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caramelcal · 3 years

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Songwriting and Fake Dating

Request: Luke Patterson fic? Reader is hopelessly in love with her best friend’s (Carrie) step-brother Luke but isn’t suppose to be because they are “rivals” since she is apart of Dirty Candy & he is in JATP. BUT at a party reader ends up in a sticky situation that Luke saves her from by pretending to be her boyfriend. Which eventually turns into a deal they make? “I’ll help you with your writers block (Luke/Bc shes a mad lyric genius) & I’ll help keep the lacrosse team off your back”

Word Count: 1.25k

a/n: i love the idea of luke being carrie’s step-brother sm!! or him just being a brother in general, i have a feeling he’d be such a good brother...also pls keep sending in fic ideas hehe i have a great time writing em!

Masterlist Part 2 (don’t worry, this part can be read as a stand alone but if you want to read part 2 you can)

You walked through Carrie’s house, trying to find your best friend after she invited you over for choreography practice for Dirty Candy. Your bag was over your shoulder, holding a change of clothes and a water bottle just in case you needed it. Wandering into the living room, you failed to notice the teenager sitting on the sofa, his guitar waiting idly in his hands as his gaze caught onto you.

He knew exactly who you were, you had been best friends with Carrie before his mother remarried to Carrie’s dad. You had been there all the way through and you were practically like an accessory to Carrie; he has hardly seen his step-sister without you by her side. He strummed his guitar, successfully grabbing your attention as he planned to, making you jump around to face him with your eyes wide.

“y/n,” Luke greeted, giving you a small nod as you looked at him uneasily, shifting from foot to foot. His gaze returned down to his guitar as he strummed it lightly; making your gaze make its way down to the strings on the instrument also, “Carrie’s down at the gym already, you’re late I’m pretty sure. Any of the other Dirty Candy members would have their necks cut off for being this late.”

“It’s only fifteen minutes, Luke,” You snapped as Luke looked back up at you, his eyes meeting yours.

You felt bad for snapping at Luke, obviously. You knew he probably didn’t mean anything bad about what he said but it was made clear to everyone in Dirty Candy that members of Julie and the Phantoms were the rivals and even though Carrie didn’t have the conversation with you, it didn’t mean you were an exception. She didn’t have anything against her step-brother, they actually did get along but at the same time, he was in a rival band.

So that’s why you had to act like this. Especially when you were the closest to Carrie. Imagine the other Dirty Candy members seeing Carrie’s best friend being nice to the rivals? Despite it being a known fact that you were the nicest member of Dirty Candy, you still had to stick by the band.

“It’s Carrie though,” Luke snorted, shaking his head as he put his guitar down by his side as he looked back up at you, “you should know how she is.”

“She’s clearly nothing like you think she is,” You quipped back as you crossed your arms over your chest. You felt bad for having to be mean to Luke, and you hoped that he knew that but you could never actually say that, “if you spent any time with your step-sister you’d know that.”

Luke simply put his hands up in mock defeat as he gave you a small smirk, “Alright then y/n. No need to be feisty. I won’t keep you any longer, better join the rest of your band.”

Simply nodding your head, that’s what you did.

. . .

It was later on that night you found yourself at a club. It was a little after your performance with the rest of Dirty Candy and currently, Julie and the Phantoms were on. They were good, something you would never be able to deny but they would never be able to deny that Dirty Candy was good either. Everyone knew that if the two bands somehow managed to put their differences aside and worked together, they would be unstoppable. But that never happened.

“Hey, y/n!” Someone said, putting an arm over your shoulder and a whiff of cologne hit you in the face. You looked up at them, eyes catching onto the styled hair of a member of the lacrosse team. Jack, you think.

Jack dragged you over to the rest of his teammates, who gave Jack knowing smirks. You fidgeted, feeling highly uncomfortable as some of the lacrosse team checked you out without any hesitation or embarrassment, your Dirty Candy outfit still on without the wig.

“Hey I need to get going-” You excused, trying to get away from the cocky lacrosse players as you looked over at the exit of the club, desperately wanting to be there right now. However, you were cut off by the ‘aww’s of the lacrosse team as they tried to usher you even closer to them.

“C’mon y/n, sit with us, just for a little.”

A few of the other lacrosse members backed up what the lacrosse player said, trying to persuade you to stay but only made you feel more uncomfortable, “Please guys, I really have to get going-”

These boys really were not taking no for an answer as they continued to persuade you, leaving for an arm to sneak over your shoulder and a body to slide next to yours, leaving the lacrosse guys to go quiet, “Hey babe, ready to go?”

Luke. Your eyes widened slightly as you looked at him, but only Luke seemed to notice, sending you a look to go along with it leaving you to nod your head. The lacrosse teams shared glances between them but your eyes were trained on Luke, slightly sweaty from his performance, breathing heavily but still as hot as ever.

He looked over at the main body of lacrosse players, smiling at them, “Thanks for keeping my girlfriend entertained whilst she waited. Having a good night, boys.”

With that, he steered you away from the lacrosse players but you could still hear the outbursts of confusion from behind you, “Patterson and y/l/n are dating!” “No freaking way dude! I thought they hated each other!” “Me too, man! Guess they don’t.”

