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brights-place · 5 months

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Trollex dating an Deaf S/O

- He noticed you cause you where so close to the speakers in one o the raves and touching it - he just stared at you while hyping up everybody and noticed how you would look up at all the other Techno trolls in awe while you hopped abit and moved side to side with the beat you get from the vibrations - Loved your face when he made the beat drop louder cause it made you more hyped and grinned - You are able to lip read fluently so it's easy to understand what people are asking you sometimes yet it's also sometimes difficult - Though not MOST deaf people can lip read just an little fun fact from your author who's uncle is deaf - you two had your first ever chat after the 3rd rave - Well he talked to you and you just nodded shook your head or just did sign language which he connected the dots quickly - would rush over to you whenever he can somehow, he could read your thoughts and what you want to say but can't at all but try to explain in sign language. - He didn't understand sign language so he just focused on when you're looking at something or someone in a certain way, how your eyebrows furrow. how you squint your eyes, the way your lips curve up or downwards with something he likes and dislikes. - he will sulk at the person and then explain it to them, turning his head at you to know if he was right. - Which he was sometimes it was an 50/50 really depending if he got it right or wrong then remembers your deaf... So he mentally smacked himself in the face - THEN AND THERE! When he wanted to speak to you he wanted to know sign language so you could understand - You fell for him when one of your friends signed to you about how he stood up for you - Found out about his feelings when he saw you vibing to HIS Techno Remix - You fell first HE FELL HARDER - King Trollex WILL beat the shit out of anyone who he sees being ableist towards you like deadass would throw hands and be pissed - Asked some of more high tech trolls (The Funk trolls CAUSE SPACE SHIP!) to make you hearing aids whenever you wanted to wear them - King Quincy and Queen essence cooed at the scene when Trollex gave it for you on your birthday - Trollex cares for you extremely deeply. He tries his best to understand how it feels to be deaf - He makes sure your next to him in the DJ booth so he knows your beside him safe and also so you can be near the speakers to touch the vibrations and feel the beat - Secretly learned sign language from other deaf trolls for you and planned to show you on your anniversary - You caught him doing sign language in secret a couple days before your anniversary and kept it an secret - You tried so hard not to kiss him hard then and there and when it was finally your anniversary you where shaking on your spot excitedly - YOU SWAM SO FAST TOWARDS HIS ASS - Tackled him into an hug grinning and laughing peppering his face with kisses - he's kiss drunk on the spot holding you close and giggling like an idiot - he wanted his knights to learn sign language and gave them the task of following you around - The knights most of the time are translating for those who can't understand you when you use sign language when Trollex can't when he's on his duties - Other then that he would be by your side making sure your safe and are alright

- Blushes and has to explains why he does it

- other trolls cry and tear up at how sweet it was

- You being deaf is not really a problem for him he doesn't mind at all

- he doesn't mind at all explain directly to you what others are saying or explaining it to you the situation

- he always take a moment to explain what happen if you need it

- The first time he did ask you directly if you need him to explain...

- Bliss face palmed in sync with Laguna while Synth gave an thumbs up as they stared at their king who froze realizing what he just did

- You stared at him with absolute confusion. After you've been together for a while he learnt how to identify whenever you need help so he just turn to look at you to know

- You two have an loving relationship and it's so cute that people in techno reef laugh at how cute you two were

- King Trollex WILL beat the shit out of anyone who he sees being ableist towards you like deadass would throw hands and be pissed

- Asked some of more of the high tech trolls (The Funk trolls CAUSE SPACE SHIP!) to make you hearing aids whenever you wanted to wear them

- King Quincy and Queen essence cooed at the scene when Trollex gave it for you on your birthday

- Trollex cares for you extremely deeply. He tries his best to understand how it feels to be deaf

- He makes sure your next to him in the DJ booth so he knows your beside him safe and also so you can be near the speakers to touch the vibrations and feel the beat

- Secretly learned sign language from other deaf trolls for you and planned to show you on your anniversary

- You caught him doing sign language in secret a couple days before your anniversary and kept it an secret

- You tried so hard not to kiss him hard then and there and when it was finally your anniversary you where shaking on your spot excitedly

- YOU SWAM SO FAST TOWARDS HIS ASS

- Tackled him into an hug grinning and laughing peppering his face with kisses

- he's kiss drunk on the spot holding you close and giggling like an idiot

- he wanted his knights to learn sign language and gave them the task of following you around

- The knights most of the time are translating for those who can't understand you when you use sign language when Trollex can't when he's on his duties

- Other then that he would be by your side making sure your safe and are alright

- When he speaks he forgets that he's doing sign language while speaking whenever your near and people point it out

- Blushes and has to explains why he does it

- other trolls cry and tear up at how sweet it was

- You being deaf is not really a problem for him he doesn't mind at all

- he doesn't mind at all explain directly to you what others are saying or explaining it to you the situation

- he always take a moment to explain what happen if you need it

- The first time he did ask you directly if you need him to explain...

- Bliss face palmed in sync with Laguna while Synth gave an thumbs up as they stared at their king who froze realizing what he just did

- You stared at him with absolute confusion. After you've been together for a while he learnt how to identify whenever you need help so he just turn to look at you to know

- You two have an loving relationship and it's so cute that people in techno reef laugh at how cute you two were

#trollex x reader #trolls trollex #trolls band together #trolls x reader #dreamworks trolls #trolls #trolls 3 #trolls dreamworks #trolls fandom #king trollex #trolls world tour #queen barb #poppy #branch #delta trolls #synth trolls #trollstopia #trollex #king trollex x reader

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thottybrucewayne · 6 months

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Another James Somerton lie that's super egregious to me is his lying about Janelle Monáe having to come out of the closet when Pynk came out because "Everyone got confused and thought the song was a girl power anthem when it was really Janelle's coming out song." and making a big deal about erasure and what not but it's like A. None of that is true the second that music video came out everybody and they mama said, "Janelle Monáe gay?????????????????" That was the primary reading of the music video, and it's very well-documented B. It could be argued that the music is somewhat of a "girl power" anthem too and I doubt Janelle would have an issue with that interpretation given that Pynk has a very "owning your sexuality and taking up space" message. C. Funny that James Somerton would make such an impassioned defense of an artist being "forced" to come out because he literally lied on a bisexual writer who was forced to come out after people assumed that she was some gross straight woman obsessed with gay men. James, who supposedly did alllllllll this research, lumped that author in with the "Straight woman who writes gay men's stories." in his video and proceeded to get pissy with her when she left a pretty mild comment of "Hey, after a whole harassment campaign against me forcing me to come out of the closet it kinda sucks that people are still calling me straight." Then, after very gently being called out over him erasing her sexuality to fit his narrative, he proceeded to omit the title of that author's work in his later videos and make up a lie about her being mean to him on Twitter when his audience questioned him on it. LITERALLY TALKIN OUTTA BOTH SIDES OF HIS MOUTH

This whole situation reminds me of a TikTok creator who's been called out for stealing from Black women all the time and how every time it's brought up, it's met with silence. Once, He just straight-up read out a Black trans femme's tweets without properly crediting her or asking her for permission to use her work. Making the excuse of "Well, I screenshotted the tweets and put them on the screen so..." then his fans spent days bashing her for calling him out on using the work of other creators without asking and making fun of her for having a donation up which I don't think he ever addressed outside of the occasional stray comment.

This way of "building a progressive brand" through stealing the work of marginalized writers is actually common in left circles and academia and has been an issue, particularly for Black trans femme essayists, for a while. Black MaGes (people of marginalized genders) will come out and say, "Hey! This really popular essayist ripped me off word for word bar for bar" and get paid dust because their platform isn't large enough to speak out and because their platforms are smaller, people are less inclined to care when they get ripped off. Like, it's easy for us to point at James and say, "Omg? How could he get away with stealing this much for so long?" when the answer is simple, nobody cares what you have to say if you don't have a big platform, thus nobody cares if you get stolen from and unfortunately, we're all complicit. Look at how much this situation has blown up just because a super-popular guy brought it up. If Hbomb and Todd in the shadows didn't speak on this story and these small creators made a bigger stink about James biting their shit, yall would have ignored them at best or crucified them and accused them of trying to tear down the body of work of a gay man and probably throw in something about them secretly being a kiwi farms troll trying to sew discord in the community (I know how yall get down...) at worst. To address this issue more substantially, WE have to be better about learning slowly and taking time to pour over materials ourselves and not fall into the trap of letting whatever video essayist we like the best at the moment shape how we think and feel about whatever topic they're covering. Ismatu Gwendolyn and their threadings essays on substack have really helped me personally start removing myself from the "quick learner" rat race and the need to digest as much information as possible that video essays fulfill and reintroduced me to learning slowly and with intention and reading sources for myself first without depending on the thoughts and feelings of a creator I like and agree with to color my view of things. If we work towards getting used to treating video essayists like essayists and not our parasocial besties being our beginning and end to learning on a topic, we can A. Mitigate the amount of misinformation and plagiarized work circulating by being able to identify them easier and B. Improve our personal relationship to learning so we don't have to rely on some stranger with "bisexual lighting" to make us feel smart.

