#< adding all these tags here so they're easy to search for | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

winterzsurprise · 4 months ago

Text

Change My Mind [3]

Pairing: BTS x reader

SUMMARY: As a make-up artist, you were expected to glamorize your clients with brushes and products that cost a week-worth of food, not to befriend them outside of work, let alone have them save you from dates yet here you are five years later as one of their closest confidants.

Being a stylist of the world's biggest boyband is no easy feat, someone is doing flips, someone can't stay still and one's asleep but its fine, you can work around their chaos but then one day, you find out they're all your soulmates, a whole different can of chaos you don't think you can handle.

Tags: Soulmates AU, Friends to Lovers, Eventual Smut, Not Beta Read, Slow Build, Polyamory, Attempts at Humor

Words: 8.8k

ao3 is down so I'll update it first here. Chapter got delayed since this wasn't originally part of the roster. its currently 1am so there will be mistakes I missed but that's for future Winter's problem.

edit: please comment if you want to be added to the tag list :DD

<<<Prev || MASTERLIST || Next>>>

__________

For a guy with his heart on his sleeves and his emotions displayed so loudly on his face like neon signs with gigantic arrows, Taehyung is an enigma.

It didn’t help that he had experience in acting, if anything it made it harder to understand him.

One moment he's supportive of your quest for a perfect husband then another, he's raging with a jealousy even the power of the thousand burning suns couldn't replicate. Even when Guwon has long disappeared, Taehyung didn't stop from hanging off of your arm when the three of you had entered your home.

In the short time they had stayed over, he made sure he was somehow close to you or having you within his sight while Jimin returned to being the sweet boy he had always presented himself as but the glint of something dark in his eyes never disappeared.

But it didn't make any sense. All of their behaviors, even Jimin, is confusing.

Taehyung had introduced a date to the group before, and had hooked up with a few people from the after-parties if the others’ words were anything to go by. Jimin is the same, although he took every chance to flirt with you at any time and everywhere, you always thought it was him being his playful self. But after last night?

You don't know.

And you hate not knowing.

To find out that Jin still liked you was shocking already, then comes this new realization—along with the impacts of Jungkook’s confession—to knock you off of your feet. You thought he had moved on like he had said years before, but last night's conversation had told you otherwise.

“That's the tenth time I've heard you sigh just this hour alone and we're only drinking coffee, what’s wrong?”

Your head shot up to meet the concerned gaze of the oldest make-up artist. Jihae is one of the original staff back from 2013, the woman who had picked you up when you tripped in front of the BigHit building crying with your bag spilled out, having been given a low grade in one of your subjects.

They were lacking in staff back then, urgently searching for another body to help with the debut look and when she saw your cosmetic bag, she tugged you inside and told you to agree with whatever they were going to ask.

Stunned, you followed the woman without question.

A month later, you dropped out of the nursing course your mother had insisted you take and pursued cosmetology.

Many times have you looked back at the memory and grimaced. It could've gone wrong, she might've been leading you into a trafficking ring but nonetheless, you're glad you had accepted it.

All because Jihae had seen you with mascara-stained tears and somehow deemed you skilled enough for the job. Up until today, you still wonder what she had seen in an emotional teenager who had comically tripped face-first in the company’s front yard, mascara running down her face and thought: ‘She’d be a good addition’.

Whatever it is, you're thankful.

“Hey, you still with us?”

Snapping out of your trance, you wearily smiled at her. “Yes I am, unnie. Just frustrated about something...”

At this, multiple heads turned to you, their stares a varying mix of curiosity and teasing. Suddenly reminded of the group lunch Jihae had proposed that day, a bonding exercise for the entire make-up artists roster, for better teamwork, she had said and internally facepalmed. You had forgotten that it wasn't just your friends sitting on the table with you and you had just aired your problem out in the open for them to hear.

Fuck Kim Taehyung and his confusing attitude. You should beat his ass next time you see him for being the catalyst to the dilemma haunting your mind.

Leaning closer to you, Nabi—another friend of yours—crossed her arms and flashed a shit-eating grin.

“Is it boy problems?”

Instantly, the table explodes into chatters, all of their questions drowning each other.

“Which one of them?”

“Did someone from Bangtan confess to you, unnie?”

“Is it Hoseok? Please say it is! I have a bet with someone from the styling department.”

“Was it Taehyung? I always thought he had a crush on you for a whi—”

“It's not any of them, please we're just friends.” You interjected before they dig further and find truth in their questions. “It's a different guy I've had two dates with.”

Never had you sounded more unsure of yourself until now and you had wished nobody had noticed. But one look around the table says differently. Your friends’ eyes glinted, all of them telling you that this discussion was far from over and you find yourself already dreading opening the groupchat once you're home. But unlike them, someone wasn't satisfied with your answer and crossed her arms from the other end of the table.

“Why so dismissive, unnie? We're all friends here, no need to be so defensive.”

Immediately, the ones closest to her snapped their heads at her with a scandalized look. Alexa was a new recruit, A half-Korean and half-Chinese who lived in the States for a better half of her life, had just joined the week before the first leg when one of the crew went into labor and had recommended her cousin as her last minute replacement until she could return.

In the short time she had been in the company, there had been whispers and none of them were positive. Rumors of an unhealthy obsession hidden beneath the skillfully applied make-up that granted her a younger and cuter appearance, hushed stories of their encounters where she'd reveal her soulmate mark—inked initials, and written on her wrist is a K.S.J, something she boasted around with a smug look, as if to imply something you refuse to entertain.

It was absurd.

Seokjin was untethered, if he got a soulmate mark out in the open, he would've screamed it on top of the world. Delighted and in cloud nine at the thought of having someone destined for him. Not to mention, it meant that he didn't need to go through any of the shit you've gone through, going through dates after dates looking for someone better to settle down with only to be met with constant disappointment at the end of the day.

(You'd also be the first to know. He would've ran to you and asked if you manifested a mark too, but for your sanity, you pushed the thought at the back of your head as soon as it came.)

To say, to imply that Seokjin’s soulmate is the kid on the side of the table, it almost made you grimace.

“Hey Alexa, I know you're just new and a foreigner but that doesn't mean we'd let you disrespect your seniors!” Minhyuk, someone who had quickly wormed into your friend group last year, had jumped to your defense.

Alexa scoffed. “I'm just saying, no need to be so secretive, unnie. Everyone in this table knows how close Bangtan is to you. Everyone is wondering if you've at least dated one of them.”

“Hey Alexa, that's a bit…”

“Why are you guys looking at me like that? I'm just saying what you're all thinking,” She looks back at you. “I've seen how they look at you, surely you've at least had a fling with someone.”

Your brows shot up, incredulous and shocked by her audacity but before you could bite back, Minhyuk stood abruptly, face darkened with pure unadulterated anger.

“Oh this—” Nabi and you were quick to tug him back down to sit.

At the commotion, everyone in the cafeteria shifted their attention to your table, inquisitive and curious of what might've set off the resident social butterfly, someone who everyone knows the name of and has been at the end of his constant kindness.

Minhyuk is a passionate soul, especially towards his job and friends. Having been kicked out for being himself, he turned to the very skill that had his father screaming expletives at him. Recommended by Jihae, who had been visiting a nearby friend at the time and was passing by his street, had found him crying in the rain, outside the gate of his family house. She had taken him home and the rest was history.

There's never been a time when you've all hung out, five emptied bottles of Sojus later, where he wouldn't be crying, thankful for the chance your eldest had given him before turning to you, sobbing loudly and hugging you and the rest of the group in a tight grip. Heart full of gratefulness for his new found family.

So there was no shock that he had been the first one to jump at the first sign of aggression towards your group.

“Everyone is looking, hyuk. Let's calm down.” Nabi whispered to him, eyes cautious and Minhyuk grunted.

“She's lucky we're in public, I would've torn her down for that comment.”

At the end of the table, Alexa scoffed, incredulous. “Are you seriously mad that I'm saying my opinion? Is it a crime to express their own opinion these days?”

“Not when it's as rude as yours.”

Jihae sighs. “Calm down the both of you. Remember that you're working right now.”

You didn't doubt that everyone in the company has speculated about your relationship with Bangtan. It's hard not to when the maknaes hang onto your words and comfortably play around with you, especially not when you have dinner at their dorm every other week so you didn't blame the newbie for being curious.

That's what you would've felt if she hadn't been going around planting ideas into people's heads that she might be Jin’s soulmate like the delusional slug she is.

You had half a mind to loosen your grip on Minhyuk and let him wipe the floor with her unnecessarily expensive work clothes.

Shrugging both your and Nabi’s arms from his, Minhyuk stands up again only to walk away from the table. Instantly, the rest of your group follows him as he marches through the gathered crowd in the cafeteria and in front of the closed elevator.

You trailed behind him, waiting for his eventual frustrated explosion as he always does after an encounter with Alexa since she was hired. Once you were all far enough, hidden away from the prying eyes of the public, he threw his head back and let out a loud, exasperated groan.

“That girl I fucking swear!” He growled as combed his long hair back. “Why did we even let her continue working after the tour?! We could've just found a better alternative, she's getting into my fucking nerves!”

Nabi sighed. “It's not like we have a final say in this, hyuk. Whether you like it or not, we'll be stuck with her until Hyuna comes back.”

“God,” He groaned. “You should've let me hit her once! I'm so tired of hearing her bullshit! Surely, you've heard the lie she's spreading around right?!”

“Like Nabi has said, we can't do anything unless it starts to hurt the reputation of the idol. She's smart for not saying it outright and somehow containing it within the styling departments.” Jihae responds with a defeated shake of her head.

The answer didn't satisfy Minhyuk, who then turned to you with a pout and wide puppy eyes before promptly stomping over and taking both your hands in his.

“Surely you can pull some strings, noona? Tattle off to Namjoon hyung or Seokjin hyung, surely one of them would do something, right?”

You almost considered his suggestion. Alexa had been grating your gears ever since she arrived to replace Hyuna. You had excused her lack of cooperation with the team for being a newbie and clumsy mistakes of haphazardly leaving her items everywhere for the stress of the new environment she was suddenly put in. But for her to go around implying Seokjin is her soulmate is another can of worms you didn't even want to open.

The mere thought of her existing on the same floor as Seokjin invokes an unsettling feeling in the pit of your stomach.

But unfortunately, even if you had tattled to Namjoon about her, nothing would happen since it's not too drastic of an event to fire someone over for. It's also just not a good idea overall. The tour is set next Wednesday and while Alexa doesn't cooperate with most of the team, she unfortunately got the skill to back her up. Her skills nearly compensate for her rude personality.

Almost.

“They won't fire someone over a small argument, Hyuk. Just suck it in until Hyuna returns.”

“Which will be in December after Japan,” He mulls it over before shaking his head. “Yeah no, I don't think I can tolerate her nasty ass that long.”

The elevator opens—Jihae had called it the moment they've arrived, bless her—and everyone piles in. It was a quick ride, the stylists being on the floor below the cafeteria. In a flash the metal doors parts opened and you all walked out. But before you could follow your friends back into your department, your phone vibrated from your pocket.

Slowing down, you pulled the device out and looked at who's texting you.

[13:02] Hobi: can ask you a favor [13:02] Hobi: just an itsy bitsy favor 🤏🤏 [13:02] Hobi: I promise it's harmless😁

There's also a text from Guwon not too long ago. Something you missed while you were lost in your thoughts earlier.

[12:30] Guwon: Eat your lunch soon! [13:03] You: hi sorry late reply, I was having lunch with my co-workers, couldn’t use my phone during. [13:03] You: I hope your lunch was good😁

You grimaced at how robotic your reply sounded before returning to Hoseok who had sent another text.

[13:03] Hobi: don't leave me on seen please😢 [13:03] Hobi: noona noona noona noona noona [13:04] You: hoba hoba hoba hoba hoba [13:04] Hobi: YAY [13:04] You: how can I help you? [13:05] Hobi: can you deliver lunch to hyung?😁 [13:05] Hobi: I would do it myself but I'm currently helping Seokjin hyung and Namjoon with the dance [13:06] Hobi: and we both know Yoongi hyung wouldn't eat on time if I do it [13:06] Hobi: can you do it for me?🥺 [13:06] You: sure, you guys still in the dance practice room? [13:07] Hobi: ur a life saver [13:07] Hobi: an angel in disguise [13:07] Hobi: but yes😁 [13:08] Hobi: just knock on the door when you're here😁

“Y/N?” Jihae asks and you look back up to see your group waiting for you.

“Who is it?” Nabi adds.

“Better be news of Alexa getting fired. If not, I don't want to hear it.” Minhyuk says as he crosses his arms. You shook your head and he threw his hands up in frustration.

“Got asked to help with something but I'll be back in a moment.”

With a brief goodbye, you turned back to the elevator and directed yourself to the floor where the dance practice rooms are at.

The walking distance from the elevator is not too far from the dance room but seeing five familiar teenage boys speaking in hushed whispers and hitting each other's arms in front of the vending machine just a feet away from the door easily distracted you.

If they had been crowding around the machine, you would've thought they were fighting over the last snack but instead they were all facing the same direction as your destination.

Sneaking up to the five giants, you're slowly introduced to the dilemma they were hitting and pushing each other for.

“You're the oldest, you should go and knock!”

“Just because I'm the oldest doesn't mean I should always be the first! Why are you even ordering me around?! Go ask Huening Kai instead!”

“Why me? I can't talk in Korean, I-I’m foreigner.”

“Oh don't you pull that shit on us. How are you only a foreigner when it matters?!”

“What are we talking about?”

Three shrill screams pierced through the air as the five of them jumped back, awkwardly long bodies falling against and clutching onto each other for dear life, all of them huddling onto the next body for protection. But once they recognize you, Yeonjun immediately regains composure and breaks off from the cluster to stomp over to you with his bottom lip jut out as he dramatically latches onto your arm.

“Noonaa, why would you scare us like that?!”

When you first met Yeonjun, he was standing in front of the cafeteria bar in front of the exhausted cashier and the long irritated line of workers, peering up onto the menu before looking down to count his money. He looked like a little kid lost in the sea of busy adults, painfully alone and helpless as the hungry customers behind him began to complain loudly.

He had been holding up the line as he recounted his change once more, hoping he had miscounted and that he could afford what he was eyeing. Seeing his hopeful expression crumble into defeat was enough to make you approach him and buy him lunch.

Yoongi had teased you when he found you being trailed by another kid, saying you were collecting every doe eyed kid in the company and becoming their reliable older sister. Especially when his soulmates began to follow his footsteps.

“What were you guys doing? Fighting against who gets the last chip?”

Beomgyu then ran to wrap his arms around yours, the sweetest and most innocent smile plastered on his face as the two boys began to walk you forward, the destination? The dance studio.

“You know that we love you right, noona?”

Why these kids are genuinely intimidated by your sweet Hoba is beyond you. The man screams and flinches at the smallest of bugs daring to exist two feet away from him. Still, you entertained them with a raise of an eyebrow and Yeonjun continued.

“Our favorite make-up noona, the greatest sister figure we have ever had, my savior and my salvation, our dearest credit—”

“Okay, what do you guys want?”

You all stopped in front of the dance room door. IDOL was blasting on the other side of the wall, the floor vibrating with the beat. Although muffled, you could pick up the sound of shoes squeaking against the floor and heavy footsteps accompanying the song.

“Could you pretty please knock on the door?” Beomgyu asks, pleading and also hopeful and the rest of his brothers chimed from behind you with their own versions of the request which ended up sounding like a bunch of warbled words.

“Couldn't you have done that yourselves?”

“But they're busy and J-Hope sunbae is scary.” Taehyun quietly adds behind you.

“Hoba? He's the sweetest though?”

“Okay, let's not lie to ourselves now,” Huening Kai shoots back before motioning to the door. “Just… knock and we'll handle it from there. We promise!”

“Cross our hearts.” Taehyun says, drawing a cross over his chest. The other four follow.

Dance teacher Hoseok to you is a hoax. You've never been subjected to his intense scrutiny and harsh perfectionist side, always managing to slip past or only being able to meet him outside of the workplace where he'd be far relaxed and cheerful.

