#AUDIO. // secondary tag.

[changes]

Tuesday, June 18th, 2024

🌟 New

The first cut of settings for communities is now available. Admins of communities can change the name, tagline, avatar, header image, tags, and description. You can find a link to these settings in the sidebar for your community on desktop, or in the context menu on mobile.

The community invite popup has been given a design refresh, including a counter of how many invites you have left.

Communities now display whether they are public or private in their header.

Community admins can now promote members to moderators. Moderators can delete posts, and we’re still building out the feature, so expect to see things change in the next few weeks!

We’ve updated the blog posts API endpoint to add the options to specify a sort order and an “after” time, to complement the current option to show posts from “before” a specific time. When using “before”, and by default, posts are sorted in reverse-chronological order (“descending”). With “after” and “sort = asc”, you can sort posts from oldest to newest instead, starting at a certain time.

🛠 Fixed

Since secondary blogs cannot post to communities yet, your primary blog will now always be selected when posting to communities.

Certain activity coming from communities, such as mentions in posts and comments, and soon invitations, now count towards your unread activity total.

🚧 Ongoing

We are aware of ads auto-playing audio in the Android app, sometimes quite loudly, and are working on a fix!

🌱 Upcoming

We are working to rename Community Labels to Content Labels across our official clients (Web, iOS, and Android), as well as Community Guidelines to User Guidelines. We hope this change will prevent any potential confusion regarding the relationship between these and Tumblr Communities.

Experiencing an issue? Check for Known Issues and file a Support Request if you have something new. We’ll get back to you as soon as we can!

Want to share your feedback about something? Check out our Work in Progress blog and start a discussion with the community.

Wanna support Tumblr directly with some money? Check out the new Supporter badge in TumblrMart!

[annabelle--cane]

it's fascinating to me the way that different social media platforms result in different types of fandom behavior. while s5 of tma was airing, I spent a good amount of time on tma tiktok (I log back in about once every two months now, going back to in-person school after a year a half of lockdown seem to re-blanace my brain and made me once again not really enjoy the format) while still using tumblr as my main socmed, and while there was a lot of overlap in the fan culture, some things were notably different.

tumblr tma fans had near-encyclopedic knowledge of the source material, but it was kind of an ongoing joke for tiktok tma fans that everyone binged the whole show in a week-long fugue state and lost memory of about 35% of it. tumblr has virtually no character limit and allows posts to be passed around by users indefinitely, which lends itself to fairly in-depth meta analysis being made and shared until most any fan could say "the time and space discrepancies at hill top road? psh yeah, I know all about them, I've read seven scrupulously cited posts that lay out all the details." for the entire time that s5 was airing, tiktok videos could still only be a minute long, and I know from a lot of personal effort that there's only so much you can fit into a one minute script that you also have to memorize and record (and cc manually with tiktok text stickers, as they didn't add the caption feature until april 2021) if you want the process to take less than four hours of your one mortal human life. and then you only see the video if your following or fyp algorithm shows it to you. there were a few tma meta-ish videos that got popular because other people would make their own videos referencing them and tag the account so their followers could see what they were talking about, but it's much harder to circulate content you like there. several times I saw people post videos saying "I got into cosplay to film some [agnes or annabelle or gerry or another secondary character] and I just realized I have no idea what their deal actually is 💀".

a thing that tiktok tma fandom was definitely better at than tumblr tma fandom was accurately remembering certain pieces of characterization and the flow of certain scenes. I've seen a bunch of posts on here where someone is trying to argue a point with excerpts from the text ("x character is nicer than you all give them credit for" "x character is so mean to y character in this scene" "z theory can't be true because y character said a line that disproves it") where the argument only holds up because the poster has gotten these excerpts from a transcript dive and hasn't listened to the episodes they're from recently, because while the text alone can be construed to mean one thing, the way it's delivered on-podcast clearly intends another. tiktok, being an audio and video based medium, allows audio clips to be shared around a lot, and cosplayers would often all make videos acting along to the same show clips of juicy interpersonal drama, and so tiktok fans, though they may have had less overall memory of what characters said, always had a better grasp on how they said it. an average tiktok tma fan might not have remembered melanie's subplot about war ghosts, but they would know the nuances of how the way she talks to jon changes between mag 28 and mag 155.

[howlsofbloodhounds]

(Dividers were found {and made} here. Not by me.)

L͟I͟N͟K͟S͟:

ᥴꪖꪀꪮꪀ ᛕ꠸ꪶꪶꫀ᥅!ᦓꪖꪀᦓ:

A post with links + a google doc.

My post.

∂єℓтα’ѕ тαℓє & ꪮꪻꫝꫀ᥅ꪻꪖꪶꫀ.

ꜱᴏᴍᴇᴛʜɪɴɢ ᴏᴛʜᴇʀ ᴀᴏ3 ᴄᴏʟʟᴇᴄᴛɪᴏɴ.

C̳A̳N̳ ̳Y̳O̳U̳ ̳I̳N̳T̳E̳R̳A̳C̳T̳?̳

Disclaimer: i talk about killer, so I’ll be talking about things like murder, torture, abuse, unethical experiments, etc.

¸„.-•~¹°”ˆ˜¨ 𝐍Ｏ ¨˜ˆ”°¹~•-.„¸

Bigots of any kind, Misogynists, Pro-Israel, Fake-claimers, Zoos. Pedohilies, “MAPs,” or anyone who supports or is neutral. Anyone who ships or romanticizes incest, pedophila, rape/SA, necrophilia, bestiality, and abuse. People who enjoy listening or watching IRL gore/snuff.

˜”*°•.˜”*°• YES: •°*”˜.•°*”˜

Anyone who isn’t any of the above.

Also anyone who enjoys “color spectrum duo,” aka killer and color.

Queer people, systems, furries, any type of alter/nonhuman, people of color, disabled people, anyone of any religion or spirituality is welcome. Pagans and witches.

【ＢＯＵＮＤＡＲＩＥS: 】

Don’t send me, talk to me about, or tag me in any real life gory or sexual videos, gifs, audios, or images. I don’t mind the topic or when it’s a fictional situation with fictional characters, but do not involve me in that or direct any of it towards me. You’ll be blocked otherwise.

Tag me in anything else you want. So long as it’s not IRL gore, sexual stuff, or violence.

You can vent to me if you need to, or if you need advice, just ask first please.

Do not send me any hate, beef, or drama in my ask box, DMs, reblogs, or comments. Most of that stuff will be deleted. You will be blocked.

