Keep Moving In Forward Motion 🎶

If someone adds your fic to their collection, they can hide it! They can mark the collection as unrevealed and your fic will be unreadable to anyone other than them! If you're writing works for a surprise event, like a Secret Santa, this is really nice.

But if you're just writing and someone adds your fic to a collection for their own personal use and marks it as unrevealed, that. . . really sucks.

I bookmarked this fic in 2017, almost 5 years ago. Knowing me, the fic itself was probably at least a couple years old at the time I bookmarked it.

This is a 5+ year old fic that is completely inaccessible now because it was added to a collection that, as far as I can tell, is literally just for the collection owner's own reference. There's almost 30 fics in the collection, all of them unrevealed.

If you're the creator of the work:

1) Select the "Edit" button from the work's page and scroll down to the "Associations" section.

2) Select the red (×) beside the collection name you want to remove next to "Post to Collections / Challenges".

3) Select "Post" to apply the change. The work will be immediately removed from the collection.

I'm not sure if you get an alert if your fic is marked as unrevealed though, so keep an eye on the collections that your works are part of.

A video analysis analyzing the difference between a dog joining a cat, and a cat joining a dog.

Are we still doing the bit where we watch Gerard kidnap Stiles because Scott loves Stiles so much that Gerard thinks it's the perfect way to make Scott obey him and transform that into incontrovertible proof that Scott is a BAD friend?

And are we still doing the follow up skit in which Stiles would turn to the Hale Pack for support and friendship? From Erica who brained Stiles with a car part and kidnapped him, from Isaac who physically assaulted him and complained about having to look for him, from Boyd who declared they weren't friends, and most especially from Derek "Head Bouncer" Hale, who never mentioned Stiles during the last two episodes of the season?

Are we still doing this bit where we ignore that the only two people heavily invested in finding Stiles after he was kidnapped was his father and Scott McCall?

Are we still going there?

You and I have often joked about "people should have been bullied by their English teachers more" but it's not just a joke, is it? The reduction of media consumption to a narrow set of shared tropes has rendered almost any sort of nuanced experience impossible. The fandom sees any and every type of story almost exclusively in terms of whom can be shipped with whom. It leads to partisanship instead of comprehension and frustration with parts of the narrative that have nothing to do with romance and/or sex.

For example, that's the reason why I've been seeing outrage in the fandom for the new Interview with the Vampire over the way Lestat has been portrayed in the most recent episode. Fandom was so excited by the chance for their "toxic but loving mlm relationship" addiction to get its fix that they ignored the clear signs that Lestat's possessive love, shallow self-absorption, and culturally inculcated disdain for those he saw as lesser than himself would ultimately create unbearable horror for Louis and Claudia.

Instead of experiencing the story and what it's actually trying to say, they immediately rebel because they've been allowed to believe that consuming media means imposing their favorite tropes and fetishes on it. Due to this entitlement, "Enemies to lovers, slow burn, 300k" has become the enemy of actually being a receptive audience.

Nothing, nothing, embodies this more than fandom's reaction to Season 5 of Teen Wolf. Their interpretation of its plot is ridiculously shallow simply because that ridiculously shallow interpretation suits their needs, which was to make Stiles the victim of Scott's role as lead protagonist, rather than Stiles being the victim of Theo and the Doctors and their need to make Scott not a victim at all.

If a viewer would take off the stan-goggles for a moment, Theo and the Dread Doctors targeted each of the pack's weaknesses, of course, but not just any of their weaknesses. They targeted weaknesses that arose out of the pack's strengths as well. I could go into each of them, and I will upon request, but the pack's trust in each other can be underlined by the scene in Parasomnia (5x02):

Scott: Why can't you trust anyone?

Stiles: Because you trust everyone!

The key that the fandom misses in their need to impose their own desired outcome on the story is that both of these lines are intentionally wrong. Scott does not trust everyone. He didn't trust Derek, or Peter, or Gerard, or Deucalion, among others. But most importantly, he doesn't actually trust himself. He doesn't trust his own emotions, his own intelligence, or his own nature. It's why he can't bring himself to tell Kira about her fox spirit, because he would have to say he's afraid. It's why he doesn't tell Liam about the plan, because he's "not sure if it's going to work." It's why he tells his mother that things have changed "because of me."

