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thyme-in-a-bubble · 2 years

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341 days of foreplay

A/N: this used to be my most popular fic on here before I accidentally deleted everything. originally posted back in march/april, was some of the first smut I ever wrote, so keep that in mind, there's probably so many mistakes in this, I haven't edited it. also I changed the title, it used to be called i should've worshipped you sooner (gif in the moodboard is by my love @fightingdragonswithwho )

summary: Spencer overhears his roommate, Y/n, confess her true feelings for him.

warnings: Spencer Reid x reader, smut, roommates, drinking, chess, love confessions, kissing, orgasm denial, alcohol consumption, oral (male and female receiving), impact play, unprotected sex, penetrative sex, fingering, creampie, cumplay, dirty talk, praise, degradation, choking, spit kink, overstimulation, dom Spencer vibes

word count: 3911

∼ gentle reminder that feedback, but especially reblogs are the way you support writers on here ∽

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You had been Spencer’s roommate for almost a year now, and for all of that time, you’d been hopelessly in love with him.

You often think that if his work didn’t take him out of state so often, you’d probably come clean about your feelings much sooner.

It was Friday night, and Spencer still hadn’t come home yet, from California you think you remember him texting you a few days ago? So here you were, in the kitchen, trying to open a bottle of wine.

“You really shouldn’t mix wine and beer”, your friend’s voice boomed from your phone.

“Well, what do you want me to do, Eleanor? Just stop drinking after 2 beers?” you mocked, struggling with the cork. “This is not a 2 beers kind of day, so yeah, I’m switching to wine since it’s the only option that I have here. It’s that or stop, which is just, no.”

Even through the screen, Eleanor gave you her best disappointed parent expression and it stung. How had she perfected that? Shaking her head, she sighed, “you really need to move out.”

Popping the wine bottle open, you pointed the corkscrew at her, “don’t,” you warned, “I don’t wanna hear about it!”

“You can’t keep living with someone that you are head over heals for! Either tell him or move out and move on.”

“Or I could just keep drinking alone on a Friday night, and then go snooping through his things.” You raised the bottle up to cheers the screen, then took a large swig of it.

“What, your gonna become an alcoholic?”

“Hey, don’t judge my coping mechanisms little miss ‘I spent 3 months' wages in 1 minute after getting dumped by Sandra’. And who was so kind as to support you and lend you some money in order to get by, oh yeah that’s right, me, your oldest friend.”

She took a deep sigh, “fine. What are we drinking?”, then you saw her pick up her phone and move to her kitchen.

“Yes!” you squealed, “I promise, I won’t even mention him the entire evening.”

“It's just like, when he talks with his hands, which is always, which is also always because he always rambles, they are just so, urgghhh” you slurred, and bent over the kitchen counter in order to get closer to the screen, because your vision wasn’t the best at the moment. “pretty. But also like, I want to feel them everywhere on, and inside me. And the veins, oh fuck…”

Eleanor was totally spacing out on her end of the line, so you just continued. “like the other day, he got home and was soooo mad, like only once in a blue moon mad. And I know that it’s kinda wrong of me to just be lusting after him in such a tough moment for him, but damn!”, taking another gulp of your now much lighter bottle. “He just looked, god, so good.” You almost moaned. “His delicious forehead vein was popping out, fuck I just wanna lick it. Like, he gets so petty, but in the hottest way! Fucking, just bend me over right then and there, and go at it for hours!” you carelessly set the bottle down on the counter, “I’d let him do anything he’d want! and I’m talking like some Erika Lust shit. Choke me, slap me, say open up and I’ll happily let him spit in my mouth”

“God, you need to get laid,” Eleanor complained.

“I know, but I only want him. I don’t think I’ll ever be able to even think about anyone else in that way,” you admitted.

“Aw, babes, you will”, she said with a sad smile, then looked up to the side “oh, it’s 1:05, I’m sorry, I really need to go to bed, but we’ll talk more tomorrow?”

“Yeah, sleep well” you sighed.

“And hey, don’t go fall asleep in his bed!” she quickly added before ending the call.

“That was one time!” you said to now no one.

Feeling slightly dizzy from the alcohol in your system, you leaned your head against the cool countertop.

Hearing the sink turn on behind you, you whipped around, startled to find the aforementioned Spencer standing there, filling the kettle with water.

“Jesus Christ! Spencer, what are you doing here?” you screeched.

Breathing out a small chuckle, “as far as I’m aware, Y/n, I live here.”

“Yeah, I know that, I mean what are you doing home?”

Setting down the now filled kettle in its holder to boil, he turned to you, “the case ended, ergo I’m home now. That’s how it works, Y/n.”

He kept on saying your name, making you shutter at the way it sounded. “You just usually give a heads-up first”.

He sighed, clearly not in the mood for this conversation, “yeah, well I didn’t.”

Maybe it had been a tough case? God, if he kept up this mood for any longer, your ovaries were going to explode.

Suddenly remembering the topic of the convocation you just had with Eleanor, your eyes widened, “ho-how long have you been home?”

“Why?” he said with a tiny smirk.

“Oh, no, I just, I didn’t hear the door or anything” you trailed off.

“Well, you were pretty loud, so it makes sense.”

“I-“ fuck, your heartbeat was raising, “um, did you hear?”

Narrowing his eyes, looking you up and down, taking in your nervousness, “would you really let me do anything I’d want?”

You let out a shaky breath.

“Because, Y/n,” he moved closer to you, ”there are so many things I wanna do to you.”

Not truly believing his words, you asked, “you do?”

Choosing not to answer with words, he grabbed your face and kissed you fiercely, letting his tongue dance across yours. Humming into it, the combo of the feeling of the kiss mixed with the alcohol made the world spin, so you clutched onto his forearms for support.

Abruptly pulling away, he studied your eyes, “you’re drunk.”

“Guilty as charged!” you beamed, moving your hands down his body.

Catching them before they could touch what they desired, “no.”

“What? If you don’t want to, then why did you just kiss me?” the words rushed out of you.

Chuckling lightly, he held your hands in his, “trust me, I do.”

“Really?”

“Yeah, I really like you. I’ve known it for a while.”

“You do?” you smiled as you moved to kiss him again, but he turned his head before your lips could meet.

“But your drunk.”

“So what?”

“Y/n, I can’t with good conscience just bend you over and fuck you in the kitchen when you are drunk.”

Letting go of him, you leaned back against the cold slab and spread your legs a bit, “you could though, I want you to”, grabbing ahold of his hand, you moved it between your legs, “I’m yours if you want me.”

Growling, he closed his eyes.

“Please” you whispered, grinding into his hand, trying to find some form of relief.

Snapping his eyes open, his hand started to move, just a bit, moving up and down over your covered pussy. “Is this what you want?”

Shuttering, you replied, “yes.”

With a smirk, his hand moved inside of your pants, cursing under his breath when he felt just how wet you were, “is this all for me?”

Lips now slightly parted, you nodded hard.

Using two fingers, he pressed hard down on your clit, drawing tight circles. Bending down to kiss along your jaw and down your neck he asked amidst the kisses, “do you really want me to choke you,-“ kiss, “slap you-“ kiss, “and spit in your pretty little mouth?”

All you could do was hum in affirmation.

“I had no idea that you were such a dirty little whore.”

“I just- really really like you,” you choked out, hips moving of their own accord, trying to aid in the goal.

Coming up to look at your face, “good, because I really really like you too”.

A combination of his sweet words, how good he was a finding the exact right place and pressure on you, as well as just the anticipation of it all making everything heightened and so much more intense, you felt yourself getting dangerously close to cuming.

“Oh fuck, Spencer, I’m-” you moaned, clutching onto his shirt.

But then, he removed his hand.

“No, no, no, no, no-“ you breathed, trying to catch it and guide it back to your center, but he wouldn’t let you. “I was so close.”

“I know.”

“Then why did you stop?”

“Because like I said, I’m not going to fuck you when you’re drunk.” His sentence was emphasized by the click of the kettle being done boiling.

“But-“ you tried to argue, but he cut you off.

“I want the first time you cum with me to be on my cock. I wanna feel it.” He explained, then turned to grab two mugs out of a cupboard.

Standing there, slightly stunned, you tried to decipher what the next move could be. The alcohol made it virtually impossible to think of anything other than getting railed by him, so you just sat up on the counter, catching your breath and watching him brew the coffee.

After a minute, you asked quietly, “so, we just go to sleep now?”

Filling the last mug, “no”, he turned and lifted you off from where you were sitting and back to a standing position, “we are going to wait.”

“Wait?” you questioned.

Grabbing one of the mugs, he handed it to you and confirmed, “yeah. How many drinks did you have?”

Scrunching your face up, you tried to remember, “um, 3, no 4, maybe?”

Licking his lips he said, “okay. Come with me.”

Hopping after his long strides, he stopped at his chess table and sat down, motioning with his hand for you to follow suit.

“We are going to sit here until you sober up.”

“Playing chess? Of course, that would be your definition of foreplay.” You teased, but ungracefully sat down as well.

Moving your rook forward four spaces, you asked, “is this even entertaining for you? You keep on beating me in like 5 moves.”

One step ahead of you, he quickly moved his bishop and snatched up your last surviving knight. Then turning his big brown eyes to look at you, “oh trust me, this is very entertaining for me. Might be some of the best games I’ve ever played.”

Cocking your head to the side you almost laughed, “um, no. I know I’m not a very good chess player, I know the rules and there forth can somewhat follow along, but I am nowhere near skilled enough to be an entertaining chess partner to you, dr. Reid.”

“Who said that your chess skills had anything to do with it?”

Giggling lightly, you moved a pawn and muttered, “oh.”

It was his turn again, but this time he didn’t move a piece, but simply asked you, “are you still drunk?”

Your body tensed at what the question really meant.

“I don’t think so,” you said honestly, then deciding to joke a bit, “why, do you want me to walk in a straight line? Touch my finger to my nose?” already doing the last movement in front of him.

Smiling, he asked, “do you still want to?”

Stopping your movements, you replied completely serious, “I don’t know how that’s even a question.”

He raised his eyebrows at you, waiting for the right words.

“Yes Spencer, I still want to.” Rubbing your thighs together at the building sensation that never quite disappeared from earlier.

His eyes were glued on you as you lowered your body to the floor, kneeling in front of him, slowly running your hands up his legs.

Reaching a hand down to your cheek, he slipped his thump inside your mouth, completely entranced, it came out as almost a whisper “show me.”

The way he looked down at you made your pussy throb. Hollowing your cheeks and swirling your tongue around his finger, you watched him work at his belt.

“Be a good girl and show me.” Taking his finger back with a pop, then used both of his hands to free his cock.

The sight made you smile. Of course, even his dick was pretty.

“Open your mouth, Y/n,” and without another thought, you opened up and stuck your tongue out. Your eyes were big and doe-like, in awe of how he looked, sitting in front of you, working himself a couple of times.

Tapping the weight against your wet tongue, he groaned, “lick it”, and so you did, slowly a few times, just on the tip, then moving your head slightly to the side so you could trace his veins all the way down to the bottom, all the while keeping your eyes locked on his.

Moving your hand up to grasp the base, stroking it lightly as you came back to the tip, swirling your tongue around it a few times before pushing it past your lips. Slowly taking him further and further in, his hands were tangled in your hair, pulling at the roots whenever you would move your tongue just right.

Letting him move your head for you, picking the pace, how far down you would go down and how long he would hold you there, enjoying the sound of you gagging.

After a bit, moaning, he pulled you off his now glistening cock, “I’m not gonna last if you keep that up”.

Proud of yourself, you beamed up at him, whipping your mouth and chin with the back of your hand.

Pulling you up to him, he kissed you. Moaning into it, his hands went straight to your tits, palming them softly and then whispered against your lips, “take it off, slowly”.

Pushing yourself off him, you backed up a few steps, giving him a good view. Gradually, layer by layer you striped for him, turning when you got to your pants, in order to give him the best angle. Unconsciously, he mirrored your actions, taking his own off.

When you were both completely naked, his dark eyes drank you in, “get on the couch, ass up, now.”

Your body did as he wished by its own accord. Leaning over the back of his brown leather couch, you waited eagerly for him to get closer to you, and when he did, you grinded into the feeling of his body pressed up against yours.

Running his fingers lightly through your folds, “mhm, you’re fucking soaked.”

“Please don’t tease me anymore,” you wiggled against him, “I want you inside of me, now.”

“Oh really?” he cooed, then landed a small slap on your pussy, surprising and hard enough to make you jump a bit, “you want it that bad? Do you just wanna be my pretty little whore?”

“Please, ruin me” you whined, as you felt the head of his cock brush against your entrance.

“Wait,” he said, panic suddenly filling his voice, “I don’t have a condom.”

As he began to pull away, you wouldn’t let him, “I don’t care, please just give it to me, please Spencer.”

“You serious?”

“I’m clean, please do it. I’ll just get plan b tomorrow”, you begged.

And without any more warning, he slammed the entirety of his dick inside of you, making you lose your breath and almost turn into putty in his arms.

“Fuck, you feel so good,” he groaned into your ear, then distanced himself from you by pushing you further into the couch and straightening up himself. Gripping onto your hips, he didn’t give you a moment to get use to the feeling of how much he stretched you out, but opting for a brutal pace. The snapping of his hips made your body jump in the best way.

As he slapped your ass, you only got that much closer to cuming. His arms went around your waist and pulled you up against him. One firmly staying there, holding you close to his warm body, the other snaked its way up your body, staying at your boobs just long enough to pinch one nipple, then finding a home softly wrapped around your neck.

His face was right beside yours, occasionally placing a sloppy kiss on your cheek, neck or shoulder. Feeling you clench around him, he asked amidst his grunts and moans, “you gonna be a good girl and cum for me, Y/n?”

When you didn’t reply, too wrapped up in the feeling of it all, he taped your cheek lightly, “huh? Are you gonna cum on my dick?”

Seeing stars now, you had no way of getting out actual words, and when his hand came down on your cheek again, this time a little harder, you gathered just enough strength to nod lightly.

“atta girl, let me feel you,” he cooed in your ear and returned his hand to his resting place around your neck. Your eyes struggled to stay open as the orgasm rocked through you.

Legs shaking and trying to catch your breath, his trusts slowed down. Your head lolled back against his shoulder, and he kissed your cheek. “fuck, just when I thought you couldn’t get more beautiful.”

Smiling you reached your hand up to the side of his face, “let’s move this to your bed, I think I need to lay down”, you breathed out.

“Done already?” he asked in a joking tone.

Laughing lightly, you winched at the feeling it gave, making your sensitive walls clench around him, “no, I just don’t wanna fall.”

And with another peck on your cheek, he pulled out of you, but still held you close as you moved the short distance to his bed.

When you hit the mattress, you pulled him with you, letting him fall on top of you. Gasping as he slipped inside of you again, the feeling already starting to feel like home.

“Oh, you’re taking my cock so well” he moaned, finding a good rhythm, picking the one that made your boobs jiggle the most. “God, I love your tits,” he thought out loud, playing with them, making you giggle a bit at the compliment.

Craving the same sensation from before, you requested, “choke me.” He didn’t hesitate, wrapping his long fingers around your throat again, squeezing lightly at the points where your rapid heartbeat was easiest to feel.

Your eyes were locked on each other’s, giving you a great chance to study just how blown his pupils were. Moving his big hand up, so that his thumb could rest on your bottom lip, “open” he breathed out. When you did as you were told, sticking your tongue out just enough for it to brush against his finger, his lips curled up into a proud smirk. The sensation of his spit landing on your tongue first surprised you, then did something you were not expecting it to do. You came again. Right then and there, the intimacy of the act being enough for you.

His smile only grew at the obvious signs of the power he had over you.

Then you blinked and he wasn’t above you anymore. But what he did next was enough for you to know exactly where he was. Your head shot down with a wince, to see him place sloppy kisses on your very sensitive clit. Reaching a hand down, you pulled him away, the sensation being too much.

Head between your legs, he looked up at you, eyes sparkling, kissing your inner thigh, and muttering, “sorry, I just had to kiss you there”.

Placing your hand on his cheek, you stroked your thump up and down, then up to trace the angry vein on the side of his forehead, “just give me a second”.

Smiling, he leaned his head against your soft thigh, then turned his face to place a peck on the palm of your hand.

“mhm, okay”, you hummed after a few minutes. Spencer then sat up, pulling your tired body with him. You slumped down in his lap, like a koala, hugging your arms around him, nuzzling as close as you could.

“You ready, Y/n?”

You hummed in reply, reaching one of your hands down to slip his dick inside of you again.

This time, you both just found a lazy and intimate rocking motion, not needing it to be hard and fast, but slow in order to make it last as long as possible.

“fuck, I’m so close” he practically whined, “where so you want it?”

Through a string of breathy moans, you uttered one syllable, “-in- “, pulling back just enough for him to see the seriousness on your face.

“Oh, you’d like that, wouldn’t you?” he smirked, “We already live together, you want us to start a family?” his teasing only made your walls tighten their grip around him.

His movements became more ragged and desperate, “you’re just a little cumslut, aren’t you? You want me to fill you up?” whimpering in response, you buried your face in the crook of his neck and held on tight as he pushed you over another euphoric high.

Grunting in your ear at the feeling of you milking him, you heard, “take it, all of it”, as he throbbed deep inside of you, filling you with his cum.

Staying like that, all tangled up and breathing heavy, for who knows how long. At some point, clutching onto you, he lowered you both down to lie on the soft mattress.

Expecting him to stay and cuddle you, he instead sat back up and leaned back to admire the mess he had made. Stroking your thigh, he breathed out, “be a good girl and spread your legs for me.”

Slowly, you pushed your knees up and spread your legs apart, hearing him curse underneath his breath. Your body jumped when you felt his fingers trace your slit, gathering up the cum that had begun to drip out of you. Crying out suddenly as he plunged in two of his fingers, hips buckling, the sensation being too much for your overstimulated cunt.

“Uh, don’t get so whiny on me right now,” he cooed, looking down at you with dark eyes. He hooked his fingers and moved them furiously, “you said you wanted to cum? Now take it!”

Even when your hips tried to move away, his fingers followed. Soon the feeling of everything being too much got another thing added onto it. How could you possibly cum again? But somehow, you did just that. Spencer always had a way of making impossible things be possible.

Your whole body was shaking and quivering as Spencer laid down next to you and wrapped his arms around you. “Holy shit,” you said among your shaky breaths.

“Well, we did have 341 days of foreplay”, he joked.

“Yeah”, you laughed, brushing your hand up and down his arm. “Hey, Spence?”

“Mhm?” he hummed into your hair.

Taking a deep breath, gathering the courage, you confessed quietly, “I love you.”

His hand came to lift your face up to meet his, touching his forehead against yours, “Y/n, I love you too, so much.”

Tilting your head up a bit, you kissed his forehead, then curled back down under his chin and fell asleep in that warm cocoon of love that was your roommate Spencer Reid.

#lea’s writing #spencer reid imagine #spencer reid x reader #spencer reid smut #spencer reid fanfiction #spencer reid fic #spencer reid headcanon #spencer reid drabble #spencer reid x fem!reader smut #spencer reid x self insert #spencer reid x y/n #spencer reid x you #spencer reid x fem!reader #spencer reid hc #criminal minds smut

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miyamiwu · 1 year

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An Honest Guide to Tumblr for Twitter Refugees (Part 2)

Part 0: What the heck is Tumblr and is it right for me?

Part 1: Configuring settings + customizing your Tumblr

Covered in Part 2:

Posting basics (introducing the editor, different post types)

Best practices (stating trigger warnings, adding image IDs, indicating sources, etc)

Post controls (who can reblog and reply to your posts)

Note: Like Part 1, I suggest you follow this guide while on desktop Tumblr. This post also contains lots of images without ID. Such images though are basically just screenshots of what's already described in the post body.

Posting Basics

I was gonna talk about curating your dashboard first, but considering how Tumblr veterans would think you’re a bot and just block you if they see your blog is empty, I think it’s best if we cover posting first.

Tumblr Editor

Before everything else, let’s get to know the editor.

On your desktop dashboard, you get to pick from different post types: Text, Photo, Quote, Link, Chat, Audio, and Video.

It should be pretty self-explanatory what they do, but you know what? THESE DON’T MATTER.

I talked about this briefly in Part 1, so lemme just copy-paste it here:

Although Tumblr is still advocating its different posts types (text, image, audio, video, etc.), they’ve actually been rolling out changes to their editor where only a single post type is used (text) and you just add media to it. This is called NPF (Neue Post Format). On desktop, you can turn off the beta editor and thereby turn off NPF. However, on mobile web and on the app, posts can only be made in NPF.

To put it simply: There is no difference at all between the different post types. The only difference is that when you click on a post type (for example, photo), the first block* on your post will be related to that post type (e.g. a photo block).

* If you’ve used WordPress before, then this should be familiar. But if not, then here’s a quick explanation: A block is basically a component used to create a post (text block for text, image block for images, video block for videos, etc.)

More technical info about the block editor and how to use it can be found here.

So my point is, don’t sweat too much over the different post types.

---

You can also write posts in HTML / Markdown!

If the default rich text editor is not enough for you, then get more power by using the HTML editor. It doesn't support all HTML elements, but at least you can do fancy stuff like adding some gradient text:

gradients are cool

To switch editors, click on the gear icon at the top of the editor, and in the Text Editor dropdown, choose between Rich Text, HTML, or Markdown. If you’re curious about Markdown, learn more about it here.

---

Some neat stuff you have to know about posting on Tumblr:

A. YOU CAN EDIT POSTS!!!

We’ve had an edit button here for years, and best of all, it’s free! However, for posts of yours that have been reblogged, even if you do edit the original post, the edits won’t be reflected on the reblogged version. More about reblogging in Part 4 of this guide.

B. You can post loooong articles here

Like Twitter, Tumblr also has a character limit for text. However, this limit is on a per-paragraph basis and not for your entire post. And it’s such a generous limit that I’ve never once hit it. I don’t even have to keep tabs on how many characters I’ve made. You can find a list of all the limits you have to keep in mind when using the NPF/beta editor at the bottom of this article.

C. You can save drafts and schedule posts

If you can’t finish that post right now, no worries. Just save it to your drafts first and finish it later. Or, if you’ve prepared a cool post for New Year even though it’s still November, just schedule that post to publish on a New Year. More about queue/scheduling in Part 4 of this guide.

---

Best Practices

I don’t think I need to do a step-by-step on how to use the editor because it’s pretty intuitive, so let’s talk about best practices when it comes to posting.

On stating trigger/content Warnings

In Twitter, you do this:

// tw: r*pe, g*re, m*utilation . . . . [actual triggering content]

Please don’t do this.

First of all, here on Tumblr, we do not censor out those “problematic” words. You have to spell them out so that people who have such words filtered in their settings will actually not see them. Getting content filters to work will be a pain if people have to keep in mind all variations of rape (r*ape, r@pe, r4pe, etc).

Second, those multiple dots don’t do anything. Instead, utilize the “Read More” block. This block will hide everything that comes after it under a “Keep Reading” link.

On desktop, you click on this icon that has a zigzag sandwiched between two horizontal lines:

On mobile, you do it by typing :readmore: and then hitting Enter.

(I’ll talk more about triggers/content warnings in Part 3, which will cover Tags)

Just spell everything out actually, not just trigger words

Instead of oomfs or moots, say mutals. Instead of unalive, say murder. No need to shorten or tone anything down here.

Add image ID’s

Image ID’s are basically descriptions of an image. This is important for people using screen readers. I’m guilty for not always following this, but just trust me on this.

On desktop, you hover over the image, click on the three dots that appear, and then click “Update image description.” Keep the description in simple words and state exactly what the image contains. I’m doing it for this particular image below:

On dashboard and on some themes, the image ID will be shown when you click on the ALT button that appears when you hover over the image.

Sometimes, when OP forgets to put an ID, someone will reblog the post and add the ID themselves. If you see someone doing this on one of your posts, then please be an angel and add that ID to the original post. Image descriptions will be more useful/have more impact if they’re actually part of the original post.

---

Link back to source

If you’re sharing someone else’s content from another site, please indicate the source. You can do this by adding a link to the source from within the post body itself, or by using Tumblr’s content source feature in the editor:

Click on the little gear above the editor, and in the “Content source” field, paste your link.

---

Do not repost other people’s gifs/edits

Sometimes you see a cool gif here on Tumblr that you want to use on your own post. People are generally fine with that, but you have to do it the right way.

DO NOT DO THIS: Downloading the gif and then uploading it to your own post.

Instead, DO THIS: Use Tumblr’s GIF block and search for a gif from there. Doing it this way would link back to the OP and even notify them in their Activity.

Here’s an example of how it looks:

The gif above is from my side blog, and below the image, it says “GIF by fyeahbachisagi.”

Post Controls

If you don’t want a certain post of yours to get around too much, you can disable reblogs on it. Click the gear icon at the top of the editor, and in the “Who can Reblog?” dropdown, choose from Anyone or No One.

Limits on Replies, however, is on a per-blog setting and not per post. Go to tumblr.com/settings/blog/username, and scroll all the way down until you see the setting for Replies.

---

Okay, that’s all for Part 2! Next up, in Part 3, I will talk about utilizing tags

Update: Part 3 is up! Well, kinda... Not exactly a guide catered to Twitter refugees, but still a guide to tagging:

A Guide to Tagging on Tumblr: Types of Tags

#tumblr #tumblr guide #twitter #tumblr best practices #elon musk #miyamiwu.src #miyamiwu.tut

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sariahsue · 3 years

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A Cat of Their Own - Ch 1

Sabine checked her phone again in anxiety. There hadn't been an akuma attack in the last two days, which meant that one would begin any second. She'd been telling herself that every few minutes since breakfast. Tom was playing video games with Marinette, hunched forward over his controller. He was supposed to be getting information out of her, but it didn't look like he was trying too hard. Sabine watched them while she stirred the soup. Steam rose off the surface in faint curls and twists.

The phone screen lit up, and she grabbed it. An emergency alert. An akuma had been spotted. Civilians were advised to shelter in place until Ladybug and Cat Noir had dealt with the problem.

