#the dom sub dynamics that are just. so overpowering to the point of erasing the characters personalities

[laesas]

As someone who definitely doesn't count as an A/B/O enjoyer it's still super interesting to me just how much influence it has over wider fandom and fanfiction. Like as soon as you're "in the know" it's just absolutely everywhere.

#full disclosure: my only experience is like a very funny light-hearted 40 minute intro to ABO video essay by ColeyDoesStuff + 1 fic #and like personally I don't think I'll ever *get* the whole nesting and scenting and like massive personality changes because ~biology~ #buT like! god! it explains so much!!! of fandom!! and fanfiction!?!? #like everyone is playing a game of fanfiction telephone #there are loads of ABO readers that dont *write* abo picking out phrases and character interactions and putting them into 'normal' fics #which is. i am completely and utterly certain. how we get the scent thing. #this has genuinely baffled me for years and had left me wondering if I genuinely just have an awful sense if smell #not just the the ''he smells like sandalwood and coffee and something uniquely him'' thing. sure. sure. maybe its cologne #but like. where someone smells their friends or siblings and its like citrus and paper and fresh cotton and rain and youre like HUH?! #I literally could not tell you what any of my friends smell like. genuinely I do not know. #my mum wears a perfume? sometimes? but thats it. like. ??? idk its so bizarre to me that in some fics everyone has a unique smell #and like !!!! now it makes sense!!!!!! #ALSO #the dom sub dynamics that are just. so overpowering to the point of erasing the characters personalities #like the whole existence of 'deep subspace' #where a previously headstrong characher now wants nothing more than to follow the commands of their alpha *ehem* i mean dom #like its wiLd like its MAD! like there are sO many little *things* that you suddenly notice and youre like OHHHH IT MAKES SENSE NOW!!!!!!!! #this is absolutely not an 'omg abo is cringe' post btw like its not for me but this is more about the baffled awe i have for its influence #I didn't understand it!! #but now i sortof do! #insanely funny that it all started because of some jensen ackles x whatshisface rpf like thats a madness. thats so funny to me. #anyway. my sense of smell isn't amazing but I'm glad that in the 10 years since I started reading fanfiction I've solved this mystery 😂 #oh also the fic i read was actually really stellar in terms of characterisation. I actually really did enjoy it #its called an elegant mechanism and its a KimChay if anyone does actually want to read it! its stellar #it's one if those where the abo elements are so intricately woven into the story that you won't *want* to remove them #even as a boring ass abo hater I'm like damn that shit DOES add to the plot #its fun