#(except i know they are based on posts and seeing them in public!)

[cctinsleybaxter]

also i’m sure someone else has made this post but the casualness with which lgbt+ teenagers and college kids are calling people/characters fruity and faggy and worse is like you guys need to chill i hope you aren’t doing this irl

[gallusrostromegalus]

Hello this is just to say that I am very interested in that post you mentioned maybe making about indirect communication!

So to define Direct and Indirect communication with a pair of examples real fast:

Direct communication: "Hey, can you do the dishes?" Indirect communication: "There's dishes in the sink." (Please wash them.)

Indirect communication tends to trip a lot of ND, but especially Autistic people up because the implied request in the parentheses... doesn't always come through. So you don't do the dishes, and the Indirect communicator gets frustrated because they thought they had made that request perfectly clearly.

Which, in their defense, they did! ...in their micro-cultural language.

See, the actual purpose of Indirect Communication is to provide some extra verbal personal space and non-aggression measures in micro-cultures where people's personal autonomy has been compromised but there is also a high degree of understood social context.

Hm. That's a weird sentence. Let's try some more examples.

Indirect communication is most common in places or situations where people's ability to stay in their own lane is compromised, but everyone also shares the same base knowledge of what's going on. One example is in large cities, where people are PHYSICALLY up in each other's personal space because they're physically crowded. So cities have etiquette like "Don't make eye contact on public transit unless you actually need to address someone", so that, if people can't stop violating your personal space, they can at least signal non-aggression and give you some privacy. People raised in large cities, or who have lived there for a while all learn these unspoken rules by trial and error, some of us with more errors and trials than others.

Thus, in physically compact situations, "There's dishes in the sink" means "There's dishes in the sink." (I trust that you are already familiar with the social rules that dictate that dishes need to be done, and assume the reason you haven't done them is because you haven't seen the sink yet. I won't insult your intelligence by elaborating on the Do The Dishes Rule, because I know you are smart <3)

Speaking of Privacy, the other place indirect communication is common is in situations where people have Limited Privacy and thus everyone knows what's going on with them, and they know what's going on with everyone else, whether they want to or not. Close-knit families and religious communities often have this shared no-privacy pool, but it can also happen with you and two roommates in a 100sq ft apartment, or on a research vessel in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean. Since y'all are up in each other's business, indirect communication is there to prevent hostility in close quarters.

This, in a low-privacy situation, "There's dishes in the sink." means "There's dishes in the sink." (I know you are a good and responsible roommate who is maybe a little forgetful, and I trust you to have enough context from living in the live feed of everyone's life to know that I need them done. I won't insult you by suggesting your motivation was malicious in any way, and i trust you to do them <3)

So, to an indirect communicator, that was a perfectly clear request to do the dishes because OF COURSE you'd know what they meant- literally everyone else they deal with is in on this shared knowledge of social rules and daily updates. And not elaborating on that request is an affectionate sign of trust in your competence.

Except, you know. You're not.

So, you try to explain to your indie friend that "There's dishes in the sink." only sounds like an observation, and your brain will not auto-fill in the request like theirs does, so if you want me to do the dishes, just ask with words, okay?

And your indie friend understands this! but then instead of going "Hey, can you do the dishes?" they instead don't say ANYTHING until they're really frustrated with the state of the kitchen, and communicate VERY directly at you, and with great anger.

What happened?

So remember how indirect communication exists to prevent hostility and violence? That's because the threat of hostility and violence is VERY, VERY REAL.

Like you, your indirect communication friend made some mistakes while learning The Unsaid Rules and How To Use The Shared Information Pool, and the social hammer came down on them HARD. Ostracization, ridicule, maybe even actual, psychical harm. So they grew very, very afraid of violating those secret rules, and doubly so with people they like, so your indirect communication friend is facing this HUGE EMOTIONAL BLOCK when it comes to directly communicating with you, because to someone who grew up with their boundaries compromised and the threat of hostility if they violate the communication rules, communicating directly with someone they love feels really, really, really mean and they don't want to hurt or lose you.

For real, "Hey, please do the dishes" sounds like "Hey, please do the dishes." (You fucking moron who doesn't give a shit about our home and probably hates me) to them, and they don't want to talk like that to you. It's like how we never like picking the mean dialogue option in video games.

So instead they... just don't say anything at all, rather than risk a potential confrontation, and then the dishes don't get done and it turns into a REAL confrontation.

What a headache.

So what are we gonna do?

Well, you can't control your friend's actions, emotional reactions or interpersonal skills, but you can manage yours, and you're gonna have to meet them halfway, and it's gonna feel like training a skittish cat that coming out from under the couch is safe. Several-pronged approach:

DO NOT PUNISH BEHAVIOR YOU WANT TO SEE. When your friend does manage to say "Hey, please do the dishes?" don't go "UUUUGH IN A MINUTE." even if you are in the middle of something else and their timing sucks, which is probably does. Stick to either neutral responses ("Cool, let me finish this paragraph and I'll get on that") to positive responses ("Oh, sure! Thanks for letting me know!")

REWARD THE BEHAVIOR YOU WANT TO SEE. -and then actually go do the dishes to demonstrate that this approach not only is safe, it's effective. Also, praise your friend when they do a good job communicating with you. "Hey, thanks for actually asking me to do the dishes, that was really helpful." or "You're doing a great job navigating and giving me directions, this is much less stressful than the GPS" or "Thanks for being honest about how I was annoying you and bringing it up before it became a huge issue." This will kind of feel like you're an actor on sesame street teaching big bird how to say please and thank you, but honestly? that was the age most of us learned our communication skills, and we return to that teaching method because BY GOD IT WORKS.

MODEL THE BEHAVIORS YOU WANT TO SEE. Humans learn by copying, so lead by example with the kind of communication that helps you, and explain why it helps. "Hey friend, a question so I can schedule some stuff- Do you have any plans this weekend I should know about, or am I clear to paint the bathroom?"

This is the one that sucks but YOU GOTTA MEET THEM HALFWAY AND LEARN ABOUT THE CONTEXT POOL. Can't make everyone learn, and Indirect communication has it's uses (especially in modern jobs and social media), so you gotta learn their style too. I literally have a discord server that's just me where I keep notes on the life events and conditions of my friends, coworkers, neighbors and loved ones because I know I won't remember that shit, but they will kind of expect me to, and it's been a lifesaver in both not blundering into social faux pas, and actually getting around my crap memory to know them better. You can also model hybrid communication and practice your indirect skills by using an indirect request opener, but then saying the rest of the implied context aloud: "Hey, there's dishes in the sink. I know you'll do that ASAP because you're cool, I just wanted to make sure you knew they were there and needed to be washed, thanks <3"

Accept that some people aren't gonna change for reasons that are beyond their control and probably have nothing to do with you, and decide what you're willing to invest in learning to deal with them. I still have to play 5D words chess with my mother-in-law, who was raised in a close-physical-space-AND-no-privacy culture and is an excruciatingly anxious indirect communicator as a result. I can't make her go to therapy for the anxiety, and until she does, her ability to communicate effectively probably won't improve. It's got nothing to do with me, even if I'm the person she's most frequently at odds with. As a result, I have extremely limited contact with her. I don't see her for more than a few hours at a time, when we have an activity to do together, and only a handful of times a year. More than that, and I get brainworms by proxy, so for my sanity, I've limited what I am willing to do with her. Maybe your indirect communicator is someone worth effectively learning a second language for, like a lover. Maybe they're someone you can cut out of your life entirely without issue, like a manger at a retail job you can quit. You'll have to decide.

Anyway, that's my raised-bilingual ADHD/Autism Direct/indirect communicator ramble, hope it helps.

[why-animals-do-the-thing]

You may notice I frequently comment on the assumptions people make about animal facilities based on their branding. Frequently, people assume accredited facilities are inherently better for animals than unaccredited facilities, or assume sanctuaries are inherently more moral / better at caring for their animals than zoos.

I want to show you an example of why I am always, always skeptical of these assumptions.

If you’re in the California area, you might have heard about Hank the Tank - who is actually a Henrietta, btw - the 500 pound nuisance bear from Lake Tahoe who broke into 21 homes in search of food. She was recently captured by wildlife officials and moved to a sanctuary in Colorado. The Wild Animal Sanctuary has three main facilities, two in Colorado and one in TX. To give you some context, it’s the biggest carnivore sanctuary in the country - they advertise somewhere between 300-500 animals, mostly large carnivores, between their properties. It’s where most of the Tiger King cats went. It’s PETA’s preferred placement for confiscated exotic animals. So, obviously, it’s got to be great, right? Except… take a look at what they posted about Henrietta’s arrival.