Sure there's been plenty of photographic and recorded evidence posted in the group chat but you still find it hard to believe he's more frightening than the bugs that scare him off the room.

“He's not that scary, guys.”

Taehyun scoffs. “Easy for you to say.”

“Crush privileges.” Soobin quietly adds.

“What—”

The door swings open before you could ask what he meant and Jungkook steps out of the room.

In a span of a second, the memories of his drunken confession flashed before your eyes. From the moment he had entered your home with bags of snacks to the way his voice had sounded, hushed and shaky, when he asked you for a kiss.

Seeing him again outside the concert where Namjoon and Yoongi had made sure there were no contacts between the two of you, evoked a weird sense of longing within you. Having absolutely no contact with Jungkook for two days had you missing and recollecting your past memories with him. In the short amount of time you've been away, you wondered about many things.

From something as headache-inducing variations of hows and whys questioning his attraction to you to something more simple and short like ‘how is he feeling right now?’.

It was a dumb question with an obvious answer yet you wanted to know. Curiosity and anxiety clawing at your chest.

Is your friendship still okay?

Did rejecting someone this time finally ruin your entire dynamic with the group?

Should you have chosen someone like your sister had told you to do?

They have plagued your mind and haunted you in your waking days yet the moment you finally see him, your mouth dries up and your voice dies in your throat.

But before you could even muster the courage to talk to him, he turned his attention to the boys who had retreated behind you the moment the door opened and greeted them with a short bow before walking away, completely ignoring you. Pain blooms in your chest like a thorned vine wrapping and strangling your heart tighter and tighter as you watch his back disappear around the corner.

“Did sunbae just ignore noona?”

“Is that even possible?”

“I didn't hallucinate that, right?”

“Noona, are you okay?” Soobin’s concerned voice, soft and cautious, brings you back to reality and you turn to them, a precariously built smile on your face.

“Why wouldn’t I?”

The five shared a look as you stepped into the studio, exposing you to the two figures laid on the floor, heaving and panting. The main topics of your thoughts were sitting at the far corner next to the black plastic table while Hoseok stood in the middle of the room, unaffected by whatever had happened and was chugging the water from the small bottle in hand.

As if he had grown a sixth sense for you, he suddenly spun around, a wide grin brightening his stern face.

“Noona!”

At this, the two men on the floor perks up. Namjoon merely waves before promptly dropping back down, Jimin and Taehyung only smiled at you, looking spent from whatever routine Hoseok had them do before turning to the two tallest. Seokjin had pushed himself up to stand and approach the black plastic table from the other end of the room where a dozen take outs were.

As Hoseok approached you, his gaze then found the cluster of five heads peeking through the sides of the entrance and laughed.

“You’ve got five ducklings following you, noona, didn't know you started collecting more after our maknaes.” He jokes before turning to the teens and waving them over. The group then spread to occupy the space in the doorway and bowed. “What can I do for you guys?”

They suddenly disappear behind the wall but you hear them hitting each other and their whisper-shouts, it took a long while before Soobin was pushed out of the shadow and forced to talk to their sunbae. The painfully shy teen shuffles over, shoulders folded forward and taking the smallest of steps forward before stuttering a bow.

A wide smile brightens Hoseok's face, endeared by the boy’s overly formal actions.

“H-Hi sunbae.”

“Hello, Soobinie.”

“We-we we're just wondering if we-we could watch you guys? Practicing dancing I mean—Not that you sunbaes need it cause you're professionals!—I mean of course you still need to practice to be better at dancing and—wait no—”

��Yah Soobin, stop embarrassing us like this!” Yeonjun scolds and immediately, the boy almost broke his neck with how face he looked over his shoulder.

“Then go do it yourself!”

“We don't mind, as long as you guys stay in a corner like good kids then we'll all be good!” Hoseok cuts in before an argument ensues.

There's a tap on your shoulder and you look over to see Seokjin standing behind you, a gentle smile playing on his plush lips, both hands hidden behind him.

There's an awkwardness that hung in the air as you both gazed into each other's eyes before he cleared his throat and began.

“Have you eaten yet?”

“Yes.” You lie. Jin caught it.

Turning to face him fully, he then takes one of your hands and forces your fingers to hold the neatly folded top of a paper takeout bag.

“I've packed Yoongi’s portion here as well as an extra for you.”

“You didn't need to, I already ate.”

“I even had them order some soft tofu soup, you were craving it last week, right?”

It was sweet being loved so selflessly by him. It tasted like the sweetest nectar from the garden of Eden with a foul aftertaste once your mind reminded you of your sins against the man and the thorned tendrils of guilt coiled tighter around your chest, its sourness easily overlapping the sweetness of his love.

After Jungkook pretending you didn't exist earlier, having Jin, someone who you didn't even know still admired you all these years while you had messed around with many faces and came to work with some of their marks on your skin, expressing his care had you almost bursting at the seams.

It enrages you thinking about Alexa going around spreading her bullshit spiel about being Jin’s soulmate. As if she deserved a morsel of his attention.

Nobody deserves Seokjin, not even you.

“Thank you Jinnie, but I already ate.” You then remembered your promise to return to your friends soon. “And Jihae is expecting me back immediately.”

“Coffee and toast is not lunch.” He deadpans as he takes your hand and forces it to close around the pack. “Just eat it with Yoongi, he'd be happy to be able to eat with someone and I’ll handle Jihae noona.”

“How the hell did you know what I had for lunch?”

Shock crossed over his face and he brought a hand over his mouth. “I was right? I just had a hunch on what you ate.”

“That’s a bit creepy, old man.”

“Maybe it’s a soulmate mark manifesting.” He shrugs but you doubt he meant it in a joking way.

“You’re way past the age, give it up hyung.”

You both turned to the door at Jungkook’s voice. Like earlier, he had strode in without acknowledging your presence, something Seokjin had noticed immediately. His eyes slid to the five boys tentatively pushing each other to the empty corner of the studio before looking back at their youngest.

“How could you insult me like this? I fed you with my hands, you should be addressing me formally with a full 90° bow!”

“I should’ve bitten your hands at least once back then.” Jungkook jokingly muses.

Before you could witness their banter explode, there’s a tug on your shirt and you spun around to face Hoseok who had nudged his head to the door. Jin had already marched towards the maknae before you could even thank him so you left.

Once you were both outside the studio, Hoseok closed the door behind and hugged you.

“Wh-what is this?”

“A thank you hug for being the sacrifice and feeding the grumpy dragon instead.” He says with a laugh but you knew what he was trying to do.

“I’m fine, Hoba. I didn’t expect us to be buddy buddy again after what happened.”

He sighed.

“He still shouldn’t have done that. I’m sure Seokjin hyung will talk to him about it later.”

Stepping back, you shook your head. “No need, I understand why he’s acting like that.”

His eyes regarded your face for a moment before pulling you back in for a hug and nuzzling his head on top of yours. “You don’t have to defend him noona, he’s acting like a child. It's our duty as his hyungs to fix that up.”

“Please don’t. It feels like you’re taking sides, he might think it's unfair.”

He laughs. “Are you kidding? ‘Cause from what I’m seeing, he’s being a petulant child. He should handle the rejection with more grace when it's his fault he’s in this predicament. You know Seokjin hyung warned him, right?”

“He told me when he and Tae took him home.”

“Then you should know better than defend him.” You opened your mouth to refute but he pressed a finger to your lips. “Don't start. He's not the same sixteen years old we had to raise back then, he needs correcting.”

With two hands on your shoulders, he then spun you around and began to push you towards the elevator, leaving no room for an argument.

Once he had led you back to the locomotive, he briefly stepped in to push the correct button for the production floor and stepped back and waved as the elevator wall slowly closed to a shut.

“Now go feed hyung and yourself before you go back to work. Thank you again noona and see you later.

“Special delivery for a grumpy hairless cat!”

A beat.

Then came a grumbled: “Come in.”

Punching the proper strings of numbers on the door code, you open the door to the genius lab to find Yoongi sitting in front of his computer, one ear off of his headphones as he goes back to a specific second again and again.

Situating yourself on the couch next to the door, you place the paper bag on the coffee table and slowly unload all its contents, hoping its smell is enough to deter him from his work just for a second.

Taking one of the containers, you open it to see bulgogi generously sprinkled on top of rice. The savory smell of the dish wafting out almost immediately, and Yoongi visibly perks up from his table; if perking up meant him temporarily stopping his incessant clicking and head tilting a little to the side.

“Is it all bulgogi?”

Placing down the container, you opened the other one to reveal the same dish except this time with fried rice.

“Yeah, you want fried rice or no?”

“Whatever you like less.” He grumbled as he returned to his work.

“That's not a proper answer.”

“Just take whatever you want, I like either.” He muttered.

Staring at the food on the table, you found yourself at a crossroads. The fried rice looks more appetizing than the plain white rice on the other container but you've had enough sodium for the week, having challenged Taehyung, Jimin and Jin to who can eat more ramyeon in one sitting the day before the concert.

But today just doesn't feel like a plain rice type of day.

But fried rice isn't healthy.

“Just choose please, I don't know what I want either.” You groaned out, frustrated.

With a grunt, the man took off his headphones and turned to face you before maneuvering himself closer to the table and picking up the container with the plain rice.

“Stop thinking so much about what is healthy or not,” He remarked as he took a pair of chopsticks from the paper bag. “I could hear your thoughts even with my headphones on and my back turned.”

“Then why tell me to choose if you already knew?”

Yoongi only shrugged as he took his first bite, prompting you to take yours. He seems to mull over something as he chews, staring at the food on the table for a while before placing the container down and leaving the room without a word.

You had learned not to question his confusing actions throughout the years, even then you couldn't help but be bewildered.

When he returned, he was carrying two drinks in one hand. Sprite and Kombucha. Settling back on his chair, he placed down the bottle of Kombucha in front of him before opening the can of sprite and placing it in front of you.

“I don't have any straws on me so you'll have to just chug it.”

People don't usually notice it but you think Jin and Yoongi are more similar in how they show their affections, just in different volumes. Seokjin’s care is always voiced out, always asking whether you want something or not and offering to do or make it for you while Yoongi just somehow always knows what you want and does it wordlessly. Both of them are always willing to provide.

If you had asked them for something as ludicrous as fried cotton candy with melted cheese on top, Jin would complain and express his disgust openly, ranting about the strenuous process while holding the handle of the pan and a spatula in the other while Yoongi would cook it without questioning your sanity.

Either way, it never fails to make your chest warm.

“Thank you, Yoongs.”

He suddenly takes a huge bite, bringing the container close to his face before humming out his response, easily flustered as ever.

You both eat your food in silence. With years of friendship under your belt, you have learned to enjoy the serenity Yoongi brings. It had been rough at the start, his quietness matched with his stoic expression had often led to misunderstandings where you often thought he thinks of you badly for being close to his brothers, especially after Jin’s confession.

He had confronted you once he heard it from Namjoon—who had immediately tattled onto his hyung after you had told him not to tell anyone—, saying he simply had problems expressing himself. You could remember how his hands, despite being entangled with each other, shook with his voice, could recall how he had forced himself to hold eye contact with you when he always had difficulties in holding one.

It was thoughtful and that was the first time you had felt the tingles of warmth in your chest. Teenage you had her feet swept off by a stuttering mess of a guy with eye contact issues.

Despite Jin being the first in the group to confess, Yoongi was the first to touch your heart.

“Why are you looking at me like that?’

You tilt your head. “Like what?”

A conflict of emotion crossed his eyes as he struggled to find the words but before he could, your phone vibrated from your pocket.

[13:54] Guwon: I'm at the cafe close to your building

You almost choked on your spit, surprised by his message and Yoongi hurriedly put his food down to pat your back. His office was on the other side of the city, why would he drive so far just to get some coffee with you during work days?

Love, a voice answers and you immediately waved it off.

There was no way he had fallen in love with you in such a short time. You have been on two dates with him yet he hadn't asked you to be his girlfriend when there's been multiple times throughout those days and nights he had the chance to do so.

During nights where you'd restlessly toss around on your bed, you found yourself facing one more problem outside of your friends.

You didn't notice when it started when Guwon began to make your stomach churn and it bothers you to the nines at how you were being suspicious of him.

Guwon is a genuinely nice guy with a legit and grand background from what you learned throughout the short time you've been hanging out, his case stories of helping out women stuck in abusive relationships and bringing justice to those the law has failed once proven true when you've typed his name on Naver. The man didn't deserve the doubt twisting in your stomach nor the aversion you were slowly gaining towards him.

Your conflicting feelings surrounding your friends' confessing and odd behaviors shouldn't be affecting your relationship with the man you will marry at some point yet it ended up doing so.

There was something foul and bitter simmering in your guts these days whenever you force yourself to think about him during your time. It burns like bile and tasted like betrayal, almost like unfaithfulness; you try not to think hard on why you feel this way but it's hard not to when Jimin and Taehyung's jealousy keeps flashing behind your eyelids with every blink.

[13:55] You: Oh wow, which one? [13:55] Guwon: The one on the left side, Areum Cafe. [13:55] Guwon: Are you free to get a cup of coffee with me? [13:56] Guwon: Sorry for springing this up on you [13:55] Guwon: I missed you🙁

“Who is it?”

“It's Guwon,” You say, scratching your head. “He says he's at the cafe down the road and wants to meet up.”

Yoongi placed down his food and stared at you, long and hard. Cat-like eyes narrowed and observing as he leaned back on his chair. You feel his eyes regard your body language before sighing.

“I assume you need help getting out? I'm not as… bold as the younger ones but I think I can help… somehow”

His appearance would surely help tamper down the discomfort that had bloomed with the recent revelations. Yoongi is intimidating as he is caring, having him next to you would ensure you a shorter time spent with the man, as well as prohibit him from pulling another surprise kiss on you.

But why are you so uncomfortable spending time with Guwon anyways?

You didn't have any problems before, even wanted to sleep with him the night prior so why now?

“How’d you know I need help?”

“You looked like your mother just told you to come to another date.”

Immediately, you ironed out the frown you didn't realize had marred your face.

“I thought you would've been delighted you've finally met your match?”

“I-I am.”

Yoongi clicks his tongue, the sound echoing louder in the silence of the room. “Try again. A little more sure this time.”

You sighed and relented, knowing the man wouldn't let you take a step out of the door if you lied to him again.

“Everything just started feeling wrong for some reason.”

He raised an eyebrow at that, eyes widening with surprise. “How so?”

“You know, when Jimin and Taehyung came over last night to make sure I got home safe, they were acting strange towards Guwon.” When he made no move to respond, you continued. “When Guwon suddenly kissed me, Taehyung looked… scary. Jimin too, if you can believe it.”

“I actually do.”

“What do you mean by that?”

Yoongi goes silent again, mulling over something as his gaze finally met yours for the first time that day. “For someone so perceptive, you're a bit oblivious.”

“What is it?”

“I won't elaborate, I'll let you realize things on your own.”

You groaned, facepalming because ain't no way Yoongi just added more fuel to the forest fire that is your thoughts. The man doesn’t even look aware of what his words had done, reaching over and innocently sipping on his kombucha once more.

“Back to what you were saying, why do you think it felt wrong to see Guwon?”

With his calm voice and the deafening silence of the room, you found yourself comparing Yoongi, who even has his hands folded over his crossed jean-clad legs, to a therapist and laughed.

“Didn’t know I was due for a therapy session when I dropped off your lunch.”

“Well I did, so deal with it,” He placed down his bottle. “Do you need my help or not?”

“Is breathing important? Obviously yes.”

He nods and stands, but not before saying, “I hope you know this conversation is far from over.”

While his presence had given you more peace of mind, leaving the BigHit building with Yoongi—who had forgone his usual outdoor style of beanies and big prescription glasses matched with a black mask in order to appear more intimidating, claiming the beanie softens his edges, something you playfully rolled your eyes at—still felt like walking into your doom.

The moment he steps out of the building, suddenly everyone's eyes are on him. The cool stoicness surrounding him commanded attention and the people listened without complaint, not when Yoongi looked like every highschool teenager's bad boy wet dreams.

Strolling into the cafe is easier with Yoongi trailing behind you like a guard dog; or in his case, a guard panther.