If I ever get anything wrong, about anything, please feel free to correct me. I’d appreciate it.

If you ever disagree with or don’t like my headcanons or interpretations of certain characters, such as in the UTMV fandom, then always feel free to tell me your own or ask me to elaborate further. Do it politely, or I will not acknowledge you. I will block you.

This is my TikTok, Instagram, YouTube, and AO3. I do have Discord, but you will have to ask privately for that. I do have Twitter/X, but I am not on it anymore.

My blog is not very organized, but I do have four personalized tags: #howlsasks, #houndshowlings, #forlater.txt.

These are for any and all asks I have received and answered, my yapping, reblogs I want to return to later.

You can call me Howl(s), Hound(s), or simply Rey.

they/them, she/her. But I am okay with any.

I am 19. I am taken. I may be Autistic/have ADHD.

Tone tags aren’t usually needed but appreciated. I will use them for you, too, if you tell me to.

Maintaining relationships and friendships are a genuine struggle for me. I will frequently forget to respond or will forget a lot of things you tell me. I am never purposefully ignoring you. Sometimes I forget, don’t know what to say, or will just be too tired to answer.

The above goes for stuff sent to my ask box. It is always open and questions are always welcome, as are DMs, but it may take a few days until I respond.

And that should be everything. I will update, add on, and remove as I see fit. I tend to get talkative when using written communication, and I love making lists, so this got longer than I thought it would be. I hope it was easy enough to read.

Follow my bitchass alt account @postlimitcages or whatever. My Pagan secondary blog is here. My 18+ blog info.

[novantinuum]

Fandom: Steven Universe Rating: Teen Audiences (CW: Description of attempted suicide) Words: 5.4K~ Summary: There’s more to this story, Lars can feel it brimming in his very bones. He can feel it squirming around in the tangled coils of his guts, a primal, virulent rot that threatens to consume him from the inside out. Something is off with Steven, something is distinctly wrong. And oh, does he hate being right. - When an unexpected visitor tumbles through the magic portal in his hair long after hours, breathless and bright pink, Lars must amass the courage to weather one of the most difficult conversations of his life.

Hey folks- this is a really heavy one, but it's a story I've been sitting on in my WIPs for a good four years and am very happy to finally set loose. A lot of personal experience has been poured into this particular fic, and I hope you enjoy.

Please take care and mind the content warning given above. If you're curious on what else this story entails, you can click through to see the AO3 tags as well. Love y'all!

__

Advocate

The Sun Incinerator’s bridge is unusually quiet tonight, with almost everyone spending the evening in their quarters. As such, the only sounds greeting Lars’ ears right now are the dull buzz of their FTL-drive and the gentle chimes of one of the ship’s secondary consoles in the back. (Padparadscha’s making some adjustments to the mainframe parameters, hoping to secure them more malleable control over each system’s energy output.) It makes for a rather meditative scene… focusing on these lulling, almost formulaic bits of white noise as he peers through the glass and watches entire stars and solar systems zip by as nothing but razor thin tendrils of light, the very fabric of space warping and folding around their ship in a myriad of hypnotizing colors. Content to simply be in this peaceful silence, he stretches back in his captain’s chair, allowing a wide smile to rejuvenate his countenance. There’s genuinely nothing more relaxing in all the universe than this.

Though, as he begins to muse upon today’s chaotic ventures of choice, it occurs to him that he hasn’t logged anything down for a good few cycles. And that really, really needs to change, he thinks. Keeping thorough audio records of their whereabouts and activities could prove useful if they get into any more legal scrapes with disgruntled Gems. Plus, it’s great for personal posterity— for when he and the fam want to kick back with some mixers and reminisce about old times.

He activates the mic embedded in the armrest of his seat with a single tap, and clears his throat.

“Logging… stardate one-three zero-five twenty eighteen,“ he begins, rhythmically tapping his fingers against the cool metal. “Or, uh… however that’s supposed to work,” he tags on with a bemused mumble, his nose wrinkling in personal annoyance as he realizes he might have completely jumbled the date format again. At this point, half of his logs are month first, then date, and the other half are date then month. Ugh, what a mess. Perhaps one day he’ll standardize the captain’s logging procedure, but that future is definitely not now. 

And knowing him, it’s probably not gonna be tomorrow, either.

He’s unable to help his exhausted yawn as he kicks back and unwinds, throwing his legs over the side of the armrest as he pushes ahead with his recounting of the last few hours.

“Today’s travels once again had us come face-to-face with our favorite frenemy Emerald, who claimed that her latest star cruiser had the booster technology to easily outperform all other Era 3 ships and challenged us to a race across the Stellaris Astroid Field in sector 9. We won, of course,” he says with a smug lilt to his voice. “The Rutiles’ savvy piloting saw to that, as well as Fluorite’s last-minute engine modifications. I think we hit like… a record cruising speed?” He presses his lips into a thin line and turns his head towards his friend working at the rear of the main deck. “Hey Pady? D’ya happen to remember what our top velocity came to during the final stretch of that race?”

She pauses in her self-appointed duty and hums in careful thought, sorting back through her eidetic knowledge of the recent past like it’s nothing but child’s play. “I believe… 181 klicks per second, nearing the speed of light.”

“And that was like… a record, yeah?” he asks, a sudden hair-raising twinge of… well, something settling deep at the pit of his chest. He ignores it for now. Such phantom pangs aren’t uncommon these days. He’s not exactly sure what causes it yet, and chalks it up to more ‘pink zombie’ weirdness.

“For our craft, yes,” she nods. “For all Gemkind, no. I was curious, as well. As far as I’ve read from Homeworld’s databases, the current non-FTL cruising record is 186.1 klicks per second.” 

Lars can’t help the scoffing chuckle that bubbles within his throat. “Ugh. Good grief, that’s basically light speed as it is. Like, leave some room for competition for the rest of us, yeah?”

Padparadscha gives a faint snicker of agreement as she turns her focus back to the ship’s mainframe interface. Right, right… she’s got work to get done. Which really reminds him, he needs to get back to his point too, or else this log’s gonna be stuffed with nothing but meaningless chit-chatter and asides. He sighs, leaning his cheek against the seat’s edge again.