Edit: Please rb the typo-less version,,,,

#thotty speaks #thotty rants #I linked Ismatu's substack because I cite my sources and am not a fawkin HACK #sorry had to get one more dig in <3

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piosplayhouse · 1 month

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I don't know if you'll answer but I need to know the lore behind sexy times with Wangxian, like is it a fanfic? why do people hate the author??

It was the longest mdzs fic posted during its time in 2021 and gained extreme notoriety for its absurdly long tag list, frequent update schedule that consistently forced anyone scrolling any of its tags to see it at the top of their page, and escalating poor, racist, and trolling authorial behavior that ultimately culminated in the author virtual1979 being suspended from ao3 for a month because she posting an author's note saying she hoped that all her haters would contract covid and die. She deleted the fic from ao3 a little while after this happened, ig bc she wasn't getting enough attention anymore, but allegedly the thing's still up on dreamwidth under strict friendslock. The fan lore article goes pretty in depth about it:

The best summary for why it pissed people off so much is really just showing you these screenshots of what the fic looked like towards the end of its life on desktop and mobile (be warned opening the full image):

From my personal experience:

from 2019 up until around 2021 the fic really was just a normal-ish, if very strangely written and kinky, wangxian porn fic about them basically just fucking around post canon and enjoying day to day life. It updated pretty frequently and had a fair amount of tags because the author was literally just tagging anything that she wrote. But like the first few hundred, maybe even a thousand tags were pretty accurate to what the fic was because of that, and were relatively manageable for the first few years that it didn't pick up any attention really.

At some point in 2021 when cql was really starting to blow up online and the tag count was starting to pile up to the point of annoyance, the fic started receiving some comments that were just like "hey can you try to cut down on tags, I don't think it's necessary to be so specific as to tag 'Korean food' or 'eggs' or whatnot". The author did not share this idea, evidently, and instead built a grudge against commenters who would tell her to delete tags, subsequently adding more and more as time went on.

As the tag count and updates increased, the content of the fic did too-- it got a lot, lot weirder. I'm sure someone's saved it all somewhere but for reference it spun out into what I can only describe as like if Rick and Morty's plot was cut to be just the parts of the show with underage/incest plotlines with All Tomorrows level sex dystopian world building exclusively to elicit the most visceral audience reaction possible. Around this time is when more people started to notice the fic and its escalating tag issues, leading them to leaving more comments complaining about it, leading to the attention seeking author spitefully adding more tags. Around this time is when she also started adding fake tags that didn't apply to the story whatsoever (sorry to disappoint, "talking vagina" was one of those. I did check) just to boost the count, take up more space on people's screens, and bait people into commenting hate for attention.

By this time, it had become a fandom-wide annoyance as she had begun to tag entirely unrelated ships, therefore putting the near-daily updating titanic of a fic at the top of any mdzs-related tag. People were outraged about this, and calls came for ao3 to step in. Ao3 waffled around for a bit as there was no official rule at the time that imposed a tag limit, so there wasn't established ground to ban virtual1979 (who btw many people suspected of being 40 whole years old due to the username and allegedly some other internet sleuthing on Facebook or something). Meanwhile, she began to tag other fandoms-- tgcf, svsss, BTS, basically anything that would get a lot of attention and draw hate with the advent of The Monstrosity suddenly drowning out all other recently updated fics of the targeted fandoms.

People had been trying to retaliate without ao3 action, though, by coding their own themes/skins that would allow someone to block a user or work and other fic writers made their own parody, the "bland times with wangxian" collection, which were minimally tagged sfw shortfics typically featuring wangxian just doing laundry or things like that. A good amount of them were actually like just fics where wwx would explain to lwj how to install custom ao3 themes and block fics that were taking up too much space on his screen. Imo it was pretty funny, but these also sparked some controversy as people disagreed with fighting annoyance with more annoyance to people trying to find content.

Either shortly before or after ao3 staff said they'd step in due to an insane amount of reports and backlash, I forgot which atp, virtual1979 began perhaps the worst tagging spree of the fic's life by changing the title, many of the tags, and the summary to a slew of racial slurs, sexually explicit imagery, and other generally offensive statements. I'm pretty sure this came after the fic was temporarily hidden once, as this update gained considerably less attention than the rest of the tagging saga, but people were still rightfully pissed about it. Ultimately, like I mentioned before, the author was then suspended for a month for wishing covid and death on her haters, and attention seemed to die down during this time to the point where she didn't really fight much more when her suspension ended and deleted her account and the work shortly after. Again she seems to have moved to dreamwidth, but most have forgotten her and I'm not sure if her presence is public at all on there. But that's the story of the worst mdzs fic ever written

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dr3amlab · 1 year

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wicked games, dm.

SUMMARY — Y/N Gorgon and Draco Malfoy have a long history of mutual hatred. You see, the two of them have been pulling pranks on each other since their 1st year at Hogwarts, to the dismay of their close friends and supervisors. However, after a prank left Y/N completely out of her mind, she decides that she'll pull her cruelest prank yet on Draco by pretending to be his secret admirer.

PAIRING — Draco Malfoy x reader

GENRE — series, enemies to lovers, rival, comedy (?)

WORD COUNT — 1631 words.

AUTHOR’S NOTE — I tried a new format of writing, I kinda want to try narrating like a movie ? idk if you caught that. tell me what you think, I'd really love that. Let me know if you want to be on the taglist!

PARTS. 1 2 3 4 5 6 finale

I. YOU WILL BE DEALT WITH.

“Really handsome, blond, tall and a son of a bitch.” These are the words you would use to describe Draco Malfoy if somebody ever asked you. Of course, you are not worried of ever saying the first four words of that sentence to anyone because, well, nobody would ever ask you.

It’s not that your opinion of the blond boy doesn’t matter, don’t get me wrong, but it’s just that your judgement of Malfoy is well known all across Hogwarts : you hate Draco, with a passion. Matter fact, if you had a gun with two bullets and you were in a room with Voldemort, Umbridge , and Draco, you would shoot draco, twice.

You must be curious on why you both hate each other so much ; Well for starters, it all started on the first ever day of Hogwarts when⎯

“Draco fucking Malfoy.”you yelled at the top of your lungs as soon as you felt a translucent-gooey-textured liquid being poured on the top of your head, slowly making its way on your shoulders. For the matter that drenched your upper body was unknown, you closed your eyes instantly, preventing whatever-that-was from infecting your eyes.

(I guess we’ll tell that story another day)

You quickly wiped your eyes with your fingers, wanting to see the culprit so you could give them a piece of your mind. But, of course, you knew damn well who would dare to pull this type of pranks at eight am.

There he was, right in front of you, Draco Malfoy, with his stupid platinum blond hair, laughing stupidly with his stupider friends. Oh, how his laugh was aggravating to your ears.

“What the fuck did you just pour on me Malfoy?”You gritted your teeth, angry as ever. Who in their right state of mind would be this bored to pull a prank this early in the morning?

A smirk grazed his lips as he looked down on you. “What I just poured on you is troll snot.” His response earned a roar of laughter from not only his little clique, but the entire hallway which was, conveniently for Draco, busy at this time of the day. “And you think it's bloody funny you fucking tosser?” You said, disgusted as you helplessly tried to clean your hands on your skirt.

“Geez, Gorgon.” He chuckled as if you said the silliest thing ever. “Who shat in your cereals?” This statement made Crabbe and Goyle slap their knees and grab their stomach as it hurt with laughter. “Stop laughing! What's so funny you idiots?” You glared at them which made them stop at once.