Luke didn’t stop until you were both outside of the club and away from sight until he let go of you, spinning you around so you looked at him. Eyes wide, you stared up at him in awe, “Luke, I don’t- Thank you.”

“Don’t sweat it, but I guess us dating will be going around school for a while, huh?” Luke said, giving you a tight-lipped smile as he rocked on his heels.

You looked down at your shoes as you mumbled back, “Yeah probably.”

“We can’t call it off now, I guess but I have a proposition.” Luke suggested, making you look up from your feet to meet his eyes again, showing to him that you were listening, “Now before you object, I already know you’re crazy freakin’ talented at writing songs. So you help me write songs, and I’ll keep the lacrosse team off your back.”

“Luke...”

“Hey, I know we’re supposed to be ‘rivals’ or whatever but it doesn’t have to be like that,” Luke said quietly, looking at you with his big, hazel eyes, “we both benefit this way. I saw how uncomfortable you were in there, so I deal with that and you help me write songs. I’ve seen some of your songs, y/n, throwing them in the music room trashcan is not a way to hide it.”

“You went fishing in the trash for my songs?”

“Not important,” Luke replied to your question, rolling his eyes at your expression; arched eyebrows, and a slight smirk on your face before he continued, “What do you say, y/n? Deal?”

“...Deal.”

Luke gave you a wide smile, walking back towards the main street, and beckoned you to follow him, shouting out to you behind him, “Just don’t fall in love with me, y/l/n.”

You laughed lightly, him joining in as well as you ran lightly to catch up with him, “In your dreams, Patterson.”

#luke julie and the phantoms #luke patterson #luke patterson x reader #luke jatp #luke patterson x y/n #julie and the phantoms #julie and the phantoms x reader #julie and the phantoms luke #charlie gillespie #charlie gillespie x y/n #charlie gillespie x reader

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xxsovereignsarayaxx · 4 years

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Supernatural - Road to Revenge Chapter 7

Authors Note: Sorry for the wait! My computer is still broken so I’m having to use my tablet. I’m not super experienced in writing fight scenes so I hope its reads right, But I hope you guys are keeping safe and enjoy the latest chapter! Feedback is amazing as it makes me a better writer! Just a bit of a filler chapter before things go back to the chaotic mess us Supernatural fans know and love. Word Count: 2509 Warnings: Some swearing.

Check out the other chapters and my other works here!

“Deal.” And sealed it with a kiss.

After the heart to heart in the car, I suggested that a pizza, a couple crates of beer and a movie was what the three of us needed right now and luckily Dean agreed with me. I sat in the car whilst Dean was waiting in the takeaway, I saw him lift up his jacket sleeve and scratch at the mark. It made me sigh, I just hoped that we could now find a way to rid Dean of the mark and go back to whatever our version of normal was. As I was lost in thought I failed to notice that Dean was now back and he was waiting for me to take the three boxes of pizza off him so he could get in the car.

“Earth to Nikki…”

I shook my head, the long strands of my hair flicked about against the leather interior. I gave an apologetic look and reached out for the delicious mix of cheese, tomato and dough. I took in a hearty sniff and my mouth was already starting to water.

“This smells so good.” I said smiling, trying to lift up the lid to one of the boxes.

Swiping my hand away “Well you know the rules Miss Callahan.” Dean replied.I pouted. Food was one of my weaknesses. The drive back to the bunker was quick and within minutes myself, Sam and Dean were enjoying ourselves and telling stories of our past.

“Hey, do you remember when you got arrested and I had to bail your ass out otherwise you would have been sent down?” Dean teased, taking a bite out of his fourth slice.

Sam almost choked on his drink. “What?” I rolled my eyes aiming them at Dean.

“Oh come on it wasn’t like that and you know it.” I replied, the remains of my british accent accidently slipped through.

“Pray tell Nik.” Sam attempted playfully.

Throwing my arms in surrender. “Ok so this was about three months or so before Dean came to get you from Stanford, and at the time I always carried two phones. And the beat cop that arrested me only found the first…”

2005 Chewing some gum and bouncing my handcuffed wrists so that the metal rattled on the table I was attached to, in some hope to annoy the cop that had arrested me. The officer mumbled something but I couldn't figure out what as he continued to write a report. From what I could see he wasn’t able to fill it in very well as I refused to tell him my name.

“Shall we try this again? Name?”

“How about you kiss my ass?” I said, raising a sultry eyebrow with a grin on my face.

“I don’t think you understand how much trouble you're in little lady, you're carrying an unauthorised firearm and in possession of multiple credit cards and identities…”

“And like I told you before, they're not mine. I’m holding them for a friend.” I replied sweetly.

The officer let out a sigh and got up from the chair, packing up the small wimsey file and shoving it under his arm. He looked me up and down. “Need to go to the little girls room?” He asked sarcastically.

“Nope.” I replied, popping the ‘P’. “But you could loosen these a little.” I added bringing my hands up to view, rattling the cuffs once more.

“Your right...I could but I won’t.” The officer said leaning on the table so that he was a few inches away from my face, I could feel his breath and it stunk like stale coffee and desperation.

Rolling my eyes I shifted in my seat, turning my face away from his and the officer pulled away with a chuckle. “You're not the only one capable of playing mind games darling, if you change your mind about talking, give me a holler.” And with that he left the room shutting the door.

