{"id":230,"date":"2024-07-21T17:38:54","date_gmt":"2024-07-21T17:38:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ericiakhoo.com\/?p=230"},"modified":"2024-07-21T17:38:54","modified_gmt":"2024-07-21T17:38:54","slug":"that-bear-in-the-hallway","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ericiakhoo.com\/index.php\/2024\/07\/21\/that-bear-in-the-hallway\/","title":{"rendered":"That Bear In The Hallway"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"
\u2026.Senpai Ectobear?<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHey there buddy~<\/em>\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Y\/n’s fox ears twitched at that voice that flowed like a stream, almost cheekily to them. Their eyes locked onto the green bear leaning on the corridor walls.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cEctobear<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ectobear raised an eyebrow. \u201cNot excited to see me?\u201d He asked, now with a curious tone and a look of mock confusion. \u201cStrange, most of the others would squeal at the mere thought of me using the special nickname. You not like other people?\u201d Y\/n simply huffed at him. It was five minutes before class started, and they did not need a green-furred nice guy trying to tail her. \u201cGo to your Physics class or something, leave me alone, bear.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

But instead of backing off, Ecto instead went forward and slammed their left paw next to the wall behind Y\/n \u201cWhat about we\u2026.I don\u2019t know, go to my place and hold hands?<\/em>\u201d He drawled with emphasis on their intense Rizz, which elicited a blush to form on Y\/n\u2019s cheeks and ears. With a slight squeak and a hard shove, they, much to Ecto\u2019s surprise, managed to push his arm off the wall, quickly ducking under and racing to class.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cStupid, stupid, bear\u2026\u201d they muttered, the blush deepening. \u201cStupid teasing voice, stupid charming smile,<\/em> lovely handsome face, fluffy green fur<\/em>\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014-<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I wrote this short snippet mostly as a joke towards stereotypical self-insert fanfiction, where characters are portrayed as brooding, seductive edgelords towards the insert of the reader. Of course, I know there\u2019s nothing wrong with harmless fantasies of bad-boys sweeping you off your feet, I just thought it would be funny to write something of parody quality.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Every joke has a hint of truth, however. There is a level of meta-commentary I noticed some time after the writing had concluded. Considering that Ectobear is my online persona, I had in fact, actually written self-insert fanfiction where both love interests represented myself, whether it be by reading of by the fact that Ectobear is me. And really, I do feel that there is a level of subconscious sincerity in the writing. Ectobear is utterly out-of-character, a charismatic playboy with rabid fan girls rather than an awkward, confused teen. At the time, I was struggling with social anxiety and did my best to keep out of the way of others. It puts into perspective my own desire to be a magnet for attention. Not romantic, but platonic. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In conclusion, a silly poke at self-insert fanfiction really was just an excuse to write out fantasy scenarios that were unattainable. I had become what I was making fun of even before I had completed the entire joke.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cHey there buddy~\u201d Y\/n’s fox ears twitched at that voice that flowed like a stream, almost cheekily to them. Their eyes locked onto the green bear leaning on the corridor walls. \u201cEctobear.\u201d Ectobear raised an eyebrow. \u201cNot excited to see me?\u201d He asked, now with a curious tone and a look of mock confusion. \u201cStrange, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":202,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29,6],"tags":[35,37,32,38],"class_list":["post-230","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-original_art","category-stories","tag-ectobear","tag-jokepost","tag-original-art","tag-original-story"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ericiakhoo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/230","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ericiakhoo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ericiakhoo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ericiakhoo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ericiakhoo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=230"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/ericiakhoo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/230\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":232,"href":"https:\/\/ericiakhoo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/230\/revisions\/232"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ericiakhoo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/202"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ericiakhoo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=230"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ericiakhoo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=230"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ericiakhoo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=230"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}