Hi! I finally updated my pinned post (the last one was from like 2020)
I don’t do a lot of writing on here anymore, mostly because I’m not great at coming up with ideas for characters and stories that already exist! I am a writer and have my own original work, which I’d be happy to post on here if people end up being interested!
For the most part this is just my space to rant about my brainworms and be obsessive about my favorite pieces of media. Feel free to still send in asks or requests though, I love writing specific scenarios and ideas yall have for these characters and will try my hand at almost anything at least once!
Steve is excellent at molding himself perfectly to his partners interests when he is in a relationship. With Nancy he read every single article of the school newspaper she wrote. Movies nights were either filled with Tom Cruise (not that Steve minded that much) or documentaries he tried to be interested in. Once he suggested they'd watch an episode of Star Trek together but when she said "I really want to watch this documentary" he had relented.
It's the same with every girlfriend or fling afterwards. They get to pick the movie, the music, the dinner, the activities. Or more accurately Steve picks exactly what they like because they seem to expect it. He shows up to Sarah's piano recital and watches Heidi's cheer practice. He let's Jenna eject his Tears for Fears tape with a frown and put on some Ska instead. And when Chloe really, really wants to go out for milkshakes he pretends like ice cream doesn't make him want to throw up after Starcourt. Not a single one of them ever shows up at his basketball games or his swim meets.
Love means sacrifice and putting yourself second. At least when you're Steve Harrington.
So when Steve starts dating Eddie he doesn't expect anything else. It's not as bad though as with some previous dates. It's nice to listen to Eddie go on a long ramble about the history of metal. He likes to sit in during the DnD games, flicking through a magazine while Eddie and the kids play. And sure he is not the biggest fan of horror movies but it's a nice excuse to cuddle up with Eddie during movie night. Not that he would need an excuse, Eddie is incredibly tactile.
Steve is in the middle of a little league baseball game when things change. He is so focused on coaching his team he doesn't notice the mop of black curls in the audience at first. Only when his little team has their first home run and an eardrum shattering whistle comes from the bleachers, Steve turns and is surprised to find Eddie in the audience, smiling, cheering, hollering.
When he spots Steve looking at him he waves at him with an even bigger smile. During a brief water break Steve jogs over to the bleachers.
"What are you doing here?" he asks, still surprised that Eddie is here.
"Came to support my boyfriend and his team, of course," Eddie grins. If they weren't in public, Steve would steal a kiss right now. Eddie very much loathes sports and yet he still came.
Once the game is over Eddie drives both of them home. When he turns on the tape player, Steve very much expects the usual metal to come out of the speakers. Instead he is met with the familiar voice of Duran Duran. He expects Eddie to change the tape but he just lets it play. After Duran Duran there is a Judas Priest song and maybe the Duran Duran just got on there by accident. But after Judas Priest Hall and Oates plays and Eddie even hums along? No complaints, no berating Steve for his horrible taste in music, but fucking humming along?
"Did you…did you make this?" Steve asks, trying to wrap his head around what is happening.
"Yeah, thought this way we can both listen to stuff we like," Eddie smiles and laces their hands together. "But I also got some Bowie and and Queen tapes if you want something else."
It's the few musicians they can agree on. But Steve shakes his head.
"No, I like it. Leave it."
When they get to their small but comfy new home Eddie dashes upstairs to take a shower and tells Steve to pick a movie from the few he rented earlier.
The first one is Rosemary's Baby. Of course Eddie picked a horror movie. But then the next tape surprises Steve yet again. It's Back to the Future and the one after that is Star Wars there even is Top Gun. And Night of the Living Dead. A perfect mixture really.
When Eddie comes back from his shower Steve is still staring at the movies a frown on his face.
"You alright, Steveheart?"
"You know you don't have to do this," Steve says slowly. "Pretend you want to watch something I like. Or listen to my music. I don't want you to pretend."
Eddie walks over, wet hair dripping onto the floor. He presses a kiss to Steve's cheek and takes Top Gun out of his hand.
"I'm not pretending," he says and walks over to their TV. "I want to watch stuff you like. The same way you agree to sometimes watch stuff that I like. That's how it works, doesn't it? We compromise."