“But in any case,” he continues into the mic, “our latest victory over Emerald seems to ha—”

With zero warning whatsoever that hollow pang at his core intensifies, its thrall pulsing louder and louder until it’s a thunderous cascade of static rippling through his very veins. He hisses in alarm, jamming his hands over his ears out of pure bodily instinct. This doesn’t help, of course— as this cacophonous feeling (not a sound, not some external input he can mute or modulate, but a feeling—) seems to be emanating from within, from a place all but intangible to the physical realm, from— 

He spies that oh-so-familiar glow emanating from the fringe of his hair just a split second before his surprise visitor tumbles through and throws off his center of balance, unceremoniously toppling both of them to the floor in a ridiculous tangle of limbs. 

Lars’ exhales become laborious as he extracts himself from under the teen and clambers back up to his knees, heart pounding with more fervent intensity than it has since he up and died a few years back.

And right on cue, about fifteen seconds too late:

“Captain Lars, Steven is about to cross through the portal in your head!”

“Yeah, I noticed, thanks,” he snaps in the shock of it all, feeling guilty for this snide remark the second it passes through his lips. (Because Padparadscha can’t help her compulsive ‘predictions.’ He knows this. Everyone knows this. He’ll have to find time to pull her aside and apologize.)

But not now.

Not yet.

Because the alarm bells rung by Pady’s next comment are enough to slap him right out of his brooding contemplation and back to the troubling here-and-now.

“I also predict that Steven won’t be in a very sound state of mind when he arrives,” she says, a noticeable tension building in her tone.

His eyes blow wide as he shifts his full attention to his friend, clad in a pair of sweatpants and a thin sleep shirt.

Steven is… oh, geeze. It seems Steven can’t even manage coherent speech right now. His cheeks are blotchy and raw with recent tears. He’s doubled over on the floor with one hand clutching at his center as he heaves for breath, glowing bright ass pink and looking halfway to hyperventilating. One thing’s for sure: it’s really, really hard to watch. His own chest growing insufferably tight in sympathy, Lars leaps to action, unwilling to let the poor guy wallow in the thickets of whatever the hell this breakdown is about any longer than he has to.

“H-hey…” he begins, edging towards him with the same slow deliberateness he always has to use with the rescue dog his parents recently adopted. And like, yeah— a part of him feels really rude for comparing his own friend to a skittish, fretful animal— but it’s a comparison that seems all the more apt the longer he drinks in the realities of this situation.

Because just like ol’ Maru, Steven is jumpy, horrifically on-edge, and ready to bolt at a moment’s notice. 

Lars frowns, considering what few options he has.

Realizing his friend’s not likely to calm down very well so out in the open like this, he turns towards his fellow Off-Color. 

“Pady, I’m taking him to my quarters. Can you let the others know, and uh… tell them not to disturb us for a while?”

“Yes, right away,” she chimes, hopping off her seat.

“Thank you,” he breathes, expression softening. “I mean it. And sorry about— well, I’ll talk with you later, all right?”

Her mouth falling into a perfectly neutral line (even if she’s incapable of reading the future, he’s sure she’s intensely aware of what he wishes to speak to her about from mere context clues alone), the Gem serves him a solid nod of acceptance and spins on her heels, striding down the hall with a level of confidence he envies. The bridge’s door slides shut after her, leaving him and his glowing, pink hued guest entirely alone.

Alone, and incredibly, incredibly vulnerable, like a live wire flailing about atop a damaged Earth power line.

(The last thing anyone on this ship needs is him having one of his infamous explosive episodes here and compromising the bridge’s airlock system. Which is why his quarters— below deck and fully enclosed— is a far more ideal locale for them right now.)

“O-okay, Steven,” he says, holding out his arm in aid as the teen struggles to clamber back to his feet. “Let’s go somewhere private to cool down, yeah?”

~~

A few minutes later, Lars has Steven situated on the one plush sofa he keeps in his quarters. Since he no longer possess any biological need for sleep and thus doesn’t keep a bed, his room on the ship is pretty sparse— just a desk for journaling or gaming and some shelves with a number of sentimental knick-knacks he brought with him from Earth— but he did find it important to keep a couch. Even if he doesn’t need to sleep, curling up for a quick hour of shut-eye still feels quite rejuvenating sometimes. Plus, it’s handy to have whenever he hosts visitors. Like now. 

Lars sits himself down right next to the distressed teen. He’s still flushed bright pink, but has regained a fair bit of emotional stability compared to how he was right after tumbling out of the magic space portal in his hair. It might take a while until the glow fades away entirely, but it’s progress, at least. 

He sighs, rapping his fingertips against his jeans as he gives his friend some time in silence to cool down. The last thing the guy needs right now is for him to wave half a dozen questions in his face. He’ll talk when he’s ready. Or, hell, maybe not at all. That’s okay, too. Maybe he just wanted a place to have a quick little freak-out away from his family or girlfriend. Who’s he to judge? Sometimes a man’s just gotta be alone for a while. 

Of course, he muses, if Steven really wanted to be alone, then he wouldn’t have crossed through Lion’s mane over to him, now would he? So this visit can’t only be due to a desire for solitude. Steven sought out him— specifically him— for a reason.

That churning, hollow pang at his core radiates even stronger, pulsing at the same interval as the dull tick of the clock he has hanging up on his wall, the one he keeps set to Earth EST as an everlasting reminder of his humble human roots and all the people who care about him back home.

Finally— some ten or so minutes later— the seventeen-year-old stops glowing, that unnatural, otherworldly pallor fading into obscurity. The kid (sorry, but Steven will always be a ‘kid’ to him at this point, don’t matter his age) deflates in exhaustion, cupping his face in his hands.

Now a little more confident that his expressions of concern won’t rile him up to destructive levels of stress, Lars makes a gentle inquiry as to what brought him here. 

“‘Course, you don’t have to say anything if you don’t want to,” he tacks on quickly when he sees Steven’s expression widen with an almost grief-stricken apprehension, “but since I’m here an’ all, I figured…”

His guest sucks in a deep, shaky bout of air.

“N-no, I wanna talk,” he says, voice painfully hoarse. “I came here to talk, but I— it’s just so, so much, I-I’m—”

Lars’ eyes soften. “Dude, it’s okay. Take your time.”

And take his time he does. Another minute or so passes whilst Steven continues to reel himself in on the emotional side of things, breathing slow and heavy as he levels a dead-eyed stare at the blank section of wall flanking the doorway and his desk.

“Connie and I had a fight,” he begins eventually, his tone streaked with embarrassment. “Over the phone.”

Lars’ brow shoots up. Huh. All right. This is absolutely not the opener he expected.

“Really? You two fight? About what?”

