#//But if I do that I'm also considering linking the actual doc to the blog so everyone can see it.

[kingspuppet]

I'm finally combing through all my tags and putting them in a document to keep them organized so I don't have to fist fight the tagging system for not keeping my tags. (I refuse to give up my capitalization. I won't do it. You can't make me.) But that meant I also had to go back onto the old blog because I wasn't sure if I moved over every single one when I remade. I wasn't too hopeful because towards the last few months of me using the old blog it was not saving my tags at all so I had to keep remaking them. (This was a legacy issue, not beta related at all.) So, like I expected, a lot of the tags were just not going to show themselves to me. Either way, I think I got all the important ones. I hope. It was really weird though going onto the old blog though. I feel sentimental and at the same time glad that I had remade Goro because that blog was a mess. Still, it's kinda nice to just revisit it even for a few minutes. Though it is kind of annoying to see that random blogs reblogged IC and HC posts on there. Not that it matters now I suppose since it won't clog up my current feed. But it's still oddly disheartening in a way (and frustrating that personals will never know to respect the RPC's boundaries by not reblogging their things). Regardless, I think I got all of the tags I need. And if not I'll have to search for them later...But I'm glad to finally have this done because now I won't have to worry about it every time I go to make a post!

[eeveecraft]

"Tulpa" and Cultural Appropriation

I cannot believe I feel so compelled to do this again, but after witnessing an announcement by Plural Nest that they're switching to parogenic terminology because they've been convinced by sysmeds that tulpa = appropriation while literally "sourcing" things from minors, singlets, non-Tibetans, and yes, of course, sysmeds is just so goddamn frustrating that I'm going to write this post. I will be referring to this Google Doc Plural Nest themselves linked in their announcement that contains a motley of blogs and accounts by various people:

Strap the fuck in because we're going to be here for a while.

Tulpa = Appropriation Is and Always Was a Bad-Faith Argument

I am prefacing this post with this idea because I want you to keep this in mind as you're reading. Something that has always bothered me about this "discourse" is that the people who go on and on and on about how they're protecting minorities and stopping actual harmful, real appropriation by attacking the Tulpamancy community never:

Go after actual harmful depictions of tulpa that actively profit off of sensationalizing the paranormal version of the word and deliberately linking it to Tibetan Buddhism (Supernatural, Mandela Catalogue, Slenderman, etc).

Uplift the voices of actual Tibetan Buddhists, even ones who disagree with them (which there ARE Tibetan Buddhists who are 100% okay with tulpa as a term, not just the Tibetan Buddhist AMA).

Explain how us using tulpa to describe our systemmates is actively harming Tibetan Buddhists. They just say it's harmful without providing any real examples of harm besides the word annoying them.

The intention of these people never was to protect vulnerable minorities, it was to deliberately blacklist a word a community has used for over a decade and a word that is literally being used in academic studies. If we as a community dropped tulpa, cold-turkey, 100%, we would lose access to so much of our history and access to scientific studies that the community NEEDS to be more accepted by the general public.

If these people actually cared and took the time to look into the Tulpamancy community, they would clearly see that the community very much stresses that tulpa is NOT the same as the paranormal term that IS sensationalized, and that all it means is a type of systemmate that was intentionally/unintentionally created through repeated interaction. And yet, that's not the case.

Oh, also, I found out that the Tibetan Buddhist Tulpamancer who did the AMA also has a Tumblr blog, and they even reblogged this post. And they even left this in the comments:

No one should feel ashamed of using the term “tulpa”. Buddhism, and practices related to it, are meant to be shared. That’s the whole point of the practice. And this greater community, is unique and distinct from Tibetan and related origin, it isn’t “appropriation” and even if it was, no one owns the term, and as I see it; use it as you wish!

So yeah, even further context!

Anyway, with that in mind...

Origins of Tulpa

One thing many people get wrong in the Google Doc is that tulpa directly is a Tibetan word. I have stated this in multiple places from my video on the history of Tulpamancy to my original essay back in 2020 on this very topic, but tulpa was derived from tulku and sprul-pa, which tulku specifically means the reincarnations of the Dalai or Tashi Lama, and sprul-pa means a type of "magically-produced illusion or creation." Alexandra David-Neel, a French explorer during the 1920's-1930's derived tulpa from these two words, and even in her own book, she admits they are not the same:

“These may be considered as veritable tulkus and, in fact, the demarcation between tulpas and tulkus is far from being clearly drawn. The existence of both is grounded on the same theories,” (David-Neel pg 313-314).

David-Neel, Alexandra. Magic and the Mystery of Tibet, Internet Archive, Translated by Claude Kendall, 1971 Dover Edition.

So, for all the people who keep saying that tulpa is a specific word in Tibetan Buddhism is incorrect, tulpa (paranormal) is BASED off of Tibetan language, but is not directly a part of the language, and the meaning was also changed. However, there is a further distinction I need to make:

Paranormal Versus Modern Tulpas

There is a very, VERY important distinction I need to make that a LOT of people who scream, "TULPA IS RACIST!" get wrong. Modern tulpas, the type created by the Tulpamancy community go by this definition (or any similar variation):

A sentient/sapient, typically intentionally created being that is conscious and autonomous, and can only be seen, heard, or felt by the host/system that can also think independently from the host/system. Essentially a separate person sharing a body with the person who created them.

Source: My own Tulpamancy guide.

When the term created by Alexandra David-Neel that is still used in horror media goes by (paraphrasing some bits):

A type of phantom created by a person's concentrated thoughts that when developed enough, it frees itself of its creator's to go onto be a "half-conscious, dangerously mischievous puppet" or just severely injure or even kill their creator.

This definition is cobbled together from David-Neel's own book since she doesn't directly give a definition for paranormal tulpa that I can just fully quote here that's concise enough. Another important observation I made is that David-Neel right afterwards also mentions her ability to see thought-forms, you know... the type derived from English Theosophy, the concept that's way more accurate to modern tulpas than "phantoms," that existed before David-Neel wrote her book? Funny, huh?

Why does this distinction matter?

It's pretty simple. The actual harmful word that horror media profits off of and sensationalizes for clout is the definition David-Neel derived. The word that people attack the Tulpamancy community for literally just means a type of systemmate and has no inherent paranormal or spiritual meaning. The former deliberately shows off the word's Buddhist roots for the sake of personal gain while the modern word is stressed as something on its own, its own concept and practice that is not related to Buddhism. Modern Tulpamancy is completely secular, you can be completely atheist (like me) and create a tulpa just fine. Anyone can. Not a single culture can claim something literally anybody can do by mistake.

Just that the word has a distant link in etymology to it and isn't actually a Tibetan Buddhist concept. By the logic of people who think tulpa is a racist term, any term derived from another language in English would be racist... which would account for 99% of the English language, and honestly kind of demonstrates that they low-key don't even know what racism means at that point.

So, please tell me why the latter is in the crosshairs of people who are supposedly protecting a minority? Why is it that I myself have had to call out things like the Mandela Catalogue for using the paranormal variant of tulpa and twisting it into an edgy story about body-snatchers as some kind of cryptid SCP creature, but I haven't seen anyone else do it? Why isn't there an outrage by these people on notoriously appropriative shows like Supernatural? Hmm.

(Also, important that another blog reblogged that post and mentioned that they've spoken to actual Tibetans on Facebook and how none of them think tulpa is harmful specifically because it's so far-removed from Tibetan Buddhism. Like, they're cool with it as long as the community doesn't try and link it to Tibetan Buddhism, which is literally what the community does and has been doing for YEARS. Love how sysmeds conveniently ignore that. Same with this AMA by another practicing Tibetan Buddhist on Reddit, which is REAL funny that Plural Nest doesn't link this AMA, but links another post by a person who converted to Tibetan Buddhism who agreed with their viewpoint, even if that post was extremely flawed).

People Who Tout This Claim

One thing that is extremely frustrating to see is all these POC systems go on and on and on about how white people shouldn't speak about POC issues, but then turn around and speak over other POC. In one of my original posts on this topic, I specifically made the comparison of a Chinese person trying to dictate what can and cannot happen in Japanese culture. Both are Asian, both are people of color, but they are not the same, and to imply that is racist. POC systems saying that they can dictate that a word based off of Tibetan language is racist as hell, even when they're not Tibetan, just because they're both Asian implies that POC culture is all the same that any person of color can dictate what happens in the other culture is disgusting. Full stop. It's generalizing a HUGELY varied amount of peoples and cultures, and just generalizes them as all the same, and quite frankly, that's insulting.

And even if we go by their logic that any Asian POC can dictate whether or not tulpa is racist also conversely means that any Asian POC can also dictate that tulpa isn't racist. I can literally just go to my best friend who's Asian and Buddhist and ask him if tulpa is racist as a term, he'd just laugh, and say this whole discourse is stupid. In fact, let me go do that:

(He sent me a GIF of SomeOrdinaryGamer laughing, LMAO.)

Anyway, this is what he said:

i am an asian, i believe that the word “Tulpa” is not racist nor cultural appropriation.

