Question For MLB Fandom...

When writing emotionally reserved characters:

Show your character's struggles with holding in emotions. Just because your character won't let themself go in public, doesn't mean they don't struggle holding everything in.

Find a motive. Pride and/or consideration for those around them can make emotionally reserved people hold back more than would be considered good for them. There are other reasons too, perhaps the initial cause and the reason now are different, but try to give them a reason.

Show side-effects. Everything you bottled up shows itself in another way, whether it's physical or mental. This can be long- and short-term, depending on the severity of the emotions.

Give them coping mechanisms. Everyone who wishes not to show certain emotions has a trick or two to keep themselves in check. Taking a sip of water, not looking people in the eyes, clenching their fists, breathing just a bit too deeply.

Write subconscious signs that they give off, which close friends or family might pick on. Just because these characters want to keep their emotions to themselves, doesn't mean they don't give off signs. Some manage to keep said signs well hidden from those closest to them, but it's more common for environment to pick up on something at the very least.

The little pawn got sick of chess,

so it took the knight's sword,

and slayed both kings by itself.

So...

Dumbledore is a complex character. Some put him as a hero, some as a villain. Both are good, honestly.

I think my favorite representation so far is from "Falling Apart", a Severus Snape centric fic.

And, I'm pretty much a Snape fan.

I'd like a bit of a more friendly relationship between them, but not the mentor-apprentice kind. More like, two very exhausted adults, one too old who thinks he knows everything, one too young, who knows too much and is done with life.

And, please listen here, Severus calls Albus 'Wulfric'.

Imagine, Severus just coming from a meeting and Dumbledore asking in an overly happy manner 'How are you, my boy?', even though Severus told him not to call him that.

'Very well, Wulfric. You?'

'All is well, Percival.'

'Just peachy, Brian.'

All the time. Alone, with Order memebers around, other memebers of staff or in front of Hogwarts' children. He would do it in front of Voldemort if he had the chance.

Imagine, Severus calling Dumbledore 'Wulfric' the same way the headmaster calls Voldemort 'Tom'.

For the past few days I've been reading Transformers' fanfiction. Am I in the fandom? No. Was I reading about Optimus and Megatron? Yes. Should I be Ashamed? Yeah, probably, but that's not the point.

The point here is that I learned that in the past, Optimus was Orion Pax and Megatron was D-16. And then I remembered an episode of an animated serie I used to watch in Cartoon Network where Optimus lost his memory and he seemed to get along with Megatron and belive what he said. Then I think I stopped watching, either because they always repeated the same episodios or because I got bored, I don't know.

I'm also confused about Megatron's past. D-16 was a miner. But I also read about him as a gladiator and the name Megatronus instead of Megatron is also thrown around.

Orion Pax was an archivist I believe, which I understand as a sort of librarian.

Where am I going to with all of this?

You'll see, I want to know if there is a fic where, when Optimus loses his memory and becomes Orion Pax, he is a complete and absolute menace. He is still an archivist, sure, but he has a Past, he has Lore. He was not the cool and collected hero and soldier he is today and he was not some quite and shy young mech. No, he was chaotic. Trouble followed him and when it didn't, he went looking for it.

I can't decide if I want the past friendship with Megatron to be a part of whatever this is or not.

But lets say it isn't, let's say that Megatron is just as confused as everyone else.

And what about Autobots and Decepticons? Easy, Orion would have no idea what those are. And he wouldn't care. He would only care about how cool flying seemed and then be absolutly exited about being able to do it himself (assuming he can, I don't even know where in the saga I am putting this). He'd want to race the Autobots in the ground and the Decepticons in the sky.

BUT he would not trust any of them. Why? Because they all kept calling him Optimus Prime, insisting that's who he was. Prime! As if he'd ever become part of that system!

In the meantime, he is balancing the despair of the news about the destruction of his home world and everyone he knew with the excitement of a new world plus the loneliness and confusion that came with the later.