Stiles on the other hand, trusts a lot of people. He trusts his own instincts and usefulness, which is why he's still haunted by the time they were taken from him. He trusts Scott's virtue, which is why he assumes that Scott would choose being morally right over him. He trusts Theo but only after Theo confirms Stiles's own initial judgement. And yes, he does trust Theo, because he works with him, he assumes Theo will keep their secrets, which is why Stiles was surprised by the wrench "where did you get that?", and, most importantly, he trusts Theo will keep his word when he offers "I'll tell you where your father is but only if you promise not to help Scott."

Now, of course, the stans will come back with that scene in Memory Found (6x09) where Theo tells Noah "He was smart enough not to trust me" and completely miss the context of that scene. Theo is locked in a jail cell in a city being attacked by the Wild Hunt, and he wants out and the only person with the key card demands to be told something about the son he's forgotten. Of course, Theo is going to say something that plays to the sheriff's biases in order to get what he wants. That is Theo's thing; that's his modus operandi. But fandom as usual decides that they need to take Theo's words at face value, as if they don't supposedly hate Scott for doing the exact same thing.

What's sad is they miss some of Teen Wolf's best writing when they shuck context in order to make the story serve their agenda. How many times have you read the fact that Derek or Peter or Theo has saved people's lives, so that means others should trust them, only to forget that this was exactly how Theo got people to trust him in Season 5A. As well as how Peter got people to trust him in Smoke & Mirrors (4x12) and how Derek got Scott to trust him in Lunatic (1x09). (Yet, strangely, Scott saving lives means nothing to them.)

Wrong. Okay, picture this–

So there’s the prince, okay? He’s like, smack dab in the center of the ballroom, and he is like, horrifically aware that this whole ball thing is a result of his dad falling into a panic about the royal lineage or whatever and he’s stuck listening to highborn girl after highborn girl, all lined up, introducing themselves like, “Oh yeah my family’s been a longtime supporter of the crown, and I think you’re cute, *cough* I’ve been told I have child-bearing hips *cough* Who said that? Anyway–” and Princey boy is just smiling through it, he has been the center of attention for entirely too long, he misses his emotional support horse, and is just internally like “Someone please kill me now.” And then… he sees her–This isn’t a love at first sight thing, this is a ‘what the hell is going on over there’ thing, because this girl has not gotten into the Debutante line for a solid 45 minutes. 

She’s just at the hors d’oeuvres table going HAM on the prosciutto-wrapped asparagus, and like, she’s polite about it, she’s happy to move aside for other people grabbing punch and canapes (and she’s really so sweet with the wait staff, it’s kind of cute because they’re like… definitely not used to being acknowledged) but it’s like, “Damn girl, did you not eat today?” and then the prince is kind of stuck with the uncomfortable thought of ‘how many girls starved themselves to fit into a corset for this.’ And then the Prince realizes he’s missed the past 4 Debutante introductions because he’s watching Mystery girl hork down crab rangoons. So he’s like, “Excuse me” and manages to break free from the never-ending parade of girls who will hop on his dick for status.

 And as he’s approaching Mystery Girl, it’s kind of hitting him that something’s not quite natural about her. Not fake, but not quite real. But at the same time this whole evening’s been just a whole circus of people acting fake as hell, so like, someone seeming a little off doesn’t seem bad, necessarily. And he sidles up to her like, “Hi,” and she’s like, “Oh–hey, have you tried the tapenade?” and she points to one of the plates, and at this point, he could hit her with the “You don’t know who I am, do you?” deal or the “Very funny, I see your play” deal, but at this point it occurs to him that, no, he hasn’t had anything to eat throughout this whole damn ball, partially because of being stuck in the debutante parade, partially because of nerves, and there’s something so disarming about the question that he grabs a crostini and she still seems so food-focused that it doesn’t seem possible that this is a play. So they both grab little plates and ditch the party.