I sat back in the uncomfortable chair, picking at my nails when I felt the phone in my bra start to vibrate. Leaning over the table slightly I was able to pry the small device and flip it open and brought the phone to my ear as best I could.

“You took your time answering.” The voice of Dean Winchester rang through my ears.

I could imagine the smug look on his face if he saw the predicament I was in.

“Well I’m working.” I snapped back, rolling my eyes not like it mattered he couldn’t see me but at this point it was forming to be a habit.

“Working, where?” He asked.

“Miami, fancied a little sunshine beats the unbearable weather and your lame ass jokes.” I lied.

“Really? You sure about that? Because I’m about five yards away ready to talk to a Detective Douche, you know the guy who arrested you. But if you want me to leave you in this stink hole I can turn around and go back to hitting on chicks at the bar. There’s something about a man in a suit that makes the ladies go wild.”

I let out a groan. “Fine...Get me out of here Winchester.”

“You making noises like that gets me all excited.” Dean teased.

“Bite me.” I told him in a pissed off tone.

“I really hope you do sweetheart…”

Sam, Dean and I were all laughing at my tale. The remaining few slices of pizza had been forgotten and more empty beer bottles littered the table and the whiskey had been brought out.

“I can’t believe you pair used to flirt so badly back in the day.” Sam said, taking a sip of his whiskey.

“No way! Dean’s over exaggerating.” I threw a rolled up napkin at Sam to which he dodged with ease. “Your brother was a cocky ass and full of himself, he was just painting a target on his back. I knew how to get under his skin Sam.” I added, trying to defend myself.

“And yet it took how long for the pair of you to finally get together.”

“Good things take time Sammy, and Nik being with us is more than a good thing.”

The rest of the evening went by pretty quickly we drank, talked about the good times and even the bad. But most importantly we bonded as a family and by midnight I called it a night and headed to bed. Dean followed behind shortly afterwards.

I woke up early the next morning wanting to grab the day by its horns, because of the heat Dean often kicked out in bed, getting out of said bed was often easier said than done but I reluctantly left his warmth and got out of bed leaving him peacefully asleep. With my swift motions getting up he rolled over and carried on snoring, glancing over at him I got to my feet putting on some clean workout clothes and quietly left the room.

Walking through the halls I headed to the kitchen first wanting to put on some coffee for when the boys finally woke up, as I softly clattered about in the kitchen I glanced up at the clock seeing I had some time to kill I made my way to one of the rooms we had converted into a workout space.

The room itself was quite large and we had kitted it out with mats, weights and a couple of punching bags. Setting up a bag, hooking it to where I wanted it I bent down to the kit bag I kept in the room and pulled out some medical tape to secure my fingers. As I wrapped my fingers I let out a relaxing breath and then ran my hands through my hair using the hair tie to put my hair into a ponytail then composing myself and reaching for my boxing gloves.

Eyeing up my target I gave the black and red punching bag a few jabs, with each connection I felt the adrenaline flow through my body and enter my muscles and continued the assault mixing in a combination of jabs and strikes making the bag swing wildly. Losing track of time I hadn’t realised the sweat build up and next thing I knew I had to take a breather, using my teeth I pulled on the velcro to release my hand so I could wipe the sweat from my forehead with my shirt. Because I had been more focused on my morning workout I failed to keep a track on my surroundings and I felt a large hand reach out and grab my sweaty exposed shoulder, my instincts took over launching a swift elbow backwards with the hope to put some distance between myself and my attacker. But my movement was blocked and I felt a hand hold onto my elbow and the other gripping my hand forcing my arm to straighten out and twist so I was unable to move.

“Whoa there sweetheart, it's only me.” Dean said with a chuckle, as I span around to look at him.

Seeing that I had in fact calmed down he let my arm go. “Asshole, you scared me.” I replied, mocking a punch to his stomach.

“Your stamina seems to be getting better.”

“There’s nothing wrong with my stamina Winchester, plus I’m pretty sure mine beats yours.” I deadpanned.

Only just noticing that Dean was in sweats and a loose shirt he brought his hands into a defensive position. “Oh really?” He asked with his famous shit eating grin.

“You’ve never complained about my stamina but is this really a good idea for you? Because last time we sparred you tapped out.” I replied with a sly smile, going into a matching defensive stance.

“Nik, less talk. More action.”

Just as Dean finished his sentence I threw a right hook his way to which he easily blocked and returned the favour with a left jab. Using my much smaller frame to my advantage I ducked from his range. We circled each other for a good thirty seconds and then exchanged another few sets of blows to which only a select few made contact. Dean's next attack landed slightly winding me and he swiftly followed up with a judo toss, my small frame easily being slung over his much larger one and landed heavily on the mat with a thud. Still using his forearm pressing me into the mat he looked over to me with a grin.

“Give up?” He asked.

“Not in the slightest.” I said with a playful smile.

Dean replied to me with a smile to match mine and lifted the pressure ever so slightly allowing me to get out of his grasp and roll to a safe spot. Bringing myself back to my feet I bounced on my soles, allowing me to shake my muscles loose and went back to circling around Dean at a safe distance, it was nice to be sparring with him as he didn’t hold back much allowing us to truly get to business. Making a quick move towards him I connected my foot with the back of his right knee, it was a spur of the moment decision but seeings as the impact made him fall to a knee and making the most of the opening I jumped and using my right leg I hooked it around the back of his neck, twisting my body around his torso quickly using my other leg to shift the position my right leg once had around his neck and moved that towards his left leg. Using my arms I pulled his right towards myself and leant backwards hoping my weight would refrain him from moving and all in all hope he would fade and reluctantly tap out.