You took a step towards the blond boy while looking at him straight into his eyes. “You're satisfied of yourself right now, aren't you Malfoy?” He took a step back, not sure of what's going to be your next move. “Are you du—” You were interrupted by a stern voice that silenced the entire hallway in a matter of seconds.

“What in Merlin's name is going on over here?” You didn't even need to turn around to see whose voice it is as you know it too damn well. Plus, the look on Malfoy only confirmed your suspicion. “Fuck, it's Snape.” He muttered shakily under his breath. “You are little coward, aren't you Malfoy?” You giggled bitterly finding his reaction way too funny. “Everybody go to class.” The professor continued. “NOW.”He demanded making every student watching the scene scurry to their first class of the day.

“Y/N Gorgon. Draco Malfoy.” Snape said in a severe voice. “What did you two scheme this time?” You turned around to look at the professor's face filled of exasperation. Well, can you blame him? There's not a single person in the world that wouldn't be tired of giving the same two students detention almost every day for the past six years. Yes, every day for the past SIX years.

Snape's presence didn't even bother you at this point, the man has seen you in all the possible situations and emotional states since the day you stepped foot into Hogwarts. So, unbothered, you continued talking to Draco as if Snape wasn't even in the room. “You will not get away with this Malfoy”you said through gritted teeth. “Trust, you will be dealt with.” You poked your index finger at his chest. “You didn't win yet, you fucking twat." The last statement earned you a smack in the back of your head from Snape.

“10 points out for Slytherin for your foolishness.” he said, disappointed. “I think you two already know the drill by now.” He sighed looking at the two of you in front of him. “Potions classroom. Cauldrons.” He said lifelessly, as usual.

“I think you are mistaken professor, we cleaned the cauldrons yesterday.” Draco said hurriedly. You quickly nudged Draco with your elbow. “Shut up Malfoy.” you mouthed.

“Would you rather help Filch on his cleaning duties?” Snape said already knowing your reaction. “No, sir.” You said quickly.

“Good.”He said before turning his back and leaving to Merlin knows where, but, then, he stopped his motions before turning back towards you and Draco. “Oh and Y/N.” You gulped. “Clean yourself before going to detention.” He brought his hand to his nose, waving it up and down as if to eliminate a bad odour. “The stench of troll snot isn't really pleasant for my nose. I think I speak for all of us” He turned back and disappeared quickly from the hallways which were empty by now, leaving only you and Draco who was currently laughing uncontrollably.

Of course, you didn't hesitate to kick him where the sun doesn't shine to make him shut up. And it did work.

⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯

"And he got me fucked up if he thinks that he'll get away with this easily." You stormed into your room, muttering like a mad woman. "He really thinks" you sat yourself on your desk, slamming a piece of paper on it. "that I'm going to let this slide, huh?" you picked up your quill and started writing on the paper. "Malfoy, you don't know what's coming for your right now." you chuckled maniacally.

"What the fuck Y/N?" Athena, your roommate, said as she got out of your shared bathroom, looking like she just got out of the shower. "Aren't you supposed to be in class right now?" she questioned while looking at you curiously and leaning her body on the door frame of the bathroom. "By the way⎯ What in Merlin's beard is this horrid smell?" she scrunched her nose "And it's definitely not me cause I just hopped out of the shower." You glared at her. "Well, what about you?" you said, "aren't you supposed to be in transfiguration right now?" you looked back at your paper. "If you are wondering about the smell," you stopped writing your sentence and met her eyes, "Draco Malfoy poured troll snot on me this morning." you explained.

A look of horror displayed on Athena's face "Troll snot?" you nodded. "Yes troll snot." for a moment she looked like she was suppressing a laugh, but then she couldn't control it anymore and had a fit of laughter. "What are you laughing for you git?" You were utterly offended, why would your dearest friend laugh of your misery?

"I'm sorry love, it's just that it's kind of a good come back for your last prank." she put her hand in front of her mouth as an attempt to hide her smile. "I didn't think that he could top you putting green hair dye in his shampoo." she continued. "Sure." you said smiling as Athena reminded you of your last accomplishment. "So I suppose that you are planning your next prank, aren't you?" she pointed at the piece of paper you were writing. "You know, I think you guys should just kiss at this point." you pretended to gag at her last statement. "Don’t ever say that again Athena. It’s never going to happen." she leaned back from her previous position and started to walk towards you.

"And, yeah, I am." a huge smirk displayed on your face. "And what is it?" she said as she stood next to you. "Nothing." you said simply. "Nothing?" Athena confusedly said as she picked up your piece of paper. "Yeah, I'm just gonna take a step back and watch things unfold." You said while leaning back in your chair, your arms behind your head.

You watched Athena's reaction at your next prank with amusement. "Y/N! You are insane." she exclaimed with her eyes as wide as saucers. "I truly don't know how to feel about this one, it's really risky." she waved the paper in front of your face. "Don't worry about it, it's all fun." you snatched the paper out of her hand. "Besides, that's the adequate payback for what he did today." you smiled mischievously while reading at the words written in the piece of parchment."

Dear Draco,

You filled up my heart for the past years, and I can not thank you enough for bringing me so much joy.

You see, I'm always looking at you secretly and it's creepy, I know, but I can't stop my eyes for prying for every trace of you. You are the highlight of my every day, hour and second.

I feel butterflies in my stomach every time our eyes meet by accident, I feel happy when you laugh but sadness when I see a frown on your face. Oh, how I'm infatuated by you.

But see, pretty boy, a wave of sadness can't help but to wash all over me when I wonder if you even know my existence.

Darling, do you even know my name? do you know I exist?

yours truly,

your secret admirer.

"This is perfect." you folded the letter and put it in a pink envelope. "I don't know about this Y/N." Athena sounded genuinely worried. "It's all he deserves for ruining my day by pouring troll snot on me." you said nonchalantly.

"Yeah, speaking of troll snot." Athena scrunched her nose in disgust. "you should really take a shower."

#Draco Malfoy #Draco Malfoy x reader #draco x reader #draco x y/n #draco x you #Draco Malfoy x you #Draco Malfoy x y/n #draco malfoy x slytherin!reader #enemies to lovers #dm x reader #draco fic #draco x slytherin!reader #slytherin #Harry Potter #draco malfoy fanfiction #slytherin fan fic

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night-market-if · 1 month

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Helloo, while I agree with you that Milo is also a victim, I also think that the other anons are also justified in feeling that way about him. I'm really sorry if I'm wrong, but the way you reply to other people's thoughts, about things that you don't have the same opinion on, feels like you're telling them that they are wrong to feel that way.

Let's unpack this for a minute. Because I think this is a great opportunity.

I am not invalidating that anyone has an opinion. They are allowed to have an opinion. And, if they approached me like you just did, I would most likely respond to that opinion in a constructive way. But someone messaging me and just throwing out a random feeling they have that is negative, and then getting mad at me in return when I don't agree with them, is childish. I will not be apologizing for that because most of the people that are "angry" about something, come at me in a really negative context. And then when I state something differently (without attacking them even) they get irrationally upset. I mean, a prime example is me saying that Milo is also a victim. That there can be more than one victim. I then got a response saying I was the one flying off the handle. Following that was another response telling me that I am a hated author. That my game is terrible. That I am a bad person. I mean, think about that for a minute here. Does the response corelate with what I said? Does it warrant that? No.

People are always valid to have an opinion, but there are two things to say about it. Most of the time, the people coming at me, are internet trolls. Not actual readers. And I'm sorry, we were indoctrinated at a young age to "ignore the bullies" and I just don't think that is the right response. Because now we have a generation that ignored the bullies and they got way worse because no one had a social contract to call them out.

Two, the ones that are not trolls, are lacking a lot of media literacy. That is actually an extreme problem within our society. And, since I am the author, it is my job to offer what I was trying to say within my story. That may not align with someone's opinion. But me having my own opinion, does not warrant someone getting mad at me. I didn't get mad at them so why am I suddenly greeted with toxicity.

I get where you are coming from saying that people are allowed to have their own opinion. And I have stated over and over again that everyone is valid for it. I'm not even saying for someone to change their mind or go away. But, someone else's opinion does not invalidate my own. Just as my own does not invalidate theirs. And if someone feels like it does, and this is going to sound cruel, but it is not my responsibility to regulate that for them. That most likely stems from a personal standpoint. I am not responsible for someone being offended by what I have to say about my own story and my own fictional characters. You don't see me coming on here and crying out that someone on anon made me "feel bad". That's not a thing.