“It doesn’t even matter anymore. It was nothing,” Steven mutters, clenching and unclenching his fists against the soft fabric of his pajama pants in a markedly uneven rhythm. “Just me being an idiot, as per usual. I’m sure we’ll make up over it tomorrow. But the problem is that we hung up mad. And when I’m mad about something, it just… makes me mad at myself. A-and then it’s like—” anxious, clawing hands migrate to his head, gripping at his hair— “w-when I’m mad at myself I just spiral? And it’s so, so scary how fast that can happen.”

Ever so slight, his lip presses into a tense frown as he listens. He doesn’t interject, not yet. Steven’s not finished with his disclosure— there’s more to this story, he can feel it brimming in his very bones. He can feel it squirming around in the tangled coils of his guts, a primal, virulent rot that threatens to consume him from the inside out. Something is off with him, something is distinctly wrong.

And oh, does he hate being right.

“I just… couldn’t stop thinking about it,” Steven admits.

The aching hollowness etched into the contours of his friend’s face intensifies, if that’s even possible.

Lars swallows.

“It?”

“—about killing myself,” he rasps, “and finally being done with all this.”

…

So, he’s not gonna lie.

While— much like himself— Steven’s never been the sort of person to prefer wearing his most turbulent emotions on his sleeve, he’s long suspected something like this was going on with him.

He suspected (because he’s been right there in those trenches himself), but he never said anything. 

He never mentioned these worries to any of his guardians.

And he never asked.

‘Cause like, how could he, right?? What a horrible, triggering inquiry that would be. ‘Hey Steven, hah, so random question— you don’t happen to casually fantasize about your own death or anything sometimes, do you?’ Fucking hell, what an asshole he’d make. What a disgusting, disgusting breech of boundaries. He always hated it when his parents violated his trust by butting into his own personal business unprompted, so how could he ever turn right around and do that to Steven? To one of his most cherished friends in the whole galaxy? To the guy who— despite years and years of putting up with all his toxic bullshit and daring to see the good in him anyways— literally brought him back to life?

Thus, with him never volunteering any information himself, all that was left for Lars to do was watch. 

To watch, and to listen where he can.

But still.

He’s not gonna lie.

Even if he always kinda suspected, even if so many of their interactions this past year only acted as fuel for all his constant, silent worries, hearing the kid actually say those words hurts like a bitch.

…

“Steven…” he utters with widened eyes, extending his hand.

To no avail, though.

“And that’s stupid, right??” the teen blurts out with a broad sweep of his arms, either ignoring or plain not noticing his offer of comfort as he rants onwards, his demeanor growing more and more unstable with each and every syllable. “That’s just… stupid! Normal people don’t think like that! Normal people don’t make mistakes and instantly leap to the worst possible punishment and spin that little thought around, and around, and around in your head until you’ve considered a thousand different scenarios that all end the same way.”

He pauses for breath, his chest heaving in and out— probably amidst the exertion of being so damn honest for once. Lars doesn’t even make a sound within this brief span of quiet. A part of him is a little terrified at what else might spill out of his friend’s mouth now that the cork of his anxieties has thoroughly been popped off, but he’s even more terrified at the thought of derailing him, of unintentionally stopping these truths from ever being spoken.

“And it’d be so easy, too,” Steven says, his once manic tone dropping a little lower, into something that’s worryingly more akin to numb acceptance. “I already know exactly how I’d do it! All I’d have to do is smash my gem so I don’t heal, and slit my wrists, and let myself just—” his voice cracks— “drift away, b-but—”

Lars’ brow hardens with a sudden rush of understanding as the trajectory of the teen’s sentence trails on off. “But something’s… holding you back?”

He nods, swallowing so hard that he can see the resultant lump move along the center line of his throat.

“The problem is,” he says, voice raw and vulnerable, “I’ve already seen how my family would respond to that. To… to me trying to kill myself. When I turned into that monster, I— I don’t actually remember much about it, but what I do remember is that the last thought I had before I changed was eerily similar to what I’m feeling now.”

Momentary lull. He’s rotating a thought in his head with the same intensity of a set of steam engine gears grinding against each other, that much is obvious.

“I think… for me,” he continues with marked hesitation, “corruption was a form of suicide. Which means—” he grinds his fingers into the soft fabric of his pajama bottoms as if seeking out an anchor, any anchor at all— “I already know what that would do to them. And I hate that I do, b-because… ‘cause I’m just so tired. Of all of this. I just want everything to stop. I want to stop.” 

Lars can’t help but wince as he listens to the developing theme of this admission, to how each and every new word his friend weaves into existence falls into such dissonant harmony with the gloomy, directionless version of himself he’s worked so hard to let rest in the past. Hell, he might as well be looking straight into some weird, warped mirror of his own teenage years. His lungs seize tight upon this revelation. Instinctively, he extends his hand towards the guy’s shoulder, sobered by the understanding that he’s possibly the sole person in this entire quadrant who’s capable of conveying even an ounce of sympathy or comfort for what he’s battling through right now.

“Hey, man. It’s okay. It’s over, now, you’re here with me. Those are just thoughts, y’know?”

Steven shakes his head, the motion swift and drenched with the dread of all his unaddressed self-loathing.

“But they’re not, though…”

“Wait, what are you even—?”

“Because… this time I almost carried through with it.”

His expression crumples upon the advent of this spoken revelation.

Fuck, he thinks, wishing with every last brittle nerve in his body that this conversation didn’t just swerve in the exact godawful direction he always feared it might. What the actual fuck.

He is so not equipped for this. 

With literally nothing else in his arsenal but the drive to bite his lip and listen, Lars motions for him to continue.

Sniffling, the teen backs his story up to provide what little context he feels comfortable with sharing. 

“After Connie and I’s fight… well, my dreams were really, really bad. So I woke up. Alone. And I started spiraling real bad again, an’… and then before I could even process what was happening, I—”

Sweet stars, is the poor guy trembling as he struggles to push this admission out. With a brief waver of hesitation (‘cause in normal circumstances, he’s not huge on all this touchy-feely stuff), he reaches over, angling to rest one of his hands over Steven’s.

“I had the knife in my hand,” he says. “And a pestle from the kitchen, to smash my gem. B-but I just… I just couldn’t do it! I’m just a coward, Lars! A stupid fucking coward who can’t even—”

He doesn’t utter a single syllable. 

He doesn’t even think. (How could he, in such fraught circumstances?) 

Limbs trembling in an outright terrifying cascade of adrenaline he hasn’t experienced since the day he finally found something worth existing for, Lars surges forward to wrap him into what’s gotta be the tightest, most sincere hug he’s given in his whole twenty-one years of life.