Sensing my intentions I could feel the struggle we both were facing, also feeling the strain his muscles were working to try and break free from my hold using his free arm. Not wanting to lose I removed one arm and used it to try and push down Dean’s making him imobile.

“Not today princess.” He stated, panting trying to catch his breath as he tried to break free from my hold.

“I hate to break this match up, as entertaining as it is but we have a case.” Sam said, interrupting the heavy breathing and pants.

Looking up I saw Sam leaning against the door frame with his laptop balancing on his palm. Letting out a playful huff I released Dean from my hold, unwrapping my legs and swiftly jumped down using him as a spring and landing softly on the mat. Stretching his muscles he shortly joined me and Sam.

“Never thought I’d say this but perfect timing Sammy.” Dean said with a chuckle just about having his breath back.

“Thought I would save your last shred of dignity.” He teased.

“So what are we looking at?” I asked to change the subject, softly tilting the laptop down to my eye level so I could see the screen.

“Well we have two jobs that need looking at, I thought you might want to look into this Nik as I’m pretty sure you’ve dealt with this witch before.” Sam explained, showing me the numerous news articles. Gritting my teeth. “Camille O’Malley…What is the cow bag doing these days? Still robbing rich folk and then killing ‘em?” Sam nodded.

Dean looked at me with a confused look. “Back in 05 I came across a witch by the name Camille O’Malley. Cunning and fickle she used magic to enhance her beauty and use that beauty to her advantage, whilst you were roaming around with your dad doing other hunts I spent six glorious months tracking this bitch down and almost had her too. She used a spell, knocked me clean out and then went underground, I hadn’t heard anything regarding her ever since. Figured she pissed off another hunter and kicked the bucket years ago.” I explained. “Is she still using the same M.O? Internal bleeding?”

“Seems like it, the recent string of deaths were ruled as natural causes. The latest victims were all attending an invite only auction.” Sam answered.

“I’ll have a look into it, I use some of the notes I took back in the day and see if I can finally put a bullet in that bitches head. What’s the other case?”

“Death of a college student, apparently her eyes were missing and the witness said the guy jumped from a three-story window and took off running.”

“Three-story? Yeah that’s something to be looked at... You guys gonna be ok dealing with this one? I’m sure I can send one of my buddies to deal with Camille.” I asked.

“No we’re good, you deal with another blast from the past.” Dean said with a smile, planting a kiss to my temple. “Your bike could do with the run.”

“If I get done before you guys, I’ll head over to you if you need the backup.”

#supernatural #supernatural fanfiction #spn fanfiction #dean winchester #dean winchester SPN #dean x reader #Sam Winchester #original character #fanfiction #fanfic #moose and squirrel

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sqsupernova · 5 years

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Author Post — tunemyart!

We sat down with @tunemyart to talk about The Thing Called Future, their process, and their Supernova adventure!

What inspired your story?

Mostly it was borne out of my being obsessed with the throwaway implication that Emma was so terrified it was Regina under the hood in her visions of her death that she voluntarily sought therapy, and spiraled into desperately needing Emma to deal with the idea of cutting the Savior part of her destiny away from her at the same time Regina was dealing with actually having cut away the Evil Queen. I hadn't seen season six until I started a series rewatch after OUAT's cancellation was announced, and after a long period of wondering if I maybe shouldn't just collect $200 and advance to Season 7, I stopped everything and screamed when Emma and Archie casually referenced the previous time(s) that Emma had come to him to talk about Regina. THIS WAS THE QUALITY CONTENT I HAD BEEN WAITING FOR.

How do you form your stories? Do you outline beforehand or write by the seat of your pants? Do you write linearly or out of order?

Some of both. I have a malleable outline I work with where I detail the stuff that gets me excited and that I really want to write, refine it into an order before I start writing, and refine further whilst actually writing. I try to write linearly, because if I accidentally discovery write something that happens earlier on in the plot that wasn't in the outline, it has to be accounted for later on. That being said, sometimes the muses demand a scene later on in the story, and I cannot deny them.

What in your fic are you most proud of?

This is going to be self-indulgent, but the closure it gave me in writing it. I love these two women and their journey so, so much. It was immensely satisfying letting their stories finally, inevitably twine around each other with (most of) the threads canon gave us.

How do you deal with writers' block?

Fabricate pressure! This was actually the first time I've written for a challenge, and having a deadline to contend with really lit a fire under me. There were a few days when I couldn't believe I'd written as much as I had, since I'd just come off of five years of not really writing at all, except for one other Swan Queen story I'd written a few months before Supernova.

Was this Supernova experience different than your typical writing experience?

I had a deadline! People knew I was writing something! I was committed to it! And it was also longer than what I've tended to write in the past, so I got to test my writing stamina.

Any advice to other writers who might want to write a longfic, or participate in Supernova next year?

For folks who are new to longfic - do it!! You might learn something about yourself.

You can read The Thing Called Future on AO3, along with tunemyart’s other works! And don’t forget to feed the author!