(FYI, he's also a Tulpamancer and has been for almost as long as I have.)

I can go on r/Tulpas or #RedditTulpas right now, make a poll for Asian POC systems, and ask them whether or not tulpa as a term is racist, and get hundreds of votes that no, it isn't. It means systems like The Cabin System who are also SE Asian who've openly stated that tulpa as a term isn't racist also have as much stake in the argument as the opposite side does.

Do you see how it devolves into a pissing contest between sides? What does this achieve? All it does is segregate the community and draw unnecessary lines, which is exactly what sysmeds want because it's ways easier to harass and kill smaller communities that way or turn them against each other until they eat each other alive. And they won't just stop with tulpa terminology, they're just using tulpa because they found a convenient scapegoat to attack it. Sysmeds literally find ANY excuse to demonize or take away a word from the endogenic community, it's no different here.

To further prove this point, sysmeds literally tried to say "system hopping" is a term appropriated from RAMCOA survivors, which was completely false. They are not afraid to pull the appropriation card on any word they can, tulpa isn't the only instance of it.

Just by looking in the #tulpa tag, you can see people who are equating people who use tulpa as racist, and want to split the community between "racists and non-racists."

Another key fact is that most people who have this view also have a comical lack of understanding of what Tulpamancy even is. For example, the system that coined willogenic specifically because they think tulpa is racist defined willogenic systemmates as:

“Willogenic system - A system that was purposefully created or “willed” into existence. There’s no connection to t/lpam/ncy at all.”

(Notice how the definition also excludes unintentional tulpas, which is roughly a third of the community? Fun!)

Yes, the actual definition is censored like that. So, the definition states that a systemmate can be ""willed" into existence," and is supposed to be a direct replacement for tulpa. No. No. Stop. You don't just "will" a tulpa into existence. If that was true, we wouldn't still get people on r/Tulpas making posts on how they've tried and tried for months or even years to create a tulpa and still failed.

Not just that, but it severely misrepresents the tulpa creation process as this super simple thing to "will into existence" when tulpa creation varies a LOT from person to person and is far more than just willing a fully formed tulpa into existence. I've mentioned this before, but I seriously do not like the broader Plurality Community attempting to force the Tulpamancy Community to adhere to their terminology that they created, and slapping, "Use our terms or you're a racist piece of sh!t!" on top of that has a REALLY bad connotation.

And remember when I made that distinction between the actually harmful paranormal tulpa definition and the community's definition? Yeah, like I said, most people who have this opinion also are conflating what we do to the paranormal definition.

All the Tulpamancy Community does is create a space where people can partake in tulpa creation and development. That's it. The majority of the community views it as 100% psychological, there's no paranormal ghost nonsense happening, and people are just trying to live their lives with their tulpas. It's not any more complicated than that, and labeling people who use a term like tulpa as racist is seriously scummy.

How "Tulpa = Appropriation" is Harmful

Ironically, this "discourse" has caused more harm to the Tulpamancy community than anything else. Like how I said that all the POC systems who said "tulpa" as a word has "harmed" them don't provide any examples of harm? Well, I can provide examples of how this whole thing has actually caused damage to people in the Tulpamancy Community.

Let's start with me. On multiple occasions, I have had multiple anons harass my inbox, calling me racist, calling me slurs, and even sexually harassing me in the comments of one of my posts specifically because of this issue. In fact, several sysmeds tried raiding our Discord server alongside harassing us on Tumblr because of what Amanitasys's post started, and this has also happened to @cambriancrew, @sophieinwonderland, and more because we happen to be blogs that intersect both communities.

The Widening Divide

Secondly, the widening divide between the Tulpamancy and Plurality communities.

The relationship between the Tulpamancy and broader Plurality community was already tenuous, and for most of the Tulpamancy community's history, it has stayed isolated from other Plurality circles. It was only within the past few years that the communities started to intermingle, but this drama can ruin that.

Because as someone who HAS been in the community for over half a decade, I can tell you that the majority of the Tulpamancy community thinks this drama is stupid and aren't going to change terminology for multiple reasons. Now, do NOT take this as the community going, "Tulpa is a completely unproblematic word!" when the community has debated the term's usage for YEARS. Nobody is saying the word is perfect, but it's what the community has used for over a decade now and every attempt to change the word has failed. And honestly, as someone who's reviewed the vast majority of Tulpamancy guides in existence, I likely know better than anyone else that if tulpa was blacklisted like some people want, the community would lose so much history and resources, it's not even funny.

Unlike the broader community, the Tulpamancy community has a focus on the creation and sharing of Tulpamancy guides and resources, and the vast majority of these resources directly have "tulpa" or "Tulpamancy" in the name, let alone the sheer volume of times the aforementioned words are used in these guides. If we completely dropped the word, the ability of new people to look up and find these guides becomes FAR more difficult. "Tulpa" is a unique and consistent word and makes it easy to look into the community, which in turn helps people discover resources that can help them on their tulpa creation journey.

And for the bottomfeeders who'll inevitably go, "Well, just change the resources!" I need you to go outside and touch some grass, please.

1.) There are literally hundreds of guides, not even including website domains like Tulpa.info, Tulpa.io. Tulpa.net, and many more. There are literally academic studies that use tulpa, and if the community (not just the Tulpamancy community) wants any hope of being accepted by the general public, we NEED those studies to back our existence (as frustrating as it is). Don't forget all the articles, podcasts, and videos we couldn't even change if we want to! Again, over a decade of history.

2.) The VAST majority of the people who wrote these guides are no longer in the community and it is disrespectful to the authors to take and change their work without their permission (if ANY of you tried taking my guide and replaced every tulpa-related term with something else, I'd be PISSED).

3.) Literally every alternative to tulpa has some critical flaw in one way or another (I made a post about this here) and literally nobody can agree on a single term. The amount of fragmenting this would cause would make the aforementioned issue of discoverability EVEN WORSE.

4.) The rate at which resources are created has slowed dramatically since the community's early days. People are just complacent with what they have now, and I don't think labeling tulpa as a racist term is suddenly going to get more people to write more guides, just to change a few words around.

I feel this issue can get to a point where the Plurality community literally starts banning the usage of tulpa-related terminology completely, thus excommunicating the Tulpamancy community from most plural spaces. Places like Plural Nest where the staff OPENLY say that tulpa is appropriative sets this precedent, and even though Plural Nest (at least right now) is still allowing people to use tulpa terminology, other places might pick up on what Plural Nest did, but worse. That ends up excluding people like us from plural spaces and just undoes all the work that's happened to connect the two communities.

Like, systems like us, Dragonheart already have to avoid sysmed servers, but now, even with "inclusive" servers, we might be run out because the owners/staff think tulpa is a racist term. So now we have an extra layer of anxiety when trying to join new communities. That's fun.

It's literally creating what endogenic systems already deal with in the plural community, but now even parts of the endogenic community are bullying another subset of their own community. It's terrible.

So, in the Tulpamancy community's perspective, we either: A.) Give up our most used word and people lose access to so much history and resources, and create a huge divide in our already fragmented community.

Or:

B.) Stick to our guns, but be excommunicated and villainized by the broader Plurality community.

There's no winning here. Regardless of what the Tulpamancy community does, it's going to cause a lot of damage. Sysmeds win regardless with their goal being to divide and fuck up our community, and it deeply upsets me.

What Tulpamancy Really Is

So, what are people trying to attack so hard and blacklist from plural spaces? What are people fighting so hard against to conform to their standards, or be labeled as racist? What Tulpamancy is, for a lot of people, is a means to living a better life. I cannot tell you how many stories I have read of tulpas stopping their hosts from taking their own lives, how creating a tulpa has hugely improved the mental health of others, or how tulpas encourage their hosts to socialize and take care of the body, or how just making a tulpa connects you to a community with the mutual interest in self-improvement and self-love, and so, so much more. Tulpamancy improves people's lives, and Tulpamancy techniques are not exclusive to us.

Any system, or even singlets can learn from the Tulpamancy community to improve their own lives. And yes, that means Tulpamancy helps a lot of people of color as well, as well as a lot of other vulnerable minorities! Whether it's learning vocality to better communicate with alters or using switching techniques to control switching, or even learning how to make a mindscape or improve visualization skills. I don't understand how this community can be labeled as a bunch of racists (even though there are scumbags like Kopase that sadly exist (why don't you guys RIGHTFULLY sh!t on people like him?)) when literally the entire point of the community is self-betterment.

And like what @dharmayokeyodasampa, the Tibetan Buddhist Tulpamancer stated before, "Buddhism, and practices related to it, are meant to be shared. That’s the whole point of the practice," and the same can be said for Tulpamancy. Tulpamancy can be for everyone if it means making their lives better. It's meant to be a positive thing that can truly be life-changing, and seeing people trying to label that practice with one of hatred and harm is just... horrible.

The Tulpamancy community doesn't have some secret agenda to silence people of color or mock any kind of religion or practice. We're just a bunch of lonely people wanting companionship and are tired of being alone.