There is a difference between just saying something out loud and engaging in a conversation. Constructive criticism is where you offer a opinion, give why you are offering it, and then explain how it does or does not work for the narrative. Then, I can come back, ask questions, respond with what maybe I was intending, and figure out a better way to get what I was intending across.

Non constructive criticism is just coming to me as an anon, and saying they are angry and want to hurt someone. Or that they don't like something of my story without giving why.

To further some points. Milo is a triggering character. I knew this from the beginning. The things that he did is not for the faint of heart and speaks to betrayal. And a lot of people who have been in a situation where they feel betrayed, are going to respond negatively to that. But, that is on them. That is for them to work through and own. It is not the responsibility of my story to change because of that. And coming on to say that you hate a character and want to harm them. Or coming on to say that I'm a bad writer. Or even coming on to say that I'm hated on reddit (to which I say, isn't everyone?) is providing nothing to this community, world, or our author reader relationship. It is done solely with the intent to try and hurt someone because the reader themselves was hurt.

To end this, I am going to make this statement. Telling me it "feels" like I am telling someone they are wrong is based in a personal feeling towards a situation. It is not based in facts. It is not based in anything that I have said. And while everyone has a right to their opinion, just because I am an author and a content creator, does not mean I don't get to defend my story or my characters. If I was being racists, sexist, transphobic? All things to come at someone for. But because I wrote something that makes people angry and they don't want to continue going on a journey with the characters and would rather just block their minds to character growth? I can't do anything about that. If there is no conversation they want to engage in, if they simply want to come on and troll me, then they need to not be surprised when I treat them the same way they are treating me.

I hope this makes more sense and provides some understanding.

Zinnia

#the night market #media literacy #author speaks #constructive critism welcome

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olderthannetfic · 1 year

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Long post coming in which I look at the alleged examples of racism the EndOTWRacism campaign cites.

I'm sympathetic to EndOTWRacism, I really am, and I think some of the things they're asking for are broadly reasonable (diversity consultant, more admin tools --though not in the time frame being asked for).

But reading through their examples of supposedly "obviously" racist works is...something.

They love to cite that transformers fic about George Floyd, but that fic had zero hits when it was found and was posted anonymously. I understand it's offensive, but frankly, there is nothing in that summary that suggests the author was being deliberately offensive, and because it's gone now, we cannot see the fic to decide for ourselves. Stitch calls the author a "known racist troll" but offers no source for this beyond a link to a completely innocuous unrelated fic.

Stitch also cites one instance of readers finding a racist fic, leaving critical comments on that fic, and then being assailed with racial slurs by the author as evidence of harassment. That's... a nonsense accusation. If you go into a space you know will upset you, post things that will upset others, and then get upset by how those others respond, you are not being harassed. I don't know what you expected to happen. You are overall correct in what you are saying, but arguing with people in the comments of a fic is not activism.

Stitch also references a Holocaust a/b/o fic and Dr. Pande's response. I don't know how you read what Pande said and come out thinking they were the good guy here. Pande was absolutely harassing that author. They posted repeated comments on that fic after they were deleted, after the author explained their reasoning. Pande didn't like this reasoning and so continued to comment. Also, the author did not want to get Pande fired. That's just a lie. The screenshot to the tweet accusing the author of this makes it extremely clear the author did not want to get Pande fired.

Stitch cites one incident without actually citing it in which someone was told by AO3 not to harass an allegedly racist author. Source needed, but based on the other examples they cite I can make an educated guess here.

Perhaps most telling of these examples is the one in which someone impersonates Stitch in the comments of a fic. Other users proceed to criticize fake Stitch. Despite no mention of race in their responses, Stitch accuses the responders of being racist. This example makes it very clear that Stitch views anyone who disagrees with them about fanfiction to be racist, regardless of whether race is brought up or not. The only way to examine race in fandom without being racist is by agreeing with Stitch.

The hockey fic example offers no evidence that things happened as stated. No screenshots, no links. If other people cannot verify what you claim, you should not be citing it in your campaign.

It is very hard to take this campaign seriously when Stitch, who I was only vaguely familiar with before this, is the primary source. They repeatedly misrepresent situations in order to fit their narrative of victimhood, lie outright when the source is right fucking there, and seek out harmful content then get upset when they are harmed.

The campaign also appears to be using Stitch's questionable methods outright. See how they discuss AO3's admittedly sloppy June 2020 post about addressing racism. This campaign argues that AO3 has not implemented any of the promised features except for blocking, which is an absurd argument if you actually read the post from AO3. Of the six stated changes, two have been implemented (comment controls and blocking), two are too nebulous to say whether they've been done (reassessing warnings and reviewing ToS), one I'm not sure about (has collection searching improved?), and one (improving admin tools) is an actionable thing that has apparently not been implemented.

Maybe they did review their ToS and archive warnings and just came to the conclusion that they were fine as they are. I have no idea, and apparently neither does this campaign.

Anyway. I find this all frustrating. There are real issues to address here, somewhere, but this campaign buries them beneath layers of bullshit. Reading through their Call to Action and FAQ multiple times feels like reading any other bullshit fandom call-out post. They cite misrepresented or non-existent sources, outright lie, and frame those they disagree with in the worst light they can.

I implore anyone reading this to examine the campaign's posts and look closely at their sources. Decide for yourself what is going on here, don't just take the campaign's word for it.

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elegantjellyfishwerewolf · 11 months

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Why I don't like "Wizards"

In general, I think that the "Stories of Arcadia" began to slide after the release of "Three from Heaven", but more on that later. In this post there will be many comparisons of "Wizards" with "Trollhunters" due to the fact that they are a direct continuation.

1. The first thing I didn't like was that the narration was too fast, and if this is still acceptable in the first series, then in the rest such narration begins to annoy, because it does not allow you to delve into the story and concentrate on at least one action.

For example, already in the second series, a lot of things happen: the arrival at Arthur's castle, the interaction of Claire and Morgana, the acquaintance of Jim and Deya, Steve becomes a knight, the trolls escape from Camelot. Of course, there are episodes in which the narrative goes normally, for example, in 4 episod, but basically the story does not have the ability to concentrate on one moment and continues to throw out new information to us.

2.The second problem, for me personally, is the characters. 1. I really didn't like that Steve's intelligence was cut so much, he wasn't a very smart character before either, but he could still come up with interesting ideas to solve problems (for example, when in the second season he guessed to use umbrellas to help trolls), but then they made a complete jerk out of him who, throughout the entire viewing, only irritates with his tantrums. If you remove him from the series, literally nothing will change, because his "knight's arch" didn't really lead to anything. After the battle of Kilahed Bridge, he says he will continue Lancelot's cause and bring back the Knights of the Round Table, but in the end he did nothing of it. 2. Another character who, in my opinion, has become worse in "Wizards" is Claire. I'm the only one who thinks that in the two weeks she spent in Camelot, she became too good at using shadow magic, considering that she studied with Douxie, who himself said he didn't understand anything about shadow magic. And even after becoming such a professional magician, for some reason she still can't guess to open a portal under Jim and only then, after escaping from the fortress of the Secret Order, try to bring him to his senses, BUT NO! Instead, she tries to convince Jim to enter the portal himself, and when she tries to open the portal under him, Morgana has already arrived by then, and she has to retreat. 3.The third character is Douxie. I immediately say that I do not hate him, the only thing that confuses me is his age. He is 900 years old, just think about this figure! And with all this, he behaves like a teenager who is 18-19 years old. The authors are trying to show us that he has changed since the events in Camelot by showing his younger version, but these changes can happen in a maximum of 2 or 5 years, BUT NOT IN 900 YEARS!!!! While watching it, the thought did not leave me that it was a 900-year-old man who, for some reason, continues to behave like a teenager.