And thankfully, such an impulsive interjection is all it takes.

The walls his friend’s erected around himself this past season topples like wayward dominos. They smash against the ground, crumbling into vulnerable, vulnerable fragments. 

Steven sobs into his shoulder with a raw, shattered fervency that stretches leagues beyond any outpour of emotion he’s ever witnessed from another living person. It’s messy. It’s visceral. And in the precise context of this intensely specific turn of events, it’s a damn cathartic relief… because when it comes to training your brain out of a deep-rooted death wish, feeling anything— literally anything at all— is step number fucking one.

“I wanted to die so badly,” the teen warbles, his ugly mixture of snot and tears staining his shirt all the while. “B-but… I’m just such a worthless, pathetic failure that I can’t even do that right!”

He can’t help but cringe at this admission, but resolves to remain silent, not wanting a gentle pushback to such brutal self-loathing to spook Steven away from showing any shred of vulnerability whatsoever. He’s been there plenty of times himself. After all, when a person who’s caught in such a void of hopelessness and despair makes a last ditch appeal for help, they’re usually not looking to be told ‘everything will get better in time, you’ll see’ or ‘don’t be so hard on yourself, you’re not a worthless failure at all,’ or whatever other empty attempt at reassurance someone who doesn’t have such intimate experience with depression and suicidal ideation as he does might come up with. In many cases, such people are simply vying for their bleakest, most private feelings to actually be heard for once in their lives. 

The moment’s sanctity unhindered, the boy continues to cry against his shoulder for a good long stretch of time. Lars barely even breathes as he sits perched at the very edge of that couch, consigned to nothing but a statue as he holds him within what’s gotta be a record for the galaxy’s most awkward and stiff embrace ever shared.

A miniature eternity passes within this space before those sobs finally begin to lighten up.

“‘M sorry,” Steven mumbles through a face full of snot, pulling away from his offered comfort as a flicker of shame wrests control of his features. 

Lars shakes his head in a vehement refusal of the habitual guilt spiral he’s sure the guy’s a split second from slipping right into. “Dude, don’t be. Stars, I— I’m just glad you came over to me, okay?”

Then, swallowing… and doing his upmost best to consider the most respectful way to broach such a sensitive topic, he continues:

“I… I don’t mean to pry, but… are you… taking anything for this?”

Steven’s glassy expression scrunches into a configuration that screams nothing but blank confusion. “What?”

“Like… medication, or—?”

A bright understanding dawns within his gaze like the glow from a passing star system, before immediately collapsing inwards into a bitter, shadowed singularity. 

“No… no,” he protests, gesticulating all the while, “I keep telling everyone— my therapist, my dad, the Gems— I don’t wanna take any medicine! I’m not sick, I’m not, I don’t need drugs in my brain, I just— I just need to stop acting like this, just need to do better, to be better, I-I need—”

“Steven, no offense, but it’s called mental illness for a reason,” Lars says in the most deadpan tone he can muster, crossing his arms as he leans back upon the plush of the couch cushion. “Your brain is ill. That’s literally what this is. If you had the flu, you’d be taking flu medicine to help yourself get over it, right?”

“I’ve never had the flu,” he says in miserable contradiction.

“Yeah, well— come on, man, just work with me here,” he half-snaps, throwing a hand up for emphasis. “You agree that someone who is ill deserves medicine to feel better, right?”

The teen merely shrugs, his features growing cold and sullen. And good golly does he super want to smack all this noncommittal, self-sabotaging bullshit out of his stupid fucking system right this instant— because it reminds him so damn much of himself, and he hates that it does— but… aughhh. He’s gotta be more mature than that, doesn’t he?

As the older of the pair, he’s gotta be the role model here. 

“Then, don’t you think you might benefit from the same thing?” he presses.

Steven responds in the negative, swiveling his head from side to side. “I don’t know how it’d interact with… well—” 

He flashes a sharp gesture towards himself. More specifically, towards his very center, where his gem sits. Lars has no need to live inside his thoughts to pick up on the tricky little issue he’s hinting at here… he’s worried about how human medications would interact with the complexities of part-Gem physiology. And to be fair, it’s a reasonable concern to have.

But then again…

“That’s how it is with humans, too,” he shrugs. “It takes some people a lot of trial and error to find a drug and dosage that works for them. For once, you wouldn’t be any more an unusual case than anyone else. Do what you want, but—” deep inhale— “if it were me, I’d really consider talking with a psychiatrist about this.”

The teen issues a dull huff through his nose. It’s the sort of response that makes it clear he reluctantly agrees with Lars’ logic, but should he actually follow his advice— and stars, he hopes he does— won’t be doing so with a willing heart. That’s fine, though. Sometimes, being the most supportive friend one can be means that the other party won’t always like what you have to say. He knows this from intense personal experience… from being the person on the other side of this kind of conflict. Sadie was never afraid of serving him the tough love and cutting perspective he needed when he opened up to her about his own experience with suicidal ideation, and he’s forever grateful for that. Thus, the least he can do now is try to be that kind of advocate for Steven, too.

Which brings him to the next vital topic rattling within his brain.

“Oh, and one other thing,” Lars says, folding his hands in his lap and looking him directly in the eye. “This is important, so please be honest with me. Have you told anyone else you’ve been struggling with these kinds of thoughts?”

“Not really,” he mumbles, his own gaze slipping aside amidst the turbulent throes of his clear shame. “I just… I wanted to deal with this myself. I don’t want them to be disappointed. They all think I’m doing so well these days, but then—”

“Steven.”

There’s no acknowledgement of his call, at first. He’s just too damn tangled within his own thoughts— expression glazed over and restless fingertips drumming in an endless thrall against his thigh.

“Steven, come on. Look at me,” he implores, interrupting his manic fidgeting with the reassuring solidity of a hand over his. “Please. Promise me, when you go back through my head, you’ll call someone else— anyone else— and tell them. Tell them, and then have them contact me. I want to hear you promise.”

“Lars…”

“Promise me,” he repeats with an even stronger fervency, his normally sluggish heartbeat surging halfway to its old full-strength status quo. “Listen, I don’t want to invade your privacy any more than you want me to, but if you don’t do this by the end of tomorrow… if that very clock—” he jabs a finger towards the so-mentioned object hanging upon his wall— “hits midnight and I don’t hear anything from your family… then I’m calling your father and telling him myself.”

Steven’s expression twists with a sharp jolt of dismay, his mouth falling ajar. Lars cuts off any pending protests with a swift flash of his hand and continues undeterred.