Conclusion

"Tulpa" as a term, at best, is murky. Nobody is arguing that David-Neel was a saint. She wasn't, and she's dead and buried. Tulpa isn't her word anymore. People in the Tulpamancy community are just fed up with outsiders trying to dictate how their community should be run. We know the term has issues, we know its history is not all sunshine and rainbows. We do not need outsiders barging in and stating the obvious and acting like they know more than we do about our own community and history.

And look, I know some people who believe tulpa is appropriative have good intentions and just want to be non-offensive, but people take advantage of that. Sysmeds took advantage of people wanting to do right and weaponized people into being their mouthpieces under the guise of, "We just want to be racially-sensitive." But instead of actually protecting minorities, all it did was harm another minority while ignoring groups who are taking advantage of the word, and using it for clout and profit. That is exactly why I started this LONG essay with why this whole thing is a bad-faith argument.

I've said it before, I'll say it again: this is the Plurality-equivalent of "queer is a slur." Drama deliberately caused by bad actors who spread rumors of a word being bad, leading it to be picked up by well-intentioned people, and being turned into the pawns of those bad actors without realizing it.

I'm so pissed I had to make this post, but after seeing what Plural Nest did, and then learning that they KNEW some of their sources were by sysmeds who have ACTIVELY professed their hatred of tulpas and decided to use them anyway to a community of over a thousand users just led me to being fed up. It gave this indication that if large plural spaces like that are echoing a statement meant to divide us, things aren't looking good, and I'm not going to sit here and watch a community I've been in for over half a decade get wrongfully demonized.

If Plural Nest staff just said they're changing terminology because they just don't like tulpa or or the fact that it's conflated with horror media, I would've been fine with it. That's a perfectly understandable reason not to like the term. We're not forcing you to use the term! Use whatever term you want! It was the motivation behind it that I take issue with and the precedent it sets. I don't know where this community is heading, but I hope things go all right.

7-22-2023

[feedthefandomfest]

Hiya!

I love this blog and just wanted to ask- do you know any advice on formatting and tagging for AO3?

Or just general etiquette!!

I'm not new to AO3 (reading or writing) but I haven't interacted with the actual community much and would love to know more :)

oof, I still feel like a newbie posting stuff on ao3, and tagging is something i've always struggled with. and actually formatting is also on ongoing issue 😅 so with that in mind, here's what i try to consider:

TAGGING

relationships -> tagging the main is obvious, but i'm sometimes torn about tagging side relationships that feature in the fic, especially since it's annoying to be searching for that pairing and get a bunch of results where they're not the main focus; unless the other pairing is a prominent feature, i leave it out of the relationship tags and at most add it to the additional tags

characters -> i remember updating the character tags on my early fics every time another character popped up in the story, but now i'm of the same mind as the side pairing issue; unless the character is prominently featured, i leave them out of the tags

content warning/advertising -> if i know the fic features an element that some people might wish to avoid, i always tag it and also always fret that i've forgotten to tag something in that regard. when it's more about advertising what's in the fic, especially sexual content, i sometimes feel silly listing every flavor of physical encounter unless the fic is pwp/smut (in which case i gleefully list all the depravity); i sometimes worry that over-emphasizing the sexual content in the tags is misleading? like of this 100k fic, if 15k is spent fucking, how do i get the tags to reflect that while also tag cw appropriately? is there an established tag for that?

sometimes i see fics with TONS of tags, like an exhausting amount, and sometimes i see fics with very minimal tags... sometimes frustratingly few. i also know some writers add chapter-specific warnings in the author's notes. in the end, so long as you're making it possible for people to find or avoid your fic as needed, then you're good. Here are some good posts that dive into it more!

(i remember when people on tumblr would scold writers for monologuing in the tags on ao3 like we do on here, claiming it was a strain on the system, but i believe that's been debunked?)

FORMATTING

i've noticed some MEGA annoying quirks with copy & pasting over from Google Docs and Word, and I know there are some tricks to get around them, but i tend to just slog through the Rich Text window fixing everything manually 🙃 OKAY I FOUND SOLUTIONS LINKED BELOW.

spacing problem #1 -> pet peeve of mine, but i dislike it when the paragraphs have massive spaces between them (ditto for indented paragraphs). idk why, but it's tiring for my eyes to constantly leap the chasm between paragraphs. so whenever i copy and paste from Word, which for some reason ALWAYS appears with double spacing between line breaks, i go in and manually fix it. SOLUTION

spacing problem #2 -> when copying over from Google Doc, whenever there's a punctuation mark following an italicized word, a random space appears between them. and yep, i have to go in and fix every one because typos make me twitch. (this might not be an issue for everyone; i overuse italics and dashes like it's my job) SOLUTION

spacing problem #3 -> again probably a me issue, but i tend to include song lyrics a lot, and it's always a headache to format because when pasting from the doc, ao3 embeds these spaces between the lines that i can't remove by backspacing. only fix i've found is to copy and paste lyrics directly from a website, and then it formats fine. random and annoying and weird. (no solution 😔)

since this section has just been me whining about finding SOLUTIONS for formatting issues, i'll offer one tip that's more about general editing: i try to proofread best i can in Word/GDocs, but it's always easier to spot errors when i'm reading the draft on my phone. the typos always jump out at me from a phone screen. it's now my favorite way to edit!

every writer has their own preferences on formatting, and every reader has their own level of tolerance for formatting quirks. in the end, so long as the formatting doesn't interfere with the reading experience, you're all good.

[frommybookbook]

Writing Ask!

3. Describe the creative process of writing a chapter/fic

11. Link your three favorite fics right now

16. How many fic ideas are you nurturing right now? Share one of them?

23. Best writing advice for other writers?

27. What is your most and least favorite part of writing?

56. What’s something about your writing that you pride yourself on?

(This is Perrylyuniverse btw this is my main blog)

Yay, someone actually sent some questions! Thank you, @theperrylleluniverse, you are so sweet! Here are my answers:

3. Most of my fics are missing/extended scenes so they usually start with a screenshot or a snippet of dialog at the top of a blank doc. Then I riff with myself for a bit, I type out anywhere from a couple paragraphs to a couple pages of "what if this?" and "how about that?" before I start writing. I'm a very visual person, in general (I don't actually consider myself much of a writer, actually) so I do a lot of visualizing scenes in my head and I'll have things where I can see every beat, with the actors, in my head before I start writing a word. I also tend to be pretty linear, so I write most of my fics in order, from start to finish; I rarely hop around in a scene list. There's also a lot of hand wringing and self-doubt and imposter syndrome wrapped up in it all as well. It's so much fun, I love this hobby.

11. Sadly, Ao3 is down right now, so I can't answer this one but I'll come back to this!

16. For the most part, I'm a monogamous writer. I only ever really have one fic at a time in the works, though I have a few ideas floating around usually. In addition to my current WIP, which is nearly finished and is being called "the divorce fic" for short, there's also always the semi-joking-but-may-actually-become-something-someday Perry/OFMD crossover that @epersonae and I have been talking about for months. We'll see if anything else jumps out and begs to be written once the divorce fic is up.

23. Oh gosh, I don't know. I really don't see myself as much of a writer and always kind of just write things so I can read them at the end/to get them out of my head so maybe that? Write for yourself, because if you enjoy the finished piece then you've succeeded?

27. Least favorite is going through and cleaning up all my bad habits and crutches and lazy writer weaknesses. The number of lines of dialogue I start with "Well," is shameful. My very favorite though is the engagement with readers, both in the Ao3 comments and here, so thank you!

56. I would say I'm pretty proud of my dialog (errant "Well"s aside). I try really, really hard to remain true to the characters and to draw from both the Perry Mason show and books to bring an authenticity to them.

[get to know your fic writer!]

[mushroomjar]

Excuse me, do you know how I can have Palestine fundraisers vetted? Is there someone I can go to? My inbox is filled with them, and I don't know which ones are actually from Palestinians and which ones are just scam artists.