#swan queen #sqsn spotlights: author post #sqsn spotlights: The Thing Called Future

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orionsangel86 · 6 years

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Hey All,

So yeah I’ve been neglecting this blog big time since the season finale and I want to give an explanation. Which is more for my own benefit than anyone elses actually since sometimes writing things down can really help even if you don’t think anyone is gonna read it...

I’ve been running this blog for two and a half years now. Before this blog, I had never involved myself in online fandom or even internet communities in general. I just didn’t do that kind of thing because I didn’t even know about it. I have thoroughly enjoyed the majority of the time spent here. I have enjoyed building online friendships and getting to know this community - a community I have always seen as being honest and friendly and full of bloggers I respect and would hope also respect me.

Because I am relatively new to online fandom, I guess I have also been extremely naive. When I first started this blog I didn’t do it because I wanted to validate my own opinion of this show, I didn’t do it because I wanted to be a big blogger with lots of followers and posts that gained a lot of notes either. None of that stuff has ever really bothered me too much, I’m not looking for fandom fame here, never have. At first I wasn’t really even seeking out friendships to bleed over into my real life - I was depressed and a bit of a hermit at the time so any idea of making friends outside of the online space just wasn’t on the agenda. My whole reason for joining fandom was because I had previously spent around a year lurking on certain meta writers blogs reading their stuff and thinking “wow” and “I want to interact with these people because this is all awesome”. I wanted to share my opinion and bounce ideas off of those bloggers who I respected and thought were funny and intelligent and kind people. I wanted to get to know them and discuss the show with them.

That was all I ever wanted. End of story. No fame, no massive following myself. No viral posts. Just communication with people I respected.

I got that. For a long time. I still have in a lot of ways. Along the line, I also somehow found myself meeting up with some of these people in real life, and getting closer to them, to the point that now some of them are people I consider my best friends. Others I may have only met for the first time recently, whose blogs I have followed since the beginning, and who I hope I will continue to meet and remain friends with for the foreseeable future - because they are awesome too.

I don’t regret those friendships for one second. But what I do regret is the mess caused by getting close to people who you also interact with in fandom. Because with fandom comes the wank, and when that wank then bleeds into your real life, it really fucks you up.

So this is where I have been, not just for the past few weeks since I have been MIA, but in fact for around 3 months now. Mentally and emotionally exhausted because of drama that started in fandom that bled over into my real life, and has caused me more emotional upset and heartache than falling out with a former “best friend” a few years back ever did. It is actually shocking how much this former fandom drama has effected me, so much so, that even the people closest to me, who are aware of all the details, probably still don’t know just how much this has fucked with my head and caused me to regress into a shell. It’s really fucking bad and has been effecting my life in more ways than one.

I don’t think people realise how much all this shit affects us. It was easier when I could separate it. Fandom in one box, real life in a different box. Use each one to escape the other. For the past 3 months there has been no fucking escape for me.

Why am I telling you all this? I guess because I feel like it could help others who are overwhelmed by fandom, by being in a community where it is possible for anyone to suddenly find themselves with a huge following and influence others. It's so fucking easy for that kind of thing to go to people's heads, and there are people in this community who will abuse that and use their status and power to abuse people and generally be shitty human beings because no matter what they do there will be others who will support them and think the sun shines out their ass.

Anyway. I'm not here to talk specifics. I did consider it, but I won't. Though some people in this fandom have really hurt me, I know they will never truly apologise for their actions, or even admit to being responsible. They don’t give a shit about me and in some cases barely know who I am. Doesn’t mean they didn’t hurt me and fuck up my life for a period of time. Others have sat at the side lines and watched as I slowly lost myself to all this shit and instead of being a friend and give me the support I desperately needed, have been complicit in the wank, and let themselves be influenced by the very assholes who started this crap.

Regardless, I wanted this post to be a lesson to those newer to fandom, perhaps there are people out there who have been in a position where they have been hurt by supposed "big name fans" and also get sick in their stomachs when people continue to sing their praises, and can't avoid those people no matter what they do since Tumblr doesn't give us the ability to truly avoid other bloggers even with block and blacklist available. That is my situation now. I cannot continue enjoying this community whilst I am constantly having to be reminded of what I have gone through over the past few months, and because of that, before I come back properly, I need to drastically curate my dash, utilise the unfollow, block and blacklist options, and I suppose carve myself out a new space. A fresh start perhaps. I am still so terribly disappointing in everything. I used to adore our corner of fandom, but it has become so fucking toxic if I don’t try to shelter myself from it I’ll never heal, and I don’t yet want to leave completely.

Nevertheless, I shall persist, because believe it or not, this show we all love still brings me joy, and I want to talk about it again, to my hearts content, with people I care about in this space. But I will be extra careful in future about those who try to connect with me. I have learned my lessons, and I am done. Shitty behaviour online won’t be taken lightly, and I won’t have any hesitation calling people out for it in future.

So here are some lessons I have learned and try to remind myself of every day when dealing with fandom:

If you have been hurt by something, no matter how small, your emotions are valid and you deserve a sincere apology.

People who are truly your friends will stand by you. Those who don't stand by you are not worth your time.

Emotional manipulation is cruel. Don't let people do it. Don't let anyone invalidate your pain by making a situation about them.

Especially when you are then forced into impossible choices.