“I’m not joking. I’m like, a billion light years in space, man. You need someone closer to home in your corner, too.”

Unable to ignore the hard hitting truth of this statement, his friend finally acquiesces to his request, his shoulders slumping inwards.   

“Fine,” he mumbles, folding his arms to his chest. “I promise I’ll tell Dad.”

“Thank you,” he breathes in sheer spine tingling relief. And by golly, does he uber mean it. 

Because holy shit, have the past fifteen or so minutes of conversation been an absolute stress-soaked ordeal. He doesn’t know if he’s ever felt so emotionally exhausted in his whole ass existence.

“In the morning, though,” Steven adds. “I—” the kid heaves a long, exhausted sigh— “I really don’t think either of us are prepared for that kind of conversation this late.”

“Absolutely fair enough.”

His friend sniffles a little, gaze averting once more. “Can I— can I stay here, for tonight? I really, really don’t want to be alone right now.”

“Of course,” he nods. In his mind, Steven’s request was never a matter up for debate. “Always. I’ll… I’ll go get some blankets.”

Hooking his thumbs into the pockets of his jeans, Lars pushes himself off the couch and slowly shuffles his way to the door. (The storage closet he keeps all his extra personal elements in is a short distance down the hall, past Rhody and Padparadscha’s shared room.) He keeps his expression as blank as he can muster… at least until he’s moved well out of both visual and auditory range. And then… once he’s absolutely positive that Steven can’t overhear… all that built-up worry and emotional strain simply overflows.

He’s not outright crying— not in the way that others might— but damn if he’s not real close to it.

Lars’ whole body shudders with a burst of delayed grief as he braces himself upon the closet door. He clamps a hand over his mouth, stifling the impact of the shaky exhale that spills from his lips otherwise unhindered. Just… fuck. What the fuck. All of this feels like a horrible nightmare. When the hell did things get so bad for him? Who let things get this bad? Is he at fault—? Like, geeze— he always knew something felt awry with the kid (and that’s half the issue, isn’t it? He’s not just a sweet little kid with simple lil’ problems anymore, and in many ways he never was), but should he have said something? Confronted him about it? Told his guardians about his concerns, privacy be damned? 

He grits his teeth as he muddles over all the infinite complexities of this problem.

Ugh.

What if, what if, what if.

It’s all useless conjecture.

The bottom line is, Steven doesn’t deserve any of this. Not then, not now, not ever. He shouldn’t have to be dealing with any of these horrid, horrid thoughts. Stars, if anything had happened to him— if he actually did follow through with his plan, then—

Lars drops his head against the door panel, doing everything within his power to will the thought to evaporate from his mind.

No.

No…

He doesn’t even want to consider that possibility. Steven’s like a brother to him at this point. It’s not gonna happen. Not now, not ever. Not on his watch.

He’s not sure how yet, but he’ll make damn sure of it.

…

Once he’s cooled himself down, Lars returns to his quarters with a couple of blankets in hand.

Upon passing through the doorframe, he’s met with a somewhat reassuring sight: Steven already sound asleep on his ratty old couch, curled up against the armrest and snoring softly. Heh. He sure doesn’t blame him for tuckering out so soon. Poor guy must’ve been exhausted after such a rigorous emotional outpouring. Moving with calm intent so as not to disturb him, he quickly lays the blankets across his slumbering form before retreating to the far wall to keep watch for the night. He stretches back against the metallic panel, inhaling as deep as he can muster to erase the quavering tension staining his countenance.

Standing vigil over a soul in need… just in case.

[daitranscripts]

Frequently Asked Questions

Update: 8/29/2024

I would like to remind everyone that I am just another fan, and this is a fan project. I have no control over character dialogue.

Remember to be kind in my ask box and notes. I cannot explain why some character lines were chosen to be cut from the game, nor is this the place to start character discourse. I am also not a machine - I am a person with feelings and other hobbies. I love to take dialogue requests, but asks that demand certain quests or are rude will be swiftly deleted. Repeat offenders, or especially rude anons, will be blocked.

Please be courteous! This is something I enjoy doing, and I ask that you keep the experience enjoyable for myself and your fellow fans.

What is this project?

DAI Transcripts is my endeavor to document and format all of the dialogue in Dragon Age: Inquisition (I hope that's obvious, otherwise I might be doing a pretty bad job). I started this project in 2019 as a spiritual successor to the discontinued @dragonagetranscripts. ㅤㅤ ㅤ ㅤ

Why are you doing this?

Because god has punished me for my hubris and my work is never done. 

jk it’s actually because I was sick of watching bad let’s plays while trying to work on my longfic so I took matters into my own hands.  ㅤㅤ ㅤ ㅤ

How do you know you're using accurate dialogue? Where are you finding the deleted lines?

I type the transcripts by hand side-by-side with the game files, a plot flag editor, numerous youtube playthroughs, and my own game open. I also keep a number of handwritten notes on plot flag strings. I have played DA:I over 30 times, and crowd-source from the communities I'm in.

I do occasionally miss things or can't figure out exactly how a piece of dialogue fits, but I always note this within the transcripts. ㅤㅤ ㅤ

Where did you learn to read the files?

I used to create my own mods for DA:I - There are a tutorials online that cover dialogue file editing you can find on the nexus. ㅤㅤ ㅤ

Can you share the audio files?

Unfortunately, this isn't something I'm willing to take on right now. Each line must be extracted one at a time and renamed as you go, or every line within a dialogue file will try to export with the same name (some files have hundreds of lines). They are not logically named and it is a lot of trial and error. ㅤㅤ ㅤ

You typo'd/did a thing wrong/you’re missing race/class specific dialogue!

Please let me know in an ask - I hope to have a very accurate account of all the dialogue, so don’t be afraid to let me know if I’m missing something or have any egregious typos.

Please note: since this project has been ongoing for nearly 5 years, I bridged over the change in text editors. Additionally, I only started referring to the text files around 2022.

Posts made before April 2022 (around the middle of In Your Heart Shall Burn) may be missing dialogue.

Posts made before March 2023 (around the beginning of Wicked Eyes and Wicked Hearts) may have formatting errors due to the change from old to new text editor. ㅤㅤ ㅤ

Will you do -insert quest-?

Short answer: Hopefully, yes!

Long Answer: I intend on working through the game from start to finish, first main quests, then secondary/companion quests, and then romances. Location and side-quest dialogue are on the list as well.

If you want to see something specific, just drop me an ask! I don't mind it at all, and sometimes it's a refreshing little break. ㅤㅤ ㅤ

Who are you anyway?

