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flightfoot · 19 days ago

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Top Ten Completed Miraculous Fics Of 2024

So here it is, my top ten list for the year. I'm gonna be adding this as a bookmark subcollection inside of the full collection. That way, people will still be able to see which fics I recommend most highly for the year, even if they can't find this particular tumblr post.

I've got a real range in popularity here. The most popular fic has over 2000 kudos, while the least popular hasn't even hit 20 yet, at the time of my writing this. Just goes to show that popularity doesn't necessarily track with quality, especially for fics that have more niche appeal to begin with.

All of these are over 40K this time. Longer fics just have more going on, so they dominate lists like this. Which is one reason I have the regular lists that are separated by wordcount, to let fics of every length have a chance to shine.

A lot of the lower entries here bounced around in placement. The top five remained pretty stable though, once entered.

Here's the subcollection I set up for them!

10.

Each Hum And Click by @echo-has-queries

Kagami thought her understandably high standards for a match in marriage would mean she could avoid being paired with a man by her mother. That she could keep perfecting her flying-machine skills and eventually take over her mother’s place in leading the Tsurugi steam engine manufacturing company without having to defer to a man. She would have thought that when her mother told her to test the Agreste boy as a marriage match she had been kidding - if her mother ever kid. But she was serious and there truly was no fault to be found with Gabriel Agreste's son - except for the small detail of course, that he was not human. So Kagami must turn to the only fine mechanic she knows in Paris to find a solution to this new dilemma. But perhaps the dilemma could turn out to be the solution itself. Written for the AU Roulette Challenge 2024 with the prompt: Steampunk AU

So this fic is entirely from Kagami's POV, and it is a treat! It's an Adrigaminette fic, which you slowly figure out from reading the fic, if you didn't check the tags - Kagami may have tried not to like Adrien, but he grew on her regardless, and then a few chapters in you find out about hers and Marinette's failed relationship. I loved slowly finding out why the two of them broke up, when there are clearly still strong feelings between them, and how it ties into Kagami's character arc and the overall themes of the story: standing up for yourself, breaking free from those who would control you, and forging your own path.

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Do You Read Me? by @19thsentry-blog

The problem with being a Couffaine was the hereditary bits. The stubbornness. The weird need to pick a fight with authority for no reason besides the principle of it. The way being a Couffaine meant falling in love, fast as a car crash, and just as deadly. It ruined you forever.

So basically, this takes place a few years after Season 5, in the post-Wish world. Luka takes over as the Ladybug Holder, battling Chrysalis in Marinette's place. It's causing him some strain, since it's hard to hold down a job when you need to vanish randomly for long periods of time while on the clock, and it doesn't help that Chrysalis is a lot sneakier than Monarch was.

That's not the core of the story though. No, the real story starts up at chapter 3, when Luka suddenly wakes up in 19th century London, supposedly having always been there, and talking to a 19th century version of Max. From there, he soon gets escorted to Felix, who is a detective around those parts and agrees to host him for awhile.

This is a Sherlock Holmes inspired story, with the setting ripped straight out of those old stories, and I think it does a great job of that! Felix feels natural as Sherlock, with his deductive abilities, and the mystery really does read a lot like a Sherlock story. Though of course, the ultimate cause is more magical in nature.

I love Luka's perspective in this story and his and Felix's dynamic, it just feels very natural and well done!

I was satisfied with how the mystery wrapped up, 19thsentry did a good job of making things make sense at the end, and it felt satisfying. If you want a story with some great characterization for Luka or Felix, or just feel like a mystery, this is the story for you!

A Breach In The Brooch by @piromina

Ladybug and Chat Noir are the heroes of Paris. Hawkmoth is Chat Noir's father. Chat Noir is aware of this. Hawkmoth is not.

So this is an interesting spin on the classic "Gabriel recruits Adrien early on to help him" plotline. Mostly because Adrien is still Chat Noir in this AND still helping Ladybug as a superhero - Gabriel has no clue about his secret identity.

Plagg, unsurprisingly, isn't thrilled about Adrien refusing to tell Ladybug what he knows about Hawkmoth's identity, and that Adrien keeps following Gabriel's orders, even when he knows they're wrong. Though he figures out before Adrien does that Adrien's compulsion to follow his father's orders isn't just a psychological thing...

I really love Plagg in this especially, he's the MVP. He knows what it's like to be compelled to do or not to do certain things, so he's good at comforting Adrien over it and at finding loopholes for him.

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Phantom Pains (and other hints of you) by @buggachat

She couldn't remember anything. Not where she was going, where she'd been, why she was in this stairwell, or even her own name. But as she watched the blood pool at the base of the steps, she at least knew one thing for certain: the corpse was hers. Getting used to being dead was going to have its growing pains. — “Well, unlucky lady,” Chat Noir greeted with a bow, “Can I get your name?” “Didn’t we just talk about this? I told you, I don’t remember it.” “And I told you,” he reminded, “that you can just pick whatever fits you best.” — Ladybug and Chat Noir may not remember who they once were, but at least the two lost souls can find comfort in each other's company. But as Ladybug starts uncovering more and more memories of her life, letting the past go doesn't seem as easy as Chat Noir claims it to be.

So this is a beautiful, sweet, tragic love story of two lost souls wandering around with each other, yet with Ladybug still desperately wanting to be found, to remember who she was - and wanting to know why Chat so adamantly wanted to stay amnesiac. It's got some neat worldbuilding, and some fantastic prose. It's just a really nice little story!

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A Small but Stubborn Fire by @cardiac-agreste

What if you were the parent of a teenage superhero, but didn't know they were? All you know is the nightmares, the panic attacks, and the bruises. She's missing school, she's disappearing on you, and she's not telling you anything. So you assume the worst: Assault. Depression. A permanent rift in the family. And what do you do when you realize you weren't thinking dark enough? Because your fourteen-year old daughter is the hero who flirts with death on the nightly news. -- Come inside and read about one mother's struggles to raise her daughter in a dangerous world while avoiding the mistakes her own mother made with her.

This is a more serious take on the consequences of Hawk Moth's war on Paris, with actual bloody, painful deaths as a consequence of many akumas, and Parisians developing PTSD because of what they've gone through. Ladybug can fix all the physical scars, but not the mental ones, including her own.

I love the focus on Sabine here. She's not just presented as being a mom - though of course that IS an important role she has. But she's explored as a character in her own right, one with a lot of emotional baggage as a result of her abusive mother, and trying to not fall into her mistakes, but sometimes doing so anyway out of fear for Marinette's safety. She's a really fleshed out, humanly flawed character, sometimes admitting that she would do something selfish if it means protecting the people she cares most about, like her daughter, even if its at others expense. She grows and changes a lot throughout the course of the story, her perspective on many matters changing multiple times as a result of getting new information or seeing the consequences of her previous approaches, and adjusting as a result.

If you want a fic that more realistically explores the dark consequences of Miraculous's setting, that fleshes out Sabine, or just develops a character in a complex way, then I highly recommend you check "A Small but Stubborn Fire" out!

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Finding A Way by @uptoolateart

Collège is nearly over! And what better way to celebrate than a class trip to Costa Rica? But with only a month left to tell Adrien she loves him, Marinette is feeling the pressure. Then – an accident at sea leaves them stranded together on a tropical island…alone. Or are they? Because those footprints in the sand don’t resemble any bird they’ve seen before. And what’s that roaring sound coming from the jungle? ‘Adrien…where ARE we??’ ***** A Jurassic Park / Camp Cretaceous AU that’s been kicking around in my head for over a year

I love the sense of danger permeating this fic, it really feels like Adrien and Marinette are stranded on Jurassic Park (well it's called something else in order to integrate it better into the ML universe, but it operates like Jurassic Park). They're making the best of it though, doing their best to survive - and along the way, getting closer together.

I like that it's not JUST them though, Gabriel and Nathalie find out where they ended up pretty early on and go to rescue them, with Alya and Nino stowing away. It was cool to see that side of things as well.

Oh yeah, this fic is rated M for violence and gore. It's because dinosaurs eat people alive and leave their body parts everywhere. If you can handle the Jurassic Park movie (or presumably the book the movie was based on, but I haven't read that), then you should be just fine.

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Boulangerella by @aidanchaser

Once upon a time, magic was wild. The two princes of the kingdom have been tasked with choosing their brides by the end of their 21st birthday celebrations. Crown Prince Adrien Agreste will have to choose between a woman who can protect his kingdom, a woman offering the power to wake his sleeping mother, and the woman he has loved and admired for the past year. Then there's also the seamstress that he is suddenly falling for. By the time he realizes he doesn't have the power to choose at all, it may be too late.

I love a good fairy tale AU, and this is no exception. Aidanchaser started writing it before Season 5 came out, so it's wrong about some things. Most notably, Felix's posthumous father was a good and decent person here, and one of the twin rings is Felix's Amok while the other one is Adrien's Amok, instead of both of them being Adrien's Amok.

This was a well-crafted tale, with kwamis operating as Fae: they can give power, but only if the wielder gives something up to pay for it. For temporary usage of their power, it can be something small and innocuous, such as giving Plagg cheese in exchange for his help. More expansive uses of their power requires greater sacrifices however, even sacrificing more nebulous things such as memories or hope.