She pretty much clears her plate in under two minutes and then has half of his plate, he’s cool with it, mostly he’s just absolutely fascinated listening to her.

See here’s the thing about Cinderella:

1. She doesn’t know he’s the prince. Like yeah, he’s been at the center of the room, but she’s kind of spent half the party eagerly looking around everywhere she’s allowed to go (”Have you seen rose garden? Have you seen the solarium??” further confirmation that she doesn’t know who she’s talking to) and the other half stuffing her face with food. 

2. She assumes she’s never going to see anyone here tonight again, and no one recognizes her, so she has no filter.

So she’s just talking about whatever with this guy. He seems cool. She talks about her friends, who are rats. She makes little outfits for them. Sometimes they bring her little gifts. She is already the coolest person the prince has ever met because of this. She pretty much offhandedly talks about whatever is fucked up about the kingdom that would take his advisors two hours of hemming and hawing and watering down to address. She just says it like it’s nothing, just funky little things she’s observed, and again, she’s not aware that he’s the prince, but it’s still pretty damn bold to bring up at a literal royal ball.

She… seems to have the majority of graces that lots of girls from Respectable Families™ have, but there’s something strange about it, something simultaneously broken and hardened, like the way you can see where ice has thawed and re-frozen. Also the way she talks about her family, and the way she avoids talking about her family– is raising several red flags, not in the “Oh this is another person trying to take advantage of me” sense, but in the “Oh fuck, something’s gone really wrong and you need help” sense and also lowkey a ‘damn is she even getting fed?’ sense. But he can’t say, ‘Hey, that’s not fucking normal for people to say that to you or treat you that way. We need to get you out of there,’ without sounding crazy himself, so for now, he’s just going to chill, make sure she’s comfortable, and keep enjoying the evening. She’s somehow befriended like 4 of the waitstaff so they’re willing to cover for them while they disappear for a little bit, and they get plenty of time to talk, but eventually it hits her that she hasn’t danced yet and she’s like “Come on! I bet we can make the prince jealous!” and he just bursts out laughing at that like “hell yeah, let’s make the prince jealous. He’s a real asshole.” Like clearly she’s having a good time, so who is he to make it weird? So they head back to the ballroom and they dance. And our girl, Mystery Girl, Cinderella, while they’re dancing, becomes acutely aware that everyone is staring. That doesn’t seem quite right. Like, yeah she’s hot, she knows she’s hot, but at least a good third of the party should still be focused on the prince, right? Where is that guy, anyway?

Oh.

Oh wait.

Oh shit.

And Princey Boy actually picks up on her realization and they whisper argue for like 3 minutes. “Why didn’t you tell me?! Now I feel like a goddamn idiot!” “I dunno it was nice being treated like a normal person” “Well me treating you like a normal person makes me a goddamn felon or something did you consider that?!” “Hey–Hey–it’s cool–you’re cool–I think you’re amazing, and if anyone says shit about you, I can shut it down.” “Well I don’t like that! That’s fucked up!” “I agree. It is fucked up, but I believe in you, and I think you should have a chance, and I’m here to back you up. I know power is fucked up right now. I know. But are you cool with working with me to change that?” And our girl Cindy pauses on that for a couple seconds, because.. she’s just spent hours with this guy and like.. she knows he’s a good guy, she knows he means well, so she’s like, “I don’t know how long I can actually work with you.” and the prince is like “Look, I know your home situation is complicated right now, but I really think we can–”

And then the bell starts ringing.

It’s midnight.

okay, here it is! this is a coffee shop au that i wrote for the amazing @awake-0r-dreaming! i wasnt uber consistent with my messages but i do hope this makes up for it! Happy Holidays! :)) and thanks to @staliasecretsanta for setting this all up! lots of love!!

On the corner of Grace and Sunset, in the sleepy town of Beacon Hills, you can find a tiny coffee shop. It’s red brick exterior is so bright, it’s an eyesore, the sign that hangs above the doors is crooked and there’s a graffitied penis on the side of the building but it’s Malia Tate’s pride and joy.