Here’s their post about Henrietta’s arrival at the Refuge, the large facility in Colorado that isn’t open to the public. Let’s take a closer look at that food trough…

What do we see here? An entire rotisserie chicken that is either blackened or highly seasoned, and a whole ham. Maybe a second chicken underneath the pile, I can’t quite tell. The sanctuary gets the majority of their bear food donated from groceries stores once it’s past the sell-by date, so we know those are older meats and they’re full of a ton of salt. Then, for fruit and veg, there’s a cantaloupe, mango, corn, avocado, grapes, and apples. Maybe a pepper or two, it’s hard to tell. That’s a lot of sugar and not a lot of fiber or roughage.

But… on top of it and to the right… are those Twizzlers?

Yes.

The sanctuary confirmed on Facebook that they fed this recently rescued obese bear what looks like almost an entire pack of Twizzlers.

I don’t know of any world in which it’s appropriate to feed candy to a bear. Maybe a piece or two as a really high value reinforcer for hard behaviors (that isn’t relevant here, it’s openly against this sanctuary’s ethos to do any husbandry or medical training). An entire pack of Twizzlers is just appalling. But it’s not uncommon for this facility! I have a book written about their operations and animal care (that I bought at their gift shop this spring) which openly discusses how the bears get fed bread, doughnuts, marshmallows, and all sorts of incredibly unhealthy food that comes in with the grocery donations.

But hey, this is apparently fine for the bears, according to the sanctuary’s founder. He was quoted in that same book as saying “Bears are the only animal I know of that can eat insane amounts of sugar and it never hurts them. It does not hurt their organs. They do not get clogged arteries. They do not have high blood pressure. In the wild they eat all these sweet berries in the fall, and they convert sugar to fat… so the more sugar they get the better… we would all love to have a system like that!”

Now while it’s true that bears have physiological adaptations that modulate their insulin production and sensitivity in ways that appear to prevent them from from developing diabetes, that does’t mean it’s healthy for them to regularly eat processed carbohydrates, sugar, and general junk food. And remember - Henrietta gained her fame because of how incredibly overweight she already is, and because she was seeking out human food, According to the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife, a healthy weight for a normal adult black bear is between 100-300 pounds. So, obviously, the best thing to do is… continue to feed her candy.

Then, later on in the book, it details how they have to bribe a camel to sit tight for a regular medical examination (since they don’t train for medical behaviors) by letting him drink a can of Mountain Dew each time.

If a zoo was known publicly to be feeding their animals Mountain Dew or a couple Twizzlers - even just once, on a rare occasion - they’d be eviscerated in the media and by public opinion. But feeding out inappropriate junk food appears to be a pretty common practice at this place, and it just goes unscrutinized because everyone assumes sanctuaries are inherently better for animals.

So, long story short, never make assumptions about the quality of a facility based on it’s branding or accreditation. (TWAS is accredited by the Global Federation of Animal Sanctuaries). If you have concerns about the ethics or practices of a facility, always try to put your preconceptions aside, go and see for yourself, and think critically about what you see and what you’re told.

[telekitnetic-art]

Custom formline commissions are now open!!!

I was hoping to wait until I had an established new job to post this but the job hunt is still gonna be going for a week at least, so I'm opening these now!! All prices are in CAD, and I'll be accepting 3 slots to begin with!! If you want to see more examples of my formline art check out my portfolio website! You can also check the tag #telekitnetic art on here!!

Check below for more details; shares/reblogs are appreciated!

Details to keep in mind:

Consider your character's design and my style before you submit an enquiry! Some details like overly complicated designs, clothing, etc. may not translate well to formline! When it comes to animals and animalistic characters, the formline will keep the main animal the design is meant to be based on in mind (Ie, semi-canine designs may lean towards traditional canine shapes, etc.)

Because of this, I recommend sending an enquiry only if your character leans towards the animalistic or anthropomorphic side. No NSFW/R18 enquiries.

Payment is to be made via Square, Stripe, or Interac E-Transfer. Due to issues I've seen happen to other artists using PayPal, I'm hesitant to use that service for commissions of this price amount. If PayPal is the only possible service that you can use, please let me know in your enquiry and I can make an exception.

Estimated turnaround for this commission type is 3 weeks to a month and a half depending on the size and complexity. This may change depending on my job search, and I will update commissioners personally if the commission timeline changes!

Also important clarification: these custom designs are not intended to be tattoo designs, please don't send an enquiry with the intent of using them as such!

These are not first come first serve; I'll wait about a day before getting in touch with commissioners.

Be sure to check out my full terms of service here as well!! It includes a graph for a public look at my queue and progress!!

Feel free to DM me if you have any questions or want clarification on something, but please only submit enquiries and commission requests to my email address (jazzjosart@gmail.com)!! EDIT: I forgot discord is also a thing so if you want to send an enquiry via discord, my username is TeleKitnetic and my number is 3556!

[doberbutts]

Post in question:

A: post doesn't mention pedophiles or zoophiles at all, but does mention furries and kinksters. Are we really equating furries to zoophiles and kinksters to pedophiles in the year of 2023?

B: even bad humans deserve human rights because otherwise it's really easy to falsely claim someone is a bad human to take away their rights. That is fascism 101.

C: not that it matters but my blog name hilariously has nothing to do with doberman butts and everything to do with a nickname convention a friend of mine had in the years before I started in the breed. They called me Jazbutt because my username at the time was Jazi. I told them I was getting a doberman and wanted to make a blog but couldn't think of a good URL. They said they would call my doberman a doberbutt. I thought it was funny and decided to use it as a blog name. I know that the people engaging in this behavior don't know The Deep Lore of this blog but like. It's actually not that hard to find this explination as it's one I've had asked of me for years.

D: this is a dog blog. It's all dog aesthetics because it's about dogs. Specifically mostly about my dogs. Specifically mostly about my doberman Creed who died in 2021 and it was too painful for me to continue trying to exclusively be a dog blog while I grieved him so I started just posting about whatever was on my mind. Then I got a doberman again in 2022 and another a few months ago and started posting more just about my dogs unless I spot something interesting on my dash or in my tracked tags. There's nothing nefarious here because I'm all about my dogs because competition dog sports are a long-held special interest of mine and I used to be a professional dog trainer. Dogs were my job until early 2022. I got paid to think about nothing except dogs for close to a decade. I decided to blog about it and stopped when my reason for blogging about dogs died and I switched professions.

E: this type of ask being spread around is exactly why I'm quiet about what I do like sexually because I don't think it belongs on a dog blog but also because too many people are interested in completely ruining lives off of one bad faith take. No thank you. It was bad when the straights were doing it to us and it's still bad now when it's happening as an intra-community conflict. The only people who get to know what I like are people I fuck. If I'm talking about it on a public blog, safe to say it's not a sexual interest of mine. You can continue to make assumptions if you'd like but you're way off base.

[vechter]

imagining my ideal post-forever evil world where bruce is the one to inform the bats and the rest of the world that dick is dead and tim is DEVASTATED. he is immediately ready to go on an insane guilt-fuelled suicidal mission to bring dick back because he refuses to believe his first brother, the first robin, the last flying grayson is DEAD (this is the kid who believed bruce was alive based off a shitty white man portrait and pure vibes) and then there's a very public funeral where he sees bruce is not grieving the way tim knows him to, the way tim has witnessed first hand after jason AND damian- bc who is this bruce wayne who's acting sort of normal on patrol, who is very much okay existing in a world where his eldest, his beloved first-born is dead? so tim does a little bit of research (maybe he recruits kon to go bully lex luthor about the Truth of it all or maybe selina just takes pity on how pathetic n wet-cat-like tim is) and figures out dick is very much alive! and surely! it cannot be that easy??? because why would bruce and dick lie about this? so he shows up at st. hadrian's and we get some classic dick and tim shenanigans where both of them refuse to believe the other person is actually there so it's a big came of cat and mouse except they both think they're the cat and mouse simultaneously and tiger is just watching this whole thing unfold wondering why none of these superheroes can be normal for a fucking second okay- then we get a mid-fight moment where one of them is in mortal peril and they both collectively lose brain cells and any impulse control and we get a heart-wrenching reunion and dick tells him i knew you'd figure it out, bruce is an idiot for thinking he could fool you and tim, who was very much worried this is some insane cloning situation (bc lex luthor was involved so how could any of it be this simple, this easy?) launches himself at dick because of course you're alive, i couldn't possibly exist in a world where my brother is dead. anyway-

[thetraingotsetonfireonmidnight]

Can I please request headcanons with adrien/cat noir dating a fem reader that is shy and introverted :) ty!!!