The kingdom's currently being terrorized by this unknown villain, Hawk Moth, as in the show. Ladybug and Chat Noir emerge to battle him, but for some reason (*cough, cough*), King Gabriel isn't fond of the superheroes and wants them captured.

Gabriel isn't the only threat out there, Lila's skulking around, hinting that she knows how to wake up Emilie from her mysterious illness, if only Adrien marries her. And she's not about to take no for an answer.

If you've been wanting a fairy tale/fantasy Miraculous AU, I recommend giving Boulangerella a shot!

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He Couldn't Remember (Falling For Her) by @purpleautumnvision

"If I was given a choice in who Chat Noir would be, I would've chosen you." "And there's nobody else in the whole world I'd rather have as my little bug." Without secret identities in the way, Marinette and Adrien get to live out their love story and put their heads together to discover the identity of Hawk Moth... but an unforeseen twist puts the Miraculouses in Gabriel's hands. When he makes his wish for a world where his wife never became sick from using the broken Peacock Miraculous, the universe requires someone else to become sick in order to maintain balance. Who better than his greatest enemy, Ladybug herself? Adrien, with his memories rewritten by the wish, wakes up in a world without superheroes, without Hawk Moth, without Marinette, without friends, and without a clue as to why everything feels so wrong. Something's missing, but he's gonna find out what. Then he'll put his world back into place.

So this was a fascinating scenario, with Adrien waking up in a world where Marinette was dead while his mother was alive, a world that as far as he knew had always been the case... but having weird feelings he can't explain. And not just him, I love how much focus Alya gets here as well! Turns out that the memories are kind of hidden, but still present, and since Adrien and Alya never got to meet Marinette in this universe (she died just before the new school year began, at the same time that Emilie did in the normal universe) AND Adrien and Alya were her closest friends in the previous universe, their feelings towards her are closest to the surface and least impacted by the memories from this universe.

The other people in this universe... well, the class isn't taking Marinette's death well. It's fascinating to see just how much her death effects them, to see how it haunts them, and I loved seeing their reactions to Adrien's weird behavior about their dead classmate who he never got a chance to meet, it shows how strange some of this can look to the outside, and it doesn't help that these are grieving kids.

Just... this is a great fic, I highly recommend checking it out!

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Symbiotic Whiskers by B1ackout

Adrien Agreste aka Cat Noir was given the cat ring miraculous to help Ladybug in protecting Paris. But something had found him first, a silent companion that granted him strength and power he never knew existed. Bonded with a symbiote, Cat Noir faces Paris alongside Ladybug without even knowing that someone left a magical ring in his room. (Canon Divergence)

This is a phenomenal fic that deserves more attention. It's kind of funny how he just goes "hey I've got superpowers, she says that the thing we have that gives superpowers is called the Black Cat Miraculous and that the being that gives them is called a kwami, obviously that must be what I have!" though that gets stretched more and more as Adrien's experiences with the symbiote contradict what he's heard about how kwamis work, and Tikki gets increasingly worried about "Plagg's" weird behavior. It's a dark, somewhat brutal fic (people die permanently, and they're not always villains), and it's absolutely worth a read, this is an excellent crossover!

Withered Wings by @11jj11

Nino wasn’t sure if anyone had ever willingly took the akuma butterfly before him, but with his mind completely open to this apparent son of Hawk Moth he knew that he couldn’t turn him away. Not someone that was so afraid, not someone who would be left at the mercy of Hawk Moth.

This fic is amazing! Just... some absolutely stellar Adrino, with some nice Alyanette on the side, AND it's one of the best Enemies AU (well, sort of. Adrien's on Hawkmoth's side, but Nino isn't, exactly), in the fandom! I love how much we get of Nino's perspective, his determination to save this boy who's been thrown into these battles, who clearly doesn't want to hurt people but is compelled to do so, while balancing it with trying to prevent damage to anyone else as well. He has to be the one to look after Adrien, because no one else will do so.

I also love the focus Alya gets here, as Marinette's partner. She does an amazing job in the role, with every Miraculous she gets, even though she isn't a perfect wielder.

That's something else, I like the bits of worldbuilding this adds in, with people who fully embody the aspect a kwami represents being able to transform more fully. That does not mean, however, that an imperfect match is a bad thing, the kwami and wielder can still be very strong together and get along well, even if they don't perfectly align.

I adore how Nino had to balance his roles in this, helping Adrien without hurting others, even fighting back against the heroes as needed, as much as he didn't want to. And how understanding people were when they found out the full story of what was going on. It's a truly fantastic story that anyone who likes Enemies AU, Adrino, or just want to read a good Miraculous fic should check out.

I do want to warn that Gabriel and Nathalie are significantly OOC in this. Gabriel's even more abusive and colder than he is in canon, and Nathalie is WAY worse. This fic started before season 5, so it wasn't known what Nathalie's red line would be. As a result, Adrien's more downtrodden than he is in canon, since the consequences of disobedience are worse than being cut off from friends, or even being made to sit in a blank white room indefinitely.

#ml fanfic rec #miraculous ladybug

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sillylotrpolls · 3 months ago

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About Reblog Graphs

Have you ever clicked on the "reblog graph" button of a post? I think they're one of the... well, maybe not greatest features on tumblr ever (polls are probably better), but they're still pretty darn neat.

I want to show some cool patterns I noticed on some recent posts of mine, but first I'll explain how reblog graphs work so you can more easily follow along.

This is pretty long with a bunch of pictures, so click the cut to read more.

How reblog graphs work

If you've never done so before, I invite you to click the notes button on this or any other post and then the icon with four circles. You will then see a bunch of dots connected by lines.

For example, if you click the graph for the "blorbo in Elvish" post, you get something like this:

Now, let's zoom in a bit. You can do this by using the mouse wheel and clicking and dragging around the graph until it's showing what you want. (I don't know how it works on mobile, but presumably it's similar to using Google maps?)

This next screenshot is the bit in the lower right of the graph shown above. However, the graph may not always display in the same way because reblog graphs are re-generated each time you click the "reblog graph" button.

Here you can see that I'm viewing the root post, which is the original post made by me. It's indicated by a circle with a dot inside. You can also see that six people reblogged that post. Each reblog shows as a dot with a line connecting it to the post it was reblogged from.

Now here's a cool thing about reblog graphs: they're interactive! You can click on any dot and see the post it represents and the reblog chain that led to it.

For example, clicking this dot that has several lines emanating out from it shows that it is "2 reblogs deep" and was posted by @cycas.

Got it? Close enough? Cool, now let me show you some neat things I noticed. :D

The Swedish Chef poll and very popular bloggers

My polls tend to average between 500 and 2000 votes, depending on subject matter. The Swedish Chef poll, however, took off and eventually garnered over 22,000 votes. How did that happen? A very popular blog reblogged it about five days in.

Initially, the graph looked like this. (This is the first 200 reblogs.) There's nothing unusual here. You can see that the root post had several reblogs, and that there's another cluster developing around a post by @zagreus. There are also several reblog chains where just one person reblogs someone else's reblog. Some of these chains peter out, while others find their way onto the dash of more popular bloggers, creating clusters.

A quick note about "popularity"

Yes, yes, it's all about "popular." However, it's not just about having a bunch of followers. What's more important is that the "popular" person reblogging your post has followers who are specifically interested in your post.

For instance, if I, @sillylotrpolls, make a poll about LazyTown, it's probably not going to get very many reblogs because my followers aren't here for that. However, if @silly-lazytown-polls reblogs the poll, that reblog might then get quite a lot of reblogs itself. It's not that silly-lazytown-polls has more followers than sillylotrpolls, it's that it has more followers specifically interested in LazyTown content. Make sense?

Back to the Swedish Chef poll

The poll eventually got over 5,000 reblogs. Since you can only add 200 reblogs to the graph at a time, you can roughly see how a post spread over time.

With 600 reblogs loaded, a new cluster bursts onto the scene. This is @bunjywunjy, who reblogged the post from @beecreeper who reblogged it from @soggypotatoes who reblogged the original.

Bunjywunjy didn't add any tags or comments, so I didn't even notice at first because it didn't show in my activity feed. However, I did notice a sudden uptick in notes on the post, which caused me to investigate. It had been five days since I posted the poll, and usually polls that are going to take off do so sooner than that.

By continuing to click the "load more reblogs" button I can see how the post further spread, especially from bunjywunjy's post.

When the post reached @beggars-opera (whose icon I am somewhat proud to announce I identified on sight), they added a screenshot of @stylishanachronism 's tags which said:

# all of these are incorrect it's the 'meat's back on the menu boys!' scene

This would become the dominant version of the post as it further spread. Interestingly, this was the only reblog of stylishanachronism's reblog. Literally thousands of people loved their tags and agreed with them, but they quite plausibly never saw it unless they specifically went looking.

By 3,200 reblogs, you can see even bigger clusters developing. @thebibliosphere shows up 10 reblogs deep, and leads to yet another cluster via @teaboot (12 reblogs deep).

Eventually, with all 5,371 reblogs loaded, the reblog graph looks like this:

Like I said: neat. :D

Cool, but if you've seen one, you've seen them all - right?

So what prompted this (extremely long) post was actually the reblog graph for my poll on inspirational LotR quotes.