I don't know how to personally verify fundraisers, so I can't help you with that, but usually when I want to check if a fundraiser has been verified by someone else, I usually search their username on tumblr or check the notes of their posts to find it. Verifications are usually made by users such as:

@/nabulsi

@/el-shab-hussein

@/90-ghost

@/northgazaupdates

@/bilal-salah0

@/victoriawhimsey

There are also google docs made by different people/organizations compiling verified fundraisers. Some of these are: nabulsi and el-shab-hussein's verified Gazan fundraisers doc, the Butterfly Effect Project, Operation Olive Branch, Bees and Watermelons

Here are some other users that, while I'm either not sure if they're official verifiers, or they themselves state they are not official verifiers, share many verified fundraisers, or share unverified fundraisers with their reasoning as to why they think they may not be scams:

@/brutaliakhoa

@/dlxxv-vetted-donations

@/sar-soor

@/c-u-c-koo-4-40k

@/a-shade-of-blue

@/northgazaupdates

Now, if the blog that's reached out to you hasn't been verified/shared by any of those blogs or other blogs I may have missed, some steps you can take to double-check if the fundraiser is or isn't a scam is:

Reverse image search on the photos posted to their blog/campaign. If it doesn't bring anything back, or if it only links back to their own blog/campaign, chances are it may be legit

If the fundraiser is donation protected, it's another sign that it may not be a scam

If the blog that messaged you also has other social media, such as instagram or tiktok, which may even have posts from before they made their blog. You can try asking them if the tumblr blog is theirs, and if it is, it may be legit

If they mention being friends/family with another blog, especially a verified one, try messaging that blog and asking them if they know the one that reached out to you. If they do know them, chances are it's legit

Usually, if their campaign is vouched for by another blog that has been verified, it's usually considered verified by association

Disclaimer for this last part: I'm not trying to claim that if a blog's images don't show up in reverse image search, their donations are protected and they have other, corresponding social media, that immediately means it's 100% legit. Like I've said time and time again, I don't verify fundraisers because I don't know how to properly personally verify them. These are just some tips I use and I've seen other people share when a blog isn't verified. They are not foolproof, but I'd rather accidentally share one or two scams than deny dozens of real families the chance to get more donations simply because they couldn't access verification.

I will remind people that most of the blogs who were actively verifying fundraisers (specifically the Palestinian blogs) stopped because of the harassment campaign that went down a few weeks ago led by people accusing them and the fundraisers of being scammers, and the toll both the harassment and the act of verifying were taking on their mental (and physical!) health. And not to still be pissed off about this, but most of the people who participated in this harassment never properly apologized, a lot of them doubled down and just waited until everyone forgot about it

I hope all of this helps! I know it can be hard sometimes to know what's real and what's fake, but I really do hope this helps guide you a bit. Free Palestine

[khyann]

I hope that this is the last thing I ever post on this drama, but i just dont understand the negativity against Scott with the whole Ectoslab situation

Like yeah, I do understand being disappointed in him for not doing anything against the harassment towards Ecto, that's a criticism I do actually agree with. But people are almost treating it like Scott was the only cc ever involved with Ecto to drop them, saying that he did it to "save face" and "not get dragged into the drama". Everyone seems to forget so far Scott is the only cc we know to have expressed his support for Ecto during the harassment campaign and Scott wasn't even the closest CC to Ecto, Sausage was.

Yet Sausage didn't make any sort of statement on the situation (as far as I'm aware), nor in support of Ecto nor even about cutting ties with them and I haven't seen anyone critizicing him for letting down an artist he was so close to.

Other CC dropped Ecto too without saying a word on the matter. Scott was the only CC to express his support towards Ecto that we know of, and only retracted it upon finding out Ecto is a proshipper, retracting his support because he doesn't support proshipping. He wasn't trying to save face, he simply found out an artist he worked with and with who he would openly interact (especially in the early days of Pirates SMP) turned out to behave in a way he didn't approve or supported and decided to drop them.

He was trying to be a good person help someone without knowing or understanding what they were being accused of. And that has led to people taking his decision of retracting his support for someone because he didn't support what that person stood for and equating it to him trying to not get himself involved in the drama. I honestly wouldn't be surprised if people would have hated on him too for expressing that he didn't want people harassing Ecto (tho still I still wish he would have addressed it at least) and saying that he supported proshipping because of that. Why? Because that's what happened to the artist Foxxology, who was friends with Ecto, initially supporting them until they found out what the accusations where about, at the time this was going on and when they expressed despite not approving of Ecto's stance, they didn't support the harassment either people interpreted their distaste for unfair harassment as them supporting proshipping and also getting dragged into the hate which was the final push for them to leave twitter (they had been planning on leaving for a while, this incident was just the final straw, not the main cause).

(Also please they've already moved from this so don't go bothering them about this)

Lemme ask: Would you all be judging Scott as hardly had he stayed silent on the matter like every other CC did?

You can dislike Scott, in general or because he handled this specific situation. But I ask you to please verify all the information from all sides, not just here but in general. I too was on Ecto's side for the first few days but decided to check on my own if there was any proof to the allegations against them. It wasn't my intent to prove they are a proshipper (hell I was hoping it was stuff being taken out of context or something from so long ago Ecto no longer agreed with that) and I found out the proves for the allegations causing me to block them and delete anything I ever reblogged from them from my blogs. I still considered the harassment unfair, but also didn't want to suport a proshipper. My opinion didn't change upon seeing a google doc explaining things from their side when they say the characters had been aged to 18 (because I know that's not true) and that they continued to defend their stance saying that is about more than just problematic pairings.

First screenshot is from 2021, Ecto was in their very late 20's to early 30's back them

On Ecto being a proshipper: Source 1, Source 2, Source 3

Ecto's google doc explaining their side: link

[watchingyouflytl]

Hello, everyone!

Thanks for coming to the blog. I started this on a whim after a discussion in the K-On! Discord server (where I'm still a mod, if you can believe it). I've had this book sitting in front of me for like a year and a half and it's taken me this long to really pick it up and get into it.

About me: My name is Ali, currently living in an obscure little corner in Japan working in translating and editing. I don't have any concert band or music-playing experience myself, but I consider myself a music appreciator and have been in the Hibike fandom since it first started airing. If you want to know a little bit more/don't mind me oversharing about my Hibike journey, visit the link to my intro essay! As I do with many things Hibike-related, I got really emotional writing it :')

(I'm also a Swiftie who will probably listen to lots of romantic bittersweet songs during the translating process, so I'll periodically link some to the blog's webpage as a little more oversharing)

In terms of actual real-life translations, I used to do some manga fan translations way back in my college years, and even started (but never finished) an experimental translation of the novelization of one of my favorite animated movies, which took way too long but is a lot of fun to look back on. I also did very amateur translations of Hibike S1 PVs when they'd be uploaded to the KyoAni Youtube Channel on my old analysis blog...which I was just reminded of today...oh boy.

Currently this project is just me with my book plugging away at a secret Google Doc. A lot of why I'm doing this is to prove to myself that I can, to polish up my translating skills a bit, so please keep in mind it won't be the fastest translation, but I have confidence in my creative writing and editing skills! Please feel free to send feedback my way~

So here I go, in the spirit of challenging myself to something new--watch me as I take off!

-ali

[avesomnia-inhoramortis]

[ooc]

I am very unfamiliar with Tumblr RP and how it works, so I'm not sure what I need to clarify on. Having said that, I've seen some accounts with some kind of intro and boundaries/rules. So! Here's mine. Subject to change and expansion while I figure out what I should put in here.

OP

20+, they/them, you can call me 🐍 or some iteration of the blog's name. Do not forget that character and player are different people, but I'm always open to making friends!

GUIDELINES

I will write incest ships, or I can avoid doing that if you want.

If you have specific boundaries or lines I should keep in mind, OR something you want to add in but you want to know if it's okay, my DMs are open

I write fairly long answers, though they vary in length. Do not feel like you have to match me, just write whatever amount feels right.

I will not write noncon/rape/etc.

I will not write sex scenes out on the blog for everyone and the cosmos to see. If that's something you want to do, feel free to ask me in DMs and I'll consider it. If I accept I'll probably ask to do it in a shared Google doc or something similar.

That said, making out is fair game. This includes weird body horror stuff like roots and internal organs.

If it happens in Elden Ring it's safe to assume I will write it. It depends on the character- Trina (usually) is not going to start torturing people. I am also, as addressed in a previous point, not going to write my character torturing your character nonconsensually.

That said, if both characters and players are consenting I am a gothic horror writer and I enjoy writing terrible, terrible situations, so if there's some nightmarish scene you want to concoct I am on board.

I can write the range from fluff and found family to grimdark angst, the only area I'm really putting limits on is smut, as stated.

St. Trina is an (eldritch) child but I am open to shipping her in pretty much any scenario. If that makes you uncomfortable I can age her up, but it will affect how I play her so fair warning.

I'm not going to fight with anyone about how I play her or her backstory. My headcanons are my headcanons and I'm here to have fun.

I have a job with a wildly erratic schedule. While I am absolutely refreshing Tumblr every chance I get, there are going to be long gaps in responses.

I prefer to do longform RP separate from asks- if you send an RP response to an ask I'll definitely read it, but if you want to do a whole thread on the topic I'd rather start it on its own post. My ask-response format and my actual RP format are very different.

This list is subject to change.