Indeed you can !

ℭ𝔥𝔞𝔱 𝔑𝔬𝔦𝔯 / 𝔄𝔡𝔯𝔦𝔢𝔫 𝔄𝔤𝔯𝔢𝔰𝔱𝔢 𝔵 𝔖𝔥𝔶 ℑ𝔫𝔱𝔯𝔬𝔳𝔢𝔯𝔱𝔢𝔡 𝔣𝔢𝔪!𝔯𝔢𝔞𝔡𝔢𝔯

Adrien is probably both the best and the worst person you could possibly date as an introvert.

On one hand, he's super sweet and understanding!

Need someone to order for you? He's gotcha!

Need someone to cling to while at an uncomfortable party? He's by your side the whole time.

Don't want to talk to someone but you're too shy to end the conversation? That's ok, he'll do it for you! He'll walk up and make some excuse about how you have to go.

If someone is asking to hang out with you, and you don't want to go–but you don't want to straight up tell them that– he's given you full permission to blame it on him!

"Aw sorry, I have to attend my boyfriend's next photoshoot! You know how busy we can get."

And he's constantly hyping you up.

Whenever talking to others, he always brings you up atleast once.

If you're nervous about something, like an upcoming test or event, he's always there to remind you that you can get through it. He 100% believes in you.

He'll remind you of all your strengths, and that your weaknesses don't define you.

"Sometimes I wish you could see yourself the way I see you."

If you're nervous about making the first move, he's already 20 steps ahead of you. He'll always be the first one to reach for your hand or plant kisses on your cheek.

And when he's Chat Noir? He's basically your free ticket to paradise: being able to go outside without interacting with anyone.

He takes you up high on rooftops where no one can see you

You two don't have to say a single word. You can just bask in the silence asyiu watch the sunset.

Don't feel like talking because your social battery is out? That's ok! He can talk and you can listen. You don't have to say a single thing.

But with all the positives out of the way, there is one tiny problem-

He's famous.

While you try to keep your relationship with him a secret, inevitably, everyone finds out.

Now that it's been made public that you're Adrien's girlfriend, you're constantly surrounded by reporters.

Everyone you talk to is interested in your relationship

Plus angry fangirls posting not so nice things about you.

Adrien tries his best to calm his fan base down, but there's only so much he can do.

To not fuel the fire, he tries not to be too affectionate in public (which is very hard for him because he wants to give you all of his love 100% of the time).

And as Chat, he tries to treat you as if you're a stranger. Last thing either of you needed was for someone to think there was some sort of weird love triangle going on

Except that's exactly what happens because someone caught him giving you a rose during his break while on patrol.

Once again, he has to calm the fan base down, as everyone is convinced you're a blonde magnet.

The other downside is that Adrien can be clingy.

So when you're not feeling like being around people- and that includes him, he's stuck missing you. He respects your space, but he very much texts you while you're away. Give this man a stern talking to about space.

Oh, and if you want something from him...you have to...ugh, communicate that to him 🤢

He can be very uh...socially unaware...yeah let's say that.

So if you want to kiss, cuddle, hold hands, whatever, and waiting until he eventually gives you one isn't working, you can't just give him hints.

Doesn't matter how obvious they are.

"My hand is feeling a little cold."

"Oh I'm sorry, I think I have some gloves you can borrow!"

"I'm feeling lonely over here. If only my loving boyfriend hugged me."

"Am I the boyfriend you're referencing or is there another guy I don't know about?"

Now as Chat, he's a bit more aware.

But that doesn't mean he won't tease you

He likes seeing your fumble to explain to him that you want a kiss from him.

"You know what I want!"

"I'm afraid I don't, ma chérie. Enlighten me."

He's a little shit and he knows it.

But he's also yours and you love him for it.

[lukolabrainrot]

It has been a busy couple of weeks with nuggets of information that keeps us guessing and send us in panic. I wanted to summarise these and add my thoughts on here and see what other people think.

L's IG post from Spain to me looked N coded, I can see it in almost every picture he posted.

All the pictures were essentially stripped of any suggestion that this could be a couple's holiday which to me is VERY telling.

His reaction to the Cake picture was almost instant, which clearly shows that he’s got his priorities straight. He will never let us question his relation/friendship with N nd to quote another comment from here "he couldn’t for a second let anyone think he would do something hurtful to her."

The resort posted IG video in July with Bridgerton music and based on public knowledge there is no one else from the cast that has visited this place this year.

To me it looks like he was there with A before the trip in Italy.

In her holiday dump pictures that A posted on the last picture her hair is much longer than the picture from the Spanish resort which further supports the theory that these pictures were old or at least her's is.

There must have been some time limit on when this promo for the resort must be done by and by the looks of it A knows about it so she did post her story before.

There is SM silence from R&S.

R like all his friends comments on his birthday IG post except from L's, this includes posts that were made after L's.

Something went down in Italy and have caused a chaos in their group.

I don't think the Groomer M have a scooby do about his persona live at this point. She might be a shipper or trying to increase he likes by liking/commenting but she is based in US and I doubt is in regular contact with him or his team at this moment.

JD profile picture does not prove anything apart from him hanging out with N. This could be with or without other friends around.

Wearing each others hats, going for drinks together and hanging out yet again this is as much prove that they are together as it is that they are very good friends. Until I see either the same chemistry and behavior as N&L on WT or at least more intimate pictures or posts I won't be convinced there is more than friendship between them. Plus he seems like a really sweet guy, so I hope people leave him alone.

My take based on this is that there is a change since the beginning of August and we will yet to understand what that is but based on songs posted by N, them both having each other's backs on SM I only hope it is a positive change and with the filming starting I think if there are real feelings there ( which I do believe there are) they won't be able to keep away from each other for long!

No notes!

[stomach-bugg09]

summary: fali gets to meet the sully family, and he has never been more terrified.

a/n: now how can i possibly start this? thank you so much. seriously. this is actually insane !! the support received on the last [y/n] sully x fali fic has provided me with enough motivation to pull this little thing together in two days ( i also decided, if you haven't seen my last post, that the general public would prefer small short imagines rather than a story-like series !! ) it’s much shorter than the last one (1.5k), but it’s very sweet. i hope you all enjoy reading this as much as i enjoyed writing it. NOTE: to those who have sent requests in, thank you so much !! i am working through them slowly but surely, and i’ve already planned out the majority of them. thank you all again, hope you enjoy !! feedback, reblogs, and reqs are always appreciated !!

tags: @pinkhotdogsfr @eywas-heir @historygeekqueen @325575 @inutheangel @bonnibuckets @silkenthusiasts @inarihl @marvelwweprinxessesworld @perseny @wxnderingthoughts @mashiromochi ( quick note: a majority of these are based on comments from part one, but if you have interest in being added to the official taglist, please check out and comment on my tag guide !! )

warnings: none except for major fluff, maybe some happy lil tears, the cutest little relationship ever, jake and neytiri being scary, relationship goals ( could possibly make you feel extremely lonely—that is how i am currently feeling !! )

part i

meet the family

fali liked to consider himself to be brave. he was born as the only child to his parents, vi’ieo and fpai, two extremely well respected warriors of the metkayina. thanks to his mother’s childhood connection with ronal, he was raised alongside tsireya and ao’nung, almost like he was their older brother.

to say that he’d encountered a scary parent before would be an understatement. not only did he have fpai and vi’ieo’s wrath underneath his belt, but he also had experienced that of ronal and tonowari.

so, why was fali so freaked out when he saw jake sully stomping towards him, lo’ak and neteyam trailing right behind him. a few steps later walked [y/n], her arms crossed in front of her chest and shoulders hunched sheepishly.

before he could even see [y/n]’s face, he knew exactly what was happening, flashbacks to the day before coming to mind. he should’ve known that their facade would be up as soon as tuk walked in on the two of them, immediately questioning “what the heck they were doing.” the two, desperate and dumb, answered by claiming they were playing shark. that’s why fali was biting her neck!

fali froze as he saw the sully males walk closer and closer, nearly letting the net full of fish that he’d grabbed from the reef trap slip out of his grip. he was lucky that his reflexes were more than equipped, immediately adjusting his grip so he could continue pulling the net onto the dock.

as he heaved the net upwards, flipping it over his shoulder to land on the wooden boards beside his feet, jake sully and his sons took their first steps onto the dock, tracking bits of sand off of the shore into the cracks and crannies of the worn down grain.

fali swallowed, stepping overtop the net so it didn’t awkwardly sit between him and the sully boys, inhaling sharply as he could finally read the expression of [y/n].

