#debtdeath

[presidentbungus]

re: scout infantilisation discussion i genuinely believe that scout is actually pretty decently emotionally mature compared to SEVERAL other mercs, which doesnt mean he’s not petulant at times and doesnt fuck around being an idiot, but he understands how to navigate around other peoples feelings due to literally growing up in a huge family and most likely in a tight knit neighbourhood community too. i also think for this reason he can be slightly manipulative to get what he wants lol he’s kind of an asshole and i love him for it. i dislike the baby uwu twink characterisation because it strips him of any agency, especially when it comes from people who are clearly younger than him… anyway thats my scout tangent.

yes yes yes. scout is stupid sometimes but for some reason people tend to read this as "incapable of relationships and basic empathy" like.... cmon. I fall under the camp that thinks he's actually pretty good at people and most of his being annoying is very on purpose; he's not incapable of not knowing when to stop, he just doesn't want to. he's impulsive and chases easy gratification. he's not clueless.

(scout being manipulative..... little nerd. i think scout deserves to be a little bit of a douche sometimes. on purpose. just a little bit)

and also yeah that's exactly the words I'm looking for. a lot of interpretations of scout just don't have agency. that's the main issue with it. he's 27 and people write him like he's never had a friend before.

im cutting this off with a conclusion to say i think an important thing to remember (that even I forget a whole lot!) is that at the end of the day all of the mercs are kind of assholes. varying degrees of assholes, but they're explicitly pretty not great people, and for the most part when they do something bad they know they're doing something bad. they're characters with flaws and most of the time the flaws aren't cute. people need to write them more like the gross old men they are in general. getting down on my hands and knees begging please stop uwuifying them they should all go to jail forever and yes I'm including engy. THAT'S how devoted I am to this cause

[alikerao3]

just dropping in to say hello bc i just read the first chapter of your new fic and i gotta tell you just how excited for what you come up with next! also inspires me to kick my own arse and finish what im working on already lmfao.

(also if you ever need a beta reader or even just someone to bounce ideas with lmk! more than happy to chat with fellow big brained sniperscout enthusiasts)

🥺 thank u omg. Ngl I've been lurking for a while in the tf2 fandom so it's kinda great that everyone has been so nice about Golden Brown. It's one of the only fics I've written ahead for too, so I'm p excited to share some of the other things I've got planned.

(also same to you! your speeding bullet pieces are always so refreshing, you've got a great sense of the characters)

(also also I apologise in advance for when stuff about Australia comes up, just ignore it k thanks lol)

[pregnantsecondo]

i agree with pisscool anon talking about how sincerely believing in "men are trash" very easily leads you into terf propaganda, i also think that a lot of people who end up adopting that sort of mindset have this extremely rigid and heteronormative understanding of gender and relationships (even people who are bi themselves and look down on bi people who date men!) and it's sad to see! loving men can be filled with joy and these people have been sold a version of loving men that is miserable mostly because that's what cishet culture is like. anyway apologies for rambling in your ask, i think it's a great conversation and everyone's been saying really smart things.

Wonderfully put! Thank you for rambling in my asks!

[presidentbungus]

perhaps someone else already asked or you already talked about it at length—either way keen to hear your in-depth thoughts about speeding bullet!

anon asked for this one too so if you’re out there, here you go :) maaaaahhhhh. I used to really not like speeding bullet, and actively avoided it actually, until I read one fic—don’t remember the title but it’s a fairly popular one iirc, I can dig for it if you want it—and it was about, like, Sniper going to a baseball game with Scout at this big stadium or something and I dont really remember much of what happened but that’s when it clicked. I just didn’t get it before. now I got it.

I think the most important part Of the speeding bullet dynamic is that they are just… there for each other. their Relationship is both of their safe spaces, I think, and it’s just such an incredibly comfy ship for this exact reason. Scout goes out and does his thing and like, that’s fun and all, and he likes everybody but they kind of treat him like he’s a stupid kid who doesn’t know what hes talking about—and to be honest a lot of the time that’s true. He knows he talks a lot, and sometimes there’s bound to be stupid things he says, and it—it just happens. and it’s just so annoying that all the guys give him shit about it constantly cause sometimes he can’t help it—and sometimes it just gets frustrating. but he has Sniper, you know—that’s what I mean. Sniper who’s spent the entire day holed up in his nest or holed up in his van or just holed up in his brain, you know, thinking and thinking about things he doesn’t want to be thinking about—it gets too quiet out there. so Scout shows up and shoulders past him and flops down on the bed and starts ranting about whatever abhorrent thing Spy decided to tell him today and Sniper just sits down, sets his chin on his hands, listens. takes his mind off. and he does listen, too, actual listening, soaking in everything Scout has to say even if he exaggerates and trips over his words and has a hard time figuring out what to say sometimes. and, like, this is it. this is The dynamic. it’s just so perfect. I talked myself into loving the ship so much more on accident lmao. I’ll snip it off now before I spend the next hour on this thanks for the ask ily💖