CHARACTERS

Saint Trina {headcanons linked in pinned, I also have a tag}

Knight of Saint Trina {closed, pending until I play more DLC}

Miquella {technically closed, available if he becomes relevant in a Trina rp}

{open to playing additional characters relevant to Trina's part as needed, but hopefully rarely}

[amiharana]

7, 22, 27, and 38 for the writing ask game, if you don't mind! :D

(ask game from here)

7. What is your deepest joy about writing?

best part about writing is i can just write the most self-indulgent shit ever and then i read it back later and i'm like hell yeah this is exactly what i'm looking for! i'm not kidding i frequently go back through all my documents rereading all the concepting i wrote like it's a little bedtime story. no one can scratch my brainworms better than me fr! ☝️😀

22. How organized are you with your writing? Describe to me your organization method, if it exists. What tools do you use? Notebooks? Binders? Apps? The Cloud?

mm i'm fairly okay about the organization of my writing stuff. after i got my first laptop, all of my writing has been on computers and kept in my google drive. i'm actually considering making another account to transfer all my stuff over so my personal google acc has more space kasjdfkjsdj

i love making so many folders and color coding in there though. i'm planning on retitling all my fic document stuff in a certain way to make it easier to find them, but i don't know what way works for me yet. there a quite a few documents that are out of place because it's either there's not enough of the same-fandom documents to make a folder or i just don't know how i wanna organize it yet. reorganizing is a process i have not had a time for recently hehe

if you're talking about actual writing, i have a couple fics where i make a separate document for the outline i wrote and switch between the outline and the draft, e.g. my docs "[revalink] crystal snow draft" vs "[revalink] crystal snow outline". usually i do this because the way i wrote it in the outline conveys the exact emotion or image i want and use that as a reference while i write the draft. also it's just fun to see my own brain on display! otherwise i keep one huge document for each ship where i braindump my ideas onto, e.g. my doc "_revalink concept reservoir" and then just add headers/outline in the document. the revalink concept document is currently 80 pages long LMFAOKDJFDJK but it's a bit messy at the moment bc i've been copy pasting a lot of stuff in there

27. Who is the most stressful character you’ve ever written? Why?

hmm of the fics i've properly finished and uploaded, i don't think i've ever actually been stressed writing a character KDFHKDJFD i've mostly written soft cute self-indulgent stuff so it's not too difficult to write them being soft.

i guess what i'll say instead is i actually had a difficult time in general writing the 'like crazy' fic. most of the premise and style of the fic was something i had a hard time conveying, particularly writing link's character in that first half. i try to get in the heads of my characters when i write and figure out what they would do and why they would do it based on what i know about their character. and it was just. really hard to write link in the self-indulgence of what the vibes/lyrical meaning of the song 'like crazy' was while also keeping him within the boundaries of the character i perceive him as.

if anyone else reading this has some time to spare, you can read 'like crazy' here or the link pinned on my blog! it was my revalink week d7 fic hehe 🤍

38. What is something about your writing process YOU think is Really Weird? If you are comfortable, please share. If you’re not comfortable, what do you think cats say about us?

i wish i could tell you something outright insane or outlandish but i can't 😔 my writing process just consists of me laying in bed with my laptop and youtube on my switch hooked to the tv playing videos while i stare at a google doc for a couple minutes until the words come to me, rinse and repeat for as many days as needed until the fic is edited and finalized.

maybe the weirdest thing i've done while writing was either laying down on my side in bed like. semi-fetal position but arranging myself in a way where i could still type on my laptop, or when i got up to lay down and cuddle on the floor of my room with my dog for a little bit to take a break from writing. sorry for the boring answer 🙏

[the-valiant-valkyrie]

Dst/worship au? :0

I'd be interested in what you have to say! :)

i've talked abt the au a little bit a short while ago, but to put it in a bit more explanatory manner, the world of worship is set in around the ending of the middle ages. humanity is steadily building- in power, technology, and audacity- and some individuals have begun to reroute their attentions and loyalties to the once-forsaken old gods; eldritch beasts whose terrible power nearly brought about the extinction of humanity.

but obviously that was like. all in the past. the elder gods are epic and would never do that a second time. obviously. cults are super safe and would never lead you astray ever.

mechanically, worship is set to play somewhat similarly to don't starve, with your selected playstyle affecting how the world reacts to you, and vice versa. however, unlike don't starve- where your playstyle is determined by your character- worship's playstyles revolve around the elder god you choose to serve. which- for a swap au- allows me much more room to play around with the dst cast. it doesn't have to be a one-to-one swap, and certain characters can share alliances with others- or be outcasts, unbelonging to any cult at all.

currently, there are only five unique gods, which i will touch upon very very briefly:

hubryus is the self proclaimed sewer of insanity. your 'standard' eldritch, unspeakable beast. he takes great pleasure in contorting the bodies of mortals, and sees man as the perfect canvas to transform- which is caused through ideas instilled in the subject's head (and its madness. the 'ideas'. the ideas are madness. you mutate when you go mad)

an-ansgaidh, the apostle of deliverance, is a blood-soaked and ancient thing. pitiful of humanity- its sentience and mortality- it has become hellbent on snuffing all sentient life from earth, in what it considers an act of mercy. he looooves blood. so much. can't get enough of that stuff. also don't ask me how to pronounce his name bc i dont know either

salithys, the deceit weaver, is probably one of the more interesting and lore relevant gods. creating a false image of herself, she portrays herself as a merciful god (somewhat reminiscent of- but not identical to- the typical interpretation of christian god), instead of the eldritch monster she truly is. using this facade, she plans to take over the world, her charming appearance masking the ruthless underbelly of her true intentions

glub, the dank lord of fertility, is a fish. a fish god, but a fish nonetheless. he's a simple thing, really. he craves for humanity to flourish and boom in population, so he can flood the earth and feast on them all. also he's a crossover god, originally from crawl. so. if you played crawl before. just think of that one guy from crawl

then there's kessessa, mother of the coven, who is also very lore heavy, but to put it simply, she's there to. protect the coven, really. in exchange for humanity's knowledge, she offers rituals to those who serve her. shes also a moth (and moths. are epic)

i am realizing that i said i would be doing a brief overview. and that i'm a big liar bc this is not at all brief. um. swagever. its my blog... and its ur fault for trusting me to not have worms in my brain

anyways, i'll talk more abt this if i'm prompted to a second time. but i'm sure you can already see where some characters would fit in (max, having insanity as his whole motif, seems obviously fitting to go with hubryus. and wilson with his stupid knowledge seeking self would probably flock to kessessa. excreta).

since worship isn't like. real yet. it's pretty difficult coming up with a plot or anything for this au. right now i'm just playing with them like dollies. but that in itself is pretty fun. we love dollies here, right. we love those thangs.

if you want to learn more about worship from the guys who actually are making it, you can check out their kickstarter page here. OR, if you want, i made a google doc that gives you links to every update, as well as a quick synopsis about what that update actually entails, if you want to have an easier time skimming than KS'... less than ideal format.

also theres doggies in worship

wooahhh epic. so cool.

[a-swiss-and-a-spaniard]

Twenty Questions for Fic Writers

Thanks for thinking of me @yoellglia ! I had fun reading your answers and even more so trying to answer myself :)

1. How many works do you have on A03?

Jeez, should I consider both of my accounts? Let's do it, why not.

I have 12 fics in total. 7 for Tennis RPF and 5 for the DC Universe.

2. What's your total A03 word count?

37,211 words combined. Ngl, I thought it would be less than that as there are only two multi-chaptered fics and the rest are one-shots. Hopefully, I'll add some more words in the upcoming months :)

3. What fandoms do you write for?

Currently, I only write Tennis RPF. I've been toying with a few ideas for the Good Omens fandom, but I haven't opened a new doc yet. And I used to write for the DC Universe, but I haven't done that in ages.

4. What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

(I’m gonna keep this Tennis RPF only bc this blog is tennis themed)

Waking in the Night Light: Fedal share their first kiss in a parking lot.

A New Target: Fedal have sex in the locker room.

Moonlight in Paris: Rafa goes to Roger's hotel room.

Strawberry & Dulce de Leche: Roger and Rafa get ice cream.

Somewhere or Other: Fedal phone call.

5. Do you respond to comments? Why or why not?

Yes yes yes! At least I try to. Although more often than not I get the notification, reply in my head, then forget to actually write back, and I'm too embarrassed to answer if more than a week has gone by… so apologies for that. That doesn't mean I don’t appreciate every single comment I have ever gotten, they always make my day in fact.

6. What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

Mmh… perhaps Moonlight in Paris. It's not angst per se but it does have an overall sense of uncertainty.

7. What's the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

Strawberry & Dulce de Leche, definitely. Rafa's joy at the possibility of Roger going to his birthday party is everything.

8. Do you get hate on fics?

No, thankfully. I’m glad I haven't unlocked that side of fandom yet.

9. Do you write smut? If so, what kind?

I do, but I consider myself a newbie at it (smut writers, pls teach me your ways).

Generally speaking, I prefer it when smut has a little plot. It doesn't have to be anything complicated or serious, I just need a bit of a story behind what's happening for it to feel more organic. I also like it when the focus is on the emotional aspect of it, though descriptive can be nice as well. And I don't mind wordy smut as longs as it doesn't mess with the flow.

10. Do you write crossovers? What's the craziest one you've written?

Nope, and I'm not a big fan of those tbh

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Story time! Yes 💀 Although it wasn't the whole thing, just a fragment. The fic in question was None but the Lonely Heart for the DCEU. And I only found out bc a lovely person left a comment on my fic, letting me know what had happened and the link to the other fic. I checked and the writer had indeed literally copied and pasted one of my scenes, they'd just changed the names of the characters. So I reached out to the AO3 team and they took care of everything.