4.Morgana. After The Wizards, I hated her. The authors tried to make her an ambiguous character, but in the end they created a bunch of plot holes. In Wizards, she says she wants to help all magical creatures, but in Troll Hunters, when Angor asked her for help, she tricked him into serving her and killing Merlin's champions. She also stole troll children and used creepy experiments to turn them into changelings (also against their will). Yes, even in the series itself, she contradicts herself when she gives Gunmar a sword that can control the mind. 5. The secret Order. I have no doubt that the authors came up with these characters only when they were writing the script for "Wizards", and that they did not exist initially. Because after the battle on the Kilahed Bridge, they say they will now try to change the world. AND THEY DECIDED TO DO IT ONLY AFTER 900 YEARS!!! SERIOUSLY!!!!!! You say that they have been recovering all this time, but I will say that only Belrog needed to be restored, and the rest of the Order members could try to carry out their plan to steal the seals alone. AND WHERE WERE THEY WHEN GUNMAR AND MORGANA ARRANGED ETERNAL NIGHT?!!?! I very much doubt that magicians of their level would not have felt such a strong release of magical energy.

3.Plot holes. There are too many of them! Literally in every episode I noticed one or another plot hole. Of those that were very noticeable: 1. Deya could not be the first hunter because Kanjigar said that troll hunters tried to kill Gunmar many times, but never won. 2. Morgana couldn't create a changeling in a couple of days, which also grew so fast. 3. When the moment came to conclude a deal between Angor and Morgana. 4. Creeper's poison created the Order of Janus, changelings could not create an order in a couple of days, and Morgana could not create such a number of changelings. 5.In the third season of trollhunters there was shown the battle of Merlin and Morgana and it had happened not only in another place but also there was no Douxie on the scene. 6. Blinky said that the confrontation between Merlin and Morgana lasted for centuries, as a result, it happened within a couple of days.

There were also many minor inconsistencies in the plot: 1. The battle on the Kilahed Bridge was different from the one we were shown in the third season of "Troll Hunters".

2. The design of the Deya is different from the statue in the forge of heroes.

3. WHY THE HELL CAN MORGANA OPEN PORTALS WITHOUT A STAFF?! Then why didn't she just create a portal in the finale of the third season and fly out of it? 4. The process of creating the amulet is different from what we were shown in the third season.

5. Where did Belrog get the staff of shadow if it was destroyed in the finale of the third season? AND WHERE DID THIS STAFF GO AFTER THE EIGHTH EPISODE?!! 6. The hand that is used to create the amulet is also different from the one that was shown to us in "Troll Hunters".

7. During Morgana's incarceration, she was wearing a helmet and a raincoat. 8.Wendel's appearance is also different from the one that was shown to us in "Troll Hunters".

(This is probably going to sound like a quibble, but why didn't Jim react to Draal in any way?)

And this is the main reasons why I can't perceive wizards as a direct continuation of the trollhunters series.

4.Of course, there were moments in this show that I liked, for example, the acquaintance of Blinky and Aarrg, the storyline of Merlin and Douxie, but, alas, the cons in this show outweighed the pros for me.

#trollhunters #root #tales of arcadia #toa #trollhunters rott #wizards #art #3below #trollhunters rise of the titans #fanart #this is my opinion

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hotvampireadjacent · 6 months

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HE HAS TO BE A GOD LEVEL TROLL. He can't serious believe slenderman is real. He said slenderman is really bc the two girls who murdered that one girl claimed slenderman did it.

HE QUOTES RUMSFELD?????????? IN DEFENSE OF SLENDERMAN EXISTING? HE SAID 'DEATH OF AN AUTHOR' DIDN'T EXPLAIN what he meant by that as if that. just. defended himself.

death of an author doesn't work like that.......

#listening to grs cybersmith interview

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maeral33n · 2 months

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Was it Worth it? (Velvet and Veneer Angst)

Description: What if Brozone couldn't save Floyd in time? How will the twin handle the consequences of their actions? Is a sibling's bond strong enough to forgive murder? Authors Note: Yeah, I was feeling some stuff today, and writing angst is cheaper than therapy. That being said, forgive me if characters seem a bit ooc and feel free to leave feedback.

They did it.

They are officially the most famous Mount Rageons in the past decade.

Velvet and Veneer's rise to fame skyrocketed over night after their award-winning performance at the Rage Dome. Tickets for their performance sold out almost within the hour they were available, and yet people still demanded to buy tickets even if there were no more seats available.

Their beatiful faces were plastered everywhere. In the malls, on the streets, on billboards, and if that wasn't enough, various programs on television were constantly reminding you that these two were the top dogs of the industry.

From the glittering city to the humble suburbs, to the slums of the undercity, everyone knew their names.

And all it took was one troll.

One dead troll.

Veneer stared at him, Floyd, still in his diamond prison. He lay lifeless and colourless. No, not colourless...translucent.

He's heard of discoloured trolls before, he's aware that troll can lose their colours due to trauma, but...it never occurred to him what would happen when a troll died.

Veneer felt life he was going to vomit.

Velvet was practically bouncing with joy as, yet another news anchor showed clips of their two during their performance last night. Her hands fanned her face as she fought back tears of joy, Veneer was trying to hold back his own, but for completely opposite reasons.

Velvet grabbed her brother by the shoulders, shaking him and pointing towards the screen. "Look Ven, we did it! They love us!"

He didn't look at the TV, his eyes were on Velvet in utter disbelief, at no point after their performance did, she even acknowledge that she was practically carrying the small corpse of a troll. Even now, she's pretending like Floyd never existed.

He shoved his sister away, causing her to stumble a bit. She turned to him, brows furrowed in confusion, "What was that for?"

That disgust that churned in his stomach bubbled into something far more ugly than Veneer could have ever possibly imagined as he practically spat. "You killed him."

"What?"

"You killed Floyd!"

Velvet recoiled slightly at her brothers raised voice. Veneer never raised his voice to her, or to anyone really. She rolled her eye and sighed, "Well, maybe if his brothers actually bothered to rescue him, we would have had to kill him."

Veneer groaned into his hand as he rubbed them down his face, he started pacing around the room, an annoying habit of his when he was getting antsy. "Are you even listening to yourself?" He exclaimed, "You don't even CARE!" Now the tears were falling, and there was nothing he could do about it.

Velvet huffed, "Jesus Ven, stop being such a baby." She grabbed his arm, stopping him from pacing, her grip tight. "Look, how about we go on a bit of a hiatus, hm? Y'know, travel a bit, go to Vacay Island or somewhere and relax. And then when we're done with our hiatus, we can find some more trolls and get back to work-"

Veneer practically ripped his arm away from his sisters grip red crescent mark were left where his fingernails dig into him. "Don't fucking touch me!" He snapped, then his eyes widened when her words sank it, "Wait...did you say we'll find some more?"

She scoffed, "Yeah, duh. You didn't think that we'd stop at the Rage Dome, did you?"

He stumbled over his words, trying to form a single coherent thought but failing. His sister spoke up again, "Last night was just the beginning. We may be famous now, but that won't last for long if go into an early retirement. I want us to go global, and to do that, we're gonna need more songs...more trolls."

Veneer was hyperventilating, his shaking steps brought him to Floyd, his tears hitting the diamond surface of cage. Floyd was a person, and Velvet was treating him as a tool, a sacrificial lamb for the offer of fame and prestige. Floyd was someone to somebody, he had a family who loved him, he had a long life ahead of him. And now all of that was gone because of some sick twisted idea some teenagers had one day.

Veneer began to sob.

"Oh god stop being so dramatic Ven," Velvet groaned.

Veneer turned his body around and approached her, his hands balled into fists, his face contorted with anger and contempt, Velvet took a step back. "You're a murderer," he hissed as he now stood face to face with his sister.

Fury flashed in her eyes as she mirrored his stance. "And you're a murderer AND a coward."

He blinked at her, "What?"

She jabbed her finger into his chest, "Don't play dumb. You point the finger at me and call me the murderer, but you forget that you were the one that helped me capture that troll in the first place."

Another jab into his chest, this time, much harder. "You were the one who used his talent first."

She started raised her voice, and jabbed at his chest on last time, this some so painful and Veneer had to grab her wrist and pull it away from him. "And that you had every chance in the world to expose us."

"...What?"

She sneered at him, "Yeah, you could have ended all of this as soon as it started, you could have gone to the police and told them everything we did, and we would be behind bars by now...but you didn't."

His lips quivered as fresh tears fell down his face.

"So that makes you, a murderer and a coward."

Veneer shoved his sister away from him and stormed into his room, Velvet followed him, her heeled boots clicking against the marbled floor. "Where are you going?!"

He didn't answer his, simply grabbed a bag and started shoving anything he could fit into it. Some clothes, shoes, his phone, his wallet...would this even be enough?

"What are you doing?" Velvet growled as she watched her brother walked around his room.