Here's the reblog graph with 200 reblogs loaded:

And here's the graph with all 1,890 reblogs loaded:

It's just one big cluster around the root post. I've never seen that before!! Almost everyone reblogging this post saw it either because they follow this blog, saw it in the #lotr tags, or because their non-influencer friend reblogged it. (Or maybe it was in some kind of algorithm/the explore feed, but I have nearly zero experience with those.)

And this wasn't just a small post. This poll got over 15,000 votes and more than 4,000 notes. That puts it in the top 10 polls for this blog.

What does it mean? I have no idea. I would really like to know! But really, I got nothing. If you have a theory for why this particular poll should result in a reblog graph like this, I would very much like to hear it.

Orphan clusters

To round things off, I'd like to show another interesting facet of reblog graphs: orphan clusters.

This blog's current undisputed poll champion is the fmk wheel poll. That's not really a surprise, as it combined sex with a fun game where you just had to tell everyone what you got, which meant either a reply or a reblog. So it spread pretty far.

However, if you look at the graph, there's something odd going on.

This is with just 200 reblogs loaded:

Notice how some of the dots don't connect to the root post? That's because somewhere along the chain, a reblog was deleted.

This cluster in the bottom left got pretty big! This screenshot is at 800 reblogs loaded. The missing link is from a blog called @gendertaliban that doesn't exist anymore, as near as I can tell. That makes it impossible to trace the full path of any of these reblogs.

In conclusion

This concludes today's deep dive into a tumblr feature you probably never paid any attention to. Admittedly, there's not a huge use for it outside of determining which of your mutuals is an "influencer," and they get quite difficult to navigate after loading about 1000 reblogs, but I hope you enjoyed staring at dots and lines with me. :)

#data analysis #tumblr #reblog graphs #data visualization #not a poll #admin #yes I KNOW I keep saying I'm going to come up with a proper 'misc' tag #there will come a day when I properly categorize and tag my 'admin' posts #today is not that day

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relaxxattack · 2 years ago

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ok yeah lots of memes about how the shitty new UI is literally a direct carbon copy of twitter and we hate it because of that, yea yea

here’s some actual/extra reasons why the UI itself is shitty beyond the fact that it’s stolen from twitter (in just my personal opinion)

it’s claustrophobic as hell. the old UI felt breathable, felt like you could scroll and actually look at your posts, and now there’s enough shit going on on one page that it actually gives me a headache. (i’ve heard other people say this as well, so maybe it’s not just me that’s overstimulated by all the fucking noise on the dash?)

the ‘dash sorting’ (for you / your tags / what you missed) is way too high up the page now and appears crowded against the top where things like the bookmarks bar are on most browsers. not that anything in this new UI isn’t crowded.

i’ve seen it mentioned plenty already, but there’s quite a lot of unnecessary duplication-- as in, the same buttons that exist in the new left navigation panel show up on the right in blog view, which is just completely annoying and unneeded clutter.

the fact that post interaction options are all on the right side of the posts, but dashboard navigation is now all pushed to the far left of display, is extremely annoying. i’m right-handed, so it’s extra annoying for me to have to constantly go all the way over there. maybe that’s easier for left-handed people, but if the case was supporting diversity, why not just put an option in dashboard preferences to switch the side of ALL the controls? because the post interactions are still on the right.

while we’re on the subject-- tumblr’s original design was actually MUCH more intuitive and easy to navigate. the reason for this is that everything you needed to click was in one small area. you scroll up and down the dash, move slightly up to navigate (home/asks/notifications) and slightly down to the side to interact with a post (reblog/reply). extremely simple, easy to use, even ‘lazy + addicting’, which is what all social media studio exes are supposed to want right now. changing the ui to actually be more work and more frustrating to navigate seems completely opposed to what their obvious business strategy should be.

tumblr’s original design was also much more breathable, with the small icons in the corner looking organized and not taking up much space, and lots of room for the posts themselves to be the main attraction.

there’s the fact that copying someone else’s brand entirely actually just puts you in a bigger, wider pool with much more competition, and makes you much more likely to immediately fall short of that and go bankrupt.

tumblr's original purpose was to be geared toward blogs, and these updates, along with the writing on the wall about blog themes being completely phased out soon, is completely against the original purpose. although sometimes website purposes change for the better, so take that as you will.

and finally the obvious point that you can tell from all the memes: this change is almost universally hated by the core tumblr userbase-- aka the site’s loyal consumers for years and years. driving out their main demographic seems like a very obvious, very quick way to lose a lot of fucking money. they also did this “carbon copy of twitter” update literally just a week after sitewide protest about the idea of this site being anything like twitter, so it feels like a massive Fuck You to literally all of the users. tumblr is rapidly approaching their trust thermocline, and show no sign of slowing down.

these are just my opinions about the ui, and i’m only one person. so feel free to add on other design flaws you think people should be aware of or able to mention! i will probably also be submitting this post as feedback to staff, and will be taking their surveys when i can as well.

#tumblr

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andreafmn · 2 years ago

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Truth | Embry Call

Word Count: 5.4K Paring: Embry Call x Female!Reader Requested: Yes [@come-on-darling-honey | @treatiseofselena | @pinkdragonfandream-blog] Story Description: Embry and (Y/N) getting together was inevitable, and it seemed that the universe concurred. A/N: The requests didn't have any details so I grouped them together (hope that's okay.) I've never gravitated toward Embry so at first I had no idea what or how to write this.But I hope I did him justice with this fluffy friend-to-lovers. Now, I will definitely post more about him because I fell in love with my version of him 🤭🤭 Also, I'm trying to organize myself and my writing to upload more consistently, but chronic illnesses, family, and life always get in the way. Thank you to all of you who have bear with me for so long 🤍🤍 My content will always be free, but if you’re feeling particularly generous, you can leave a tip on any of my posts to support me and my love of writing or buy me a coffee TikTok • Instagram • Business | MASTERLIST If you’d like to be tagged in any other story: click here Make sure you have my notifications on so you know every time I post!

Truth | Embry Call Oneshot

For the longest time, it had always been Jake, Quil, Embry, and (Y/N). The four of them had been friends since their childhood and had quickly become inseparable. If one was in sight, the probability that the other three were close behind was high. The group was simply thick as thieves.

But there were two in particular that grew closer than the others.

(Y/N) and Embry seemed to gravitate toward each other. Even when the four friends were together, the duo would be standing side-by-side. They understood each other in a way that Jake and Quil did not. Even without words, they could speak a language that no one else could understand.

“You guys should just get together already,” Jacob had teased one day. “I mean, we all know it’s gonna happen sooner or later. Any day now you’ll tell us you’re a couple.”

“Oh please, Jake,” Quil laughed. “These two would be single their whole lives before they admit they like each other.”

(Y/N) had thrown pieces of popcorn at them, chuckling dryly at their statements. “We’re just friends, guys,” she retorted. “With that logic, you and Quil should get together too.”

“It’s just a joke, (Y/N). There’s no need to get so pissed.”

“I’m not,” she quickly defended. “It’s just annoying that you guys bother us so much about it.”

At that moment, Embry walked into the living room. He was quiet, as always, but vigilant. His eyes fell quickly onto (Y/N)’s. He could tell in an instant that something —more like someone— had made her feel embarrassed.

“Guys, leave her alone already,” he quickly defended. “Can we not go one night without you guys bothering her?”

“You don’t even know what happened!” Jake whined. “You always take her side.”

“Well, 99% of the time you guys did actually do something to her,” Embry responded. “And I would bet everything I have that it’s not a 1% kind of occasion.”

Quick and Jake slouched into the sofa, crossing their arms over their chests in defeat. Even though they were all similar in age, there was a sense of maturity in Embry that was unparalleled. At the end of the day, he was the voice of reason within the group.

“There we go again. Her knight in shining armor,” Jake grumbled. “And they say they don’t have a thing for each other.”

After the movies were done, Quil had long gone, and Jake mumbled something about going to bed, Embry offered to walk (Y/N) home. It was something he had accustomed to doing but it still made her stomach do a turn on itself.

“So, what were those idiots talking about?”

“The usual,” she sighed. Her hand was inches away from his. A simple stumble and she could have intertwined them. “How one day you and I will become a couple because of how well we get on.”

“Oh,” he said coyly.

“I know I should be used to it by now, but it can get pretty annoying, pretty fast.”

Embry’s heart started to race as he listened to her words. He knew just how infuriating their friends could be, especially when it came to bothering people. But it only upset him because he did like her.

At some point in time, his best friend had turned into the girl that he loved. She had become the protagonist of all of his fantasies, the reason for having a smile on his face, what he looked forward to every day. Somehow, she had become his center.

“Why do you find it annoying?” Embry managed to croak out, suddenly finding his hands more interesting than the road ahead. “Like would it be that terrible?”

“No,” she answered quickly. The last thing she wanted was for him to think she was repulsed by him. Because all she wanted was him.

Much like Embry, she didn’t know when that shift had happened. He was her best friend, her closest confidant, the only person that knew her better than she knew herself. But somewhere along the line, her heart would flutter at his nearness, a smile painted on her face at the mention of his name, her eyes trailed to his in every room they were in.

“I don’t, uh. I don’t think it would be terrible,” she spoke meekly. “Do you?”

They stopped in their tracks, finally facing each other.

“I could never find being with you terrible,” he said, his voice barely above a whisper. With a surge of bravery, his hand lifted to her face, tucking a strand of loose hair behind her ear. “It would honestly be a dream come true.”