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

No

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before?

No. Stef and I had an idea for a Fedal fic, but who knows if we'll ever get to actually write it lol

14. What's your all time favourite ship?

I don't think I have one, really. I would say my main ones/the ones I keep coming back to are Fedal (Roger Federer/Rafael Nadal) and Superbat (Superman/Batman). Though right now I've been reading almost exclusively Ineffable Husbands (Aziraphale/Crowley), so it mostly depends on my hyperfixation at the time

15. What's a WIP you want to finish but doubt you ever will?

Oof, that might be a Superbat (long) fic set post BvS, where resurrected Clark has lost his powers (and the sun seems to actually make him sick now), so Bruce helps him to get back on his feet and of course they fall in love in the process. I have the whole thing outlined, sheets of dialogues and a couple of scenes already fleshed out, but I took a break from the fandom bc it was draining me out. Idk, maybe one day I'll get back to it. I mean, never say never and all that, but it's looking highly improbable right now

16. What are your writing strengths?

I think I'm good at setting the tone of scenes, be it fluffy, angsty, whatever.

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

I tend to write in long, long sentences. Seriously, you should see my drafts, sometimes a whole paragraph can be a single sentence. I don't know if it's due to my Spanish hard-wired brain or what, but I’m working on breaking things up a bit more.

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language in fic?

I love it! But you need to make sure readers will still get the message through context, so I think it's best to stick to single words and/or common phrases. Unless, of course, you want to leave your character (and thus your readers) feeling confused.

I do it often when I’m writing Rafa and it's part of the reason I love writing him so much.

19. First fandom you wrote for?

DC Universe

20. Favourite fic you've written?

Tough question… can I say an unpublished one? I have this sort of introspection/character study of Domi, his struggles coming back on tour after the wrist injury and dealing with all the ups and downs. There's not a story to it per se, like I'm not trying to get him from A to B. It's just a dive into his mind, where it gets kinda dark real quick, and it's unlike what I usually go for in tennis fics (fluff), so I've been enjoying the challenge of getting out of my comfort zone there

[dreameasel]

𝐃𝐑𝐄𝐀𝐌𝐄𝐀𝐒𝐄𝐋 ➢ 𝖃𝖆𝖛𝖎𝖊𝖗 𝕿𝖍𝖔𝖗𝖕𝖊    of the show WEDNESDAY removed from context and written  as an   ORIGINAL    CHARACTER ,    due to divergence and heavy base in headcanon. blog is running entirely on beta editor and xkit rewritten. main blog for @vileauteur & @addamned

𝐄𝐱𝐩𝐥𝐨𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐦𝐞𝐬 𝐨𝐟 : loneliness , isolation , prophecy , art , expression , longing , bitterness , fearing your own mind , the madness of creation , shades of the byronic hero , surreality , liminal spaces , fate , the damning power of legacy , the curse of unwanted fame , the isolation of celebrity , living in the shadow

𝕹𝖎𝖌𝖍𝖙𝖘𝖍𝖆𝖉𝖊𝖘 : 𝖈𝖍𝖆𝖎𝖓𝖘𝖆𝖜𝖈𝖚𝖙𝖎𝖎𝖊 , 𝖍𝖆𝖛𝖛𝖐𝖎𝖓𝖘𝖖𝖚𝖊𝖊𝖓 , 𝖕𝖔𝖑𝖆𝖗𝖓𝖔𝖎𝖉 , 𝖜𝖎𝖈𝖐𝖊𝖉𝖘𝖑𝖎𝖕

( i never really see the point of asking people not to steal your content but i'll do it anyway here as i made everything in xavier's icons from the base icons to the sketches in his frame. please don't take those. thanks. )

also located at @mosiaks , @progeniterror and @hollowflay

doc.    prompts.    headcanons.    wishlist.    pinterest. lore doc (important).

NOTE ! PLEASE READ THE LORE DOC. I've made MASSIVE edits and additions to what we got from his show and i'm not taking it lightly. I will not interact if there's talk of Nevermore and like, Most canon stuff. my only exceptions are people I started talking to before the lore doc was finished.

NOTES ( please at least skim )

XAVIER IS THE VICTIM OF A HATE CRIME. This is not something I will discuss or negotiate on, nor do I consider it a divergence as it's quite literally baked into the canon of the text. A year before the events of the show Tyler and his friends attacked Xavier on outreach day for who and what he was. That's a hate crime. Tyler is seen to be in court mandated therapy even a year after these events which leads me to believe that this was so brutal and public that not even Weems and his father's propensity for coverups could make it go away completely. This is not an Anti-Tyler move. It's taking what the text has given us as looking at it on it's face. I actually quite like Tyler, I think he's a neat little guy — which is why I refuse to obfuscate or lessen his crimes or actions. Especially when what he did to Xavier so clearly impacts him a year later. The show has Wednesday treat it like a prank say "she would've gone further" which is frankly, a bonkers ass take given how they also make her care so deeply about the plight of outcasts. How relevant rpers and muses want to handle this is up to those individuals but I will be treating it with the severity it deserves and takes similar to Wednesday's canon one will absolutely negatively impact their relationship with him.

XAVIER IS PSYCHIC. The logic around how outcasts work is a little weird, they seem to be a subspecies, for lack of a better term, with then further sub categories or a lot of unrelated subspecies thrown into the same box that then built a community out of that. But there's no indication that say, the child of a werewolf and gorgon would have the traits or powers of both. Xavier is first and foremost a psychic, he has prophetic dreams and such. I categorize him as a RAVEN ( a psychic who only sees dark things and risks insanity ). His ability to make his art move is essentially an extension of his psychic powers, art starts in the mind before it is expressed physically so it's still linked to the original thoughts and energies. Rowan's mother had prophetic visions, Rowan had telekinesis — mind based powers all seem to be in the same bag.

HE'S GOD'S WORST RED HERRING. The prior point makes me think that the idea that he could've ever been seen as a suspect for the hyde is patently insane. The public knowledge and displays of his power would crossed him off the suspect list once the monster was identified as an outcast breed. He also just has some fairly good alibis — as good as Tyler and Thornhill at least — and reasons why he's so invested. Frankly the detective work in the show is just aggressively bad and kind of insulting, no work was actually put in to planting clues or investigating any suspects other than Xavier and Wednesday basically just jumps to half baked conclusions with almost no basis ( ex. Kinbott — why would Laurel go through all the trouble of hiding her identity only to come back still a natural blonde to a town of people who could recognize her? ) . He really shouldn't have been accused or arrested — at least not with that level of certainty behind the claim. But I know if I throw that wrench into things I could fuck things up for other rpers from the show since it demands a lot of rewriting of like, half the season. So I'll hold back for now on making this hard law and see how it goes but it might be something I make law on here so keep an eye on that.

[kyurilin]

Got sentimental, decided the first few days of December are gonna have posts about the stories I completed this year and then maybe a post about other new ideas I've had!

So starting off with

Which is starting off STRONG, but it's the one I started posting in May. I promise I'm still working on it, it's uh. Very hard to write. Also I think I have to put an AU tag on it now

This is the first chapter story I've posted since October of 2017. Between trying to make myself write by just making long stories out of prompt blogs and switching to only typing in Google docs, I hadn't really worked out how to do chapters and didn't want to do multiple Google docs. Fun fact, this story was supposed to be a single chapter but it got way, WAY bigger than I expected.

As hard as it is to write for various reasons, it's one of my favorite things I've written like, ever. It's been a lot of effort to work on, but I've always wanted to write a struggle between two characters having to share the same body and never got it right, and I feel like I've finally hit a point where it works.

Considering my headcanons for these characters remain consistent and I keep accidentally linking all my stories, it was very hard not to make this somehow linked to Mic's Bullshit Life so the erasermic origin story is very subtly changed, but the All Might's Thicc Thighs Fan Club is still in existence. Go figure.

My favorite part of writing this story is dancing around the fact I have no idea where the actual story ends and as of chapter 373 of the manga I am very scared.

My least favorite part of writing this story is writing it. The first chapter plays out so well that I kind of use it as the baseline for how the chapters should flow, which is why I had to scrap most of chapter 5 and start over. It wasn't working and I'm VERY slowly getting through it now but my brain has exploded with ideas lately.

Writing the podcasts and getting to work with the dynamic of this friend group before any of the trauma was like, perfect. Originally the Hizashi and Oboro podcast was Oboro meeting Shouta's family for the first time but it was too much exposition so that was cut in favor of the sports festival bit. Expect at least one more podcast bit, but uh. It's not a happy one. There's an OLD story idea from before even Mic's Bullshit Life I had revolving around Mic's high school podcasts, and realizing I wanted to incorporate it into this story meant finally using it

I don't have much more "fun" trivia about this one because it's so sad but man. I've loved the idea since it came to me. I will continue to love this idea even when it makes me really sad. And I'm sorry ya'll have to put up with a non-existent update schedule because I'm not lying when I say I have SO many more stories in the works right now. But thanks to everyone who's read it so far ya'll are great.