Steve blinks. Compromise. No ones ever really wanted to compromise with him. No one ever cared enough.
"Why?" he asks and sits down on the couch.
"Because I love you. And I want to know about the things you love. The same way I want to hear about your day or how your run went, if you liked your green smoothie this morning," Eddie says and sits down on the sofa too, pulling Steve into his arms.
And maybe it's taken him 22 years to learn. But finally Steve realizes that love is not putting others always first. Love is to meet in the middle. Love is to care, and to compromise and to share.
He's never felt so loved like when the intro to Top Gun starts playing.
the symbolism of zuko discussing his fears about not being forgiven by iroh with katara is so good because it explicitly outlines why katara forgave him. she could tell that he was genuinely apologetic about his actions and that is why she forgave him at the end of the southern raiders despite not being obligated to. the growth from their TSR moment until this scene is so meaningful because by this point, she can't even imagine iroh not forgiving him.
it's also why when antis assume (read: self insert) that katara still could never fully forgive his actions and just "barely tolerates him", it holds no weight because 1) she didn't have to walk over to have this conversation, 2) she's genuinely smiling through this whole conversation.
I know someone who, while discussing ATLA, asserted that Zuko jumping in front of Katara must be purely platonic to have any meaning. That was the first time I'd ever heard it and I didn't have any response because it made absolutely no sense to me. I literally didn't know where to begin.
I've since seen several variations of that repeated online. Because I'm a slow thinker I need time to organize my thoughts. I do try to sit with and understand the things people say. I think I've finally figured it out somewhat:
Friendship can be selfish, and romance can be selfless
I think there's an unspoken assumption at work here that romantic love is inherently self-serving and that platonic love is inherently selfless. So Zuko ending up in a romantic relationship with Katara after saving her life would have been self-serving, and he "gets nothing out of it" if they remain friends (as actually happened in the show) thus rendering the act truly selfless...even though that logic values friendship as worthless or something you get nothing out of.
If the assumption is that you engage in a romantic relationship because you enjoy the butterflies in your stomach, you enjoy how the other person makes you feel, because you want physical intimacy or companionship or someone to buy you dinner, then yes, that's self-serving.
That's also not actually romantic love. It gets called that by a lot of movies and TV shows and books, but a lot of people would rightly call that sort of "I love you because of what you do for me and what you make me feel" attitude by its true name of lust or affection or infatuation.
Romantic love can be perfectly selfless. Hopefully everyone has seen at least a couple of examples in their own life, whether from their partner, between their parents, their couple friends, or just strangers they saw once on the street.
I'd be sitting here all night if I had to list every story where the culmination of the romance is one of the romantic leads doing something self-sacrificial purely for the sake of the other, sometimes in the belief that they won't be able to be together after said sacrifice, but that's okay because this is selfless love without expectations or demands. It's an incredibly common story beat. Titanic and K-Pop Demon Hunters were just the first two big movies that jumped into my head and they just so happen to be two of the most popular movies of all time, if that says anything about how significant this trope is.
Likewise, just because no one's trying to get in the other person's pants, that doesn't render friendship more selfless. You can become friends with someone not because you like them for who they are, but because their house has a pool, or they have a console you want to play, or they'll get you a good grade if they're your partner in the group project. Aristotle classified "friendships of utility," where you're only friends because you find the friendship useful to you, as one of the main forms of friendship for a reason.
Friendship can be incredibly self-serving and toxic. If you are old enough to consume such media, check out not just Mean Girls but Jennifer's Body, Heathers and Trainspotting in the movie department and The Secret History, My Year of Rest and Relaxation, and Elena Ferrante's Neopolitan novels if you'd prefer reading.
Friendship and romance aren't diametrically opposed
A solid friendship is actually a great foundation for romance. These two modes of connecting with another person aren't diametrically opposed, they can and do enrich each other.