“lo’ak, neteyam,” he greeted with a smile, not letting his nerves get to the surface. he then nodded at jake, “sir.” fali brought his hand up, gesturing oel ngati kameie to the omaticayans.

“fali,” jake sully returned, his expression flat and grim. the man sure knows how to intimidate, fali thought, swallowing a nervous wad of spit.

“how can i help you?” fali asked, smile bright and voice kind.

jake chuckled at that, although he didn’t seem all that amused. “skip the formalities, fali,” he commanded, leading fali to nod immediately. at that, jake hid an impressed expression. he’s clearly grown up alongside warrior parents.

“so,” jake continued slowly, allowing [y/n] to finally catch up, stopping next to the youngest brother. the father’s eyes drifted from his daughter back to fali. “you’re the one she chose?”

“i suppose if that’s how you want to put it,” fali chuckled nervously, his hands growing clammy as he clenched and unclenched his fists.

jake nodded slowly at that. fali cursed himself. “how would you put it?”

“dad!” [y/n] hissed, but her words went ignored.

“uh,” he trailed, head ducking as he scratched the back of his neck, not missing the amused expressions that rested on both neteyam and lo’ak’s faces.

“look,” jake saved him from answering, knowing that fali was far too clueless. “all that we’re here to say is the simple rundown.”

fali felt himself straightening his shoulders, forcing himself to hold eye contact. he did not need his girlfriend’s father disliking him.

“in the most basic form, if you hurt her,” jake trailed, his eyes flickering to his oldest who held her head in her hands, indigo washing out her face due to the embarrassment. “we—” his hand raised, gesturing to the three males—”hurt you.”

“dad!” [y/n] scolded again, voice much louder as she clasped a hand overtop her mouth, jaw dropped in the slightest bit.

fali swallowed, the two younger boys stifling laughs from behind their father.

“understood?”

immediately, the metkayina boy nodded. “yes, sir.”

and then, it was almost as if the tension from seconds earlier dissipated. “good,” jake affirmed, a smile gracing his lips. he offered his forearm to the boy. “it is good to finally meet you.”

fali returned his grin, grasping jake’s arm. “and me, you.”

fali thought that he was safe. he finally got the talk done with his girlfriend’s ( extremely scary ) father! what else was there to worry about?

well, fali was in for a pleasant surprise!

later that afternoon, after debriefing with [y/n]—a conversation that’d been full of laughter, mainly because [y/n] was poking fun at him—the pair decided that, since the word was out and had spread very quickly ( news didn’t take long in the metkayina villages ), they would spend the day together.

at one point, after they managed to finish all of their duties for the day, they seemed to wander back to the sully’s marui.

“you should meet my mother,” [y/n] begged, her eyes bright.

he laughed at her desperation. “i have already met your mother through ronal.”

“officially meet her. and you know what i mean!”

fali hummed, using to hand that he wasn’t using to hold [y/n]’s to tap against his chin, miming a deep state of thinking. “well, i suppose.”

and that’s how the two found themselves bounding across the sand, [y/n]’s face bright with joy as she held his hand. the exuberant girl practically dragged him, willing him to walk faster.

it was so weird to [y/n]. having something—someone—of her own. someone that she could bring home to show off to her family, someone that she could finally claim as someone that she loved. she’d never been able to do that before.

fali couldn’t help but feel immense joy every time he looked at her. every time she wore that brilliant smile, that gorgeous way that the skin around her eyes wrinkled. fali’d experienced… a lot. he was an impressive and very attractive warrior, after all, but despite whatever experimenting had been done all those years ago, nothing compared to this.

as the two finally found themselves in a close proximity to the sully’s marui, it was as if fali finally remembered that, while jake was scary, neytiri was terrifying.

once they entered, they immediately saw neytiri who sat behind tuk. the mother was busy threading beads into the youngest child’s hair, a desire that the baby of the family had been requesting for months.

at the sight, [y/n] laughed, causing neytiri to look up with her eyebrow muscles raised. “you finally did it?” she questioned, quickly leaping over top the junk that was scattered in the entrance and crossing her legs besides her baby sister.

“yes!” tuk cried triumphantly. “i even got to pick the beads.”

“this one’s pretty,” [y/n] mused, analyzing a clay bead that’d been stained a deep blue color.

neytiri cleared her throat before she shoved the bowl of beads into her eldest’s hands. “take these,” she demanded, pushing herself onto her feet.

at the action, fali swallowed. the sully family sure was protective.

he fixed his posture as the mother walked over, carefully avoiding the messy obstacles thanks to her childrens’ inability to clean up after themselves. she stopped directly in front of the boy.

“ma’am,” he greeted, gesturing for the second time that day.

“fali.” neytiri’s smile was warm, comforting. and yet, he still felt a bit nervous. with neytiri, she did not vocalize her threats or warnings, but they didn’t need to be vocalized. oh no, with neytiri, you just knew.

“i’m sorry that we could not have a formal introduction to you and my daughter’s relationship,” neytiri offered, her eyes staring straight into his soul.

at that, fali chuckled. “me too, but i’m afraid the only people at fault for how it played out was, well, us.” he caught the gaze of [y/n], her stare soft and smile gentle.

neytiri’s amused grin only grew at those words. “next time you decide to do that, i suggest making sure you’re not in the same proximity as my youngest child.”

fali blushed at that, a deep indigo spreading throughout his entire face. “whoops.” he scratched the back of his neck sheepishly.

luckily for him, the small voice of tuk had both him an neytiri looking back at the sully girls. “fali!” she cried. “come help! it is taking too long.”

at that, [y/n] gasped in mock offense. “i’m trying, tuk.”

“try harder.”

fali laughed, and once he got a soft nod from the mother, he made his way over to the pair of siblings sitting on the floor. “i’m not sure i’ll be of much use. i’ve never done this before!”

“come here.” [y/n] patted the ground beside her. “i will teach you.”

“please do not ruin my hair, fali. if you make me look ugly, you aren’t allowed to date my big sister.”

“noted,” fali trailed, sitting down behind the baby sully. his eyes tracked over to [y/n]’s hands, watching how her fingers moved in order to get the beads on successfully.

“like this—do you see?”

“mhm…”

“and then you take this.”

“yes i see that.”

“no, dumbie, like this.”

“oh!”

from the entrance of the marui, two pairs of eyes watched the young couple, their gazes soft.

“he is good,” neytiri whispered to jake, leaning her head on his shoulder.

jake hummed in agreement. “they are good.”

[brf-rumortrackinganon]

Anyway, back to the point. Harry did want a family and by all accounts, he would have been very happy being a husband and a dad. Except he chose a wife for competition’s sake, and he chose a wife that doesn’t actually like him. She likes his title and his money. And that’s chipped away at everything Harry is. He loathes her because she didn’t deliver worldwide domination and instead made him lose everything. He’s probably OK with the kids, but he’s not bonded to them, not the way we see William being bonded to/with his kids, and doesn’t have a problem being away from them for so long.

-

You've raised an extremely big argument here, what do you mean by he chose a wife who doesn't actually like him but his title and his money? I mean, when she came to the scene, she was already an actress and a blogger who's making her own name. I'm surprised that you do not think of Kate this way whose whole value and identity solely based on who she married.

Like, when H&M divorces, she'll still remain an actress but when it happens to the latter, who is she by then?

The sugars are here.

In one corner we have a woman who:

Dated her boyfriend for 2 years in private before they went public with their relationship

In 20 years of knowing this man, hasn’t breathed a single word to the press about his family and

Has upheld her commitments and vows to her husband to make public appearances on the hardest days of her life.

In the other corner, we have a woman who:

Posted that she was fucking a prince on social media the day after she met him

Fled when it became too hard and didn’t get what she wanted and

Gave countless tell-all interviews and statements about his family.

Sure, the woman who shares her husband’s privacy for their personal lives doesn’t love him at all but the one who smashed-and-grabbed the BRF’s reputation for attention is the one who truly loves her husband.

[theunsinkableship1]

Help! I'm in a parasocial relationship with Lukola.

⚠️DISCLAIMER: This is LUKOLALAND only. Skip this if you're not a shipper. This is only my point of view. No harm intended.