There's something about having the rapper, who has never shown a hint of romantic attraction to you in all your years being their friend, accompanying you to meet the man you might marry once the discomfort born from conflicting feelings subsides. It makes your heart jittery and your stomach twisting uncomfortably, the nerves from meeting Guwon only adding fuel to the fire.

It felt improper somehow, as if you were breaking an invisible rule you're yet to uncover from the depths of your soul.

The tempting aroma of freshly baked buttery goods and roasted coffee beans greeted you the moment Yoongi had pushed the door open for the both of you. In the controlled volume of mixed chatters from different tables, a calm acoustic instrumental flies through the air and you almost forgot what you came here for.

It didn't take long for you to find Guwon sitting on the table farthest from the entrance, secluded and away from the wide glass pane windows. When the door had opened with a chime, the man had raised his head from his phone and met your eyes. You try not to linger on how his expression stiffened when he realized you had Yoongi in tow before a smile wipes it away.

“You see him?” Yoongi’s voice grumbled from behind and you nod. Guwon stands, the sound of the chair scraping against the floor catching his attention. “That him?”

“Yeah, I don't think he's happy I brought you with me.”

He chuckled lightly. “Good.”

Guwon met you both halfway, arms opened wide to greet you with a hug and you let him. When you pull away, his hand casually falls to your waist and your skin scrawls.

Immediately, Yoongi’s eyes drop to look at it but before any hint of emotion breaks onto his face, his cool eyes are already back on your suitor’s face.

“Which one of your kids am I given the pleasure of meeting this time?” Guwon asks before offering his free hand to Yoongi who had taken it with a carefully crafted blank expression and unrelenting stare.

Seeing him remain in eye contact with Guwon surprises you. The man, even after your years of being friends, had never held eye contact for longer than five seconds outside the time he had opened up to you about his struggle with expressing himself.

It made you curious. Why is he provoking him? Is he testing Guwon?

“I'm not one of her kids, I'm actually older than her. Min Yoongi.”

“Yoo Guwon, a pleasure to meet you.”

Even when both their hands had long pulled away from each other, their eyes lingered longer. Challenging on Guwon's part, and taunting on Yoongi's as he stared back, completely unfazed.

Seeing them silently engage in a dick measuring contest, something you didn’t expect Yoongi to ever partake in since he had been loud in his distaste for his own gender, irked you. The tightening grip on your waist didn't help, wanting nothing but to slap it off if it wasn't for your promise to your mother to not fuck this up.

‘If you don't tell them what you're uncomfortable with, then they'll continue on doing it. The other guys out there aren't like us who'd feel guilty if we knew, I fear that they might take advantage of you instead, noona.’ Hobi’s voice echoes in your mind.

Sorry Hoba, I'm trying to make this work. But if this behavior continues, then I'll listen to you.

“I thought you idols are often more busy than the average folk?”

Yoongi sucks air through his teeth before responding. “We were in the middle of a fitting prior. I hope you don't mind me keeping watch, can't have our staff getting distracted by heartthrobs like you.”

Guwon laughed, a little louder than usual.

“She's been telling you guys about me?”

“All the good things, don't worry.” He then turns to you, eyes searching your face for a hint of extreme discomfort before continuing. “I'll go order the others some food.”

Sparing one last nod of his head at the man next to you, Yoongi then turns towards the counter to order. The moment he was out of earshot, dread drops onto your stomach like an anvil and you looked up at the Guwon whose eyes were already trained onto yours, a lazy smile stretched on his lips.

“I assume you’ll be needed back once he’s done?”

“ Yeah, I’m sorry it's just… Wrong timing.”

He waves you off. “Nonsense, it’s my fault for bringing you out of your work. They won’t fine you for this, right?”

“I went with one of my bosses, of course they won’t.”

His eyes studied your face for a moment, searching. For what? You don’t want to know. When he had found whatever it was, his face melts into a softer, more mellow expression and your heart clenches. The outpouring of awe in his eyes felt heavy and thick, it clogs up your throat and weighs your already strained form.

“I missed you.” He whispers with the sweetest of voices. “Did you miss me?”

“I-I do, kept thinking about you...”

The lie weighted like lead on your tongue and burned like acid. Compared to the genuineness practically dripping from his lips, your words fall short in your ears. With the way his softened expression crumpled into a frown, you knew he also noticed the hesitance in your voice.

“What’s wrong?”

“I’m sorry. With the tour being so close and more sponsorship offers coming in, it got a bit stressful than usual.”

When his arms reach around your shoulders and pull you flush to his chest, you will yourself not to tense. You were both hugging in the middle of the coffee shop and you could feel the nearby patrons’ stare pressing onto your body, judging and unpleasant. Embarrassment burns your cheeks and the desire to push him away grows.

Even Jimin and Taehyung doesn’t dare to get affectionate in public, none of your friends ever did anything more than a hand on your shoulder to lead you to the correct direction or a pat on the back when Jungkook had more sleep and food ingested, and was bouncing off the walls and you just happen to be assigned to him.

You wanted nothing more but to tell him to back off but the words got stuck in your throat.

“Just a tip, she doesn’t like PDA so maybe step away?”

Immediately, Guwon scrambles off of you.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t know.” Guwon says, his hand falling from your shoulder and down to your arm. You shivered.

A firm and familiar hand lands on your shoulder before Yoongi tugs you back to stand next to him. There’s a set in jaw as his eyes narrowed down at Guwon, the hand replacing Guwon on your arm is tense and rigid but not enough to hurt.

You sensed that he had a lot to say once you were out of sight, all of them expressing his distaste for the man you’re set to eventually marry. Even when you were all standing there, you could already imagine the curses and nitpicked details pouring out of his lips.

“We’ll be going back now,” Yoongi says to Guwon, voice tight as if holding back his emotions as he curtly bowed. “Our leader is already demanding us to come back so we’ll have to cut this meeting short. It was nice meeting you.”

Guwon looked incredulous at the turn of events, eyes shuttering before he nodded in understanding and turned to flash a smile at you.

“Message me when you’re home, alright?”

Yoongi didn’t even linger long enough for you to respond, already walking away. By the time you turned to look at him, he was three gaits away from leaving the coffee shop. With a dip of your head, you sprint to follow closely behind the man now pushing through the door.

You could understand the reason for his irritation, always the most protective out of the bunch and the one with the most to say about men. To see your closest female friend be made uncomfortable by her suitor, a stranger in his eyes, there was no doubt he’d be livid.

But why does he have to walk so fast?!

You’re not physically built to match his pace, he takes one step and you have to do three. It was infuriating but you couldn’t exactly scream at him to slow down in public, catching the attention of other people would only create more problems than you both could take on.

He eventually slows down to a halt in front of the double glass doors of the BigHit building and you were able to finally catch up to him. In the lobby, you both calmly approached the elevator, a complete juxtaposition of how hasty you two were not a moment before.

But the moment the metal doors of the elevator shuts, isolating you and Yoongi from the rest, he begins.

“I don’t like him.”

It was stupid but you wanted to know what specific trait he had found irksome.

(Deep down, you knew you were finding a reason to stop, to let go of Guwon and stop this stupid charade.)

“He didn’t even notice you were uncomfortable earlier. When you told us that he’s good, I thought he’d be decent, not top grade bare minimum.”

“H-He was actually good, believe it or not.”

“So he's a pretentious prick?”

You sighed. “H-He just—”

“Hyung wouldn't approve.” Yoongi cuts in, his hardened eyes now piercing through yours, almost taunting you to bite back. “Not just him, everyone wouldn't. You'd break poor Jiminie’s heart if you continued seeing him once he found out how he acted today.”

You knew he was guilt tripping you and it was working. But you swore Guwon was better than the others, he had treated you with a gentleness and care your friends had shown yet something had changed after that night.

Was Taehyung's clinginess, their presence in general, been the catalyst?

Had he felt threatened by them showing up? You had established early on that they're your boss and your mother would've mentioned your relationship with the boys in passing at least, so why would he feel threatened by them?

“I know what you're thinking but it doesn't work like that.” His voice, now softer than it had been earlier, pierces through the trance you’ve submerged into. “Even if you had said you’re only friends with them, it's human nature for us to still feel intimidated even if we're just friends.”

“That's dumb.”

He shrugged. “Men are dumb, I'm just slightly better than the rest.”

“That's debatable.” You joked and he raised an eyebrow.

“Your taste is questionable.” He shot back and you hit his arm in response, making him laugh but it dissolves as fast as it came. “I'm serious, hyung won't like it if you continue meeting Guwon.”

“I know, I can already hear him and we're not even there yet.”

“Don’t be dumb, if you want a husband so bad, tell aunt to wait for us to renew our contract this October then I'll marry you.”

He meant it as a joke, you knew that, but you couldn't stop the butterflies in your stomach from fluttering wildly. You're suddenly reminded of a scene from years ago, his alcohol-flushed cheeks pulled taut by the dopey smile stretching his lips wide and his slurred voice admitting something you—until today—have no recollection of what had been uttered.

You both have been battered to the nines, drunken out of your minds and stumbling over the smallest rocks on the street by the time Seokjin and Namjoon had found you halfway home. It was a miracle you both got off unscathed with how giggly and dumbed down you both were.

“Bold of you to assume I'd say yes.”

“I got wealth, I got a good mug on me, what else would you need?”

“Seokjin also got those.”

He pondered long and hard, sucking air through his teeth before he turned to you again with a glint in his eyes.

“You know what they say about my tongue right?”

He couldn’t say he didn’t expect the punch in the arm that followed soon after.

When the elevator door opens and you both go straight for the dance studio, the conversation about Guwon is put on pause and you dread the moment Seokjin hears what had transpired in the coffee shop when suddenly, Yoongi stills and hissed out a curse.

“Shit, I forgot Jungkook’s muffins.”

317 notes · View notes

olderthannetfic · 9 months ago

Text

I thought it would be interesting to see if I could easily determine which ships had the most works updated in 2023.

It turned out to be fairly easy, though a little time consuming. I think these results should be reasonably accurate.

Some points to note:

I did this on my own account, and I have like 2 people muted. So I am capturing the effects of archive-locked works, but my numbers might be off by one or two works due to muting.

Works updated in 2023 is a number that constantly changes as works are deleted or updated again in 2024.

I didn't scrape the entire archive or anything like that, so it's possible I missed a ship that would bump one of these down below 100. I'd take the last few at the bottom there with a grain of salt. But I think we can be reasonably sure the top ones are accurate and that the kinds of numbers that we see at the bottom there (eighteen hundred plus works updated in 2023) are about where the cutoff will be even if we find a ship I missed.

As for how I did this, I went to the category tags and the rating tags, filtered for updating in 2023, then excluded ships in the sidebar till I got to 130-150 ships excluded. I also grabbed ships that are big in general from tag search, which you can use to find all relationship canonicals, ordered by frequency.

I combined those lists of ships, cleaned off the works numbers, and generated a list without duplicates. That got me three hundred and something (yes, they were mostly duplicates). I generated the relevant AO3 URLs, opened them in batches with Open Multiple URLs, and copied the works totals into a spreadsheet. Not as tidy as using a script but honestly pretty easy if you know a few spreadsheet formulas to clean up data.

The key here is that if you're only going for pretty good and not accurate beyond a shadow of a doubt, all you need to do is generate a list of likely ships, then check them.

It's possible that there's some much-updated ship that is so evenly spread across these various other tags that it just missed showing up in the sidebar. Hopefully, grabbing more than just the top 100 avoided this problem.

This method also doesn't take into account backdated works. If a whole archive was imported in 2023 but all backdated, there could be some ship that didn't have new works but where AO3 users experience in 2023 was of an influx of content.

I also did this just now, in late March/early April, so some 2023 works have inevitably been deleted or updated again. So the exact work counts don't represent the experience of using AO3 throughout 2023. A fandom active in early 2023 might not have much updating in early 2024, while a fandom active in late 2023 would. This could demote the latter a few places in the rankings since I didn't grab numbers on January 1st.

Even if a person scraped AO3 every day or was monkeying around in the databases, you also have to ask what conceptual answer you're after. Is it works a user could have read at some point during 2023, whether they were deleted by the year's end or not? Is it new-to-AO3 works or only newly-created ones, not including imported archives? Does it matter if the works are fic? If they're in English? What about accidental double-uploads or translations of a single work?

I hope this makes it clear why a definitive ranking is not actually possible.

However, despite these drawbacks, I am confident that the rankings above accurately represent the broad trends on AO3 in 2023. Just don't get too fixated on whether a ship should be at number 73 or number 74.

And, of course, I excluded these from the top 100:

Original Character(s)/Original Character(s) - 20,026

Minor or Background Relationship(s) - 16,187

No Romantic Relationship(s) - 8,052

Original Female Character(s)/Original Male Character(s) - 7,195

Original Male Character/Original Male Character - 6,283

Other Relationship Tags to Be Added - 5,618

Original Female Character(s)/Original Female Character(s) - 3,990

Original Character(s) & Original Character(s) - 3,210

Here's a spreadsheet if you want to see the actual numbers not as a shitty screencap. I left the next few below 100 for context.

213 notes · View notes

5ummit · 1 year ago

Text

Permanent Blacklists for AO3

Would you like to permanently remove fics with your squicks, triggers, and dislikes from all AO3 searches by default so that you never have to think about or encounter them again? Well now you can!

The ability to do this has actually been around for a little while but it relies on some new CSS functionality that wasn't supported on all major browsers until fairly recently (though you may still have to enable it manually on some). I'm not going to explain how this method works or how to code AO3 skins in general, as I've only dabbled in it a little and there are already some very good tutorials out there. If you want all of the details, check out these guides:

Skins and Archive Interface FAQ – The official skins guide created by AO3. Lots of good information but might be overwhelming and confusing for a beginner.

A Non-Extensive Guide on How to Start Creating a Skin for AO3 by ao3skin – Some good, fairly easy to understand, beginner info on CSS and specifically how it applies to AO3 skins.

Permablocking Specific Tags - Site Skin by Eli0t – Everything you need to know to create permablock lists. If your blacklist doesn't seem to be working as expected, check this for troubleshooting tips.

What I can offer though are some handy pre-made blacklists that you can use as-is or as a starting point to create your own so that you don't have to go to the trouble of figuring out how any of this works or hunting down relevant tags. Just copy the code, open AO3, go to My Preferences > Skins > Create Site Skin, paste it in the box, title it, and click Submit!

Note: The following lists are very specific to me and my own personal tastes. Absolutely no judgement if you love any of the things that I choose to blacklist. You do you. I just happen to like my fics fucked up and relatively canonical.

★ No Reader Fic – Hides all self-insert and reader fic.

★ No Alternate Universes – Hides anything tagged with the most common AU tags. There are so many incredibly specific AUs there's no way to list all of them and AU tagging is also extremely inconsistent from fic to fic so this blacklist may only catch 80% of AUs, but that's better than nothing. You could always exclude the entire alternate universe tag, rather than trying to list specific ones, but unfortunately canon divergence and other less extreme AUs would get caught in the crossfire, which is not worth it for me.

★ No Fluff – Hides anything tagged with the most common fluff and romance tags. I specifically left out "fluff and angst" though because sometimes that's used for things that are mostly angst with only a bit of fluff and I do love angst.

★ Bonus: No Dead Dove – This list is not mine (for obvious reasons) but I know some people may find it useful. Hides anything with the main archive warnings and many common problematic, taboo, or controversial tags. Some of these I wouldn't even classify as dead dove, they're literally just kinks, so I'd suggest reviewing the list carefully and removing any that don't apply to you.

Additional Notes:

This system doesn't work exactly the same as AO3's exclusion filters because you can't use top-level wrangled tags to block all subtags. It only blocks exact matches.

Once the blacklist is implemented you'll see no indication that anything was blocked (except for fewer fics listed on each search page); the entire blurb will be hidden. The tags and fic counts listed in the filter bar will remain unchanged. If you want more advanced features like whitelisting or adding something to indicate when a fic was removed, check out the permablocking guide by Eli0t.

