#[ people know where the unfollow button is ]

[midnightactual]

Its funny, Yoruichi x Ichigo is the fandoms favorite crack ship for Ichigo particularly lol. What's your thoughts on this? Why do you think people like this ship and do you think it could happen if Ichigo became close to her like everyone likes to think?

I'd dispute that and say that fandom's favorite crackship for Ichigo is GrimmIchi, but I'll admit it really depends on what segment of fandom we're talking about, because GrimmIchi is the purview of transformative yaoi fangirls, while YoruIchi is the purview of curative horny hetmen who now mostly use AI to make porn of her while generally giving him a harem. (IchiBambi is also weirdly popular for some reason despite them never meeting.)

Why do the curative horny hetmen create YoruIchi porn? Well, that's an onion of a question.

The first and most important reason is because Ichigo is the main character, so he is automatically the main focus and fixation of the bulk of the curative audience. Now while Ichigo definitely does have a personality, it gets deemphasized enough over the course of the series that he can reliably function as a self-insert for the average guy, who is both the main creator and consumer of porn of Yoruichi. (As an aside, this is also a primary driver of UraYoru porn, which mainly revolves around Kisuke being perceived as "cool" and "a baller" despite being a nerd, rather than any kind of misapprehension of romance between them.) So, Ichigo is settled on first and foremost because he's the most obvious male to include in M/F porn. Obviously, Yoruichi is the real main focus.

The second reason is because "hot for teacher" is an extremely common trope and fantasy all by itself, and Yoruichi's canonical "teasing" of Ichigo forms a convenient onboarding point for imagining she might have some kind of interest in him, even though that's absolutely not what it actually signified. Picking Ichigo specifically caters to this better than any other male character would.

The third reason is because only slightly less common as a fantasy is the idea of taking a powerful woman and "putting her in place" through sexual prowess. YoruIchi porn usually has an air of "putting that uppity bitch in her proper place" rather than being tender or affectionate or whatever else. It's almost always explicitly sexual rather than sensual. Considering Yoruichi effortlessly disabled Ichigo during SS Arc, and in TYBW endlessly berates him, picking him imbues works with this element of powerplay and one-upmanship.

The fourth reason is because most of this art, coming from the West, has weird racial tensions behind it, given Yoruichi's ambiguously "exotic" appearance. Light-skinned anime characters are generally treated by Western audiences as white, even if they are known to be Japanese, rather than as Asian. Dark-skinned anime characters are generally treated by Western audiences as black, even if they are more accurately described as ambiguously brown. It isn't really hard to see that the "BWC" phenomenon is generally being appealed to, and for what audience.

[Future me editing in here: another reason is the Bleach equivalent of when Asuka or Rei is discussed, and someone answers Misato. Yoruichi is the most plausible stand-in for Misato, to Rukia and Orihime's Asuka and Rei, not that any of them actually fit those archetypes well. She's the "cultured" choice.]

So, basically, YoruIchi porn is thinly-veiled self-insert wish-fulfillment. (And so is most UraYoru porn.)

Now, at about this point, you're probably thinking, "Okay, but what about stuff that isn't porn?" and it is true that there is some art and fic of them that doesn't necessarily revolve around sexual conquest and/or titillation, and which exists for reasons other than the above, although it isn't that common.

Most of that work is also wish-fulfillment, just of a different nature. It tends to fixate more upon the idea of Yoruichi as a "mature" woman (as opposed to Rukia, Orihime, Riruka, and to some extent Nelliel) while also not carrying the pseudo-incestuous undertones of Ikumi, who overtly presented herself as like Ichigo's big sister he never had, and who nonetheless comes across as motherly toward him because she's actually a mom. Yoruichi doesn't have that same issue and is therefore a less "weird" older woman for Ichigo to be attracted to, yet one he actually kind of interacted with substantively unlike, say, Rangiku. Rangiku also lacks the "hot for teacher" element, as would Retsu, Kūkaku would actually be incestuous, and so on. (Ostensibly people like the idea of Ichigo with Bambietta and/or Candice as an enemies-to-lovers kind of thing? And because it's a mostly blank slate, they can do whatever they want.)

So, basically, Yoruichi is the "cleanest" option for putting Ichigo with an older woman he actually has some known interaction with. It's simply expediency by process of elimination.

In both cases, pretty much none of this ever has anything to do with what Yoruichi would think was attractive, appealing, supportive, sexy, and so on, and is almost always and forever to do with what the creator thinks would be aesthetically appealing. This is generally true of almost all Yoruichi ships, but I'll come back to that later.

So, is there some way it could it work out between them?

Not in canon. There is no possible canonical or pseudo-canonical telling of events where Yoruichi would have any interest in Ichigo. I'm phrasing it as an absolute because in my understanding there is no way Yoruichi would ever show any actual attraction toward Ichigo. He's too young, he's too naive, he's too foolish, and he generally just gets on her nerves... exactly like Yūshirō. In fact, she derisively makes the comparison herself in chapter 629:

If she sees him as anything in canon besides as a project to be babysat, she sees him as an annoying younger brother. I don't really think I need to explain that no matter how much "closer" they became platonically, she would never have any interest in him romantically.

So, to reemphasize: anything with YoruIchi within or near canon is ridiculous and out of character and is purely for the sake of the creator or audience.

Now, do there exist alternate universes where Yoruichi could find some (older) version of Ichigo appealing, say if they were much closer in age? Like, a human verse where she's 27 and he's 23 or 24? Yeah, sure, that's possible. I can readily imagine a version of Ichigo that could appeal to a version of Yoruichi, under other circumstances. That Ichigo would probably have to be a mixture of Ichigo at his most mature (circa FKT) and at his most confident (early Bleach) in terms of personality in order to get her attention.

Here's the problem though: Kūkaku exists, and she already is that without all the extra baggage.

To return to my point on Yoruichi ships in general, they generally exist to service the creator/audience, or their actual fave. As I have laid out here, YoruIchi mostly exists to facilitate fantasies which Ichigo is standing-in to enable. UraYoru generally treats Yoruichi as Kisuke's prize and accessory that he regularly gets to fuck as a reward for being so awesome. YoruSoi broadly treats Yoruichi as Soifon's prize for showing such "piety" and "faith" toward her "idol", which she "deserves" because "she loves Yoruichi so much" (in an ironic reprise of how most IchiHime that I have seen, regards Ichigo as Orihime's prize for "loving him so much").

Because you've happened to catch me on a day where I've taken my meds and I am very actively and continually choosing violence (I'm listening to "Set The World Afire" by Megadeth on loop as I write this), I'm going to go over the other two a little more before proceeding onto my final argument.