Like many of us in Lukolaland, I fell for POLIN first, their fictional chemistry was attractive, and it pulled me in. But it wasn’t long before I fell harder for LUKOLA captivated by their real-life magnetic chemistry, the undeniable connection between the actors behind the characters which is absolutely based on friendship, but which I also believe is so much more than that. LUKOLA is now an increasingly significant part of my daily life, and while I don’t exactly know how or why I got here, here I am, steady aboard this ship. As someone experiencing this for the first time and seeing a lot of criticism towards the Lukola fandom, I wanted to reflect on what’s really going on here. After already delving into the negativity within the fandom in two previous posts, I now want to focus on the broader conversation about the legitimacy of our community.

A parasocial relationship is a one-sided connection where one party, usually a fan, becomes emotionally invested in a celebrity, fictional character, or public figure who doesn’t reciprocate that same level of personal connection. It’s a common phenomenon, especially in the digital age, where media blurs the lines between public personas and real people.

People often criticize shipping real people, like Luke and Nicola, claiming it’s “weird” or even invasive. I’ll admit, there’s a strangeness to it, and boundaries are important. But is it fair to label us as crazy for simply being invested in a connection we perceive? If we think about it, we “ship” people in our real lives all the time rooting for our friends to get together, hoping our favorite colleagues will hit it off. It’s human nature to be invested in connections we care about.

People say that the World Tour was only PR and that we are delusional to think they are together in real life. Most of us don’t think they’re together now that’s exactly why we’re shipping them, we saw something exceptional between them and we definitely think that they should be together, that’s the point. We can differentiate actors from characters that’s why we call them LUKOLA and not POLIN. There may have been some blurred lines and some real-life mirroring but that’s not the bulk of it.

It is true that the way the promotion was handled for season 3 intentionally blurred those lines. The marketing campaign, press interviews, and social media content often leaned heavily into the chemistry between the leads, with subtle implications that left room for fan speculation about a real-life relationship.

It’s important to address why dismissing the dynamic between Luke and Nicola as mere PR or labeling those who see a genuine connection as "crazy" is not okay.

The connection between Luke and Nicola has been evident for years, not just during the World Tour but also in their past public interactions and behind-the-scenes footage. Observers have noted consistent emotional undertones like shared glances, supportive gestures, and a natural intimacy that goes beyond professional behavior, suggesting a bond that isn't easily fabricated by PR. Their closeness has been acknowledged by some cast, crew, and even friends and family members, further validating what fans have perceived.

Many dismiss their relationship as PR due to biases rooted in celebrity culture, where staged romances are common. This skepticism often leads people to view all interactions as scripted, making it easier to label the connection as fake rather than recognizing the complexities of genuine human emotions unfolding under public scrutiny. Critics often struggle to separate the actors' real-life bond from their on-screen personas, overlooking the authenticity of their unscripted moments. Calling fans “crazy” for believing in their connection imposes a narrow view on what is clearly a nuanced and personal dynamic between Luke and Nicola.

It’s worth questioning why shipping fictional characters whose fates are pre-written and often predictable is more accepted than shipping real people who exhibit real chemistry and connection, on-screen and off. Fictional characters are constructed for our entertainment and should have a lesser impact on our reality, but when it comes to real-life dynamics, the thrill often lies in the authenticity and unpredictability.

Those dismissing the Lukola fandom often do so from a place of bias, without recognizing that many fans are deeply invested and knowledgeable about what they see behind the scenes, during interviews, and on social media. To us, the connection between Luke and Nicola isn’t just a fleeting fantasy, it’s something rooted in countless interactions that we’ve seen unfold publicly and sometimes even subtly in their private behaviors.

Some people also dismiss Lukola because they can’t fathom the connection due to their own preconceptions, like claiming Nicola isn’t Luke’s “type” based on superficial judgments. But connection often defies typecasting; it’s about shared moments, mutual respect, and chemistry that goes beyond looks or what we think we know about a person’s preferences. Critics often label fans as “crazy” for seeing a genuine connection between Luke and Nicola, imposing their own biases on them. These narrow views overlook the real, evolving nature of personal connections. Nicola's or Luke’s perceived divergences from the “ideal” partner is often unfairly judged, reflecting broader societal biases, including gendered scrutiny and fan projections. These misperceptions say more about public expectations than about Luke and Nicola’s real relationship, which is a deeply personal and nuanced relationship; Dismissing their bond because it challenges existing narratives. Recognizing the authenticity of their bond isn’t about fantasy; it’s about understanding the complexities of human relationships, especially under public scrutiny.

The Lukola fandom isn’t just a collection of people projecting their fantasies; it’s a group that sees a unique, genuine bond between two people, one that even some of their castmates, crew members, and close friends have noticed and commented on. Our community is about celebrating that bond and exploring the emotions it evokes, not just blindly fantasizing about it. The criticisms we face often come from people who view things through a biased lens, dismissing our perceptions often because they don’t align with theirs.

Lukola fandom provide an outlet for creativity, where fans can engage in discussions, create fan art, write fanfiction, and explore different interpretations of the interactions they love. It offers a sense of belonging and community, connecting people with shared interests. For many of us, being part of this fandom provides a supportive environment where we can express ourselves without being called crazy or delusional.

We can celebrate the content we love, helping to promote and keep the interest alive in Lukola and Bridgerton, and their other projects. This can contribute to the longevity of the careers and even influence future productions. The Lukola fandom has a right to exist and can be a positive community as long as its members engage responsibly. The key is maintaining a healthy balance between enjoying the content and respecting the personal lives of those involved in its creation.

We as fans should strive to maintain an objective perspective, appreciating Lukola’s work and interactions without crossing into invasive and illegal activities, entitlement or unrealistic expectations.

We should approach this with more tact and care, very demurely very mindfully, avoiding putting too much pressure on them to prevent any unintended consequences. It's important to keep our content within our community and minimize direct interactions, such as tagging or sharing posts with them, as much as possible. Let’s create a respectful space that doesn’t intrude on their personal boundaries.

In the end, it’s not about whether it’s right or wrong to ship real people; it’s about respecting the emotional investment of others and recognizing that these connections whether real or imagined bring joy, comfort, and community to many of us in Lukolaland.

[dairy-farmer]

Thinking about that public incest au, especially after the post today (Mar 19), but not specifically inspired by it.

But!

Just because incest is publicly acceptable doesn't mean it's compulsory or anything, and rape is still very much a thing (in fact, it's taken Even More seriously because society is so sex positive!). A lot of the time it comes down to family traditions/dynamics - for a (probably very weird) comparison, consider in America how a lot of people have ham on Christmas. But some people have turkey, some people like my family have lasagna, and some people even go out for Chinese food. It's all a matter of preference. Where am I going with this? Tim's parents were never into it. Maybe Tim was too young for them, maybe they were monogamous, maybe they just didn't care for him that much. The point is, Tim's family never fucked him.

And while the Waynes indulge occasionally (no one to question your scars, and it's someone you can feel really safe with) none of them ever tried to fuck Tim either.

This leads to everyone's favorite type of Tim; Insecure and Doesn't Feel Like Part of the Family Tim™!

Why didn't they fuck him? Partly because he was too young at first, and partly because of how he joined the family / was introduced to everybody. Bruce was grieving Jason and at least a bit bitter about Tim being Robin. Add to that the fact Bruce didn't fuck his other sons all that often either - him and Dick did it occasionally when Dick was younger (got to show him how to do it in a safe controlled environment) but then Dick spent a long time being very annoyed with him. Now they only really have sex on special occasions. And poor Jason was forced to do that stuff to survive on the streets and was convinced for a long time that Bruce only took him in for that reason. Once he was comfortable, though, Jason initiated it a couple times before he died - after which he had no interest 😒.

So Bruce never really brought it up, even after adopting Tim: plus, Tim never approached him either and since Tim had mentioned in passing he never did that with his parents, Bruce just figured it wasn't a thing he was interested in. Dick was similar - oh, he was free with hugs and cuddles and stuff, but at first Tim wasn't family, and then once he was Dick came to the same conclusion as Bruce. Jason and Damian not initiating anything is for the obvious reasons - if you tried to kill someone multiple times in the past it can be incredibly awkward to bring up, even when you start getting along.

So poor Tim feels like he's not really a part of the family, because no one's ever offered to have sex with him, even though it's definitely something the Waynes do - aside from fucking Bruce, Dick and Jason definitely fooled around for a short time before Jason died and occasionally after he came back, and he knows for a fact that Dick showed Damian how to fuck and be fucked while working as his Batman. So of course Tim starts to drift away - it's fine, it's not like he's actually part of the family! And everyone is quietly freaking out because Timmy is pulling away! They love and care about him (even the two who don't like to admit it), and they're not sure how to fix it!

Until!!!