It was the same message that she'd read dozens of times (and ignored more often than that), but now it made her mind numb with fear. But she had to go through with their plan.

"Oh, there's another akuma attack." Her voice sounded hollow and forced. To her dismay, Marinette immediately paused her game and turned around, eyebrows pinched with concern.

"Where is it?"

"Parc Montsouris," Sabine said. "I just got the text."

Marinette looked out the window, her face steely, game controller forgotten next to her. Tom and Sabine shared a worried glance.

"Dinner won't be ready for another half hour," Sabine said, then took a deep breath to keep her voice from shaking. This was the most important stage of the plan. "Did you finish all your homework?" Please. Please, say yes.

"Oh, uh, now that you mention it, I do remember that I forgot to do something." Marinette waved goodbye quickly, then bolted up her stairs, letting the trapdoor thump loudly behind her. Sabine came to sit next to Tom, soup completely abandoned.

"It's looking likely," he said. Sabine could only nod. Her fingers were cold, and she flexed them to try to bring life back to them, but it didn't help. Her whole body felt numb, and she wondered if she would actually go into shock.

Tom reached for the remote and switched to the news. Cat Noir flitted across the screen, fighting a giant frog monster by himself. He jumped off window ledges and rolled across the empty street to avoid a steady stream of some type of red projectile.

The camera was far away, and the angle was bad so it was difficult to tell, but he looked like a teenager himself. He was thin and lanky, like he was in the middle of a growth spurt.

"We could still be wrong," Tom said.

Nod.

Ladybug swung into view amid scattered applause. Cat Noir dodged a jet of steaming red goo that shot out of the akuma's wide mouth and shouted hello to his partner. She waved back, her cheerfulness jarring against the backdrop of the fight and Sabine's own dread.

"Do you want me to check?" Tom asked.

She couldn't even nod. The screen had her transfixed. She barely registered the shift of the sofa and the creak of the floorboards under his footsteps.

Tom reached the top of the stairs. "Marinette?" No answer. He knocked on the trapdoor, and it sounded hollow. "Marinette?"

Sabine closed her eyes as the trapdoor creaked open and Tom's footsteps disappeared into their daughter's room.

Faint screams and gasps from the television filled the room while Sabine sat and waited, holding her breath. She didn't even hear Tom come back down.

"She's not there," he said, sitting down next to her and grabbing her hand. "And the skylight's propped open."

She squeezed back tightly. "That basically confirms it," Sabine finally said. "Our daughter is Ladybug."

Tom sighed. "Yeah."

On the screen, reporters were running for shelter, hiding behind cars and in recessed doorways, Cat Noir was yelling at civilians to stay out of the way, and bright red puddles sizzled on the cracked pavement.

"What are we going to do?" Sabine asked. "How did this even happen?"

The questions she wanted to ask were why Marinette had never told them, and how could they have not noticed for so long? How was Sabine supposed to keep her own child safe?

The camera shook as the crew set up again, much farther away, but Sabine wished they could do one closeup shot of Ladybug's face. Maybe they'd made a mistake. One good look at her face, and Sabine would be able to prove herself wrong about the superheroine's identity.

The battle had looked fine up close, but from a distance it didn't look like it was going well. The super duo was on the defensive and having a hard time avoiding the frog's goo. The akuma had covered most of the available surfaces already, so they had fewer and fewer places to safely land. Ladybug hung from a lamppost. Cat Noir was just above her, perched on top of the light her yoyo was connected to.

The cameraman crept closer and closer, finally stopping when he was a mere twenty feet from the fight, and Ladybug yelled at him. Sabine squinted at the television, but the image changed too fast, focusing instead on the monster. It was a little smaller than a car. Its muscles rippled as it stalked toward the two heroes.

"We should turn this off," Tom said, though he made no move for the remote. "She's going to be fine."

"No, I need to watch."

They flinched and gasped for the next few minutes, and Sabine shrieked when Ladybug slipped and got hit in the chest. It knocked her to the ground, but she sprung back up before Cat Noir could reach her, even though he ran at top speed, ignoring the spray aimed for him and almost getting hit himself.

"You okay?" he asked.

"Fine just... Ugh! Gross!"

"You could say you're in a sticky situation," Cat Noir said, before laughing loudly at his own joke and his partner's predicament. Sabine's heart was still pounding as she clamped down on Tom's hand.

Ladybug's face tightened with the effort of holding in her laughter, then scooped a bunch of the stuff off her stomach and reached to touch him. Thick strands of it hung off her fingers.

"Oh no, not slime!" Cat Noir jumped back, dodging both Ladybug and the akuma, who shot another mouthful at them. "Slime! Whatever will I do?"

Tom pulled Sabine closer. "Well, it doesn't look like a very dangerous one."

She was sure he was trying to reassure himself as much as her, but she wasn't having any of it. "They should be taking this threat seriously," she said. "If they're overconfident..." She couldn't bring herself to finish the sentence, so it hung in the room along with her dread.

Sabine was unfortunately right to worry. The frog reared back on its hind legs and came down on the street so hard it cracked the pavement, letting out a wide stream of the goo. Ladybug, still distracted with teasing her partner, didn't react fast enough. Cat Noir did, and he jumped forward fast enough to shield her, though he got a faceful of slime. He spat it out on the ground while Sabine and Tom leaned forward in their seats, desperate to know if he was all right.

Ladybug just patted him on the back and laughed while he wiped his face with both hands.

"See?" Tom said. "See? He's fine. They're both fine."

"That thing can break pavement. What if it had landed on them?"

But the atmosphere changed as their daughter laughed with her friend. They seemed so earnest in their amusement and maybe even relaxed. The voices of the onlookers and reporters changed in response, becoming less strained. A few people laughed along with them.

The news report itself even changed. Cat Noir tried smearing the goo on a camera as a warning when it got too close, smiling the whole time, while Ladybug rolled her eyes at his antics.

Her parents watched their exchange in interest. Despite the levity they were injecting into the fight, Cat Noir was obviously still very protective of their daughter, which they were both grateful for. He pushed her out of the way of another jet of slime when she was distracted by her own Lucky Charm, and he didn't hesitate to continue fighting without her while she took a few minutes to set up a trap for the monster. They didn't miss the adoration on his face as he watched her.

Ladybug – Marinette – was protective of her partner too. When the monster got too close to him, she would yell out a warning. When it landed on top of him with another sickening crack, she dropped the trap she was crafting and leapt forward to wrench the monster off of him. To anyone else, Ladybug still looked calm and in control, but to her parents, they saw the panic that briefly flashed across her face when she realized her partner might be hurt.

That delay made the fight take a little longer than it might otherwise have been. At the end, Ladybug dashed off, hand over an earring. Cat Noir waved at her as she left, a hesitant smile on his face, then turned and comforted the frog victim, who was now nothing more than a disheveled and confused-looking man in his fifties.

"She'll be coming home soon," Tom said. "Should we go up there and wait for her?"

"Not yet," Sabine said.

The reporters were trying to get close again, no doubt to interview Cat Noir and the latest victim. The poor man looked shaken, and Cat Noir did his best to shield him from the reporters, finally picking him up and carrying him away.

"We need to talk to her about this," Tom said.

They fought against impossible odds with laughter, though they were both just children. And Cat Noir cared about their daughter so much, that was plain. How deep did that go?

"We need to talk to him too," she said.

Read Chapter Two

***

Author’s note: This is a reblogging of an old thing that I originally posted two years ago. I’ve altered it slightly. (Content-wise, nothing is different.) If you’re curious, the original can be found here.

Chapter two is almost completely done, and I think chapter three is in okay shape, so hopefully those updates will both be next week.

@tbehartoo @redhoodsdoll @salsyy301 @lunadensmidnightprowl

#ml #miraculous #miraculous ladybug #fanfiction #i've been saying for two years that i've been meaning to finish this story #I'M GOING TO FINISH IT

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moved-to-void-kissed · 3 years

Text

Too Late to be Saved

Document link: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1GF_jZevunsCA5QKPWXfaVO_OO61ZaAtxkzPdoJNJHUM/edit?usp=sharing

When Aqua and Aria reach the Dark Margin at the edge of the realm of darkness, they meet Ansem the Wise, who is quickly sought by Ansem, Seeker of Darkness. Aria angrily confronts the fellow Heartless, but finds herself unable to get back to the End of Sea before Riku and King Mickey arrive. (2351 words) Replaces the KH3 cutscene “An Unexpected Encounter” and changes some story events so that “Too Late” and “Braving the Darkness” no longer occur.

My first new piece of selfship writing on this blog, and oh boy is it a big one! I had a lot of fun writing this, so hopefully it makes for a good read, haha ^-^

A transcript of the document is under the readmore! Reblogs of this post would be greatly appreciated, since I was really happy with how this turned out, but they’re not required by any means~

“What is this place..?”

The blue-haired woman slowly walked forwards, marvelling at the sight before her. The endless dark caverns that she had wandered for so long had opened out to a clouded grey beach, lit by what appeared to be a glowing white moon above the horizon. The hard stone underfoot was giving way to soft sand of the same ash-like colour, as waves of murky water gently grazed the shore. It was an eerily tranquil place by the standards of all she had witnessed before, something her companion was quick to notice.

“There are no Heartless here.” she said. “I almost feel as though I shouldn’t be here, either. Aqua.. I think this might be the edge of the realm.”

“So, we’ve made it to the end?” replied Aqua, now making her way towards the shoreline.

“Yes, it would appear so. Whatever lies beyond this shore.. It seems less like part of the darkness, and more like something between dark and light. Something that doesn’t belong to either force..”

As her partner spoke, Aqua became aware that her voice was growing fainter. When she turned around, she saw that she had made far less progress towards the water, standing awkwardly some distance away with her wings curled around her body. She looked nervous, and unsure what to expect, yet the catlike ears poking straight up through her messy blonde hair showed that she was still as alert as ever, constantly listening for danger even in the silence of the new place they had stumbled across.

“Aria, it’s okay! We can keep going, if you’d prefer that. You look tense, and I don’t want you to be unsettled.” A worried expression flitted across Aqua’s face as she reached out to hold Aria’s hand - the sudden movement made her flinch in surprise, but she quickly and visibly relaxed as Aqua drew closer. When the two were standing together again, Aqua gently closed both of her hands over Aria’s, unfazed by the patches of open darkness that ran along them, and smiled as she looked down at her partner.

“Thank you..” she mumbled quietly. “I’m alright, I just- don’t know what to expect here.”

It was then that, behind the Keyblade Master, Aria spotted a hooded figure sitting some distance away, hidden by a black coat but appearing to gaze out over the barely-moving water. Though she still let Aqua hold her right hand, she slowly shifted to free her left and moved to stand at Aqua’s side in one fluid movement. Then she extended her left arm and a mass of dark energy enveloped the space beside her, dissipating quickly to reveal a jagged dark red Keyblade.

“Identify yourself!”

Her shout echoed across the shore, leading the figure to turn its head and slowly stand up. As it started to walk across the sand, it removed its hood to reveal an older-looking man with piercing orange eyes and wispy light blond hair. He looked tired, and his face bore the wrinkled lines of worry as he observed the two Keyblade wielders.

“Please, stay your weapon. I mean you no harm.”

Aria wasn’t overly convinced, but she could see that the man did not have the strength to be a threat, so she lowered her Keyblade. Aqua was curious to find out more, taking a step forward.

“Who are you? How did you end up in this place?”

The man sighed wistfully, folding his hands behind his back. “My name was.. stolen by another, and I can feel this place taking its toll on my memory. I’m sorry. I know that I have only been here for a fairly short time, and that I was sent here by the destruction of the machine I created to encode Kingdom Hearts in data.”

“Before that..” He turned to look out over the water again, unwilling to meet Aqua’s gaze. “I caused a great deal of misery to many individuals, through both my recent actions and my previous research. It is clear to me now that I was deeply in the wrong about some of my original beliefs.. Now, I can only hope for a chance to atone for my deeds.”

“It’s alright.” Aria’s Keyblade had disappeared from her hand. “I can see now that your heart holds a true desire for.. repentance, or something of that nature. I’m not sure what the right word is, but.. The point is that you won’t be harmed, by either of us.”

“Yes, of course!” Aqua added. “I think you’ll be safe here, at least, since the Heartless don’t seem to come here. And, I can’t claim to know what you’ve done, but.. What’s important is that you recognise your mistakes, and that you want to make up for them.”

The man seemed relieved, and turned back to face the pair with a shadow of a smile on his face. “Thank you, both of you. I admit that I was not expecting to meet anyone else in this infernal prison. If I may ask, what are your names?”

“Oh, there’s no time for that now.”

A dark portal had opened up, and from it stepped an imposing and well-built man in a similar black coat. He had slicked-back long silver hair and similarly piercing eyes to the old man, though his were a cold golden colour. Aria’s eyes narrowed at his approach, as it was clear that he was a powerful user of darkness, though the true nuance was only visible to her.

“What- What’s going on?” Aqua asked, turning to face the man with suspicion. He ignored her for the moment, focusing only on the older man, who in turn was glaring fiercely at the intruder as he approached.

“You..”

“Master.. I must have a word with you.”

“Master?” he echoed. “So now you mock me..” The disapproval dripped from his voice like bitter venom. The interloper opened his mouth to respond, but-

“Leave.”

Aria had broken away from Aqua’s grasp and now stood defiantly before the intruder, Keyblade still in hand.

“Excuse me?” The man raised an eyebrow and sneered down at her, surprised by her actions.

“I know what you are, Ansem.” she snarled back. “I have known your power since before you even existed. A villainous Heartless with a natural human form - the one that took the title of “seeker of darkness” and is shadowed by a twisted dark figure. You think you’re so strong, but you are not the one who holds power here.”

This last statement had clearly struck a nerve, and Ansem’s expression of contempt soured into anger. “You’re certainly an astute one.. But what makes you think you could possibly face me?”

“Have your eyes gone blind as well as gold? If I can tell what you are, you can tell what I am. I have seen more than you will ever achieve, especially now that you’re afflicted with some other presence. That-” - she pointed up at his eyes - “-is Xehanort’s power, isn’t it? If you’re with him, that makes you our enemy.”

At this point, Aqua’s worried expression had returned. “Aria, be careful..”

“Aqua, get that man somewhere out of the way. I’m going to stop this before it becomes a problem.”

“You are a fool to challenge me, girl!”

An eruption of darkness burst forth from the Heartless, and the powerful frame of the Dark Figure rose up from his shadow. Aria quickly leapt up into the air, spreading her wings to soar over Ansem’s head as he lashed out. To deflect the residual impact of his outburst, Aqua summoned a Barrier spell, then started to help the old man escape once he had turned around.

The force of that initial burst - not even a targeted attack, merely an effect driven by the might of his anger - instantly made Aria aware of the strength Ansem possessed, and she knew she would have to be careful. Her advantage was agility, as the darkness she could draw from her surroundings to aid her flight was limitless. She darted out of his reach and flew up and away from the Dark Figure’s grasp, firing shockwaves of unearthly blue energy at both it and Ansem. The monster seemed unfazed, but Ansem himself was slowed down in his pursuit of her, only to then retaliate with a barrage of violet orbs, which Aria was able to flit between. At every twist and turn, she flew further away from him, enraging him even more as he was forced to give chase.

“What is this insolence?!” Ansem yelled. “You should be obeying me!”

“Does it look like that matters?” she replied, deftly evading another blast of dark energy. “I already told you - you’re not the one who holds power here. Even if you did, Ves’ presence is enough to protect me. I don’t care what you think you deserve!”

Another flash of darkness, this time from Aria herself - she had switched her Keyblade from its dark mode to its diamond mode, now shimmering with cold blue light, and enveloped herself in a shadowy aura to strengthen herself. Still soaring on her wings, their black feathers gleaming with energy drawn from the realm, she sent a rain of insightful flames down from above, then her Keyblade became electrified and she hurled it spinning towards him.

“Maybe you meant something, once. But now you’ve let yourself be taken over by someone who’s not even strong enough to control you completely. Take it from someone who knows - all that does is weaken you!”

“Enough of this!”

Suddenly, the Dark Figure wrested itself from Ansem’s shadow and lunged forwards into the air, followed swiftly by Ansem himself, roaring and surrounding himself with a wall of intense darkness. As Aria dropped through the air to avoid his charge, a blast of ice struck him from behind. It was Aqua, channeling magic even without her Keyblade to act as a conduit. The impact threw Ansem off-course, but the Dark Figure swept around and managed to grab hold of Aria.

“Agh!”

“Let go of her!” Aqua cried, trying to fire more magic without hitting Aria. Ansem’s attention remained focused on the Keyblade Master, while the Dark Figure tightened its powerful grip as if to crush Aria entirely. She desperately writhed and struggled, holding onto the figure with her right hand and trying to slash at it with the Keyblade in her left. After a few moments, it became shrouded in a dark mist, as if dissipating, and she was able to slip from its hold when another direct hit from Aqua made Ansem stumble.

Anger still pulsed through him like a poison as he shouted at the both of them. “I will not lose to an obstinate recusant and a lost guardian with no Keyblade to protect herself!”

Clearing the space around him by emitting a shockwave of energy, Ansem started to summon a massive crest of darkness above him, reaching all the way up to the ceiling. The Dark Figure was still clawing at Aria, as if enraged at how she had stolen some of its power to escape it, but she felt confident she would be able to evade the incoming blow. She could tell that he was not at his full strength anymore, and the intricate crest was already starting to lose its shape, contorting into a misshapen orb of raw darkness.

Then she saw where Ansem was aiming.

“Don’t you dare!-”

In the instant before the orb struck her, all Aqua saw was a flurry of feathers, and then came the dark impetus. Something fell from her sash as she was knocked to the ground, and she was only aware of something- someone- Aria being launched through the air above her, sent flying further back into the dark.

Just then, a shower of stars came soaring in from the direction of the otherworldly beach. Their light seemed to pierce through the darkness like a blade through fog, and Aqua couldn’t help but feel a surge of hope as she saw them strike the Heartless.

“Oh no you don’t!”

A familiar and determined cry from none other than King Mickey himself - the little mouse had leapt to the fray and brandished his Star Cluster Keyblade to help Aqua out. From behind him, another Keyblade wielder in plaid clothing was running towards them, carrying a sword of grey metal with ease.

Aqua recognised him immediately, even though he had grown considerably. “Riku! Mickey! Is it really you?”

“Gah..” Ansem staggered back to his feet, clearly injured from Mickey’s attack, and glared at them all in turn. “You have not won this.. You will not prevail!”

Another dark corridor opened up, then it was gone, and he was gone.

“I don’t feel good about letting him get away like that..” said Mickey. “Should we try and go after him?”

“There’s no time!” Riku exclaimed, his green eyes clouded with concern. “We need to get you out of here, Aqua, and bring Ansem the Wise with us, too. I don’t know how long the corridor I made will stay open for.”

“Wait, but-”

Mickey nodded at Riku’s words with a determined expression. “You’re right. I’m not leaving without you again, Aqua!”

All the while, Aria was desperately flying.

The light of all their hearts, and of the corridor, was blinding, especially for one so accustomed to the dark - but she kept racing forwards, using them as a guiding beacon. Sharp spikes of rock loomed down from the ceiling, as if the jaws of a monster were trying to consume her, to keep her trapped in the realm that had already held her for so long. No. She wouldn’t lose her. This would be her only chance to escape.

The lights flickered, once, twice, three times - and then it was all extinguished. Fatigue from her injuries mixed with overwhelming emotions brought Aria to the ground with a sob. She crashed to the floor just metres away from where her love had been so cruelly rescued, clinging onto what Aqua had so sadly left behind.

All she had left was a blue glass Wayfinder.

#third time's the charm..#a call from the void #creations from the void #selfship #selfshipping #love: wayfinding waters (aqua)#selfship: survivors of the dark (aqua/aria)#self‑inserts #self‑insert: darkness' champion (aria)#kingdom hearts selfshipping #this post is okay to reblog!#I hope that's everyone who wanted to be tagged! if i've missed someone off or tagged someone who didn't want to be then please let me know

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imagesbyele · 3 years

Text

I am back after a week! What do I have? A knife!* new theme, with a free and a "premium" version! Forgive the gifs quality, recording the screen was too much for my laptop!

#theme 02 Emma - light and dark

preview (free version) - preview (premium) - code of the free version (from the outside they look the same except for the updates menu and glows around things)

link to post with the remastered version: more fixes to tumblr bugs, nested captions and more. The premium is automatically remastered, there is no original version like for the free one.

It was originally meant to be ONLY premium, but then I felt bad making people pay for it, which is a great attitude from someone who is opening for commissions, so I decided to make two, both having light and dark mode obviously, and the extras are for people who donate. I also decided to keep the theme in my main rp blogs because I was that happy with it, which encouraged me to share with people. Some day soon when I’ll do commission-themes I’ll present more models.

*misquoting an old meme up there

So what do you get with the free version? - Feb 15th: added a script that automatically resizes videos, styled audio-posts and submissions and made a more colorful chat, see credits page to know more. Also tumblr controls are now scaled down and only grow on hover (and have inverted colors) so even if someone looks at your blog from mobile without being logged in, they’ll see everything (before today the searchbar hid things). Feb 25th: glenthemes’ npf photosets fix. -a theme with a dark mode that involves a nearly full change of theme aesthetic, because: you may want to give your readers the option, and/or because, like me, you can never settle on one background because your muse either has two (or more) contrasting main verses you want to display or too many contrasting qualities (see my own blog, with a princess Emma and a dark Emma), or because you have multiple muses and you want to display them in separated backgrounds, or you are a fan-blog that ships a couple and wants to be Dramatic about it (can you imagine, younger and happy in daylight, older and broken in dark mode?), or you are simply that extra in general. Also like me.

example of how to make people mad - not real but if you know any coding go for it:

-the option to switch off/remove the tiny image on top of each post, in my sample a swan, and ability to customize nearly every color and image in your blog in both modes without having to touch the html (dark mode things all start with 'darkm' like darkmbackground)

-instructions in the html if you want to venture there and change things yourself, though you should already know a bit of the bases to do that -posts that are either 400px, 450px or 500px, and the links, sidebar and optional portrait image will move automatically. Rounded borders, container with gradients or an image of your choice, pinned post label that matches permalinks, usual askbox fix that won’t let it shrink -the optional portrait image which you can easily switch off (it's not inside your sidebar but will move as needed), and you can add a sidebar image behind it instead, the background is now transparent. The portrait image will be contained within 176x240px.

whether you donate or not, request the premium or not, I’m here if there is ANY issue. Please like or reblog if you take (or just if you like) and don’t claim as yours/don’t remove the credit, but modify as you please.

the premium version and credits under read more or this post will never end. Note that the features added to the non-premium remastered version will be present in the premium one as well. The link is under the one with the pastebin if you want to know what those features are.

added features for "premium" which is a gift if you buy me a coffee (just send me a message with your url/email for the link), and you can see in the preview:

-ability to add a message on top of your regular askbox, where people are redirected when they send you asks from the dash -your usual dropdown box, what I call 'updates tab' in the sidebar (you can add more if you go in the html and simply copy-paste what's in the body section as needed) -popup links for you to customize in the html, and, to give you what I call a "template" so you know where to start, I made it so that in one link (or box2) you will already find tabs, divided in rules, bio, verses and navi. In the bio tab you also will find slide-down boxes again, adjusted to fit there. In the navi tab you'll get navi buttons, and in the verses tag a potential template of image-name of the verse with link to it-description. Then a separated popup with an askbox and a submission box, both with a frame with gradients like the container. You can take the html and move things around, remove or add more as you please. -optional glow around your container, description and updates tab you can switch on and off. -your popups are styled so that you can remove the background color of the popup_block and add an image (on the corner/make a frame) with transparent background (500x640px right now), the content of the popup will have its own background behind, of a color you'll pick, of 460x520px. But you can obviously modify sizes as you please -optional ‘not allowing people to right click on your blog’ which if you don’t want is very easy to delete (just go in the editor and delete the script, the label is on top)

as always thank you to @octomoosey because without those tutorials I would have never tried coding, and for general popup information. Also the sample container and permalinks backgrounds are from their stock gif-packs.

-as always also thank you to @agirlingrey for the tutorials that managed first to make me understand how to do the slide down/dropdown boxes, and how to do tabs - @eggdesign 's tutorials managed to make me understand how dark mode works and I'll never thank them enough for it, also for the askbox colors - @whateverhtml for tumblr askbox height fix - @magnusthemes for the askbox message

-as always @evansyhelp for putting so many resources together which helped so much

-font-awesome and linear-icons for icons, pixabay for the sword and frame. Background and gifs are mine.

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seyaryminamoto · 3 years

Text

Masterpost: answering a single anon in a single post

So. I wasn’t going to answer asks today but frankly, considering what I should be writing I’d rather answer asks, might actually get a laugh out of it. Most of all, because of what I intend to answer here.

To spare y’all from the pain and annoyance of having to read through any of my answers to we-know-who, I’m going to do it differently this time. All in one post. Because frankly, filling my blog with their TWENTY asks, no less (and it’s official this time, used to be sixteen but then I reblogged that post about conflict in stories and they went wild, as usual) isn’t worth anyone’s time. Hell, it’s not even worth mine, but procrastination is overpowering.

Here we go. If you’re not the anon in question and still want to read this, I hope you have fun.

This is a free world. That means multiple things some people can’t seem to accept. One such thing is that people have no obligation to even interact with each other, let alone to do what others demand of them, especially when they don’t want to. The fact is, being harassed (because, yes, there’s no other word for it) by someone has been a pretty irritating and stressful thing for me, to the point where it has impacted my ability to write...

And the harasser doesn’t give a single fuck about it and just keeps going :’)

With such introduction, I decide to engage my least favorite person in this site once again because clearly, ignoring them, blocking them, closing asks, deleting and rewriting reviews, is still not enough to get across the message that reiterating an opinion a million times doesn’t automatically make it more valid. So let’s see just what’s going on with this very much desperate person who apparently can’t stop seeking my attention:

First of all, I asked this person, point-blank, to address their asks, if they would continue sending them, to my main blog. Let’s see how that request turned out:

Oh my, astonishing! They sent it to Gladiator’s blog instead! And what a bigger shock: they’re, as usual, trying to control and direct what I write and how I write it. While sprinkling empty compliments that don’t mean a thing, such as claiming RESPECT for me and my work when every single ask they’ve sent is an outright disrespectful act against me, considering how many times I’ve requested, directly, that they stop this, and how many times they’ve ignored me. It even is extra poignant considering my request for them to send asks to my main blog instead, and yet they deliberately sent it to Gladiator’s blog. This is what RESPECT looks like, in this anon’s head. Fascinating stuff, isn’t it?