The entire "Yoruichi and Kisuke are childhood friends (to lovers)" construct is a misunderstanding that comes from a failure to understand the nuances of Japanese-to-English translation, to appreciate that Shinigami do not experience time and growth as humans do, and to appreciate that characters are often vague and imprecise in their speech, if not outright lying.

When Kubo answered in Klub Outside recently that Aizen was aware of Kisuke even before Kisuke and Yoruichi met, the correct solution to that was not to assume that Aizen met Kisuke in the Muppet Babies playpen, it was to realize that "very young" for a Shinigami can extend out to their 100th to 150th birthday, or even more. Shinigami appear to categorize periods of their life by relevance to their current existence, not strictly by chronology, and this is likely a function of their nonlinear aging. Time in the strictest sense is less important than the major events in their lives, and takes on a relative nature, which has a long history in Japan anyway. You might consider this as like the "11 lives" concept. Yoruichi met Kisuke a few "lifetimes" ago, a time which she now considers "very young" in her life. That's all.

With the childhood friends angle thrown out, we come to the idea that Kisuke and Yoruichi are in fact good friends, which I dispute. As I think much of this blog serves as testament to, people are generally not particularly interested in figuring out who Yoruichi is, why, and why she does what she does, let alone what she may have been up to. They're not interested in analyzing what is known, because if they were, I would not be discovering and presenting a lot of these things for the first time—they would be well known already. So, when people fill in Yoruichi for UraYoru, they fill her in in such a way as to accommodate and coddle Kisuke, their actual blorbo.

I find that disrespectful to her in the extreme.

I will also tell you that YoruSoi is the exact same thing, simply lesbian as opposed to het. The actual blorbo is Soifon, and she is "awarded" Yoruichi for her troubles in the exact same way.

I actually personally find YoruSoi even more absurd, to be honest. First, because the misunderstandings that created UraYoru are simpler to understand, second because YoruSoi overwhelmingly only exists in the anime, but third and foremost because YoruSoi is presented as this great triumph of sapphism in response to the icky heteronormativity of UraYoru, and yet it somehow exists in the face of the now well-known LGTBQIA+ meme, "historians will say they were just very good friends".

That is exactly how people treat Yoruichi and Kūkaku, without a single hint of irony or self-awareness, even as they proclaim how "obviously" gay Yoruichi and Soifon are for one another.

Now, people are free to ship what they like, but I want to be fully clear that I am immovably of the opinion that both those two ships exist exclusively to benefit Kisuke and Soifon, and always twist Yoruichi to suit what they think would accommodate those two most. They do not exist, and have never existed, for even a measure of Yoruichi's sake. She is an object within them.

She is also an object within YoruIchi, as already documented, and we come to the sixth and final reason why it exists: because people can correctly surmise that she belongs with a Shiba, but they do not have the courage or honesty to admit which one and accept that that equation doesn't include a penis.

Wrong Shiba.

(Much like Renji is clearly far more fascinated with Kuchiki Byakuya than he is Kuchiki Rukia. Wrong Kuchiki.)

As I have previously written:

But this is the truth: we have an incredibly sensual, sexual love poem by an incredibly sensual, sexy, powerful (brown) woman, which is clearly directed at her “best friend”, who is also an incredibly sensual, sexy, powerful woman. And that really brings us back to this post. WLW content from Japan is about cute fluffy innocence, not the intense female “When you’re both TOPS” energy that Yoruichi and Kūkaku radiate together (which I will again note was also present in CFYOW). Japan still isn’t ready for that today. It sure as hell wasn’t ready for it in 2005. And yet there it is nonetheless.

The world is simply not ready to accept YoruKū. This is especially hilarious in a world where CaitVi is currently running wild to rave acclaim.

(To be super clear here for the sake of nuance that nobody cares about: it is not "if you don't ship what I ship, you are wrong and bad", it is "if you ship these things I feel that you lack respect for Yoruichi and thus your ship is invalid and illegitimate in my eyes", and yes, there is a distinction.)

Basically, as far I'm concerned, only cowards ship YoruIchi. I'll be waiting at the adult table for them when they grow up and develop a taste for more than chicken nuggets and hotdogs with ketchup on them.

[barisiscourtroom]

wow. way to disrespect my wishes, anon.

normally i would have answered an ask like that, it was anti Rollins but not violently hateful, but since you clearly sent it as a response to me asking people NOT to send me Rollins hate, i will not.

and going forward, i will not answer to anything anti Rollins.

i still don't ship Rollisi, i still think she's not perfect and that she has fucked up, but i also know that that's the point, no one is perfect, as these shows constantly shove down our throats.

so while i previously could entertain some wanky salt sessions where i went a bit anti Rollins, going forward it'll only make me think of hateful assholes like you. the kind that makes fandom a less fun place to be. the kind that never respects other people's wishes because you have an opinion and it's more important than anything else that you get to say it, regardless of the consequences. to take another fandom as an example: the kind of people that has made me hate Destiel to the point where i get annoyed 98% of the time i see anything Destiel, because some of the hellers are so fucking disgusting (and loud) in their hate towards anything they deem icky (ie: anything that isn't their ship. ie: Wincest and Sam, two of my favorite things).

and i'm not doing that. this blog probably wouldn't have been a great place for Rollisi shippers and Rollins fans, not the worst but not great, but after you, anon? they'll be fine here. because i refuse to indulge in your disgusting hate campaign.

[druddigoon]

if you think ao3 is disgusting and a place for rapists and pedophiles, feel free to unfollow me

[ladygrey7]

.

[abbyshands]

PALESTINE LINKS

in honor of the media blackout this week, i wanted to compile a list of links and resources regarding what’s going on in gaza. i advise all of you to give these links a look at, or to at least reblog them. the people in gaza need the bare minimum from us in that sense. &, well, if you can’t take enough time out of your day to give these links at least a look, a like, or share, then, bye !

& for all the the last of us fans out there, you need to see this. it’s genuinely a must. not to call anyone out, but i see a lot of people who have not spoken out about this at all, who, for example, keep publishing or reblogging fics etc during the blackout. i love a good fic as much as anyone else, but you can wait a week. there’s really no excuses here. if you didn’t know about the previous blackout, then now is your chance. don’t turn a blind eye to this.

at the end of this post are links specifically for those engaged in the last of us tumblr. if you aren’t going to look at the links before that, then at least look at those.

oh, & for the dumbasses who are unfollowing me for spending a week to post about a fucking genocide? fuck you, & good fucking riddance. you are not and never were welcome on my page. i don’t want you here anyways!

PALESTINE LINKS

SEVERAL ways you can help the people in gaza. some of which are fully free.

SEVERAL links regarding info around this genocide, such as places to boycott, and ways to learn more about the nature of it all.

