇢ what will make you click away from a fanfiction immediately?

Pretty much any of the stuff to fall under the proship umbrella (ex. incest, age gaps, etc)

There's also a specific writing pattern I notice in a lot of fanfics where there's a lot of transition between dialogue and the writer can sometimes feel strained in trying to not have their writing be repetitive, but they change the words around rather than the sentence structure. It ends up sounding both repetitive and awkward with the random word choices that don't address the root issue.

It looks something like this:

"The air seems to have chilled. I haven't felt this excited in a while. This will be a glorious battle." - Ganon said.

"Do you really think so?"

"I do." - The king of evil replied.

The demon king sat down and began tending to his weapons carefully for battle.

"This time, I will be ready" - The demon king chuckled.

It becomes really apparent when there are animal characters and they sub in things like "The fox said" the "vulpine said" and it just gets to me. I get why it happens! But for some reason it bothers me specific to fanfiction.

#Ask if you dare you fools

[ramshackledtrickster]

Explain? What's interesting about it? Im curious

Ok so this is super embarrassing but in high school I really fixated on thomas Hickey from ac3 and then I started researching more about him irl since. Y know, ac3 based his character off his irl counterpart

Foreword though there’s not much history on Hickey outside of this like I can’t even find a birthday for him but that’s besides the point

And it’s basically about Washington’s lifeguard and how Hickey was a part of that (basically a body guard there were some specific physical requirements you had to meet too like being a certain height etc) and he plotted to kill Washington (as we know)

And Hickey was apparently Washington’s favorite (he was a deserter from the British army and eventually hand picked by Washington)

And he got thrown in jail for counterfeiting and disappointed Washington that way but while he was in jail he started running his mouth n bragging about his plans to turn on Washington

So basically he was tried for treason and he was accepting a butt ton of money by enemies of the colonies (likely British loyalists) also he wasn’t the only one in on the plot bc the loyalist mayor of New York Dave Matthews was arrested too for being a part of this plot also John Jay was the leader of the group of ppl foiling this conspiracy and he’d later be one of the founding fathers

And at hickeys execution theres testimony of him denying a rite from a priest and blaming his ill behavior on “loose women” or smth like that and he was essentially the first person to be executed as a “this is what happens if you go against Washington” example by the continental army

And there’s a lot of fictionalized accounts of this that are basically kinda apocryphal (a story that isn’t authentic but circulated because it told a good message such as the story of Washington chopping down a cherry tree) like him being outed as a spy by Phoebe Frances

Interesting thing is there’s not much known about her either and if she was a real figure or not, but the popularized story goes that she found out Hickey’s plot to kill Washington via poisoning him with a dish of peas (peas were supposedly his favorite) she told on him, Washington threw the peas out of a window, and watched the chickens eat them and die. This account was third hand information and well refuted even back during his trial but it’s become more popular and even spawned a couple children’s books (Go Phoebe!)

There’s another book version of Thomas Hickey I forgot the name of but read some passages a while ago that basically made him a Jack the Ripper type figure and made him a lot more mean and cruel and lecherous, and I wonder if that served as any inspiration for the assassin’s creed version of him

And additionally, Hickey was already known by those around him to be a lecherous man who drank and slept around a lot so yeah this checks out

And I think it’s funny that Hickey in the game has a heavy cockney accent even though in real life he was Irish and the game bothered to go out of their way to get an Irish actor to play him (a very well known one at that! Allen Leech, who plays Tom Branson in downton abbey and the abusive ex in Bohemian Rhapsody I forgot his name sorry)

Honestly I don’t know why I fixate so so hard on this and most of this info is already stored in my head but agnwcegenf. I think it’s interesting to learn about the real history that inspired the game’s portrayal y know !! And see what they got right what they played with for artistic liberty, etc etc… and phoebe fraunces, who probably unfortunately wasn’t real, is a badass in the more story-book recollection of this plot.

[lemonhemlock]

Heeeyy, it’s the anon who sent in an ask a while ago about shipping Alicent with others out of spite. Feel free to ignore this ask if you’re tired of ship asks (I see you’ve already received more than enough lol) or if it’ll start any unnecessary discourse you’d rather avoid.