(Y/N) gasped quietly at the sudden touch. Her breath hitched in her throat and her hand flew to grasp at his forearm. “Embry, w-what… what’re you saying?”

“I like you, (Y/N), and I have for a long time,” he told her. His brown eyes stared intensely into hers, looking for any sign that he was losing her. “I’m not sure when it happened but one day you slipped into my head and you have not left it since. That’s why it doesn’t bother me. Because deep down I’ve always hoped that day would come.”

“Embry, I…” She stammered searching for her words, but nothing came out.

“I understand if you don’t feel the same way,” he said sadly. “But I had to tell you already. It’s been eating me up inside for a long time and I had to confess before it consumed me completely.”

“No, Embry, I do,” she choked on her words, feeling the knot in her throat tightening as she spoke. Even if he was saying exactly what she had wanted to hear, emotions overwhelmed her. “God, I like you too. For a while now. I just never had the courage to say anything because I didn’t want to lose your friendship. You mean a lot to me.”

“So we’ve been tip-toeing around each other for no reason then?” Embry laughed. “Are we seriously that oblivious to feelings?”

“It appears so,” she responded with a chuckle. “What does this mean for us, Em? Where do we go from here?”

“Well, first, I was thinking I could kiss you,” he smiled. “Can I?”

“I would die if you didn’t.”

His hands cradled her face softly, his thumbs caressing over the apex of her cheekbones. He nuzzled his nose against hers, teasing her lips with his. He ghosted over the pink of her skin, wishing to the gods that he wasn’t in another one of his dreams.

When he finally gave in, his lips crashed into hers and he could swear he felt the earth around him stop. There was no gravity, no air, no cold or warmth, it was simply him and (Y/N), and that was all that existed on Earth.

“What’re we gonna tell the guys?” (Y/N) said as soon as they parted for air. “They’ll never let us live this down. And, honestly, I don’t think I could stand their pestering once they know they were right.”

“We don’t have to tell them,” he responded, intertwining his hand with hers comfortingly as they continued their walk to her home. “We can have this just for ourselves for the time being. It will be our little secret.”

“As much as I would love to shout it from the rooftops,” she smiled brightly. “But I like this too. Having something that is just for us. Something they can’t ruin.”

“That does sound great, actually.”

“Good. Because I don’t want anyone to ruin this. Especially not those two.”

And for a couple of months, it was perfect. To their friends, it was business as usual. They were as friendly as ever, always by each other’s side, and taking Quil and Jake’s teasing with a grain of salt. No one could have known just how true their jokes had become.

They got around with stolen glances, hidden corners, and nights. And how they loved their nights. They would spend hours curled up in each other’s arms after Embry would sneak into her room. They would talk about nothing and everything, they would sleep, and they would kiss.

It was an easy routine to follow and they fell into it quickly and perfectly. In the morning, they were the best of friends. At night, they were falling more and more in love.

At least, that’s what (Y/N) had thought.

She had fallen for him. Deeply. He meant everything to her and she thought the feeling was mutual. But when the first week of the second semester of their junior year came to a start and Embry had disappeared, she knew something was wrong.

Not only had he missed school, but he also had completely iced out Jake, Quil, and, most importantly, (Y/N). He wouldn’t answer her calls, he stopped coming over, and he was nowhere to be found. Even his mother had told her that he wasn’t acting like himself and she was very surprised at his behavior.

What none of them knew —what she didn’t know— was that Embry was going through the most surreal of transformations. He wanted to tell his friends, he wanted to tell her everything.

Yet, bringing them into a world where the stories the elders told around the bonfire were real was something he could not do. Even if it meant that they never talked again, he would make sure to keep them safe from the dangers they did not know were real.

He did everything he could to avoid (Y/N) specifically. He would never say it, or even think it now, but he was scared he’d do to her what Sam had accidentally done to Emily. Love wouldn’t protect her from what he was and what he could do to her. Avoiding her hurt, but not as much as it would if he did anything to her.

But that Friday, after he had missed a whole week of school and he’d expertly avoided his group of friends for the past four days, everything had changed. As Embry walked the halls, careful not to run into any of his three friends, his eyes caught hers.

That’s when it happened. The moment that changed his entire world. It hadn’t been meeting his friends, it hadn’t been his first kiss with (Y/N), and it hadn’t been his first phase as a shapeshifter. It was the universe telling him that it was her, and it would always be her.

And it scared him.

As she tried to move through the sea of students to get to him, all he could do was run away. Though deep down he hoped it was her once he knew what imprinting was, his fears of repeating history had grown.

“Embry!” He heard her call out. “ Embry, wait!”

But he was already out the doors and running to the only place he could think of. His brain was going a million miles a minute and his heart was tugging at his chest, begging to be with the piece that was missing from it.

He opened the door to the small house, hoping anyone was inside. His breathing was staggered and his chest was hammering. He was panicking and had no idea how to make it stop.

“Woah, Embry,” Sam called out. “I’m gonna need you to calm down, okay? You’ve gotta breathe, Call. Breathe.”

“She’s… and I didn’t… I don’t,” he tried to speak.

“Slow down, Embry.”

“I can’t�� I can’t do this to her,” the boy managed to croak out. “Not her.”

“Is this about you imprinting today?”

“How did you…?”

“Mind link, Embry,” the alpha reminded him. “I know everything that happens to you. Who is she?”

Embry sighed deeply, taking a seat at the dining table. “She’s my best friend,” he said. “And these past few months she became so much more.”

“She’s your girlfriend then?”

“Well, we never labeled it as much,” he responded. “But kind of. Yeah.”

“Then why are you so worried? This is the best-case scenario.”

“I don’t want to put her in danger. And her knowing the truth would put her right in the middle of it.”

“And you don’t want what happened to Emily to happen to her,” Sam said softly. Embry’s eyes went wide as he realized what the man had said, quickly struggling to find a redeeming answer. “Don’t worry, Call. I wouldn’t want that to happen to anyone, for that matter. And as scary as it is to tell her the truth, you have to. As the days go by, you will both find it harder and harder to keep away from each other. It will be physically painful to stay apart.”

“I can’t do that to her. She deserves to be safe,” he silently sobbed. “The further away she is from me, the better it will be for her. I can’t hurt her if I’m not with her.”

Sam couldn’t help but feel pity for the boy. He had been in that very position not too long ago, running from the people he loved, fearing the hurt he could cause them. But he also knew how he could cause just as much pain by staying away.

“Look, Embry, I won’t tell you what you have to do,” he said. “But speaking from experience, running away does more harm than good. Whether you like it or not, she is now a part of this world and the best way to protect her is by telling her the truth. Unlike with your mom, the secret of our tribe has to be shared with our imprints. She’s gonna need to understand why it hurts so much to stay away from you.”

“What if things go bad?” Embry asked dolefully. “What if telling her pushes her away regardless?”

“That is just something you’ll have to leave to chance,” Sam sighed. “But if you need any backup if you choose to tell her, you know Emily and I are here and happy to help.”

“Thanks, Sam,” the boy responded. “But I think this is something I have to do by myself. I’m gonna tell her tonight and hope for the best.”

“Well, I’ll be doing patrol tonight. So, if at my point you need me, just call out.”

---

“Wait, you actually saw him here?” Jake asked that afternoon as the three friends left the school. “I heard he was back but I have not seen him the whole week.”

“He was standing in the middle of the hallway this morning and I tried to get to him,” (Y/N) explained. “But he ran away and literally disappeared. What the hell is going on with him?”

“Apparently he’s been sneaking out of his house for a while now,” Quil added, making (Y/N)’s heart wrench in her chest. “And his mom says he wasn’t home that week he skipped school.”

“I heard he’s been hanging out with Sam Uley’s gang,” Jake whispered. “That could explain why he’s acting so weird. He got involved with some shady shit.”

“Guys, this is Embry we’re talking about,” the girl defended, holding onto any hope that he was still the boy she loved. “Do you really think he would do something like that?”

“You keep trying to defend your little boyfriend but it’s clear he wants nothing to do with any of us,” Jake spat.

“He’s our friend, Jake,” (Y/N) seethed. “Sorry for actually believing there might be something else happening other than he might have joined a dangerous gang and has left us for dead.”

“(Y/N)…”

“Whatever, guys. I’ll see you on Monday.”

She left both boys dumbfounded and disappeared into her home. Once inside she crashed against her front door and allowed the tears that were stinging her eyes to flow free.

(Y/N) couldn’t accept that she had truly lost Embry. She couldn’t admit that she had fallen for someone that could act like she meant nothing to them, that could forget every moment they spent together, that could ignore everything they had admitted to her. She had trusted him with her heart and he had decided to shatter it without another thought.

Somehow she had made her way to her bedroom and had crashed on her bed. When her eyes fluttered open again the sun had completely set and the moon was shining brightly in the sky. In the darkness, she searched for her phone, feeling the need to apologize to Quil and Jake for snapping at them.

Yet, her screen lit up with Embry’s caller ID, showing her that it was the fifth call in the last twenty minutes. She debated answering the phone, wanting to make him feel just like she had the last two weeks.

But her resolution was too weak.

“What?” (Y/N) spat.

“Come to your window.”

She walked to her window, her gaze falling on his figure on the road. Tears were quick to form in the corners of her eyes, her emotions close to their bursting point. “What do you want, Embry?” she asked through the phone, careful to keep her voice from cracking. “It’s late.”

