#ilu red

[redripped]

@spacecanvas ... >_> Fuck.

[tf2artcomp]

Fandom and mental health

We’ve known each other for sixteen years and have been friends for most of them. We’ve had real influence on each other’s lives. In that time, we’ve only been in two fandoms together. (TF2 is the second. We’ll let you wonder about the first.) We have OCs, and they mean the world to us, but more than that, the TF2 community has been instrumental to our mental health.

Because sometimes when things get bad, we spam each other with every piece of TF2 art we can get our hands on, and this was something we did before either one of us had even made a Tumblr account. The multitude of TF2 fic and the quality of the writing, that really made us think, because y’all are writing from experience too.

[Ugg] Like that time Red wanted to go back to school to get a Master’s, and whenever she got down, I’d pull out a character to cheer her up. Sometimes it’s Scout and his improbable persistence, sometimes it’s Heavy and his PhD in Russian Literature. Other circumstances got in the way so it didn’t happen, but she gave it her all, no regrets.

[Red] Or times when Ugg has had to deal with social obligations (because ew humans and your weird rules about interacting) and family members being unpleasant. Sometimes the best antidote for social anxiety is a sarcastic Frenchman whose wardrobe is supplied by monk tailors and whose je ne sais quoi is infinite.

[Ugg] Despite its abundant silliness, when it comes to serious matters, the TF2 community is incredible, and that’s influenced the way we wrote our OCs. No one but Red has ever heard about some of these characters, but an OC based on an OC based on a canon character ended up saving my life multiple times. They’ve helped me work through panic attacks and suicidal thoughts, and I’m stronger and better prepared to live with my conditions for it.

[Red] In a lot of ways, my TF2 OCs are more family than my actual family. I have some nasty physical ailments to go with my intracranial quirks (oh hey, “intracranial” is actually a word!), and it’s just…it’s been an invaluable therapy tool/angst reliever to have these people in my head, to help me work out my limits and fears and frustrations. My face-to-face interactions with people are necessarily limited (see: ew humans), and I’m kind of naturally a loner, but having “friends in the computer,” as my mom puts it, has been the most amazing support network ever. No matter what time of day it is, I can turn to this fandom and find something that helps.

That’s a part of why we’re doing this. Your incredible works --art, writing, videos, crafts-- both past and present, have literally helped shape our psyches. We’re not BNFs in this community; far from it. We don’t have names anyone would recognize. Still, we want you to know that what you do matters, and we hope our little contribution makes life a little easier for someone else, as it has for us.

[skelekins]

QnQ how can u choose

[beforkafall-blog]

red-return-key replied to your post “i tag slick in things and he alwaves ignores them im heartbroken...”

how dare he

yeah ikr

[lueminous]

songs-and-noms replied to your post:the cool motive still murder line just means that...

Cool answer… still murder

you little shit lmao

[kusuhara-takeru-blog1]

TAKERU IS ALIVE IN IDOL AU!!!!

[shorm]

I see you've accepted my challenge, you lovely pinnacle of good-hearted nerd. You're a talented person who brings out the best, as a vocal coach, and your writing is entertaining. I wish nothing but good things for you because I've known you deserve them from the moment we met. Also, your sense of humour is sublime. WHAT'VE YOU GOT TO SAY TO THAT, HUH?

THANK YOU SIR MAY I HAVE ANOTHER

[techmomma]

Great job you subpar saboteur, people are dead now.

(the joke is late but I made it anyway. Yes he is shaking Tech’s closed fist.)

help me i can’t breathe

the fuckin

“ally-oop!”

-lays down on the floor- i’m done i’m done