SEVERAL ways you can help, including ways to donate, petitions you can sign, and campaigns you can join.

places you NEED to boycott. don’t buy from them, regardless of if they really fund israel or not. if they support them, that is more than enough. boycotting is a way to resist, so do it. at the end of this post are also places that are helping those who are in gaza, and families you can help escape by donating.

know that this issue did NOT begin oct. 7th. this is so much deeper than you know, and has been going on for 70+ years. click the above link to educate yourself on that front.

CLICK HERE TO HELP PALESTINE! this site has already been debunked on if it really helps the people in gaza or not, and it does. just one click is all you need. one button, once per day. you can even do it on different devices or browsers so you get more than one click in. click it daily!

CALL YOUR REPRESENTATIVES using this link, and this link (this will help you find ways to call or email them depending on where you live). also, urge biden and congress to do right by the people in gaza. the U.S. sends billions of dollars to israel every year, funding the genocide that’s ensuing as we watch on from the comfort our homes. do the bare minimum, & hold them accountable. please.

HERE ARE WAYS YOU CAN DONATE or find a PROTEST near you! not everyone is readily available to do these things, i know that. but looking into them could never hurt, or at least sharing it elsewhere so there is more awareness surrounding it.

LEARN OF AFRO-PALESTINIAN EXPERIENCES, & the efforts they have made over the years. i think it’s so, so crucial that we hear their voices, &, god, learning of all that they’ve been through, & all that they’ve done, is so inspiring.

here is some more info regarding BOYCOTTING. boycotting does, and has been proven to work. this post explains the subject a bit more in case it happens to confuse anybody, along w/companies and such that need to be boycotted, & why. as i said before, boycotting is a way to resist. so do it!

HERE IS A 🇵🇸 MASTERLIST including ways to educate yourself, donate, books you can read, & films you can watch. this is one of the best links i have regarding this genocide, and i highly recommend you look at it!

SOUTH AFRICA took israel to court for this genocide! read about it in the above link.

FOR THE LAST OF US FANS

do not remain in the dark about the last of us’s link to the ongoing conflict in gaza. neil druckmann, the director of the game, is a ZIONIST. he grew up in israel, and TLOU2 is rooted in israeli themes. now, no one is saying you have to quit playing the game, or dislike it, for all you dense ones out there. but i ask that you remain aware of this aspect of it, especially if you are regularly engaged in the last of us tumblr.

this is a link that i highly, highly recommend you read through. it discusses the HEAVILY ISRAELI THEMES TLOU2 displays. click the following link to learn more on TLOU2 & NEIL DRUCKMANN.

DO NOT BUY TLOU, TLOU REMASTERED, TLOU2, TLOU2 REMASTERED, OR ANY GAME FROM ND! neil druckmann has donated money to the IDF in the past. & where do you think he’s getting his money from? yeah, you got that. watch gameplays, pirate these games, or buy them secondhand. several shops sell used games. & for those of you who went and purchased the game anyway, knowing about all of this? fuck you.

if you think your $10 doesn’t matter, then think about this: okay, one person spends $10 on the game. whatever. but when 100,000 people do it? that’s a million dollars, going into the hands of a zionist, who is using YOUR money to help kill innocent men, women, and children. put that in your pipe and smoke it.

it is not just the games you need to boycott. HBO’S show also needs to be. follow this link to learn of more movies and shows you need to boycott, & the reasons why, including the last of us. let’s also not forget that dina & abby’s actresses are in support of israel, and BELLA RAMSEY, ellie’s actress, has also shown support.

boycott. the fucking. show. there are a million websites where you can pirate it, so you are not giving any of your support to it. resist.

i understand that not everyone is educated on this subject, and that not everyone knew of the previous media blackout. for the last of us fans, i understand that not everyone knew about the game or show’s israeli nature. but it is never too late to take part. it is never too late to care. i promise you that. if you purchased the game, at least donate to one of the sources above. that’s just bare minimum.

get educated, get loud, & GET PROUD! these are innocent people who are dying as you read this from your bed, couch, whatever. the least you can do is like & reblog so this reaches more people. your voice matters, big account or small.

FROM THE RIVER TO THE SEA, PALESTINE WILL BE FREE 🇵🇸🍉

[rottenfyre]

Let me make something very clear.

I am not white, I am not straight. And I'm clearly not a man. I’m Middle Eastern. I’m saying this upfront so no one gets confused or assumes anything about me.

I created this blog for one purpose: to have a safe space for myself and for anyone else who wants to escape reality for a while. That’s it. This is my corner of the internet, and it’s built for fanfiction—nothing else. I love writing and sharing stories, I love connecting with people who also enjoy fandoms, and I love creating a space where everyone can just exist without having to carry the weight of the world all the time. If you’re here for that? You’re welcome. Stay as long as you want.

But lately, I’ve been seeing a lot of people saying, “You should speak up about this issue,” “You need to support this cause,” or “Why aren’t you posting about that?”

Let me stop you right there.

You don’t get to tell me what I should or shouldn’t do. You don’t get to dictate what I share, write, or care about. My blog is my space. If you want to yell about something, advocate for something, or spread awareness, do it on your own platform. But you will not come here and try to force me into your expectations.

For anyone who thinks they have the right to demand I use my blog for their causes, here’s what you need to understand: I am not obligated to center politics here—or anywhere else. My political views and this blog are two entirely separate things, and they will stay separate. I know what I believe, I know where I stand, and I will not explain or defend that to anyone because, frankly, it’s none of your business. If I don’t bring politics into my blog, it’s not because I don’t care—it’s because I refuse to turn this space into a battleground. This is my peaceful escape, and it’s going to stay peaceful.

And for those ready to twist my words: no, that doesn’t mean I’m ignorant or apathetic. I see the world. I live in it too. But not everything I do has to carry the weight of someone else’s expectations. If I want to write fanfiction about fictional characters in fictional settings and not bring up real-world issues, that’s my choice. If I want my blog to focus on escapism and community rather than division, that’s my right.

Let me put it like this: If you think the earth is flat? Cool. If you think it’s round? Cool. If you have opinions about race, sexuality, gender, politics, religion, or whatever else? Cool. Guess what? I don’t care. That doesn’t mean I don’t value you as a person—it means I don’t need or want your opinions taking over my space. This blog is not the place for debates, arguments, or finger-pointing.

I don’t run this space to host debates, arguments about who’s “right” or “wrong.” If you came here looking for a fight or an agenda to push, you’re in the wrong place.

I don’t care what race you are. I don’t care what gender you are. I don’t care about your sexuality, your opinions, or your political views. If you’re here to enjoy stories and fandom and a little slice of peace in an otherwise chaotic world, then you are welcome. If you’re here to demand, accuse, argue, or dictate what I should be doing, then you can leave. My blog is not a democracy—it’s my space, and my rules apply.