And then comes the mad onslaught that left me facedesking for days:

... I mean. Can someone please read this and tell me the person on the other side, with their vague condition, whatever it may be, has any idea what an apology even MEANS?

For someone who’s so obsessed with alleged consistency, you’re damn bad at it yourself, Anon. You can’t send four asks in a row, to the WRONG BLOG, demanding for explanations you don’t even care to read, because every single time I’ve taken your whining seriously you’ve disregarded all my responses and gone right back to the same BS as before, and THEN pretend you’re here TO APOLOGIZE.

You don’t feel any remorse. To this day, you don’t even KNOW what you did wrong. This is NOT expressing yourself: THIS IS HARASSMENT. Need me to define the word for you to understand what it means, seeing as it’s becoming abundantly clear your reading and interpretation skills are not the greatest?

Definitions of harassment:

1. (n) the act of tormenting by continued persistent attacks and criticism 2. (n) a feeling of intense annoyance caused by being tormented

I’ve said it before: PEOPLE HAVE HAD COMPLAINTS ABOUT THIS STORY, FAR MORE VALID THAN YOURS, AND I’VE NEVER REACTED THIS WAY. Care to guess why?

Because you NEVER stop. Because you keep going, constantly, never slowing down to think YOUR behavior is affecting a REAL LIFE HUMAN BEING. You’re obsessing over what happens in a fictional story that, by the way, is a fanfic, ergo, it obeys certain rules that general fiction does not. Among such rules is abiding by ORIGINAL characterization to a certain extent, and that means, hahaha, that Azula ISN’T an experienced character in any social or romantic situations because she ISN’T in canon, and there was no reason to change that, especially considering the worldbuilding I crafted, which makes it CRUCIAL for Azula to be careful with her virtue, despite she doesn’t want to be and realizes the whole notion of female virginal purity is absolute BULLSHIT.

But why am I explaining anything anyway? You won’t understand it, because you don’t want to. You claim, constantly, that you’re asking things OUT OF CURIOSITY, as if that makes ANYTHING better, when the truth is you’re just here to impose your cursed opinions on everyone else, especially me, and pretend you somehow own this fic and ship and your demands mean more than anyone else’s. Meanwhile, oh, I understand you PERFECTLY: you don’t want Sokka to ever have any experiences with any other women because you only believe in pure, untainted love of virgins who wait for each other and don’t ever make mistakes or are forced into unwanted situations. Because, again, you can’t understand that those sorts of things CAN happen. Because you don’t see there’s nuance to human beings, nuance I attempt to capture through my characters too.

I said it semi-jokingly, back in my past answers, now I say it directly: IF YOU CAN’T STOMACH THESE SITUATIONS AND CAN’T ACCEPT THEM, THIS STORY IS NOT FOR YOU.

An M-rated story doesn’t owe you any apologies for being what it is. An M-rated story, at the end of the day, is a STORY. You are a human being who should be capable of controlling not only your impulses but your reactions to things, at least to some degree, and yet you refuse to. You, in fact, continue to prove you CAN’T control yourself in the least because hey, just now, halfway through writing this post? I got THREE MORE ASKS by you. No less than three. And you finished them off, again, with a pretense that you’re going to stop pestering me...

... But hey. You said that at the end of the last ask I pasted up there. Hmm. And yet...

You came back, over and over and over again? :’)

RIGHT ON ALL ACCOUNTS! So... how do TWENTY ASKS, after claims that you’d finally stop, count as “regret”? You’re not changing at all, anon, because YOU DON’T WANT TO. You don’t, to this day, see what you did wrong. You don’t get it. And you won’t get it. So how about we just keep going with the next four?

Oh! But hey, you actually switched blogs this time. Super sweet of you to finally listen to ONE thing I said. Very nice.

I’ll just point out: I received the last NINE asks I’ve pasted here in a SINGLE DAY.

Nine. In one day.

I only ever got that many asks in a single go during review parties (admittedly, there were more than that, but still). The fact that you felt the need to send me NINE ASKS, to beg for forgiveness with a completely dishonest apology, is all the proof of harassment anyone could possibly ask for, right? If you weren’t an anon and at least had the GUTS to own up to your opinions, which you seem to consider absolutely sacred and completely correct, you’d have never gotten away with this. Ergo why you don’t have those guts, and why you keep sending anon reviews and asks too.

The fact that you’re so obsessed with this problem, to the point of believing Sokka’s best sex was with JUNE? We’ve literally finished an entire arc of Sokka and Azula banging across the Fire Nation with no restraint, with the two of them repeatedly remarking this is the best time they’ve ever had, and you’re so completely obsessed with this problem that you apparently think Sokka angrily fucking someone WHILE DECEIVING HIMSELF INTO THINKING IT WAS SOMEONE ELSE is... better? Are you FOR REAL? Are you seriously THAT BAD at reading?

Please, click here. I can’t even stand it anymore. It’s not even for my own sake but yours. You need it.

Also... you’re projecting so bad. Like, so bad. June’s teasing in that chapter is 100% intended to piss them off. The fact that she starts asking for Azula to lend her her “second boyfriend”, AKA Rui Shi, should tell you just how much stock June puts in what happened between her and Sokka: SHE DOESN’T GIVE A DAMN. She’s honestly more entertained by pissing off Azula as a consequence of it than over the sex she had with Sokka, especially considering she even lost her temper with him after he started apologizing in 28. You’re so completely beside yourself you can’t see ANYTHING clearly?

If you REALLY need it spelled out, no, Sokka wasn’t June’s best sex. June has probably done anyone and everyone she ever wanted to, and chances are she absolutely found someone, or several someones, who actually wanted HER, for HER, just as much as she may have wanted them. And that, you insecure mess of a human being, would absolutely make for a much better lay than what she got with Sokka. Why don’t I outright state this in the story, you’ll ask? Because despite what you may believe, this story ISN’T a love triangle between Azula, Sokka and June! Oh my, the horror! We’ve literally spent 198 chapters building up the story and developing Azula and Sokka’s relationship but the ONE TIME encounter with June apparently makes her that pivotal for your whole existence?

Dude, I literally don’t look at 28 AT ALL these days, because I don’t care to. Because even when I wrote it, it hurt me so bad having written it that I was crazy about getting to everything else so I could put it behind me. Whenever I reference it, I do the same way I reference ANYTHING ELSE. The only person who seems to think I’m doing it to further torture anyone IS YOU.

And yes, did I just say it hurt me too? Oh, my, what a SHOCKER! The fact is, that scene is only as intense as it is because I literally couldn’t bring myself to write it. It wasn’t until it came to mind that Sokka COULD imagine Azula in June’s place that I finally found the way to do it: it wasn’t just Sokka imagining Azula instead, it was ME. Because if it had been anything else? I wouldn’t have been able to write it at all. I basically wrote it as hatesex Sokkla because I NEEDED to in order to write it. “THEN WHY DID YOU EVEN WRITE IT?!?!?”, you’ll scream, I’m sure: BECAUSE I TREAT MY CHARACTERS AS HUMAN BEINGS WHO MAKE MISTAKES AND DO THINGS THEY SHOULDN’T HAVE. BECAUSE SOKKA WAS IN A DARK PLACE AND DIDN’T UNDERSTAND WHAT AZULA WAS FEELING OR THINKING. BECAUSE AZULA WAS IMPULSIVE AND CONTROLLING AND COULDN’T REALIZE THAT THE MORE SHE TRIED TO FORCE SOKKA TO BEND TO HER WILL, THE MORE HE WOULD TRY TO BREAK FREE.

But all this is clearly too complex for you. Can’t even fathom understanding anything remotely close to characterization and conflict within relationships, no. You’re something else entirely.

And so, we move on to the post-apology Anon: you DO realize that forgiveness is something earned? I mean, it’s kinda funny because Sokka actually earned his own. He spent ages working for it, and even AFTER Azula told him he was forgiven, he still feels so bad about having hurt her that, to this day, he regrets it. Being FORGIVEN was not a condition for him to feel remorse. He regretted his actions because HE KNEW THEY WERE WRONG. Because he’s an actual, decent human being who, when faced with a catastrophic mistake, actually wants to amend it and wishes he had acted differently despite he can’t take anything back anymore.

But you? You can’t even begin to understand what regret means. I guess another dictionary definition would help?

Definitions of regret

1. (v) feel remorse for; feel sorry for; be contrite about

2. (v) feel sad about the loss or absence of

3. (v) express with regret

4. (v) decline formally or politely

5. (n) sadness associated with some wrong done or some disappointment

So, your attempts to beg for forgiveness fall completely flat. And I say it in plural, ATTEMPTS, because in case you think I’m daft and forgot your old reviews and asks, I didn’t: THIS ISN’T YOUR FIRST ATTEMPT TO APOLOGIZE FOR THIS BULLSHIT. I thought I should clarify that, because heh, you have claimed you won’t come back, you have claimed you’re sorry, you have said many platitudes in the past that actually had no meaning... and I could tell they didn’t, which is why I never answered them. Because there was no way someone who had exhibited such obsessive behavior would actually control themselves and get over their issues after MONTHS of persistent harassment.

And so, you didn’t disappoint, because I had zero expectations that you’d actually abide by your apologies. Empty apologies, again, because to this moment you don’t even know what you did wrong. You don’t get it. To put it in the way I did for someone else who talked to me about this mess:

You could be complaining to me about something else entirely. You could be here, demanding that I explain why I’ve been writing Sokka killing people, for instance. You could be disregarding all sense, reason, historical precedents and what-have-you as to why a warmongering, canonically genocidal nation like the Fire Nation would ever have a system like the Gladiator League and enslave other cultures to do their bidding.

And if you came back with those complaints PERSISTENTLY, FOR A YEAR, I’D BE JUST AS ANGRY AS I AM NOW.

It’s NOT about the situation you’re throwing a fit over. It’s NOT about me having it out for you. It’s about YOU not knowing limits or boundaries, going as far as you constantly, consistently have, ever seeking to twist my story into whatever warped, fucked up perception you’ve developed over it, without ever slowing down to think that your actions and your behavior are affecting someone else. I’m not just a rambling robot who can’t seem to stop talking or writing or whatever you may think I am: I’m an actual person with a FUCKLOAD of problems, who literally just had the WORST year of her life, and you just decided to continue adding to the pile, never slowing down to consider that your feelings, and your opinions, and your pain, does NOT invalidate other people’s, let alone does it make you EXEMPT of hurting others. Which, heh, if you knew how to read, you could’ve even LEARNED this from Gladiator! :’D

Because Azula, so hurt as she was, took to hurting Sokka too, in many, many ways. And Sokka, once he understood how wrongly he had judged Azula, simply let her hurt him because he thought he deserved everything she threw at him. Later on? Azula realizes all the pain she caused Sokka COULD have led him to choose the White Lotus over her. She’s in a life-or-death situation, unable to fight back, and the ONLY reason she doesn’t get screwed over and captured by the enemy is because Sokka decides she matters more to him than joining forces with sketchy people who are out for revenge. But what if she’d hurt him more than she had? What if she’d done WORSE than she did? Maybe he would’ve been so hurt too that, at this point, he would’ve chosen the White Lotus and not only abandoned her but handed her over to her nation’s enemies! :’) oh, the horror. Is it really that unthinkable? Why, it’s not to me. And why not? Because if Azula had been as unforgiving and unyielding as you are, if she had been so obsessive over whatever caused her pain and refused to move on... this story would SUCK. BADLY.

Makes you wonder what that says about your mentality, doesn’t it?

Alas, after all this digression as to why your behavior is absolutely appalling to me, let’s see what you did indeed, right after your absolutely shallow apology that was obviously not sincere, because you don’t regret having bothered me at all, you just regret that I won’t abide by your whining...

Is THIS what an apologetic, remorseful person looks like? Really, now? Honestly, if Sokka were half as bad as you are, he would’ve slept with half the Fire Nation by now while constantly coming back to Azula like “Oh woops did it again, sorry!”

Yes, I can honestly make the link pretty easily. Must be why you keep assuming he’ll ever be with someone else, because if you were in his place, you would do exactly that :’) beautiful how things just come full circle, isn’t it?

That ask came as a response to another, potentially ill-intended one, potentially sent by you too. An ask I answered with a whole list of unique things Sokka has done for Azula. Not only did you NOT understand the list’s purpose despite you may have even been the one to ask for it... but you took a line directly referencing OBVIOUS events like chapters 64, 69 and 93, moments in which Azula either put a stop to opportunities where she and Sokka might have ended up going too far, and he accepted it without complaint... or Sokka himself put a stop to them, KNOWING that Azula would be taking a huge risk if she gave herself to him completely as she does from 97 onwards. That you literally took something that was SO VERY OBVIOUS, and twisted it into chapter 28 again speaks LENGTHS of how absolutely messed up your perception and interpretation of this whole story is. You have issues. Serious issues. And I’m not saying this just to be an ass, I’m saying it because it’s clear as day that if you CAN’T stop linking absolutely everything I say or do to chapter 28, whether it’s being referenced or not (and in this case, it was NOT), the problem isn’t me, IT’S YOU.

And here we go again. You are actually trying to POLICE the Sokkla fandom at this point? An ANON? And hey, you returned to the Gladiator blog! Which means you were so pissed that I didn’t answer your previous asks and your phony apology because I KNEW you’d come back that even your teeny, tiny behavioral correction was pulled back because you were MAD. And you HAD TO MAKE YOUR OPINIONS KNOWN, AGAIN.

Do tell, are you the same ass who harassed a pretty new friend I’ve made in this fandom? An honestly solid writer who happens to feature Sokka having other, prior relationships to Azula because, haha, if you work with CANON settings, that’s basically guaranteed since Sokka already has canon relationships before even knowing Azula exists? And then, even if in those experiences Sokka ends up going “... I bet it’d be better with Azula”, you STILL take this as a slight and you consider it a reason to go around harassing writers and potentially even THREATENING to report their content because you’re mad that Sokka isn’t exclusively Azula’s in every single story you pick up?

The worst part is, I actually wrote at least 2 stories in my Saturdays’ oneshots where Azula and Sokka are each other’s first everything, absolutely so. And I got nothing from you for it, not even a teeny tiny “HEY THANK YOU YOU FINALLY WROTE WHAT I WANTED TO SEE!”. No, you only come out of your hole to ATTACK writers. To tell us what to do when you think we’re not doing it right. As if you had the SLIGHTEST right to tell ANYONE what to do.

I literally have been here for EIGHT YEARS. I’ve been creating content for this ship for that long, when nobody else was anymore. I won’t take credit for the ship’s rise in popularity, despite yes, it’s far from a major ship no matter how far we’ve come... but my story didn’t reach the heights it has out of sheer dumb luck. I worked my ass off with Gladiator in every way I could to make it a story of the scope and depth it deserved to be, and the fact that people who didn’t even ship Sokkla were interested in reading the story all the same has always been something I take pride on. A ton of multishippers read this story, and support Sokkla too: neither you nor ANYONE has any right to demand or claim or pretend that someone else has no right to be part of this fandom or to set guidelines as to what their content should be. There’s LITERAL stories out there of Sokka having a goddamn HAREM, just so you know, with Azula included amongst the women involved in it... and you’re here, throwing a fit over people featuring Sokka having one-time encounters and brief relationships with other girls before committing completely to Azula.

I’ve been here, working my ass off for Sokkla, not only in writing but literally developing my art skills to the best of my ability so I could ONE DAY create the visuals and images these two evoked for me...

And yet I don’t feel I have any right to tell ANYONE how to make their content.

If there was a set number of words in fics or artworks someone needed to make for a ship to prove themselves worthy of obtaining the skill of GATEKEEPING, I am 100% positive I have more than outdone that limit.

And yet I DON’T play gatekeeper. I NEVER have, and I NEVER will. People can create whatever they want to create, whether I enjoy it or not is up to me, and if I DON’T enjoy it, I DON’T read it. If there’s Sokkla content out there I can’t even STOMACH? I would ignore it and move on with my life. You? You make it your whole life’s crusade to attack people over anything that tickles you wrong. That’s how it works, isn’t it?

Unless you’re planning on pulling a Scooby-Doo-esque twist where you remove your mask and reveal you were a known Sokkla fan and content creator all along, which I find ABSOLUTELY unlikely, then this means you haven’t done anything, ANYTHING, for this fandom beyond sending anonymous harassment to people who are actually taking time out of their lives to create content for this ship. The main reaction I’ve seen at you from ANY of us, whether anons like yourself or actual content creators like myself, is that you have too much time on your hands and need a better hobby. And I agree, completely.

So, where people like me and my fellow Sokkla creators are actually making content that convinces people, if not to ship it, to at least CONSIDER this ship a possibility... you’re out there, in hiding, pretending you have any right to tell us what to do and going ignored on most accounts. I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again: if I had any respect for someone, and they either stopped responding to me or started responding by telling me to leave them alone, I’d feel like such stain of garbage I’d never even try to interact with them again. While people absolutely can be different and react differently to things... I can’t see how, exactly, you have any respect for me when knowing you’re a problem for me has never stopped you and most likely never will.

I’ll admit, this one actually made me laugh. Like... you’re seriously trying to tell me that a sex scene was way too good and that’s why I have to change it. I actually disagree on every account, because the last time I revisited 28 I thought the scene was absolutely distant from my best work? I’ve written soooo much smut recently and literally any of those scenes kicks 28 out of any “best smut” contest by MILES. But... heh. This one, apparently, was too good.

I mean... thank you? For telling me that my smut skills are apparently that great they need to be toned down? Fascinating, really.

But again, “it sadly seems to be a too late to write chapter 28″. Sadly?

SADLY?

You can stick your sadness up where the sun doesn’t shine, dude:

SOMEONE WHO THREW SUCH A FIT OVER THEIR REVIEWS BEING REWRITTEN SHOULD

NEVER

TELL SOMEONE ELSE THAT IT’S TOO BAD THEY CAN’T REWRITE ANY OF THEIR CONTENT.

EVER

You can’t pretend, again, that you were EVER sorry for ANY of what you did... while still trying to tell someone they should rewrite their content. Honest to gods, you’re an asshole. You are. And if you think I’m one too, great, I own up to it gladly. But you’re the one willingly intoxicating their brain with my content, only to consistently go MAD over it, and then unleash this kind of illogical nonsense right back at me. I know art can generate a myriad of responses, but I am NOT responsible for your immaturity and inability to handle serious subjects and topics that SHOULD MAKE YOU UNCOMFORTABLE. If you don’t KNOW how to deal with the fact that there’s a lot of questionable, dislikeable things in this world, then my damn story is the least of your concerns because you’re well on your way to leading a VERY miserable life, Anon. Better get ready for it, will you?

And again, the Gladiator blog. Again, pretending to be well-mannered, and also, again, using the world “sadly”, same as the ask above. Like... man, what on earth is wrong with you. Are you seriously this masochistic? Do you also drink arsenic for sport? What on EARTH brings you the belief that asking how far or how much was done between Sokka and his previous one-night-stands would help you IN ANY WAY, WHATSOEVER?

I think I’ll answer that question, for once, with actual quotes, taken right from some of your favorite chapters, no less:

"When you and Ruon Jian got married, was he…?" she asked. Mai only raised a confused eyebrow, and Azula had the distinct feeling that Mai knew what she was talking about, but would force her to blurt it out anyways. She sighed: "A virgin."

Ty Lee's hands flew to her mouth as Mai raised her eyebrows. To Azula's astonishment, she merely shrugged.

"I don't know. I never asked," she said. Azula snorted.

"Then you're smarter than me. By far," she grunted. Mai smirked.

And as things digress there into Azula explaining what happened, let’s skip that and go straight to Mai’s direct answer:

"I've never asked Ruon Jian about whether or not he had anything serious with other girls before me because I seriously don't care," said Mai. "If I knew about it, I'd probably have a bout of jealousy like yours, I suppose… but it's in his past, and he left them behind to make me his present and his future. So, whatever he might have experienced before, with however many women there were, isn't something I'm overly concerned about."

"You're awfully mature compared to me if that's the case," said Azula, slipping her fingers through her hair again. Mai smirked.

"You've been complimenting me quite a lot today, Azula, that's not like you…"

"Shut up," Azula grunted. Mai chuckled.

:’)

This is the only answer this ask warrants. The fact that you’re so immature and so obsessed as to want to know more about what happened with something you HATE is completely cringeworthy and absurd. If you want to get angry imagining Sokka having wild sex with every woman who crosses his path, go ahead and do it, but do us both a favor and torture yourself, and yourself alone, with those thoughts rather than coming back TWENTY TIMES to my inbox looking for MORE reasons to get angry. You’re honestly unbelievable.

You know, that reading comprehension site I linked up there? Courses, 20% off! Seriously, perfect fit for you. You need it, direly.

Like... how can someone read a story built on the premise of Azula literally defeating Sokka painfully in battle to the point he’s left unable to move, taking Sokka away from home, turning him into a slave, being objectively responsible for the WORST TWO YEARS OF HIS LIFE... and then come to my inbox asking if Azula will ever hurt Sokka?

Dude, you’re off the deep end. You can’t even pretend you have a grasp on reality if you SERIOUSLY THINK Azula has NEVER hurt Sokka. Like, seriously, it feels like you’re reading this truncated version of Gladiator that’s only chapters 28, 111, 112 and perhaps 123? Is that what’s going on?

I’ve had Sokka and Azula arguing over ANYTHING AND EVERYTHING, whether for humorous or for serious purposes, since the very beginning of the story. Their first serious falling out is LITERALLY caused by the direct conflict of their worldviews clashing in chapter 12. Their second falling out was indeed caused by women: by Azula’s discovery that Sokka didn’t want to fight women, which of course, doesn’t bother you in the least because you and I both know that’s NOT what your problem was.

I could literally run through the whole story listing every single argument they’ve had, every single time they’ve hurt each other if that’s what you want: their first time? It literally comes from a very serious argument where Sokka believed he had reached the pinnacle of his potential as a fighter and feared Azula would need someone else to achieve her goals instead of him.

AND YOU’RE SERIOUSLY HERE ASKING IF THEY’LL EVER ARGUE OVER ANYTHING ELSE.

You don’t read this story. This ask absolutely proved it to me. You only read chapter 28 and everything potentially connected to Sokka having anything with other women. You don’t CARE about anything else, simply. Because if anything actually had ANY impact on you? You’d say something about it. But the only thing that touches your weird heart is Sokka sleeping with anyone else or having any potentially romantic interactions with someone else, whether he rejects them or not.

You don’t care about Gladiator. You only care about your ego, and the validation of your worldview and puritanic morals.

And to that I say, fuck that noise. I write whatever the hell I want to write, and you’re not going to rope me into playing it safe just to please insecure harassers who don’t know boundaries and are completely incapable of empathizing with anyone while demanding everyone should understand their feelings.

Final note on this matter: you, also, have no idea what love is. You plain and simple don’t understand it. You’re even more confused by what love should be than Azula was at the start of this story. You don’t get it, AT ALL.

All you want is for them to get even on things? You literally asked me, when I was in my angry spree of deleting your bullshit, to make Azula and her future husband have happy consensual quality sex with who knows how many orgasms... because it was only fair!

AGAIN: YOU DON’T UNDERSTAND LOVE IN THE LEAST.

If you think love is about getting even, you’re seriously an asshole. If you think love is about both people being 100% equal in social regards and experiences, you don’t even UNDERSTAND human relations. Do you live in a bubble, by any chance? Maybe you do! You must have zero contact with anyone other than people with your same puritanic beliefs, right? So that means you assume everyone who’s different from you is fundamentally a bad person? I take it?

Like... literally at this point I think you’d hear about someone who was abused in their childhood, molested, and your reaction would simply be “Oh wow I hope someone molests whoever they end up marrying too, so that way they may be even in the future and been molested by the exact same number of people, otherwise it’s not really love”.

This is fucking sick. I’m not holding back at this point, it’s SICK. It’s TWISTED. It’s VILE. Your mentality is absolutely repulsive to me. You don’t know what love is, and you have the most literal, obvious change to understand it better by reading this story properly, but instead you just read chapter 28 over and over and over again, isn’t that right?

And here’s the evidence of that. You really want me to answer that last question?

No, it doesn’t bug me to read that AT ALL. Because unlike you? I don’t obsessively reread 28 while disregarding everything else in the story. Unlike you, I don’t revisit the chapter every day to pick apart every line to look for reasons to get extra angry at those developments.

Most of us, when faced with things we DON’T like in fiction? We move past it. You, instead, dig yourself into a hole and continue digging, and then pretend to hold other people responsible for whatever impact this may be having on your psyche. Because yes, you’re holding me responsible for whatever trauma or insecurity this is awakening inside you when you continue to pester me as you have: if you’re an adult, you should have the tools and brains to determine what is and what isn’t acceptable behavior, as well as to curate your own experiences with media, with fandom, with EVERYTHING to do with these communities. If you choose to look for things to hate instead of things to love, THAT’S ON YOU.

And if you’re allegedly looking for things to love but can’t find ANY that suit your purposes (which... is bullshit. Clearly, your only priority is “Sokka must be a virgin who never had anything with anyone else”, and such stories DO exist, which I guarantee considering I’ve written at least THREE of them, where it’s absolutely stated that Sokka’s first and only one is Azula)...

Well, it’s funny. Because when I got here? I was looking for some very specific fics so I could explore whether or not Sokkla made any sense. And I didn’t find them.

Which resulted...

... In me writing the very stories I wanted to see.

Oh, my. Imagine taking your impulses and channeling them into something productive rather than looking for reasons to get angry 24/7! Must be such a NOVEL CONCEPT for you!