He still didn't answer her, he was crying so hard he could barely see what he was shoving into his bag.

"I said, what are you doing?!"

"I'm leaving!"

Velvet stood still for a moment at the entrance of his bedroom, for once, she had nothing to say. All she could do was watch her brother pace back and forth, growling in frustration as he struggled to shove in another pair of shoes into his back, giving up in the end.

This wasn't supposed to happen. Not like this.

She felt her face grow hot, her emotions overwhelming her. "You don't mean that."

He turned to her as he shrugged the heavy bag over his shoulder, "Yes I do, Velvet. This has gone too far." He pushed his way passed her and made a beeline to the front door.

"Fine then, leave. You'll be back." She spoke coldly this time; whatever fire had been in her voice before was gone now. And that had always scared Veneer.

His hand was on the doorknob, and he spared a single glance over his shoulder. His sister stood in the middle of the room, her arms crossed, her face neutral. She was his best friend, his confidant, his partner in crime...literally.

The he flicked his gaze over to the diamond bottle, the one that held Floyd's dead body. He squeezed his eyes shut as he felt another sob rack through his body. How did it come to this? They couldn't go to prison; he knew he wouldn't stand a chance...and he didn't want to think of what Velvet would do.

Velvet was right, he was a coward.

He rubbed his eyes and looked at his sister again.

"Don't bother calling me."

SLAM!

Velvet stood in the middle of the room, everything was silent, save for the advertisement on TV for a new car model. Despite the silence, her mind was screaming.

He'll be back...he'll be back.... he'll be back...he always comes back.

They've had arguments before, and they've always made amends. Well...she gives him the silent treatment, and he eventually apologies to her. They'll get through this.

She stepped towards the table where the diamond perfume bottle sat atop of. The translucent body of the troll...of Floyd...lay still.

"He'll be back."

(2 Weeks Later)

She had called him over thirty-six times, all of them went to the same prerecorded message of Veneer's voice that he made years ago.

"Hello, you've reached the voice mail of Veneer. If you're getting this message, it's probably because I'm dead or suuuppperrr busy. Anyway, leave a message after the beep....BEEEEEEP!"

Velvet hasn't had a good night sleep since her brother left, and not once did she sleep in her own bed. She'd spent most of her days moping around the living room, going back and forth between channels on TV that might have anything on Veneer's whereabouts to her social media.

She had been absolutely bombarded with fans praising her for her performance and asking if she plans to make more music. She had even received calls and messages from popular news outlets and interviewers to be featured on their shows.

She had declined them all.

She couldn't do it without her brother.

She let out a quiet sob as she sank to the floor in front of her couch.

"....Come back...."

#trolls band together #trolls 3 #trolls #trolls fandom #dreamworks trolls #trolls 3 velvet #trolls 3 veneer #trolls movie #trolls fanfic #velvet and veneer

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streaminn · 10 months

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My brain is bored and my mind is thinking

Say, we all know that Wednesday is lowkey spoilt right? She always expected things to go her way, you can see it in the way she barges into Weems office or how lil care she has whenever she shoves orders at the sheriff's face

So imagine what happens when someone ghosts her

It'd strike her pride because well, Wednesday is the best and she knows this. There would be no reason for why someone wouldn't listen to her nor would there be a reason for someone to... Ignore her like this either

Now that we got that, lemme set the scene

They're adults, no supernatural, just a completely modern au

Enid is an accountant. It's boring, not at all what she expects from when she was younger but all she has to do is calculate money and it's monotonous enough that she can go through days absolutely no thoughts head empty

It's not the future she wants but it's the future she got

Yoko, her lovely coworker notices how not so firey her seatmate is and offers a new chat app because nothing is as fun as deciding to troll random people

Enid squints at the name. "are you seriously telling me to E date right now?"

"pshhhh, ofcourse not!" yoko says unconvincingly. "just get on and play around with some people, maybe talking to someone other than boss and me could liven you up :D"

Enid stares, wondering how tf did yoko do that before sighing and downloading the app. "if I get doxxed, you're helping me move to a new house."

Yoko waves a hand before twirling back to her cubicle. "thank me if you find a sugar daddy!"

Enid flushes. "you know I don't swing that way!"

Yoko laughs.

The blond grumbles before tapping at the recently downloaded app. It's literally like tinder and Enid knows that this is a dating app trying to hide as something else

So in payback, Enid starting basing her profile of yoko. She wasn't petty enough to snap a Pic of her best friend so she went to Google and kind of try harded in making her profile look like an emo girl's aesthetic board

Huh, maybe yoko has a point, this is pretty fun

Oh for the days where Enid could make things, maybe she should pick up crocheting again. Tempting, she'll do that when she gets home

As soon as she was done, Enid began randomly swiping right with absolutely no care at all.

Enid still places her name as enid because.. Why not. By the time she finished her bio, she got too lazy to create a new name so actual name it is!

It takes a bit because apparently no one in this app likes edgy girls who enjoy dark walks, cadaver dogs and wine so dark red it looks like blood. Enid only liked one thing in that list and she wonders how did she become friends with someone with such concerning interests.

Honestly, now that Enid is think about it, her profile kind of sounds like a serial killer's. If they were dumb and was way too open about their interest, so it was no wonder no one was swiping on her

But as she was about to put the phone down and have some faith in people's taste in women, a match was made

Okay, concerning

Time to have some fun.

Immediately, Enid knew this must be some satire account because really? Wednesday A? Very interesting because she too didn't have pictures of herself, instead it was pretty good shots of a Gothic looking house, a lion?? A graveyard and a typewriter

Clearly they were trying to be all Dracula up in this place.

In the bio, it simply said

> author

Enid nods, she can respect sticking to the bit. She lowkey expected a historian but vampires being authors felt fitting aswell

Well, no time like the present! Why not do some classic rp for the shits and giggles

So they start talking

Wednesday types like she doesn't know how to use simply words and well, Enid would've loved to reciprocate because damn the amount of immersion is impressive but after the fifth typo, Enid gave up

And oh, she's a woman

Enid kind of expected a dude to be trolling but when she went "hello good sir, what are you doing this fine day?"

She kind of chokes on her water when Wednesday replies with a "Its ma'am and the day is going quite horridly, the weather where I am at has the temper and I can not wait to experience it first hand."

Who in the nine hells says horridly??

But hey, Wednesday is rping a vampire, Enid can't be all pissy when she's good at it

So they text and they text for days. Maybe it's been a month and Wednesday is just as weird as always, no breaking of character at all and Enid can respect the dedication. Call it escapism but enid has fun acting like she totally would not grimace at the sight of a dead body when Wednesday talked in detail about her novel. From what she's sees, Wednesday sounds like she probably didn't have much friends due to her interests and Enid gets that, so there's no harm in indulging

Until one day, she gets invited out to hang with yoko for the weekend and since she was in such a hurry, she kind of left her phone in her house

Wednesday, old money and living in seclusion, Addams isn't taking that so well. Finally after decades, someone takes her being wholly herself and doesn't seem disgusted. Normally she didn't care, she joined this app simply because her parents insisted for some sort of social interaction outside of family

But enid was different, she didn't try to change the subject, instead she oohs and aaahs at any info Wednesday gives. It's.. Intoxicating when Enid points out how smart she must be to know these type of things. Actually! She wondered more about her family history and didn't sound at all surprised when Wednesday mentions their odd background.

"it's fitting," Enid types. "that you would come from such a strong family, I'm sure they're proud to have someone like you."

It makes a part of Wednesday soar so mayhaps she was going through something when Enid doesn't reply one day.

It goes like this

- Enid - Enid answer me, I know you never go about without your phone - Enid did someone kidnap you? I've gone through channels and none of them match your description - Have I done something wrong? Perhaps a slight that I did not know was a thing? -

"pugsley," Wednesday says, pushing open be door to his room. Her hand is tight on her phone before she slides it over with a tense jaw. "I need you to do find the location of this woman."

Pugsley peers at the screen, raising a brow at the rather nondescript pfp. In bold letters is the username: Enid

the brother agrees and just like that, Enid fate was sealed. The blond was absolutely unaware of what she just got herself into, far too busy spending time with yoko

#Au Thoughts #Wenclair #Or I wanted to type in more dark Wednesday #Wednesday addams #Enid Sinclair

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ecoamerica · 2 months

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youtube

Watch the American Climate Leadership Awards 2024 now: https://youtu.be/bWiW4Rp8vF0?feature=shared

The American Climate Leadership Awards 2024 broadcast recording is now available on ecoAmerica's YouTube channel for viewers to be inspired by active climate leaders. Watch to find out which finalist received the $50,000 grand prize! Hosted by Vanessa Hauc and featuring Bill McKibben and Katharine Hayhoe!