Especially when your feelings are ignored and you are put in situations that make you extremely uncomfortable.

Just because someone has a big following and comes across sweet and nice online doesn't mean they are. We all have online personas. A lot of people are fake. Take them off their pedestals before you watch them fall off.

Don't believe nasty rumours about people, but understand that blindly singing people's praises is just as bad. No one is fucking perfect no matter how much people may try to portray perfection.

Learn the difference between someone who genuinely wants your friendship and people who want to use you for online validation and popularity. This is important.

Even the smartest people can be emotionally manipulated. it’s not a flaw. It’s a product of someone elses cruelty. It’s not an insult for someone to try to tell you this either. It just means they care about you.

If you are ever made to feel like your feeling don’t matter, or that you should get over your feelings, get those who tell you that out of your life. Your feelings matter. You matter. You matter a hell of a lot more than the people who would try to deny you.

Social Justice issues are important, but social justice cannot be an excuse for nasty behaviour. Be wary of those that use social justice as a front for treating people badly.

Be fucking kind to each other. Treat people with respect, and you will have their respect in return.

Lastly, I want to say that I know I’m not perfect. I can sometimes be pretty fucking horrible, especially when I’m feeling hurt and emotionally vulnerable. I have written the above lessons for me and that last point? To be kind to each other? I need to remind myself of that. To be kind to people I don’t agree with, even if those people attack me. Even if those people have caused me severe emotional stress. Sometimes I fail at being kind. Sometimes I am gonna hurt people including myself. I am sorry for that. I truly am. I do try to recognise my own flaws here and try to be sincere in my message. I have been so stressed and I just can’t deal anymore. I’m not a bad person, but I know that some of you will read this post and seriously disapprove of it. Perhaps you feel it wasn’t necessary for me to post such a public message. Or that I am just trying to cause unnecessary drama (I’m really not). Or that I want attention (I don’t). I expect people to unfollow me because of this, and I’m okay with that. You do what you have to do.

From my perspective I HAD to get it all down. I had to pour it all out of me like drawing poison from a wound. I couldn’t hold it in anymore. It’s been eating me alive. It was the only way I could bring myself to get back onto here because this place used to be my passion. I want my passion back.

What I don’t want is anyone asking me to tell them specifics. I want to put everything behind me and start afresh now. I need to rid myself of that negativity and just focus on the good stuff, on the stuff I came here for to begin with. I’ve got a lot going on in my real life separate to fandom drama and I want this to be my escape from that once again, I need this to be a happy place once more and will do whatever necessary to find that happy place.

I’m sorry guys, I know this was super long and prob super confusing for some people to read. I guess just know that I’m gonna try to be back and much more positive and happy than I was before now that this shit is behind me. I’m gonna keep this blog a happy place, ignore and block any sources of wank and negativity, and only post fun stuff about the show going forward. (Aside from the standard show related wank that may crop up here every now and again thanks to Bucklemming) If you are still with me after this long emotional essay, I hope you’ll still be with me going forward, and god knows I could use some actual real friends right now.

Thanks for reading.

#long post #personal #like seriously personal stuff about this blog and my place in fandom bla bla bla #and also fandom drama #and stuff that has been upsetting me #basically ive been burying an awful lot of shit lately and its come pouring out into a post #shit that i needed to get off my chest #before i can come back #and be my usual happy self again #and just literally talk about SPN all the time #so yeah #fandom drama #wank for ts #do not reblog #i fucking mean that #by all means take the message and the bullet points and write them down or post them separately #as they are important #but please don't reblog #thanks

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nigeiadigitalmarketingcompany · 5 years

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Britain After Brexit: Welcome to the Vulture Restaurant

Digital Elixir Britain After Brexit: Welcome to the Vulture Restaurant

Yves here. We pointed out some time ago that the idea that the UK would get a favorable trade deal with the UK post-Brexit, and particularly post a crash-out, was bonkers, so it’s good to have official confirmation, even if it comes from the likes of Larry Summers. The US typically dictates terms in bi-lateral trade deals, allowing at most only a bit of face-saving terms-tweaking at the margin. The power imbalance will be even more pronounced in trade negotiation in the wake of Brexit because the UK will be desperate to cinch a deal quickly, and the urgency will give the US even more leverage.

More quotes from the Summers interview on BBC Radio 4, courtesy Al Jazeera:

“I’m not sure what Britain wants from the United States that it can plausibly imagine the United States will give.”

“If Britain thinks that the American financial regulators – who have great difficulty coming together on anything – are going to come together to give greater permissions and less regulation of UK firms, I would call that belief close to delusional.”

Nevertheless, the Wall Street Journal found a whimsical Brexit angle today, although it could just as easily have been spun as gallows humor: Tired of Waiting for Brexit, Britons Munch Through Nutella Stockpiles (any Northern Ireland readers may take umbrage at “Britons”):

Britain’s Brexit preppers have been stockpiling for months. Now their revolution is eating itself.

Fed up with waiting for the U.K. to leave the European Union and mindful of product expiration dates, stockpilers are using up foodstuffs they had squirreled away in case of a blunt exit leaves them cut off from imported treats, or spikes the price of necessities, like toilet paper and tea.

The chance of a no-deal divorce hasn’t diminished and may only have been postponed until Oct. 31, but some preppers can’t resist breaking into their stashes.