Here's a link with info on which browsers currently support the new "has()" element, which this blacklist system relies on. As of right now Firefox for desktop still has to be manually enabled (for instructions see the section on flag enabling in the permablocking guide). Firefox for iOS isn't listed on this website but it seems to work fine for me.

There are other browser-specific extensions that let you permablock tags, such as this one and this one, that may be more a little more user friendly, but I've never tried them so I can't vouch for them and they may not work consistently between different devices. The good thing about doing blacklists via skins is that, after setting it up once, it should work automatically on pretty much any device (as long as you're logged in to your AO3 account).

#I'm so stoked about this feature #it's a GAME CHANGER #I put a lot of effort into creating my blacklists #I couldn't not share them and hopefully make someone's life easier now that I've already done all the work #assuming anyone shares my preferences #ao3 #ao3 skins #ao3 help #tutorial #wendy's help desk

282 notes · View notes

haveyoureadthisdcfic · 2 months ago

Text

Let's rec DC fics that we've enjoyed!

Inspired by @haveyoureadthisfanfic

Hi, I’m Gecko! ( @kiragecko )

New or old, dark or fluffy, on AO3 or Tumblr or Wattpad. Share your favourite fanfics, and lets see how many people have also enjoyed them!

Submission Form

Fic Masterlist

Stats from the last time I updated them

Find Recs for:

Ensemble (focused on multiple characters, and not on their relationships)

Gen (focused on platonic relationships or a single character)

Shippy (focused on romantic and/or sexual relationships)

Other (focused on queerplatonic, ambiguous, and otherwise hard to classify relationships)

If you know an authour's Tumblr that isn't listed, please let me know!

All types of content are accepted, and this blog will not be supporting any sort of antishipping discourse or harassment. I'd love to include warnings for dark content, but ... we'll have to wait and see how mature of a community develops here. For now, I'm trusting that all of you can handle opening a fic, reading the tags, and then closing it again if it isn't for you.

I'd especially love older fic, from Livejournal, early Tumblr, fan-specific archives, etc. If you want to try out some fic from a particular era:

2020 to 2024

2015 to 2019

2010 to 2014

2000s

1990s

Also, I love the Bats, and recognize that it is by far the most popular subset of the fandom. (4 times bigger than it's closest rival on AO3!) I'd love to see the full spectrum of the DCU represented, so I encourage submitting for smaller subfandoms! But Bats are just as welcome. (And that's what a lot of my recs are going to be.)

Questions I've answered about 'rules' (they're more like guidelines).

Additional ways to use the tags:

This blog is designed to allow you some basic customization. Any tag that you don't like can be blocked. So if you aren't into video games canons, you can block 'media: video games'. If you like your fic to match canon closely, block 'media: all media types'.

Note for submitters: You are absolutely allowed to give me different tags than the authour added for media types. If you think a fic is canon compliant, but it's on AO3 under 'All Media Types', feel free to submit it under 'media: comics' instead!

If you're squicked (grossed out) by romance, block the 'shippy' tag.

Note for submitters: You are also allowed to give me different tags than the authour added for relationship types. There ISN'T an 'other' category on AO3. The AO3 tag for 'Gen' is split into 'gen' and 'ensemble' here. (Ensemble is for fic that focus on multiple characters, and not on their relationships.) Choose the one that you think fits best.

If you only want newer fic recs, or really want to get into older fandom, block the 'published' tags that you aren't interested in. You can also block specific subfandoms. If you're annoyed by the high percentage of Batman fic, 'batman' is easy to block!

If you go to haveyoureadthisdcfic.tumblr.com, you can click on any tag to see what other fics are in them. (If you do this on tumblr.com/haveyoureadthisdcfic, it will go to a site-wide search instead.) Check out authour's names to see if they have any other fics recced!

27 notes · View notes

strawhbrrries · 1 year ago

Text

All That Matters, ii.

pairing: cocky!tattoo artist!frank castle x afab!reader

summary: working with a world renowned tattoo artist who knows his own beauty has more cons than pros. the main one being that he's infuriating and it turns you on.

warnings: general banter between frank and reader, jealous reader??, jealous frank?, mutual pining but they're both idiots, cocky frank duh!, tattooed frank with long hair!!, no use of y/n or descriptions of reader, not proofread

word count: 883 words

authors note: it wouldn't be a series if there wasn't some sort of trouble, theo my beloved don't get hurt!! if you want to be added to the tag list just drop a comment! as always, enjoy!

find the masterlist here!

read the first part here!

You waited at the reception desk until the girl from Frank’s booth left before marching yourself right in and leaning against the wall, waiting for him to acknowledge you. He was busy putting away all the machinery he used, throwing away all the single use products and checking his notifications to notice you standing there. It made you feel a bit invisible, you’d unpack this feeling later in the shower.

“I wasn’t staring.” You stated, watching his hair fall around his face when he looked up at you from his chair.

“So what were you doing then? Did you think he was cute? Good thing you already have his number.” He responded, going back to whatever he was doing on his phone before he realized you were there. It almost sounded like he was jealous, but you pushed that thought aside. He had no interest in you.

“Jesus, Frank. Go fuck someone and get rid of the attitude.” You scrunched your nose at his attitude and turned around, instantly regretting whatever voice convinced you to come back here and speak to him.

“Are you offering?” You heard him call after you, your eyes were practically in the back of your head at his words.

Frank allowed himself to eye your ass the entire time you walked away from him, watching how it moved when you walked and imagining it grinding up against him in a club. If he was drunk would he know it was you? Would you know it was him? He put the image in the back of his mind for later when he showered and needed some help reaching that high only you could give, and you didn’t know you did.

You spent the entire rest of your shift ignoring him, only speaking to the other artists and telling them to pass on a message for you if you ever needed to talk to him. He spent that entire time trying to figure out what crime he committed, besides being so devilishly handsome, to earn the cold shoulder from you. One of the other artists had finished all his scheduled appointments for the day and decided to sit at the desk with you, generally you got along with everyone you worked with. Except for Frank, the literal guy who owns the place.

In a heated argument towards the beginning of your career as the receptionist, he’d told you he only kept you because he couldn’t find anyone better to do your job. You were proud that you were the best at it, also upset that he disliked you that much he was actively searching to replace you. The resentment for the statement sat at the bottom of your stomach, threatening to spill out every single time he irritated you. Frank paid you well, it wasn’t even a question in your mind if it was worth working there. The jo was easy, the pay was amazing, but your fucking boss.

“Do you wanna go out for some drinks later? Some of the other people wanna go out and I wanted to extend the offer to you.” Theo, the other artist sat next to you, offered.

“I mean, as long as I’m not a bother.” You smiled, handing him your phone to input his number and then switching to put your number in his phone.

“Never, I’ll shoot you a text with the place and all that shit later.” He shot a smile your way, it almost rivaled Frank’s smile. You rarely saw it though.

Theo had only been there a few months when you got hired, he’d been friends with Frank during their internships and only felt right working next to him. He’d welcomed you with open arms and never made you feel any lesser for your position, in fact he always made his appreciation for you obvious. On most days he picked up some coffee for you when he picked up his breakfast, always making sure to give you a few napkins just in case you spilled. It was a surprise to everyone, but yourself, that you didn’t have his number yet. You knew that the second you let him into your life like that, you wouldn’t keep your hands to yourself.

He almost looked like a blonde version of Frank, way less arrogant about his looks. If they told you they were secretly twins who were separated at birth you would’ve believed in an instant, your mind was blown when you found out they didn’t know each other until they were twenty. His voice wasn’t as deep or rough, just as loud though. You never could see an ink of skin that wasn’t covered in tattoos, on either of them, except Theo’s face. He had this weird thing about never tattooing his face, he’d do other people’s but never his own.

Frank rounded the corner to your desk and frowned the second he saw you two together, laughing. He’d been the one to bring up going out for drinks, he however had no intention of inviting you, he’d look like an even bigger asshole if he told you not to come after his best friend invited you. Theo being so close to you was irritating, Frank. He knew he was attracted to you but jesus, this was a problem.

tag list: @elsvrse

272 notes · View notes

angeart · 1 year ago

Text

AU Masterpost [tags]

I think it's time. So I can keep track, and you guys know what's out there and how to search for it <3 Bear in mind that some AUs are more like concepts and might only have a single thought/art underneath their tag, but there might be more added to them in the future. If you're curious about anything, you can always ask! (I'm very easily convinced to drop rambles, as has been proven in the past—)

Help Me To Breathe [hmtb]

my main multi-chapter story, set in s8 boatem. deaths abruptly hurt on hermitcraft, and each respawn makes it worse. scar dies a lot by grian's hands, before grian even learns (the hard way) that things hurt now. welcome to a scarian angst hellhole where 3rd life flashbacks hit like bricks and guilt is mercilessly spilled everywhere <3

this fic is the epitome of it gets worse before it gets better. trust me.

cws: violence, ptsd, anxiety attacks, delusions, unhealthy coping mechanisms, suicidal ideation, suicide, temporary character death... please check tags on AO3 which i try very hard to keep updated

tags: #hmtb - an all-encompassing tag for fic updates, rambles, and art. (sometimes #hmtb art is also used in tandem, where relevant.)

fic: Help Me To Breathe on AO3

Hunted hybrids [hhau]

hermitcraft s8 got code-attacked and all the hermits got scattered into different worlds, lost and stuck in unfamiliar places, not knowing if their home still exists. the au follows scar and grian who ended up in the same world (although originally unaware)—a world dangerous and hostile to hybrids. grian is an avian, scar is a vex, and they're hunted relentlessly. also, it's permadeath <3

this au is self-indulgently used in RP and co-owned by linkito

cws: violence, blood, dehumanisation of hybrids, self harm (feather plucking), mentions of suicidal ideation... [updated cws in the hhau masterpost]

tags: #hhau

this one got out of hand so >> hhau masterpost <<

Boatem circus

scar, a sea-lion hybrid, builds a circus as a safe haven for all the hybrids and misfits that have nowhere to belong and need a place to heal. they all carry their own traumas and wounds, and scar gives them what they never had: gentleness and options and freedom to roam or leave. but it's not easy, navigating a growing community of varying triggers and buried pasts.

au put together with stiffyck

cws: ptsd, panic attacks, fear of fire, loss and grief, mentions of captivity/torture/abuse

tags: #boatem circus au

fics: don't be afraid, little bird (there are no cages around you now) —&— elegy

[AO3 series link]

Sleep demon Grian

grian is a sleep demon, existing in the dreamscape, able to manipulate dreams and thriving on giving people nightmares. he meets scar in a dream, immediately intrigued and amused by his reactions, and he keeps coming back to him. scar, despite all the nightmares being thrown at him, catches a glimpse of his perpetrator, and grows curious in turn. they start talking, everything eventually culminating into a ritual and a summonning circle. grian, in the waking world, needs to learn how to exist somewhere where he can get actually hurt, and come to terms with the fact that he has locked away memories and trauma.

cws: injuries, fear, panic, nightmares(?), trauma, violence, memory repression

tags: #sleep demon grian au

au rambles: here

fics: the nightmare snippet —&— even if it hurts (and even if it isn't a dream) you can have a home here

Cursed forest

found family boatem, where each of them carry their own heavy past and an attached curse. they thought they'd never find a place to settle that'd accept them and let them heal. but they found each other, deep in a hidden away forest, littered by bones and flowers, death and hope. (honestly, just see the au rambles.)

au put together with stiffyck

cws: animal death, necromancy, grief and guilt, body horror

tags: #cursed forest au

rambles: here

fics: even with death haunting your footsteps, your flowers will bloom again

Spill my blood AU

grian and scar have known each other before the world fell apart. they were equal parts aquaintances and something much deeper—allowed to be close during the most vulnerable, raw moments, yet never orbiting too close outside of them.

grian used to be in a bad relationship, and scar at the time just happened to be the roommate of grian’s best friend, mumbo. that is, until a too-close call forced mumbo and scar to finally save grian out of that situation for good, and then, only a couple days later, before things even had time to fully settle, scar—freshly turned into a vampire by a desperate third party, and too terrified of losing control and hurting those he loves—had no choice but to leave, abandoning them in the aftermath.

now, years later, they run into each other and reunite in the apocalypse, both them and the world forever changed.

au put together with plantie for our rp.

title based on our working doc title spill my blood at the end of the world

cws: mentions of abuse, unhealthy relationship, violence, dark thoughts, trauma, breakdowns, dissociation, panic attacks, suicidal ideation, blood, general vampire stuff, being turned into a monster, fear of loss of control, rot and decay of a mycelium apocalypse, zombie thematics, hybrid dehumanisation, mentions of trafficking and experimentation, post apocalypse survival, hallucinations, sickness

tags: #spill my blood au

Snowbird AU

hybrids don’t have a place in civilised society, seen as too animalistic, the line between human and wildlife too blurry for them to be accepted. they’re rare, hiding away and living off on their own in their little communes, keeping to themselves.

one winter, grian’s all alone, struggling to survive. as a migratory species, he wasn’t meant to stay. he wasn’t meant to be alone. he doesn’t really know how to build a nest that the snow wouldn’t destroy. isn’t sure how to stay warm, or which direction he’s meant to go. he gets caught in a snowstorm that blows him, tired and cold and wounded, to the edge of scar’s backyard.

scar is a zookeeper. he knows a lot about animals, but next to nothing about hybrids. he never expected to come face-to-face with one… much less one hurt and scared and in distress. as he coaxes the avian to let him help, his mind is spinning wondering if bird wing injuries and avian wing injuries should be treated the same, and what is he going to do?

scar ends up bringing grian to his house, putting him in his bed, warm and soft and safe. grian’s never been in a place like this, bright and walled and— heated. and he was told his whole life to steer clear of humans, but scar doesn’t seem like he wants to hurt him, and oh, grian’s never felt so cozy. maybe it’d be okay to let scar help? maybe it’d be okay to stay for a little bit? (after all, the outside is so cold—)

they’re both in an unfamiliar situation, but maybe… maybe they’ll both come out of it with far more than they expected.

au put together with lyrai

cws: injuries, sickness, grief, dehumanisation of hybrids, kidnapping, claustrophobia, wing clipping, distress of being grounded, panic attacks, fear of touch

tags: #snowbird au

Ari AU

grian (he/she) is ariana griande (ari), a famous singer beloved by the crowds. except things start getting a bit too out of hand. there are stalkers and people who think they have the right to ari's personal life, the right to see and dictate everything. the press gets out of hand. maybe the crowds get too rowdy. maybe—

more scared and overwhelmed by the second, grian gets a bodyguard. that bodyguard is scar. things continue to escalate though, and by the time ari calls a break in her career, everything's irreparably breaking down around her.

(If it wasn't clear yet, this is one very dark, very heavy, very human story. There's love and so, so, so much despair. Things go wrong and then worse.)

au with ben

cws: papparazzi hounding, stalkers, lack of privacy, blurring of self, drugging and [attempted] SA, physical assaults, self harm, overdose, medical trauma, restraints, seizures, ptsd, depression, suicidal stuff (including several attempts)

tags: #ari au

au rambles: [part I] - [part II] - [part III] - [part IV] - [part V] - [TBC]

au art:

downfall in three stages - here lake scene art - here

Murder cannibal AU

… or the fucked up one where grian has a silly crush on scar and scar takes him camping. he’s showing grian how to hunt—a concept grian’s uneasy about, but scar’s so close, guiding his hand, so it’s totally worth it—when they get ambushed by a group of campers. they attack without hesitation, and while grian’s stunned and confused and scared, scar lifts his hunting rifle and shoots without as much as a flinch.

three bodies later, scar reveals that they were probably upset about "what scar’s done to their friend". and through the shock, things start clicking in grian’s head. oh. oh. he— he needs to run. he feels the eyes on him, feels the gun that’s surely pointing at his back now. scar’s just killed people and seems wholly unbothered. bile rises in grian’s throat together with terror and his body moves, scrambling to get away.

scar moves after him with ease, and after a bit of a chase, shoots grian’s ankle. he brings him into an isolated cabin deep in the woods, tying him up but also fixing up his injuries. grian’s terrified, and as days progress, scar nonchalantly lets him witness more death as he brings in people—sometimes still alive—to butcher up for food, staining the cabin’s floorboard with blood.

and somewhere along the lines, something in grian caves and gives in to this new messed up reality he’s been thrown into.

au put together with ben

cws: kidnapping, murder, all forms of violence, gore, cannibalism, a really fucked up cast of characters, mutilation, self mutilation, mind breaking, torture, major character death, fucked up concepts of love

tags: #murder cannibal au

Assassin AU

grian is an assassin, scar is elven nobility. one day, grian is sent to kill scar, which seems a simple enough job. except when they meet, they find that they actually know each other—they've met when they were kids and quickly became unlikely friends, with scar giving away a magical amulet to grian as a gift. (an amulet he still has.) scar was eventually found (turns out he was a noble runaway/lost kid) and dragged away, and grian never found out who he truly was or what happened to him and why he disappeared.