Seriously, you have no right to dictate what anyone does. Again, worth bringing up because you INSIST on the rewriting matter. Even if you’re claiming you’re done asking for it, you somehow KEEP bringing it up. And then you act like me mentioning 28′s events here or there in the story is absolutely outrageous... but you just go right on ahead and do the same thing yourself, don’t you? Funny how much of a hypocrite you really are, isn’t it?

The fact that you’re bringing up something I have NEVER written, and have NO INTENTIONS of ever writing, as some sort of stupid, ridiculous argument to be made AGAINST the post I literally reblogged TODAY... is just absurd beyond belief.

The fact that I ever even wrote Sokka cheating on Suki with Azula, which I DID, still bothers me. Because yes, it made for a good story, but the truth is, it doesn’t sit well with me. It worked in The Reason, worked in my collab story with a friend, but it doesn’t mean I feel 100% happy with that choice. Even if the cheating only amounted to a kiss in The Reason, and then a lot worse than just that in the other story, it’s still not cool! :’) I know this!

... And yet no one, NO ONE, has ever caught me writing Sokka cheating on Azula. In fact, when my collab story with my friend seemed to start moving towards that angle I BEGGED her not to do it, and then she didn’t, and my heart was deeply relieved and blissful for it. Because not only did it mean we wouldn’t have to deal with the very controversial and unsettling notion of someone in a good relationship cheating on their significant other... but because in that story, it also showed how much he had grown, and how he was truly devoted to Azula despite he hadn’t been to Suki.

But alas, I have my qualms with that concept, of course I do. And I don’t like it. Ergo, I’ll never write it.

Which begs the question as to WHY, exactly, you’re so obsessed with the notion of Sokka cheating on Azula? Like... do you get off on it? Are you wanking at the idea of Sokka and June every single night and then wake up feeling like crap and then take it out on me, by any chance? Is that what’s going on? Because I’m seriously starting to believe it is.

You clearly don’t understand anything about storytelling, which is probably why you don’t have the guts to create your own content in the first place. But the fact that I reblog a post about how conflict in a story is GOOD, and your first thought is “THEN THAT MEANS YOU APPROVE OF SOKKA CHEATING!” actually says A LOT MORE about you than it says about me. You need help. Clearly, the therapy site I was sending you to the last time wasn’t much good, was it? I guess you just ignored it in the end. Hopefully the reading comprehension one will suit you better, right?

Fuck you, seriously, for coming to someone who has been working this hard for this long, for a ship that they’re completely devoted to, to spout this kind of senseless shit. To think you seriously ever believed I’d accept your half-assed apologies when you’ve been doing this sort of bullshit for this long... you’re a piece of work. If you have the time to write that BULLSHIT into my inbox, at the very least use that time to look INWARD and ponder just what your damn problem is, resolve it on your own, AND LEAVE ME THE HELL OUT OF IT. Someone as immature and unstable as you has no business reading M-rated fiction, and I honestly rue the day you ever clicked my story. Both your life and mine would be countless times better if you simply had scrolled past it.

And on and on we went today. The THREE MORE ASKS that arrived as I was typing this insanely long response. Which resulted in you bumping the total, successfully, to 20. MIGHTY NICE OF YOU TO PROVE ME RIGHT! :’)

Now then, getting serious here... I must say your priorities are fucked. Like. Really fucked.

You’d rather Sokka tries to KILL AZULA than have a one-time sexual encounter with someone?

Like... you’re here, condoning VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN to that extent...? :’D and then you... you actually have the balls to whine because apparently him hurting her feelings is WORSE?!

Are you EVEN LISTENING TO YOURSELF???

You know, I think I have to offer you some REALLY good advice right now: go watch Naruto. Seriously, all of it. Go watch it, and enjoy your sweet loins’ release once Sasuke and Sakura start trying to kill each other, ONLY TO END UP TOGETHER AT THE END! :’) They were both 100% faithful to each other too, in the sense of Sakura getting depicted as a girl who can’t ever get over the guy she had a crush on when she was 6, no matter if he tries to kill her or her friends once he starts to go off the deep end, and Sasuke getting depicted as a guy who treats everyone like garbage, even the people he loves, because his manpain story somehow validates him being absolutely toxic to everyone he knows, so that’s absolutely up your alley! 100% the love story you’ve been looking for! You’re gonna LOVE IT.

Man, I just can’t believe you. I really can’t believe you. You’re seriously asking me to feature Sokka trying to kill Azula because that’s more acceptable to you. There was a story out there, you know? With Azula basically using Sokka to commit suicide, impaling herself on his sword and dying? You should just go look for that too, perfect fit for you (though it may be gone from the depths of this wretched site by now, which tbh I’d be grateful for, since it was the most unsettling, disturbing read).

Also? Thank you, truly, for all the remarkably shallow compliments you’ve thrown at me to “soften” your “criticism” (which, again, is whining, not legitimate criticism). Calling me a capable writer is super NICE of you, especially after all these months of persistent harassment and constant repetition that I should rewrite whatever you don’t like. I mean... that’s definitely the way someone treats a capable writer, isn’t that right?

“The problem isn’t conflict it’s what the conflict is”, the anon says. I’ve been writing a story for 8 years, 198 chapters and counting... and I’ve had a ton of different types of conflicts for Sokka and Azula to deal with. If your problem is “I don’t like this conflict”, FINE. But... hey. There have been THOUSANDS of other sources of conflict across the story, so many I don’t think I can even promise I’d ever take my time to count them all... there’s whole ARCS with conflicts regarding world politics and the war’s consequences and both Azula and Sokka completely changing their worldviews as they realize their realities are soooo much more complicated than they ever knew...!

Ergo. There ARE other conflicts. There are SO MANY of them that there’s no point in even listing it all out.

And yet you are obsessed with the one conflict you didn’t like, outright acting like THIS IS THE ONLY CONFLICT THERE EVER WAS, as proven by that preposterous and mindless “when will Azula ever hurt Sokka” ask. The one development you were pissed at, because it tickled your loins the wrong way. Oh yes, I’m a capable writer, I could’ve done things differently...!

BUT I DIDN’T!

And aren’t you thrilled that I didn’t? You would be a complete nobody in this fandom if this hadn’t happened, because otherwise what would you POSSIBLY have to complain about?! To harass someone about?! You’d be SO BORED! You’d be so unknown, nobody would even be aware of your existence...!

Though.

Wait.

You’re an anon.

You’re unreachable and nobody really knows who you are.

... So never mind, you actually still are a complete nobody in this fandom and your only attempt to even take part in it is to be a negative, irritating presence that literally makes people facepalm, laugh and ridicule you to the extent I and many others have laughed at you.

And yes, that post I reblogged was 100% worth reblogging. Why? Because it hits the nail on the head:

I DIDN’T WRITE 28 SO YOU’D BE HAPPY WITH SOKKA.

I DIDN’T WRITE THAT CHAPTER TO MAKE PEOPLE THINK “OH WOW WHAT A WHOLESOME SITUATION”.

I WROTE IT BECAUSE IT WAS MEANT TO DETONATE CONFLICT AND SPEED UP CHARACTER GROWTH AND DEVELOPMENT, WHICH IT DID.

And the thing is? Maybe, in the future, I’ll write other stories, just as I wrote the Saturdays’ stories, and Sokka won’t have either meaningful or worth mentioning encounters with anyone else in them. Maybe I’ll write original fiction, and there won’t be any twists like what happened in 28!

But you will never get over this.

You will never care about any other content beyond this.

And that’s your failing, not mine.

If you would rather obsess over what makes you angry, that’s on YOU. But I’m damn sure I wrote a pretty reasonable conflict, character-wise, that was not only consistent with characterization but with the slightly darker take of the Avatarverse I’ve been working with. Not only that, but I NEVER skipped the consequences of their actions. I literally had them facing those consequences for whole arcs. Sokka assumed he’d never have a chance to be with Azula and made his peace with it, WITHOUT EVER PRETENDING HIS DEVELOPING FEELINGS FOR AZULA WERE ANYTHING THAT ENTITLED HIM TO HER LOVE IN RETURN. But oh, that’s too complex for you to understand, isn’t it? The fact that Sokka actually loves Azula for her, and not for himself, that he devotes himself to her in every imaginable way, that he fights people who dare disrespect her, that he would stop at NOTHING, even coming close to killing someone, to keep her safe despite he’s completely against killing people? That all means NOTHING to you.

And again? THAT’S YOUR PROBLEM. THAT’S YOUR FAILING. THAT YOU’RE SO OBSESSED WITH 28 AND CAN’T MOVE PAST IT IS NOT MY FAULT, IT’S YOURS.

Because I damn right moved past it. I’ve moved so far past it I literally don’t ever THINK about that damn situation until your stupid asks start arriving. Heck, maybe if you didn’t ASK so much about it, I’d stop bringing it up in recent chapters of the story :’) how do you feel about that particular kernel of unexpected information? Maybe you’re impacting the story in a whole shocking manner by inception-ing 28 into my head all the time and that’s why I can’t seem to stop throwing in lines referencing it for you to go completely BONKERS over. How about that? :’)

Say... how exactly do you think this fic is special? Literally all I know is you think I’m a capable writer who can create something perfectly catered for you, and yet ALL the feedback I’ve ever gotten from you is “REWRITE 28 AND EVERYTHING ABOUT SOKKA HAVING ANYTHING WITH OTHER GIRLS I DON’T UNDERSTAND ANY OF THIS I’M GENUINELY CURIOUS THIS IS LEGITIMATE CRITICISM SIGNING OFF BYE”. Your compliments are completely devoid of meaning because they’re literally just a handful of “you’re a good writer” and you don’t even say WHY you think I’m good. You don’t ever come here to tell me how much you enjoyed a certain scene, or how happy you are with a certain development... No.

Because when Sokka and Azula got married? What did I get?

“HOW CAN YOU LET SOKKA AND AZULA GET MARRIED NOW WHEN HE SLEPT WITH SOMEONE ELSE IN CHAPTER 28?!”

I wish I had screenshots for those, but you and I both know the truth, you irksome anon, and the truth is you did exactly that. And with every new development in Shu Jing, I got yet more reviews and ask(s), persistently whining about how UNFAIR it is that now Azula apparently is locked in marriage with this unfaithful man who has been unfaithful to her a grand total number of ZERO TIMES ever since their relationship began! How DARES he even think about marrying her?! Scourge of earth, let’s murder him in cold blood because DEATH IS BETTER THAN CHEATING!!!

If you think highly of Gladiator for ANY REASON, you’ve kept those reasons well and safely tucked away in the depths of your broken heart or shared them with anyone but me. Look at all these asks, damn you, and tell me at what point in time did you convey ANYTHING beyond “why don’t you write what I want you to write?”, huh? Because hell, I don’t see it in any of them. Literally nowhere. No backwards (: emojis are compliments or evidence of how much this story allegedly means to you. All I know is that you hate 28 and everything about it.

And you see...

I don’t give a flying fuck.

I don’t.

You can hate 28 all you want.

You can hate June.

You can hate Sokka.

It is, INDEED, a free world.

But you have no right, NONE WHATSOEVER, to commit to this level of harassment as you have, for A WHOLE YEAR, and pretend the problem is that I, Seyary, the “evil super-sensitive author who writes Sokka sleeping with other people and doesn’t even break a sweat but then crumbles to pieces when “negative” feedback arrives”, can’t handle your comments properly.

I’ve said it before, damn you: NO ONE NEEDS TO REITERATE THEIR OPINIONS A MILLION TIMES. NO ONE. NOT YOU, NOT THE PEOPLE DEMANDING FOR THE PLOT TO KICK INTO HIGH GEAR, NOT THE ONES WHO THINK THIS SHIP IS GARBAGE, NOT ANYONE.

NO ONE HAS ANY RIGHT OR REASON TO COME BACK PERSISTENTLY THORUGHOUT A YEAR TO HARASS SOMEONE NO MATTER HOW MANY TIMES THEY’RE TOLD TO STOP IT.

Point being: HATE WHAT YOU WILL! But keep it the fuck off my blog. And if you CAN’T? Get used to these responses. Because you’re going to get them, constantly. I guarantee it.

I know your damn opinion already. I know it by heart and I damn wish I didn’t. You are perfectly free to go read all the other stories where I’ve had Sokka staying faithful to Azula, with Azula being his first, or with Azula being much more experienced and sleeping around while Sokka stays mostly chaste... but you don’t. You come back, every time, to my miserable inbox that must cry every time you show up in it, to make these demands and pretend you have any power over what I should be writing.

Again, no, I have no idea why this story matters to you at all. And at this point? I’d rather NOT know. Because I’m 100% sure the only thing that matters most to you is chapter 28. So you know, go ahead, wank to it again and cry yourself to sleep. It’s kind of fascinating to have written something that has such a visceral emotional impact on a complete and total stranger. Makes it clear I’ve made a lot of progress as a writer if I can fuck up someone’s life to this extent with what I’ve written.

Yeah. Sure. You really think I’ll buy it? You really think this is goodbye? Oh, no, Anon. You can’t stay away. You’ve been told to, you’ve been asked to, but you can’t.

So no, I’m not wishing you good luck back. And I’m certainly not wishing you any fun with my fic, because it’s more than clear that the only source of entertainment it provided you was chapter 28, seeing as it’s the only impactful thing I apparently ever wrote. And someone who’s that obsessed with one of the chapters I most disliked writing despite I knew the plot would benefit from it in the long run simply can’t deserve to have fun. So... good suffering over Gladiator, if anything? Go ahead and continue to wrack your brain while trying to unravel why, oh, why would ANYONE ever write what I wrote and still call themselves a Sokkla shipper?!

I dunno, maybe go on and write something similar yourself. Could be you’ll finally figure out what your problem is if you take to writing the cheating storylines you’re so very much obsessed with. Only, heh, I can guarantee I’m not touching anything you write, out of principle more than anything. I plain and simple don’t want anything to do with you... but as I don’t intend to close my inbox again, it seems I have no choice, do I?

Good fucking luck sticking to this alleged goodbye... but we both know you’ll be coming back very soon, won’t you? No worries, Anon, I’ll be waiting this time. Let’s see if you can break your 20-ask-streak record next time, shall we? :’)

It’s December 13th, at 2:32 PM, in my location. Let’s see how long it takes you to come back, shall we?

EDIT: I neglected to check constantly so it definitely arrived earlier than this, but officially received a response at least 2 hours after this post went live.

Didn’t I call it? Yep, absolutely called it.

#I need a name for this anon #though I guess stalker-harasser anon would work?#yep #stalker-harasser anon #there we go #honestly it feels so utterly backwards to still talk about this to this day #and yet #it never ends #:')#here we go have this dumpster fire of a post #I'm legit going to time this shit #and report right back to you all #once the stalker-harasser comes back #it's the only genuinely hilarious part of this whole thing after all

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cat-in-a-fedora · 4 years

Text

Reunion Falls

I think I found something for the reunion falls au of Gravity Falls on the original creator’s blog. The reblog and like functionalities weren’t working for some reason, and I couldn’t find it in the creator’s archive. I really like this, though, so I’m gonna put it here and give credit.

This was originally on @sailorleo, and I couldn’t reblog it for some reason.

`-i dunno, he’s like, really weirdly clingy, but when we’re together all he wants to do is talk about his band…

-dump him.

-dipper that’s the same advice you’ve given me for every boyfriend i’ve ever had

-then why don’t you ask mabel?

-fine, maybe i will. mabel, what do you-

-no actually i think dipper’s right you should dump him

-teen soos playing with baby dipper and getting all excited when he says his name

-it would work better if stan actually knew mabel was coming beforehand, but just couldn’t work up the nerve to tell dipper until the last minute. by some fluke, mabel arrives a day early, and makes contact with dipper while stan is out.

-stan tells dipper that at the time of his birth his parents weren’t expecting twins, and couldn’t afford to take care of two children at once. he only told the kid they were dead because he thought it might be easier to handle than the idea that his parents didn’t want him.

–

-what are you still doing up?

-’m makin’ a sweater for grenda. she’s bigger than me, so it’s taking longer. you had a nightmare?

-no big deal, it was just an anxiety dream.

-a what?

-it’s like a nightmare, but instead of being scary it just makes all your deepest insecurities a reality. grunkle stan says they’re the brain’s way of reminding you that life could always be worse.

-…that sounds dumb.

-yeah, well, life isn’t fair, mabel.

–

-that corduroy girl out sick today or somethin’?

-what? um, no! i was just, uh… i tripped. on a rock. a lot of rocks.

-oh c'mon, kid, you think i never got the snot kicked outta me in elementary school? i know a fist to the face when i see it. c'mere, let’s fix you up.

–

-what can i do, though? they’re all bigger than me, and if i tell the teacher i’ll just look like even more of a wimp.

-ha! if you don’t wanna look like a wimp, you should stop letting other people fight your battles for ya.

-but i can’t-

-now hold on. i know you can’t, you’ve got about as many muscles as a soggy piece of toast. but one thing i know about the world is that guys who were born bigger, stronger, and smarter are always gonna punch down. and guys like you an’ me are stuck right at the bottom like old gum. so if your wits can’t save ya, all there is to do is punch back up.

-….do you mean that metaphorically, or….

-i was wondering when i’d have to dig these old things up again! …see, kid, all I’m trying to say is, when the world fights, you gotta learn to fight back.

–

-oh, shit. we’re not getting anywhere like this.

-*gasp* dipper!!

-what??

-you just said the ’s’ word!

-so? we’re practically teenagers, mabel. we can swear.

-i have friends back home who won’t even say ‘crap’! you must be getting it from somewhere

-i don’t know what you-

-[wendy enters] AYYYYYY DICKWEEDS WHAT’S FUCKIN HAPPENING

–

-ugh, sorry about all that, man. i don’t know why robbie’s always such an asshole to you.

-you don’t think he’s like…..jealous of me, do you?

-HA! ohhhhh my god. oh my god you’re probably right.

-what, does he think I’m gonna like, steal you away? like he’s INTIMIDATED by me? …that feels kinda good, actually.

-oh man, can you imagine? dipper pines, casanova extraordinaire! refined older women such as myself just….COLLAPSING at your feet!

–

-grunkle stan, um…. where are my parents?

-uhh……….. they died.

-oh…. how did they die?

-they………………died.

–

-you know when you’re wearing just the vest without a sweater you kinda look like……. someone. it’ll come to me

–

-mabel, what did you do to the journal????

-what? you told me to pretend it was my diary!

-i said to PRETEND it was your diary, not actually use it as a diary!! you didn’t mess with the stuff inside, did you?

[cut to: a shot of the interior of the journal, filled with stickers and cute little drawings and tiny diary entries about boys and the like]

-…….nnnnnnnope.

–

-if you’re going to be a monster hunter, you’ve got to have a look.

-hey, i’ve already got THAT covered

-no, i mean a look that tells people you mean business. like what i’ve got!

-what’s more businesslike than a leopard wearing sunglasses?

-i can think of a few things. what about like, a jacket? or…. a jacket? something besides a big fluffy sweater.

-listen dip, we’ve only known each other for a few days so i’ll let you off the hook this time. but first rule of mabel? the sweater STAYS.

-ugh, fine, but you’re gonna overheat. hey, what about this? it’s big enough to wear over a sweater. and it’s got pockets!

-but does it have PERSONALITY?

-you can decorate it or whatever i don’t care.

–

-mabel, have you seen my gel?

-nope. why do you gel your hair, anyway?

-i don’t want my bangs to cover my birthmark.

-can’t you just cut them off?

-it’s part of the look.

-ohhh, the 'look’.

–

-soooooo dipper had a crush on you, huh?

-haha, yuuuuuup. he thought he was being super smooth about it too. 100% convinced i had no idea. oh shit, dude, you wanna see this valentines card he made me when he was like, seven?

-you KNOW i do!

-boom! check it. all the blackmail you’ll ever need on one piece of construction paper.

-oh my gosshhhhhhhhh…..wait, "love, ty"?

-oh yeah, ol’ dipstick used to go by 'tyrone’ before he was dipper. just between you and me, dipper suits him better. tyrone is too cool for him.

-why’d he switch?

-dunno, really. he used to hate his birthmark, people would make fun of him for it, yknow? and then one day he just started being super cool with it. he like, reinvented his entire image around the thing. you should’ve seen him before that though, always brushing his bangs down over his forehead… well, at least he puts some effort into his appearance now.

–

-FUCK!

-KID!

-oh no.

-where’d you learn language like that?

-i… uh….

–…..wasn’t from me, was it?

-n-no! it was from…. nobody! i mean, you hear stuff around, and-

-WAHAHA! this is great! now i don’t have to keep my mouth shut around ya! and it isn’t even my fault!

–

-mabel, take out the trash

-booooooo!

-…aren’t you going to do what he said?

-sure, just as soon as i finish kicking dipper’s butt!

-i will dance on your grave, mabel.

-but…he’s your uncle. you should listen to him before he gets mad, right?

-pff, what’s ol’ stan gonna do, throw his dentures at me? (don’t tempt me, kid) half the fun of being a kid is not doing what adults tell you to do! consequences be darned.

-…paz, really, stan loves us. he’s not gonna like, hit me or anything. yikes.

–

-dipper, seriously, what the heck happened between you and gideon!

-i told you, nothing! he’s just a creep.

-oh, is THAT why he won’t stop talking about you? even on our dates! it’s WEIRD. ….you two aren’t like, exes or-

-ew, no!

-haHA! you dated gideon! gideon and dip-per sittin’ in a tree, K-I-S-S-I-

-we were FRIENDS, okay?? …sort of. i dunno. it was a long time ago.

-heyoooo my drama senses are tingling! now you HAVE to tell me! deets deets deets!

-uuugggghhhhhh fine

-dipper and gideon have been rivals since childhood, but back then it was on somewhat friendlier terms. they would get each other in trouble, start fights over nothing, ruin each other’s stuff, but they would always walk away with smiles on their faces, like an unspoken pact to annoy the shit out of each other forever. but things started to change after gideon found journal 2. dipper didn’t see him around with the other kids as often. his tactics got nastier. he started “winning” more often. things came to a head after stan started teaching dipper to box. one day when dipper and wendy were hanging out together, they ran into gideon, who took the opportunity to tease them mercilessly. when he started going after wendy, dipper socked him, hard, in the nose. “i dunno. i was really mad, but i think i also just wanted to prove i was strong. wendy was always protecting me, so i wanted to protect her back.” after that point, gideon declared them mortal enemies.

-stan and wendy were definitely elated at the fact that dipper punched gideon. stan probably tried to bake him a cake.

–

DOUBLE DIPPER

“BAM! look out party, this girl’s on a mission! and that mission is to find a summer getaway friend group. woah, huddling crowd of teenagers! that’s perfect!”

-paz is talking with everyone listening when mabel interrupts her. “heyo! guess who’s here, it’s mabel, and that’s me.” “…..that’s great, sweetheart.”

-mabel is really excited to make new friends at the party, but most everyone starts hanging around pacifica. mabel tries to make friends with pacifica but paz rejects her, saying “listen, youre new so i’ll fill you in. it might seem like people like you and are interested in you because youre 'quirky’ or whatever, but you’re just a cheap novelty. around here? i’m the one who matters. nobody ignores pacifica northwest. adoring fans?” paz snaps her fingers and the crowd begins to shove mabel out of the circle until she finally falls on the empty dance floor. defeated, mabel shuffles off to the only people not part of the crowd (candy and grenda) “you too, huh?” “don’t worry. when we burn, we burn together.” paz then steps up to the mic and points at them, shouting “hey everyone, check out this adorable new attraction! it’s the reject corner!”

“aww, we don’t need this. the true merit of a partymaster is knowing how to take the party with you. this calls for an impromptu sleepover!”

-mabel offers to cheer up her new friends by ditching the party and having a sleepover instead, candy remarks that they were planning a post-party sleepover together anyway, grenda says how she stole a raunchy romance novel from her mom- wolfman bare-chest. grenda shows off that the book has a full-color illustration of gerard, candy remarks how she wants one of her own, mabel remembers that they have an old copy machine downstairs.

-“i don’t understand. i’m having fun, but i still feel this burning desire to go back downstairs and make her suffer for her crimes. crimes against friendship and partying.” “hey, i know what’ll curb that thirst for vengeance! theft! look what i stole from my mom’s bedside table!” “grenda, you wild girl! this is perfect!” “and it comes with a full-color illustration! his pecs are holographic!” *all three girls scream* “aah!! he is so rugged and brooding, i want to take him home with me and make him my trophy husband!” “ooh, i think we have an old copy machine downstairs! that way we can all keep the poster! come on girls, let’s go make our dreams a reality!”

-the girls end up bringing gerard to life because fuck the laws of reality, he emerges and says “which of you fair maidens brought me into this realm?” candy points to mabel. “girls, i think the party is back on!”

-“hey, fursuit, i don’t know if anyone told you, but this isn’t a costume party. although that would explain YOUR outfit, mabel”, gerard gets angry and tries to defend her by attacking pacifica. pacifica gets a small scratch on her arm and shrieks “are those REAL claws?!” mabel and candy struggle with gerard and finally subdue him (after he loses an arm to the punch bowl) by stuffing him into a closet. “you can come out after you learn to stop being such a butt!!” candy makes some remark about “at least we didn’t make any more!” cut to grenda either using the copy machine or already surrounded by wolf men.

-after the gerard squad starts running wild at the party, mabel gets an idea. “grenda, they’ve already like, werewolf-bonded to you, right? so if you’re in danger, they’ll come and save you!” “..i know what i have to do. hey northwest, be mean to me!” “ok, ok, just… give me a minute. ….hey circus freak, you’ve got arms like a gorilla and a voice like a wrestler, so it’s no wonder that the only boys interested in you are a bunch of wolves!” “…..pacifica, that was really mean.” “YOU TOLD ME TO!!!”

-maybe have pacifica get on the mic again so all the wolves hear her insult

-“grenda I’m sorry you have the body of an amazonian goddess and a voice like ten angels singing one direction!!” “yeah, maybe if one direction were all chain smokers.”