I'm Plisuu in disguise :) I am a high school teacher, artist, and writer. You can find me on all social media under the same name, though I'm only really active on tumblr these days. ㅤㅤ ㅤ

Please take my money! How can I support you?

I have a Ko-fi, but honestly, the kind messages and tags I get on my posts are more than enough! The best way to support me is by sharing this resource :)

Feel free to share your fics with me as well, I love seeing how different folks use the dialogue given to us and spin such unique and varied stories.

Remember, my ask box and messages are always open!

[sgtmickeyslaughter]

✨Tag Game Wednesday ✨

hi @energievie and @jrooc

Name: gigi

What is the most listened to artist in your music app of choice this month? chappell roan yall already knew

What song do you know all the lyrics to? A lot of songs honestly, i use songs to memorize things bc anything set to music embeds itself so deep in my brain - but my go to dark horse karaoke song is

What song do you pretend to know all the lyrics to and sing along to even though you don't?

bc its so catchy but i do not speak german but boy do i think i can when this comes on

or anything from kate bush bc i love her but idk what the hell she’s saying

If you were to be crowned Queen/King/Royalty of listening to a band or artist, who would that be? 

honestly this one is too tough, however if it was still 2016 the answer would unequivocally be lana del rey and i don’t want to hear a thing about it

What band/artist surprises you the most on your frequently listened to artists?

sometimes when i write or work i listen to hours and hours of lofi playlists so whenever a song from that sneaks on to my spotify stats im always very confused

Favourite line from a song (or one you have been thinking about lately?

I think these lyrics are very clever and poignant

Guilty pleasure band or song?

college drop out/ graduation and grimes 😬 i don’t think i listen to any bad/cringe music but some artists are pretty shit people

Okay let's talk fandom music:

Fave band or song you've discovered from a Fan Fic?

years and years and years ago i listened to sufjan stevens for the first time bc of a destiel fic

Fave Fanfic Playlist?

I’ll be honest i can’t really think of one, but i have one for myself since all my fics are named after songs, its linked here but hopefully it will grow a little

Fave Gallavich song?

pink and white was insane work for the prison reunion scene but at last brought the wedding to another level of grace and i loved that pick

Do you listen to music recommended by the writer or an included playlist?

sometimes! i try really really hard to but it’s difficult to travel to a secondary internet location for a fic playlist

What song do you think is Gallavich coded?

*sigh*

What’s a bop you want to share with your mutuals today? 

I listen to a lot of older gen hip hop on my ride home from work bc it helps me feel relaxed so i’ll leave you with that

i was also tagged for the 5 songs from your favorite playlists game, so ill drop those as well

and the last one is bam bam by sister nancy but tumblr has an audio limit

tagging @iansw0rld @lingy910y @creepkinginc @doshiart @mmmichyyy @mickeym4ndy @em-harlsnow @mickittotheman @mickeysgaymom @softmick @spookygingerr @atthedugouts @deathclassic @solitarycreaturesthey @hazeisblue @blue-disco-lights @metalheadmickey

[il3x]

speaking of villainsonas for funsies (re: my tags here), here's my cooler cringier sound control sona!

she's called miss phonia and a generic insert for any superpowers 'verse. though I will admit I made her based on the worm powers poll (shaker w/ stranger secondary ftw!) her power is AoE sound control. absolutely not the power I'd actually get, but if I could choose...

also, my ass would NOT be on scene for fights!! concussive sound blasts are concussive sound blasts wherever they originate... catch me as far off as my range permits, disguised as a civilian, keeping track of things with binoculars. hiring people to wear my costume and act as decoys while I centre my sound control around them. when the enemy captures them and lets their guard down enough to resume audio communications I silence their comms and insert my disguised voice in its place. honestly idk why more shakers with wide range don't use master tactics. c'mon you guys

that's also why her costume has a cape. looks over practicality because she's not gonna be in the fray.

and yes. @thesternest. she can do the shrimp thing :)

[wyrmsfornerves]

Hi! Younger artist here, I just saw your post with all those super cool monster designs and I took a quick stroll through your blog, and I was wondering if you had any specific inspirations for those designs or where you get inspo for character designs in general? Or perhaps some tidbits on how you learned how to make wild designs like that?

Sorry if this is a bit of a big ask, I just think it's really cool and I was curious!

Hello! Thank you for your question and apologies for taking so long to answer, I just got really excited and wanted to be thorough! 

My biggest piece of advice is research and develop a visual library of reference material! Your visual library is like a mental database of everything you’ve ever seen in your life, and this is what you can pull from to design concepts. 

There are a couple ways to start this as a practice: 

Notice what you see! It can be a chair, a sunset, a shoe, the light on a tree, but if you see something you think is beautiful or interesting, mentally make a note of it!

Document what you like! With computers and cameras this is a lot easier to do nowadays, but if you see something interesting to you, document it. You can draw it, or take/save a photo to folder. 

Organize it! I highly recommend coming up with a system for referencing back to find things, either through image tags or folders or even a manual filing system. 

Pay attention to your personal preferences and experiences. Try to think about what draws you to certain visual elements, identifying them can lead you to more things you like. Also pay attention to what you don’t like and why, it doesn’t necessarily need to be bad or amoral, we all have personal tastes. 

Get out of your comfort zone! I recommend trying to see something you’ve never seen before often. Find a new artist, a new genre, research a new type of design movement, go to a new place, etc. 

Try to find context for your research! For example, If you really love a specific era of fashion, research that time period and the way historical context informs it. Context can be really important, especially if you are working with references new to you!

Important Note 01: You don’t want to copy or rip-off these things. In my experience the best way to avoid that is to have a lot of reference points for any project and embrace your authentic personal interests, experiences, and identity. 

Important Note 02: Like any research, be conscious of primary person vs secondary sources! One is not better than another necessarily, but I find I work my best with a  mix of both. I like to start with primary sources and then move to secondary sources, Ie: looking at authentic suits of armor before moving to contemporary armor concept art. You don’t have to do this, it’s just something I find helpful. 

Important Note 03: While mostly I’m referring to visual references, audio, music, and writing are also super helpful!

Ok now, how do you curate all that for a project. For those monster illustrations I wanted to explore how color can be horrific. Keywords: Color & Horror. So I start looking through references for things that have the effect I want color wise, vivid and maximalist, and things that I find scary or horrifying. Here are some of the things I knew about or discovered during the research process that had the vibe I wanted. 