I’m not here to change anyone’s mind, and I’m certainly not here to have mine changed. I am here to write, to create, and to connect with people over the one thing that brings us all here: fanfiction.

To sum this up: I am not responsible for your expectations. I will not allow anyone to make me feel guilty for how I choose to exist online. This blog is about fanfiction, escapism, and community, and that’s how it’s going to stay. If you don’t like it, the unfollow button is right there.

We all need a little peace somewhere. This is mine.

[bigboysdrinkmilk]

📌 Pinned Post 📌

Welcome to Bigboysdrinkmilk’s Tumblr, where I post gym progress pics and shitposts. That’s it.

Want to donate to my growth? Gains are expensive:

Venmo: @bigboysdrinkmilk

Cashapp: $bigboysdrinkmilk

Or follow me on Instagram? intheshadowofyggdrasil

Feel free to send asks, anon or not, or DM with messages! I’m friendly but generally slow to respond. Mobile users, find commonly used tags in the tags in this post.

About Me/FAQ:

Name: Roman

Age: 31

Gender: Male (He/Him)

Sexuality: Gay/Queer/Poly

Location: Seattle, Washington

“Will you give me gym advice?”: I’m happy to share my experiences or opinions, but I am not a certified personal trainer and what I do or what works for me may not work for you.

“Want some nudes?”: My DMs are always open but I have a very active and fulfilling sex life out in the real world and don’t necessarily have the energy to be horny on here all that often.

“Why aren’t you answering my ask?”: This could be for a variety of reasons, including: you asked personal information or medical advice, the ask was in response to something that was too distant time wise, you were insulting or negging or otherwise being strange, I’ve already answered the question recently, I missed it, or it was really sweet and I’m keeping it in my inbox to hold on to. Feel free to ask again, but certain things don’t get responses.

“I don’t like what you’re posting.”: Cool. No need to announce your departure. I tag clumps of posts that may clog up people’s dash, usually with something like #ask or #tumblrgames. If that solves your issue, great! If not, the unfollow button is right over there.

“Have you ever committed a felony? Do you intend to commit a felony? Are you committing a felony right now?”: Babygirl, we don’t know each other that way. And what are you, a cop?

“What’s your workout routine?”: I rotate through sets of three day splits in a six days on one day off pattern so that different muscle group combos are hit in various arrangements with each group being hit twice a week. It’s overly complicated and not what I’d say other people should do. If you’re asking what I recommend to other people, Push-Pull-Legs is great for beginners and intermediate lifters, alike.

[honeytonedhottie]

how to successfully rebrand⋆.ೃ࿔*:･🧁

this post is a collaboration with my FAVORITE @prettieinpink. in this post we'll elaborate on rebranding urself and implementing change in a way that is not only efficient but not that difficult to do ✨

FLIP THE SCRIPT ;

write down who u wanna become. what ur goals are, what ur style is like, ur schedule, achievements, relationships etc. however instead of writing it like "it'll happen one day" write it as though it happened already.

on the flip side i want u to write down what u think hinders you or blocks u from making the rebrand that u want so desperately. ur weakness. then flip them and find solutions on how to deal with it entirely, or diminish it significantly.

EXPAND ON UR BEAUTY ;

learn how to do makeup that is suited for ur own features. learn which clothes and colors compliment and flatter you the best. when u try and use a cookie-cutter approach to beauty as a way to fit a standard, you won't feel/look ur best.

thats why its important to know your own self the very best. no one knows ur beauty and body like you do so only you know best how to make ur beauty bloom.

DEVELOP UR OWN STYLE ;

u dont have to follow along with every single trend that u see in the fashion industry. although its fun at times or the particular trend can inspire u to create more outfits, its important to have a sense of individuality when u dress.

i recommend creating a pinterest board and filling it up with clothes that u love and clothes that align with ur style. find a fashion inspiration or multiple if u dont know where to start. when u go shopping, reference this board and look for clothes that r similar to the clothes in ur pinterest board.

REFRESH BUTTON ;

block the numbers of people that keep u trapped in a version of urself that u no longer associate with. get comfy with the block button girlies!! you can control who sticks around you and you're directly responsible for protecting ur peace.

delete photos of people who are no longer in ur life (like, they hurt u or walked out of ur life/vice versa) change up ur environment and what ur staring at every single day. unfollow people on social media who dont inspire you/who make u feel bad about urself and where u are on ur rebranding journey.

ADAPT ;

remember that list that we made earlier? lets learn to adapt habits can cultivate that and make this rebrand thrive. identify nonsense in ur life and learn how to get comfortable with cutting it off.

EXECUTE ;

now its time to put everything that we've covered into a action with a few easy and simple steps.

do ur SWOT analysis (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats)

create solutions to what u classify as ur weakness

commit to yourself and your rebrand

[popfizzles]

TUMBLR MADE ME UNFOLLOW YOU AGAAAAAAA idk what the heck happened lmfao what the heck

No dude you know what keeps happening. I figured it out.

When I get Tumblr DM's, my phone will give me a notification.

HOWEVER. DIRECTLY UNDERNEATH THE DM. Is a BIG BUTTON. that just BLOCKS the person who sent me the DM ????

And it's happened like 5 times in the past month, where people would send me a message, I TAP the notification to open it, and I FAT-FINGER that giant fucking BLOCK BUTTON instead of opening the message ???????

And blocking someone obviously makes them unfollow me, so when I unblock them, it keeps the user unfollowed.

so if you suddenly find yourself unfollowed after sending me a message.

just know. my phone's UI won that day. and i am so sorry

[toomanystoriessolittletime]

Gonna be real under the cut

As someone who has been bullied all of my schooltime because I was too awkward, too fat, because my dad left us, because of how my hair looked, because I was wearing the same pants for two days in a row, because I had respect for my teachers, because i never had a boyfriend, because i didn't drink....

I am so glad the internet wasn't around back then.

If shit like what is happening currently in this fandom would have been happened to me twenty years ago?

I don't want to imagine what I would have done to make it stop.

Bullies have always been the same.

Mirroring their insecurites on someone who thinks won't fight back (or in this day and age can't because you can't censor the internet and reporting will only get you so far)

If you are one of the people "confessing" on that certain blog

You are nothing more than a bully.

If you have a problem with someone and don't want to use the block button for whatever reason, you get into the inbox of the person you feel is "mistreating you" and ask them why. You don't go around sending hateful messages hiding behind the anonymity this website provides under the impression that it's "confessing".

If you genuinely feel offended that not everyone (of the so called big blogs) talks to you, that you're not instantly are getting the notes on the fics you post, that you don't have enough followers, that you dont feel welcome in a fandom....

Things like this can take years.

And it takes work. It takes constant writing. It takes constant making gifs. Constant making art.

And yeah sometimes people chose to not reblog other fics/content? So what? Big deal. No one has to!