So, on that point, I do think Zuko is still doing better than A.ang. In the end, it feels like A.ang's friendship with Katara was just a box he had to check to get to a relationship with her--that was his ultimate objective from literally the first moment he opened his eyes in the first episode--which means he never had a true friendship with her (where his goal was simply to be her friend and nothing more), and therefore their friendship isn't a good foundation for romance. He's in fact guilty of acting out of romantically-inclined ulterior motives (*cough* rescuing her and giving up cosmic energy in the S2 finale *cough cough*), an apparently terrible, selfish thing that people claim Zuko would be guilty of if Katara and Zuko ever got together.
But there's no hint within the story that Zuko is just trying to be friends with Katara because he wants to date her. So don't they have a truer friendship than she ever had with A.ang? And wouldn't that true friendship be a better, healthier foundation for romance?
Zuko's first reaction to Katara wasn't love at first sight, he doesn't have a crush on her that permeates all their interactions, and he doesn't make important choices with the end goal of getting with her. A.ang does all of that. If romance as an ulterior motive invalidates a character's actions and makes them less-than-heroic, it's A.ang who's guilty of that, not Zuko.
Are you allowed to benefit from a good deed? Yes, actually
To hit another angle, there's something paradoxically impossible about setting the bar for doing a good thing as "must be absolutely selfless, meaning you get absolutely nothing out of it, for it to truly count."
First of all, Zuko does end up friends with Katara so he does in fact get something out of sacrificing himself for her--namely the life of his friend. Does that make it any less selfless? I say no: he wasn't acting out of concern for himself but rather for Katara, which is where the selflessness of the action lies.
Second of all, whether he'd get a friendly or romantic relationship following this self-sacrifice doesn't matter, there's no way around him benefitting personally from it. Or anyone who does a good deed, really. Because doing good things is good for you.
There's been plenty of research that shows that buying stuff or going on vacation provides fleeting happiness, but volunteering actually leads to longer-lasting happiness and fulfillment than spending money on yourself. Humans are pack animals! We're social creatures! We are built to thrive when we do things with and for each other.
Should you not hold the door open for the old lady because it'll make your heart happy when she smiles at you and says "Thank you?" You're getting something out of it so it's not actually a good deed, it's a selfish one. Should you do it anyway and wallow in your own wretchedness because you're selfishly holding doors open for the elderly for your own validation? Or, in order to be a truly good person, should you slam the door shut in her face?
There's no winning there. And, I hope, most people can see that this attitude doesn't cash out in the real world. It's a good thing for you to do selfless acts of love and kindness for your friends and your romantic partners, and the fact that doing so will make you a happier person who feels closer to the people you help is a feature, not a bug. It's the positive feedback loop that holds all of our (healthy) relationships together.
So, does it matter whether Zuko jumps in front of Katara because he's acting out of a friendly or a romantic feelings for her? No, not even a little bit. Both could have worked just fine, you could even have both working at the same time, and neither one undercuts his redemption arc.
Does it matter that he jumps in front of lightning because it's what's best for Katara without concern for what it might cost him? Yes, absolutely. Because that right there, whether borne out of friendship or romance, is the essence of selfless love.
Hey so not only is this a hugely important take that I’ve been trying to explain for years and you put it so eloquently I’m going to use this post forever- it’s also worded in such a perfect way that it immediately squashed my shitty imposter syndrome.
I know someone who, while discussing ATLA, asserted that Zuko jumping in front of Katara must be purely platonic to have any meaning. That was the first time I'd ever heard it and I didn't have any response because it made absolutely no sense to me. I literally didn't know where to begin.
I've since seen several variations of that repeated online. Because I'm a slow thinker I need time to organize my thoughts. I do try to sit with and understand the things people say. I think I've finally figured it out somewhat:
Friendship can be selfish, and romance can be selfless
I think there's an unspoken assumption at work here that romantic love is inherently self-serving and that platonic love is inherently selfless. So Zuko ending up in a romantic relationship with Katara after saving her life would have been self-serving, and he "gets nothing out of it" if they remain friends (as actually happened in the show) thus rendering the act truly selfless...even though that logic values friendship as worthless or something you get nothing out of.
If the assumption is that you engage in a romantic relationship because you enjoy the butterflies in your stomach, you enjoy how the other person makes you feel, because you want physical intimacy or companionship or someone to buy you dinner, then yes, that's self-serving.