... until now.

now scar's life is at the tip of grian's blade, and grian finds himself conflicted, unwilling to kill the one person he's ever managed to connect with (even if it was years ago, and they've both changed beyond repair since). but grian knows that if he won't finish this job, someone else will.

so on an insane impulse, grian does the desperate thing and whisks scar away, uprooting both of their lives and exchanging everything they've known for a ragged life on the run.

except turns out, there's a reason why people want scar dead, and they're not going to give up the pursuit.

cws: blood and violence, mind control, being generally oblivious about life, survival scenario, murder, possible animal death

tags: #assassin au

Misguided Heroes

scar is secretly hotguy, a hero meant to protect the people. grian is a shopkeeper at barge, but with self-proclaimed king ren wreaking havoc on economy and making life of ordinary citizens so much harder, he decides to secretly play vigilante, cuteguy, and stage a one-man rebellion.

also, scar and grian are roommates.

au with sima

cws: injuries, illusions messing with perception/reality, [to be determined]

tags: #misguided heroes au

Grumbo apocalypse AU [monster horror AU]

mumbo wakes up to the world as he knows it gone. no more point to a routine office job, no more awkward neighbourly smalltalks, no more tired grocery shop runs. instead, the sky is bright white, the sun is black, weird glitchy reality rifts open up around, and death lurks in every shadow. amidst it all, the city is overrun by various monsters that shift and change and screech, killing off anything that moves.

when eventually one of them breaks into mumbo’s apartment, he does not move a muscle, completely freezing on the spot. it’s his lack of panicked movements that saves him in the end.

the creature that’s crouched down in front of him, looking at him curiously, is grian. he’s existed long before the apocalypse, but the nature of this doom has scrambled some instincts and control, pushing his kind into a more aggressive, feral state. they’re shapeshifters, in the most literal sense of the word—their bodies are not a constant, instead a horrory amalgamation of various, ever-shifting things, squelching and skittering.

oh, and they steal and mimic people’s voices; the captured and reproduced sounds are grian’s only method at human communication at the very start. (it’s mostly death screams. there’s not a lot of chatter when people see them in the apocalypse—)

mumbo somehow finds himself still alive after this encounter, and grian decides to be very protective over his new friend in the hostile world. they struggle to navigate not only the new landscape of the apocalypse, but also each other and themselves.

au put together with ben

cws: apocalypse, body horror, identity issues, end of the world feelings, monsters, fear, nightmares, communication issues, mentions of death, violence, killer instincts, horror vibes

tags: #grumbo apocalypse monster au

ben’s masterpost: here

Ghost Scar AU

grian is a paranormal investigator. scar is a ghost. they meet, they talk, and grian resolves to do his best to make scar feel less lonely.

cws: dead character??? he's a ghost dw he's fine-

tags: #ghost scar au

fics: you exist in silence (i'll help you make a sound)

Silly vampire Scar

scar is a vampire living in a mansion too big and too lonely for him. grian and mumbo are survivors in a world riddled with monsters, which they learn to hunt and kill. one night, they seek shelter in what seems to be an abandoned mansion, only to find out there is a sole occupant in it: a strange, chippery vampire who's keen on keeping them there.

cws: general vampire and monster stuff, [to be determined]

tags: #vampire scar au

fics: [one day]

Cuteguy AU

scar is hotguy, grian is his sidekick cutecuy. one day, things go wrong and a building explodes with scar still inside. the body is never found. hotguy is presumed dead. that is, until cuteguy comes face to face with a new villain that is oddly familiar—

idea loosely bounced off of stiffy's TOGH au

cws: blood, violence, delusions, brainwashing, grief, loss of identity, presumed major character's death (twice. wild. huh.)

tags: #cuteguy au

Hybrid farms AU [respawn version]

with food growing scarce, hybrids have been separated from society, rounded up, and put into farms. they’re kept captive in inhumane conditions, slaughtered over and over again (thanks to respawn mechanics) to feed the general populace.

grian was born in captivity, but briefly tasted the outside life in his teens, meeting mumbo. he was promised there’s a place he can be safe, but before mumbo could deliver on his promises, grian was recaptured and plunged back into the circle of tight spaces, pain, and death.

eventually, he manages to escape and makes it to hermitcraft, where he clingily attaches himself to mumbo. and then he meets scar…

au put together with ben

cws: dehumanisation of hybrids, slaughter, captivity, repeated death, cannibalism, trauma

tags: [none so far; this lives in our DMs]

Vex Hunger AU [kidnapping/griangst AU]

grian (avian) and cub (vex) get kidnapped and shoved in a little cell. they’re cherry picked for their hybridity, used without consent by unethical researchers who are eager to prove that vex hybrids should be given mob status rather than a player status. the method is simple: provide avian-suitable food, but nothing for the vex to eat, and wait until he starves enough to go feral, proving vexes are dangerous.

with respawns anchored in their little cell, they don’t have a choice on what happens next.

they are eventually found and rescued by the hermitcraft crew, but not before the awful unstoppable circle repeats over and over again; they’re found huddled up on opposite ends of the cell, dried blood and viscera splattered in between them.

the path to healing afterwards is rocky and sometimes it feels insurmountable.

au put together with ben

cws: kidnapping, captivity, hybrid dehumanisation, starvation, assault, panic, cannibalism, gore and death, self hate, loss of control, Trauma™, bad coping mechanisms, self destructive tendencies

tags: [none so far; this lives in our DMs]

Dancing zombies AU [zombie whisperer scar AU]

it’s zombie apocalypse and grian, scar, and mumbo build themselves a little settlement, each of them playing a different pivotal role. mumbo’s in charge of security, defenses, and traps; grian’s in charge of building, scouting, and venturing out for resources; scar’s in charge of building upkeep, landscaping, animal keeping, and meals.

everything seems normal for a while, except… turns out, scar can talk to zombies.

(and turns out, they listen.)

… this au involves grian’s fear (and distrust) of zombies, silly scams, zombie intel, misunderstandings, flowercrowns, dancing, scar building an amusement park full of zombie cast, and a death moat full of zombies that makes both grian and scar uncomfortable for different reasons

cws: zombie apocalypse, general zombie gore, panic attacks, assaults, survival scenario

tags: [none so far]

Papers please AU

what it says on the tin. scar lives with his cat jellie in a cold, small, state-provided apartment and gets assigned a job as an immigration officer at a border checkpoint. he... isn't great at the job, but doesn't have a choice, and needs the money to keep them fed and healthy. grian is the head of resistance, because of course he is <3

cws: dystopian world, cold, hunger, sickness, potential pet death, injuries

tags: #papers please au

Spirit AU

grian is an avian living freely in a patch of forest. that is, until he gets caught by people who think hybrids are on-par with working animals, and is shackled and hurt and trained, to serve. there is a looming war, and flight-capable carriers are very valued (but not much cared for). scar is a vex hybrid, coming from a settlement that's kinder to hybrids, who also gets captured. they meet in captivity, and things happen.

cws: hybrid slavery, hybrid dehumanisation, loss of freedom, abuse, warzone stuff

tags: #spirit au

DL rp AU

grian and scar in double life, soulbound and with vague memories of previous life games. their soul connection transfers not only all the pain and injuries, but also emotions. and they both feel. a little too much. (they're a mess, but also in love, as they should be)

au for rp with sima

cws: they very sad; self destructive tendencies (sorry there's no self in this one, they are linked and there's always collateral-)

tags: #dl rp

Half sea town AU

a town half-submerged into the sea. the upper half is reserved for humans, who are seen as better, richer, the posh and the nobility. the lower half, the submerged part, is slum-like, reserved for seafolk, seen as lesser. many seafolk learn to live on land, to improve their standing (not necessarily living situation; they do need water). mumbo lives amongst the nobility. scar lived his whole life in the sea. grian, even though he belongs to the seafolk, lives on land. mumbo's best friend, forever trying to be something he isn't.

a crackers collective au

cws: er.. class divide?, self worth issues, needs denial in a way?

tags: #half sea town au

The underwater AU that somehow fails to have a name the first thing i ever posted on tumblr woo.

an underwater au set somewhere in the wide, deep sea. merfolks. mumbo is a prince, grian, jimmy, and joel are his guards. scar is a deep-sea fish, and tales say those are scary and horrendous and dangerous. (he's just a silly guy, pls)

stiffy/crackers collective au

cws: injuries, idk

tags: #mer au

-------------------------------------------------------------------------

smaller aus/ideas:

last life scar: #post-ll scar's issues with touch

fixing double life scarian: #fixing dl au

puppeteer scar: #puppeteer scar au

cannibal scar/forest (the game) au: #forest au

life games king au: not on tumblr but i should tell u about it one day

...and more

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

some other aus that i have yoinked and might have content for:

#space grian au - another au that belongs to ben. also burrowed my way in to this one. hehe. (ben none of your aus are now safe from me.)

#snifflins au - crackers group au, based on that one time jimmy and scar were piglinmynose, and joel and grian were sniffermyfeet - twisted into snifflers and piglin hybrids (snifflins!) in the aftermath, trying to get used to their new bodies and instincts and needs.

#desert alien scar au - belongs to stiffy

+ a whole bunch of others <3

----------------------------------------------------------------------------

(if i missed any cws for any of the aus, please let me know!)

reinstating that if you're curious about anything, i don't bite! come ask!

[my AO3]

63 notes · View notes

tripleconecup-trio · 3 months ago

Text

Hi, i made this blog as a joke, but now i think I'm gonna make it into an archive blog of sorts, for all the Triple Cone Cup Trio posts that i find on this website! this blog is run by @witches-dream.

Basically, I'm gonna reblog everything, it's gonna run on a queue and I'm gonna tag everything so you can easy search something up.

‼️‼️ I'm not gonna reblog anything that includes AI in any form. If you notice i reblogged something AI-generated, please lemme know.

So let's go over the tags I'm gonna use (I'm doing this for myself also)

Also as I'm getting used to this, I'll edit posts a lot and add/remove tags until i arrive at a system that I'm happy with.

Individual characters:

#capsaicin cookie

#kouign amann cookie (note that it doesn't have a dash)

#prune juice cookie

Other characters that frequently appear will get their own tags:

(only tagged if they're interacting with the tcc cookies)

#burning spice cookie

#financier cookie

#madeleine cookie

#clotted cream cookie

#shadow milk cookie

#choco drizzle cookie

#pudding a la mode cookie

#green tea mousse cookie

#oc - original characters

#others

Group tags:

#tcc trio - post includes all 3 of them

#polychampions - post includes all 3 of them (shippy)

#prunesaicin - Prune Juice/Capsaicin

#kouignsaicin - Kouign-Amann/Capsaicin

#pruneamann - Prune Juice/Kouign-Amann

#beasts

#iris gem trio - Choco Drizzle, A La Mode and Tea Mousse

#other ships - when other ships are in the post

Other tags:

#AU - posts about Alternate Universes

#fanart

#fanfic

#headcanons

#edits - includes photo and video edits

#animation - gifs and animatics included

#crossover

#boards - moodboards, stimboards, etc

#other posts - memes, shitposts, etc will go here

#comic studio - stuff made in the cookie run comic studio

#username - I will also include the OP's username as a tag so you can search yourself or someone else's TCC posts :D

#rambles - just me talking to myself

Content Warning tags:

#suggestive

#flashing

#body horror

Other tags will be added as needed

#triple cone cup #triple cone cup trio #polychampions #prune x kouign x capsaicin #prune juice cookie #kouign amann cookie #capsaicin cookie #tagging a whole bunch so ppl see it <3

11 notes · View notes

socialjust-ish · 5 months ago

Text

I reblogged this post, and @butts-bouncing-on-the-beltway responded. I think it's an interesting topic worth discussing, but butts has asked that we not fill up the OP's notes with giant discourse posts. I agree.

Here is a link to butt's response. Below the "read more" is my reply, because it is long and I am not going to ruin your dashboards.

Under what other fundraising circumstances have you asked people to perform their vetting in public for your approval (as opposed to the more traditionally accepted practice in community organizing of providing outlines that describe some but not all of your vetting procedures outside of the context of any specific call for funds)?

I generally work off the assumption that a fundraising post on Tumblr is a scam. Tumblr's search feature is not the best and I am even worse at tagging posts, so I don't have an easy way to search my blog.

But, on July 9th, I reblogged this post, about someone asking for help with a gofundme. I was, full dislcosure, in a sentimental mood and real sad. And the story got to me. So I reblogged it uncritically.

But here are the tags I made:

Maybe not the clearest indicator of "buyer beware" but the intent was for me to say "I believe these people, but you should do your own homework and be warned my belief is because I'm a sucker for a mom post."

Even with that context though, and with fully believing the post, I thought the responsible thing to do was warn anyone who saw the post that my reblog was unverified.

Because what you’re describing as “vetting” is, in fact, what I learned in my organizing work as “modeling vetting procedure for educational reasons” and includes getting the explicit consent of all involved to perform (in part due to the violative and invasive nature of most vetting techniques and approaches) the process in full via case study. This, notably, is not something that can ethically be done for anonymized public consumption, because literally no one would consent to their entire case study being made publicly available forever on the internet, and therefore cannot be ethically performed. Which is WHY the other, traditionally accepted, practice exists. To offer broad spectrum reassurances to an anonymized audience about the fact that vetting of fund calls is being performed, without unethically dumping a person’s entire life online during one of the most traumatic moments of their life.

So, first off, my wording may have been a bit poor, here.

I wrote that vetting is:

"Vetting is reviewing their information and disclosing what was reviewed and how it was validated."

What I should have said, for precision, was

"Vetting is when someone reviews the post's information. That person then discloses what type of material was reviewed (e.g., they spoke to them in person, they met over video chat, they have only spoken by text) but not necessarily the specific details of said material, and how it was validated (e.g., I met in person, I demonstrated it was a live feed, they had one witness with them, the photo includes a newspaper of today's date)."

So that's totally my bad. I shouldn't post on my phone.

My example of vetting was just that, an example. I wasn't suggesting that needed to be done for every case. I also probably shouldn't have added the last line about "here is the video for you to see."

But it's important to remember the context of these fundraisers: These people are already sharing their names, family members health conditions, and photographs of themselves online. It is not any more onerous or invasive for them to post a ~5 second video saying "Hey, it's me." These are non anonymized sources.

They're also, again, asking for five-figure sums of money. Some level of skepticism should be allowed and encouraged.

So I will ask again, being extremely clear about what I am asking and why.

First off, this is a snakry comment on my part, but this is not a clear question. It is 173 words long (113 if you end it at the first question mark), contains a few parenthetical tangents, and so many double negatives that I genuinely got a little bit lost. So, I'm going to break it down and answer as much of it as I can, but if you think me breaking it up loses context, feel free to advise.

In what other circumstances have you demanded the unethical revelation of private (and in mamy cases protected) information in order for you to personally verify the vetting process done by the person performing it,

Couple of points here.

As set out above, I believe my clarified definition of what "vetting" constitutes does not require the revelation of private information. It requires an authority figure stating "I have vetted this post, here's how."

If someone is posting a Gofundme online, and it is being "vetted" by a random blogger, the academic standards of ethics and protected information don't apply. You don't get to play the game of "This example of 'vetting' only works in an academic setting as an example" and simultaneously expect regulations and ethical standards used in the context of academia to apply. There is no "protected information" in the context of these fundraisers. These are anonymous people publicly asking for money from strangers. People considering providing funds can ask whatever questions they want to satisfy their respective level of skepticism.