“I know, but I really need to talk to you, (Y/N).”

“So, you show up after two weeks of dead silence. Your hair is all chopped up, you’ve got a tattoo, and apparently, you’ve been hanging with Sam Uley’s gang. And you just come here and tell me now you wanna talk,” she scoffed. “Give me one reason why I should give you the time of day after all that?”

“I know I don’t deserve another chance and you have every right to turn me away right now,” he told her. “But I promise if you give me a couple of minutes I can explain everything to you. After that, you can decide what you want to do. Please, (Y/N).”

She kept quiet for a second, knowing that she didn’t have much to think about. Her heart knew exactly what she would answer before she could say it out loud. “Fine,” she said. “You’ve got ten minutes.”

“Alright,” he smiled. “Come down.”

She couldn’t help the eagerness that overtook her as she wrapped a jacket around her and silently slipped out the door. And once she was face to face with him, it took everything in her not to run and wrap her arms around Embry.

“Hey,” he smiled softly at her. “Been a while.”

“Not really in the mood for jokes, Embry,” she responded. “I came out here to hear you explain. So explain.”

“Okay, but I’m gonna need us to move into the woods.”

“I’m not going into the woods with you, Em. Just tell me already.”

“Look, I know this is weird but I need you to trust me, okay?” he asked giving her those puppy dog eyes that she had missed so much. The same eyes he’d give her when he begged for a kiss or when he pleaded for a couple of more minutes away from their friends. “Please.”

“Fine,” she sighed. “But your time is down to eight minutes.”

“Alright. Just, come on.”

Without thinking, he took hold of her hand, leading her to the darkness of the woods, searching for a place where no passersby could accidentally see him.

(Y/N) found herself allowing him to drag her, remembering just how comforting his warmth was. Especially on such a cold night in January, it surprised her just how high his temperature felt.

Once they were deep enough and Embry had halted them to a stop, she forced herself to drop his hand. She didn’t want him to forget the anger that still rushed through her veins, the disappointment that had found a home in her heart, and the hurt that she felt in every inch of her body.

“Go ahead,” she told him, crossing her arms across her chest to keep them from reaching toward him.

“Alright, first of all, I want to apologize for disappearing like that. It wasn’t fair to you or the guys. But you need to understand that I couldn’t tell you at the beginning,” he started. “(Y/N), what I’m about to tell you is gonna sound like the biggest lie you have heard, and you might even think that I’ve lost my mind. Still, everything I say is the honest truth.”

“Em, you’re scaring me,” she responded. “What’re you talking about?”

Embry took a deep breath, finding every ounce of strength to be able to finally tell her the truth, to wrap her in the web of the supernatural and hope he was strong enough to keep her from the dangers of it. “Okay, I’m gonna need you to think back to all the stories our parents and the elders would tell us around the bonfire,” he said. “How our Quileute ancestors were shapeshifters and how it was their job to protect our land. When we were kids we thought that those were only stories, myths to keep us children entertained. But it’s real, (Y/N). Those stories weren’t just fantasies, they are our history.

“The reason I disappeared was because I am now one of those shapeshifters. It happened the Saturday before starting school, at the back-to-school bonfire, when that guy was hitting on you when I walked away for a second,” he continued. His eyes never left hers, hoping —begging— that she believed him. “It happened so suddenly and I thought I was dying. I could feel anger taking over my entire body, filling me with this overheating rush that burned deep inside.

“It was Jared Cameron that found me. He pulled me into the woods and I was so angry that I couldn’t even process what was happening. He kept telling me to give in to the change to listen to my body and allow it to do what it needed to. Suddenly, my clothes were ripped to shreds and I was this huge wolf.

“After, Sam Uley and Paul Lahote joined him and walked me through shifting back, telling me to focus on my human form. It felt like everything around me was shaking, reacting to the way my body was transforming. And somehow, at just the right moment, I changed back into my human self.

“I spent that week learning to control my emotions so I wouldn’t trigger a phase in front of everyone, learning about our history and our role in the rez. It turns out, those guys aren’t a gang, they’re actually a pack and our job is to protect the reservation from anything, supernatural or not, that threatens our land. No one can know about our existence other than the elders and current pack members.”

“Wait, I don’t get it,” she stammered, her head spinning with all the information she was given. “This whole talk about wolves and supernatural beings… it’s crazy, Embry! A completely convoluted way of telling me it’s over.”

“I can show you,” he added. “Just don’t move even an inch from where you are right now.”

“What’re you…? Embry.”

He put some distance between them, making sure he was safely away from her. He removed his shirt and unbuttoned his pants, ensuring his clothes were close enough when he phased back. He knew just how impossible everything he had said sounded. If he hadn’t phased that night, there was no way he would have believed it.

But he needed her to believe him.

One second he was standing before her in human form, and the next, a tall gray wolf with black spots was staring her down. She stumbled back as her eyes met the animal’s, a slight rush of fear flowing through her veins.

Yet, she knew those brown eyes too well to be afraid for long. They were unmistakably Embry’s and they replaced her anxiety with a calming stream. Something about him was calling to her, beckoning her to come closer. There was no danger, there was no panic, there was only calm.

(Y/N) made her way closer to the creature, every step filling her with courage. The wolf didn’t move, his eyes simply followed her, waiting. Because he was the tactable answer to all of her questions.

Her shaking hand raised and landed on the soft fur of the wolf’s head. As soon as she made contact, Embry nudged it, giving her the confirmation she was looking for. It was him and it was all true.

“You’re a wolf,” she softly chuckled. “You’re in front of me right now and you’re a giant wolf.”

Embry let out a confirming growl that sounded almost like a laugh and nuzzled his nose against her. The small force knocked her back softly, siphoning from her the laugh he had missed hearing.

“But if no one is supposed to know about you guys, why are you telling me all this?” (Y/N) asked before realizing he could not answer in his form. “Change back already. I have so many questions.”

In the blink of an eye, Embry stood before her, scrambling to get dressed. “This is the most awkward part of phasing back,” he chuckled dryly. “It’s worse when you’re surrounded by guys you barely know.”

“Yeah, I can imagine,” she sympathized. “Now, why me? Why am I the only one that you’re telling this to? Jake and Quil truly believe you’ve joined a gang and left us in the dust.”

“Well, as with most things, there is an exception to the rules. One person that is allowed to know everything, even if they’re not members of the pack,” he explained slowly. “There’s something that happens after your shift that involves that person. It’s called imprinting. I’m the most basic definition: it's a soulmate. You are unconditionally bound to this person for the rest of your life, becoming whatever it is that they need from you —a sibling, a friend, a partner. Anything.

“Your whole world changes,” he continued, his hands taking hers. “They become your gravity, your very reason for living. Even being apart feels physically painful. Everything falls secondary to them, and all it takes is one look.”

“This morning,” she breathed. (Y/N) had felt something change when they had locked eyes in the hall. His absence had become a harrowing pit in her stomach. “But I…”

“The bond affects the imprint as well,” Embry answered before she could ask. “But nothing happens without them wanting it. You are only what the imprint wants.”

“So it’s me,” she said, trying to hold back tears, her eyes falling to where their hands were clasped. “Is that why you ran away this morning? Because you imprinted on me? Was it… did you not want it to be me?��

“No! I mean yes! I wanted it to be you,” he rapidly scrambled for his response. “But I was afraid of what the implications of you being my imprint would be.”

“What do you mean?”

“First of all, I could never forgive myself if I was the reason you were ever in danger,” Embry started, his hand cradling her cheek to lift her gaze to his, wiping away the strand that had fallen. “But what I was most afraid of was that it would make you feel things that you might not have felt had it not been for this supernatural intervention.”

“I’m not following, Em.”

“Look, (Y/N), I love you —I’m in love with you. And I have been for a long time,” he confessed. “And even though I know you like me and we spent all this time together, I was afraid that if you felt more for me it would be because of the imprint bond and not really how you would have felt without it.”

Finally, it was her turn to comfort him. “Em, I think I’ve loved you since the moment we met,” she grinned. “I don’t need a supernatural link to tell me how I have felt about you for the majority of my life. And I understand why you had to keep all of this from us. As much as I would love for Jake and Quil to know how much of an amazing badass my boyfriend is, we know how well I can keep a secret.”

Embry’s eyes opened wide at the word, loving how it sounded coming from her lips. “Boyfriend? You called me your boyfriend!”

“Is that not what you are?”

“Yes. Yes! And you’re my girlfriend!” he exclaimed as he hugged her waist tightly, twirling her in a hug. “God, being without you has made this the worst two weeks of my life.”

“I can tell,” she teased. “I mean you lost my favorite thing about you. I’m really gonna miss your hair.”

“Unless you braid the wolf’s hair, I’m afraid we’re stuck with the short hair for a while.”

“I can work with that as long as you don’t ever disappear like that again.”

“I promise I will never willingly do that,” he responded. “I can assure you these past two weeks have been hell.”

“Well, we won’t have that time back. But we can make sure we don’t lose any more.”

“I like the sound of that,” he grinned.

He placed both hands on either side of (Y/N)’s face, nuzzling his nose to hers as he had done the first time they kissed. He breathed in her scent. He listened to the patter of her heart, to the sound of her breath. He took her in completely at the moment, memorizing how she looked when they told each other they loved one another.