That's also not actually romantic love. It gets called that by a lot of movies and TV shows and books, but a lot of people would rightly call that sort of "I love you because of what you do for me and what you make me feel" attitude by its true name of lust or affection or infatuation.
Romantic love can be perfectly selfless. Hopefully everyone has seen at least a couple of examples in their own life, whether from their partner, between their parents, their couple friends, or just strangers they saw once on the street.
I'd be sitting here all night if I had to list every story where the culmination of the romance is one of the romantic leads doing something self-sacrificial purely for the sake of the other, sometimes in the belief that they won't be able to be together after said sacrifice, but that's okay because this is selfless love without expectations or demands. It's an incredibly common story beat. Titanic and K-Pop Demon Hunters were just the first two big movies that jumped into my head and they just so happen to be two of the most popular movies of all time, if that says anything about how significant this trope is.
Likewise, just because no one's trying to get in the other person's pants, that doesn't render friendship more selfless. You can become friends with someone not because you like them for who they are, but because their house has a pool, or they have a console you want to play, or they'll get you a good grade if they're your partner in the group project. Aristotle classified "friendships of utility," where you're only friends because you find the friendship useful to you, as one of the main forms of friendship for a reason.
Friendship can be incredibly self-serving and toxic. If you are old enough to consume such media, check out not just Mean Girls but Jennifer's Body, Heathers and Trainspotting in the movie department and The Secret History, My Year of Rest and Relaxation, and Elena Ferrante's Neopolitan novels if you'd prefer reading.
Friendship and romance aren't diametrically opposed
A solid friendship is actually a great foundation for romance. These two modes of connecting with another person aren't diametrically opposed, they can and do enrich each other.
So, on that point, I do think Zuko is still doing better than A.ang. In the end, it feels like A.ang's friendship with Katara was just a box he had to check to get to a relationship with her--that was his ultimate objective from literally the first moment he opened his eyes in the first episode--which means he never had a true friendship with her (where his goal was simply to be her friend and nothing more), and therefore their friendship isn't a good foundation for romance. He's in fact guilty of acting out of romantically-inclined ulterior motives (*cough* rescuing her and giving up cosmic energy in the S2 finale *cough cough*), an apparently terrible, selfish thing that people claim Zuko would be guilty of if Katara and Zuko ever got together.
But there's no hint within the story that Zuko is just trying to be friends with Katara because he wants to date her. So don't they have a truer friendship than she ever had with A.ang? And wouldn't that true friendship be a better, healthier foundation for romance?
Zuko's first reaction to Katara wasn't love at first sight, he doesn't have a crush on her that permeates all their interactions, and he doesn't make important choices with the end goal of getting with her. A.ang does all of that. If romance as an ulterior motive invalidates a character's actions and makes them less-than-heroic, it's A.ang who's guilty of that, not Zuko.
Are you allowed to benefit from a good deed? Yes, actually
To hit another angle, there's something paradoxically impossible about setting the bar for doing a good thing as "must be absolutely selfless, meaning you get absolutely nothing out of it, for it to truly count."
First of all, Zuko does end up friends with Katara so he does in fact get something out of sacrificing himself for her--namely the life of his friend. Does that make it any less selfless? I say no: he wasn't acting out of concern for himself but rather for Katara, which is where the selflessness of the action lies.
Second of all, whether he'd get a friendly or romantic relationship following this self-sacrifice doesn't matter, there's no way around him benefitting personally from it. Or anyone who does a good deed, really. Because doing good things is good for you.
There's been plenty of research that shows that buying stuff or going on vacation provides fleeting happiness, but volunteering actually leads to longer-lasting happiness and fulfillment than spending money on yourself. Humans are pack animals! We're social creatures! We are built to thrive when we do things with and for each other.
Should you not hold the door open for the old lady because it'll make your heart happy when she smiles at you and says "Thank you?" You're getting something out of it so it's not actually a good deed, it's a selfish one. Should you do it anyway and wallow in your own wretchedness because you're selfishly holding doors open for the elderly for your own validation? Or, in order to be a truly good person, should you slam the door shut in her face?