I haven't ever demanded this information - even in my post above (because I gave an example of one method that vetting could include that disclosure =/= that's the only way to vet something) - because I don't typically donate to gofundme pages. But generally speaking, I demand this information for anything I do donate to. I once got scolded by a fundraising person on the street because I asked what portion of my donation would go directly to the charity, and what portion was a commission their contracting company received.

vs accepting their public conversations about tactic and technique (whatever else may be debateable about 90-ghost, it is NOT debateable that he has openly and publicly discussed his vetting process, even if he declines to publicize specific case studies, per ethical aid guidelines) as confirmation of process that you are within your rights to trust or not trust, but NOT within your rights to claim aren’t actually being done just because they are not being done for public consumption?

I did start my post by writing:

The entirety of the rest of them are just reblogs from 90-ghost. Of those reblogs, I think only two have 90-ghost saying anything, and all they say is "this is legit".

I'm not suggesting 90-ghost needs to publicly disclose the information of each family they supposedly vet. I was suggesting they need to do something other than tacitly reblog it.

I don't know who 90-ghost is. If you go to their page, their pinned post is a request for help for their personal fundraiser.

Their sidebar has two links, one to their twitter, one to their instagram. His Instagram post has two photos on it, one from 11 weeks ago, and one from 2014. His twitter appears to be more personal - sharing and reposting news about the war. A lot of it is not in English, and I'm a loser monoglot, so I don't know what is or isn't being said there.

But to the point: You cannot figure out how 90-ghost vets their posts easily. Despite your claim that it's "not debatable he has openly and publicly discussed his vetting process." It's actually pretty difficult to find. In fact, I can't actually find any posts of his explaining it. It might be easy if you follow him or are actively engaged with this community, but I'm not commenting on this because I follow him, or even OP. I'm commenting because I saw it on my dash.

Here's what I was trying to suggest was needed instead of these blank reblogs.

"Hi, I am 90-ghost. I have vetted this fundraiser. To learn what my vetting process constitutes, see this post [link to a post.]"

The silent reblog and the assumption it's vetted is what I take issue with, here.

If thus is NOT an ask you have made in other circumstances, can you explain to me what *specifically* about this set of circumstances means that the traditionally accepted public-facing vetting procedure discussion is inadequate,

Because charity scams, specifically charity scams related to Gaza, have exploded since October 7th. This is true of every natural disaster, according to Forbes.

and how this has NOT been present in other times when you have interacted with or spoken on the process and procedure of redistributing funds?

Two points here.

I don't typically interact or speak with the process of redistributing funds. I interact with what comes up on my blog. And so I click a link, and see that it's suspicious, and then look into it.

It wasn't until I started seeing posts about the Gaza fundraisers that I became aware of this issue with scam fundraisers. Don't worry, next time a hurricane hits, I'll be just as skeptical about those posts.

Additionally, and this is anecdotal, but you're asking what's different here, so this is the answer.

I reblogged this post on August 2nd. Within one hour of posting it, I had four asks in my inbox from "gazan Gofundmes". Prior to that ask, I had received a grand total of 0 gofundme posts in my inbox. That means one of two things:

Multiple people are watching every single reblog of their posts like a hawk, and critical or not, if a reblog was made, they then go and manually send an ask.

It's a bot network sending asks based on reblogs, like every other bot network on this site.

I deletedthose asks and so they're gone from my inbox, and I can't compare them to the verified list, but I reblogged one post and got four asks for others almost instantly. I assume it's pretty similar for everyone else who reblogs these fundraisers.

Even if they were legitimate, using a botnet to garner attention is... scam-like behaviour, if nothing else.

You have given zero evidence that any of these fundraisers are raising flags of illigitmacy, and are so far merely offering the possibility of illegitimacy and the protection of recipient private info fully in keeping with standard aid procedure ethical guidelines as enough to assume fraudulance.

Again, I'm criticizing the "vetting" done here, and people's apparent willingness to just trust a reblog as an endorsement of vetting. It is exceptionally easy to make hyperlinks on Tumblr. It is easy for 90-ghost or the spreadsheet to simply add a hyperlink saying "Vetting process is here."

The spreadsheet just says "this was researched by us."

What does that mean?

I understand that in the world of mutual-aid communities, you might have shorthand. But you need to understand that if you are trying to send a message to people who don't live in that world (like me) you need to provide some basic definitions and explanations of process.

All I've said (or at least, all I meant to say) in my post is "these "vetting posts" do not clearly explain how the post was vetted. That needs to be done, and people should think critically about why it isn't being done."

If you can, with a straight face, say "hey, silently reblogging a post and having to dig through that person's blog for pages and pages to find the post discussing how they vet things is a good system" then you and I live in different worlds.

That is….a wild speculation on your part that, by your demands, you are ill-equipped to actually validate or support on your own, which tells me you have (heaven forbid) decided to TRUST people in your sphere who tell you that you have cause to doubt these fundraisers,

I clicked a post uncritically reblogging a fundraiser, and went "Oh, these are vetted." I then followed the link to the supposed vetting, that they include, to find that it is a silent reblog from one person.

This was me, following the links on the post, to see how they vetted the post. And I was lead to that every time.

The post said "vetted here." The link it takes me to is not a vetting. It's a silent reblog. Even if we accept your standards for vetting (which I don't think are actually that far off what I consider vetting, I just worded it poorly) these posts don't do that. As I said in my first reblog - literally only two say ANYTHING, and it just says "this is legit."

That's barely any information at all. These people are asking for upwards of $50,000. If 90-ghost is trying to advocate for them, the least he can do is put in the 30 seconds of work to make the posts not look like scams. It's bad advocacy, if nothing else.

even though you yourself visibly lack the understanding of how that doubt should or even WOULD in aid work be put to rest.

Just to be clear, I fully accept the premise that if someone trusts 90-ghost, and 90 ghost says "I have vetted this post." then that's enough to justify donating.

What I'm saying is that a wordless reblog or "it's legit" is not proof of any of that happening. And if people from inside the community think that's convincing to the outside community, they are either naive, intentionally hoping people don't click the links to check, or some third reason.

If 90 ghost had a link at the top of the blog saying "Hey! Here is how I vet a post. If I reblog a post, it is a direct endorsement of this vetting procedure." I would be satisfied.

It's that they're operating on, apparently, an unorganized chain of faith that makes the "vetted HERE" links completely misleading. To figure out how 90-ghost vets posts, you have to dig through hundreds of their posts. To consider a quick hyperlink to a wordless reblog a valid source of vetting is unreasonable, in my view.

So my follow up question, once you’ve answered the earlier ones, is how are the conspiratorial accusations you are leveling here any different from the blind trust you are accusing others of having in things they don’t understand enough themselves?

I'm not entirely sure what the "conspiratorial accusations" here are, but I'm assuming it's my two bullet points re: What 90-ghost could be doing - this part:

There's no reason to trust 90-ghost just because they reblogged the post. How do you know 90-ghost isn't

A) In on the scam;

B) So (rightly) upset that this is happening that they don't care if some of these are scams on the off chance that even 1 is legit, and so are using their goodwill to "vet" posts.

If 90-ghost is doing a thorough vetting, that should be shared

If this is wrong and you're referring to something else, let me know

Again, this may come to me being imprecise in my language, so I apologize.

How I perhaps should have phrased this, is:

"A reblog alone is not enough to confirm a post is vetted. How do I know, from a silent reblog alone, that this post was vetted? If 90-ghost is vetting the posts, he should be sharing that by stating he has done so, and providing information on how he vets posts (again, not the specifics of the vetting for each individual, just a "here are the steps I take" post that is immediately visible and linked in any post he claims to have "vetted").

I don't think that's conspiratorial or unreasonable. I do think that, without that, it is reasonable to make those two assumptions. I don't know 90-ghost, because I don't follow this world closely. These posts are meant to be a "signal boost", so they're meant to go outside the usual circle of followers, right? So you have to assume those people won't know who 90-ghost or anyone else is. So if you want them to trust the process, that process should be explained clearly, consistently, and on each post or fundraiser. An empty reblog does not do this. And the fact that an empty reblog is used as the "vetting" post for every single post except two shows a pattern which is unusual and justifies skepticism.

How is your decision to trust the people undermining the credibility of online fundraisers without understanding enough about EITHER side’s points to convey them yourself with any actual evidentiary support (have you perhaps never actually SEEN the evidentiary support your trusted people claim is responsible for their perspective?) in any way different from the choice of people (knowing the risks) to donate to fundraisers that are being circulated by the Palestinian community and their allies?

Again, you are jumping to assumptions about what made me reblog this, or who I'm trusting. I saw the post, from someone I follow and respect, and saw that it had a bunch of links saying "vetted here." I followed the links, and there was no vetting, and no confirmation of vetting. That frustrated me, because when I read "vetted here" and "please give me money" I expect to be able to... verify the vetting before I consider giving money.

Perhaps they have reasons you have not seen (looked for?) to trust and make their own judgements.

Sure, but words have meaning. And a link that says "vetted here" implies that if you follow that link, you will be given information confirming a post is vetted. To come to the conclusion that "90-ghost reblogging a post = vetted" requires significant time and investment into the mutual aid community that is absolutely not apparent from the link. And so when all you link to are wordless reblogs that, justifiably, raises questions about how skeptical people should or shouldn't be.

Perhaps your condescension goes beyond questioning the capability of Palestinians to know how to organize aid calls and ensure effective distribution, and even extends into believing your fellow non-Palestinians are just too easily duped? Would be just as skeptical of you if they realized how much trust they were putting in another person?

Again, you are making a lot of assumptions from what I think is a pretty simple ask: Provide a clear and easily accessible link to how the vetting process occurs, and specific confirmation that a post was, in fact vetted. A silent reblog does neither of these.

Weird how YOU haven’t seemed to question your trust in the people who started this uptick in shaming of donation posts even though you clearly reference seeing posts that call that trust’s validity into question.

I saw one post, it's been linked above.

I don't actually think I reference any posts that call that trust's validity into question, here. The only thing I do reference is people "blindly" reblogging."

But that was based on the personal observation of someone I follow blindly reblogging the post.

Maybe the problem isn’t that people don’t know they’re choosing to trust someone, but that they have intentionally chosen to trust someone that you have chosen not to, and you cannot tolerate that someone might do that while thinking it was the right choice, because what does that say about YOUR choice if they think that?

Nope! Trust is fine and good.

I take issue with the misrepresentation that the links that say "vetted here" do not, in fact, vet the post.

That's my issue.

I understand donating to any individual fundraiser requires a network of trust, and don't particularly care what degree of trust anyone chooses to use or not use.

But uncritically reblogging a post with a dozen "vetted here" links, of which none actually provide any information on the vetting, is bad and silly.

I suppose saying it's suspicious is probably unfair. I try to follow the "never assume malice when stupidity would suffice" rule. But like... it's either malicious or stupid to think that's an adequate "vetting" - ESPECIALLY when trying to convince outsiders to the community to donate.

Again, imagine you are me: Someone not involved in this community. You have sympathy for Palestinians wanting to flee the country. A post comes across your dash which says "these fundraisers have been verified." You click the "vetted here" button. You are taken to a silent reblog of a post. You go, "okay, maybe this 90-ghost person is some sort of authority." You click to get to their home page. It has no links discussing how, why, or what criteria they use to vet posts. It also doesn't make it clear if a reblog is a "vetting" or just an endorsement. There are two posts in the list where 90-ghost says "this is legit." Why didn't he say that on the other ones? Are the other ones not legit? Has he only vetted the ones he explicitly says "These are legit"? If so, why do only two of these meet the criteria? What does 90-ghost do to vet these posts?

Do you see why that's an issue?

Or maybe you really do just think your fellow non-palestinians are too stupid to know that vetting processes are literally always about deciding who it is worth it to you to trust and making the most of a situation that can literally never be made asshole-proof?

Again, I understand this about vetting processes. My gripe is that a wordless reblog provides ZERO information to suggest anything has been done.

Feel free to just say that next time. It’ll be faster, and you’ll irritate fewer people in the process.

I think I've said it a few times, but just for total clarity:

If someone says they are vetting a fundraiser, they should set out:

Their methodology for doing so (again, not revealing the actual information they received, just what type of information they do receive);

A quick statement that confirms that specific post has been vetted so you can tell which posts are vetted, and which are sympathetic; and

Make access to the vetting process easily discoverable (e.g., a pinned post, a link in the reblog, etc.)

Failure to do these warrants skepticism, especially when the call for aid is meant to be broadcast outside of the community that already knows this information.

5 notes · View notes

candiid-caniine · 1 year ago

Note

Lol I have no experience with anything sex/kink related. I grew up really sheltered and I’ve never had a partner or tried anything at all. Do you have any advice in where I should start? I’m completely clueless on everything but your kinks sound really interesting. Like I want to edge myself but I don’t even know how to make myself cum-

ouuhh one sheltered kid to another I feel this hard 😭

so I would definitely start with making yourself cum!....unless the idea of not even doing that is hotter to you. I had a series of asks on here that was basically about what if I'd never even learned how and was convinced that my edges were orgasms...or something...it was super hot lol.

if you decide you want the good shit so you know what you're denying yourself, spend a lot of time w your body and enjoy it! if your home environment drove home ideas of sexuality as shameful, like mine did, unlearning that will be a must. again, unless that's. hot to you. tbh getting off on feeling guilty came long before my unlearning of the shame bc I was such a humiliation slut lmaooo.

if you decide not to cum before you learn to edge, a) you are so much hotter than me holy fuck and b) with the added challenge that it'll be hard to know if ur doing it right. my advice would be that if your core muscles start tightening/fluttering, and your heart rate picks up, you're at or near the edge. you can choose to stop there, or you can push it.

more advice on how to edge/how to find a way that works for you is under the #advice tag.

general kink safety is below the cut. it's a little overkill but I have a passion for this 💕

at the very end of the general safety advice, there's a bunch of tips for finding out more about what kinds of kinks are out there and how to find out what you like! it's just all a bit long so I spoilered it!

when it comes to kink in general...allow me to warn you. ppl like us, who come from sheltered home environments, are often the most vulnerable to abuse in sexual situations because we don't really know what we're "allowed." ESP in kink situations, where a power dynamic is an easy way for an abuser to excuse their actions or coerce consent. I've been a victim of this before. it is VITAL to your safety and mental health to learn to set firm boundaries in kink, in sex, and in relationships if you're looking for partners. for every play partner I've had since I even opened this blog, for every one who's on the level and communicative and ethical, there have been 5 attempts to coerce control or blatantly cross boundaries. I'm not even exaggerating the ratio. for every partner I play online with, there are at least 5 more I have blocked.

it's really hard if you're a sub to learn these things. but you have to be bossy and vocal and on guard before you give your submission to people. hear this: NOBODY "deserves" your submission. your submission is a motherfucking privilege, babe.

to get started on these important boundary setting skills, here are some recommended search terms:

"bdsm red flags" - mine include trying to petname/rolename me in the first interaction, issuing commands before an agreement is reached, and bragging about "convincing" unwilling subs to do certain things. and yes, they really do that, and it really is often.

"bdsm contract examples" - while contracts may seem unsexy, and they're certainly not a must, they are a good way to summarize what a conversation between two consenting partners about goals and boundaries should look like.

"how to spot abusive doms" and "how to spot abusive subs."

"how to know if I'm being coerced" and "how to know if I'm being gaslit."

"RACK vs. SSC." these are two frameworks for gauging ethics and safety in kink.