-the girls use this plan to lure the wolfpack into the kitchen, where there’s a sprinkler system connected to the fire alarm. the plan is that once all of the wolves are present, mabel will signal for candy to pull the alarm. however, once mabel gives the signal, it’s revealed that candy has been captured. “i’m sorry, mabel…. their pecs were just so shiny!” “i’m sorry i dragged you into this, pacifica.” “yeah, i’m sorry you dragged me into this, too.” maybe have them cowering on top of the fridge. but just when it looks like all hope is lost, the sprinklers come on anyway. it’s revealed that the first gerard was the one who pulled it, sacrificing himself to save mabel’s life.

-“you will always be in my heart, mabel pines. and i hope…..that i will be in yours…..”

-“well, pacifica, maybe now that we’ve worked together as a team, we can come away from this knowing that our fighting was petty and pointless, having gained a mutual respect.” “are you SERIOUS? all this proves is that you’re a freak, and your friends are freaks, and even though I’m gonna make sure to stay as far away from your little circle of lost causes as possible, the next time we meet? you’re going DOWN, and I’m gonna make sure EVERYONE is watching.” “……welp! i didn’t gain anything from that! maybe next time.”

-“i’m sorry that all this happened, girls. if you don’t wanna hang out with me after this, i get it.” “are you kidding? that was incredible!” “i feel like my heart is on fire! but in a good way!”

-in the aftermath, the girls (sans pacifica) burn the book. as they watch the illustration of gerard smolder, mabel solemnly says “this ends once and for all.” “….my mom’s gonna want that book back.” “once. and. for all.”

IRRATIONAL TREASURE

-pacifica overhears what the twins are trying to do and tails them, then ends up getting captured along with them

-LET ME OUT OF HERE! I AM A NORTHWEST!

-i thought we just established that doesn’t count for anything anymore.

-pacifica yells at mabel for doing something as stupid as leaving a trail of candy wrappers, dipper interrupts to ask her why she always feels the need to shut people down like that. pacifica tells him that its her duty as a woman of status to let everyone know what their place is. “orrrrrr you just feel so threatened by the idea that you’re not as well-liked as you think you are that you need to make everyone else feel bad about themselves.” “WHAT was that?” “threatened?”

-mabel gets her nerve back and yells at pacifica that why would she ever want to be liked by a stuck-up shallow primadonna like her, and throws a hunk of peanut brittle at her, freeing trembly.

-after returning to town, the twins see pacifica being berated by her parents for disappearing and getting her clothes dirty. mabel feels sorry for her and goes over to explain that oh, it was actually my fault, i was trying to uncover dirt on the northwest family and pacifica stepped up to intervene, and we got into a fight. also we totally didnt find anything to shame the northwests so you can thank pacifica for that too. the northwests then threaten to sue the pines family for hurting their daughter, but paz holds them back, saying something about how it isnt worth it to waste time on poor people like mabel.

-this is the start of mabel and pacifica’s budding friendship, and pacifica’s redemption arc

SUMMERWEEN

-hey, little man!

-oh, hey wendy! ….and robbie.

-so….. chilling in the bushes without a costume on? what’s that about?

-nah, i’d say he’s got a pretty solid 'loser’ costume lined up already.

-i’m just hanging out with mabel and her friends, i guess. this big legendary monster thing says its gonna eat us unless we collect 500 pieces of candy but y'know. no worries.

-sick, dude. and you didn’t even have to go out and find this thing yourself? your sis must be like, a monster magnet.

-yeah, she…really is.

-well, i’d help you with the mission if i could, but i’ve got this whole 'aloof teenager’ thing to keep up, yknow? no trick-or-treating for these old bones. but I’ve got a few extra sweets in my purse if you need some more handouts! we can go find mabel, and-

-NO! i-i mean… no, don’t find her, its ok, i got it, give it to me.

-woah, chill out, you little freak! you’re not HIDING from her, are you? …is everything ok? and don’t say it is, because nobody sweats that much when everything’s ok. not even you.

-……i dunno, it’s like, i don’t mind having her around, but we’re always together and she wants us to do all these “twin” things now and I’m just not sure I’m ready for it yet.

-yeah, i getcha. its gotta be a lot to take in. hey, if you need somewhere to decompress after this whole candy deathmatch thing is over, tambry’s throwing a party at her house in a few. text me when you’re free?

-just try not to dork up the place if you show.

-robbie, if you don’t lay off I’m gonna punch you in the dick.

-i just….. twins are supposed to have this special bond, y'know? like a mind meld or something. and i just feel like i’ve missed so much. things could've….should’ve been different. and i came here because i wanted to make things the way they were supposed to be. i thought like, maybe if we were together we could pretend that its the way things always were and everything was ok. but i cant. its not.

-yeah, i… i’m sorry, mabel. everything just happened so fast, and i couldn’t handle it, and i avoided thinking about it, and….i ended up avoiding you, too. i’ve been kind of a crummy brother so far, huh?

-no, no, i get it…. i’m weird, and this is weird, and you’re one of those weird people who likes to be by yourself. and i understand if you don’t want to be siblings. but… can we at least be friends?

-i don’t see why we can’t be both.

TOURIST TRAPPED

-hey, mabel, i was wondering, uh…… how did our parents die?

-woah, what? they’re not dead! are they?? you’re freaking me out, dipper!

-'sup, hambone?

-oh, hey….. soos, right?

-you got it, lil’ dude! so, what’s eating you? besides the mosquitos anyway. nice, good one soos.

-soos, have you ever tried to do something that you thought would make everyone really happy, but instead it just blows up in your face and everything is awful and it’s all your fault?

-story of my life, dude. probably not on this scale though. just a minor everyday occurrence.

-they probably hate me, don’t they?

-what? no way! i just met you a few hours ago and i can already tell you’re like the least hateable dude I’ve ever met. you’re like if they found a way to combine a smiling puppy with an anime fairy princess.

-but i ruined everything!! that’s what they’ll call me in the history books. mabel, queen of ruining everything. everyone was fine until i got here.

-it’s not your fault, dude. mr. pines had to tell dipper at some point. and dude, if it makes you feel any better, i am PSYCHED to have you here. i was telling customers about it all day!

-thanks, soos, but…. i should probably just go home. maybe if I’m gone dipper and stan can just forget this ever happened and go back to normal.

-you kidding, dog? nothing’s ever normal around here. i know this is like, a huge bombshell, but dipper and stan love each other. they’ll work it out. …hey, my brain just came up with a totally neato idea! why don’t we pitch a tent and have a sleepover out here under the stars? we could swap stories, eat raw marshmallows, and if you still want to go home tomorrow morning you can.

-….only if you’ll try to throw the marshmallows into my mouth with your eyes closed.

-deal.

-hey, mom. yeah i got here ok! it’s great, the woods around here are so cool and mysterious! oh, and i met this really cute guy but he turned out to be a bunch of gnomes under a hoodie. i know!! wild, right!

-h-hey mabel….can i….talk to them?

-…oh, mom, dipper wants to talk to you. is that ok?

-….hi, mo- ..mrs pines. it’s dipper.

-“oh, you must be the friend mabel was talking about! she was so excited to meet you! i hope you two are having fun!”

-yeah, it's…. it’s good to have her here.

-“are you all right, dear? you’re sniffling.”

-yeah, i’ve just got a cold. it’s ok.

THE HAND THAT ROCKS THE MABEL

-mabel sees a commercial for the tent of telepathy on tv and gets excited, pulling dipper over to see the famous “psychic”. dipper is annoyed at best and just groans, expositing that he and gideon have been rivals since they were little. he says he’s been trying to catch gideon in the act of something, ANYTHING, for as long as he can remember, and now with the help of mabel’s journal he’s devised a new theory: that gideon might actually be a vampire! he’s always coated in lotion, has stark white hair, speaks like an old southern man, and it might also explain his psychic powers. but dipper isn’t allowed in the tent of telepathy anymore, and he hasn’t been able to get close to gideon in his personal life. mabel offers to go investigate in dipper’s place, but he warns her that it’s not worth it and gideon is a “creep”, offhandedly mentioning that mabel probably doesn’t have the investigative skills necessary to crack the case on her own. determined to prove herself, mabel goes anyway, in “disguise” as a journalist so she can ask gideon questions when the show is over. during the questioning gideon becomes enamored with her, and when mabel asks if he’s a vampire he flirts around the issue, suggesting that he is simply to win mabel over. it works, and she agrees to go on a date with him.

-mabel takes notes on gideon’s mannerisms in the journal while on dates

-over time, gideon begins to reveal his true colors, and mabel realizes that dating a supposed vampire doesn’t really make up for gideon’s behavior.

-actually i changed my mind about the vampire plot, probably dipper just tries to keep mabel away from gideon because of their checkered past together

BOYZ CRAZY

“….can i confess something?”

“yeah, of course.”

“I’ve never like….. LIKED anyone. I’ve dated plenty of guys, and even a couple girls, but i don’t think i felt what i was supposed to be feeling for any of them. i thought that eventually if i went out with enough people, i would start to like at least one of them, but…. i dunno. I’m starting to think that i’ll never fall in love. maybe i CANT fall in love.”

“well… that’s not the end of the world! love kinda. sucks. especially when someone doesn’t like you back.”

“ugh, that’s what I’ve been doing to all these people! for years! i suck. i keep trying to be like everyone else, but i just end up pushing people away. I’ve lost so many friends…”

“hey, it’s not your fault. robbie’s a turd, you know that.”

“yeah, i guess you’re right… i dunno, you ever feel like there’s something, like, fundamentally wrong with you? like something fucked up in the womb and now you can’t ever be a normal person?”

[dipper pulls up his shirt slightly, looking at his binder]

“yeah. i do”

DREAMSCAPERERS

bill: I WAS WONDERING WHEN I’D RUN INTO YOU! QUESTION MARK, SHOOTING STAR…. AND DIPPER OF COURSE!

mabel: whoa, hey, how come soos and i get special names, but not dipper? that’s not fair!

dipper: uh, mabel, that’s not really-

bill: THAT IS HIS SPECIAL NAME, KID! ALWAYS HAS BEEN. HE JUST ADOPTED IT A LITTLE EARLY IS ALL.

dipper: wait, what?. you…you were the one in my dreams? all this time, it was YOU?

-new scene-

dipper: it’s just… the name was a big part of my like, identity, yknow? i thought it was so cool and special and for the first time in my life i was starting to feel NOT like a freak. i thought i was being cool but i was just doing exactly what bill wanted! [pulls his jacket over his head] aaaargh, what have i been doing all this time?!

mabel: di- …..bro, listen to me. your whole like, supreme tough guy monster hunter thing? it’s PRETTY silly. but that’s what i like about it! it’s all you, and you own it! and nobody chose to make you like that but you! and you didnt choose the name dipper because bill told you to, right? that was still all you. so, i don’t know. even if the guy who made it up turned out to be kiiiiiiind of a major jerk i dont think that means all of that is ruined forever. and if you stop going by dipper i’m going to have to start going by shooting star as revenge. star for short!

dipper: ….i think i like you as mabel better.

mabel: aww no, i was already getting used to it! star sounds like the name of a princess, doesnt it? or a galactic warrior!

-BUT DON’T YOU WORRY YOUR GEL-COVERED LITTLE HEAD, KID! I WON’T BE BOTHERING YOU LIKE THAT AGAIN. YOU’VE PROVEN YOURSELF TO BE EXTREMELY DISAPPOINTING AND USELESS. CONGRATS.

SCARY-OKE

-in this case obviously dipper wouldn’t want the agents around, since stan has taught him better than that.

-dipper decides that he’s finally ready to talk to his birth parents over the phone, but when he does they insist that they never had twins and mabel has always been an only child, and he realizes they don’t know who he is. everything he knows is once again called into question.

-mabel tries to get the agents’ help in figuring out the mystery behind dipper’s birth and proving that the two of them are siblings

-maybe dipper raises the dead as a way to threaten stan? like, oh you’re so afraid of the supernatural, what if i do this

-or mabel tries to lure the agents back to the shack by creating a supernatural disaster, like oh, say, zombies

-stan finally admits, with zombies breaking down the door, that he got mixed up with the supernatural and made some very bad decisions, although he isn’t specific about what happened. he relinquishes that he kept the truth from dipper all these years not for his sake, but because he couldn’t bear to admit that he was responsible for separating dipper from the family he should’ve grown up with.

THE GOLF WAR

-mabel and pacifica run into each other at the mini golf course, and after watching mabel sink the winning shot pacifica realizes she has feelings for her. furious with herself for developing a crush on somebody like mabel, pacifica challenges her to a rematch and vows to destroy her.

-dipper and stan are worried about pacifica’s behavior, but mabel assures them that she probably just wants a little one-on-one game and had to disguise it as a fight to the death since her parents were with her.

-pacifica gets to the golf course early to get some extra practice in, discovers the lilliputtians, and decides to use them to win against mabel, convinced that if she proves to herself that she’s better then her crush will go away.

-mabel becomes concerned with pacifica’s attitude and worried that she’s gone back to her old ways, bribing somebody to help her cheat. eventually she’s captured and tied up, and pacifica has to save her.

-in the aftermath, pacifica can’t stomach apologizing, so mabel does it for her. “hold on, dip. i think i know what’s going on here.” “what? no. you definitely don’t. whatever you’re about to say about me is completely and totally wrong.” “so i just want to let you know, pacifica…. it’s ok. i understand.” “understand what there’s nothing to understand” “yes there is! and i’ve felt that way before, too. even about you sometimes.” “wh…..huh? you have?” “yeah! all that pressure to compete really gets to you sometimes. but just because i beat you at something it doesn’t mean that you’re any less cool than you were before., ok? so i don’t want you to feel like you have to prove that!” “oh. yeah. yeah, that. yeah.” [awkward pause] “soooo…. you don’t hate me?” “of course not!” “ok good. that’s like, good to know. i don’t hate you either.”

-theyre playing truth or dare and mabel dares dipper to hold candy’s hand for the rest of the night

-mabifica bullshit: 'let me see those beautiful eyes’, holding hands post-confession in nmm, arguing about whether or not to run off into the woods together at night

THE LOVE GOD

-during a conversation with wendy, dipper casually mentions that he’d like a girlfriend. mabel overhears and decides to try and pair him up with someone. she enlists the help of candy and grenda for this secret mission, but notices that candy seems uncomfortable with it. eventually she admits that she’s had a crush on dipper for a while, and mabel is ecstatic. she conspires to set them up on a date at the woodstick festival. candy makes mabel promise not to tell dipper, but of course she can’t keep her mouth shut and blurts it out while the two are having breakfast at the diner. mabel expects dipper to leap at the chance, but instead he just feels awkward. he tells mabel that although he likes candy and thinks she’s great, he’s never thought of her like that. mabel urges him to give her a chance, but dipper argues that it will end badly. he spots candy nearby, freaks out, and runs for cover. it’s at this point that mabel meets the love god.

NORTHWEST MANSION MYSTERY

-“….and grenda can take a hit pretty well so she’d be the best choice for a distraction while i spray 'em with the anointed water from behind, but we might need pacifica to-”

“actually, dip, i was gonna ask if i could handle this one on my own.”

“what? why? we don’t know how powerful this ghost is!”

“because i, the wonderful mabel pines, am going to confess my love for pacifica tonight!”

“you only realized you liked her two days ago!”

“exactly! no time to waste when romance is afoot!”

“you don’t even know if pacifica LIKES girls!”

“well i don’t know if she likes BOYS either. she always seemed kinda indifferent to-

"even if she does, what if she doesn’t like you back? and you know what her parents are like, they probably wouldn’t want her dating another girl anyway…”

“why do you always have to shoot me down like this”

“…..i’m sorry, mabel… i just don’t want you to get hurt again.”

-“we did it!” “haha, yes!!”

-(internally) “this is the perfect moment, mabel, just go for it!”

-“umm, pacifica? now that we just beat this big scary ghostman together, there’s something i wanted to-”

-“YOU’LL PAY FOR THIS, FOOLISH CHILD”

-“….on second thought, I’m gonna go exorcise screamsville here first.”

-“that’s probably a good idea”

-{“WITCH! SERVANT OF EVIL!”}

-“i’m sorry. i didn’t want you to know this about me.”

-“ok, so, your family’s gotten mixed up in some bad stuff, that doesn’t mean-”

-“no, it does. you’ve always been so nice to me, and i never did anything to deserve it… hanging out with you, and dipper, and everyone, hanging around the shack….i started to realize that this isn’t normal. my parents aren't……normal. and now I’m just so scared that no matter what i do, i’ll end up just like them.”

-“….pacifica. i know you. your outsides may be crusted over with gold coins and expensive body lotion and hairspray, but your insides are made of bubbles and kitten kisses and rainbow dolphins high-fiving each other. your parents are a couple of stinky poo-heads inside and out and you’re not anything like them.”

[pacifica, crying, kisses her]

-“oh no. this was a mistake. I’m leaving.”

-“pacifICA WAIT”

-“what would you say if i said i was in love with you?”

-“i’d say you only wanted me for my money”

-“oh pacifica, your heart is gold enough to last me a lifetime!”

-“shhhhhpsshh stop!!”

-[mabel kisses her on the cheek]

-“no but really stop i don’t want my parents to see”

-“ohhh yeah sorry”

THE LAST MABELCORN

-things start out much like they do in canon, but when mabel meets the unicorn and it tells her that she’s not pure of heart she jumps to the conclusion that bill has “tainted” her in some way by taking over her body. the abuse metaphors here are obvious. she sadly returns home and begs ford to help her in some way, and he takes her down to his study. meanwhile, dipper sets back out with the girls in mabel’s place.

-“…..but it wasn’t me….” “what?” “i…..i have to go.” “mabel, wait!”

have it so like, she’s not necessarily visibly distraught when she talks to ford, or even to her friends, but more determined to “fix” herself, hiding the worry that she’s a bad person beneath her insistence that it must be bill’s fault.

“GRUNKLE FORD! bill gunked up my soul and i need you to fix it so i can be pure of heart again!” “…mabel…” “please please please PLEEEAASE!”

-“no offense, but you break the law daily, you two have kind of a…. mutual violent streak, and you……” “don’t say anything.” “and if being involved with bill really did disqualify mabel, then I’ve been doomed for years.” “you’re also not a 'maiden.’” “good point.”

-“man, this is bullshit.” “i know. how are we gonna find someone more pure than mabel?” “no, i mean. the game’s rigged. nobody’s completely 'pure of heart’ or whatever, and how do you even measure that? that glitter-snorting poser doesn’t ever have to give up the goods because she’s asking for something that doesn’t exist.” “…so how do we get the hair?” “well, i say if princess unattainabelle back there doesn’t wanna play fair, we shouldn’t have to either. alright, kids, who’s ready to add a few more bad deeds to the naughty list?” “YEAH!”

-meanwhile, mabel’s mind begins to be encoded. “i can’t undo what’s already been done, mabel. but i can make it a lot harder for bill to hurt you again.”

-mabel’s thoughts: “do you a favor” “have craz and xyler ever kissed?” “adopt every kitten in the world” “PACIFICA PACIFICA PACIFICA”

-mabel ends up putting the helmet on ford because she starts to have intrusive thoughts worrying that he could be possessed by bill, and she decides that proving herself wrong would put them to rest. “ugh, shut UP, brain! this is why we don’t talk anymore.”

-when mabel reads his thoughts, she freaks out and, unlike dipper, actually succeeds in hitting ford with the memory gun. he’s knocked to the ground and she approaches him cautiously as he rises back to his feet. when he explains that he’s not bill and the gun didn’t work anyway, mabel starts crying and hugs him. “its ok, mabel. you did the right thing. when dealing with an enemy like bill, you can’t fully trust anyone, not even the people closest to you. …maybe if i’d known that when i was younger, we wouldn’t be in this mess now.”

-“….i’m a bad person.” “oh come on, you don’t still believe that unicorn, do you? i thought dipper told you she was full of it.” “no, i… did something really bad today. i thought bill did something to gunk up my heart but it was really just me all along.” “wow, what did you do?” “nn. you’d hate me if i told you.” “mabel, you could kill a dog in front of me and i wouldn’t hate you. and if you don’t tell me i’ll just assume the worst.” “i AM the worst.” “ohhhh my god. …..ok, let’s say that bill did break your soul for all eternity or whatever. so what? you’re still my girlfriend. and in case you haven’t noticed, i’m pretty messed up too.”

ROADSIDE ATTRACTION

-“aww, come on! think about it…. just us girls, alone under the stars…” “eww, fine! i’ll come if you stop being gross”

-“i can’t believe my own sister got a girlfriend before me!”

-“romance ain’t a contest, kid.”

-“…yeah, you’re probably r-”

-“just kidding its definitely a contest. one you’re losing.”

-“he was… flirting with me! i think he actually likes me back!”

-“AAAAAAAAA!!” “get it, girl!” “candy wins!” “i wouldn’t get your hopes up, chiu. he’s probably just being a tool.”

-“pacifica, how could you?” “why must you deny true love?” “hey, dipper’s my friend and i think he’s great, but he sucks. I’m just being realistic.”

-“oh, no. i think i just agreed to take candy out on a date.”

-“….aaaaand do you LIKE her?”

-“well, yeah…………….as a fr-”

-“UGGGGGHHHHHH I KNEW IT. listen, 'dopper’, you got yourself into this mess, and its not up to me to help get you out. you deserve it for toying with a woman’s feelings, anyway.”

“candy…. saved my life. even after i broke her heart. she’s so cool…………………………………oh, SHIT.”

-“it’s ok, dipper. if dating pacifica has taught me anything, its that the way to a woman’s heart is through emotional angst and near-death experiences. and we get those every day!”

-“you deserve this and i have no sympathy for you.”

–

DIPPER AND MABEL VS THE FUTURE

same basic setup, with mabel hitting up all her friends for party plans, but the focus is on having to return home without all the friends she’s made rather than anxiety about growing up (although that’s still a factor). in addition to discovering candy and grenda won’t be around, she also finds that pacifica’s parents are becoming suspicious of her frequent outings so she’s trying to lay low for a little while, so she won’t be able to hang out for the last week of summer.

ford invites dip along for the alien hunt, and doesn’t exactly offer dipper the chance to be his apprentice, but is impressed with his adventuring skills and the fact that dipper has been training in the art of mystery solving for years. au dipper is quite a bit braver than canon dipper after all, and quicker to spring into action right after ford. theres still a bit of hesitation involved, and when ford praises him for his courage, he laughs and remarks that mabel would’ve jumped right away without any thought. ford then confides in dipper that although mabel uses her heart before her head, he can still see how scared she is inside and thinks it would be best for mabel to return home and cease connection with gravity falls, because he’s seen first-hand how much bill has hurt her already and he doesn’t want it to get any worse. he also tells dipper that he can tell mabel’s heart isn’t in any kind of study or quest for knowledge like he is, she’s just a kid having fun, and he can tell that its mostly because she wants to impress dipper and it might be better for her to focus her energy on her own interests, which can’t happen if she stays in gravity falls. dipper reluctantly agrees, saying that he’s always sort of worried about the same thing. of course, this is the part that mabel hears over the walkie-talkie.

for all that mabel and ford’s relationship is better, he still sees her as a child while he sees dipper as more of an equal. he warns dipper that letting mabel become dependent on him, or he on her, is a bad idea, because one day they’re going to have to go their separate ways, and mabel might not be able to handle it (implying that she’ll do something drastic to keep him around, like stan did to him).

theres a scene midway through the episode of pacifica sulking on her bed, hugging a pillow to her face. her mother’s voice calls her for dinner from downstairs, and she groans and gets up. looking in the mirror, she realizes her mascara has run and she scoffs and rubs at her eyes. when she opens them up again, the mirror is full of eyes. “something wrong, blondie?” it cuts off there

after mabel runs away into the woods at the end of the episode, pacifica emerges from the bushes in her full incognito gear, saying she came to warn her about bill. that bill tried to make a deal with her but she refused everything he offered, and that he’s getting desperate and is going to try again with someone else, probably before the summer ends. she tells mabel that if neither of their families want them, they’ll run away, out of gravity falls, together. when mabel realizes she has the rift, she groans, annoyed that she has to go back home and return it. but pacifica insists that this actually makes the plan better, that if they leave gravity falls with the rift it can be kept safer… and that, maybe it would be better if pacifica held onto it, since bill is targeting mabel. mabel agrees and hands it over…. at which point pacifica takes a moment to admire it, and then smashes it to the ground. she laughs, takes off her sunglasses, and is revealed to have been possessed by bill. then the world ends.

WEIRDMAGEDDON 1

-after ford is captured, dipper runs into grenda, as in literally runs into her, while she’s attempting to chase a monster in process of carrying off candy. the two travel together for the next three days, finally deciding to explore the mall in search of mabel and the others. on the way there, though, the two are ambushed by bill’s lackeys. before the fight can begin, grenda tosses dipper out of harm’s way and shouts for him to go on without her while she holds off the monsters. dipper reluctantly escapes, leaving grenda to an ambiguous fate.

-during that time, candy finds pacifica huddled in a pile of rubble, and urges her to come help find the others, but she’s reluctant. “look, mabel’s not here anymore, alright?! she’s gone. bill got her. so you can stop pretending to like me.” “candy does not pretend. not when it comes to friendship.” “….if you just left me here, nobody would have to know.” “on your feet, northwest.”

“augh, my poor hair… it’s got like, twigs and shit in it.” “do you want me to cut it off?” “what? no. why would i do that.” “it’s a symbol! in stories, girls cut off their long hair when they are going on journeys and breaking free, leaving the past behind… it is cool and majestic and– pacifica, YOU should cut off MY hair!” “wait, seriously? …ok, whatever, fine, do your weird impulsive nerd thing. you got any like, scissors?” “let me see….. six, seven, eight pairs! i also have a knife.” “candy, what the fuck.”

-dipper finds wendy, pacifica, and candy all hiding together in the mall. dipper is surprised and relieved to find that candy is safe and she talks about how she bit the monster’s hand to get it to free her, proudly revealing that one of her teeth has turned completely red as a result. dipper admits what happened to grenda, and while pacifica and wendy look worried, candy remains adamant that she’s strong and will be all right. hesitantly, dipper asks if any of them have seen mabel. the room goes quiet, and pacifica confesses what happened, that bill came to her and threatened to possess and torture mabel again if she didn’t let him use her body. she thought that if she agreed, she’d become a ghost like mabel did and be able to use a puppet as a vessel in time to warn somebody. instead she simply blacked out, and when she came to she was just in time to see mabel being sealed in a bubble and taken away.