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thewertsearch · 1 year

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EB: why are you taking such an interest in my fashion, anyway? AG: Trolls are an extremely fashion-minded race, John. You should make a note of this, since you pretend to 8e a scientist or something.

We've been told the opposite - but we've also seen that highblood trolls do care about their outfits, so Vriska is only half-lying.

EB: laaaaaaaame. AG: Look at that! You counted out 8 a's for me, John! That is so thoughtful of you. [...] EB: i didn't even count. it just… EB: turned out like that. [...] AG: <33333333

John, please run. Vriska paralyzed her last crush.

GA: Ive Just Been Meaning To Say GA: That I Read Your Instructional Guide

It took Kanaya eight more chatlogs to bring up the GameFAQs guide. I guess when you're getting to know your crush, you don't want to cop to a parasocial relationship until you're sure it won't scare her off.

TT: Sorry to hear you were subjected to that. GA: Why TT: It was a little melodramatic in retrospect. Heavy-handed.

You're above all that now, though.

Right?

TT: Have you ever written a message you regretted instantly upon sending? GA: Lately GA: Almost Perpetually TT: That line included? GA: Wow Yeah Kind Of

I think it's called 'being thirteen'.

GA: At The Time Of Reading It Lent Some Useful Insight GA: Into The Nature Of The Game I Hadnt Yet Considered GA: And GA: The Author I Guess [...] TT: When exactly did you read it? GA: Uh GA: By The Way GA: What Are You Doing Here

What's so uncomfortable about telling her when you read it? It's not like you have to admit you idolized her.

I guess she just wants to change the subject before they get anywhere close to that confession. Kanaya started this conversation, but it's clear she's not quite ready to finish it.

There's something here, buried deep underneath the temple. It's enormous, and it doesn't match LOLAR's sparkleglitter aesthetic at all.

A secret dungeon? Her Denizen's lair? An egg?

GA: Are These Tactics Really Necessary GA: [...] I Thought Our Methods Earlier Were Effective GA: In Illuminating The Underpinnings Of The Game GA: You Ask Some Questions GA: And I Answer GA: If I Can

Yeah, but I never got the sense that the trolls really studied the game. Karkat was pretty dismissive about Sgrub's deeper lore, and most of his team lack Rose's analytical mindset. Terezi might be helpful here - and she did tell Rose she'd be back later.

I guess Rose could go for broke, and ask the troll who actually has the answers - but you'd probably get more insight from a brick wall than you would from Aradia Megido. Still, she might let something slip.

GA: But These Means Presently On Display GA: Are Making Me A Little Nervous GA: I Think Its Kind Of A Reckless Use Of TT: Of what? GA: These Forces

Thank you, Kanaya. Is it finally time to talk about this?

Rose is fully aware that an early-game Player isn't meant to be this strong. How much power is she getting? What are its limits? Under what conditions is it given, and what are the consequences for breaking them?

#homestuck liveblog #full liveblog #act 5.2 #s62 #2725

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jgnico · 5 months

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One thing that bothers me about jujutsu is that the author doesn't know how to develop some characters. 1 Shoko Ieri is an interesting character but I find her apathetic without a cold and superficial personality. 2 itadori yuji doesn't seem to be a protagonist he seems more like a tool than the protagonist of the work. 3 nobara had no development dry and emotionless death. and many other characters. There were only 2 characters that really had development, which was gojo and geto, for me, they were the only ones that had it. Why do you think the author did this, is it because he didn't want to develop the characters that's why he killed many important characters? I would appreciate it if you respond.

Tell me you got into jjk for satosugu without telling me you got into jjk for satosugu.

I... I don't even know where to start with this, to be honest. I will agree to the point that Gege has a problem with underutilizing and underdeveloping some of his characters, especially the women, but I think that's all I can agree with here.

1. Shoko is a great character. She has a more monotone personality, especially compared to others within the series, but I wouldn't call her cold or superficial by any means. She has friends that she cares about and a fun relationship with Utahime, but I'm not gonna find fault in her not being as enthusiastic as other characters, esp when she's continuously lost loved ones as the series has progressed.

2. It seems to me that you read the panels where Yuuuji called himself a cog and took that as the end all be all of his character. I actually find Yuuji incredibly loveable and complex for a protagonist, especially as an MC. He's a breath of fresh air, and his mentality toward the trope of "save everyone" is refreshing and realistic. He knows he can't, but he tries to save the people he can. He cares deeply about people, especially his friends. He's new to Jujutsu, but what he lacks in initial knowledge he makes up for by meshing almost seemlessly with everyone he's paired up with. He's not the smartest character, but he learns quickly and has some good ingenuity when it comes to fights. He has a positive, outgoing personality that's balanced out by moments of intense emotional and mental upheaval. Yuuji has grown and changed a lot as the story has progressed and he will continue to.

That being said, every character is a tool of the story, and given that we're brought into the wold of Jujutsu through him and are going through the story with him (same as with other characters) I don't see how him, a character within the story, being a tool used for storytelling is the negative point you think it is. Every character is a tool of the story. It's no fault of the character that you just don't find him as effective or useful as others do.

3. This point honestly makes me think you're trolling, I'm not gonna lie. Nobara had insane amounts of development during her time within the story. To name a few: She learns the value of relying on her teammates and prioritizing her life on her first mission with Yuuji. She makes the mistake of not bringing enough nails (her primary weapon) on her second mission and brings a surplus to every mission afterward. She shows a spectacular amount of foward thinking when it comes to fighting that we see demonstrated both in the Goodwill and Shibuya arcs. She's willing to sacrifice her health for the sake of winning a fight. She's one of the few characters (and one of three students) to land a black flash and touch the core of cursed energy. She's also one of the very, very few characters that can innately damage the soul.

Nobara has great growth throughout her time in the story, and she has the potential to do better if (when, imo) she returns to it. But let's move on to the other point of her dearh being "dry and emotionless" because I simply don't understand how you came away with that opinion. She's one of the main trio, she gave Yuuji hope when he was close to breaking and dealt lasting damage to Mahito in Shibuya, she has a touching backstory and relationship with her childhood best friend, and even still, has an impact on Yuuji and his approach toward letting new people into his life. Yuuji wasn't afraid of letting Higurum into his life and somehow replacing Nanami, he was afraid of letting Hana in and emotionally replacing Nobara. She's the first person that he asks about when he meets back up with Megumi post-Shibuya.

I think your opinion toward Nobara stems from the fact that you just don't connect with her the way others do, but just because you don't notice or care about her impact in the story (much less the impact her death had on Yuuji, who you don't even consider a protagonist) doesn't mean that she's not a well-written, interesting, and enjoyable character.

Gojo and Geto are good characters. Their dynamic is interesting, and their combined and individual stories are emotionally impactful. Even their techniques are cool, in my opinion. But, they're not the only characters that you can say that for. In fact, I wouldn't even put either of them in my personal top five. If you do, that's you, but it's a little wild to say that they're the only ones with good development in the story because that simply isn't true.

Lastly, like I said at the beginning of this answer, I do think that Gege has an issue with how he handles some characters. Does that include all, or even most of them? No, I think he's doing fine. Are their some big ones that he could've written better? Absolutely, but I challenge you to find any series where the author uses every one of their characters as best as they possibly could. Everyone is going to have a favorite character that they want to see shine, just because they don't, that doesn't always make it the author's fault.

I don't think fumbling this aspect of the story is intentional, and I'd even argue thats it's fitting in some cases. We're not going to get the full story of everyone we're introduced to, especially ones outside the main cast. Sometimes a character is simply there to move the plot along or introduce/reintroduce an aspect of the story, and that's fine. I think that people often forget that the story is ongoing and has time to touch on things that they feel have been overlooked. I also think that a lot of people don't want to consider that Gege has a plan for the story that we aren't privy to, nor are we going to like everything that he does.