Elizabeth Priest, 29, found it easy to eat into her stockpile because she had socked away delectable items such as Nutella and mozzarella from Italy, lactose-free milk from Denmark and an awful lot of tea—not, say, Spam.

“Because we bought nice things, we weren’t facing down this nasty stockpile of tinned ham,” says the writer from Hastings on Britain’s southern coast. She brewed the last of her 200 stockpiled tea bags on June 29, three months to the day after Britain was meant to leave the EU.

Returning to the theme of this post, it’s not clear what could be strip mined from the UK. Unlike Russia post the collapse of the USSR, there aren’t natural resources that to be bought on the cheap and sold in world markets. North Sea oil is largely played out. UK manufacturing capacity will become much less valuable due to post-Brexit non-tariff trade barriers. Sadly, the big wealth opportunities may lie in moves like acquiring real estate and squeeing already not-well-housed working people with higher rents, and dismantling the NHS.

By Adam Ramsay, the co-editor of openDemocracyUK and also works with Bright Green. Before, he was a full-time campaigner with People & Planet. You can follow him at @adamramsay. Originally published at openDemocracy

“Britain has no leverage, Britain is desperate … it needs an agreement very soon. When you have a desperate partner, that’s when you strike the hardest bargain.” So warned former US Treasury secretary Larry Summers on Radio 4 ‘Today’ programme this morning, as new foreign secretary Dominic Raab jets off on a tour of North America to investigate potential trade deals.

“Britain has much less to give than Europe as a whole did, therefore less reason for the United States to make concessions,” said Summers, a senior figure in both the Clinton and Obama administrations. “You make more concessions dealing with a wealthy man than you do dealing with a poor man.”

Summers is of course right. But he makes a key mistake. He assumes that Raab, Johnson and the new cabinet care about defending the interests and autonomy of most people in the UK. He seems to be under the impression that Brexit was about taking back control.

In reality, the brand of Brexit promoted by Tory hardliners has long been about pulling Britain under the shadow of American capital. Not as a 51st state, with votes and constitutional rights, but as an outhouse for US business, a sort of colder, paler version of Puerto Rico.

We will be forced to accept US-style deregulation, with its poor standards for workers and consumers. We will have our assets stripped clean off the bone. Even before Brexit, we are fast becoming a pawn in the Pentagon’s global games.

We won’t become Americans, though. We’ll have no say in the standards that will govern our new Atlantic common market. Nor will we be permitted to help decide who stands in the planet’s biggest pulpit. Nor will we have much significant say in our own foreign policy. The UK has chosen to shift from participating in one power block to sitting on the outer edges of another.

Victory of the Lobbyists

If that wasn’t clear before (though it was), the events surrounding the arrival of Boris Johnson in Downing Street have confirmed it.

During the leadership election there was, of course, the failure to defend Kim Darroch, the British ambassador to the US. Then there is the ongoing confrontation with Iran, in which Britain’s post-empire is being enlisted in the schemes of US neoconservatives. There is the revelation that a new US pro-Brexit campaign group has launched, and Steve Bannon’s insistence on ‘Today’ that Boris Johnson should deliver a “no deal, hard out”.

Over the past three years, we’ve seen Britain’s lobbying industry and think-tanks auction their access to our politicians off to US corporations and oligarchs – from the firm which ran Johnson’s leadership campaign bragging in Washington about its ability to shape Brexit for US business, to the Institute for Economic Affairs offering to broker meetings between senior ministers and US companies wishing to get their piece of the Brexit pie.

We’ve seen one former Washington lobbyist – Shanker Singham – move to London and secure unprecedented access to our politicians, even writing the so-called Malthouse compromise, while lobbyists also drove the team that ensured their preferred candidate was elected prime minister.

And now that they’ve got their Johnson in place lobbyists have taken over the cabinet.

We’ve seen Trump confirm that “everything” – including the NHS – “will be on the table” in a US trade deal, before his spin-doctors reminded him that he’s not supposed to say that out loud.

“Britain Trump”

We see it in the ascent of Johnson himself – a rise which has coincided with the arrival in the UK of the sorts of institutions and culture we’re more used to watching from a safe distance across the Atlantic. On openDemocracy, we’ve revealed how Definers Public Affairs, the smear machine which destroyed Hillary Clinton, has set up shop in the UK, how a US-style super PAC is being rolled out across Europe and how Brexit is the biggest outsourcing of public policy in British history.

Johnson, who has surfed this wave, has been anointed “Britain Trump” by his US admirer. It’s a fair nickname, not because they have the same character, but because they both epitomise the elitist myths embedded in their respective national characters. Trump is the millionaire’s son who pretends to be rich because of merit, the brash bully-boy billionaire in a culture whose dream equates wealth and cruelty with merit and success.

Johnson, on the other hand, comes from the school on whose playing fields the battle of Waterloo was mythologically won. He epitomises an Anglo-British exceptionalism built on a mystical link between nation, royalty and aristocracy: a link forged in the failed revolution of the civil war and bought with imperial plunder, and which reminds the British bourgeois of an era when you didn’t need to do your homework to attain power – you got it by dint of your nation, gender, class and skin colour.

Likewise, their identikit ideologies are the same: oligarch enrichment woven round national mythologies.