-at some point pacifica confesses to dipper that bill never threatened to hurt mabel. she made the deal willingly because he promised her that mabel would be able to stay in gravity falls if she let him borrow her body, and she was just so scared of losing her, and everyone.

-candy’s arm is broken in the car chase and ensuing wreck against gideon’s crew. in the aftermath, pacifica uses the remains of her jacket to make a sling.

ESCAPE FROM REALITY

mabeland is nearly the same as in canon, though maybe with some minor alterations to reflect the events of the summer. dippy fresh is replaced by a series of “dream dippers”, versions of dipper that mabel had imagined he might be like before actually meeting him. most are unrealistically cool, but one in particular is just someone who would be the ideal brother, always looking out for her and wanting to be with her. in the end of course, mabel has to look at all of this and decide that real dipper is the one she wants. (theres also a fake pacifica who shares all of mabel’s interests and is hopelessly in love with her, always flirting and offering romantic gestures, but without any of the sass and personality that make her who she is. pacifica ends up snapping her neck.)

mabel introduces the dream dippers one by one like they’re contestants on a game show, but one spot is left empty. dipper asks who it’s for, to which mabel nervously replies that it’s more convenient to have something extra just in case. later on, in the wilderness of mabeland, dipper overhears mabel talking to someone. “i don’t understand. everyone can finally be happy here. wendy can break all the rules she wants and never get in trouble, candy can be herself without people making fun of her, pacifica can get away from her parents, and dipper…. well maybe i can understand why HE wants to leave, since he apparently doesn’t want to deal with me….” suddenly, dipper hears his own voice reassuring her that everything will be alright, and he’ll stay by her side forever, that the summer never has to end. she says “do you really mean that?” to which he replies “of course. you know i’m the best brother ever.” the voice is revealed to be perfect, ideal brother dipper.

crushed by this, dipper retreats to the pond, where instead of being approached by wendy he’s approached by candy. she sits down and asks him what’s wrong, and he tells her how awful he feels that he couldn’t have done better for mabel. she assures him that he’s a wonderful person, and mabel’s being silly for not wanting someone like him as a brother. she then tells him that she was being silly for being mad at him, too, that she’s realized he was right all along, and she should’ve forgiven him earlier. “really? …'cause i was totally with you on the whole 'i was a jerk’ thing.” then candy ups the ante, going on to talk about how oh, he’s so much smarter and braver than her, and she was just upset because she thought she stood a chance with him, but she’s such a loser, she could never- dipper stops her there, worried. he continues to insist that it was his fault, he WAS being an asshole, and he should’ve apologized to her a long time ago, but he was nervous “because…. i DO like you, candy. like, like-like you.” he tells her to stop berating herself, that he likes her because she doesn’t let anybody change how weird she is and that she’s not acting like…. herself. it’s at that moment that he realizes what’s going on. as “candy�� begins dissolving into bugs, a fist collides with her head and she explodes. its revealed to be grenda, who managed to find her way in because “the door was unlocked.”

when it comes to the trial, mabel’s memories are similarly flipped through, but instead of having a twin to be there in her time of need, she had nobody. she’s never had anybody like that until she met dipper.

TAKE BACK THE FALLS

-candy and grenda’s symbol is a disco ball. “…and this one could mean a person who can see the fun in any situation! or just a party animal.” “hey, that’s me!” “that’s me too!” “it’s both of us!! SYMBOL SISTERS!!!” [grenda lifts candy up onto her shoulders and they each take a hand, candy on her right side since her left arm is broken and grenda on the left]

-“we’re proud of you, daughter. saving the world will be perfect for salvaging our reputation! i still think those pines kids are a bit of a bad influence on you, though.”

-“oh YEAH? how’s THIS for a bad influence?!” [she pulls mabel into a passionate kiss] “news flash, dad! your perfect daughter’s a big fat gross lesbian! and when i grow up I’m gonna marry this riffraff right here, and change my name to pines too!! so DEAL WITH IT!!!”

stan still loses his memory as he did in canon, but dipper is the most visibly distraught and won’t stop begging him to remember. he tells him how even though they fought a lot over that summer, he loves him so much and he’d never ask for a better grunkle. he desperately tries to jog his memory with baby pictures, but they need to trigger more immediate memories first.

the solution for mabel to stay in gravity falls would be to fabricate a lie that dipper is ford’s grandson, ford being the twin that faked his own death to escape a life on the run, but they’ve just come back to reconnect with the family (since dipper lost his parents apparently), and mabel didn’t want to tell her parents at first because she was afraid they wouldn’t want her staying with an estranged family member/ex-con. but she’s made so many great friends and she loves this town and wants to stay with her “cousin”.

while the northwests go house hunting, mabel invites pacifica to stay at the shack until they can find a new home.

rather than leaving for a new adventure, ford and stan decide to stay at the shack and rest for a while, just settle into their new family dynamic. soos, melody, and abuelita all still move in, and so the house is renovated to make room for the huge family.

with the journals destroyed, the mystery squad now has to start from square one…. but dipper tells mabel that she doesn’t have to do anything to impress him anymore. that he’s ready to try just being a kid again.

#gravity falls #reunion falls #gravity falls au #interesting #i think tumblr might have actually glitched on me

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corancoranthemagicalman · 3 years

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‘twas tagged by the beloved mutual @kamwashere for a mutual tag game! 💕

why did you choose your url?

I was on the Voltron Amino and ended up doing an art collab. Most of the others were on Tumblr, and since I didn’t have one I just created one to be tagged in the collab. I RP’d Coran all the time and had basically been going by that name as I do now on occasion. Coran was my man. @/corancoranthegorgeousman was taken (by a rocking blogger who I don’t think is a mutual so I shan’t at) and so I think it was @robbingroses (a wonderful person and artist) who actually made the suggestion that stuck.

any side-blogs?

/sweats

...None that I use.

As mentioned before, used to be heavy into RP’ing whilst I was in the Voltron fandom, so I’ve got a bunch in relation to that. I also have two URLs that I really like saved, but I could never switch from being the magical man.

how long have you been on Tumblr?

Early 2018? Or something? That’s how long I’ve had my own account. Been stalking Tumblr since at least 2012.

do you have a queue tag?

I do despite not knowing how they work! The tag is ‘cqueue’, a play on words of my AO3 username CBlue.

why did you start your blog in the first place?

As I’ve already lore dropped (whoops), I did it because of an art collab! Made sense to do it since I was already snooping all over the platform, and then just slowly migrated from the Amino based community to here. Now I’m stuck in Turbo Hell.

why did you choose your icon/pfp?

Currently? Because it’s a recent art and I’m trying to convince myself I’m an artist. I’m going to be changing it soon though, haha.

why did you choose your header?

Because I made a funny and found it funny. Also I listen to Radio Company too much so I have to dunk on myself.

what’s your post with the most notes?

I don’t... know? I’ve lost the site that configures that for me :(( I get like five notes on average for original posts so let’s just say I’m very popular amongst my peers ✌️

how many people do you follow?

okay to be fair most of them are dead as I literally was scrolling through them this morning. But I won’t say.

have you ever made a shitpost?

all day e’ry day

how often do you use Tumblr?

I used to be normal. Then who the hell knows went on a hunting trip and the finale happened and now I’m here daily. I get my global news through tumblr memes, though. Like the morning paper.

did you have a fight/argument with a blog once? who won?

I mean yes and no? I’ve butted heads and narrowly avoided getting into heated back and forths, but I think I back off before it escalates into arguments or fights. I don’t get involved in that stuff anymore. Like, if people just get too negative for me or if they’re aggressive to me, I unfollow and block. I don’t have time to stress over fighting with someone in a space where I come to relax and have fun. I’ve got enough in my real world life with my real world consequences without debating on whether or not I should tag that post with John Winchester only for you to also tag it with John Winchester when you rebloggeed it from me. This is my good times space, so I don’t want to taint that with arguing and fighting.

That being said, maybe this just means I’m the loser in fights because I refuse to fight.

how do you feel about ‘you need to reblog this post’?

I think it’s terrible. I love informative posts. I love spreading information about important causes and even just different cultural things. But I cannot stand the anxiety-inducing pressure to reblog every little burning fire and asshole-CEO exposure or else I’m a terrible person. As mentioned before, I come here to relax. I know I said I get my global news through Tumblr memes, but I also try to stay strictly to the fandom side of blogging. Unless it’s a ‘cause that moves me enough to overlook the “you need to reblog this”, I hate facilitating that culture that I know causes people stress and anxiety.

do you like tag games?

Yeah! But I always feel bad because I’m terrible at tagging other people? Like what is a mutual? Is it a spiritual mutual? We follow each other but how active are we in each other’s notifs? Do they recognize my name like I recognize theirs?

So I just crumble and die.

do you like ask games?

Yeah I do! I’ve got a few asks from ask games still burning in my inbox. They’re only so late because I lost my computer for a bit like two months back when I kind of had the free time to answer them. Now the answers are slowly getting drafted so I can post them an awkward amount of time later and I hate it lol

which of your mutuals do you think is tumblr famous?

idk I think that @kamwashere blog might be pretty famous. Also again I wish I just... had an easier to view list of who my mutuals are? Not for this question but in general.

Mutuals sound off please I love you <3

do you have a crush on a mutual?

Hell yes ;)

[No I don’t lol. But I crush on mutuals in the sense of “please be my friend.” So friend-crush. I guess. But then the ones I actually actively think of as mutuals are my friends.]

Again, we’re supposed to tag mutuals. Here’s a few who I know are my mutuals, but no pressure to partake!!

@morai-the-swann-king @jitter-bugss @damejudyhench @you-cant-spell-subtext-without @blue-eyed-cutiepatootie 🌺

#tag game #magical moots #C is an Anxious Person #but here we are!!! attempting to do tag games and get those asks finished #this is my last day of homework before break so I'll be on and off but then the rest of the week?? yessss #like I might try to work on my assets in my free time but like come ON its gonna be after I catch up on my writing ;)#maybe #if I dont get too anxious #anxiettyyyy rulesss my liifeeee #I digress #c rambles in the tags

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hawopro · 4 years

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Prince of Tennis (2019) meme

I was tagged by the lovely @sandreeen on my main (@rupru-russiaxprussia) but anyway, I’m going to do this here! Never done this before, was I supposed to response with reblog or?? :D?? Original post here

Tagging: @zhuxinjie @wndrnvrlnd @luckycheesefoodie321@kdramapit @pillarpair @tsukkiyume if yall wanna do it, and other who’s watched this show and need to rant like I did months ago.

Lmao like I’m doing now actually, bc these answers are long............ Let me know what you guys think! I’m always down to talk about this show bc this fandom is so little hahaha

1. Favorite character(s)?

2. Favorite school team(s)?

3. Favorite coach(es)?

4. Favorite supporting cast member(s)? (characters who aren’t regulars, aren’t on tennis teams etc.)

5. Favorite original character(s) in the adaptation?

6. Who do you think enacted their role best?

7. Favorite singles match?

8. Favorite doubles match?

9. Favorite story arc?

10. Most amusing tenipuri scene(s)/moment(s)/running joke(s)?

11. What did you like most about the adaptation?

12. What do you think the adaptation could have improved on?

13. Any other thoughts you want to share?

Answers:

1. Favorite character(s)?

Childhood favorite is Zhuo Zhi (Fuji) BUT now my taste in fictional guy is douchebag with character development, therefore Ji Jingwu (Atobe) is my favorite hands down. And Ming Ren did such an amazing job that I swooned tbh... perfect amount of arrogance, charisma, with mushy inside (letting Shishido back on team and caring about Siyang like come on). But I love this adaptation of Siyang (Tezuka) as well, anime Tezuka was too dry for me. Yu Shirota’s Tezuka was good, but I love this dorky Siyang.

2. Favorite school team(s)?

Rokkaku! They’re so pure and adorable, super chill and quirky af! So accepting of Lu Xia (Ryoma) into their midst. Babies.

3. Favorite coach(es)?

Rokkaku’s coach! Mr. Six, old wise man. Where can I find one? I need life changing advice.

4. Favorite supporting cast member(s)? (characters who aren’t regulars, aren’t on tennis teams etc.)

Echizen Nanjiro (I forgot his Chinese name). Is he supporting cast?? Haha I love that he’s obsessed with a singer, make weird food, but really love Lu Xia. None of that perverted bs from anime. I approve. Especially love his and Qiao Chen’s (Momo) interaction over the singer (how Qiao Chen called him Dage and then switched to Shushu in front of Lu Xia lmao). Most striking scene is when he and Lu Xia shared a blanket. My heart.

5. Favorite original character(s) in the adaptation?

Qi Ying’s friend Peng Xiang (Sakuno’s friend uhh Tomoka?) I thought she was kinda annoying in the anime, but Peng Xiang is supportive af, always there with encouragement for Qi Ying. So funny when she said she won’t look at men other than Yu Qing and then Rokkaku walked in with sleeveless shirts.

6. Who do you think enacted their role best?

I think everyone did really great! I think the director and writers really know the anime personalities. Kudos to them for awesome in making characters well-rounded and realistic in this adaptation. Side characters from other teams didn’t get much thoughts, but I’m sure that’s due to budget and time constraint.

7. Favorite singles match?

First thought would be Siyang and Jingwu’s match. But that’s bc I’m biased. Upon thinking more, I like Lu Xia and Zhuo Zhi’s match during practice in the rain. They are a good match up, and it’s a shame we never got to see the end of it (in any adaptation.) Zhuo Zhi was actually being serious haha. It’s like they’re battling for the title of Siyang’s no.1 favorite.

8. Favorite doubles match?

OH i gif this so hard, but the Rival pair match!!!! god I love their dynamic and their development on the court! I swear when Golden pair graduates, and Baiyang (Kaidoh) and Qiao Chen became capt and vice capt, they’ll be the new Golden pair. Who else know you better than your rival amirite. New recruits would whisper behind their backs “are you sure that’s Yu Qing’s golden pair? they’re fighting like cat and dog” and then be flabbergasted when witness their teamwork during game.

9. Favorite story arc?

Studying for exam arc and training camp/power up arc. I’m a sucker for those slice of life team interaction. It’s not a sport anime without the studying bootcamp at a team member’s house. The training camp arc has nice interactions with Yu Feng (Fudomine) and you can really see that while Yu Qing is one of the top tennis schools, they really have a lot of flaws and have to work really hard to be better! That and the pillow fight scene during the power outage. And Yu Feng thought they were training. All I’ve ever wanted. Very nice.

10. Most amusing tenipuri scene(s)/moment(s)/running joke(s)?

This adaptation is hilarious! I love the whole Yan’s juice (Inui’s juice) running joke and Nanjiro’s inedible cooking with crawfish and durian and weird stuff. I also love how everyone just fainted when drinking it hahaha even Siyang couldn’t handle it. Stretcher bros are funny af, that one time they’re so used to carry stretcher and needed to bring it everywhere hahaha. And when they tried to paint each other omg. Also love when Qiao Chen crashed into Nanjiro, and Nanjiro was drawing chalk line around them to preserve evidence afd;sjlkda i died laughing. And when Qiao Chen swerved his bike and Lu Xia fell off. And Qiao Chen and Lu Xia’s double practice... there are a lot more, but I will shut up now.

11. What did you like most about the adaptation?

I’d say refer to my post Things I loved about... but basically I love how there are a lot of nuances from the anime in this adaptation. Everything is as similar as possible to anime but not forced. So I def prefer this adaptation to the JP movie or the Taiwanese series.

12. What do you think the adaptation could have improved on?

The tennis and cgi could be better imo. The JP live action movie had amazing cgi for the special techniques and they didn’t look outlandish or cringey... Also I might be wrong, bc I’m no tennis expert, but most of the actors didn’t seem to know how to play tennis? Their serve, smash and sometimes forehand really cringed me... no way those forms are legit... that ball would have flew into the fence... it’s a bit distracting and kinda embarrassing when I tried to get my friends to watch this hahaha “here watch this tennis show, but don’t watch the tennis in it”

13. Any other thoughts you want to share?

oof I spent way too much time writing this instead of studying... please come talk to me about this show! I love it so much! If yall ever write fic on ao3, please link me, I’d love to read bc there’s so little content for this fandom that it hurts me! Thanks for reading my rant until the end hahaha

#fen dou ba shao nian #chinapuri 2019 #match! tennis juniors #meme #tagged #i talked way too much #i wish i have more time to make more chinapuri content bc im not over this show at all #mine #pot stuff

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yumeka36 · 5 years

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Now that D23 Expo is over and I’ve had some time to process my thoughts on all the Frozen 2 goodness I experienced there, I wanted to write a follow up to my panel coverage post from Saturday where I tried to describe pretty much all the new footage that was shown (thanks to everyone who liked and reblogged and for pushing me over 400 followers :3)

Firstly, I wanted to go a little more in depth about the “Into the Unknown” scene now that I’ve found a few posts with the lyrics (can’t say they’re 100% accurate but they definitely sound on point from what I remember):

As Elsa’s walking down the corridors of the castle.

“I can hear you, but I won’t. Some look for trouble while others don’t. There’s a thousand reasons I should go about my day and ignore your whispers which I wish would go away, oh. Oh. You’re not a voice. You’re just a ringing in my ear and if I heard you – which I don’t…”

She stops and looks at paintings on the wall, One is of the Frohana group and the other is of her parents.

.”..everyone I’ve ever loved is here within these walls. I’m sorry secret siren but I’m blocking out your calls!”

She continues walking through the castle and ends up outside. I believe it’s the exact same location where she fled Arendelle in the first movie, the area behind the castle near the fjord.

“Are you here to distract me so I make a big mistake? Or are you someone out there who's a little bit like me, who knows deep down I'm not where I'm meant to be? Every day's a little harder as I feel my power grow. Don't you know there's a part of me that longs to go into the unknown?"

Around this point the magical ice particles that we saw in the trailer appear. The first image they form is a heard of reindeer like we saw in the trailer scene with Kristoff and Sven. Then the fire spirit (it looks like a little wispy, bouncy flame, just like the purple fire from the trailer), then the Nokk, then the earth giants, and then the blowing leaves. There was also a moment the ice particles seem to “pull” her towards the edge of the land and she spontaneously makes a ledge of ice so she can follow them even farther. This leads to the other trailer scene of her reaching her arm out towards the fjord before the ice crystals with the symbols appear all around her. The footage ends there.

I loved this new song and everything else that was revealed at the Expo. But like others, I’m both hyped and apprehensive about how the filmmakers chose to end the story. Switching gears from song to speculation, while they were discussing the story during the panel, they said things like there will be a “big change” and “in the end nothing will ever be the same.” One of the biggest fears fans are having is that Anna and Elsa will end up separating at the end, whether it’s Elsa staying behind in the enchanted land or some other scenario. While I can’t help sharing that fear maybe a tiny bit, I’m much more certain that it will not be the case. titania-knight mentioned that separation of the main characters happened in recent Disney/Pixar sequels like Toy Story 4 and Wreck-It Ralph 2, so it could happen with Frozen. But Frozen is different in the fact that the entire plot of the first movie revolved around Anna and Elsa getting back together as a family. While all the Toy Story movies emphasize the fact that Andy’s toys were like family, they also emphasized acceptance of change (leaving Andy for Bonnie), plus the fact that they’re toys makes it a given that things won’t always be the same when their kids grow up. And even though the movie ended with Woody separating from the others, it’s not like he went off all alone - he’s still with Bo Peep and her toy friends, which still leaves potential for fun adventures with them as well as Buzz and the old toys. Same thing with Wreck-It Ralph: the first movie was all about Ralph trying to find out that he’s more than a “bad guy” by forming a friendship with Vanellope, while the second film explored how his friendship went a bit overboard and he had to accept Vanellope’s wishes even though they clashed with his own. And again, even though they ended up going separate ways, there’s still potential for stories with Vanellope and her new friends in Slaughter Race and the rest of the internet, as well as Ralph and his arcade friends. Plus they can still easily visit each other now that the arcade is connected to the internet. So yes, Toy Story and Wreck-It Ralph do involve strong bonds of friendship between the characters, but their whole identity isn’t formed from a single relationship the way Frozen’s is with the sisterly bond between Anna and Elsa.

While all Disney movies of the past had the “happily ever after” ending, even though more recent ones have opted for a bittersweet ending, one thing they still stay true to is, as I described with the aforementioned sequels, the potential for the characters to have more adventures and live on in their world, even if it’s not the exact same way as before. Disney keeps their characters immortal by allowing us to always imagine them in a happily ever after even if it’s a bit bittersweet. So unlike Ralph and Toy Story, what potential would exist for Frozen if its main characters ended up separating? From what we’ve seen of the enchanted lands, they don’t seem like a fun place - Matthias and his soldiers have been trapped there for years, so it’s place people want to get away from. Unless a lot more about it is revealed later on, the impression I have is that it’s a desolate place not meant to be inhabited. I’ve been trying to think of a possible reason for Elsa to stay there but I can’t think of any, especially not one that would make a satisfying ending. I know Disney isn’t always totally akin to what its fans want, but I don’t think there’s a single Frozen fan who would want an ending with the sisters splitting up, and Disney must be aware of that. I know they want to make Frozen 2 a bit “darker” but that doesn’t mean unsatisfying. It’s an ending nobody would want, that goes against the achievement of the first movie, and leaves poor potential for imagining the characters in a continual happily ever after. So while I can’t say with absolute certainty we won’t get a separation ending, it’s very unlikely in my opinion.

So then what could this drastic, irreversible change be? Another theory is that Elsa will lose her powers in the end. It seems more plausible than the separation ending, but still doesn’t seem that likely - stripping Elsa of her powers would pretty much render the 6 years of making her an iconic user of ice magic completely obsolete, and I don’t think Disney would do that to one of their most popular characters. While I’m not one to dwell much in fan theories, I will say that I personally think the “nothing will ever be the same” description is referring to how we thought Elsa got her powers: she was born with them, but it’s actually not the case. For a while I’ve been thinking about the scene at the beginning of the first movie where Pabbie asks “Born with the power, or cursed?” and Agnarr says “Born.” The way he says it almost seems like he’s being a little too insistent, like he doesn’t want anyone to think it could be a curse...so maybe we find out that it actually is, that whatever happened when he went to the enchanted land originally caused his first born child to be cursed with magic powers? Again, that’s just my theory and the only plot reveal I could think of that matches the drastic description the filmmakers put forth for the movie (I also like frozenartscapes’ theory of Elsa uniting the magic of the enchanted lands with Arendelle)

I think that’s all I gotta say about Frozen 2 for now. I apologize that this post was kind of all over the place. Just had to get all my thoughts out at once! XD I’m sure I’ll be back once we get the next new trailer or other footage~

#frozen #frozen 2 #frozen 2 spoilers #d23 expo 2019 #d23 expo #into the unknown

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lostlonelylotus · 4 years

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Another Hiatus?

straight up thinking of taking another hiatus from Tumblr...I hate to, but I’m thinking maybe this place just isn’t good for me, even after such a long time away in the first place. More under the cut, if anyone wants to read it.

So, I struggle with a lot on a daily basis. Things that I don’t even tell what few people are around me in real life, because frankly, I don’t really have anyone to tell that I think would want to help. I’ve had to end a great deal of my friendships because they were unhealthy/toxic and others ended because I’m disabled and cannot keep up with more “social” or outgoing people (which unfortunately is usually interpreted as disinterest because of constant rescheduling or inability to go out).

No one even knows that I’ve started a particularly hard round of chemotherapy that involves painful injections, because I worry that people just get sick of hearing how I’m actually doing versus the image of me they think should be real. I lie and say that I’m fine, when I’m struggling mentally and physically. Very few people know that I’m in such severe constant pain that even with strong opiates, medical cannabis, benzodiazepines and constantly watching my diet, I’m spending 12+ hours a day in bed. I never get below a 6/10 anymore. I can’t remember what anything below that feels like. My body tortures me every waking minute.

I’m back to where I started when I began treatment in 2012 and my mental health has taken a nose dive because it all just feels so futile, you know? Treatment after treatment, surgery after surgery, fighting tooth and nail to have the bare bones of a life only to fail and wind up at square one is...Hell.

Add onto that, that I can’t get a FT job (so no PTO or good health insurance) despite having multiple degrees and that I had a position lined up before COVID that might now no longer even exist when this is all over + that the Part Time job I have that I love has completely changed now that I’m work from home and I HATE these new tasks and miss my coworkers + that I live with an actively abusive family member + that I have no friends beyond surface-level acquaintances despite so much effort to try and make and keep friends + that I’ve struggled my whole life with internalization of everything...and you’ve got a walking disaster of a human being who should probably nowhere near this site.

My therapist is through the school I graduated from, so I can’t even see them, and it wouldn’t matter because our relationship has progressed too far and they just treat my visits like a social hour and we never even talk about my real problems. It’s pretty damn pathetic when your needs don’t even matter to your therapist.

In real life, I’m a doormat to people’s needs. You need a house sitter? That’s me and they’ll pay me pennies to do it. You need someone to teach your children during COVID because we’re co-distancing? You need someone to drop everything and help you? That’s me. But when I need something, anything? A cup of tea or a genuinely asked “How are you?”? Forget it.

I miss fandom. I miss the escape. I miss the discourse. I miss the photosets and the freaking out over characters. I miss fandom buddies.

My experience of fandom since I last left Tumblr maybe 2-3 years ago has been very solitary. AO3 fics that I *do* comment on or discord servers where I’m one of dozens or more of people that no one can really remember because it’s hard to try to “compete” to be heard with 5 other people who are friends that are talking in depth about parts of fandom that you are new to...that and Google bloody Images have been my fandom for the past 2 years.

It’s fucking lonely out here. I feel like a fandom cowboy, alone on a prairie, occasionally passing by other cowboys and wrangling the livestock together for a moment before heading on with a half-hearted tip of our hats. It’s more than likely the reason why I haven’t published a fic in nearly 2 years, even though I’ve completed 1 or 2 little ones. I used to write all the time, all the time. Fics, ficlets, drabbles, headcanons. Screaming into the void is so much harder than just sitting there with your eyes closed and pretending there is no void.

