A fandom that supports and encourages its members is a really great thing, (and I think this fandom does a wonderful job of it) but assuming that a fandom or any individual within it is required to do those things can be dangerous. A fandom and its members are not required to be your friends, your therapists, your fans, your critics, or your punching bags.
I almost said “some people may be triggered if they are expected to be” or “expecting this is bad for some people’s mental health,”
But really, that’s not the point.
If you just aren’t COMFORTABLE being somebody’s friend in the fandom,
If you just don’t WANT to be a problem-solver for people in your inbox,
If it is FRUSTRATING to be expected to reblog everyone’s art and writing,
That’s enough.
You don’t have to be neurodivergent or mentally ill or triggered or anything else to say “no” to interacting with asks, messages, or posts. Nobody should guilt you or force you into participating in discourse or other fandom member’s personal lives.
If you want to do these things, that’s wonderful of you. That’s great. You’re doing something awesome for the fandom. But you’re also allowed to just be here to have fun. Participation in a fandom requires nothing else.
U know what’s a fuckin obnoxious trend that needs to die
When people who don’t like a character can’t be content with just not liking them, they have to prove they’re morally right in that dislike. Like… It’s not that serious kids. Not every opinion you hold needs to be about Justice and Moral Righteousness. It’s ok to just… Not like some characters. You don’t actually need to justify it.
Antis use both words a lot in reference to the consequences that they think shipping has on the general public. As most people who are not antis know, they are using these words wrong, out of context, or both.
Romanticization is defined as: “to think about or describe something as being better or more attractive or interesting than it really is : to show, describe, or think about something in a romantic way.”
In reference to pairings with abusive dynamics, antis use this to shame shippers by conflating writing about something with condoning something in practice. “If you write abuse with a romantic or positive bent, you must be okay with its practice, otherwise you would be decrying it.” This of course is not true.
An attendant untruth that antis preach is ‘the consumption of something problematic means you condone the behavior in real life.’ This, again, is not true. Fiction has an effect on reality only inasmuch as it emotionally affects people. People consume the content, it evokes emotion, and then the people act on the evoked emotion. BUT, for the majority of people the evoked action is simply putting the content down if they do not like to read it. People of normal mental state and reasoning capabilities do not mimic fiction they read or art they see, it just doesn’t happen without some sort of mental illness or other distortion in the thought processes.
Which brings me to the next point, normalization. Normalization is defined as “to bring (someone or something) back to a usual or expected state or condition.” Again, this carries the implication in a societal context that in this case pedophilia will become normal and expected. Because of my previous points- fiction evokes emotion but only you are responsible for your actions in response to the emotion, combined with the fact that people do not see something violent like child abuse and then think it’s a good idea- mean that shipping cannot normalize pedophila in first world societies. That would mean society condones pedophilia, and that will not happen without a serious regression in moral standards and emotion.
When people tell you that by consuming fan content with abusive dynamics, you are romanticizing abuse and normalizing pedophilia, please know this is not true. You can ship whatever you please.
Yup, that’s the point you just stay still and let it do whatever the fuck it wants that doesn’t involved you getting eaten.
REALLY FUN FACT for big cats cheetahs are fucking docile as shit
my grandfather ran a cheetah sanctuary in south africa and he’d just lie with them and sleep among them and they’d rub against him and chirp at him they’re big fucking babies
Another Fun Fact: Cheetahs are incredibly nervous animals. One of the (many) reason’s they’re going extinct is that cheetahs are so sensitive and nervous, some of them are literally too nervous to breed. Others will breed, but stress themselves out so much, they’ll lose their cubs.
So zoos with breeding programs had to figure out how to make cheetahs comfortable enough to first of all, get laid and secondly – not spazz themselves into miscarrying.
So what’d they do? They gave the cheetah’s their very own Service Dogs!
The dogs make them feel safe, protected and secure!
Not here, and not yet, but it’s the thought that weighs heavily on your minds. It threatens to disrupt the peaceful reprieve you have both managed to seek out from the party. Away from that crowded, smoky dance floor, and out into the gardens, where the evening is cool and fragrant. Everything is muted out here, softer, both sound and sight.
Alone together. One offers a hand, the other takes it, and you begin to dance.
For now, the idea of war is an ocean away. For now, you have the golden streams of light that spill out from the French windows, letting your shadows on the wet cobblestone stretch longer as you sway to a muffled tune.
Neither of you speak. The atmosphere is rich and dense with the delicate swell of instrumentals, the cloying scent of hyacinths, with the weight of words left unsaid. It’s a last dance. It’s a goodbye. But above all, it is a theft. Possibilities, moments in time, the growth of something more, all taken away by forces much larger than either of you.
Your eyes drift closed, and everything fades to the back of your mind except for the person in front of you. Your awareness has narrowed down to a few sensations, cataloguing them in your mind and stashing them away for safe keeping. Hands clasped together, a soft cheek leaning on a wool-clad shoulder, a hushed sigh close to an ear. Hair being brushed back, the sweep of eyelashes over cheekbone, the reassuring warmth of another person.
Chest to chest, heart to heart. You wish that this dance would never end, continue like the constant, never changing cadence of the music. You wish that you could capture this moment in amber, moving neither forwards or backwards, only a gentle sway to a distant song.
But the year is 1942, and there is a war, and soon the music fades to silence.
Rating: Eventual E Words: 4281 Pairing(s): Marius/Pandora, Pandora/Akasha, Marius/Pandora/Akasha. Summary: Daniel’s gone back to Armand, Marius is feeling sorry for himself, Pandora calls him on his bullshit.
Notes: I’ve been chiseling away at this for months lmao TA DA. In my mind this is a one shot but as of now it’s around 22k so Tumblr told me to break it into chapters a while back when I asked. SHRUG!! Anyway big shoutout to @superhiki for reading the WIP at random intervals the last couple months and keeping me motivated. 😀 THANKS BUD ILU. ALSO THANKS @sheepskeleton for pointing me in the direction of some helpful ANCIENT POETRY STUFF. 😀 😀
If you guys want an example of incredibly well written women in sexy situations please read this. Pandora absolutely takes none of Marius’ nonsense and STILL gets the goods, attagirl!
I really do love this and haven’t read anything before where a character held their ground so well against… coddling. Truly gracious and merciful without giving someone in need only enough rope to hang themselves with.
Perfect Marius characterization, an excellent balance of what makes him ‘charming’ (his ability to manipulate) but in the hands of someone who can wring out all the nonsense and find the delicate person beneath all the bravado.
I-want-my-IWTV 