For Megatron, you'd think things were ideal since his greatest obstacle was out of the way, right?

Wrong!

There was one thing Megatron could have never imagined, never expected or even suspected, and that's just how much the other Decepticons liked Orion Pax.

Orion was funny, he liked to spar and he fought dirty. He made jokes and teased them and he was not afraid of any of them. He was not stupid and understood that all of the Decepticons had a past, they all had done horrible things, but for some reason that wasn't a deterrent. Sure, the mech didn't trust them (and those trust issues should be adressed, but the Decepticons were no better so...), but Orion was always up for a good sparring session or just fooling around. The mech was also odly well-read in the weirdest of topics from history to medicine, mythology and weird facts about games from Kaon (why? and how?).

And Orion was that odd kind of friend that didn't tell you shit about himself, but for some reason you wanted to tell him everything about you.

And what about the Autobots?

Well, they obviously missed their leader, but the ones that really had a problem were the younger ones because why was Opt-Orion so friendly with the Decepticons but didn't even speak with them?

Orion was avoiding them and he would keep that up until those Autobots stopped calling him Optimus.

Orion would go here and there and some times help the Autobots and others the Decepticons if any of them were in actual troubles because he was still a good person who cared about others while trying not to do so.

Just... Orion Pax accidentally uniting the remaining Cybertronians by being his lovable, reckles, and complicated self.

And there is megop, apparently...

People keep making fanarts of D-16 meeting TfP Optimus and being absolutely enamoured with him. And, honestly? Understandable, D-16, you poor, little mech.

And I've seen one of Orion also meeting Megatron and calling him ugly, which was hilarious.

But consider:

The four meet, just like in the fanart I mentioned, and D-16 is practically drooling at the sigh of Optimus while having a mayor internal freak out because somehow Orion went from chaotic and ridiculously pretty rebel to some sort of beautiful and incredible hero. At the same time he looks at Megatron, who appears so fearsome and angry, even hateful, and then at Orion, sweet, kind Orion, watching Megatron unblinking.

"You're incredible," breathed Orion, smiling up softly at the tall mech.

And both D-16 and Megatron flinched, stunned because how could he? How could Orion Pax say that? Worst of all, how could he mean it?

Megatron knew that tone of voice, he knew that look in the small mech eyes. He was being honest, he said what he thought, just the way he thought it. That awed note on his voice, the amazed spark on his optics, it was all so painfully truthful and Megatron didn't know what to do with it all.

Then he turned to his old self, the one who had finally stopped staring at Optimus to look at his best friend with confusion, paired with adoration and barely concealed longing.

Orion finally noticed D's yellow optics on him. He turned and smiled, bright and happy.

Megatron knew then that Orion hadn't understood. And it made sense, after all Pax would never expect D-16 to turn into... Into Megatron.

But maybe, the most surprising part was just how much it hurt, to realise that Orion could still look at him like this, and that if he could do it, then maybe...

Nah, that was impossible.

Once again thinking about: "He was only fifteen-" "I'm fifteen!"

Imagine being Harry and finding out that one of the worst people you've ever met who does nothing but belittle and degrade you, who has become the antithesis of everything you aspire to be, is the victim of the exact person you believed to be the gold standard.

Because for years, everyone was telling Harry one thing about James while Snape was saying another and, for years, Harry had been comfortable believing Snape was the one who was wrong.

So, imagine being Harry and all you have left of your parents is the memories people choose to share with you, so you take all the scraps and make this Frankenstein idealistic version of your parents because, for a moment, it makes you feel like you actually know them.

And then, just in case you forgot, reality reminds you in maybe the worst way that you don't know these people at all.

Ready to rec some awesome fics that I read this month!! Feel free to add on with some of your own Bagginshield recs. 😁

March 2024 Rec List

G Rated:

A Home, A Pack, A Place of Love by Lucigoo89 (WIP, 4K, 2ch.)- You can't keep me away from puppy fics! Deciding to run away from home, Corgi Bilbo takes puppy Frodo and escapes into the streets which might not be that friendly to the small animals. The love between Frodo and Bilbo is already so adorable and we haven't even met any company members yet!