[mapplesand]

Morbid Minds overview

i'm tagging you so you can see it (@euryvices) but i was planning on doing a quick recap so it would be less scattered around my blog because there's already a bit of explaination if you click on the "morbid minds" thing that gives you a pages with characters ect (but even I forget i put that here)

anyway

the story linked to Marco and Tristan is called Morbid Minds and is a work in progress (6 chapters up in english on my google doc but 15 chapters in french), it's just their lives during high school honestly but it deals with things like bullying, mental health and relationship

Marco Klein-Valdez is one of the main characters, he's like, the biggest loser ever both in a lame and creepy way, at the start of the story he's 15 and god knows there's something deeply disturbing about teenagers because he's a mess

he wears military clothes and gets bullied for looking weird and looking like he's gonna drop a bomb on everyone, everyone thinks he's a nazi (he's not but he doesn't do much to get a better reputation either) he thinks scaring people away is funny because he can just say unhinged things and that'll work

if that already sounds insane, don't worry it will get worse but it's also the whole point of the character. Marco is like, this big edgy dude with anger issues and a whole lot of toxic masculinity to deal with. He gets into fights a lot, he's just that weird creepy dude you'll see in class and hope he doesn't snap at some point

Well, that's how people would view him but when you look closer he's actually pretty lonely and depressed, wishing he was more normal to fit in but refusing to fit in out of spite, big paradox of being a teenager i'd say

But that's until he meets Tristan Lambert who is the second main characters, he's that tall lanky dude that doesn't talk to anyone but warms up to Marco for some reasons

he's autistic and pretty much invisible to anyone until he's seen everyday with Marco and people start picking up on him too

when paired up with Marco it's easy to think he's the normal one considering how fucked up Marco is, but well you have to be a little bit fucked up too to put up with his bullshit

he's mostly in his head, ignoring the real world and not knowing what's going on expect with it's directly related to him, he got that non-expressive face and flat tone that's a bit off putting about him (he gets more expressive with people he trusts)

he have a special interest in music, literature and school shooting (he matches Marco's freak)

then we have some secondary characters that come up a lot with these two

Joshua "Josh" Roberts, the third pov character that I don't mention much because he's actually in Marco's bullies friend group and Marco hates his guts lol

Josh is that popular kid that doesn't get involved in bullying, but not saying anything is still making you part of the problem, he thinks you have to fit in with people if you wants to have friends even if it means bottling up who you really are

he keeps running into Marco despite them hating each other (and Marco putting guns to his head lol) and they kind of start to warm up because Josh goes on a identity crisis or something (Marco doesn't like him even when they become "friends")

Klara Klein, is Marco's cousin from his father side and his number one hater, well, kinda, they get along until they don't and start trying to kill each other

she's one year younger than them, but that doesn't mean she won't try to strangle Marco, she will

she got a descent friend group, she plays tennis (and will beat you to death with the tennis racket) I mean, she's normal she's just that kind of person that always look angry at you, because she gets annoyed easily

she's in the same grade as Kip and they're friends despite her pretending she doesn't likes him (she does, he can get a bit annoying but she's fond of weird people)

Kip "Seven" Mercado, that's our guy, non binary and the scene kid that got lost in time there's no other way to describe him

he's an agent of chaos, he doesn't take anything seriously and does thing for the fun of it, that's why you'll see him meowing in the hallways

Kip is like a mystical entity, when he finds you, you can't get rid of him (both Klara and Marco understood that pretty quickly)

Dalisay Valdez and Bernhard Klein, Marco's parents, Dalisay is filipino, Bernhard is german, Dalisay is a nice lady, Bernhard can go fuck himself

Jane Anderson and Michael Lambert, Tristan's parents, Jane passed away in 2017 (the story start in 2022), Michael is a french guy and is the most confused dad ever but he's still great

and now i'll just out all the stuff i didnt know where to put in these characters description

Marco and Tristan end up together during the story, Tristan is gay and Marco discovers the wonders of bisexuality

Marco is a porn addict, idk how to say it in a way that isnt that way but that's what he is, i mean why do you think most people assumes he's a virgin incel, that's because he is

he was born in Virginia but the story takes place in Connecticut

Marco also has ADHD because I can't write an autistic character without his ADHD dumbass

the story goes beyond high school, it's just that the canon storyline is very much high school centered but Tristan ends up being a english literature major and graduates, Marco is a history major dropout (he did two years) and becomes a successful streamer, i couldnt make this up, Marco being a streamer was the only thing that made sense for his character LMAO, that's why a lot of the drawings about their adult life are just,,,, Marco being a weird streamer

Marco canonically wears stupid shirts with dicks jokes on it

[kadoodles-on-ao3]

General Update/Proof I'm Not Dead

Hello once again, and sorry (times 10^10000000000) once again! Life events plus family issues plus holidays, all of which involved a lot of traveling, kept me extremely busy, but now that things have settled down I think I owe everyone (anyone? are you out there?) an update of some kind!

Putting this under a cut because I have not yet decided to figure out how to stop talking so much haha, but tl;dr I'll be trying to get back on the writing horse (get it? because "writing" sounds like "riding"? eh? ...I'm sorry), I plan on releasing my voice line documentation project on June 10th this year, I have a FFXIV crossover project in the works, and I will also do my best to update this blog's Shulkelia content archive as well!

Writing-wise I unfortunately haven't made any progress on my drafts, but I do still have a very (**very**) huge backlog of ideas that I am ever wanting to bring to fruition: of course updating the collab fic (Darklions and I haven't talked for a while unfortunately as he's also been very busy, but rest assured even if he can't work on the fic I definitely can and will finish it myself if I have to!), a rewrite of my first attempt at a fanfic (maybe I should also post the original, as a way to see how much I've improved as a writer since then if at all?), and most of all a series of longfics that will be very dramatic and emotional and deep and most importantly will have titles based on some of my favorite songs I discovered in high school, so look forward to that sometime! Although maybe I'll first try getting one of my shorter and/or goofier ideas done just to practice getting back on track... which would you guys rather read first, a bit of ~intimacy~ from The Two Nerds or a comedic crackfic-I-only-call-a-crackfic-because-it's-wacky-but-I-take-it-wholeheartedly-seriously with the whole gang involved (including the Villain Squad and a little bit of Alvis too)?

Voice-line-project-wise I have slowed down on updating the actual document as I'm working on renaming the audio files in the drive to fully match their transcriptions so as to make them functionally searchable by their filenames (it's explained more in the actual doc haha), but two things of note:

1) I've been considering this for a while, and I've now decided I for sure would like to release it on this year's anniversary of Xenoblade 1, **June 10th**. This is partially for the sentiment of it, partially because there are still audio files missing in the only rip I can find and I'm holding out for the ripper to respond to my DM about finding the others (either themself or teaching me how to find them), partially because after the release of 3 (which I unfortunately still have yet to play!) I think 1's anniversary will be the best time for people to be talking about it and interested in it and therefore actually take a look at the thing I made haha, partially because I still have quite a bit of work left to do until it'll be in a state that perfectionist me would consider acceptable for others to see... and partially because I *may* have set the Google account for the project's birthday to the exact Japanese release date of 1 for fun, and so because the game is at the time of writing only 12 years old, the account is considered a minor's account which means it has restricted access to things (including Youtube. Every time I wanted to listen to music or a video essay I had to do it in an incognito window because my project account is blocked from Youtube outside of Youtube Kids lmao) and it affects what I want the document to look like (specifically with how hyperlinks work), meaning on June 10th both the game and the account will turn 13 and Google allows 13-year-olds to get their accounts upgraded to full accounts so I can finally be free of the curse on that day.

2) I've also been wondering for a while whether or not I should publish a link to it on here so that people can take a look before it's done and give me feedback (which I would very much appreciate!) The Title section is nowhere near finished in places but the vast majority of the thing is done and it feels weird just to keep it locked away like that haha. But also I know hardly anyone reads my blog anyway so it's not like it would matter all that much to share a link. Still, if anyone (anyone?????) out there is reading this, let me know if you want to see it and are willing to critique it!