I got into Classic Doctor Who and back into a few “older”/smaller fandoms, and when there’s no fic to be had...your only option really is Tumblr. I was writing again (am writing again?), and the photo/gif sets and the meta had me fucking inspired for the first time in...so long. I was addicted to writing again. Wrote more in the last two weeks than I have in years. Started writing a fic that’s already longer than any I’ve ever written before.

I thought I could handle it, Tumblr helped so much before in the Golden Days of Tumblr. I became part of a huge fandom friend group on Skype back then. I had friends. I had true fandom, not this bizarre one-person-imaginings experience of fandom.

I was able to see something triggering or an opinion I disagreed with or deal with bad anons or any of the bad parts of Tumblr. I was able to see just the good, overall.

But, now, I don’t know that I can? I’m too internalizing now? Someone replies to a post with a minor disagreement and it makes me hate myself. I get a slightly disgruntled anon and I cry. People don’t tag very triggering or super stressful political items anymore, so I can’t “unplug” when I need to avoid seeing things about riots and horrendous crimes against people and so I wind up with an additional panic attack because I can’t do anything about anything.

I don’t know if the vibe of this place has changed or if I’ve become one of the dreaded and dreadful “snowflakes” who just can’t handle shit. I think both, honestly.

And it fucking sucks, okay? Because I was starting to get back into the swing of liking this place. I was starting to branch out and reconnect with folks I knew from before that were/are wonderful or make new fandom acquaintances. I had the carrot of having a collection of true fandoms in front of me. Of feeling connected in this time of horrendous isolation (both for the world and me personally).

But the stick is so much bigger than I remember. So much larger and harder; a tree trunk log instead of a twig switch. I’m not taking little love taps or slightly stinging slaps, I’m being beaten with it. By it.

I don’t know what to do. I want to keep Tumbling. I want to keep building friendships and talking about dumb fandom things. I want to reblog old gifsets and have convos in the tags. I want to share fics/art back and forth. I live for the discussions that I’m starting to have again. I live for seeing 3 bloody notes on an original post I made. I live for knowing that someone, somewhere is seeing something I wrote or made or said and likes it.

I don’t want the internalization of disagreements, of a perceived inferiority to other users, of feeling bad about myself over things that aren’t even a big deal on Tumblr but are to me. I don’t want to feel even more ‘less than’ than I already do.

I don’t want to feel extreme anxiety over the insanity of the world that I can’t escape even on here because tagging is a thing of the past and it’s apparently a major faux pas to ask for tags on triggering content, even if I fully support the matters tagged. I live the insanity okay? I’m a queer, disabled, person of color, in the small-town Midwest living in poverty. I’m not some racist who just doesn’t want to see your protest content. I’m struggling to get by.

Maybe I’ll just stop producing content? Only reblog and like? Only comb through character tags or chat with some of the fantastic people that have offered? My inspiration is declining, along with my mood.

I’d honestly contemplate a permanent hiatus (just not a deletion) if all of the fandoms that I was in had discords, but they don’t. If they do, I don’t know about them. Though, honestly, discord is not the same, and I always feel even more insignificant there. Drowned out or unimportant.

Huh. Drowned out or unimportant, that could really be the title of this pity post. Possibly the title of an autobiography, if I was ever self-indulgent enough to write one.

If you’ve read this whole thing, then wow. Thank you, because you’ve just given more of a shit about me and my feelings than anyone in a long, long time.

This post probably won’t be up long, it was honestly meant to be a pity-party cathartic release of feelings and will, no doubt, make me feel more pathetic the longer I leave it up.

#fandom #personal #I'm contemplating leaving Tumblr again #I just don't know

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perspective-series · 5 years

Text

Switched Perspective (23)

By: @arc852 and @hiddendreamer67

Warnings: Mentions of Past Trauma, guilt, fear

Surprise, it’s a day early so we can post the very last chapter tomorrow!

(Check the reblog for the links to the previous chapters and the prequel!)

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“Er, sorry about the door.” The girl in purple and teal said. “It was her idea.” She pointed to the other girl.

“I...whu…” Thomas dropped the spatula in his hands with wides eyes, the utensil clattering to the floor.

“I’m Mandy, this is Arc.” Mandy, the one in red and blue gestured to herself and then her companion with her thumb.

Arc waved with a smile. “Hi!”

Virgil simply stared at them, as everyone else was. “I-I’m sorry, what? How did you even…” He glanced down at the door.

Arc grinned. “We’re witches!” She said as if that explained everything.

“And we’re here to make things write.” Mandy smirked, making a quill appear briefly in her hand. The others didn’t seem to catch her drift, so with a sigh Mandy made the quill disappear.

“What does that even mean?” Thomas looked confused.

“Aww, don’t read into it.” Arc teased, playfully elbowing Mandy. The two witches giggled at their own inside joke, not caring to explain their multi-dimensional, fourth wall-breaking humor.

“The witches are real.” Roman said breathlessly, torn between wonderment and terror.

“That...that isn’t possible…” Logan sat there, trying to comprehend what was happening as he gaped like a fish.

At the sound of their voices, Mandy let out a gasp, taking a step forward and grabbing Arc’s arm. She pointed at Patton’s hands. “Oh my goodness, look at them. They’re cuter than I imagined.”

Patton held the two closer to himself as the two witches came closer. Looking at them both warily. Arc’s eyes widened. “Oh my gosh, you’re right.” She sent the two of them a smile. “Hello Roman, Logan. It’s nice to finally meet you two.” She paused. “Oh, and it’s great to meet you guys too!” She said, looking between Patton, Virgil and Thomas.

“How do you know who we are?” Logan asked warily.

“And why’d you curse us?” Roman got straight to the point.

“‘Curse’ is a strong word.” Mandy put her fingers in a steeple formation. “This is more like… a gift gone awry. Have any of you seen the movie ‘Ella Enchanted’? It’s about a girl who’s fairy godmother gives her the gift of obedience. Sounds like a great idea, but ends up backfiring. Repeatedly.”

“In other words, we really were just trying to help you guys.” Arc finished and Virgil let out a humorless chuckle, bringing attention to himself.

“Yeah, well, fat load of good all this did.” He waved towards all of them, indicating their sizes. “You know, none of this would have happened if you had just left us alone.” Virgil growled through grit teeth.

Arc frowned. “We can still fix this.” She walked over to Thomas and held out her hand. “The scroll, if you could, please Thomas.”

“...I left it in my bedroom.” Thomas said, almost in a daze.

“Then go get it.” Mandy waved him off with an eye roll, watching the human trip over himself to get the scroll. “Honestly, you all keep leaving your props in the most bizarre places. You didn’t even put away the ice cream yesterday.”

Roman blinked. “We didn’t?” Not that it was his responsibility, being only a few inches tall, but...still. That was a lot of ice cream wasted.

“Here’s the scroll, your majesty.” Thomas panted, running back into the room to hand it to Arc.

Arc laughed. “Arc is fine, Thomas, neither of us are royalty.”

“Speak for yourself.” Mandy preened, looking pleased.

Arc ignored her. She looked down at the scroll moving it so Mandy could see it too. “Alright...I’m thinking we change that?” She pointed.

“Perfect.” Mandy pulled the quill out from thin air again, crossing out the text and scribbling something else down. “All set, the terms of your contract have been changed.”

“Changed how, exactly?” Logan pressed, always a stickler for details.

“All of you are no longer required to be friends.” Mandy explained, her quill disappearing. “But in exchange, you do have to live together.”

Virgil blinked. “I’m...I’m sorry, what?”

“Basically,” Arc continued. “You don’t have to be friends but you have to be civil and agree that you, Virgil, won’t move when you return to your original height.”

“Any questions?” Mandy asked, taking the scroll and shoving it back into a flustered Thomas’ hands.

“Well, actually-”

“Good!” Mandy cut Roman off. She raised her hand, and with a puff of smoke both witches were gone as quickly as they appeared.

“What...What the hell was that!” Virgil exclaimed.

“Virgil…” Patton warned at the language and his tone. Virgil shook his head, trying to calm himself down. But it wasn’t really working.

“This is insane, how does this even help us?!”

“It gives an opportunity for redemption.” Roman huffed. “Now suck it up and make up already you two.”

Virgil bit his lip, looking over at Logan, knowing Roman was talking about the two of them. Or, really, more specifically himself. He sighed. “You’re right…” He took a step closer to the human turned borrower and found himself unable to meet his eyes as he began to speak. “Logan…” He thought back to his previous conversations with both Roman and Patton. “I messed up.”

“Indeed.” Logan agreed.

“Logan.” Thomas gave a warning tone, still clutching the scroll.

Logan sighed. “I have committed many errors as well.”

“I want to be clear that I really don’t want you dead.” Virgil said, closing his eyes for a moment. “I just...I let my anger get the best of me and I did things to you and-and you, Roman, that I’m not proud of. That I regret.”

Patton smiled, his heart welling up inside his chest. “Aww, kiddo…” He was proud of him for trying to make things right.

Roman didn’t meet his eye.

“That is...welcoming to hear.” Logan admitted. “Though I hypothesized such a mindset, your actions at times made me suspect otherwise. It is at least of benefit to know that your actions were not intentionally fatal.”

“...but they were fatal.” Roman couldn’t help but mutter.

“I beg your pardon?” Logan turned to him.

“Virgil, you still-” Roman took a deep breath. “You could have killed Logan. Me. Us. And I really do think that wasn’t your intention, but… it just kept happening. And I just want to know why I wasn’t enough to stop it.”

Virgil’s eyes widened and he could already feel the tears start to roll down his cheeks. “Roman...I-” Virgil bit his lip as he looked down at the ground. “None of this is your fault Roman. And you shouldn’t blame yourself for not being able to stop me, I’m not your responsibility.” He sighed, running a hand through his hair.

“I think, the truth is...I’m still scared.” Virgil admitted quietly.

“Kiddo?” Patton asked but he already knew what Virgil meant.

“I’m still scared and I forced it to turn into anger because I could finally do something about it.” Virgil added on, possibly even quieter this time.

“It’s a survival mechanism.” Logan’s eyes widened in realization. “A side effect of the …. Traumatic events.” Logan paused. “For which I am responsible.”

“I scared him too.” Roman admitted.

“You didn’t resort to cages.” Logan sighed, knowing he was fully responsible. “And you didn’t mistreat Virgil as I did.”

Virgil finally looked up and met Logan’s eyes. “A large part of me is still scared that you’ll put me back in that cage.” Virgil closed his eyes. “Especially...after what I’ve done today.”

Patton felt his eyes water at the sight of Virgil so scared. He knew all too well what Virgil was dealing with in terms of feelings.

“I understand your fears.” Logan admitted, knowing he still felt a similar fear that Virgil would reach out and grab him at any moment. “But Virgil, I can assure you that is not the case. I do not feel a need for revenge against you, at any size. I simply want safety and peace between us. I am sympathetic towards your plight and already intended to return that device at my earliest convenience, once I can again lift the contraption unassisted.”

“I...want to believe you.” Virgil admitted but his heart still beat rapidly inside his chest. “It’s just hard.”

“I...think that’s what this is for.” Thomas spoke up, looking again at the scroll. “Perhaps that’s why you two are meant to agree to be roommates- so you can have time to understand each other.”

“That makes sense.” Patton agreed, looking over Thomas’ shoulder to see the scroll too. “Remember guys, those witches changed the rules. You don’t have to be friends and make up right this minute. You just have to agree and promise you’ll live together.”

“I...guess you do have a point.” Virgil admitted. Still, the thought of interacting with Logan at his normal size again was giving him anxiety already.

“Well, what do you say?” Roman looked between the two. “Can you two suck up your pride for once?”

Logan rolled his eyes at Roman’s comment, but took a step forward. “I am willing to coexist.” Logan declared, sticking out his hand. “I promise to be understanding to the best of my ability and provide a safe living environment.”

Virgil hesitated before reaching out and gently taking Logan’s hand between his two fingers. “And-And I promise to give you a chance and to not move away.”

“Aww, this is so pure.” Patton whispered in glee.

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commander-hanji-zoe · 4 years

Note

Do you have any advice for a new blog?

🌸 Oh this is such an interesting ask, I’ve been thinking about it for a few days now, sorry it’s taken a while to get back to you but I was thinking how best to answer it! While this blog has only been around for 3 years and I’ve only really started posting in it recently, I have had my main tumblr blog for 10 years and several side blogs with quite a few followers so I’m hoping I can provide some insight! I do apologise as this turned into a bit of a ramble that I feel is about tumblr but beings to overlap into life advice lol - I blame my age. 🌸

1.) I would say firstly, enjoy it. I feel sometimes there’s a lot of pressure to get loads of followers, create new content etc. and you can forget why you’re here. I got tumblr to reblog photos of things that made me happy from bands to tattoos, movie stuff, art etc and occasionally I would forget that and end up getting bogged down in comparing stats and myself to others. So yeah, enjoy it and remember why you joined ^_^

2.) If you love work that others create (writing/art/gif sets etc.) show your appreciation not just with likes but with comments and reblogging where you can/feel comfortable doing so. Likes are great and always appreciated but comments help to inspire and reblogging means more people will see their work. It encourages content creators to continue creating, it’s also a really good way of gaining followers and make friends. If you support others they will likely support you in return.

3.) Share the art/fan art/cosplay photos you love as per above - but don’t repost work. This was something I wasn’t really aware of when I first joined tumblr, a lot of people would just save photos from google or deviant art (it was a very different place back then) and post them on tumblr to show appreciation. But often there would be no artist detail or link to the artist, instead if you find something you like reblog it from the creator. If it isn’t on tumblr and you’d really like to post it here, contact the creator and ask their permission to post - then include a link in the post and explain you have the artist’s permission.

4.) Talk to people :) - Okay like Alice in Wonderland here’s some advice I could really use sometimes! Through tumblr I have met some of the most amazing friends. When I first started out I started chatting to a girl who went to the same Uni as me, we met up to go for coffee, browse record shops and saw The Vaccines together. I’ve also met numerous people who encouraged me to go to Hobbit Con in Germany - I had the most amazing time, remained friends, one of them came to my wedding. I guess the message here is that internet friends are great and you never know what a friendship can blossom into. If there’s someone whose work you admire or blog you love, don’t be afraid to reach out and send a message, even if you feel a bit silly (I often do!).

5.) Tags - My take on tags is pretty simple, tag correctly. I often tag things quite heavily but I make sure that I only tag characters that feature in a post or fandoms that feature in that post etc. You often come across posts where every character in the show has been tagged, I get why people do it, it means the post will come up in more results but it is rather infuriating when you’re looking for something specific. It also looks messy and can make things hard to find on your own blog. So yeah tag the show/film/book etc, tag the relevant characters, add whatever tags you want regarding your feelings/emotions about the post or thoughts on it. But ideally keep it relevant. On that note, tag ships (people often blacklist ships they dislike or that they find problematic) so doing this helps everyone. Anything that’s only really suitable for people 18+ tag however you see fit (due to Tumblr’s changes last year we had to revert to tagging things on the citrus scale again so I tag anything like that as lemon as well as nsft) Finally Trigger/content warnings - I do use them, some people put warnings on everything, some people don’t do at all. Again like with shipping it is helpful for people who have

6.) Remember to take breaks - tumblr can be a little addictive and easy to pass time (like social media) so remember to take breaks, when you get back they’ll be loads of new stuff on your dashboard to look at ^_^

7.) Follow loads of blogs! I probably should have put this higher up. But have a think about the kind of content you want to see and spend some time searching for blogs that fit that, I also find it’s nice to follow some more aesthetic blogs or blogs that are calming/relaxing, seeing things like that on my dash is always a reminder to have a breather!

8.) Enjoy playing around with themes - decide what you want your blog to be about (and remember there’s nothing wrong with having a main blog that’s a little bit of everything you love as well as personal stuff!) and then have fun with the settings. There’s a lot of free tumblr themes, some of which are pretty neat and user friendly in terms of customisation. Don’t be afraid to ask questions if you’re stuck.

9.) Side blogs are also really great. I begun to create side blogs because I didn’t want to spam my main blog with Game of Thrones, The Hobbit, Red Dead Redemption 2 or Attack on Titan, so I created side blogs. I still post about all these things on main but not as frequently. A side blog can also be good if you want to create a blog you can share with employers - I have a side blog for my photography and one for my writing. Sideblogs are also a good way of keeping certain material away from the blog where people in real life are most likely to find you. Generally I won’t post 18+ material on my main blog, so smutty fan fiction etc. goes on the side blogs. As a side note, when you have a side blog you cannot like posts or ask questions as that side blog - it will be from your main blog.

10.) Try not to get disheartened if you create original content and it doesn’t get a lot of attention at first. When you create a blog it can take time to gain followers/traction. But remember as per point 1, that Tumblr should be fun and creating content should first and fore mostly be for you and your enjoyement. But if you continue to create, tag appropriately but also show appreciation for fellow creators there’s no reason why in time you won’t flourish. And as per point 3, if you reblog others work there’s a chance they in return will reblog your art.

11.) There’s extension kits you can get for tumblr, I know some people use them and find them helpful. I’m not sure they’re as poplar/needed now as they used to be. I used to use one but don’t feel the need now, however might be worth a google or asking someone more knowledgeable to see if it’ll work for you.

12.) You can blacklist tags through settings, if there’s any ships, characters, things you’d rather not see on your dash or that you find upsetting or triggering I’d recommend blacklisting them. If people tag correctly you shouldn’t much/if any of it.

13.) Under blog settings you can also choose whether you want your blog to be searchable via the email address you registered with and on google. I switched this off pretty much as soon as it became a feature! My blogs, even my main blog are a piece of me which is only shared with a select few people in real life. I really do not need my colleagues, employers, certain family/friends finding this!

14.) Use Queues! I adore a queue.... Once I discovered they were a thing I try to have around 100 posts in my queue on main at any time. You can amend how many times you post a day (mine is around 8-12 times, I change it when i go away). It just means your blog remains active even if you can’t really log on for a week or two or if you’re on holiday. Occasionally I’ll add original posts into my queue with writing, it can be nice to come back and see the feedback. A lot of people put ‘queue’ in the tag, but you’ll realise most people have a quirky tag. For example on main mine is - one does not simply queue their way through tumblr. And on my red dead blog it’s - I had a god damn queue! Sadly on here I haven’t got one yet!

15.) Finally I would say engage in discourse as little as possible. It can be tempting and while drama can be fun for a while, even just to watch from the outside it can quickly escalate into something nasty and toxic. At first you might want to join in but tumblr can be, well it can be a lot at times and very noisy with everyone screaming their opinions and trying to be louder than the person before. I would say no fandom is inherently toxic, but it happens. A fandom I was heavily involved in last year had so much discourse and there was so much drama that even though I wasn’t involved in it my anxiety was through the roof, I had a panic attack over it and felt paranoid. After speaking to other older members in the fandom I felt much better (they too were annoyed with what was happening) and we realised that essentially a lot of it boiled down to a real lack of critical thinking. I’m not saying don’t get involved at all, sometimes I have seen things where I’ve felt things need to be said/action taken especially when it comes to intolerance and hatred. But I would say when you do engage - pick your battles. (I hope this last one makes sense). I started writing a lot more and going into the politics of it and ranting about bigots and then thought that’s probably enough! 😁

I hope this post helps! Like I said I’ve never been asked something like this so it took a bit of thinking but these are some of the key thoughts I had.

edit - I meant to add that obviously the above is just my opinion and based on my experiences on tumblr/thoughts about things.

#asks #blogging #tumblr stuff #advice I guess?#rambling #non aot #non snk

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shyanwritingevents · 5 years

Photo

Welcome to the biggest event of the year at ShyanWritingEvents, our Summer Exchange! This year, our goal is to fill the tag with the best works we can offer to the fandom while having the most fun.

~ What is the Shyan Exchange 2019?

The Shyan Exchange is a fanworks Gift Exchange focused on the romantic pairing shyan for the Buz/zFe/ed Unso/lved fandom. This will be an anonymously posted exchange that includes fanfic, fanart, gifsets and graphics, and where works will go up three days before authors and artists are revealed to their recipients.

Make sure to read the rules and the event schedule below the cut.

~ Event Rules

By signing up, you are committing to write an original, fully completed story that is no less than 1k words, or an original and finished fanart that is fully colored (grayscale counts), or a gifset comprised of 3 gifs or more, or graphics/edits (including posters).

This exchange is for works written in English. Anyone from any part of the world can enter, but English is necessary. It needs to have the necessary beta work done before posting. Fanfictions must be reasonably edited and readable, we are NOT betaing for authors.

You are expected to leave a comment on the gift YOU receive. This includes anyone who may drop out after assignments go out, since the person working the prompt is still in and the person who dropped will still get something.

Works should be focused on and only in the Ry*n B*rgar*/Sh*ne Mad*j (shyan) romantic pairing. You can include other side pairings or even other relationships involving them, but the end result of your work should be driven by ROMANTIC shyan (this means polyam and open relationships are accepted as long as the story is driven by romantic shyan).

You have to follow your recipient’s prompt. Do not include any of their do-not-wants. Doing so will cause your gift to not be included.

Your work must be complete. Works in progress are not acceptable for the gift. Multichapter is allowed only if it’s finished and an original work made for the Exchange.

You must be signed up by the time sign-ups close. If you’re late, you are welcome to offer to be a pinch-hitter (someone that will take over a prompt in the event someone has to drop out).

You must remain anonymous to your recipient until after reveals. Do not contact your prompter! If you need help with something or a question regarding your assignment, contact the blog! You should remain anonymous with other participants. Limited exceptions for betas.

You may not cross-post your completed gift anywhere until after reveals are complete.

If you sign-up and have to drop out, you need to contact the mods no later than two weeks before the deadline. In case you don’t do this, you won’t be allowed to participate in the following two events of the blog and will be listed under the post with the people who left without saying a word.

In your sign-up, you must request at least two different prompts, and no more than four. At least one prompt must be simple enough for fanart (e.g., A carrying B, cuddling, Space AU, etc.).

Works including rape/non-con/torture-porn/underage are not allowed as part of this exchange. This is not a ban on dark material. You may address related themes in your works, but graphic scenes should be avoided. Material of the kind between the couple will not be allowed. Keep this in mind when making your requests, too.

There is no minimum age requirement to participate in this exchange. However, if you are under the age of 18, please do not request or offer explicit sexual content.

If you change your URL or AO3 user, you MUST message the blog immediatelly so we don’t lose contact with you. If we can’t find you, you will be left out.

~ Rules for Posting

The fanfic or fanart must be posted on AO3 with the tag Shyan Exchange 2019. You can crosspost, only after reveals, to Tumblr, Wattpad, etc. but it must be on AO3. That will be our archive.

If posting on Tumblr, please tag it as shyanexchange2k19 in the first five tags of your post so we can reblog it. Please do not tag the name of the show or the boys’ full names. Suggested tags: shyanexchange2k19, shyan, shyan fic/art, skeptic believer, buzzfeed unclean (only for explicit works). Blogs you can tag: shyanwritingevents, shyanlibrary, yaboybergara.

The work must be reasonably edited and readable. That means we are not betaing, the way you post it is the way it goes out to the fandom!

You need an AO3 account to sign-up, so make sure you have one. You’ll have to submit your work to the Shyan Exchange Collection on August 27, 2019. Your work will be posted on September 3 on anonymous and on September 10, it will be revealed (this means it will stop being anonymous and will not only appear with your name on the tags, but will also appear in your profile).

HERE is a tutorial on how to post into the Collection in AO3, and HERE is one on how to post fanart into AO3.

You must not tell which one is your work util the three day anonymous time is over.

~ Restrictions

No authors under the age of 18 are allowed to request or offer explicit stories or art.

No WIPs (works in progress) allowed, only finished art and stories.

No underage sex and/or noncon/rape allowed between the couple, no explicit scenes of the kind if your story explores these materials in any other capacity.

No racism and/or racist language. No hate speech of any kind.

No bashing different dynamics/preferences when it comes to the ship. (Meaning, no bashing/mocking Bottom!Ryan, Bottom!Shane, switching, and so on, dom/sub dynamics, none of that shade. Be nice.)

No bashing of any kind to the family, friends and significant others of the boys. Be respectful. If you need a villain to your story, we suggest you to create an original character.

Works that are not tagged under Ry*n Berg*ra/Shan* M*dej and Shyan Exchange 2019 on AO3, will not be added to the collection nor allowed in the Exchange. If you have doubts about AO3′s tagging system, please send us an ask.

Got any questions? Ask away!

~ Schedule

Sign-ups: April 20 - May 20

Pinch-hitters sign-ups: May 20 - 25

Assignments go out: May 26 - 27

Working time: May 27 - July 27

First check-in: June 15

Second check-in: June 30

Third check-in: July 15

Fourth check-in: July 25

Deadline: July 27

Deadline for pinch-hitters: August 3

Posting: August 3 - 4

Reveals: August 8

Tumblr posting: August 8 - 9

Closing Announcement: August 10

Next Event Announcement: August 20

What kind of works does this event accepts?

Fanfictions (no less than 1k words, only finished works; no limit of words)

Fanart (fully colored, grayscale counts)

Graphics (including posters)

Gifsets (3 gifs or more, can be in color or grayscale)

How to join in?

After reading the rules, please go to the sign-ups option in the Shyan Exchange Collection.

In there, you will find the sign-up form. Fill all of it with the requested information.

AFTER you’ve done that, send us an ask with your AO3 username, how many prompts you requested and if you may be able to be a pinch-hitter.

In case of not being able to sign-up as participant, you can sing-up as pinch-hitter after.

We will answer you with confimation that we got your sign-up and you’ll get your assignament in your e-mail on May 26 - 27.

Got any questions? We will be happy to answer them! Just shoot us an ask, or message us. And please help spread the word so we can reach as many authors and artists as possible!

Thank you and have fun! ~

#shyanexchange2k19 #shyan #shyan fic #skeptic believer #buzzfeed unclean #sse2k19:intro #sse2k19:updates

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wingcharm · 5 years

Text

Never-Never Land Part 2/3

Thank you so much to everyone who liked, reblogged and replied to the first part of this series! I was blown away!