One day Dick decides to surprise Tim in the Nest, and as he's sneaking up on Tim in his living room, he hears that Tim is crying softly. He peeks in the room and sees that Tim is watching a movie, and at first he thinks it's one of those tear jerkers, except... It's not. It's one of those silly family based comedy movies. Specifically, it's at an unimportant part where two sisters are having a 'getting along' montage, including a tasteful fade-to-black moment (it is a family movie after all). And it clicks for Dick. He quietly extracts himself before Tim can notice him, and returns to the manor, calling a family meeting, sans Tim.

Dick explains what he learned and the meeting explodes into chatter and arguments. Damian demands to know why, if this is the case, Tim never said anything himself? Dick calmly reminds them that Tim is a very cautious person. If he believed that none of them were interested or cared about him, what possible reason would he have to put himself out there and risk rejection? After a moment of quiet contemplation, Jason abruptly stands up and starts striding out of the room. Bruce demands to know what he's doing, to which Jason replies that he's gonna being the baby bird back into the flock.

Cue an incredibly confused, and slightly alarmed, Tim being sought out by each member of the family to be fucked. Each of them have a very different approach. Jason barrels right on in, grabbing Tim up and kissing him senseless, groping and grabbing and teasing, and by the time Tim's brain has a chance to catch up, Jason's got him pinned to a bed (when did that happen!?) and is rubbing the head of his cock against Tim asking for permission to fuck him. And really, who is Tim to say no? (Tim definitely cries during and after, both because it feels really good and because this means Jason actually does see him as family! And cares about him!)

Dick is more subtle, inviting Tim over to his apartment for a movie night and starting with cuddling. Then he purposefully puts a hand high on Tim's thigh. Tim looks at him startled, and Dick asks if he can kiss him. Tim is definitely red and a bit teary eyed as he says yes. They spend a while making out like teenagers, before Dick sides off the couch and proceeds to eat Tim out like it's his goddamn job. By the time Dick finally presses inside, Tim is a quivering sobbing mess.

Damian is the reason Tim finally figures out what is happening, because Damian decides to be direct and forthright about it: he walks up to Tim in the cave when it is just the two of them, and says he has been remiss in his brotherly duties towards Tim and would like the chance to both make up for that and to demonstrate his acceptance of Tim as part of the family. Of course, Tim immediately tests him for mind-altering substances and once he's cleared and has been very clear about his annoyance at the detour, Tim cautiously accepts (after, of course, making a joke about how much all of that must have physically pained him to say. "I only had to say all of that because you are a fool and constantly underestimate the family's affection for you! If you weren't so dim at times, it wouldn't have been necessary to say!!" "Aww, you love me!" ".....yes, I do 😠.") It's honestly kinda awkward at first, with both of them being self-conscious and stiff, until Tim gives an annoyed huff and pushes Damian onto his back before slowly and determinedly riding him. Damian makes a mental note to do this as often as possible in the future, because fuck does Drake Tim feel good. He should have done this way earlier!

Bruce is, of course, the last one to approach Tim. Tim is prepared this time, and even tells Bruce that he understands now that he really is part of the family (none of his brothers were willing to let him up for air until he admitted it) and that Bruce doesn't need to force himself to have sex with Tim just for that. And honestly? That is probably the thing about the whole situation that makes Bruce feel the worst; the fact that he has let Tim believe that doing this with him while be some kind of chore. Just a box to tick on his to-do list of Family Maintenance. Bruce drags Tim up to his bed and spends the next three hours taking him apart and whispering every compliment, encouragement, and endearment that he's ever wanted to say but never really had the courage to into Tim's ear.

By the end of it all, Tim is thoroughly convinced of his place in the family and how much he is loved. But just to make sure he never doubts them again, everyone makes a point to fuck Tim at least once a week.

~❤️🦇

tim being the one in the family who has always wanted to be loved like that!! he was denied it from his parents because they simply hadn't been interested in him like that just like they hadn't been interested in hanging out with him or coming to any important events. but for tim, he'd seen how classmates and friends were able to be loved like that and wanting so badly for his parents to show him the same love. then the waynes who...well never really did it that often. sure on special occasions, or when they were getting along well, or when they did it just to teach each other the ropes of it all. but not tim because they thought that's what HE wanted.

but them figuring it out and rushing to fulfill his needs, making sure he feels loved and has a place in the family and never letting him feel unwanted or unloved again❤️.

[getvalentined]

The Big Patreon Breakdown

Okay, Patreon's Discord Q&A ended on the 16th, and I've been waiting to see if anything else happened—like maybe a a public announcement from Patreon instead of emails sent exclusively to creators and a video hidden on the CEO's personal YT page—but nothing has happened, so I'm gonna do a breakdown of what we're looking at.

This is an EXTREMELY long post. I am not putting it behind a cut. I'm not sorry.

Short attention span version here.

—

I. The iOS processing fees are a smokescreen covering up the actual devastating changes that Patreon is forcing creators into.

The iOS fees are trash, 30 percent is extortion and we all know it—but that's not the biggest issue at hand here. Patreon is using this event as an excuse to change the entire structure of the creator side of their platform, and blaming Apple to avoid getting backlash.

They tripled their platform and processing fees in 2017, passing it on to patrons without notice, and the subsequent hemorrhage of paying users forced them to walk it back. They tried to force everyone onto their rolling billing model in 2021, and the entire community pushed back so hard they were forced again to walk it back.

This time, they're doing both and insisting it's Apple's fault, and everyone is taking that at face value because Apple sucks. And Apple does suck, but Patreon is getting what they've wanted for years by catering to Apple.

Oh, also, they're forcing creators to notify their patrons of the billing model changes (with a suggested template that explicitly refers to it as a decision made by the creator, even though nobody is making any decisions here except Jack Conte) rather than doing it themselves.

II. Patreon is not going to change course for any reason. This is set in stone.

There are multiple proofs for this, including but not limited to:

One-on-one calls between the platform's top earners and the CEO, Jack Conte, wherein the vibe was apparently not "What can we do to support your business in order to retain your place on our platform?" but rather "We know that the only way this works is if we don't do it, but how can we keep you from complaining about it any more than you already have?" One creator explained in granular detail how they run their business through this platform and why changing their billing model would ruin literally everything, and Conte responded with "Is this an essential part of your offering?"

The Patreon Team on Discord has continued to shut down all discussion of alternative options with assertions that Apple won't allow it, even if those alternatives were suggested based on legal precedent set by lawsuits against Apple, and the declaration that they will not be allowing the app to be removed from the App Store no matter what because it's the single most important and integral avenue of creator growth on the platform. (Put a pin in that.)

The platform's top earner is on the pay-per-creation billing model, the one that is going to be hit the hardest; creators on this model stand to lose literally 90 percent of their income overnight. This creator and his team were as blindsided as the rest of us, and they've been offered no assistance except for a complex math equation to try to calculate how much they should be charging people on fixed-price tiers, and no assurance except "the iOS app is the platform's highest source of engagement and is necessary to help you continue to grow."

Pay-upfront (PUF) and pay-per-creation (PPC) billing is going away for new accounts and anyone who doesn't opt out via Patreon's convoluted backend before November 1 of this year, and anyone who doesn't manually switch over to their rolling billing cycle will be automatically pushed into it on November 1, 2025. This means that PUF creators no longer have the promise of a steady paycheck when they need it, early enough in the month to pay rent and bills, while PPC creators are losing their entire business model all at once, which has resulted in a loss of 75 to 90 percent of income for multiple PPC creators who have tried to switch to the rolling billing structure in the past. They are killing these people's livelihoods and they know it, they have seen the data to prove it, but they will not be swayed.

III. Patreon claims the iOS app is the highest source of engagement on the platform at 40 percent—but will not define what "engagement" means, and staff refuse to share detailed analytics or data on the revenue share coming from the app.

Several creators, some with a couple dozen patrons and some with thousands, polled their audience to get a feel for how many of them used the app. Consistently across every creative industry, genre, and form of media, the answer was 2 percent or less. The average across a dozen-plus polls of actual active patrons, numbering into the thousands, is that around 85 percent of patrons access the platform exclusively via the web, whether on desktop or mobile. The majority didn't even know there was an app.

Further, Patreon would not explain what "engagement" means, but did not deny the possibility that dismissing an app notification on your phone counts as an "engagement."

When Patreon was asked for data on how often people pledged to support a creator via the iOS app, the only response was the claim that information is "sensitive to [Patreon's] business" and can't be shared. In a creator-exclusive server. With the people who bring that revenue onto the platform in the first place. And have our own analytics that we can look at individually, which show an average of 0 to 0.5 percent revenue from the iOS app.

