A Picture By @elgrajaz Of His Oc Creepy Guy Being Cautiously Comforted By My Oc Trouble. Chapter 6 Of

A picture by @elgrajaz of his oc creepy guy being cautiously comforted by my oc Trouble. Chapter 6 of Overcome is up on Ao3.

Excerpt:

“YOU UNGRATEF--”

“Careful,” Trouble interrupted, meeting the stranger’s gaze. He rested his claws against the captive’s throat. “I wouldn’t want my hand to slip.”

“Mm, mmph...”

“S-stop!”

“Someone could get hurt,” Trouble added, struggling to control his breathing. He tilted his head, resting his temple against the young man’s cheek. “I can’t believe I didn’t smell him on you. He’s very sweet.” He smirked as his captor’s eyes bulged. He made a show of burying his nose in blue hair and inhaling deeply.

“Let go of him.”

“I told you I could find my own meal.”

“He’s not for you.”

“Oh?” Trouble raised an eyebrow. “You’ve returned so quickly and I don’t see anyone else with you. Did you even mean what you said about taking care of me?” he demanded, pressing in with his fingertips so the captive’s skin dimpled around his claws.

Art by @elgrajaz of his precious oc creepy guy. Clearly he's completely normal and is full of only happy sunshiny memories. Ch 7 of Overcome on Ao3.

“Don’t tie me down,” Trouble whined, reaching up. He stroked his captor’s neck and cheek with trembling fingers.

“If you keep still for me, I won’t have to.”

Trouble’s eyes filled in relief and he nodded against the stranger. It was too dark for him to make out where they were, which room he was being brought into. He yelped when he felt the man bend to lower him and tried to cling with an arm around his neck.

“I need to get some supplies for you.”

“Why?”

“You’re hurt. I can’t tend to you if you’re going to resist.”

A shudder ran through Trouble, but he obediently lowered his hand to his own chest, letting whatever was about to happen, happen. He gasped in surprise as the stranger settled him on a soft surface.

“Stay here.”

“Okay,” he whispered, eyes wide though he couldn’t see his own hand in front of his face. Trouble felt around with his hands, brow furrowed. “Is this a couch?”

Art by @elgrajaz of Trouble. He enjoys getting handsy with his food. The roped up cowboy, Paris, is a former victim and an oc of the artist. Gotta read Revenge if you wanna find out what happened to Paris. Ch 11 of Overcome is up on Ao3. Git you sum.

“Eff?” he whispered, looking up at him with a small smile.

“What is it?”

Trouble motioned with his free hand for F to lean in closer.

“What’s the matter?” F’s brow was furrowed. “You’re so quiet. Are you tired, or thirsty?”

This time, Trouble tangled his fingers in F’s hair as he pulled him into a kiss. It took a conscious effort to be gentle; he was so accustomed to biting. When F returned the kiss, Trouble whined softly, lips parting. He shivered as F’s spicy scent flooded his nose and mouth. His fingers slipped free of F’s hair so he could drape an arm around his neck instead.

“Hey.” F pulled back enough to get word out, leaving them both panting into each other’s faces. “You’re supposed to be restin’.”

“‘M lying down,” Trouble replied at once, ears relaxed back and eyes glassy.

“I meant,” F tried to straighten, but the arm around his neck flexed to keep him close, “you shouldn’t be movin’ around.”

“Then don’t make me,” he mumbled. “Come lie down.”

“What?”

“Eff.” Trouble wanted to sigh as F tensed up, but he stroked the side of his neck instead. “Don’t you like kissing me?”

“I don’t want to hurt you.”

“You’re not,” he insisted, smiling. “You won’t.”

In the aftermath of my big post about censorship, multiple people have left comments that boil down to, "it's okay to show heavy topics in fiction as long as they're portrayed as bad."

Let's take a quick look at an excerpt from the full ext of the Hays Code, shall we?

No picture should lower the moral standards of those who see it. This is done: (a) When evil is made to appear attractive, and good is made to appear unattractive. (b) When the sympathy of the audience is thrown on the side of crime, wrong-doing, evil, sin.The same thing is true of a film that would throw sympathy against goodness, honor, innocence, purity, honesty. note: Sympathy with a person who sins, is not the same as sympathy with the sin or crime of which he is guilty. We may feel sorry for the plight of the murderer or even understand the circumstances which led him to his crime; we may not feel sympathy with the wrong which he has done. The presentation of evil is often essential for art, or fiction, or drama. This in itself is not wrong, provided: (a) That evil is not presented alluringly. Even if later on the evil is condemned or punished, it must not be allowed to appear so attractive that the emotions are drawn to desire or approve so strongly that later they forget the condemnation and remember only the apparent joy of the sin. (b) That thruout the presentation, evil and good are never confused and that evil is always recognized clearly as evil. (c) That in the end the audience feels that evil is wrong and good is right

This is the same Hays Code that supported Nazis. This is the same Hays Code that forced Jewish artists out of Hollywood. This is the same Hays Code that targeted artists of color, queer artists, female artists, any artist who deviated from the white American Catholic ideal. And it was explicitly Catholic, which I explained in further depth here.

The idea that art has to have a clear moral, which lines up with the dominant morals of white American Christianity, is foundational to the Hays Code. If you sound like the Hays Code, you need to re-evaluate.

Censorship and moral codes enforced on art are never used for anything other than oppression. The second you try to dictate what is and isn't allowable in art, you side with people who will enforce those rules on marginalized people with no mercy and no hesitation.

Censorship does not create healthy relationships with media, even the censorship you might be tempted to think of as "good censorship."

(And, as usual, being an independent censorship researcher does very little to pay my bills. Kick me a tip on Ko-Fi or pledge to me on Patreon if you want to support my work! <3)

To anyone wondering if it's worth it to tear down fascist posters or whatever. I spent a few months last year engaged in silent battle with another student at my school who was putting anti trans stickers up everywhere. I had it down to a system where every night I would walk the five block radius they went up in, and tear down all the ones I could reach, and use a stick to put duct tape over the others. Like, within hours of the stickers going up, I would have already purged the whole zone. I knew the basic schedule of whoever put them up based on when and where the stickers appeared. I probably could have found them in person if I'd wanted to. And I told all my classmates and friends what the stickers looked like and got them to rip them down too. And after a few months of this, the stickers slowed, and then stopped forever.

My point is, a lot of this fashy or right wing stuff is one local weirdo. And if you pay attention, and do a little light organizing with your friends, you can basically make their efforts into a giant sisyphisean exercise in misery. You control your streets!

Art by @elgrajaz of my oc Trouble having to cooperate yet again. For more tips and tricks on how to train your cryptid, go read Ch 12 of Overcome.

“So you don’t have to kill in order to eat?”

“What?” Trouble blinked, startled. “Yeah I do. It’s not like I can let them go after. They’d call the cops or something. I’d get hunted down like a rabid dog.”

“But it’s possible for you. You can eat and leave them still alive.”

“Didn’t you hear what I just said?” He frowned up at F, starting to feel irked. “Eff, I have to.”

“Maybe before you had to, but you’re here now.” F’s eyes looked brighter as he smiled. “I could store someone for you.”

“Like Paul, you mean?” Trouble scoffed. “I’m not trying to find a pet. Whoever you bring me won’t be a friend or an experiment either, Eff. They’ll be food, that’s all.”

“Hmm.” F was gentle as he smoothed down tape to hold the fresh bandage in place. “Let me worry about that.”