Just wanted to pop in and say that most people on Twitter are not okay. I had no followers nor was I following anyone and I had people screenshot a very innocuous Alicole tweet (it was literally a picture of a lady and her knight, basic) and talk badly of me - apparently I am lesbophobic and Cole is misogynist with anger issues 🤷‍♀️. Newsflash: Rhaenicent is not a healthy ship either, none of ASOIAF ships are.

I then came out as a Larycent shipper. I got ratioed (as much as, again, someone with no followers can).

Anyways, I got bored and deactivated but before I did, things got messy. There was group chat drama, people were saying pro-shippers deserve to be bullied etc.

All this to say that I am frustrated with the performative activism this fandom participates in, though I’m sure the same can be said for other fandoms. What’s the point of defending a celebrity by insulting another celebrity, or worse, another user? (Sorry but I’ll sympathize with a “regular” person over a celebrity any day. Imo, they don’t really care about bullying, they just project onto their favorite character or celebrity.) What makes one inherently morally better by being an “anti” but turn around and shit-talk people’s appearances or character? Real people with real lives and issues. Characters are fictional they do not exist, it comes off as disingenuous and self-righteous. I need people to do better.

Thanks for entertaining this ask, hope you’re doing well!

welcome back, anon. i hope you're doing well, too; don't allow this pointless drama more headspace beyond it being a funny anecdote. also, by this point, you guys should check-in using stage names. :)) or serial killer names. or maybe racing horse names ?? (those are always funny)

I had no followers nor was I following anyone and I had people screenshot a very innocuous Alicole tweet (it was literally a picture of a lady and her knight, basic) and talk badly of me - apparently I am lesbophobic and Cole is misogynist with anger issues

wow, how did they even manage to find you out in a sea of accounts with no followers or following anybody? i can understand the logic of dogpilling on a popular account, because they're visible in the fandom, but this? don't these people have, idk, jobs? do they not have to go to the grocery store or smth? what kind of lame-ass surveillance state? 😂

Newsflash: Rhaenicent is not a healthy ship either, none of ASOIAF ships are.

this is why shipping wars are even stupider in asoiaf-verse. what exactly moral high ground do you think you're defending here? i keep hearing "at least it's not an inc3st ship" well ok congratulations they're fucked up & unhealthy in a different way then?

I then came out as a Larycent shipper. I got ratioed (as much as, again, someone with no followers can).

ohhhhh anon you're a brave one with larycent there! i gotta say i was into it at the beginning bc he was super fucking yandere about it to the point of it being hilarious and, also, who can resist murderous puppy dog eyes ??? but the latter part of the season, esp. ep 9, put me off and i fed myself on the green family dynamics crumbs

Anyways, I got bored and deactivated but before I did, things got messy. There was group chat drama, people were saying pro-shippers deserve to be bullied etc.

group chat drama? is that a discord thing? i feel like it's a discord thing. this is so funny to me bc the only way "group chat drama" leaks is if you have traitors in your midst who screencap and then spread it around. so who are these conspirators? these subversive agents? these freedom fighters? who watches the watchers? 😅

What makes one inherently morally better by being an “anti” but turn around and shit-talk people’s appearances or character? Real people with real lives and issues.

they end up appearance-shaming and have zero self-awareness about it? oh me oh my 💅

performative activism is a very good word for what the moral panic that has taken hold of this fandom, at least on tumblr/twitter. another thing that makes me laugh is when people write page-long essays saying "ofc you can ship whatever you want, BUT..." followed by an entire diatribe on why shipping said thing (even if it's within the confines of fiction and decidedly not irl) puts a stain on your moral character and you should basically be ashamed of yourself 😂 so which is it? can people ship in peace or do you just want a pat on the head for being a good trooper?

#ask #anon #shipping wars #fandom critical

[trshltna-blog]

The relevancy of blogging- in an era like “this”

The description of a “blog” is defined as a regularly updated website based on information about a person, a community or any general thing. It consists of articles and can be used for business or for personal use (Website Rating 2020). As someone who was very much interested in the writing community many years ago, I ran a blog of my own using Blogger to post my short stories and poems. However, in an era like this, where applications such as Instagram and Tiktok dominate the media, it is rare to see people use or consume blogs as their prime source of information.