Other-project-wise I've begun something else because I just cannot help myself haha. But it is Xenoblade-related! Specifically, it's a recreation of the full main cast using Final Fantasy XIV's character creator, down to combing through every piece of armor in the game to find which ones look the most like their clothing *and* are equippable by the jobs/classes I think suit each of them most, ***and*** designing characters based on what I think the XC cast would make if they made their own characters in the game! FFXIV is a wonderful game that is one of the main, *massive* monopolizers of my free time haha (especially since I decided in my insanity to level every combat job to 80, now 90, and I've also been doing high-end raiding with a static) and I love it for a lot of the same reasons I love XC, they just really feel like they go together! Not to mention the fact that *SO* many of XC's voice cast are in FFXIV (Shulk, Fiora, Dunban, Alvis, Egil, and even Colonel Vangarre and Maxis from FC are all in the game, usually voicing major characters!) and so many details in the job design fit with the playstyles of the XC cast, it just feels meant to be haha. Plus the fucking Allagan technology oh my GOD it literally looks fucking EXACTLY like the Monado down to the bright red color and computer chip lines, it is absolutely absurd, there is no way it's not a reference of some kind I refuse to believe otherwise. Pls Square make the next raid tier a XC crossover you know you want to everyone wants it even people who don't know what a Xenoblade is okay got it thank you in advance. So anyway, expect pics of that project to show up sometime in the future! (Oh and I also have had/developed a XC crossover idea for a different game over a very long time as well so I'll be working on thay sometime too but it's more involved since it'd be an actual mod/"dlc" that needs testing and balancing and new assets to be made and such I have too many ideas and not enough time it's a problem)

Oh and this blog! It's supposed to be an archive of Shulkelia content from other people! Yeah! Cool idea, maybe I should actually do that! In all seriousness, I do plan on archiving everything I have on here at some point (there's surprisingly quite a bit of stuff out there! I looked everywhere for hours searching every tag and every website every way I could! But that's absurd and no one should have to do that so that's why the blog is here!) so look forward to that as well!

So I think that's about it! Again I have no idea if anyone is reading this (if so I'm sorry I talk too much haha) but thank you as always for your patience with me, and keep on loving Shulkelia!

[michelemoutons]

and at last, the post that maybe three people maximum have been waiting for...

em's comfort retro rally videos: a masterlist!

in a much-needed return to this blog's roots, and as an antidote to all motorsport- and life-related chaos, i now present to you: the first edition of em's favorite retro rally videos!

general disclaimer/info: these videos mainly come from the group B era of the world rally championship (wrc), which generally speaking was in the '80s. i am only human, so expect a lot of bias toward my personal favorites...which will become very apparent as you read this list hehe. also i'm not even gonna pretend to be an expert on this or anything. a lot of these are literally just based on Vibes

table of contents

i. my top 5 rally coverage videos

mainly coverage for television, recorded on VHS and uploaded to YouTube by some truly incredible people

ii. honorable mentions

not rally coverage, but retro rally videos nevertheless

often documentaries, mini-doc features, interviews

for all videos, i have indicated the language (most are in english fyi); if any links fail or videos disappear, send me an ask or DM and i'll remove the culprit/find an alternative link.

and now, onward!

(TW for occasional flash photography in many of the night sequences of the videos, as well as a gif included in this post)

i. my top 5 rally coverage videos

in which my bias toward audi sport, mouton/pons, mikkola, toivonen, and vatanen are put on blast for all to see 🥴 i am not an expert in anything i am just very good at research and a whore for aud—[SNIPED]. for the sake of brevity, i narrowed my favorites down to 5. maybe another time i will share all the rest!

also, a general note about the commentary: sometimes, the commentary around michèle and fabrizia can get... weird. keep in mind, they were the most prominent female team partnership around that time, and the first to nearly clinch a wrc wdc, and to modern ears, the commentators really didn't know how to act around them. personally, it wasn't horrible for me, i just ignored the weirder bits, but i understand if others might find it off-putting. also for the sake of your sanity don't read the comments.

5. Rally of the 1000 Lakes, 1984 | finland

link: overall coverage (eng)

podium: vatanen/alén/toivonen (full final results)

comments: this was definitely a rally for most of audi sport's drivers to forget: bar stig blomqvist, who came quite close to the podium finishers with a 4:14:01 to henri toivonen's 4:12:57! both hannu mikkola and michèle mouton had to retire from the race, which may lead you to wonder: why does this rank among my favorites? well, it's always fun to watch group b rally cars sailing through the air against picturesque scenery, and this video also contains an intriguing (at least for me!) look at the scrutineering process, with drivers at their most casual.

owie :( they were fine though!

4. Lombard RAC Rally, 1981 | britain

link: overall coverage (eng)

podium: mikkola/vatanen/blomqvist (full final results)

comments: hannu winning by 11 whole minutes even after rolling his car in the middle of the forest is actual legend behavior! anyway this was michèle's first wrc outing in britain, and even though she and fabrizia had to retire, they still did quite well, consistently running high in the leaderboards after the first few stages. and that's considering the fact that michèle had a bad cold for much of the rally and had to ask fabrizia to drive the car to service park for her at one point bc she was so tired. which fabrizia did... with a pencil in her mouth. lot of big names in one video—also, jean todt makes an appearance as a co-driver!

shamelessly poached off of one of my text post edits

3. Marlboro Safari Rally, 1983 | kenya

link: overall coverage (eng)

podium: vatanen/mikkola/mouton (full final results)

comments: ok can i just say how stunning the video presentation is?? the opening sequence is just!!! the shots of the wildlife! the sprinting giraffes! wow! anyway the visual of drivers in deck chairs just tickles me for no reason, and michèle please tell me what you ask for at the hairdresser's and also where you got that orange blouse (this is obviously not just specific to this rally, she always eats and leaves no crumbs). this was michèle's first entry and only finish in kenya (and of course it was a podium mwah). it was also her last wrc entry in the A1 quattro, as she switched to the A2 for the rest of her program in the '83 season. also this is one of my favorite podium pictures ever.

lksdjffnnkd there's almost too much to unpack... fabrizia somehow surviving in high waist jeans in a hot car... michèle's do-it-yourself shorts... this podium picture was the subject of a very frantic video chat conversation between myself and a friend at 2am a few months ago

2. Rallye de Portugal, 1982 | portugal

links: short recap (eng) | overall coverage 1, stuck in the middle of two other rallies. timestamps in descrip. (eng) | overall coverage 2, very vibey with cool music (ita... also peep walter röhrl speaking italian)

podium: mouton/eklund/wittmann (full final results)

comments: GOD I LOVE THIS ONE SO MUCH AAAA! michèle's first podium of '82 being a win? this rally being the one where there's footage of her going shopping with fabrizia afterward? (more on that later) them winning by 13 whole minutes? and that's not even considering THEE most poetic victory ceremony of all time! in fact let me talk about that bc the racing and the win aside, that's why it's so high up on my list! literally poetic cinema! it's night, they're standing on top of the car and floodlit and surrounded by cheering crowds but they may as well be the only ones there in their own little world, laughing at each other and barely even having to look to each other when they're raising their hands—like god! shut up! we get it you're besties 😭

i_just_think_theyre_neat.png

and now... last but certainly never least...

1. Lombard RAC Rally, 1982 | britain

link: overall coverage (eng)

podium: mikkola/mouton/toivonen (full final results)

comments: firstly, if you were to ask me about my dream podium, this would be it. hands down, across all series of motorsport, my comfort podium would be hannu, michèle, and henri in any order. (there's such a cute picture of them from this rally on pinterest, standing in order on a staircase. henri is not looking at the camera because he is laughing at something michèle is saying and it's such a Vibe but i cannot find it wah). the battle for second between michèle and henri ran down to literally the last stage, and their times are separated by seconds, which is just wild to me. the context of this rally deserves another post, which i honestly don’t have the energy to make rn, but just take my word for it that it threatens to destroy me if i think about it too hard! anyway this is just such an awesome rally and i’ve watched this video so many times haha

i love this rally so much that i actually had a character in a story i was writing attend the ceremony captured in this picture as a small child and made it a formative moment in her life. no, there is nothing wrong with me.

ii. honorable mentions

(is it obvious who my faves are? yikes)

'Group B - Avec Michele Mouton' (eng) - taken from a longer feature presentation about group b, a segment specifically about michèle. a friend once described its vibes as ‘a synth wave edit of an 80s anime set in a cyberpunk world about racing’

'1983 Audi Sport National Rally with Michele Mouton' (eng) - in which michèle takes journalist sue baker as a co-driver for a spin in an A1 and a rally win. fun behind-the-scenes video

'Intervista a Fabrizia Pons, la Regina delle Note' 1, 2, 3 (ita) - very thorough interview which is mostly fabrizia telling all sorts of stories, including the very entertaining story of how she found out she was going to be michèle’s co-driver. also what a badass title

'2008 Otago International Classic Rally' (eng) - THE BESTIES REUNITE THE BESTIES REUNITE!!! michèle and fabrizia reunite for a rally that fabrizia convinced michèle to join, they suffer some problems but there are plenty of wholesome bestie moments to be had

'Michele Mouton hurls Group B Audi Quattro up Goodwood hill' (eng) - i mean, self explanatory. the sound of the chirping tires? asmr could never. very short watch if you want a quick pick-me-up

'1990 Louise Aitken-Walker feature' (eng) - a video featuring a female rally driver from scotland and her point-scoring run at the rallye monte -carlo. i am convinced that louise was john finnemore’s inspiration or at least an influence for the character of linda fairbairn. no my hat is not made of tin foil what are you talking about

hannu rocketing around michigan back in 2017 (eng)

hannu flying around goodwood in 2015 (eng)

sometimes i listen to fabrizia's recent onboards (yes, she's still at it!) and this one is one of my favorites, from 2016 (ita)