Johnson pretends to be a free trader in the way that earlier British politicians claimed to support free trade whilst using their military might to force China to buy opium, commit genocide in Tasmania and smash up cotton looms in India. Trump claims to be a protectionist just as earlier US presidents used a pretence of isolationism to pretend they weren’t building an empire, at the same time preaching that the US was manifestly and justifiably destined to conquer the whole North American continent, committing genocide against Native American peoples as they did so.

Both Trump and Johnson have been contorted by the distorting lenses of their respective nationalisms, confusing many into thinking that they ooze truth or charm or talent. Strip off those red white and blue tinted goggles and you quickly see them for what they are: rich racists willing to trample anyone to secure the world for their kind.

Ultimately, they both represent the same interwoven set of interests: oligarchs, mafiosi, disaster capitalists, Gulf oil millionaires, hedge fund speculators and any other corner of the elite which has spotted that the neoliberal era is coming to an end, they have few places left to invest and their best option is to hide away as much money as they can behind the biggest walls they can build.

This is what Johnson meant when he said “fuck business” – that he and his friends no longer have anything invested in traditional industries, so are happy to see them disappear. It is why Trump is perfectly happy to fuck America’s car industry as he slashes tax for the hyper-rich.

Useful Scraps of Empire

At openDemocracy, we’ve revealed how millions of pounds were pumped into the Leave campaigns in the first place. That money came through the same British Overseas Territory and Crown Dependency secrecy areas that the billionaires of the world use to stash the cash they can no longer figure out how to get a return from – the same post-empire that the Pentagon is so keen to get a closer grip on.

For while the UK’s network of semi-colonies is useful as a money-laundry for the world’s oligarchs, we’ve seen in recent weeks how it plays a different strategic role, too – why America might see it as a valuable asset to begin to enclose under its wings.

When the British territory of Gibraltar captured an Iranian tanker, supposedly to enforce an EU embargo against oil to Syria, it did so despite the fact that Iran isn’t in the EU, and the EU doesn’t force non-members to comply with its embargoes. The Spanish have, according to The Guardian, claimed that the UK is acting under the influence of the US, and the former Swedish prime minister and senior EU figure Carl Bilt has hinted as much. It looks very much like this wasn’t so much an act of British foreign policy as one of submission to the US Department of Defense.

Britain captured Gibraltar in 1704 because of its strategically important location. To this day, one-third of the world’s oil and gas passes through its straits. Likewise, another strategically vital waterway will define this conflict: the Gulf of Oman, which connects the Strait of Hormuz to the Arabian sea. Oman isn’t formally a British territory, but it has been a de facto UK colony since the nineteenth century, with London helping to prop up the slave-owning ruling family over two centuries. As Ian Cobain has outlined, its current sultan was put in place by an MI6 coup in 1970.

The relationship remains strong. Shell owns 30% of the national oil company and Britain’s military presence is significant. According to Duncan Campbell, the journalist who originally revealed the existence of GCHQ, the Snowden leaks revealed Oman hosts a vital British intelligence base, tapping the vast number of communications cables that run under the Gulf. Last year, the UK opened a permanent naval base in the country, and in February this year, the British government announced it had signed an historic defence agreement with the sultanate, “bringing us even closer to one of our most important partners”.

For those with long memories, this might start sounding familiar: the 45-minute claim intended to frighten the British into accepting the 2003 Iraq war was based on the claim that Saddam Hussein’s weapons of mass destruction could be ready to deploy not against London, but against the British Overseas Territories in Cyprus.

If the Pentagon is to keep a firm grip on the world, Britain’s post-imperial web of semi-colonies will be vital fingerholds, and Brexit offers the US a unique opportunity to expand its control over the UK and its overseas assets.

The Great British Asset Striptease

This wasn’t inevitable. In theory, Brexit could genuinely have been about ‘taking back control’ for the British people. It would be possible to turn the UK into a new Cuba, for instance, substituting home-grown products for international imports. Not a suggestion that would please the millions of Leave voters who opted to quit the EU essentially because they wanted to become another Japan instead: wealthier than the UK, industrialised, with less income inequality, richly forested and deeply racist.

But these are not the options before us.

Instead, Brexit means plonking the corpse of post-imperial Britain in a vulture restaurant for US asset strippers, and pretending not to notice that China perches nearby, ready to pluck at whatever it fancies too.

The Great British Asset Striptease isn’t new, of course. For decades, the country has mostly stayed afloat in the world by auctioning off the plunder we accumulated through centuries of empire. As Joe Guinan and Thomas Hanna point out, the Treasury has calculated that Britain sold off 40 per cent of all assets privatised across the OECD between 1980 and 1996.

But as the new foreign secretary heads off on his ‘everything must go’ tour of North America, the people of the UK are going to have to fight hard to stop him selling the whole country to Trump and his friends. Just as thousands mobilised against the EU-US trade deal known as TTIP, we’re going to have to stand together and fight against any UK/US trade deal. We’re going to have to fight to protect our public services and our workers’ rights and our ecosystems from the new plunderers of the planet. Because Britain doesn’t have any power in its negotiations with Trump. And we have a government that will be delighted to turn the country into an offshore theme park for American, Saudi and Chinese billionaires.

Britain After Brexit: Welcome to the Vulture Restaurant

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