Like it is some kind of obligation once you hit your made up big blog follower number to reblog every single content from anyone. wtf?

Of course things mutuals post get reblogged more often, because they are on our dashboards.

Personally I used to find new writers/fics by going into the Pedro tag. The tag that is now swamped with hatefull "confessions" so I just don't go looking anymore. You think this will get you the exposure you want to?

Maybe it will, but not in the way you have been dreaming of.

And you bet your ass we are gonna reblog our shit as often as we want to. . And if I want to reblog my own fic twenty times because i am proud of it? Not your problem. The unfollow and block button is there for a reason. USE IT.

Because, newsflash, these are our own fucking blogs and we can do whatever we want with it

Like you.

Who choses to bully people for the fucked up reasons your little brains think are valid.

But bullying is never okay and I hope one day you realize and care that you actually hurt people. Sometimes to a point where you can't be sorry anymore cause they're gone.

I guess what I wanna say with this post is grow up.

And don't even get me started on how people over the age of 30 are creepy for still being in fandom.

You do know what a hobby is, right?

The majority of the content you love so much would be gone if we all would be gone. Maybe keep that in mind the next time you get into some inbox to call people out you never have bothered to get to know in the first place.

[lurkingshan]

I've been in multiple tumblr fandoms over the years and the same shit comes up over and over again wrt arguments about how we all engage with our chosen media on here, so here are a few things to keep in mind that have helped me along the way:

Not everyone is going to engage in the same way as you, and that's good, actually. Some people are purely here to gush over the things they like. Some people are here to do deep analytical breakdowns which will include criticism. Some people are cheerleaders. Some people are haters. A lot of people are a mix of both depending on what they're talking about on any given day. It's all good and valid, and it's what gives this space variety, allows us to learn from each other, and keeps it interesting.

The filter, unfollow, and block functions are your friend. If you love a mutual but hate the volume or the way they talk about a certain thing, just add it to your filtered tags (relatedly: tag your shit so people can filter you when needed!). If you consistently don't vibe with the way a person chooses to engage on here, just unfollow them. If you find them actively offensive or detrimental to your mental health, hit that block button, baby. We are all anonymous internet strangers and no one will die.

Someone expressing a different opinion from yours is not a personal attack on you. If someone hates a thing you like, they are not calling you stupid for liking it. If they love a thing you hate, there's nothing wrong with them, they are just taking something different from it than you are. That shit is all about you and your own insecurities, don't try to put it on them.

Vague posting is rude. If you want to directly respond to something someone said to get better clarity about what they meant, reply to their post or shoot them an ask or DM and talk to them about it. If you simply want to express a counterpoint without directly engaging them, just post your own take without vaguely alluding to them and building what is almost certainly a strawman of their original point. People you're vaguing can see you on here, folks. Don't be a dick.

Credit and reblog other people's ideas when you are building on them, and be kind to the creators who provide the artwork that make this place so special and unique. Reblogging is the lifeblood of this website. It's the only way people get to see content that is by anyone they don't follow, and the gifmakers on here in particular put in so much time and effort to give us beautiful images--share their work and tell them you appreciate it! You also don't have to agree with every single word of a meta post to reblog it (why would you expect to, it comes from a different brain than yours), and you absolutely should be crediting people and sharing their words when they sparked something that inspired your own thoughts. This is just being a good community member.

Embrace the difference between meta and fanwanking. Meta writing is analysis of the actual media content as it is presented, with arguments based in the canon text. Fanwanking is doing your own work to fill in gaps or create headcanons to supplement the canon text. Some people prefer content that leaves a lot of gaps because they love to creatively fanwank; some people prefer to be told complete stories without having to do all that extra work to make them make sense. These are both very cool and fun ways to engage, but when you're fanwanking be aware that those ideas are all coming from you, not the actual media being discussed, so others might not vibe with your interpretation.

When posting your own opinions, try to be clear about where you're coming from and why. If you have a personal experience or bias that is affecting your read, own it. If you're looking at a piece of media from a specific angle related to your own interests and learning, say that. It helps other people to know where you're coming from and why you're thinking about something in a certain way that can then help them puzzle out why they feel differently.

You don't owe anyone your presence here, and you don't have to express opinions on everything or respond to tags or asks if you don't have anything to say. Sometimes you might just want to take a break from posting, some things in the discourse might just flow right on by you, sometimes you will not have a firm opinion on a debate. You can post as much or as little as you want. You can suddenly decide you don't want to talk about a show anymore. You can not log into your tumblr for days or weeks at a time. Do you, boo!

Most people come to tumblr because they do want to engage with others, and this place can be a lot of fun if you just take what you need from it and let things that aren't serving you go.

[is-this-yuri]

have you been doomscrolling? feeling awful about it? do you feel out of control? does it seem your autonomy has been swallowed by the ever present beast that is the internet?

we live in the most overwhelmingly stimulating age of humanity ever seen, and it's only getting worse. our brains are sponges, soaking up whatever we smear them across, and it seems more and more difficult to find a clean surface to rest on. i'm no expert or professional, but ive been born and raised into the internet, and i'd like to hand out some wisdom regarding this.

the main issue: brain poison

since the brain absorbs whatever it's exposed to, media consumption is unsurprisingly going to effect it. the type of media, the amount of media, and the frequency of the media all play a factor.

it's not the internet itself that's bad here. it's the media on the internet, and the platforms designed to suck in our attention and keep it there until we're rotting inside our skulls.

we're never going to escape the internet. it's just a fact of life now, and a tool that can be used for wonderful things. so how do we learn to live with the internet and take advantage of its potential?

treat it like a dietary balance

staying aware of what goes in your brain is just as important as being aware of what you're eating. if you eat carelessly, don't listen to how your body feels after you eat certain things, and ignore any sickness that might result from rotten food, you're going to have a bad time and wreck your guts. the same goes for the brain.

you want to have a good mix of various types of media in the right amounts, or approximately so. if things are feeling bland, maybe diversify. if things are feeling stupid, try something more intellectual. if it's feeling too much, cut back on all of it

the following are three things you can do to maintain a sense of control and awareness over your media diet. this isnt a step by step and is in no particular order, theyre just ideas to carry forward in general any time it could be helpful.

1. digest

this is the process of thinking about and remembering what youve done throughout your time on the internet. it could apply to any period of time. so you might think, 'man, i've done nothing but watch tiktok all day.' or 'i've been scrolling twitter a lot more this past week.'

i feel like most people already do this to some extent, but it manifests as a fleeting sense of anxiety or shame that doesn't lead anywhere. analyze that feeling, and ask if it's really true or helpful.

ask if your media consumption is making you feel less focused, distracted, putting you into a brain fog, making you fall asleep when you don't want to, making you irritable and angry, drawing you into arguments, keeping you awake at night, or upsetting/disrupting you in any way.

digestion also means appreciating the good stuff and recognizing the good feelings you get too. so also ask if it's enriching you, helping you learn something new, giving you a new perspective, exposing you to something beautiful, passing the time, relaxing you, honing your focus, or generally lifting your mood.