IV. Patreon does not have a refund policy in place to work with Apple, and has given no implications of intention to work with Apple to shorten the time it takes for funds from iOS purchases to be paid out to creators, which is currently 75 days.

Yes, you read that correctly: at the moment, it takes 75 days before creators can cash out funds processed via iOS. On top of that, Apple's refund policy is 60 days, and the creator is not involved in the process whatsoever—if a malicious actor pledges to your page, downloads all your work over the course of a month, and then pings Apple for a refund? Apple gets to decide whether or not they get that refund.

Patreon's general refund policy is that it's up to the creator 99.9 percent of the time, with very rare cases of fraud requiring Patreon's intervention. In the case of pledges and Commerce sales via iOS, the creator has no say, and Patreon currently has no policy to protect them. They've stated that they're working on a refund policy that will work with Apple's guidelines to keep everyone happy, but at this point we all know what that means—they're just going to use Apple's refund policy.

They also wouldn't say whether or not creators would be on the hook for Apple's added processing fees, as is usually the case with other big payment processors, but it sounds like we are! So if someone pays $14.50 on the iOS app, the creator gets $10, can't pay it out, and then the malicious actor can call for a refund weeks later and the creator will owe $14.50—in spite of only ever having seen $10 and never being able to pay it out because the 75 hold hadn't passed. Sounds great!

V. Patreon's own graphics meant to explain why this is necessary and how the new fees work are not correct.

I'm gonna let these mostly speak for themselves:

The sale price listed on this graphic is $10, but adding together the three fees listed gives a total of $11.35. This is likely a copying error, as 4.35 is clearly not 30% of 10, but the lack of attention to detail on one of the only two pieces of official material that we have which refer directly to the numbers on which Patreon is signing away our livelihoods is slightly concerning.

This one totals up to 103 percent! (Actually closer to 104, since I rounded Android and Mobile down by about a quarter percent each.) The 40 percent figure on the iOS bar is based on the figure given to us by Patreon staff, and was used to place the markers to denote individual percentages on the other three.

Patreon made these and gave them to us with the assertion that they were proof that the iOS app is indispensable—why should we trust anything they say about numbers if the charts they gave us are literally impossible?

VI. Patreon refuses to offer any promises to 18+ creators that they will not be removed from the app in order to adhere to Apple's content guidelines.

Instead, Patreon staff's response to this request for reassurance is "We have no plans to remove 18+ creators from the Patreon app." You may note that's phrased very specifically, and leaves a hole big enough to drive a freight train full of iPhones straight through. They have no plans to remove 18+ creators from the app. When asked for clarification on this, confirmation that they would not be removing us from the platform if Apple pushed them to do so regardless of whether or not they have plans, this sentiment was simply repeated in more words and with more apologies, along with a reminder that Patreon has had to change their terms for 18+ creators several times already in order to keep up with laws and competition.

VII. All the features Patreon is insisting are integral for creator growth are inaccessible to 18+ creators, and questions about this were either dismissed, redirected, or ignored.

Remember how the iOS app is the single most important and integral avenue for character growth on the platform? Well, 18+ creators are not discoverable on the platform, regardless of the avenue of access. We are not visible on the app unless you have it installed, are logged in, are already following us on the platform, and click an external link to be directed to our pages from somewhere else via a mobile web browser. There is no way to find us on the platform itself.

Other features that staff insist are necessary for growth to which 18+ creators do not have access:

Patreon creator search (on web, Android and iOS apps)

Mass post editing (now called the "Library," which reads as "Something Went Wrong" for me and other 18+ creators who tried to get to it)

On-platform video hosting

Built-in cross-creator recommendations

All on-platform "commerce" features (both digital and physical goods)

The ability to market ourselves by linking to Patreon from our social media and vice-versa (we're basically not allowed to do this or risk being banned)

Yeah, about that first and that last point. We're hidden from searches on the platform, and we can't link to our pages from social media or risk permanent suspension. We cannot grow in this fashion at all, and in fact 18+ creators are getting all the downsides of this switch (except maybe for the app fee, since you can't fucking find us to pledge on the app) with none of the benefits. Nothing they are doing here will help us grow, because they've kneecapped us already. Now they're going after our capacity to obtain a steady paycheck at the beginning of the month, too.

VIII. Patreon's iOS app is currently (as of August 18, 2024) in violation of Apple's guidelines for app ratings; staff did not state any intention to become compliant by raising the app's rating as needed to maintain their 18+ creator community.

The App Store guidelines on creator apps state that they must be rated equal to the highest rated creator content on their platform. In spite of hosting 18+ content, which requires a 17+ rating per Apple, Patreon is rated 12+ in the App Store. Increasing the rating to 17+ would cut out the entire market of wealthy teenagers with iPhones, and since everything else being done here is intended to please Apple, it's unlikely this will be the point that Patreon finally gives an inch for its creators. The exact response from staff on this was "We hear and acknowledge your inputs on the app rating and are exploring our options there." Their "options" on this are to increase the rating, or to remove all 18+ content from the platform. That's it. Those are their options. Why do those need exploring, if they really give a shit about the 18+ community?

I know a lot of people out there are going to say that it would be nice if Patreon would "get rid of the porn," but you need to understand something: 18+ content is not all sexual.

18+ content can and does also include:

Horror (particularly body horror, which is explicitly or implicitly banned on all current adult-specific creator platforms, leaving me nowhere to go when Patreon kicks me)

True crime (murder, violence, theft, etc., is all 18+)

Health (blood/discussion of blood is 18+ regardless of context)

Education (what if you learn about war? that's 18+)

Trauma recovery (the word "r#pe" makes everything around it 18+)

Profanity (ko-fi marks creators 18+ for saying "fuck")

Languages (because you might learn profanity)

Weaponsmithing (because weapons are dangerous)

Leatherworking (because leather can be a fetish)

Shoemaking (feet can also be a fetish)

...even more I'm not bothering to list here.

Implying that they somehow didn't know about this extremely important part of the guidelines—which are being used as an excuse to force the top earner on the platform to ruin his entire business model—is absolute nonsense. Patreon knows about this requirement, they haven't taken any steps to comply based on their current creator population, and I will be shocked if they do. Much easier to just kick us all off, since we can barely use the damn platform as it is.

—

The entire thing makes no sense. Patreon is losing out on so much money by doing this—they're crippling all their highest-earning creators to keep the iOS app running, and it's going to hurt everyone except for Apple. The only reason I can think that they would refuse to budge on this is that there's something else going on behind the scenes between Patreon and Apple. That, or the company is intentionally throwing itself into an extremely drawn out death spiral. But we all know which of those is the more likely scenario here.

[spideyladman]

Currently thinking about posting IF AUs on here, which do y'all want to hear or see of? <:3€

AUs descriptions underneath the line and are all ordered in the timespan I have created, like the oldest is first and the youngest is last lol- (Images will be connected to the AUs too!!! Send me an ask of what y'all wanna see!!!!! >:3)

1. Cracked AU

AU where both Calvin and Bee have been dealing with hallucinations from their mum's passing. They go to therapy (Bee goes to a normal one while Calvin goes to the Sunny's), and long story short, Bee punched somebody in the face, and Calvin and Sunny are now missing. Cut to the present day, and now Bee sees cracked Calvin and tries to uncover who he is while trying to help the IFs to get to other people, while also discovering that kids also need their IFs. Also, Cosmo is more mellow because Sunny was his friend, and they had a falling out. Also, when you think of Calvin, think of Land of Lustreous body horror. Yeap-

2. Who Framed Art Teacher? AU

Basically Who Framed Roger Rabbit? movie but with IFs in each place. Cosmo is the detective, Pearl ( @art-tea-chill 's OC!!!) is his friend (maybe more? >:3€), Art Teacher is in Roger Rabbit's place except he starts out more trying to calm down before dealing with the investigation and immediately goes loco and nervous, and Calvin is in Jessica's place except instead of a suave singer he's more of a comedic more or less suave comedian who Cosmo just, hates. He hates him but tries to still try to get his story, even if he tries all of his best not to hate him a lot.

Also there is a certain OC planted in this AU as well as a certain secret that Cosmo and Pearl are hiding about themselves >:}€

3. Swapped Imagination AU

Basically a swap between Calvin and Blossom's style, where Calvin is the humanoid butterfly IF and Blossom is the human-like IF, and Cosmo accidentally breaks his wings while Blossom is way taller than both of them combined now-

4. IB IF AU

Y'all know that game which is called IB? Welp, now it's Bee in place of IB, Calvin in place of the twink, and Cosmo in place of the blonde girl. All of them go through obstacles within the art gallery that will try to guide them into insanity, and they must escape before it is too late.