As for why he kills a lot of important characters? Most likely to reinforce the idea that the world in which the story takes place isn't fair. No one has plot armor. It'd be a boring story if they did, and it would rob us of a lot of emotional investment because the tension wouldn't be nearly as high if we weren't worried for the safety of the characters that we love. If you're not invested in certain characters, maybe you won't feel that way, but that isn't a universal experience.

At the end of the day, I'd say Jujutsu Kaisen is a good story with a lot of really good characters (some of my favorite characters ever, even) but not everyone will agree with that statement. If a significant portion of the story or characters just aren't doing it for you, you might fall into the latter, and it seems that way if Gojo and Geto are the only highlights you've found to be worth investing your interest in.

(Since you sent me two of the exact same ask, consider this a part one. See ya in a minute.)

#jujutsu kaisen #jjk spoilers #shoko ieiri #itadori yuuji #nobara kugisaki #meta answers #anon

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ernmark · 5 months

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Who was in charge of marketing for Harry Potter?

(This isn't about She Who Must Not Be Named or her bigotry. This is purely about the business of bookselling.)

If you were a YA reader at the time, or you're into fandom history, you might know the story: July 16, 2005, in the wee hours of the morning a car pulls up to a bunch of teens and children standing outside a bookstore, and some jackass shouts at the top of their lungs: "Snape kills Dumbledore!" and then speeds away.

That story was infamous. THE biggest plot twist of THE biggest book series in the world, spoiled before anyone could even crack the pages.

Which is... actually kinda weird, right? How'd they know?

Had they read an advance copy? Did they stand in line since like 4 PM to get their hands on the book, and then the second they got their hands on it just frantically start skimming the last hundred pages or so until they found a particularly devastating bomb to drop? (Trolls being trolls, this was not considered particularly extreme behavior).

Or were they paid to do it?

This is adult me with conspiracy goggles on, but consider: The message that was sent is not that a character killed another character, but that no matter how hard you try to avoid spoiling your favorite story, some bad-faith actor is going to jump out of the bushes and do it anyway. There's no time to wait for your library's copy to be available, no time for your friend or your sibling to finish and hand it to you-- you have to buy your own copy right the fuck now.

And everybody and their sibling (literally, people were buying multiple copies per family) around the world buying the same book in the space of the same two weeks? That is how a book guarantees a spot on every international best seller list for a long ass time.

The thing is, whether this was a deliberate move or an amazingly convenient and lucrative bit of trolling does not matter. Regardless of the source, the marketing department pounced on an opportunity. Every brick-and-mortar bookstore left had piles of bookmarks and buttons, posters plastered on the windows, dividing readers into one of two teams: either "Trust Snape" or "Snape is a Bad Man". People wearing those pins sparked conversation and debate in real life, to say nothing of what was going on in the forums. Essays and treatises and manifestos were written. Books were published-- both officially licensed materials and unofficial ones full of theories and details.

When that next and final release was coming out, you bet your ass everybody on the planet was going to be there (or risk another drive-by spoiler). When the next movie was released that November, it didn't matter that what had come before was kinda iffy in quality-- people were showing up in costume.

Even before The Drive By Spoilering, the marketing team was honestly the stuff of legend. Gorgeous hand-illustrated covers and chapter header artwork, branded title fonts that could be recognized from a mile away in the dark, big fancy displays present in every single school book fair, and then that website-- the official website was a thing of absolute beauty, especially in that time. It was colorful and had a million moving parts and secrets to uncover, it was updated frequently and with a lot of little secret extra tidbits on the character and world, and oodles of essays from the author herself that were often very endearing to the readership. It was a gathering place for fans as much as the fan-run websites.

(I should point out that with marketing this robust, I have no doubt in my mind that all those tidbits and essays were themselves run past the team for approval, to make sure nothing particularly egregious slipped through the cracks. But that kind of editing isn't cheap, and I suspect it would only really have been employed during the Important Years for the franchise.)

I remember wanting to be a writer as a teenager, embarking on that career as I got out into the world and started querying books I'd written, and for every single one of us in the writing community, that kind of marketing was the dream. The midnight releases in full costume, the gorgeous custom covers, the posters in every library and bookstore, the breathtaking website. But all of those things turn out to be heinously expensive, and for every franchise that returns on that investment, there were dozens, perhaps hundreds, who didn't make back enough, or cover their expenses at all. And that's where you get to the point where querying authors were advised to establish massive followings on social media in order to demonstrate that they were a safe bet, that half the work was already done if the publishers would just give us a chance-- and sure, for some of them that effort did get them publishing contracts. At which point, even if the publishers felt inclined to spend more than a pittance on promoting new authors' work, there wasn't any point in doing so to the degree that the Harry Potter books received. There's little room to stand out in a saturated market; a flash in the pan is only impressive if the pan isn't already on fire.

These days there's little hope of any one new author rising to that kind of fame, though with self-promotion and self-advocacy, a lot more diverse authors are starting to carve out places for themselves. But marketing yourself is exhausting, and it's expensive, and it makes you vulnerable to all sorts of stupid blunders and career-ending missteps.

I'd rather stay indie. But I wouldn't say no to that marketing team.

#harry potter as a cultural phenomenon #the business of writing #writing woes

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copperbadge · 1 year

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Okay, it may be obvious by now that I'm ALREADY doing a re-read of your Askazer-Shivadlakia books (I really want it to be Ashkazer because it's how my brain first read it, but alas....)

On to Infinite Jes--when I read it the first time, I saw Noah calling Jes "Boss" because they work together. Now I realize it is, or could be, a gender-neutral word for parent.

If they didn't work together, would this still be what Noah called Jes?

As a parent myself, I think "boss" is a pretty reductive word, so I'm curious about what it means to Noah and Jes.

LOL, hey, I've re-read them a handful of times, no reason anyone else shouldn't. :D

Essentially I think of Boss as a term of endearment -- you might say "she's my boss" or "he's the boss" but you don't generally call someone just "boss" to their face, unless you have some other kind of relationship to them as well. It's a very casual thing to do, at least to my mind.

I have the process of all this written out somewhere but I think it's in bits and pieces scattered across last March or April. To summarize, I did a survey where I asked, essentially, if you're a nonbinary parent or the child of one, what parental term do you use? and I got a lot of specific terms, but also general discussion -- for example, some kids use the term of the parent's assigned-gender-at-birth, and others use a term that most fits the parent's "role" (ie, a nonbinary person who leans more masculine might be "dad" regardless of their gender identity/AGAB). Above a certain age it seems like most kids use the parent's name, but it's by no means universal.

None of the specific terms resonated for me with Jes and Noah's relationship. Some I didn't like the sound of, others just didn't feel quite accurate, especially for use by a child on the cusp of adulthood. Noah's old enough not to use a gendered term, but "parent" in direct address felt too formal, and something like "rent" or "renny" felt disrespectful in this context (to be clear I think these are fine objectively, and I'm not here to say what you should or shouldn't call a parent, but for this specific relationship it felt wrong). I felt weird making up a gender-neutral Shivadh term for parent, since then I'd have to do at least a brief exposition dump about what the term was and what it meant.

The only thing that did resonate was the idea of Jes and Noah figuring out a term together. Jes has always given Noah a lot of well-supported autonomy, so it made sense that once he was old enough, he'd have a full vote in what he was going to call them. Boss was convenient as it was evident Noah was eventually going to be working with them on the podcast, and it was catchier to my ear (and thus Noah's) than some other terms.

Within their relationship, it acknowledges that Jes has the ultimate authority as parent, but also that they aren't actually in an employer-employee situation, that there's a deeper bond between them and a more comprehensive expectation of care from Jes. It says "I know the buck stops with you, but you have a duty to look out for me and treat me like a person."

For another kind of parent-child relationship I would probably choose something different, but Boss feels to me like it suits them in the way they have of like -- obviously being a loving family, but also being very Shivadh in their trolling of each other. I think even if they didn't work together, they'd probably both find "boss" pretty apt.

But also, you know, I really think it does depend on the parent and child, so I could see how you wouldn't want your kid to call you that, which is perfectly legit. Boss is definitely not some platonic ideal, it's just what Noah and Jes cobbled together without much in the way of a handbook for this kind of thing.

Anyway if you use any term for anything long enough it starts to sound natural to your ear, and that idea is doing quite a bit of heavy lifting for "boss" -- by the time I was done with the book it sounded as natural to me as "mom" or "dad". So it could be I'm just more acclimated to it. :D

#shivadhverse #nonbinary parenting #connected-dots

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