2. cut

cut certain types of content from your life once you've decided they're not good for your media diet. block people. move on. tell youtube to stop reccomending that channel. block them. unfollow people. unfollow tags. block the tags. blacklist things. do it. forget the awful things that make your brain hurty. click the block button. uninstall the app. you know you want to

consider removing yourself entirely from websites that are designed to be attention predators. if you consistently feel like youre 'stuck' on a site and cant leave, it's probably best to just delete your account and get out of there. tiktok is NOTORIOUS for this.

i also tend to keep my following or subscribed count low. keeping the stream of content short forces me to find other things to do with my time. this goes hand in hand with things like turning off infinite scroll. it provides an 'end point' where the repetitive action of scrolling down stops bearing fruit, breaking the doomscrolling cycle. the internet is almost an infinite place, and its up to you to build walls around yourself so you arent lost in it forever.

its also important to get off the internet in general sometimes. i know this is obvious, but literally touch grass on occasion. doing anything with your physical body away from the screen will be more enriching than sitting there scrolling for hours. whether it's just a 5 minute walk around your house to stretch your legs or a 6 hour hike every weekend, part of cutting media will mean replacing it with real life. looking at some plants, doing a pushup, or working on a knitting project can be like rinsing your brain sponge under some cold, clean water.

3. curate

the flip side of cutting is curating. you'll want to be looking for media that makes you happy and feels productive or meaningful in some way. anything that not only doesnt make you feel like you wasted your time, but specifically makes you feel like you spent your time well, is a green flag.

keep in mind entertainment just for entertainment's sake is good for you too. you don't have to be watching university lectures and tutorials and stuff all day. finding high quality entertainment, such as personalities you enjoy, good production values, and inventive ideas can be really difficult. find the people who dont make you feel like a cocomelon baby and stick with them. from there you should be able to find similar content.

what's good for your soul is going to depend very much on you as an individual. this is also going to be an ongoing process as not only you but the internet both change and evolve. the important thing about this step is that you Make Decisions about what to consume. even bad decisions! it's all part of the process, and it's all about reclaiming your autonomy.

4. eat your junk food

this isn't a military drill or an exact science. i'm just a guy on tumblr with an intimate connection to his own brain and a LOT of time on the internet. that's my only credential. sometimes i want to turn that brain off and just mindlessly consume without putting any thought into what dirty dishwater is soaking into my sponge. sometimes adhd brain wants me to watch a shitty B movie in recap form so i dont have to commit to a full movie. sometimes i get stuck in the youtube shorts for like 3 hours.

that's fine. the most important part of any kind of self care is that a little bit is better than nothing. even just being aware that youre consuming something bad for you and knowing you arent ready to stop just yet is better than nothing.

thats it!!

now you should be prepared to take back some control over your media consumption. be gentle with yourself and take your time. eventually this stuff will become second nature, and you'll be effortlessly digesting, curating, and cutting media like it's just part of your personality. remember YOU have control over what the internet thinks you want to see. dont let it force feed you nasty slop anymore. let it be a reflection of your mind, not the other way around.

and good luck!

[lowkeychenle]

chapter 3: russian roulette nct version ☹️

masterlist ← chapter 2: y/n declares war → chapter 4: detective y/n on the case 🤓👆🏻

Description: After Chenle "accidentally" hits the follow button on Twitter, you try to get him to unfollow you by any means necessary, even if he's keen on staying right where he's at.

Pairing: Zhong Chenle x Reader (featuring NCT Mark, Renjun, Jeno, Haechan, Jaemin, & Jisung, aespa Ningning, & aespa Karina)

Genre: suggestive, crack, funny haha stuff idk

Content Warnings: classic bad bitchery, calling people by their government names, death jokes, kms/kys jokes

Note: introducing a little game in this part...you'll understand when you get to the end, but the rest of NCT Dream has entered the chat...can you figure out who's who? ;) let me know who you think so far...

Taglist: @poemzcheng @kpophosblog @i6renj @xuimhao @fullsunstrawberry @simpforarmihn @kpophosblog @iscocohere @222brainrot @daegale @leefullsun @annoyingbitch83 @chezziy @haechanielove taglist is open! comment to be added :)

The rest of NCT Dream has entered the chat...

+ random fan tweets + y/n and chenle priv...

[arsonkoobi]

taekooker to jikooker: my personal experience.

this is merely how i felt and all the things i saw while being a hardcore taekooker for almost a year and a half. if you get offended, im sorry but the unfollow and block button is right there, i dont mind. i love taekook themselves, but i can no longer look at them in the way i used to. now they genuinely look like best friends to me. people change, and their perceptions and views on different aspects of life change. thats what happened to me.

I first joined this fandom 5 years ago in mid january 2018 through my friends. taehyung was my first ever bias, so most of the bts related yt recs i had were mostly of taehyung and ot7, and occasional ship videos among which taekook was the most prominent. me being a curious lil unsuspecting lamb, clicked on one, it also helped that my friends were taekookers as well so i dived pretty deep into the rabbit hole of taekook. im gonna be writing my thoughts and experiences on shipping taekook at different times of the year. i dont remember every single detail clearly (like this was 5 years ago) so forgive me if i sound vague at times plus this will only be a summary. without further ado, lets start, shall we?

february-march, 2018

by this time, i already watched quite a few taekook analysis videos, i also came across a few tkk_lives' videos(i think i came across her vids like much later but i just included it here) as well as other deluded channels. i fell even deeper into the rabbit hole. i thought taekook were the epitome of boyfriends silly in love, i felt like they had the best chemistry and that they were the ones whose ship actually made sense. i feel so embarrassed to admit this but one of my rather major reasons for shipping them was how good they looked tgthr🤦‍♀️(im a changed person now i promise). now i realise many tkk analysis channels tend to heavily edit things to make it look like theres something going on, overanalysing things to no end, it made me see them as if they were closer than they actually are, and as if theyre hiding something, but it was really just heavy and clever editing that forces your mind to get convinced. it was quite literally manipulative. plus back then, i was rather immature and hadnt even been in a rltnshp yet, so i blindly believed whatever they said. i believed every narrative and every theory they put out even if i knew lots of them didnt even make sense. they constantly also put out the jealous jungkook/taehyung whenever the other breathes next to another member..as i now realise, thats one of the biggest toxic traits a person can have. they were always pushing tkk as a toxic relationship without even knowing it(or just ignoring it). i also do not like jikook analysis vids where they are portrayed as the same territorial mfs who cant stand the other interacting with anyone else but himself. bc thats literally pushing their relationship as a toxic one and making them look toxic, and i would rather not do that.