“Are you gonna make me wait?” she let out a strangled breath. “Or are you gonna kiss me already?”

“You waited two weeks already,” he teased.

“So I’ve waited long enough,” she bit back. “Now kiss me, you dork.”

Finally, he crashed his lips onto hers and everything felt like it had fallen where it was supposed to. There had never been secrets between them, and, now, there never had to be any more. The universe had simply confirmed what they already felt.

---

“Well, Quil, looks like you’re gonna have to pay up, my man,” Jake joked a couple of months after that fateful night. All discord between the friends had died the second the boys that were kept in the dark phases as well. “I told you these two had been together for a while.”

“No, you owe me,” he retorted. “They got together closer to the timeline I had set.”

“Actually,” Embry interjected, his arm draped over (Y/N)’s shoulders. “If you look at the board of bets, you’ll see that I had put down the actual date and time that we got together.”

“But that’s not fair! When we made that bet board we had no idea you two were actually together,” Quil whined. “There’s no way that should be an admissible bet.”

“Not knowing the facts doesn’t exempt you from it,” (Y/N) chuckled. “A bet that falls under the set rules for that pile will remain intact, even if it’s under a loophole.”

“Of course you’ll say that, (Y/N),” Jake scoffed. “He’s your boyfriend after all.”

“Don’t forget imprintee,” she grinned. “Now, both of you, cough up those twenty bucks.”

Later that afternoon and forty bucks richer, (Y/N) and Embry sat in the Uley’s backyard, watching the other boys playing football farther away from the bonfire Sam had started. They had curled up together under a blanket, enjoying the fact that they were together, and the world seemed to grant them a day of peace.

“Have I ever told you how much I love you?” Embry whispered into her ear, pressing her tighter to him. “Because I do. So much.”

“Hm,” she smiled, melting into his touch. “You’ve told me once or twice. But I’ll never get tired of hearing it. Because I love you too.”

“And I’ll never get tired of saying it.”

“Good,” she beamed. “Because you’re stuck with me until the end.”

“Couldn’t think of a better life than that.”

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knaveumineko · 28 days ago

Text

Welcome to Rokkenjima!

I have recently begun reading through Umineko for the first time. At the time of writing, I have read all of Episode 1, unlocking the "Tea Party" in the main menu, although I have not clicked on it yet. This blog exists for the purposes of recording my thoughts on the story, and my attempts to solve the mysteries therein. I hope that by posting this publically, fans of the series may amuse themselves with my ignorance.

I have little previous interest in or experience with the mystery genre, so I was quite surprised at how compelling a work Umineko turned out to be, especially after those awful opening hours. I soon found myself taking notes on any clues or oddities I noticed, which is a first for me. I have always been "along for the ride" when it comes to mystries in stories.

I can't imagine how the story is even going to continue after the endscroll in Episode 1. The author could easily have published Episode 1 as a completely standalone work. It's so easy to be enraptured its presentation of magic as a social phenomenon, perfectly reflected in its surprising and ambiguous ending. It's not exactly breaking new ground by juxtaposing opulence with great violence, but there's something to be said about executing a cliché well. I think I was at least somewhat intruiged by every character. I find myself quite liking most of them. It's so much fun to watch them bounce off of eachother once things get going.

Since I've read through the first episode in its entirety already, I'm afraid you're deprived of my moment-to-moment reactions to the tale, but needless to say Ryukishi skilfully lead me by the nose the whole time, emotionally speaking. If you want to imagine what my posts reacting to each of the murders, as well as the ending, would have been like, simply imagine a series of progressively longer posts consisting of the words "what the fuck" repeated dozens of times over.

It is premature to speculate on the future of this blog, which may be abandoned quite quickly, but I will say I don't have much interest in a proper liveblog (which won't stop me from shamelessly abusing the tag anyway). I feel it would bog me down as I attempt to read through this very, very long work. However, in future I could see myself making posts after each session or major chunk of the story, before finally summarising everything at the end of the episode. We'll see.

For now, my posts will focus on the mystery itself.

#umineko no naku koro ni #umineko #liveblogging #umineko liveblog #umineko when they cry

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billysjoel · 2 months ago

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Hel!o, again! I meant ur Van Helsing poster 😊 Happy Holidays if you celebrate 😊

i'd be more than happy to! happy holidays to you as well! here's the kind of poster i'll walk you through how to make:

the most important thing you need to think about with this type of poster is which shots will blend best with each other. i recently made a blending tutorial for another anon and you can find it here. in it, i go a bit more in depth on what types of shots will blend best, and you can also check out the blending tutorial tag on my resource blog, @gifmakerresource.

overall, dark on dark blends the best. the lighter your scene(s), the harder it's going to be to see. when making this poster, i went in knowing i wanted to use this silhouetted shot of van helsing. silhouetted shots are one of the best kinds of shots you can blend with because the silhouette itself will be much darker than the surrounding area.

this is what i started with (after cropping and sharpening). the dimensions i used are 540px x 700px but the height can be whatever you want. next, i wanted to focus on lightening the background and further darkening his silhouette.

here are my coloring layers (which will, of course, vary with every shot and every movie):

and here are the specifics for each layer in order from bottom (first) to top (last)*:

*note: the blue selective color layer also makes the same adjustments to cyan

i created a new layer (ctrl+shift+n) and painted over the extra-bright parts around his head for later blending. this is a layer i added after the fact once i found all the shots i wanted to use and blend together.

this is the second shot i used:

once cropped, sharpened, and converted to a smart object, i bring it over to the existing canvas, making sure it's properly aligned with ctrl+t, and set the blending mode to screen.

here are my coloring layers:

and the details for each (and if you're wondering, to color code your layers, right click in the box where the eye is and select your color):

and this is what the gif looks like prior to using a layer mask:

it's not terrible, but i wasn't happy with how much of the second gif could be seen outside of the silhouette. this is also a good illustration of how dark blends with dark best, compared to dark and light or light and light. i grouped together the second gif and the coloring layers (select the appropriate layers and ctrl+g) and then added a layer mask to the group by clicking this at the bottom of the layers panel:

when using a layer mask, you're only working with 2 colors: black and white. using a soft circular brush (0% hardness), as you can see in the selected thumbnail titled Group 3, i used black to color all around van helsing's silhouette. if you make a mistake when coloring, simply press x to switch to white and brush over the desired area and your gif will reappear. it's a way to "erase" a layer without permanently deleting it and is something i use frequently!

i used another layer mask so the gif was only visible right around the top of his hat:

and the coloring layers (note the gradient map is applied to the gif using a clipping mask [right click on the gradient map layer and choose 'create clipping mask'] so it only is applied the the layer immediately below it [the third gif] and not everything below it):

details:

this is the final gif before all the typography:

for the typography, i don't really remember why i didn't just use a transparent png of the movie logo other than knowing i had the actual font they use on the poster already installed. you can find it here (dafont). at the top of this screenshot, you can see my font settings and at the bottom, you can see the blending modes i added:

and here are those details (click to enlarge):

using the same font, i added these two layers and positioned them where i wanted:

the names layer is 24pt and adventure is 36pt. to create/position the typography, i was referencing one of the movie posters btw!

for the final two layers, i used the font sf movie poster, which you can download here (dafont) and decreased the opacity of both to 30%:

ignore the warning symbols - i had to replace the font files and ps is mad at me

the "larger" letters are just capitals while the smaller ones are lowercase. i'm pretty sure this is the typical font used at the bottom of movie posters. i believe i either typed all this out referencing one of the posters or i went through the imdb page for the movie and went through the cast and crew sections.

and that's it! we have our finished gif! making a poster like this can result in a large file size, so keep in mind that tumblr's upload limit per gif is 10mb. i believe this gif is 45 frames, which is probably pushing it with these dimensions. if you finish your gif and find that it's over the limit, i HIGHLY recommend using ezgif's optimizer. you upload your file and then adjust the lossy slider and you'll be surprised just how much it drops the file size down without a noticeable difference. i also use this site to convert webp files to gifs/pngs when necessary.

if you have any further questions or didn't understand something, please let me know! i'm always happy to help :) and lmk if you ever want a tutorial on any of my other gifs! happy holidays!

#answered #Anonymous #gif tutorial #my tutorials #flashing gif #gifmakerresource #completeresources #dailyresources #chaoticresources

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3liza · 10 months ago

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after my post yesterday about not sharing viral videos of "dancing dogs" because they're just videos of animals dying slowly of agonizing neurological disease I tried typing "canine distemper" into tumblr search and discovered another one of those weird little heatsinks of tumblr spam. 99% of the posts in the tag/search category (the latter actually, the tag itself doesn't seem to work/is blocked) were spam, mostly 0-note chatGPT rambling with unclear goals either for SEO or for sales. a lot of Indian spam in particular is on Tumblr, as well as either fake or real veterinary clinics posting filler articles about pet topics. none of this stuff gets any engagement and most of it seems to be referral dead ends, eg, it doesn't have any links out that are being clicked by either humans or crawlers, but I find it everywhere.

porn spam is very straightforward by comparison, porn bots are trying to farm leads in the form of live men who reply to them and can be added to databases of live leads, or they want conversions into account signups or sales off-site. sometimes actual adult content creators are doing their own marketing here and again the goals of their advertising is normal, and other times porn ads are malware or social account hijacking bait etc. but the generic marketing slop spam that comes up for terms like "canine distemper" is a little more puzzling.