To Court a King by Porphyrios (Complete, 19K, 1ch.)- This fic has been recced a lot recently and it's totally worth it! Bilbo and Thorin have decided to court, only some are worried about the worthiness of such a match. I have reread this fic twice just this month alone.

T Rated:

Desperate Magic by BeautifulFiction (Complete, 5K, 1ch.)- This is one of those fics that is worth revisting again and again. On the brink of death, Bilbo sees it in himself to tend to Thorin's hair. It's such a unique kind of Everybody Lives fic, and I just get overwhelmed by the love in this story.

Frozen Heart by snowmissus (soul_of_blaze) (WIP, 7K, 3ch.)- When Danny first promoted this fic on tumblr I was 100% invested. Erebor is trapped in a forever winter and Bilbo is brought to see if he can help. I can't wait to see what all is in store for this fic because the setup is spectacular.

Golden Hearts Bleed Faster by LordOfTheRazzles (WIP, 3K, 1ch.)- I've been waiting for Razzy to release this fic. Bilbo Baggins is the Prince of the Shire and in need of a new bodyguard, Thorin. Bilbo is just so sassy and you can tell this is going to lead to some good antics between the duo.

There and Not Back Again (or, The Saving of Erebor) by femmbingley (WIP, 164K, 49ch.)- There's so much to say about this fic. Post-BOTFA dwarven politics where Bilbo has assumed the duties of the consort which makes things more difficult for Dain. I really love the characterizations and I just can't get enough of this fic!

M Rated:

A heart of stone and Fire in his soul by Lucigoo89 (Complete, 3K, 1ch.)- This fic is chock full of beautiful metaphors. Bilbo's introspection on his thoughts of Thorin during their first standoff with Azog. Honestly, this is one of my favorite Goo fics.

E Rated:

Kurdu 'abadaz by LordOfTheRazzles (WIP, 34K, 6ch.)- This is unlike any Post-BOTFA fic I've ever read. The magic of the Arkenstone brings Thorin back to life for a purpose: help the trapped souls of Erebor. There's such a touching scene between Thorin and his amad that has me in pieces over this fic!

Sleep Alone; Start All Over by vicious_summer (WIP, 56K, 3ch.)- I'm still thoroughly enjoying this fic so far. After an accident, Bilbo is the one who ends up losing about seven years worth of memories including the fact that he’s married to the King Under the Mountain. I’m just always so impressed with vicious_summer’s writing style as it has a more Book!Bilbo vibe.

Hi. Does anyone know of a fic where Snape for x-reason uses the sword of Godric Gryffindor or is said to have Gryffindor traits in front of a good amount of people?

I just want chaos.

The idea of the hat considering your traits, but also the ones you most value is something I like. There are lots of opinions about Snape and the marauders and I think they are all right and wrong at the same time. All of them did a lot of shity things and some had more chances in life than others. Snape, in my opinion, had it hard but also burned many bridges with his own hands.

Ultimately I find his character more interesting, so is there any fic like this? I like Bamf!Snape. I don't mind pairings all that much but I'd rather for it not to be with Lily. It's nothing against her, simply don't really like the pairing.

Just, some people realising their own bias and misconceptions and freaking out. I can also picture Snape internaly freaking out and watching the sword/sorting hat as if it had personally insulted him (the hat probably did).

I just thought, and I guess it's kind of unrelated, but what if Severus's patronus isn't a doe, but a bambi? It was supposed to grow into a stag, but it never got the chance, it could never fulfill itself and remained forever young and unchanged, stuck in time and memory, perhaps in an effort to retain a semblance of the few good moments it could recall, maybe as a result of not being allowed to develop and grow into its full capabilities.

from lily pov btw 🥹