Unfortunately, the relevancy of blogs have dropped over the years although admitting it would be pretty sad. Blogs were used to gain information especially at an individual’s peak interest. In my case, it was writing. Blogs can be easily replaced with these applications stated above because of how popular they are and their accessibility. In terms of popularity, individuals are highly likely to be navigated towards an app which most people are currently using. In other words, ‘trending’. To be able to keep up with friends’ and family’s lives is what most people desire to do online. Instagram makes it easy because pictures can be posted, and you know what they say, ‘a picture tells a thousand words’, probably more than my word count right now, even. As for the recent rising star, Tiktok, most people would prefer doing ‘daily vlogs’ (yes, vlog, it a blog but replace the B with a V, so you’ll have video blogging) and watching them. I do believe that our generation, and probably the upcoming ones are embedded with a short-term span, hence to why vlogging is ‘the in thing’ at the moment. A 15-second clip of someone’s day could already sum up what most people used to write on blogs. Alas, individuals are much more attracted to graphics and visuals, thus the heavy usage of Instagram, a photography app, and Tiktok, a video app.

While the relevancy of blogs have gradually decreased, I do believe that the usage of blogs still exist. It hasn’t gone completely extinct, as there are still some individuals that consume it daily. Just because something isn’t popular doesn’t mean it isn’t being used. Blogs are still used amongst fandom communities, that gather to discuss about their favourite celebrity or fictional character. With fandom being a thing in modern society, blogs are still bound to be somewhat the centre of it all. Another great example would be food bloggers. Cooks use blogs to post their food recipes and to engage with those who have the same interest in cooking. Sharing recipes online have been going on for a decade, ever since the word ‘blog’ came to existence. In some cases, blogs and vlogs (what a mouthful, really) can go hand in hand together especially with food. I’ve seen Tiktokers link their blogs to their accounts so that people watching their short cooking videos who want to try it out can go check the full recipe. Alas, it all comes down to interest. If an individual is interested, they’ll go looking for it, thus the usage of vlog and blog at once.

Blogs have been around ever since Internet Explorer was heavily used, and with fast paced ever changing media, I believe that even Tiktok and Instagram will ‘go out of style’. Or perhaps, make a huge 360 cycle back to blogging being in trend again. Regardless, it is certain that every single media outlet has its relevancy, just depending on how relevant it can be in the appropriate time frame of society.

#MDA20009 #Week4

[aimmyarrowshigh]

For the fanfic asks for the New Year, 1, 9, 11, 18, and 20.

1. Do you have a word-count goal for the upcoming year?

In an IDEAL world, 372,000, but I know I won't be anywhere close to that. I think a realistic goal is more like 250,000, which gives me plenty of days off or days not hitting 1k -- my goal is generally 1k/day between all of my various projects (drabbles + whatever WIP of the moment) but sometimes I only drabble. Sometimes I just don't feel like writing. I'm trying to maintain my 2022 energy of not beating myself up too much about that.

9. Short term goals… what do you hope to complete this week or in January?

This week, I want to do daily drabbles, finish my Bucky Barnes Bingo Round 4 card, and add at least 2k to each my Shrinkyclinks WIP and my Steve/Joyce. I'd love to finish and post Steve/Joyce this month, but I'm not sure how long it's going to end up being... I've mapped out enough writing days on it this month to account for it ballooning to 20k, but god I hope it's shorter than 20k. I also want to write the first of my Patreon thank-you 5k stories this month, ideally.

11. Would you like to try any new fanfic genres or tropes this year?

Hmm... I really don't tend to intentionally write many tropes per se, except for A/B/O, and sometimes I write cabinfic. I think I might want to try to write a mystery/casefic for either Leverage or Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries if I can think of an idea for one that wouldn't make more sense to just write as an original story? Otherwise, I feel like at this point I know my niche: quiet character studies with a weird amount of food in them.

18. Do you typically post multi-chapters as you write, or finish it all and then start posting? Would you like to change your posting method? 

HA, HAHAHA, HA... HA. Um. Well. I tend to post multi-chapters as I write and then I never post the last chapter(s)? So I should. Change that. I'm determined to finish all of my Shrinkyclinks WIP before I start to post so that I DON'T just leave it hanging without a final chapter (again) like I do (most) other things. I have no fucking idea how I wrote 10k chapters ever-other day and posted MYEYNL as I was writing it? Like I truly have no idea how I did that? Yeah, I'd written a good 150k of the story before I started to post, but that's STILL a hundred fucking thousand words that I wrote as I posted. HOW? WHY CAN'T I DO IT ANYMORE? I feel like the answer is "I wasn't yet medicated" and while that was good for wordcount, it was Bad for Everything Else.