I don't want to scare you. this is a good community once you learn to filter out the bad folks, but it is very important to protect yourself. say it with me: YOU decide your sexual boundaries, not the other party. ever. even if they're your dom.

finally, some fun stuff for beginning kinksters:

the kink test - there are a few comprehensive bdsm "personality" tests. will help you gauge if you're more a sub, dom, or switch, or if that changes based on the general theme of your kinks.

browsing kink lists on FetLife - fet does require you to make a profile with some bssic info, but afaik you can choose your visibility settings. it's been awhile since I've been on there, but you can learn about a lot of kinks you didn't know existed!

finally, just browsing on here lmfao. it can be hard to navigate, since the tags for a lot of adult content are censored pretty heavily, but here's what I do: if you come across a kinky post you like, click into it's notes and then click on any blog that's reblogged it or that seems to have a username related to it. usually that person will have similar content on their blog! if you need a starting point, my side blog @basement-angel has posts similar to what I post here, many of which i found with the notes trick. an ask I answered recently has my list of recommended reading if you like this blog, under #advice!

sorry if I overwhelmed you with info haha! autist here, kink is one of my special interests and keeping subs safe in the hellhole of dominant abuse is my passion.

please, don't let this scare you. once you learn to filter out what doesn't work, the connections you make in this game are so, so fulfilling - or not! maybe you realize through experimentation that kink, or even partnered sexual interaction in general, isn't for you, but that's so fucking valuable. learning Abt your own sexuality is such an amazing journey, and I'm excited and proud of you that you get to start :)

#advice #asks #tw: abuse mention #health and kink #kink safety #denial #gen

16 notes · View notes

iamafanofcartoons · 2 years ago

Note

i'll be real. you blazed a post onto my dash. i'm gonna block you. rules are rules. figured i'd help you out before i do.

you really want to know why the youtube algorithm is bad? positive feedback loops. not positive as in good, but positive as in they grow larger over time.

youtube's recommendation algorithm is partially based off of what it learns from users. it takes in all kinds of data on what users watch--the uploader, the title, the tags, the thumbnail, the description, anything it can glean from the audio and visuals, whatever. you name it, google's probably holding it. they dont have yottabytes upon yottabytes of data for nothing.

importantly, though, is that they also keep track of what the user watches Next. see, google (as with most social media that uses an ad revenue model) will run studies, where they try out different experimental algorithms created from viewership data on different users and see what is more likely to get users to click through. how they create these experiments is pretty complicated, and i'll save you the technogore. think of it as making tons of algorithms that each think different combinations of aforementioned viewership data at different amounts are the reason why that viewer made their choice, then projecting that onto all users to inform future suggestions. trust me, that's the easy way to think about it.

what makes it a positive feedback loop? well, recall that i said the algorithms are created on viewership data. the successful one(s) is/are then used to inform future recommendations. that data is then used to further experimentally tweak the algorithm. the choices user make influence the algorithm. what influences the choices users make? the algorithm. as time moves on, the algorithm becomes more and more biased until youtube decides to make more dramatic changes to influence things in a different direction (remember the change to favor runtime? then to favor watch-through?)

here's where i get all communist, and why i felt compelled to write all this. youtube isn't fixing shit about this system. why would they? people are clicking through recommendations at insane rates! they're watching more videos! and sure, a general societal right-wing bias might have positive feedback looped into turning the website into a facism pipeline, but google is making so much fucking money from gathering an insane amount of information from users that can be used in ad targeting the whole time. even if youtube itself struggles with profitability, even if people like. kind of say stuff about the problem but never really do anything about it at a large scale, even if people are being redpilled, why should google care when they make more money than anyone could even comprehend? until capitalism is overthrown, there will be a shit algorithm.

blocking channels is a start, but there will always be more shitty things to block (just like how there's always blazed posts for me to block the OPs of). apps that bypass youtube accounts and privacy loss (youtube vanced and newpipe) are privacy tools first, kind of hit or miss when it comes to the algorithm. never looked into the source code of them, but, if you ask me, it's either some amalgamation of everyone's recommendations who use those apps, a "default" algorithm, or one that's kind of tailored to you as youtube slowly worms its way into identifying you by your device and ip address.

point is, dont hold your breath waiting. keep looking for tools, keep spreading the word, keep finding ways to support content you like so the artist isnt reliant on ad revenue. dont keep throwing your money at tumblr, though, they really dont need it. they really never needed it. buy yourself a nice fuckin sandwich. everybody deserves a nice sandwich.

god, i'm going to look dumb if my ask gets deleted when i block you in five seconds. you have a good night.

Soo...yeah....this was based on this post

Basically I'm sick and tired of people like Manga_Kamen, Vexed Viewer, WatermelonCube, and other people raging about how they hate something that others like, and how people are supposed to hate what they hate.

I just wanted to give people the opportunity to remove those hate videos from their search results, so that they can at least find what they're looking for, using Youtube search.

#youtube #youtube search #rwby youtube #youtube algorithm

9 notes · View notes

nieves-de-sugui · 1 year ago

Text

On Repeat tag game

Tagged by @wanderlust-in-my-soul ❤ Sorry it took me this long to do it 😅 Thank you for the tag!!

The game: Put your Spotify On Repeat (if you don't know where to find it, just search for "on repeat" and voilà, there it is) playlist on shuffle and post the first 10 songs!

I have to say I listen to music and get tired of it very easily, so I'm curious to see what will appear here...

1. Te Regalo by Carlos Baute

I discovered this song thanks to Singstar in my tender youth. And it has always made me feel things. I recently added it to my spotify because I had no more new music to listen to and I felt like going through the classics.

2. Reina by Ruth Lorenzo and Tanxugueiras

I really like the Tanxugueiras, singing in Galician is dope and their songs are super cool. Also a recent add to my list, I particularly like it because of how women positive it is. Like look at the chorus people: Para mirarte a los ojos y decirte, niña mía: ¡Sé fuerte, libre y grita! (To look you in the eyes and tell you, my girl: Be strong, free and scream!)

3. Got Me Started by Troye Sivan

Troye Sivan. Sometimes I like, sometimes I don't. I love what he's been doing recently. The aesthetics and dances of the video are really cool. I probably will get tired of it very quickly though.... I've been listening to it too much

4. Someday by Michael Bubblé ft Meghan Trainor

This is one that is very singable. I really like Meghan Trainor, and I can easily sing her songs. It's kinda surprising to see this one here... But I have a special place for it in my heart cause it's one of the songs that remind me of my little sister. And she used to sing them a lot.

5. Qué Bueno Qué Bueno by Jarabe de Palo ft Jorge Drexler

This one is another one from my early youth. It reminds me of my family and my sisters. All of us singing. Also the lyrics are just beautiful. Jarabe de Palo has wonderful songs that move the heart.

6. Love Cut by CNBlue

CNBlue was one of the first kpop groups I listened to. And I thought they didn't do music anymore. But I came across the music video for this one recently and really liked it. Also, I feel like it's been a while since I properly listened to kpop so I was looking for some new songs to add.

7. Artemisa by Destripando La Historia

This is actually a song made by youtubers. But I think they're singers? Anyway, really cool content creators. They make fun songs based of well known ones about mythology stuff. They tend to be hilarious and great. They recently did a big tour, but I wasn't able to see them. I hope someday I will. This song is about Artemis, but it's not my favorite one. I prefer The History of Valentine's Day

8. El Principio de Algo by La La Love You and Samurai

This is one of the songs that entered my playlist because I was missing spanish songs. And I just liked the rythm. Like, easy to remember, good rythm. Good for forgetting about whatever it is that is worrying you and just vibe to it.

9. J'avance by Christophe Willem

This one was sent to me by @elilmwenseni27 once, and I really liked it. Also, I try to have as many songs in french as possible so I don't forget the language. And again, I just liked the rythm of it :)

10. La Vida Moderna by Veintiuno ft Love of Lesbian

This one is weird for me. It says some things I don't agree with but it sounds so well (like lyrically) that I love it. Idk. I don't think too much about it, but I really enjoy this song. Also I very much relate to the lyrics: "Odio la vida moderna, hoy se me está haciendo bola" (I hate modern life, today I can't stomach it)

This was pretty telling about what I have been listening to recently. Not so much my music tastes. But it has still managed to catch most of that too. This was a fun game! I did not expect that many spanish songs to appear here but it is not entirely surprising either

Tagging some people but feel free to do it if you see this :3 @xagan @elilmwenseni27 @florbexter

#tag game #on repeat tag game #music stuff

5 notes · View notes

rjam9 · 2 years ago

Text

Jam’s fanfic masterpost

a masterpost for all my published fics on ao3, linked here for easy access in case you don’t want to go searching for one in particular. if any of these interest you please check out the full fic (with tags and complete descriptions) on my ao3. will try to keep it updated, but i am pretty forgetful.

doctor who

a hundred bad days make a hundred good stories

status: ongoing, 3/?

desc.: ( a hundred good stories make me interesting at parties )

notes: a collection of very old songfic that all had a specific focus/theme in regards to the Doctor going on. some of the very first fics i posted on ao3, and i haven’t updated this series since 2020, though i do want to get back to it and revamp it at some point.

this is home

status: complete, 1/1

rating: teen

words: 2.7k

desc.: The Doctor is okay. But they forget rule number one. The Doctor lies.

notes: songfic, very very old, so expect mistakes. has been crossposted before to various platforms. focuses on the Doctor’s thought process through s12.

fire

status: complete, 1/1

rating: teen

words: 3.1k

desc.: It seemed like they were always burning.

notes: songfic, very very old, so expect mistakes. has been crossposted before to various platforms. focuses on the Doctor’s relationship with fear.

status: complete, 1/1

rating: teen

words: 5.1k

desc.: “A friendship older than your civilization and infinitely more complex.”

notes: songfic, very very old, so expect mistakes. has been crossposted before to various platforms. focuses on Doctor&Master relationship.

non-series fics

the star that fell to earth

status: complete, 1/1

rating: gen

words: « they're like a shooting star, a beautiful array of gold and blue streaking across the sky. »

desc.: 2.1k

notes: my first ever fic posted to ao3 back in spring 2020, originally written circa 2018/2019 when i first got into doctor who. has been cross-posted to various platforms, so it’s been floating around for ages. a somewhat rewritten version of “The Woman Who Fell to Earth” from Thirteen’s perspective.

don’t kill me (cus’ I’m just the messenger)

status: ongoing, 4/?

rating: teen

words: 2.9k

desc.: « The universe is waiting. »

notes: my collection of doctor who one-shots, mostly drabbles too small to fit into their own fics. updates very, very occasionally.

Respice Ad Astra

status: complete, 3/3

rating: teen

words: 19.6k

desc.: After The Doctor gets knocked into a coma, Yaz and Ryan decide to dive into their mind and try to wake them up. However, to do so, they have to travel in an hellish landscape filled with secrets from the Doctors past.

notes: my first ever multichapter fic, where i got wayyy to into the “tarot card” page of the doctor who wiki. older, but i’m still proud of it since it was, again, my first ever multichapter fic.

The Concept of Karma and Unluckiness

status: complete, 1/1

rating: gen

words: 4.7k

desc.: The Doctor is just trying to find Jack and Rose, not meet their future self at some stupid, and very boring, vacation resort. Well, it could be worse. At least they got some free custard creams out of it.

notes: one of my older fics, but i still find it enjoyable. Nine&Thirteen meeting fic.

the fifteenth letter of the alphabet

status: complete, 1/1

rating: gen

words: 3.7k

desc.: The Eleventh Doctor, on a whim, decides to give their phone number to an MI6 agent named O. Here are a few of the chatlogs that happen afterwards.

notes: chatfic spanning from Eleven’s run to Thirteen’s; no actual prose to be found here, sorry.

follow me to wonderland

status: complete, 1/1

rating: teen

words: 8.6k

desc.: Yaz and Dan, they’ve been having dreams, but they haven’t felt like their own. But that’s impossible, right? It’s not like they could be having someone else’s dreams, right?

notes: trippy dream fic, i was trying to be spooky.

little nightmares

the static and the emptiness and how you lived through it

status: complete, 3/3

desc.: When Mono and Six meet in the basement of the Hunter’s cabin, neither of them think they’ll end up sticking together. That was not how this monstrous world worked, and above all else, they need to survive. Having a friend just made it harder. Luckily for both of them, they’re wrong.

notes: little nightmares destroyed me emotionally so this is how i deal with it. focuses on Mono&Six’s relationship and features canon divergence from the you-know-what. first fic is from Mono’s POV, second is form Six’s POV, and the third is an epilogue of sorts from Runaway Kid’s POV. enjoy.

living without the fear of a monochromatic existence

status: complete, 1/1

rating: teen

words: 16.1k

desc.: The story of friendship, hand-holding, and how to survive longer than those who want you dead (hint — it involves those first two things).

notes: a study on Mono&Six’s relationship, with my own headcanons thrown into the mix. canon divergence for the ln2 ending. Mono’s POV.

how life works when the sun never shines

status: complete, 1/1

rating: teen

words: 37.8k

desc.: The story of friendship, hunger, and trying to save yourself when you’re so intwined with another person you don’t know where to begin (hint — telling yourself something doesn’t make it true).

notes: takes place directly after first fic in the series, canon-divergence from ln2 where Mono joins Six on the Maw. Six’s POV, and features rewritten scenes from the first fic from her perspective. tw for canon-typical Six/Lady uh. dynamic.

what it means to live when you’re no longer about to drown

status: complete, 1/1

rating: teen

words: 9.6k

desc.: the story of endings. and the story of beginnings.

notes: the final fic in the series, an epilogue of sorts, takes place directly after the last fic. Runaway’s POV, features some of my (very odd) Runaway characterization and an outsider pov on Mono&Six, because i live for that shit.

non-series fics

a peripeteia that happens before you wake up

status: complete, 1/1

rating: teen

words: 2.9k

desc.: The story of loneliness, the passing of time, and what happens when you’re forced into isolation when your greatest fear is being alone (hint — it’s something very not good).

notes: post-ln2 trippy piece vaguely inspired by poetry.

allusions, allegories, and other literary devices involved with friendship

status: complete, 1/1

rating: teen

words: 8.8k

desc.: The story of spare change, sneaking out, and holding onto the hope that someday you’ll make it out here (hint — if you’re someone like Mono and Six, you’ll make it true).

notes: a modern au. kinda.

when smelling smokes ends up causing social anagnorisis

status: complete, 1/1

rating: teen

words: 10.1k

desc.: The story of weird words, paper bags, and seeing smoke before there’s even a fire (hint — sometimes you end up causing a fire anyways).

notes: a pre-ln2 fic focusing on my headcanons about Mono’s backstory.

moon knight (mcu)

using syzygy in place of a metaphor

status: ongoing, 3/?

desc.: After the whole deal with Harrow in Egypt, the Moon Knight system is attempting to live their new shared lives together. It’s a learning curve for all of them, but they’re trying, which is all you can really do in this situation, isn’t it?

notes: originally started as a canon divergence post-series one-shot people asked for a continuation of. focuses a lot on the Marc&Steven&Jake dynamic. i have a few plot bunnies planned for the future, but as of right now i’m focusing on other fandoms. all fics should be able to be read separately from one another.

selenography in regards to the human mind

status: complete, 1/1

rating: teen

words: 6.8k

desc.: What comes after for a former gift shopist, an avatar for a moon deity, a minted taxi cab driver, a sorta ex-wife who is also an avatar for a hippo deity now, a local egyptian god, and their three goldfish.

notes: originally written as a post-canon divergence standalone; system is still Moon Knight and know about Jake. can be read separately from rest of series.

perigee as a reference point

status: complete, 1/1

rating: teen

words: 13.4k

desc.: There’s a universe outside of London and Egypt, and people typically take notice when you mess with the night sky.

notes: a moon knight / mainline mcu crossover. can be read separately from rest of series.

the relation between lunar cycles and the three of hearts

status: complete, 2/2

rating: mature

words: 62k

desc.: Marc and Steven open Jake’s sarcophagus when they find it on the boat in the Duat. this changes things. this changes a lot of things.

notes: a what-if Steven&Marc opened Jake’s sarcophagus fic, chp1 is “Asylum” rewrite and chp2 is “Gods and Monsters” rewrite. can be read separately from rest of series. heed tw in the author’s notes.

ironfamily (mcu)

i’ll become a trumpet or a drumset (in a sad orchestra)

status: ongoing, 4/6

desc.: When Pepper gives Peter Harley’s number so the two boys can chat, some … stuff happens, including a kidnapping attempt, an Iron Lad appearance, family drama, a field trip from Hell, Tony being stressed out, and possibly a few more things. This was probably a bad idea.