I think some of these blogs are probably being used inside web templates off Tumblr to just host content elsewhere on the web, but as far as I'm aware thats not really a standard website building technique, most people just use a blog template or WordPress or something. if you go on the Black Hat World forum you'll find plenty of buying and selling of established accounts in good standing on various socials, either through hacked accounts or accounts that have been deliberately created and then farmed over months or years to look as real as possible, but Tumblr accounts aren't really in demand as far as I'm aware

I don't think it's particularly interesting and definitely not sinister, it's likely a case of lost automated processes or some sort of testing of marketing generators that's just using Tumblr as the planting bed.

#Tumblr #marketing #seo #spam #canine distemper

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sysboxes · 11 months ago

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Sysboxes FAQ

Responses to some questions we frequently get! This post is long, so full responses are under the cut, but here are the main questions this post addresses, in order:

What are userboxes and how do I use them?

How do you make your userboxes?

What styles/customization can I request?

Do you have a box for X?

When can I send in a request/When will the askbox reopen?

How many requests can I send in per ask or per user?

Is there any particular media you absolutely won’t make boxes for?

Why hasn’t a box been made for my request yet?

What does X term mean?

What is your syscourse stance/Why can’t pro/endos interact?

Who can reblog/use these boxes?

What are userboxes and how do I use them?

Userboxes are rectangular images, often with an image on the left and information about a person on the right. They were originally meant to appear on a Wikipedian’s user page to convey something about a person. To use our boxes, you can reblog them to your tumblr page and/or right click to save the image for later use.

We have seen people put userboxes in their intro posts, in a certain tag on their tumblr, in Discord and PluralKit profiles, on their SimplyPlural (this post explains how), or in exchanges with friends. We generally request that you credit sysboxes when using our userboxes.

How do you make your userboxes?

Different mods use different methods, like Canva and MS Paint, but our main method of making boxes is using yerich.net/userbox. In the box that says “Left Box (ID) Text”, enter the code “src=“yourpicturelinkhere” height=“45px” width=“45px”>”, replacing yourpicturelinkhere with your image URL. Customize your userbox using the rest of the options on the site. You can screenshot your box here, or you can go to htmleditor.com and paste the “Raw HTML” code from yerich. Then you can use HTML coding to mess around with size, font, and color before screenshotting your finished box.

What styles/customization can I request?

This post details a lot of the customization options you can request, like boxes vs. banners, different fonts, colors, and images, including hand-drawn art by mods. You can also request a specific mod do your box. Most mods are adults, but if you feel uncomfortable with a minor making your request, you are free to add that in your ask. Note that if you are requesting an image that contains someone else’s art, we must get permission from the artist to use the image for a userbox.

This being said, we are not infallible to making mistakes on the origins of an image. We do try to reverse image search when provided with an image in an ask, but if you notice your art in a userbox without having been asked permission for its use, please let us know so we can remedy the situation.

Do you have a box for X?

Please search our blog using a keyword for the box you’re looking for and possible variants on it. For example, if you’re looking for a box about food, try food, foods, eat, eats, and eating as keywords. If you’re looking for a box whose keyword is a common tag on our blog, try checking #hard to find tag on our blog for boxes. If you cannot find a box with these steps, we likely have not made one yet or whatever we do have is unlikely to fit your request idea.

When can I send in a request/When will the askbox reopen?

We let people know whether requests are open or closed in three ways: the box in our intro post, the title of the askbox itself, and a post when requests first open or close with the tag #sysboxes status update. When our requests are closed, please do not send any in for “when requests are open”; it will be deleted.

At any given time, we have hundreds of requests in our askbox. We try to keep requests open as long as we can, but even with a large number of mods, there is only so much we can do. We run this blog in our free time, while dealing with work, school, and mental and physical health issues. We do accept questions/appreciation while our requests are closed, but sometimes we save them to respond to when we clear the askbox, to look forward to later.

How many requests can I send in per ask or per user?

We don’t limit how many asks a single user can send in, but if possible, we prefer you send in multiple asks if you have multiple requests. We’ll still do multiple requests in one ask, but one request per ask allows us to more easily sort and number requests. It also lets us respond to when requests will be posted individually instead of waiting until every one is queued or posted to respond to a non-anonymous ask.

Is there any particular media you absolutely won’t make boxes for?

We are okay with requests pertaining to fictives from most media, as we understand they cannot control what source they introjected from. We will not make requests that express support for harmful media. As for media we won’t do requests for introjects from, we have decided not to make boxes pertaining to true crime or nazi introjects, for our and others comfortability. This is not a complete list, as different mods have different boundaries, but we try to honor requests whenever possible.

Why hasn’t a box been made for my request yet?

If you want to know exactly when your userbox will come out, send in your request off anon, and when we queue it, we will privately respond to your ask letting you know when to expect your box. Note our queue is very long.

We do not always do requests in the order we receive them. Some requests we must discuss or reword (for length, misinfo, etc.) before making. We do not make requests that incite hate/harassment, include misinformation (and can’t be reworded), include (specific) details that may endanger the user, or put us in the middle of heavy discourse we do not want to be roped into.

What does X term mean?

This is a userbox blog, and as such, we prefer you do not direct your questions about DID here. We are not professionals (and cannot diagnose anyone), and we recommend looking for credible resources. If you cannot find anything for your question or would like resources, some of the mods are ok with asks about things relating to DID on their system blogs. Mod blogs ok with these questions include @fromthewondersystem and @thecircularsystem.

What is your syscourse stance/Why can’t pro/endos interact?

Individual mods fall across the syscourse spectrum, but this blog is overall anti-endo. In truth, we do not know nor much care whether it is possible to have a non-traumagenic system. We feel our system experiences are deeply informed by our trauma, and this is very different from endos’ experiences.

Additionally, mods of this blog have faced much harassment and harm from the pro-endo community, including being set back in recovery, misinformation, cultural appropriation, abuse, death threats, and doxxing. We are aware these issues extend beyond just the pro-endo community, but this is where we have most commonly found them. For these reasons, we do not want endos or pro-endos interacting with our blog or using our userboxes. There are plenty of pro-endo userbox blogs already.

Who can reblog/use these boxes?

First and foremost, these boxes are for people with (traumagenic) CDDs. The main people who can’t use the boxes we make are those who fall under our DNI.

We do allow syscourse-neutral/unaligned people to use our boxes - we are not here to force you to pick a side. This also includes people with alters who fall across the syscourse spectrum. People who are not pro-endo but allow pro-endos to interact with them may use our boxes, but we recommend noting that we are an anti-endo blog.

As for singlets, we ask them not to use boxes that specify they are for systems or use system-specific terms. We have decided they may use our other boxes. They may also reblog system-specific boxes for system friends. We do request that singlets do not make userbox requests, as other non-system-specific userbox blogs are out there to make requests for them, and we already receive so many.

#faq #sysboxes faq

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sixsix680 · 1 month ago

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EDIT: I think they changed their ID. I'm not gonna update anything but you might need to click the tag if you want to block them.

This is not going well, but I guess that's what it feels like when you wake up from the 7th nightmare within 48 hours and witness rubbish like this. Yes, this is my condition, probably the reason why I'm so irritated. Also, English is my second language. So uh- sorry gang if I talk like trash-I originally planned my first post in this community to be something cute and wholesome. Appreciating other ships since I don't like to yap about mine that much. I have already set up a new blog and drawn a few pictures, which are ready to send. But I figured out I needed people to see this, so here we are. Oh I better stop rambling shit.

Hello, dear user @fallenangel-still-falling. It would be a shame to not tag you in this. I don't think you know about me, but I know about you. Being all ridiculous and pathetic? You should be grateful when you finally have the attention that beings like you wouldn't have. Feel free to leave a thought, or my DM is open too if you're a coward.

Hello, everyone reading this.

This post is about the selfship community and some... proshippers. I don't witness that myself, so long story short. The user I have mentioned, a twenty-something years old, selfship with Morty from... everyone knows where I suppose, who is a minor. Which is totally not okay? Yeah, you are disgusting. But I'm not here for further discussions since, you know, I don't care about your problems. I'm aware someone has talked about that somewhere.

I guess weirdos exist, and I usually dont hunt down people. Not until they caught my attention. I'm not the type to sit back and watch when my preferred people are being talked shit at. Even though you did like absolutely no damage, your misleading information spreading is... what is the word you brought up again? Ah. Bullying. I know well about it.

Quite funny how your little call-out post got zero attention. Suppose people can discern if they should trust a creep or someone literally writing hundreds of letters free for the community. More straight to the point:

fallenangel-still-falling, or Koda. Is a damn pedophile. This mess harasses my friend and some other people. Lying and talking shit like hell, spreading untrue information which might damage my dearest's reputation. Yeah also reporting random people. Better watch out guys!

"Please if you can report their account and let's get one less disgusting human being off the internet. 💚"

I usually tell people to grow the hell up, but since you're grown up, get a life, then. Stop being such a clown and perhaps you can be normal.

Also! Repeat after me: Blocking the problem isn't problem-solving.

Harassment? This is an act of justice. You can't harass the harassment itself. What we are doing is removing trash from our community and putting it where it belongs. Why be scared to do so? When they can't do anything besides reporting or crying cause they are not on the right side. Wah wah.