There's no winning there. And, I hope, most people can see that this attitude doesn't cash out in the real world. It's a good thing for you to do selfless acts of love and kindness for your friends and your romantic partners, and the fact that doing so will make you a happier person who feels closer to the people you help is a feature, not a bug. It's the positive feedback loop that holds all of our (healthy) relationships together.
So, does it matter whether Zuko jumps in front of Katara because he's acting out of a friendly or a romantic feelings for her? No, not even a little bit. Both could have worked just fine, you could even have both working at the same time, and neither one undercuts his redemption arc.
Does it matter that he jumps in front of lightning because it's what's best for Katara without concern for what it might cost him? Yes, absolutely. Because that right there, whether borne out of friendship or romance, is the essence of selfless love.
I think it's important to note that there is no private apology between Aang and Katara after their (rather public) argument.
The only 'resolve' is displayed through a speech that Aang makes to the entire group: "Everyone, I know I've asked a lot of you on this journey. But we're about to accomplish something that will change the world."
Now, the next interaction between Aang and Katara is when she revives him after he dies.
"You're incredible, Katara." He says.
Then the topic immediately shifts to Appa and everyone is there and ready to comfort Aang regarding the bison's disappearance.
It's a damn good thing Katara was able to revive herself and the others. After all, it's very important, apparently, that they continue to shoulder Aang's emotional burdens once more, and not hold him accountable.
("I can't believe I trusted him." - Aang)
Now, at this point, given Aang's history, the supposed 'growth' he's had since the original series, is it a stretch to critique him? To call him naive? To maybe, just a tiny bit, see his relationship with (and reliance on) Katara as something he takes for granted? Calling someone 'incredible' is just words, at the end of the day, especially when you've knowingly placed their lives at risk.
I've always believed that actions speak louder than words, and I think Aang's actions reveal the not-so-healthy underbelly of his and Katara's love story.
Carrie being skinny in every adaptation is like how Heathcliff is white in most of his. Directors somehow cut out the most important part of their characters, the reason why they have been subjected to such prejudice and why they are the way they are. Why THE BOOKS GO THE WAY THEY DO. Do you think Heathcliff would have been so outcasted and forbidden to be with Catherine if he was white? Do you think Carrie would have been relentlessly bullied and borderline tortured by her peers if she was skinny and pretty?
I don't understand the idea of considering Zutara toxic, especially from Zuko's part, but then other ships with him are totally fine?
I mean, wasn't that time the creators of ATLA said that girls who preferred Zutara would suffer in their relationships a little... crazy? Doesn't that imply that Mai, his semi-official partner, is with a bad guy? Did Zuko's redemption arc mean nothing?
Zuko is suddenly a stable and healthy human being in other ships, but the moment he's paired with Katara, he's scum of the earth? How does that work?
➡️ Not every medium of fiction and storytelling has or is expected to have content warnings or extensive tagging.
➡️ Print novels do not traditionally warn for content in any way.
➡️ Until AO3 came along, fanfiction did not traditionally warn for content in any significant way.
➡️ An author is only obligated to warn for content to the degree mandated by the format they publish their fiction on.
➡️ Content warnings beyond the minimum are a courtesy, not an obligation.
➡️ 'Creator chose not to warn' is a valid tag that authors are allowed to use on AO3. It means there could be anything in there and you have accepted the risk. 'May contain peanuts!'
➡️ Writers are allowed to use 'Creator chose not to warn' for any reason, including to maintain surprise and avoid spoilers.
➡️ 'Creator chose not to warn' is not the same thing as 'no archive warnings apply'.
➡️ It is your responsibility to protect yourself and close a book, or hit the back button if you find something in fiction that you're reading that upsets you.
➡️ You are responsible for protecting yourself from fiction that causes you discomfort.
Eddie nearly shits his pants when he's at his table in the woods selling to high school students and the Chief of Police shows up.
Eddie is ready to run but Hopper grabs him by the shoulder and...gives him money? He says, "You're not slick, kid. I know what you're doing out here. I'm buying."