march/april-september, 2018

i only watched taekook vids and funny bts moments for a long while as a baby army. i didnt watch official content very much, i ddint even know how to watch official content..i didnt know bangtantv existed yet💀 this tkk analysis watching continued for around 4 or so months after i became an army before i took an unintentional break from them(analysis vids) and i went on twitter. twitter, was so much worse(as i now realise). i didnt have an account at that time and learnt to browse on twt without one(it doesnt really let you do that anymore). at first, i found nothing weird or unusual and i enjoyed lurking on twitter, but slowly i started to see the ugly side of the community. i found multiple accounts directly or indirectly hating on jimin. i was weirded out. very weirded out. i was quite conflicted but..i only thought of it as jimin haters who were coincidentally tkkrs, maybe i refused to see tkk shippers in a bad light? probably, unfortunately i cant remember much and as i said, i was immature.

october-december, 2018

i stumbled across gcf in tokyo somewhere in october, i think it was in a fanwar on twitter and a jkkr said "at least we have this" or sumn along that line and put a link to gcft . idek how i didnt see it earlier. immediately after watching it, i felt..weird, conflicted, insecure. insecure about my ship. it seemed so romantic to me even then. but ofc i didnt let myself give up immediately, and i searched interviews + info about it, i found tkkrs saying vminkook were supposed to go tgthr and jikook only went bc they had a few days off and tae didnt. that gave me a lil bit of security and i held onto that thread of security and refused to believe or even hear out the actual fact(which i will come to later). as you can see, i was a stubborn mf. inside i knew that even if tae not having time off was the "only" reason behind jikook's japan trip, it was still unusual and suspicious to go on a trip with only your "bro" when said "bro" has told you and the world multiple times that they wanna go on a trip alone with you, when the hotel room you're staying at with your "bro" has a see-through glass wall for the bathroom and when you make a whole love confession in the guise of a travel log for your "bro" while your boyfie is waiting for you at home.

in conclusion, i was very insecure.

did i give up? no, not yet. we're getting there.

so as a masochist and out of curiosity caused by insecurity, i searched up jikook videos on yt, thinking "there's no way they could ever have more chemistry than taekook 🙄" - when i tell you i was wrong as fuck, i mean it. i was HUMBLED. the chemistry and tension between jungkook and jimin was undeniable. i felt uncomfortable watching some certain moments, felt things that i didnt feel while shipping taekook, saw things i didnt see in taekook.

i was confused plus the sinking feeling you get when you've been too loud about what you think and your opinions but then it turns out you were a stupid ass bitch.

there was a plethora of jikook vids, and i think my first jikook video was from Made in Busan, ig it was the "serendipity" analysis? back then it made lots of sense to me, but now it looks slightly overanalyzed (i still believe "serendipity" is very much connected to jikook tho). i slowly got more introduced to jikook in general. this mainly occured in like the first week of october and december as i had my boards in november.

december/january-february, 2019

so its been more or less of a year since ive become a tkkr, gcft is still in the back of my head screaming at me. and then jikook drop another bomb. that is, 2018 MMA.

this..was just, just..i cant explain it in words. jungkook had every bit of his attention directed towards jimin, they were giving each other loving glances, jimin giving jungkook a flying kiss, jungkook giving jimin a finger heart, jungkook subconsciously massaging jimins nape..it was just so domestic and coupley. i've never third wheeled so bad in my life. i felt like i was interrupting something by watching them. imagine how hyunjae next to them felt😔✊not to mention how it very much looked like jungkook was saying "남편"[ nampyeon] meaning "husband" and "형의 남친"[ hyung-ui namchin ] meaning " hyung's boyfriend" in their conversation after jimin pointed to himself and jungkook (forgive me if the spellings/romanizations are not accurate enough, im not fully fluent in korean). plus, after jungkook said it, jimin smiles and shyly looks down..LIKE??

watch from 31:00 to see for yourself. im not kidding.(p.s i love this video so much)

i was bamboozled. i was shocked. i was frustrated. i was feeling stupid. i was begging for taekook to drop something mindblowing or sumn that would regain my secuity in the ship and i found some moments during other award shows but, it didnt feel the same. to me it was really looking like taekook had boundaries and limits between each other, the limits that apply when you're good friends. but with jikook, i couldnt see how their gazes towards each other could be passed off as anything platonic, how their actions+body language could ever be seen as platonic.

so what did i do? did i give up? oh hell no im stubborn as fuck. but we're getting there.

i ignored every jikook moment and brought my focus back on taekook, i started watching analysis and moments again. in a span of a few weeks, the security around my ship had improved after pretending that i didnt feel like a stupid mf after MMA 2018. haha. it sorta worked lol. sorta.

march-may, 2019

these were my last months as a taekooker.

after all that shit, all i wanted was more taekook moments to make me feel better about myself. and i did get quite a few. however, as i said before, they looked like they had boundaries. i couldnt look at them exactly the same.

i was busy in april with my class tests, i doubt i had much time to catch up with the boys. so when the tests ended, it was most likely in the last week of april or the first few days of may.

we all know what happened in the first few days of may, don't we? in case you don't, this is what happened.

surprisingly, i clearly remember the first time i got to know about it.

it was in class, i just arrived and then one of my friends and i start talking and she goes [this convo is all translated from bengali]

"hey did you see what jungkook did at the latest concert?"

"no, i didn’t, what did he do?"

"he went and literally sucked on jimins ear!"

i was shocked once again, my eyes went wide, my heart did a backflip..all that shit. i didnt believe it at first.

"don't joke around like that, you're being absurd" i said.

"im not kidding bro, he sucked jimins ear in the rosebowl concert last week, ill send you a link too"

when i got back home, sure enough, the link was there and i saw jungkooks ear nibbling in all its glory, albeit a bit low quality. but no doubt he took that ear into his mouth and i knew it.

surely i must've given up now? no, but im this🤏 close we're almost there i promise

i went online and found lots of tkkrs denying that jungkook ever took jimin's ear into his mouth and that jimin's ear only got caught on jk's chin. but..if it got caught on jk's chin then that means his chin was behind jimin's ear, and his lips must have been at least kissing jimin's ear, given that we couldnt see them very well. the lip we could see was the upper lip, which again lead me to be believe that jungkook did indeed, suck jimin's ear.

yeah, my faith in tkk was crumbling into millions of pieces. because i couldnt see how jungkook, being in a supposed relationship with taehyung, could do that with tae's best friend. i sure as hell wouldnt let my partner get away with that, nor would i ever do that myself with someone else other than my partner. even if its to comfort them. it just goes way over platonic boundaries.