A few notes: although this story is already written, I wrote it by hand in my notebook while on bed-rest, and have been typing it out on my laptop and editing as I go, hence the delay between chapters. I'm still not sure if the final part of the story will be in one chapter or if it'll read better split in half with the latter part serving as an epilogue, so the final chapter count may change.

Thank you so much for reading!

AO3

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His phone is blowing up with calls, but he doesn’t bother checking to see who they’re from.

“FRIDAY, call Rhodey.”

The phone rings only once before Rhodey answers.

“Stay where you are,” is the first thing he says, his voice tight. “I’m serious, Tones. I’m working on it. Sam is on his way in now. They’ve been instructed to use non-lethal force only, they won’t hurt the kid. But we don’t know what kind of voodoo shit he’s under, and if you get thrown into the mix–”

“It’s not Peter!” Tony interrupts hastily, before another phrase like ‘non-lethal force’ can send him back into an emotional tailspin. “It’s not him. Someone else is in the suit.”

A stunned silence follows. Then, “Tony, who–?”

“I don’t know. Something’s blocking the comms, I can’t get in. But Peter–” his phone buzzes as another call comes through, Pepper’s face illuminated on the screen. “That’s Pep. I gotta tell her, Rhodey, can you–?”

“Yeah. I’ll keep you posted man, just – stay put, okay?”

Tony doesn’t answer. He switches over to the waiting call. “Pepper–”

“I know, honey. I saw,” her voice is gentle, but it rises quickly in volume until it carries. “FRIDAY, can you hear me? Authorize suit deployment. Access code 73723, Virginia Potts.”

“Authorization accepted. Deploying now, boss.” FRIDAY’s approval is interrupted by the distant thrum of repulsors charging in the garage, metal re-forming from nanotech.

His knees go weak; the crashing wave of relief at the familiar sound and the overwhelming gratitude for his wife renders Tony unable to speak, his throat tight. Pepper goes on,“You have it, Tony. Okay? You have it, but you won’t use it.”

He struggles to find his voice, to steady himself. “I won’t –?”

“Not yet. You won’t leave Morgan alone, Tony. You have to think through this.”

He shakes his head, forces himself to breathe in. “You can come home, you can stay with her–”

“I can’t,” she sounds frustrated, “There’s no getting in or out of the city right now, they’ve closed off the air space.”

He can feel his breaths coming shorter again, can feel the pressure building in his chest. “Someone’s got him, Pep – some maniac got to him, they’re in the suit, I can’t get through!”

He swears he can hear the gears turning in her head, can hear her thinking as she absorbs this new information. Her voice is slow and measured. “Then it’s someone who planned in advance. They figured out who he was, they knew how to trap him.”

“There’s no one. It wouldn’t work, even if they–” Tony clamps down on his own frustration, knows she’s trying to get him to sort through everything, to work the problem. He sucks in another breath and tries again. “No one can take that suit off him, not against his will. Even if he’s unconscious. There’s a safeguard built in, the Child Lock Protocol, it won’t disengage unless he’s–”

“He’s not. He’s not, honey,” her voice is gentle again, calm and steady. “He’s alive. He must have taken it off himself, given it to someone else…” but her voice trails off, and Tony can tell she doesn’t really believe it.

“He wouldn’t. Who the hell would he even give it to?”

“His friend, maybe? The computer expert?” Pepper offers, but she sounds doubtful. “He’s the only other person who knows, and it must have been someone he trusted. What’s his name?”

“Ned Leeds,” Tony supplies automatically, and instantly imagines the way Peter would have reacted on finding out that Tony had never actually thought the kid’s name was ‘Fred.’ His eyes water, and he pushes the thought from his mind.

“Do you have his number?” Pepper prompts, and Tony’s heart sinks.

“No,” he can barely get the word out around the self-recrimination in his throat, “he got a new one after he came back. Pete knew the old one by heart, he was crushed when he found out. He kept trying to memorize the new one, just in case. He turned it into a song to help him remember, he keeps singing it when he’s out on patrol, I must’ve listened to it a thousand times but I–”

“Okay,” Pepper cuts in softly, “it’s okay, honey. You’re spiraling. May will have it, okay? I’ll call her. She’s with Happy–”

And Tony almost laughs, because of course Pepper already knows, but the memory of Peter’s patrols calls to mind something else, something painfully obvious that had been lost to him in the fog of his panic: “His suit feed backs up to FRIDAY’s database automatically. If that freak didn’t start blocking the signal until after he took the suit, I should still be able to play back whatever the kid saw before he– before he lost it.”

Pepper hesitates a moment. “Play back? As in video? Audio?”

“Both,” Tony hopes, now anxious to pull up the footage, to do something useful, but Pepper stops him.

“In the basement, Tony,” her voice is suddenly urgent, “Watch it in the lab. Leave the suit with Morgan, don’t let her see, or…or hear…” and for the first time, he can hear it in her voice: the same fear that rips through his insides, the fear of what may have happened – might still be happening. However sure of his safety she had sounded for Tony’s sake, she is afraid for Peter, too, and her fear propels him out of his own the way nothing else can.

“In the lab, out of sight. Try to find Ned, Pep. I love you. I’ve gotta go.”

The call ends. He turns on his heels and there in the middle of his living room is the Iron Man suit, standing guard over Morgan, who is glancing between the suit and her father as though unsure which to run to. He holds out his arms to her and she throws herself into them and clings, still trembling.

“I heard what you said! You said a bad guy has Petey!”

“Dad’s gonna help him, baby. I have to go down to the lab, and you have to stay up here with Iron Man. That’s how we help Peter right now. Okay?” He brushes a hand over her cheek as she nods, and God, she looks so afraid, and he knows he’s handling this all wrong, but they don’t have time.

He leaves the suit to keep watch over his daughter, and hurtles for the stairs.

–- -

FRIDAY doesn’t wait for him to ask; the screen glows to life the moment he enters the room at the bottom of the stairs, and the first video begins to play.

He’s looking out of the back seat of the Audi through Peter’s eyes. Tony is momentarily stumped before it occurs to him that he must be watching a recording from late in the previous evening, on the drive back from the lake house. The camera pans to the windows as the kid looks through them, and the wall of congested city traffic surrounding them tells Tony they’re not far from their destination.

Peter faces forward again and makes a point of clearing his throat. Happy’s face is just visible in the rear view mirror as he glances up, catching a glimpse of the scene behind him and rolling his eyes. “Aw jeeze, kid, not in the car! Take the mask off, what if someone sees you?”

Peter’s voice comes through clear as a bell. “C’mon, Happy, the tints on these windows are crazy dark! Probably illegal level dark, even. No one’s gonna see in. Did you know this thing records video? It’ll be like my old vlogs back in Germany, remember those?”

“I try not to. I’m serious, kid, mask off. Or we’re not stopping for that Slurpee.”

Peter huffs a sigh, reaches up to remove the mask, and the video cuts out. Tony releases the breath he’s been holding, unsure whether to feel relieved at the tame nature of the footage or frustrated by its total lack of anything resembling a lead. Before he can make up his mind, the screen flares back to life.

This time, the kid is balanced on the edge of what Tony guesses to be the roof of the Parkers’ new building. The dark sky and lit street lamps are the only indication of the late hour, the amount of time that must have passed.

“Karen, where’s it coming from?” whispers Peter, the camera tilting as he cocks his head to one side like a dog searching for the source of a strange sound. Whatever he hears is inaudible Tony’s ears.

The suit isn’t designed to record feedback from its A.I., but Karen must have replied; Peter chirps out a quick thanks and takes off into the air.

Tony can tell by Peter’s speed and altitude that he isn’t intending to travel very far, and by the time he’s two blocks over, he can hear what the kid is after: a man’s voice is screaming for help, begging as though his life depends on it. The camera swoops and volleys as Peter picks up the pace, drawing closer. “I’m coming,” he whispers, “I’m coming, man, just hold on…”

Ahead, the screaming echoes from within what looks to be an old, empty department store – a warehouse, maybe? Tony knows plenty of these ghost town fixtures still remain, leftovers of the post-blip economy crash and subsequent rioting. Peter scales the exterior of the building until he reaches a broken window set high into the wall. He slides through.

The interior of the building is strangely empty, devoid of the usual rows of empty shelving or machinery that might have hinted as to its original purpose. The concrete floor is barren even of the typical detritus which might have indicated the presence of squatters.

The camera somersaults as Peter flips down to the floor, raises again as he lifts his head, searching–

A bald-headed, bespectacled man is illuminated by a sliver of moonlight through the broken window, his face partially obscured, choking and crushed within the grasp of something enormous, something monstrous–

“What the fuck?” Tony and Peter’s reactions are in sync. The camera leans in, and Tony leans with it, because what he’s seeing can’t be real.

A gigantic fist rises out of the concrete floor, its fingers locked tightly around the bald-headed man, its surface rippling and sliding at the outer layer like – sand? Earth? Tony can’t tell.

“What the hell is that thing, Karen?!”

No sooner has Peter said it than the thing turns round sharply as if suddenly aware of his arrival, crumbling and shifting as it moves. The fingers release their hold on the choking victim who falls hard to the floor, gasping for breath.

“O-okay. That’s, um. That’s something, at least,” Peter stutters slightly, clearly shaken, but raises his voice to a shout as he addresses the man on the floor, “Get out of here, man, run! I’ll cover you!”

The guy doesn’t need telling twice – he books it out of the building as the monstrous hand begins to shift and contort, its material expanding, growing out of seemingly nothing at all until it reaches almost to the ceiling, a pillar of earth – no, a torso, Tony realizes – and advances on Peter, who actually squeaks with fear.

“Call for back-up,” Tony orders numbly, mouth dry, heart pounding. “Do it, kid. Call for help.”

Karen must have delivered similar advice, might even have started to sound the alarm on Peter’s behalf, because the kid yelps, “No, no, wait! Not yet! I can do this, I can–”

The ground to Peter’s left explodes as the thing’s fist connects with the concrete, barely missing him. He springs into action, the camera whirling as he fires webs at the walls, the ceiling – trying his best to get an angle on the thing even as it continues to grow, a hideous face forming out of its rocky surface, snarling with rage.

“Distraction, I need a – Karen, can you deploy a drone?” Peter gasps, dodging a second blow from the monster. With a metallic buzzing, a spider-drone is released from the kid’s suit. It zips around behind the creature, flying purposefully close to its enormous head, which turns to follow its movement, its attention pulled away from its main target.

Peter banks sharply in mid-air, grabbing onto one of the overhead beams with one hand and steadying himself. He fires a web grenade right into the center of the beast – the web streaks through the air, seems to flicker strangely – and passes through the creature without a trace. It explodes against the far wall, brick and webbing sent in every direction.

Peter hangs in place, obviously puzzled. “What–?”

He’s still for a moment too long. The sand monster slams a fist into the ceiling above his head; the spot just above him explodes, huge chunks of debris raining down over top of him. The overhead beam Peter hangs from snaps as it’s swept beneath an avalanche of rubble that crashes to the floor, burying the kid beneath it.

“No!” Peter gasps, and the fear in his voice sets Tony’s heart racing. The camera is covered with dust, impossible to see through.

“FRIDAY, switch to the drone cam,” Tony orders, and the picture re-appears, this time from a bird’s eye view. Beneath the drone, Peter frees an arm and paws ineffectually at the eyes of his mask, struggling to clear his view.“No, no, come on–”

He’s panicking – Tony can hear it in the frantic, too-quick breaths still audible through the speakers. He can see it in the way the kid remains pinned on his back beneath the rubble, fighting wildly to free himself, staring up at the beast as it raises its fist again, preparing to strike–

The beast’s roar is interrupted by the whirr of repulsors, and Tony’s head snaps towards the stairs, towards Morgan and the suit– but the sound isn’t coming from upstairs. It’s coming from the screen.

Iron Man bursts through the broken window of the warehouse, repulsors raised threateningly at the creature still looming over Peter.

“I’m here! Tony, I’m down here!” Peter’s relief is palpable, and it hurts, because now, at last, Tony can see what’s happening.

The understanding of what he’s seeing – what it means, and what must be about to happen next – crashes over Tony all at once, sliding like ice down his spine.

This is Stark tech. This is his own technology. Incredibly vivid projected images, probably backed by some sort of weaponry to cause the explosions. Smoke and mirrors in dazzling technicolor, the early stages of an invention he had molded into a therapy tool once he realized the hideously dangerous potential it held for anything else; at the time, he’d pictured large-scale government sponsored hoaxes designed to stir a country into war, or corrupt officials re-framing their own misdeeds, manufacturing false alibis…

He’d never imagined it would become a torture device to be used on his own kid.

On the screen, the threat of the repulsors is enough to cause the sand monster to retreat. It crumbles in on itself like a sinkhole before vanishing entirely, leaving no trace of it behind. The spider-drone’s camera follows Iron Man’s movements as he crosses the floor of the warehouse to where Peter is still trapped. Tony watches as the fake Iron Man lifts away the support beam the kid is still pinned beneath, straining his eyes for evidence of the machinery which must be at work creating the illusion – but now that he thinks about it, how is the fake Iron Man able to physically move anything? Real objects should pass right through the projection, just as Peter’s web grenade had flown through the “beast.”

He’s only just begun to consider whether it might be possible to overlay a projection on a human being as a sort of digital costume when the Iron Man suit opens, and Tony fucking Stark steps out of it.

The kid removes his mask as he scrambles to safety, and the expression of relief on his face is in total contrast to the dread in Tony’s gut.

“Tony!” Peter’s voice is brimming with gratitude and adoration as he lunges towards his apparent savior and all but crashes into the doppelganger’s arms. Tony’s body actually twitches with the urge to return the embrace the teenager is clearly expecting.

Not-Tony, however, is rigid and ramrod straight; his hands grip Peter’s shoulders without their usual warmth, and Tony can see the moment Peter realizes something is wrong – the kid freezes in place half a second before Not-Tony uses his grip to push him violently away.

Peter stumbles backwards with the force of it, and Tony finds himself taking an instinctive step forward as though to steady him before he remembers himself. Any embarrassment he might have felt at his blunder is wiped away by Peter’s expression: pure, defenseless hurt.

“What the hell were you doing out there, Parker?” Not-Tony’s voice trembles with anger, and Tony watches as Peter seems to shrink in on himself.

“I – there was – I heard someone screaming and then this thing, it just…it attacked, and I– I wanted to help, so I–”

Not-Tony cuts in sharply, “You got involved in a mess you had no business being any part of, and forced me to swoop in and save the day. ”

For a split second, Tony can see Peter’s brow furrow with what looks to be doubt.

“But – but you said I should–”

Not-Tony switches tactics.

“Or maybe it was on purpose? Was it just that you wanted to see how fast I’d come running if you were in danger? Was that your game?”

Tony, who has always loved the way Peter wears his heart on his sleeve, now wishes desperately that the kid had a better poker face; the way the color drains from his cheeks makes it clear that Not-Tony has struck pay dirt.

“N-no! Please, I’m sorry, Mr. Stark, I didn’t mean to – you don’t have to–” Peter’s stammering protest cuts through Tony like a knife.

“You’re right. I don’t.” Not-Tony remains as cold as ice, and Tony feels a sudden dread creep up his spine. “I think this relationship has run its course, don’t you?”

There is a long pause in which Peter desperately searches Not-Tony’s face, and Tony knows what he’s looking for; he’s seen enough footage and photos of himself with the kid. But the usual warmth and affection that lights up Tony’s eyes whenever he looks at his family is absent in Not-Tony.

“Run its…its course?” Peter’s voice is hoarse and disbelieving. Tony has never heard anyone sound so crushed, and it makes him appear somehow younger. His head swims with the sudden and overwhelming desire to reach out and comfort the kid.

“I had a pretty good thing going for a few years, you know. A wife and a kid. Nice little retirement. Maybe it’s time to get back to that. Think I’ve earned the right to some peace and quiet, don’t you?”

Peter’s adam’s apple bobs as he swallows hard. He nods.

Not-Tony’s tone is ruthless as he continues, “Saved the universe, didn’t I? I brought everyone back. I brought you back. Maybe that’s where I went wrong.”

Tony’s stomach seems to plummet and lift so quickly he tastes bile in his throat, because God, those words spoken in his own voice area nauseating, but this is where Peter will see through the farce. This is where the kid will realize something is up. Because Tony could never regret saving Peter. There is no version of Peter who could fail to realize that.

Peter’s mouth opens as if to speak, and Tony feels a surge of victory.

It’s extinguished with the click of Peter’s teeth as his mouth closes. His face is colorless. His gaze drops to the floor.

“No. No, come on, kid,” Tony has taken several steps forward without realizing it, “That’s not me. You know that’s not me.”

Not-Tony’s expression borders on smug. “Can’t deny it, can you? You’ve had your fun. Had a nice time playing superhero, milking me out of millions of dollars worth of gear, swanning around my home as if you think you’re my son. Taking me away from time with my family. My daughter. That’s plenty. That’s enough. Don’t you think?”

Peter looks up again, utterly stricken.

“I – sir, I’m so –”

Not-Tony advances on Peter. Peter cowers.

Something in Tony’s chest pulls as taut and unforgiving as a bowstring, and he is forced to turn his back on the grotesque display before the pressure can snap it in two.

Behind him, the spectacle continues to play out. Not-Tony’s voice drips with contempt.

“You agree with me, don’t you? Spider-Man?”

Peter’s reply is almost inaudible. He sounds as though the wind has been knocked out of him. He sounds as breathless and gutted as Tony feels.

“Yes, sir.”

“Yes, sir. Perfect. Then you can get the hell out of my life. Door’s just behind you.”

There is a sharp, reedy sound like a sudden intake of breath followed by the soft rustle of fabric hitting the tile floor, and Tony knows without looking that Peter has dropped his suit and tracker. He can’t see it, but he can imagine the trembling in Peter’s shoulders as he turns to leave – the tightening at the corners of his eyes that only happens when the teenager is trying not to cry. The kid’s footsteps are slow and methodical as he makes his way to the door of the warehouse, and Tony wills him to hurry, to leave before his hideous doppelganger can deliver the killing blow –

Instead, there is a shuffle of footsteps as though Peter has turned on his heel.

“Wait! Wait, please – please don’t do this. Please. I’ll – I’ll do better, I promise I will! I’ll – you can have the suit, you can keep it, just – and I won’t, I – I’ll stop coming over so much. I won’t bother you, just please, Tony. I just – I need you, and – ” Peter’s tone is familiar in its desperation. But the last time Tony heard it, the kid was turning to dust in his hands. Unconsciously, he raises his hand to his mouth as though to keep from being sick.

Not-Tony snorts derisively. “I should’ve left you for dead when I had the chance.”

The roaring in Tony’s ears drowns out any reply.

– – -

Ten hours earlier

–

Peter is freezing. He’s never been able to tolerate cold well, and his only clothing underneath the suit had been his shorts and vest. But the prospect of asking Tony for clothes – for anything at all – hadn’t crossed his mind.

It’s as if the realization of his worst fears, his worst insecurities, has short-circuited something in his brain. He feels numb beneath the cold, can focus only on taking the next step, the next step, the next step…

So he walks.

“Peter? Is that you?” A familiar voice calls out from behind him.

Almost mechanically, Peter turns to face the man.

“Oh. Hi. I was just…” His lips are numb, his voice flat. What is he doing? Where is he going? He can’t remember.

His physics teacher frowns, glancing both ways down the street before jogging across to meet him. Peter waits politely for him to catch up. Now that he’s still, he can’t seem to find the desire to move any further.

“I was just at the bar across the street, thought I heard a commotion – Peter, are you okay?” The man reaches out a hand to clasp Peter’s shoulder.

For some reason, the simple touch is his undoing.

“No,” he croaks out. His eyes begin to burn and he drops his gaze, humiliated.

His teacher squeezes his shoulder once. “C’mon. I live close by.”

– – -

Peter allows himself to be lead just two blocks down and into an alleyway where a dilapidated walk-up awaits them. He wonders, in a detached kind of way, what kind of meager salary Midtown pays its faculty – by the looks of this place, they can’t afford much in the way of rent.

They enter into a dimly lit kitchen where the man gestures for Peter to take a seat at the tiny round table in the corner of the room and reaches for the coffee machine, which seems to have a pot already waiting; Peter wonders whether the man was expecting company. “Sit down, Peter. How do you take it? Cream? Sugar?”

“I – um, both?” Peter’s never been much of a coffee-drinker, but it’ll give him something to do with his hands at the very least. “Um, thanks for doing this, Mr. Rio. Tonight – it’s been – well, thanks.”

“Please, Peter. We’re not in school. Call me Quentin,” His teacher smiles as he passes Peter the steaming mug. “Tell you what, I’ll grab you some clothes while you drink. You can’t walk home looking like that. Wait here, okay?”

Quentin disappears out of the kitchen. Peter takes a few gulps of his coffee, savoring the way it burns away at the lump in his throat on the way down.

I think this relationship has run its course, don’t you?

The words play back endlessly through his mind. His skin is crawling with it.

I brought you back. Maybe that’s where I went wrong.

He takes another long sip, hoping the steam will clear out the sudden congestion in his sinuses before he has to speak to Quentin.

On the wall, a dusty clock tells him it’s nearly 2AM. May will be at her night-shift until morning, and won’t meet back up with Peter until the afternoon. There will be no morning message from Tony to answer.

Get the hell out of my life.

He drains his mug in one long gulp.

On a small table by the door, something catches his eye: a newspaper bearing a familiar photograph. The New York Times had done a feature on Tony after his incredible victory. On its cover, the photograph depicted the man himself, surrounded by his family: Pepper, Happy, Rhodey – and Peter.

Swanning around my home as if you think you’re my son.

He remembers the way Tony had flatly refused to allow any publication of his daughter’s face – he’d said he didn’t want her growing up in his shadow the way he’d grown up in Howard’s, always to be compared and scrutinized by a merciless press.

But he’d allowed Peter to be in the shot – had even thrown his arm around him. Like he was proud. Why?

The grief is threatening to overwhelm him now, is clouding his mind. He feels strangely heavy with it. Heavy and weak, and so, so tired.

“It’s a nice picture,” says Quentin from somewhere behind him.

Peter turns to look at him. It takes longer than it should – he feels as if he’s moving through sludge, wading through sand…

“I couldn’t believe my luck when I first saw it. There I was, dreaming up ways to make him pay for what he did, and what do you know? The guy is stupid enough to let a major news outlet run a story on the private life he’s hidden for years. All the people nearest and dearest to him.” Quentin smiles.

For the first time, it dawns on Peter that the prickling on the back of his neck – the crawling of his skin – is not down to emotion.

“Thing is, most of them are just impossible to get to. Can you imagine trying to kidnap the C.E.O. of Stark Industries? Or a bunch of ex-military guys? Never gonna happen. But you–you were perfect.”

Quentin draws closer, and Peter tries to rise from his chair, but his legs won’t support him – he crashes hard to the linoleum floor. His teacher is still smiling.

“Oh, it’s nothing personal, Pete. You’re a bright kid! You would’ve had a bright future.” Quentin shakes his head as though disappointed. “But you won’t be the first person to have their life destroyed by Tony Stark. I used to work for the guy, did you know that? Me and some of my friends. You’ve met one of them already – he’s a better scientist than he is an actor, but his screaming got you to turn up all the same, didn’t it?”

Peter tries to move, but it feels as though he’s buried under rubble again. Every hair on his body is standing on end. “How…?”

“Oh, how did I know about your little alter-ego?” Quentin asks. His eyes are bright and eager at the question. He looks as if he’s enjoying himself. “Well, that’s the thing, Pete – I didn’t! Not until your buddy Ned went and bragged to his little girlfriend about his pal Spider-Man right smack in the middle of my classroom. The look on your face when he said it!” He laughs. “God, kid, how have you kept it secret this long? Anyway, it works out great in the end. Makes my job a little easier.”

Peter isn’t sure whether it’s because Quentin is purposefully toying with him or because whatever he’s been drugged with is slowing his thinking, but he can’t connect the dots. He tries to ask, but finds that he can no longer open his mouth to speak – he’s paralyzed.

Quentin chuckles as though he sees the question in Peter’s eyes.

“Jesus, kid, aren’t you supposed to be smart?” And then his face falls, and he looks almost remorseful. “Aw, man, I’m sorry, Pete. That was mean. Look – I’ve really enjoyed being your teacher. And this whole superhero gig you’ve got going – it’s admirable, it really is. But your friend Tony deserves to pay for what he’s done, and there’s no way I’m getting close enough to the guy to kill him myself.”

Even as he feels the muscles in his face go slack, the alarm bells in Peter’s head are blaring, and his eyes dart frantically between his teacher’s. Quentin nods, smiling again as though pleased.

“Yeah, see? You figured it out, right? Knew you’d get there eventually. It’ll work like this: I’ve got your suit. I get to play the role of the Amazing Spider-Man, but – uh oh!” Quentin steps closer. “Spider-Man’s lost it! He’s blowing up buildings, he’s killing innocent people! Tony Stark’s little side-kick is out destroying his reputation!”

Peter tries to yell, but nothing escapes his vocal cords. Horror is clawing at his throat. Quentin carries on.

“See, as soon as Stark sees Spider-Man on a rampage through the city, he’ll zoom right in out of retirement to save the day. But Iron Man won’t lift a finger against Spider-Man, will he? Tony would never risk hurting Peter Parker.”

Quentin drops down beside Peter, and he catches a final glimpse of the savage pleasure on the man’s face as he reaches to gently close the eyelids that are frozen open.

“Easy peasy, right? Spider-Man will have no trouble killing Tony Stark.”

Peter’s eyes are closed, and the world goes dark.

“And once it’s all over, Peter – once Iron Man has fallen and the world is closing in on Spider-Man…he’ll fall, too. Right off a building, and down to his death. And for that, I’m going to need a body.”

The darkness pulls Peter down, and he knows no more.

#still no idea what i'm doing #with tagging #but i'll try!#irondad #peter parker #tony stark #morgan stark #fic #parknerplease #euphoric-melancholyy #he-dust-of-stars

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