"Buying what?"
Hopper raises an eyebrow and Eddie makes the smartest decision of his life to not reveal what else is in his lunchbox. He opens it a sliver and hands Hopper a baggie of weed.
Hopper hands him cash instead of arresting him and then just...leaves. Weird.
Eddie continues his day in the twilight zone because he later sees Hopper. With the weed. Handing it to Steve Harrington.
i hate how non-canon ships have become so controversial nowadays, like i just miss how most people were multi-shippers. we even used to ship characters that were in different fandoms, what happened to that??
Please return us to a world where Notp and squick are used for a ship you don’t like instead of just making up a load of bullshit about how immoral it is or w/e lol
a short selection of concepts and phrases that used to be commonplace in fandom and we’d really benefit from making that a thing again:
NOTP: the opposite of an OTP (One True Pairing). It is a ship a fan strongly dislikes. The word is a portmanteau of ‘no’ and ‘OTP’ and thus is not a contraction of any particular phrase.
Squick: anything that is a deep-seated, visceral turn-off. Squicks may be shared by many fans or be specific to one; one person’s kink may be another person’s squick.
YKINMKATO, or kink-tomato: Your Kink Is Not My Kink, And That’s Okay: used to indicate support for fannish diversity and to distinguish between disapproval or kink shaming and simply having different taste.
DLDR: Don’t Like, Don’t Read: a phrase used to warn against complaints about an aspect of fic or meta. A “live and let live” philosophy of fandom, which places the responsability for avoiding content one doesn’t want to see on the side of the fanwork consumer, rather that on the creator’s.
SALS: Ship And Let Ship: similar to the above specifically about shipping tastes.
YMMV: Your Mileage May Vary: a phrase used to acknowledge that any given individual’s personal opinion on the topic at hand may differ due to their own tastes, standards, values, experiences, etc.
As the OP points out, all of these crucially imply no moral judgment of what they’re designing.
(definitions lifted more or less wholesale from fanlore’s relevant pages)
do you ever just … picture a whole scene, a whole fanfiction in your head, you know how to place every single word of the english dictionary that you need (or your language dictionary), you know how to structure your sentences, you know just what your characters are going to say to each other and then… and then you just open microsoft word.
Its the doc! The blank document steals the ideas from. Your brain!!!! If you want to keep your ideas,, do NOT look at the doc when you open it, look STRAIGHT* AT THE KEYBOARD and write the first words to pop into your head! Once the document isn't empty it, takes away its evil power over you
I saw a post about the movie Matilda (1996) today and it caused such a rush of memories I absolutely have to talk about it on here.
I was DEEPLY obsessed with the movie Matilda growing up and it always really baffled my parents. I love it so much I rewatched it constantly. I even voluntarily wrote a full book report esc paper on it before I even started getting assigned book reports at school. Everyone was so confused and kept saying I was such a strange kid.
Now I’m a grown adult, and I’ve learned some things about myself, such as the fact that I am an autistic trans man with multiple disabilities, and I look back at baby me who was so constantly bullied and harassed and lived in a world where nobody believed their struggles and there wasn’t a single person who even tried to understand.
And it makes sense.
And I’m sort of heartbroken for that version of me. I’m doing really well now, and I have a wonderful support system of friends and family who do understand and listen and care.
But that version of me didn’t.
Matilda is a film that means so much to me, and in a world that refused to even try to understand me it made me feel seen and understood.
I highly recommend that movie to anyone and everyone. It’s really good!
But especially if you’re disabled, neurodivergent, queer, etc (honestly anything outside of what’s considered default) PLEASE go watch it. This movie was genuinely life changing for me, and I think it deserves so much more love and attention than it gets.
I haven’t seen the musical they made out of it, nor have I been brave enough to check out the series. If anyone who loves the movie has seen those properties and has opinions consider this post a place to voice them- I’m super curious!
I love Matilda because it's a story about a child who sees injustice around her and gets mad about it and questions why things aren't fair, and instead of the ending being that she learns how the world works and that life isn't fair, she catapults one of the adults who abused her out of a building with her mind
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