i was seriously considering shifting over to jikook by now. but before that, i searched lots of shit up abt jikook.

there i saw an interview where jimin talked about the tokyo trip with jungkook. what i believed until now was that vminkook were supposed to go tgthr but jikook were the ones with time off, and tae didnt have time off. jimin said he told taehyung and jungkook that he wants to go on a trip to Japan. he didnt say he wanted to go on a trip WITH taehyung and jungkook. yall, ive told my wishes to go to japan and turkey multiple times to my friends, does that mean im taking their asses with me? no. mind you, jimin has said he wanted to go on a trip alone with jungkook multiple times in their rookie era. on jimin's bday of 2017, jungkook tweeted a pic of him(jimin) with the caption "Its not over yet.." and shortly after, we find out jikook went on a tokyo trip by THEMSELVES with no staff, no managers and no other members. dropped off at the airport by jungkook's dad and brother and jimin's dad. jungkook paid for everything and put a hell lot of time into making the masterpiece that is gcf in tokyo WITH a bgm of a gay fucking song by a queer fucking artist and showed the fucking rainbow colored ferris wheel at the line "love is a road that goes both ways".

also

its clear who the main model of gcf is.

you can deny the trip being only for jikook, but you can not deny the symbolism and significance shown in gcf in tokyo. saying "jungkook didnt understand the song, hes not fluent in english" - is so small minded and belittling.

saying he didnt show jimin on the parts "boy, im holding onto something, wont let go of you for nothing, im running, running just to keep my hands on you" on purpose is not only straight up denial but also understimating jungkook's intelligence and artistic capabilities, saying that jungkook isnt smart enough to get the meaning behind these words. and just because hes korean. thats fucking racist if you ask me.

then i discovered the iconic osaka vlives, i was convinced. it was my last straw along with rosebowl.

alas, after around a week of denial, i gave up and became a jikooker in mid may of 2019. ive never looked back. over the years they've only given us more and more evidence and i doubt my beliefs will ever change soon.

i hope this was kinda fun to read, i had been planning to do this for a long time. im glad i finally got to say my thoughts out here. thank you for taking the time to read this<3

[jolalibrary]

little cute things to remember (because it’s been a while since we’ve done this):

✨ you’re more that the notes or the followers you get: outside of the obvious, sometimes a fic is a grower (it’ll find people in time) and sometimes it’s because people are storing your work away ready to read when they need comfort. your worth isn’t attached to your numbers, it’s your storytelling, your soul and kindness. plus, if you love it, that’s one super fan—and anyone else is a bonus.

🌙 you don’t have to write X to fit in/be seen: just like we don’t eat the same meal every day, people’s interests change. what is popular changes, but what doesn’t change is what makes you happy. so, write that because that means your heart will be in it.

🌾 it’s okay to be nervous about connecting with people you admire: but I promise it’ll be worth it. work up to it, take the time you need, but I promise (from someone who is a chronic worrier and big ball of anxiety) everyone will be just as thrilled to hear from you, as you are to hear from them.

🪴 your process is your process, own it: I see people worry about not posting enough, and those who worry they post too much. your process, your writing, your blog at the end of the day, is yours. if people don’t like it, they know where the unfollow button is. you’re doing amazing, you’re doing what you want, when you want it, with the time you have. don’t let anyone take your shine.

🔑 I don’t think I can write X or Y or Z: that’s okay. you don’t have too. even if they’re wildly popular or it’s your fave character/trope to read, it’s okay if you find it overwhelming to write. but, try. even in private, even if it never makes it online and stays in a private discord with your bestie. sometimes, it’s scary to take the leap, but sometimes it’s also pretty fucking great.

🩷 for my anxious, worrying souls: sometimes, it does feel lonely. it feels like you’re shouting into a void, surrounded by people, but still on the outskirts of the convos, the chats, the places, the fandom. it’s one of two things: perspective—your brain, as wondrous as it is, is also very cruel, and twists good things into bad (like a disney forest that if you go too deep into begins to look eerie) or you just need to find your person. the one you send all your thoughts to, the one who learns all the intricacies of your life, your routine, easily. it can be hard (and intimidating) to find them, but you will. they’re out there, waiting for you as much as you are for them.

☁️ what makes fandom great is not just the works we find along the way, but the souls we find and connect to. fandom is about supporting art, sharing, loving, enjoying, but it’s also about having fun, being in a space you can curate that makes you smile, and doing so with people who get you, who understand why you love that movie (even if it’s not rated that great) and love you for it all the same.

🫂 do what’s best for you: you don’t want to tackle that fic now, that’s okay. you want to change fandoms, that’s okay. you want to take a break and come back. you want to be around, connecting but not writing for a while, that’s super cool. you want to press pause, hide, lurk for a moment, you do you bby. ignore that pressure you feel on your shoulders, it’s not real. those who love your work, your words, your style, your heart will be here. there’s only one you, and if you burn out at both ends, all you’ll be given is a version of you that you’ll look back on and not like to be reminded of.

lots of love,

jo (undercoverpena) 💕

[moregraceful]

I've been seeing a lot of discussion on here about curating your dashboard and it's been reminding me of an excellent van @puckpocketed post on mutuals. I think we need to kind of get away from the idea that you HAVE to follow your friends or you're a bad friend, or you have to stay mutuals with someone, even though they post stuff that rips you up, because otherwise you're a bad friend. I just don't think that's true?

Maybe coming at it from a Silicon Valley conspiracy theorist perspective where I feel like the concept of mutuals was invented by social media companies to refine your algorithm in a way that makes them more money, but I feel like...idk it's not true that you have to follow your friends on social media or you're a bad friend? If you're truly friends, following or unfollowing won't matter so much. Like blogging =/ blogger as Van correctly points out...I don't follow people that I have loving and friendly relationships with because they make posts that annoy me. But I don't think that makes us less friends? I know their hearts, I think of them highly, that their posts that annoy me don't mean they annoy me as a person overall. Like Tumblr is a very limited view of who someone is. It's not a reflection of all of a person, it's a reflection of what they choose to share with the world and sometimes what they share just isn't what I'm feeling at the moment.

Idk I think curating your Internet experience doesn't just mean blocking tags, sometimes it means knowing that your friends are annoying as fuck on Tumblr but you still love them and then hitting that unfollow button. I have people I talk to regularly who don't follow me bc my posts are annoying to them and I don't think that makes us less friendly? All it means is that they don't want to see my posts. I have a friend I talked to weekly, sometimes daily, for like over a year and we didn't follow each other for ages.

Following people is value neutral, you know? Like again, the posts are not the poster. maybe your friends tag badly, maybe they post too much about something you hate, maybe they just present themselves in a way that is so annoying, but that doesn't make you worse friends. Sometimes the posting vibes just don't align and I think that's okay?