If you block me or report me because of this, you're more than welcome, isn't like I care or anything. I will just acknowledge you support this kind of gross shit. What a waste of air and ridiculous existence.

Creeps exist. A little report and reblog would be a big help. I suggest blocking them after doing so, too. Who knows what the creeps would do? And thanks for reading all of this.

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agendergenderqueermasculenbyguy · 1 year ago

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Welp, it happened.

I have posted before about how blocking content on tumblr has no stigma attached

You – yes, you, person reading this – are allowed to block whatever tags/ content you want

You don’t need to have a “reason”, you are allowed to block and filter content “just because” or “because I don’t want to see it”

Content does not need to trigger or squick you for you to be allowed to filter it

This post is officially your personal permission to filter out whatever content you would rather not see

And this includes filtering/ blocking “#current events” “#current news” “#global news”

You are allowed to exclude/ block out current world events from your tumblr experience

This does not mean you don’t care!

Yes, you are allowed to filter content “just because” or “because I don’t care”

But filtering exhausting and upsetting content does not imply you do not care!

Compassion fatigue is a real thing!

Especially if you (like me) follow several, multiple, a bunch of activist bloggers

There are global crises everywhere, I just read of 6 genocides happening which is precisely why I decided to finally block/ filter out those “current events” tags

How to filter in the tumblr app:

Go to your own blog >

click the little gear in the top corner >

General Settings >

scroll down >

just above “Color Palette” there it is >

Filtering

Type in whatever tags or words you want to not see in the future

This works for filtering out user-URLs too, if you have specific people you’d like not to see posts by

The “full text” filter will, however, 1) also look at the URL of the prev to who put it on your dash 2) ignores spaces in the post

Example 1: You follow “microplasdick” and you filtered “orange”; if the OP is called “orange-fishburne” your filter will hide that post; if the person microplasdick reblogged is “orange-cucumber” your filter will hide the post. Doesn’t matter if the word “orange” is not within the post itself

Example 2: You have filtered “orange” and a post goes “I also ran getting to my bus” – that post would get filtered because it contains “o ran ge” in that sequence

So “#tumblr is my safe space” and for that to stay true, you’re most definitely allowed to block out current events/ world news

Please take care <2

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7grandmel · 8 months ago

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SiIvaGunner Blog MOJO!

The Ripper's Guide To That SiIvaGunner Tumblr Blog!

Hello there! You, yes you, reading this! Are you a high quality ripper contributing to the SiIvaGunner YouTube channel? Perhaps you've stumbled onto this blog before, through a link sent on Discord or through hearsay someplace else? Or, hell, this might be your first time on here, in which case: Welcome!

This is the uncreatively-titled That SiIvaGunner Tumblr Blog, where I've written over 350 posts analyzing, retelling the history behind and ultimately celebrating a selection of high quality rips found on SiIvaGunner. My rationale in posting has been to cast as wide of a net as possible in the kinds of rips I feature, and chances are, dear ripper, that a rip YOU've contributed to has already been covered on here, or is well on the way to be! But, that begs the question: How do you find the posts you're looking for?

With this post, I want to give some pointers of navigation for the people following this blog who aren't Tumblr users, or simply people who haven't kept tabs on this blog all too actively. This includes a quick overview of how my tagging system works, how it can help you find what you're looking for, and how to move around the Tumblr platform's infrastructure in general. So, let's begin!

1. What's up with the tags?

At the bottom of just about every Tumblr post, you'll find these grey footnotes called "tags". They serve a lot of functions: Like hashtags on Twitter, you can use them to help other people find what you've posted by "categorizing it". Compared to Twitter's hashtags, however, Tumblr's tags are far more normalized due to the lack of a character limit and their specifically allocated space at the bottom of posts. The image above is of the tags for this week's post on The Legend of Cage: Staff Roll.

The tags not highlighted in the red square are ones placed there to make the post discoverable to average Tumblr user. With the tag "tloz" ("The Legend of Zelda) in place, for instance, it means that the post will show up alongside other Zelda posts for users following the tag. But there's more uses to tags than just for discoverability, which is where the red-square tags become relevant: These are the tags placed for the sake of categorization!

You can probably imagine that a lot of Tumblr users will be keeping track of fandom tags like "Zelda" or "Majora's Mask" - but who is looking for "Season 6" or "rip visuals"? These are tags applied specifically to help one find posts within this blog. Every one of my written-analysis posts is tagged with the following template:

#todays siivagunner (Every written analysis post)

#season [x] (Filtering by Season)

#siivagunner and #siiva (Discoverability)

#[name(s) of ripper(s)] (Filtering by ripper in order of credits on Wiki)

#rip visuals (Added if a rip has visuals, eg. animation)

#[more rippers] (If the rip has visuals, these are the rippers who worked on those)

#tentative rip name (The rip lacks an album release)

Now you know why all these tags are here and what they all mean - but with the red-square rips in particular, there's ways you can use them to make reading the blog easier!

2. Okay, so how do I use these tags?

Here's a step-by-step guide with visuals to show how to go from a post to other posts like it. First, make sure you're viewing the post on the blog itself and not through a reblog - the easiest way to do this is to click "View original post", or just click the header of the original post itself (around where it says "April 16, 2024). Then, scroll down to the tags we just discussed, and click the one you want to filter by - say, for instance, you just want to see Season 2 rips I've talked about? You'll get taken to a view of the blog that only shows you posts I've tagged as being about Season 2 rips! How cool is that!

Finally, however, is the coolest use of tag categorizing and searching on Tumblr - The Archive.

3. What is the archive, how do I use it?

The archive is the page featured on the main image of this post! A blog's archive is a file explorer-esque view of every post ever made and reblogged onto a Tumblr blog, which also lets you filter posts by a tag (not multiple) used in them. If you know how Tumblr's links are formatted, it's very easy to find - this blog's archive, for instance, can be found at https://7grandmel.tumblr.com/archive, my personal account's archive can be found at https://melblur.tumblr.com/archive - you see the pattern yourself. The archive is very annoying to navigate on mobile and I would recommend doing all of this step on desktop.

Like I covered in the previous points, all of the blog's posts are tagged according to the Season they were released in, the people contributing, whether the rip features visuals, and more. Given the immense scope of SiIvaGunner's contributors, there's no concise list with links I could give you of all the ones that have been featured on here - thus, its up to you to edit the archive's URL link to make it show what you want to see. In the above image, for instance, we've added "/tagged" followed by "/dante" - which, then, displays all of the posts I've made that were tagged as being made by ripper dante. Click on one of the posts displayed, and you'll be sent to exactly that post!

There are some additional caveats to keep in mind here. Rippers like dante, toonlink and more go under multiple names online, and in those cases I've tried to always tag all of their aliases: all posts tagged with "dante" are of course also tagged with "soundcirclet". (This rule of thumb is excluding deadnames, of course). Additionally, April Fools 2024 saw me do a very stupid event wherein I covered every single Raft Ride rip uploaded on the channel - to keep the archive clean, I decided to forego my typical tagging system for these posts and give them their own dedicated sorting. You can find all of these posts under the tag #raftmageddon, and you can filter by rippers by writing a ripper's name in the URL with the prefix "raft :" For instance, a Raft Ride rip made by SonicHeroesFan1 would be tagged as #raft : SonicHeroesFan1.

Note also that Tumblr's URLs are magic and support spaces - if a ripper's name has a space in it, like Retro Gaming, the space also goes in the URL.

4. Now I know how to find things! But how do I submit rip suggestions for you to cover?

The easiest method if you're an active Tumblr user, is to use the Ask Box, which is accessed under a big blue "REQUEST A RIP!" button on the blog's main page. If you're not a Tumblr user, don't fret! In the regularly-updated pinned post, you can find links to a lot of the tags and such I've talked about just beforehand, but also to the Google Forms Request Form. There's no formalities needed to request a rip: Just your name (if you wish to be credited with one), the name of the rip or YouTube upload, and (ideally!) a quick description of why you think the rip warrants being written about.

Finally, if you're ever talking to me on Discord in DMs or the SiIvaGunner server itself, feel free to just request things off the cuff! I jot down all the requests sent my way in the same spreadsheet as all other requests. Note that requesting a rip does not guarantee that I will cover it, nor will I send any sort of message accepting or declining your request.

5. Conclusion

Last week, I announced a bit of a shift in the blog's structure, as I have a lot more stuff to juggle than I did back when this all started to where I've had to slow down the rate of postings. (You can read more in the Update post I made last week). Really, this is the first post I've made to branch out of my typical postings of rip analysis, reblogs and blog updates, barring some one-off anecdotes made once or twice. Hopefully you've found it a worthwhile (and helpful!) read - and if you know of any rippers that would be curious to see written analysis and coverage of their work on here, send them this post to get them started with the basic ropes of navigating this weird website.

Tumblr is vast and intimidating, and definitely not a site for everyone. But hopefully with this, even more of you readers will be able to find the posts that you're looking for!

See you on Monday!

#siivagunner blog MOJO!#siivagunner #siiva #hello! these are tags!#you can click on these as well but they wont show you much of anything #theyre here to be silly footnotes which is another common way tags are used on tumblr #you will see me do this on the blog on “rippers' commentary” posts

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