notes: once again meant to be a standalone fic people asked for a continuation of. focuses on Peter&Harley relationship most often, but also features irondad and the other “ironfamily” subfandom tropes. all fics feature elements of chatfics and social media, though not all are as serious as others. one more main series fic is planned, then a collection of one-shots.

come on guy (i promise everything will be alright, be okay)

status: complete, 1/1

rating: teen

words: 12.9k

desc.: When Pepper gives Peter Harley’s number so the two boys can chat, it ends up with a lot of texting, some explosions, a few threats of tasering and a kidnapping attempt. That really should be expected when these two became friends, though.

notes: a Peter&Harley centric fic, from Peter’s POV, takes place in the vague hand-wavey time post-Homecoming but pre-IW. vaguely crack-treated seriously + part social media fic.

i guess the last time (you had any fun)

status: complete, 1/1

rating: teen

words: 22.8k

desc.: Harley’s staying in New York permanently now, for at least his next school year. This means a new classmate at Midtown Tech, the official introduction of ‘Iron Lad’ (name still in progress) to the public, and Tony gaining a few more grey hairs from his dumbass kids.

notes: a Peter&Harley centric fic, from Harley’s POV this time. takes place directly after last fic in series. vaguely crack-treated seriously + part social media fic.

the world’s smallest violin (really needs an audience)

status: complete, 1/1

rating: teen

words: 27.4k

desc.: Tony is settling into his new, weird-but-normal routine, where he is currently mentoring two chaotic kids and, apparently, actually has some people in his corner. Which is good, given the fact that the Rogue Avengers are officially being pardoned. He’s pretty sure the stress is going to kill him before superheroing does.

notes: a Civil War-fallout fic, from Tony’s POV. takes place directly after last fic in series. less cracky then the previous two, still part social media fic.

holy moly (it’s a real do-nothing day)

status: complete, 1/1

rating: teen

words: 36.5k

desc.: Midtown High Academic Decathlon Team has won their national competition. Technically, they don’t get any awards other than boring money stuff from it, which when Tony Stark hears about it, he intends to rectify — meaning they get a special, end-of-the-year field trip to Stark Industries on the behalf of Tony’s two interns; Peter Parker and Harley Keener. Ugh.

notes: POV outsider on the fieldtrip trope, written after the fieldtrip trope went out of style. goes back to being vaguely crack treated seriously + part social media fic. takes place directly after last fic in series and possibly the only one (besides the first) able to be read separately, but i wouldn’t recommend it.

the murderbot diaries

Logging Off

status: complete, 1/1

rating: gen

words: 722

desc.: Murderbot has a conversation with Dr. Mensahs daughter and reflects way more than it should.

notes: first ever Murderbot fic, written pre-Network Effect

Crossed Wires

status: complete, 1/1

rating: teen

words: 4.8k

desc.: Five times a human watched Murderbot and ART interact, and one time Murderbot and ART (sort of) watched the humans interact.

notes: POV outsider on Murderbot&ART, very old with many mistakes. planning on being rewritten sometime, probably whenever the next book comes out.

five nights at freddy’s

if you get hurt we won’t cover your loss

status: ongoing, 2/3

desc.: All Gregory wanted was a warm place to sleep and some (stolen) food, but he ends up being hunted down by murderous animatronics and security guards alike, having to quite literally fight for his life, and he can’t escape no matter what he does — given that time keeps resetting whenever he dies. Too bad Gregory isn’t going to give up on this, so whoever is trying to screw him over will just have to deal with him.

notes: my Gregory-gets-stuck-in-a-time-loop verse. currently working on an alt. pov fic with plans for the sequel in place.

the party’s never over for you

status: complete, 35/35

rating: teen

words: 265k

desc.: Gregory just wanted some free (stolen) food and a warm place to sleep, except time keeps resetting whenever he dies, and he can’t escape no matter what he does. He’s way in over his head here, isn’t he?

notes: time loop fic with found family and trauma. currently my longest fic ever, so i would suggest not reading it all in one go. you’ll lose your mind.

don’t bite off more than you can chew

status: ongoing, 1/?

rating: teen

words: 6.7k

desc.: There is something odd going on in the Pizzaplex tonight, but Freddy has decided he will do everything he can to help Gregory — this odd, lost child — escape the mall unscathed. Meanwhile, Vanessa is having, quite possibility, the worst night of her life. The other animatronics don’t remember any of this.

notes: an alt. pov companion pieces to “the party’s never over for you”, featuring even more trauma and time loop shenanigans. has no strict uploading schedule and will hopefully not be as long as the og fic, but given how long all my works end up being, we’ll have to see how it goes.

bonus: check out the tumblr tag, i answer questions about it occasionally!

non-series fics

there’s a stranger in us all

status: complete, 1/1

rating: teen

words: 6.2k words

desc.: Cassidy has two separate conversation with the same weepy child, who is lonely and scared and crying. The situations are just different. But that’s what really matters here, she thinks.

notes: Cassidy&CC relationship fic, bc i love the “fucked up little kid friendship” dynamic apparently. some tw apply for canon-typical gore and child death.

good omens

the “soldier, poet, king” collection

soldier, poet, king (old)

status: complete, 6/6

rating: teen

words: 95k

desc.: Eleven years ago, the Antichrist was born, set to bring upon the end of the world in due time. He was suppose to be delivered to the Order of the Chattering Nuns the night of his birth by the demon Crowley. And that’s what happened. Well, what everyone thinks happened.

notes: an Aziraphale/Crowley raise Adam AU, every chapter is a rewritten episode. formerly my longest ever fic, has now been bumped to second place. is currently being rewritten! (see below)

soldier, poet, king

status: ongoing, 1/6

rating: teen

words: 37.5k

desc.: Eleven years ago, the Antichrist was born. The baby was to be delivered to an order of satanic nuns by the demon Crowley and then be raised by a human family, and when he came into his powers, the Earth would end in fire and brimstone. And that is what happened. Or, what everyone believed had happened.

notes: the rewritten version of my previous Aziracrow raise Adam AU, this time featuring working footnotes and some improved prose. it also looks like it is going to be twice as long as the original version. oh boy.

non-series fics

love like yours will surely come my way

status: complete, 1/1

rating: teen

words: 4.6k

desc.: Crowley made it so hard, sometimes, to be an Angel. So even though Aziraphale knows he really should be finding the Metatron and going back to Heaven, he was still here, kissing Crowley in his bookshop.

notes: s02e06 fix-it fic i wrote in a day, bc season 2 left me in shambles. written in my usual style and not my emulating style, but it’s still a fluffy, angst with a happy ending one-shot to heal any broken hearts. including my own. rip

the mandalorian (star wars)

but when we cry, we cry together (like it was meant to be)

status: complete, 1/1

rating: teen

words: 3.5k

desc.: In which Din gets injured and thinks a bit more than he should.

notes: very old, written pre-s2. the last of what i call my “early days” fics where i was still getting used to ao3 and posting my polished fics. so, expect mistakes. tw for some mild desc. of injury.

dceu

as opposed to permanence

status: complete, 1/1

rating: teen

words: 2.6k

desc.: The consequences of time travel, and what comes with being just a few seconds out-of-sync with the rest of the universe.

notes: Barry Allen time shenanigans taking place post-Snyder Cut. written before all the Ezra Miller controversies, but i still like the character.

assorted (aka, things i’ve written for class)

The Martian

it’s far behind the stars

status: complete, 1/1

rating: teen

words: 814

desc.: There’s still an entire trip back to Earth to get through, and some habits are hard to break.

notes: post-canon character study written for class.

Shakespeare

you’ve been on my mind since the flood

status: complete, 1/1

rating: teen

words: 898

desc.: The water wants Ophelia to come play. It might not just be the water.

notes: character study on Ophelia from Hamlet written for class. tw for implied character death (on par for the original play) .

#fanfic #doctor who #little nightmares #moon knight #irondad #mcu #the murderbot diaries #fnaf #fnaf security breach #good omens #the mandalorian #dceu #snyder cut #the martian #shakespeare #ao3 #apologies for anyone who doesn’t want to deal with this lmao #Jam’s stuff #Jam’s ramblings

4 notes · View notes

thisismissem · 11 months ago

Text

So Mr Mullenweg's response to this isn't just absolved by a statement likely drafted in collaboration with a PR agency. It's easy to see when you're doing damage control.

Even though Mr Mullenweg's comments may not reflect the trans & LGBTQI+ folks that work at his companies, he still should be held accountable for his actions and the harm caused.

This incident was so bad it was even reported on by TechCrunch, a subsidiary of your former parent company Yahoo.

Your CEO should NOT be following users off site and disclosing potentially private information about users of the platform. That is a huge red flag and violation of user trust and privacy.

At the moment, according to your own statistics for press, you have 135 million monthly active users. The EU's DSA legislation defines any platform larger than 45 million monthly active users as a Very Large Online Platform. That means that the platform has specific procedures amd reporting it must follow. Whilst Tumblr hasn't yet been specifically named as a VLOP, you meet the threshold for classification. Here are parts of the legislation that you're not currently complying with:

Notice & appeals process: at the moment, when tumblr deletes an account, you just delete it without warning, and often our friends end up messaging us like "are you okay? noticed your account disappeared?". Contacting tumblr to ask if the account has been deleted often results in silence. Even Mastodon has a better built-in notice and appeals process!

Transparency Reports on Moderation Decisions: Currently Tumblr doesn't appear to publish any aggregate information regarding moderation decisions, nor the type of content being moderated against. In my conversations and experiences, you spend way more time policing queerness and adult content, than you do dealing with detrans content being published to the trans hashtag, which leads your recommendations system (which also must be opt-out under law) to push detrans content into the feeds of trans users.

Repository of all ads served on the platform: to my knowledge you don't have this, and additionally your ads very often do not comply with your community guidelines. I regularly get ads for violent content on my blog, despite opting out of seeing violent content. If a user opts out of seeing violent content, that should apply to advertising as well. Community Guidelines that are not equally enforced for both people using the service and advertisers using the service aren't community guidelines, they're reasons to ban people from the service.

Something that may also be worth doing is updating the site's rules following GLAAD's guidelines on Targeted Deadnaming, Misgendering, and Promotion of Conversion Therapies. Additionally, IFTAS, the non-profit that does trust & safety advice for the Fediverse has a good write up on these policies (disclaimer: I'm an advisor to IFTAS).

On the note of Community Labels, these are currently, from my experience, mostly used as a way to placate Apple, and to ban queer blogs which often feature sexual content as we connect with our communities that are ever so fractured in offline society. That hopefully isn't the intent of this feature.

If you want to encourage users to adopt community labels, you need to facilitate a culture of trust around them. If you want blogs that post content not suitable for children, then you need to do it in a way that doesn't carry harm, stigma or marginalisation, unlike your predecessor's at Yahoo & Verizon.

I'd suggest the following changes:

Allow blogs to mark themselves as adult-only spaces.

Restore images to the notifications on current "nsfw blogs"

Restore tagging and search within these blogs such that users can make full use of the platforms features (e.g., default adult blogs out of recommendations & site-wide search to other non-adult blogs, but keep them searchable from the blog itself and findable by other adult blogs.

Restore the ability to tag our friends that are tagged as adult blogs (very often this is broken)

Add functionality that notifies users when a post of theirs is potentially missing a community label, this encourages building the community you want to see.

Expand content labels further to cover other harmful or traumatising content (e.g., gambling, addiction, anorexia/EDs, political content, etc)

Restore the ability for adult blogs to have avatars and header images, if these blogs aren't available to non-adult audiences, there should be no problem here. Obviously, you may want to prohibit explicit pornography from this media from being allowed (we had a similar policy on Switter.at)

Allow blogs to require follow requests & to block empty blogs or blogs with no title from following them — often these are throw-away accounts of children trying to access adult content.

Basically, make the platform features that help build the community you want to see. Build tools that help build trust after over a decade of trust being eroded by the previous owners. Help blogs and people stay safe whilst using your platform.

One part of content moderation is punitive actions, which are all too commonly the only part of content moderation that very large online platforms focus on, but the other part is setting and promoting community standards and giving users the tools to accurately label their content & control who can see their content.

When you moderation features are used to police adult blogs, this results in a disproportionately larger impact to the LGBTQ+ community, who are often much more comfortable discussing and sharing their sexuality and material related to it. For instance, two women kissing in gifs, who may be naked but aren't explicitly so, does that need a mature or sexual community label to it?

Finally, please remember: You cannot have freedom of expression without prohibiting some expression (see the paradox of tolerance)

A message from a few of the trans staff at Tumblr & Automattic:

We want trans people, and LGBTQ+ people broadly, to feel welcome on Tumblr, in part because we as trans people at Tumblr and Automattic want it to be a space where we ourselves feel included. We want to feel like this is a platform that supports us and fights for our safety. Tumblr is made brighter and more vibrant by your presence, and the LGBTQ+ folks who help run it are fighting all the time for this, for you, internally.

A few days ago, Matt Mullenweg (the CEO of Automattic, Tumblr’s parent company) responded to a user’s ask about an account suspension in a way that negatively affected Tumblr’s LGBTQ+ community. We believe that Matt's response to this ask and his continued commentary has been unwarranted and harmful. Tumblr staff do not comment on moderation decisions as a matter of policy for a variety of reasons—including the privacy of those involved, and the practicalities of moderating thousands of reports a day. The downside of this policy is that it is very easy for rumors and incorrect information about actions taken by our Trust & Safety team to spread unchecked. Given this, we want to clarify a few different pieces of this situation:

The reality of predstrogen's suspension was not accurately conveyed, and made it seem like we were reaching for opportunities to ban trans feminine people on the platform. This is not the case. The example comment shared in the post linked above does not meet our definition of a realistic threat of violence, and was not the deciding factor in the account suspension.

Matt thereafter failed to recognize the harm to the community as a result of this suspension. Matt does not speak on behalf of the LGBTQ+ people who help run Tumblr or Automattic, and we were not consulted in the construction of a response to these events.

Last year, the "mature" and "sexual themes" community labels were erroneously applied to some users' posts. An outside team of contractors tasked with applying community labels to posts were responsible for this larger trend of mislabeling trans-related content. When our Trust & Safety team discovered this issue (thanks largely to reports from the community), we removed the contracted team’s ability to apply community labels and added more oversight to ensure it does not happen again. In the Staff post about this, LGBTQ+ staff pushed to be more transparent but were overruled by leadership. The termination of a contractor mentioned in the original ask response was for an unrelated incident which was incorrectly attributed to this case. We regret that the mislabeling ever happened, and the negative impact it has had on the trans community on Tumblr.

Transition timelines are not against our community guidelines, and weren’t a factor considered by the moderation team when discussing suspensions and subsequent appeals. We do not take action against content that is related to transitioning or trans bodies unless it includes violations of the Community Guidelines.

When it comes to the experience of trans folks on Tumblr encountering transphobic content, and interacting with bigoted users, we understand and share your frustrations. Tumblr’s policies, and Automattic’s policies, are written to ensure freedom of speech and expression. We prohibit harassment as defined in our Community Guidelines, but we know that this policy falls short of protecting users from the wider scope of harmful speech often used against LGBTQ+ and other marginalized people.

Going forward, Tumblr is taking the following actions:

Prioritizing anti-harassment features that will empower users to more effectively protect themselves from harassment.

Building more internal tooling for us as Staff to proactively identify and mitigate instances of harassment.

Reviewing which of the tags frequently used by the trans community are blocked, and working to make them available next week.

We’re sorry for how this all transpired, and we’re actively fighting to make our voices heard more and prevent something like this from happening again in the future. We know firsthand that having to deal with situations like this as a Tumblr user is difficult, particularly as a member of an already frequently targeted and harassed community. We know it will take time to regain your trust, and we’re going to put in the work to rebuild it.

We appreciate the space we have been given to express our concerns and dissent, and we are thankful that Matt’s (and Automattic’s) strong commitment to freedom of expression has facilitated it.

We will continue to fight to make Tumblr safe for us all.

— This statement was authored by multiple trans employees of Tumblr and Automattic.

69K notes · View notes