me: oh yea it’s been years I’m over it
also me: *was actually irreparably changed to the point that my personality and the way I interact with others and my insecurities are, even today, a direct result of what happened*
Children should not aspire to be Arrow’s Oliver Queen, who fucks up in the same way every time. Children should aspire to be The Flash’s Barry Allen who fucks up in new and unique ways every time.
I want to read a fic where the fire alarm goes off in the HAUS (like, someone was smoking, nothing bad) and everyone has to get out in their pajamas and wait on the lawn.
and then Bitty has to explain why he sleeps in a Zimmermann shirt.
First, thank you for asking. This is something I feel is important!
Second, to those who wonder where this question came from, a while back, I reblogged this, and added the comment about squicks not being the same as triggers.
So what, you ask, is a squick?
A squick is an old fandom term for something that makes you supremely uncomfortable and you absolutely do not want to read it. It can be a trope, a ship, a concept, or just an event that happens within a fic or in canon. For me, abused animals are a definite squick. I don’t like it, and will generally avoid reading any graphic descriptions of such. (That includes tumblr gif sets and such too, people! Tag that shit, will you? Even if it has a happy ending.) Another deep, deep squick of mine is infant age play. Don’t like it, don’t get it, don’t want to think about it.
Now, neither of these things are dangerous to my mental or emotional state. I have never experienced either in my life, and they do not bring about any sort of PTSD, dissociation, or spiral of depression, anxiety, etc. They are simply things I prefer not to think about in my daily life, or read about in my escapist hobbies. Therefore, theyare not triggers. Triggers are very real, very bad things for some people, and to label things we choose not to read because we find it disturbing or gross or weird is to diminish the very real danger of actual triggers.
I love the term squick. It perfectly describes the concept without assigning any negativity to the thing you dislike, or to people who do like the thing you dislike. It is something you personally do not care for and wish to avoid, simple as that.
A squick is an old fandom term
*waves walking stick in the general direction of her lawn* This.
Bring back “squick” 2k16
Squick is wonderful for many reasons, especially because it is value neutral. Being squicked by something doesn’t mean it’s gross or wrong or ~problematic~, just that you, specifically do not enjoy it and that it makes you, specifically uncomfortable to read and/or write about it.
ohhhhh ohhhhhhhh okay listenhear me out though: body painting
–
magnus paints tons of pictures of alec; beautiful profile portraits,
close up details of his hands and the runes inked into his skin, alec sleeping
with his face smushed into the pillow and his hair soft and unruly. if alec has
it, magnus has painted it
–
and alec thinks this is wonderful, he thinks magnus is so talented but
also he’s a little embarrassed; he’s alec, he’s tall and awkward and
surely his eyes aren’t that bright, his cheekbones so sharp?
–
and magnus is thinking about this, about alternative ways to bring his love of
art and his love of alec together and then he sees it, maybe clary is showing
him some photos of a college project she did where she coerced simon into
letting her paint flowers all along his arms and he’s like, this is it
–
it actually works out pretty well for magnus that alec comes home exhausted and
sore from work, and alec looks so sleepily fond when magnus explains that he
has just the thing to relax alec – this usually means an intricately
scented bath or something else equally magnus, so alec tends to let it
happen
–
alec doesn’t know what he’s expecting when magnus coaxes him into lying on his
front, head pillowed between his folded arms – a massage, maybe? but he’s
almost not surprised when the first cold lick of paint hits his shoulder blade
-alec
probably dozes off intermittently; magnus is such a warm, gentle weight on the
backs of his legs and the brush strokes are oddly relaxing, as is the soft
music that magnus occasionally hums along to
–
magnus paints a sunset, okay, beautiful washes of peachy orange and sleepy red
and he sometimes paints over the runes on alec’s skin, sometimes incorporates
them like his own personal stars in the sky.
–
also!! alec asking sleepy questions and magnus telling him, in a soft voice,
that he painted a sunset because the setting of the sun is the thing that never
changes, over the centuries, and is the only permanent thing in his life. but
the love he feels for alec is so permanent that it will be with him always, in
every single sunset and every star in the sky