5. Monster High IF AU

AU where Bee comes back to life thanks to her father and finds a building filled with monsters that hide from the public. It's not a high school it's more like a place where the monsters hide in lol- But anyways, she'll have to deal with normies, monsters, and certain dramas and secrets that she'll have to uncover. What is Blossom hiding? And who is this Calvin? Why does he look... familiar? What is he hiding too?

6. FNAF IF AU

Calvin is the Mimic and Blue fucking jumps Bee and Calvin's mum's head off which leads to the pizzeria closing, which makes Calvin resent him because now he's far away from figuring out who he is now! After being in this animatronic body for what feels like ages, he's losing memories and what might be his former self. Years later, Bee tries to look throigh the pizzeria when her dad becomes the nightguard, and tries figuring out why so many people have died there, and why her art teacher suddenly became more aggressive, and sometimes even numb to the pain after just working there for a few nights.

7. Crime Scene Cleaner AU

Based off the actual video game called Crime Scene Cleaner!!! Calvin is now a crime scene cleaner for the mafia and he does this to pay for his father's heart surgery, and while the days go by, and the tasks grow bigger and bigger, he starts becoming numb to it all? But he's not going to lose himself into the deep end, right? ...Right?

8. Dead Or Not?: Disco Elysium IF AU

(The very first image of this post is of this AU!!!)

Art Teacher is in place of Harry (and his name is now Arthur!!! <333€) and is somebody dealing with amnesia, and his partner in a new case is Calvin, in place of Kim. Both deal with shenanigans and the case which will determine who they are now. They also encounter Bee along the way, and Arthur starts trying to discover his own and Calvin's past. Also Sunny is included as an assigned therapist for Arthur, and will be very important to him later on in the story...

This AU is loosely based off the game, I just wanna turn them into shrimp lmao-

[cypionate60mg]

is forcemasc a response to sissy hypno? or something far different?

This is an important question with a long answer.

I don't know if I understand your distinction between "response" and "something far different", because I'd say both can be true. I'm also not quite sure what you mean by "response". I'm going to assume you mean that forcemasc is informed by the aesthetic precedents of sissy hypno.

First, let's clarify that sissy hypno is technically a subcategory of forced feminization, but has grown large enough to effect other porn genres in its own unique way. So, overall, sure, the disjointed genre of forcemasc is a response to forcefem, at the very least. And maybe also to sissy hypno. Mostly because its existence can't be ignored. Even if a forcemasc creator doesn't know about sissy hypno, its complicated presence is still felt in their work.

Sissy hypno claims that watching women get fucked by faceless masculine men will inevitably turn you into a woman, among other things. There's also particular iterations of it that lean deep into the hypno, encouraging the listener or viewer to compartmentalize these desires to get fucked and be feminine into an alter ego. In other cases, they command you to let your 'normal' self be taken over completely by your 'shadow self'. To let your desires become your identity for everybody to see. There's a unique shade of public humiliation. This anxiety that the porn you watch can be seen in the way you look.

I'm not an expert on how trans women and transfems feel about forcefem, especially sissy hypno, but I do know it's very complicated. Some of them used it to excavate their transness, and others find it to be abhorrent and disgusting. They're all entitled to their opinions, and that's a conversation I really don't feel comfortable entering.

Sissy hypno also leaves a particularly bad taste in people's mouths because of how its aesthetic elements were incorporated into gooning. Masturbating your life away until you're a manifestation of porn itself, which often includes becoming a masturbatory object for your 'goon buds'. Do you see what's happening here? The subordination of trans women, specifically, turns them into a fetishistic symbol of porn itself. They have come to represent the corruption of pornography and the failure of modern masculinity. The message is: if one fails to become or remain a man, then they are the plaything of men.

And let's be incredibly clear, this isn't based in any truth. TW/TFs, even those who participate in these fetishes, are not destined to be fleshlights. Their bodies aren't proof of their degeneracy, and their sexual dimensions are not inherently pornographic. But they are having to untangle themselves from that every single day. Any time they want intimacy, they have to navigate around this massive ideological snare.

So, your question, I'll answer it for myself, only. Is forcemasc a response? Yes, and it's intentional. I'm interested in porn that purports to transform its viewer. When you watch it, it fucks you.

So I found it interesting that trans men/transmascs were partaking in sissy hypno and forcefem. And, relatedly, some circles of TM/TMs express desires to be trans women. I'm not going to unpack that right now. Simply because it really deserves its own long post, complete with nuance. But I will say it in some ways points to a fear that sexual attractiveness cannot cohabitate with transness unless in a very particular body. And don't be mistaken, TW/TFs experience that fear too.

I don't really see how a Pinterest board of beautiful 'gender envy' men is all that different from a sissy-hypno flavored porn feed. Except for the fact that it's not explicitly pornographic. It's a particular practice of vibes-based masturbatory transition inspo collaging that all sorts of trans people partake in. We only see it associated with TM/TMs, because everybody unfairly accuses TW/TFs of only caring about aesthetics for perverse reasons.

I won't speak for others. For my attempt at forcemasc, I wanted to come at it from a different angle. How do we flip the script without just lazily making a masculinized copy of sissy hypno? Or avoid merely casting a trans filter on cis gay masculinization fetish? We have to respond, like you said, to not only sissy hypno but all sorts of other pre-existing porn genres. And the conventions apart from porn.

Here's my thought process. What if by becoming a man, you become a plaything for others? What if being masculinized brings you closer together with other people? What if a life of masculinity is possible without the subordination of femininity? Even seemingly more impossible, how do we express complicated feelings about our own feminine histories, gesture to the transphobic messaging about HRT that we receive, and fetishize our masculinization, all in one thoughtful package?

TM/TMs have a hard time envisioning where they might fit in the larger schema of desire, especially in relation to cis men. I think this is probably why so many fixate on 'roachification' and incel-type characters. (God, this could be its own long post.) I want to believe that forcemasc could be an alternative to our community's fetishization of and assimilation to male loneliness.

We're all (jacking off) in this together.

[noxhominis]

I have to say this now, because Sherlock Holmes is trending and I am celebrating more than I did this Christmas. I watched Knives Out and Glass Onion and it made me realise something crucial about Holmes. He is fundamentally a good person. Does he sometimes behave a little bit like he doesn't care? Yeah. And does he solve cases because he wants the thrill and the mystery? Yep. But I would argue that he mainly solves cases because he wants to help people. His first case was when he helped his friend. Later we see multiple instances of this happening again and again (him being a genuinely good person). I have said it once and I will say it a million times— Sherlock Holmes is interesting because he is a smart guy who is NOT an asshole. He is (mostly) considerate to people, and their feelings. He takes cases to help people. The prime example that springs to mind is Copper Beeches, where he didn't think Violet Hunter had anything interesting to say about her case. But he still agreed to hear her out. And many times, he has done things for people, solved their mysteries without any money. Now you could say that he is not concerned about money at all, except we have seen him squeeze the king of Bohemia. He takes high profile cases to pay the bills, normal cases to solve puzzles, and the really simple mysteries because he wants to help people. I may have talked about this in another post and used the example of Twisted Lip, and Blue Carbuncle to say how he let criminals (of a sort) go solely based on his moral judgement.

The reason why I bring this up in the same breath as the Knives Out films is because of Benoit Blanc's character. That man is very polite unless he absolutely needs to be rude or has been driven to the ends of his patience. You know, like a normal person? And I loved how it just completely avoided the trope most modern mysteries, crime thrillers, and detective stories fall into. I like to call the trope "The Genius Asshole Syndrome". And it just sort of stigmatises really really smart people for not having social skills by twisting them into something mean and uncaring. And so many modern adaptations of Sherlock Holmes fall into that. And yes, BBC is one of them. So do the Ritchie!verse movies. They make Sherlock Holmes act flippant towards other people, because such a genius cannot possibly care for the normal people. He cannot possibly appreciate other different versions of smart, because he is obviously a genius and a genius is always an asshole, and not empathetic at all. So it was really refreshing to see a detective who cared about his clients, and vulnerable people. It was nice to see a detective get angry on behalf of a defenceless person. And it was very nice to see a detective not wanting to fuck a female client who is maybe half his age. (Plus the gay thing worked out great). I really feel like we need more genuinely good, kind, and helpful people in fiction, and now that Sherlock Holmes is completely in public domain, we can hopefully get something that is faithful to his actual character instead of the two dimensional grim dark detective dynamic. And maybe modern media can give us other detectives who are actually human, and have all basic human emotions? Just a thought.