20. Any plans to work on original fiction this year?

If I don't say yes, then a combination of my own guilt, @reachmouse, and @dracosollicitus will probably eat me. Also my dad will yell at me more, because he's never not yelling at me about wasting my time doing anything other than working on original writing.

I don't know. I feel like it's stupid for me to have, like, goals or hopes or dreams, so I... don't? Anymore? I used to want to be a published author so badly that I cried about it every day and made myself sick over it and beat myself up so much if I didn't write daily, and now I'm just like... if it were meant to happen, it would have happened already because I'm Old As Hell and my writing Isn't Popular, so ::shrug::

I mean, I'll work on my shit, but I'm not actually like... expecting it to matter. I don't know. That sounds dire. I don't mean it direly. I just mean it like this:

#fanfiction ask meme #writing

[madamechatterlaine]

reading some more of Sodomy and the Pirate Tradition, and thinking abt pirate history and the modern day. Saw a lot of discourse around OFMD a while back, and generally have had discussions about glorifying terrible people in Pirate Media, that I get the sense miss the mark in terms of how history is written about infamous pirates & crews. It’s not really, in my opinion, possible to definitively claim that a story about a famous pirate is forgetting the real person’s history, because so often that history is shaky as best. The thing that sets Caribbean piracy apart from, say, a story about the English nobility, is that so much of what we know of that period and the significant figures within it is either: 1) speculation 2) explicit fiction (or pseudo-fiction)

Which isn’t to say these people were secretly GREAT individuals, most of them probably genuinely were as bad or nearly as bad as the stories suggest. But it’s also important to remember how unreliable the historical record is when it comes to concrete facts about pirates. Take Henry Morgan, for example: terrible dude, and someone we know a (relatively) large amount about, since he was literate and wrote letters which can be used to corroborate the already historically significant events he was involved in. Yet when it comes to the in-between, the things that make Henry Morgan a person (and in a story, the things that would inform his politics and character), some of it is derived SOLELY from a single account written by a man who almost certainly invented events to make the man look bad. The things we definitively know, on the other hand, are largely Events more than information about him as a person. We can make educated guesses based on Morgan’s class, verifiable actions, and the social opinion surrounding him, but key events in his life are going to remain murky and contradictory.

This is true to a much larger degree about your general pirate, who unlike Morgan was NOT literate and would not have had a biographer on board the crew. It’s basically impossible to know most of the “real history” behind pirates like Blackbeard, because all we have are secondhand accounts of Events (such as his death or the blockade of Charleston) and next to no information about who he was or what day-to-day life was aboard his ship. The politics he engaged in are, likewise, murky. We can make assumptions based on contemporary stories of the Fearsome Pirate Blackbeard, and corroborate some of that with what we knew of documented, legitimate sailing culture, but we’re not even 100% certain Edward Thatch (or Teach) is his real name. Most of our information, though, is a matter of popular consciousness - Blackbeard burned wicks in his beard because one borderline fictitious account of the man says he did.

To say that portraying Blackbeard (or Jack Rackham, or Stede Bonnett, or Black Bart, or whomever) as a good person is ignoring the “real history” of those individuals can’t stand up against how that “real history” is compiled. It’s all conjecture, there ISN’T a real history to spurn because so little of the stories of these people is grounded in any verifiable fact.

That isn’t to suggest we shouldn’t heavily interrogate the way we tell a pirate story, and (to center OFMD), especially a pirate story seeking to rehabilitate character whose primary trait is being a plantation owner from Barbados. We should, we should have long, long discussions on these things. But they have to be held on the battleground of verifiable historical fact and the social role of pirate narratives - not on whether or not you’re being true to a “real” pirate who is more character than person anyways.

#feel free to accuse me of black sails brain or whatever but this GENUINELY is a thought #more produced from devouring history books about pirates & all the discussions within them that emphasize #how ambiguous all of these figures are #not sure how inflammatory this post is #but I've been thinking abt it (and saying it to my friends) #in some form for a long while #if you are one of those friends uh. hi #hows it going