Notable Influences 

Color and Design 

Peruvian & Guatemalan Textiles and Traditional Clothing 

Spanish Traditional/Folk Clothing 

Sammezzano Castle, Italy

Nasir al-Mulk Mosque, Iran

Russian Traditional/Folk Costumes 

Fonthill Castle, Pennsylvania

Zhangye National Geopark

Nick Cave - sculpture artist

Lousie Zhang

Magnhild Kennedy - “Damselfrau”

Horror

Catacomb Saints

Capuchin Catacombs of Palermo

Japanese Yokai

Greek & Roman Mythology

Mandrills & Monkeys

Charles Fréger’s Photographs of  European Pagan Costuming

Avant Garde Fashion

Alexander McQueen

Vedas by  Nicolas Alan Cope and Dustin Edward Arnold 

Stephen Jones - Hats

Mummies

Reliquaries

Marina González Eme

Lorenzo Nanni

H.R Giger

Intersections of Color & Horror

Microscopic Imagery

Moths, Beetles & Shrimp

Suspiria (1977)

AJ Fosik

Hungry | Johannes J. Jaruraak

Once you’ve gathered these references in one place (like a moodboard, folder,  or Pinterest board) It’s time to pay attention to wear aesthetics intersect, what patterns are coming up, what proportions of color, what textures reoccur, what elements of clothing reoccur, etc.. What relationship do different images have with each other, what emotional effect do they create. 

Now that you’ve studied up, it’s time to sketch, try and create things that feel similar to the work you are looking at but not copy it, instead try mixing things together. Experiment! Let your personal style and preferences sink in! Interpret what you’ve learned!

From there, it’s more of a design process, how to use proportion, light, anatomy, perspective, form, repetition, etc, to create the desired effect. Then you refine and refine.

For new or different projects you repeat the process, maybe you use similar points of reference, maybe you go a completely different direction. 

Anyway that was long, but I hope it was helpful!

[inscrutable-shadow]

Whumptober 2023 Day 6 - Opening Act

@whumptober-archive

Alt Prompt - Lab Rat

In at the wire, amirite? And a form experiment? During Whumptober? Less likely than you'd think! I can't put a readmore in a chat format I am so sorry hopefully the new post shortening feature is sufficient ;-;

I don't feel comfy deciding how much of the Doc's backstory is canon to FCD right now so have a new banner, I guess. They should be about nineteen here, and this is one of their first subjects. Have them being horrifying for a bit lol.

contains: gore, medical experimentation, medical malpractice, lab whump

also available on ao3!

Partial audio recording recovered from raid of former Astra Group research facility. Subject has been identified from accompanying documents as subject 003-CV. [rustling sounds, as if the recording device is being worn around the DOCTOR’s neck. their voice is louder than 003’s because of the resonance.] 003: W-What are you going to do to me? DOCTOR: (brightly) Mm, well, I was thinking, given your broad shoulders and larger than average chest cavity, that you would be an excellent subject for my experiments regarding the integration of a secondary pulmonary system into a living human. I believe I have found a pair that will quite fit you.[sound like velcro pulling and leather stretching] DOCTOR: Ah, take care when you pull at the restraints! They are quite secure. I would not want you to injure yourself. 003: Extra lungs? What do I need extra lungs for? DOCTOR: Just think of the applications! You could hold your breath for twice as long. With some additional modifications, perhaps even breathe in and out at the same time. Much more efficient. Though, well, you are unlikely to do either. I am not arrogant enough to assume that my first attempt at this procedure will be that successful. 003: So I’m going to die? DOCTOR: Like as not, yes.  003: Didn’t you take an oath or something? Do no harm? DOCTOR: Me? Oh, certainly not! Even if I were in the habit of making promises I did not intend to keep, my education was… unorthodox. Not that I truly mind spinning public falsehoods, but life is easier when you keep those to a minimum, I think. [the clinking of metal tools] DOCTOR: Plus, I believe those sorts of ethical quibbles only hold the art of medicine back. To truly drive progress forward, we must be willing to do what was previously held to be impossible. 003: Wait! Er, why are you doing this? Surely there’s some other way to- DOCTOR: Ah, I see. You are working with a faulty premise. I am not some young, idealistic doctor blinded to ethics by their drive to seek the truth. On the contrary, I do this because I love it! [DOCTOR laughs] DOCTOR: Slicing through skin, pulling apart sinew, grinding through bone, I find it all absolutely delightful. Hold still a minute, quick pinch coming… 003: (slurred) What… what’d you give me? DOCTOR: That should numb the pain and prevent you from moving. It is a little experimental thing I have been working on. We shall see if it works, no? 003: Please… no… DOCTOR: Hush, love. The less you talk, the less it will hurt. [slicing sounds. 003 screams.] DOCTOR: (gleefully) Oops. I lied. [more slicing sounds. 003 continues to wail and moan.] DOCTOR: (giggling) Pardon me a moment. Need to… step away to compose myself… Ah, this is incredible! [their voice is muffled, as if pressing a hand over their surgical mask. the laughter’s volume is unchanged.] 003: You’re insane! DOCTOR: (still laughing) Oh, certainly! Glad to see you understand! [more giggles and a few deep breaths, then the slicing sounds resume.] DOCTOR: Oh, this is my favourite part. [the whirring of a bone saw. the DOCTOR hums a folk tune, possibly ‘Daisy Daisy’. 003 screams louder than previously, but is cut off. recording ends.]

taglist: @athenswrites, @i-eat-worlds, @demondamage you seem invested in doc stuff so idk if you want to be tagged? just let me know!

[ectonurites]

junkoandthediamonds -> ectonurites

links for mobile

✨ full about

✨ my art

✨ secondary/doodle art tag

✨ my edits (video, audio, gifs, memes, etc)

✨ comics meta/explanations tag

✨ ko-fi

[archangeldyke-all]

Hiii Angel. The truth is that I'm new to Tumblr, I focus on writing and such. It's very difficult for me to reach more people and that discourages me a little, in the end I go into an episode of demotivation and end up deleting everything I wrote. Any advice?

hi babe! my best advice us to just keep going! i've been writing short stories and such since i first learnt how to use a pencil, most of them never saw the light of day. practice will never make perfect, but it will make things a lot easier and better!

i totally get the urge to delete everything. but im here to tell you DONT DO THAT. in a year or two, you'll be DYING to read your old works, and you'll look back on them so fondly. if you feel bad about having them on tumblr with no notes, make a google doc and save them all there! i'm speaking from experience, when i was in highschool i did a total purge of every story id ever written, literally hundreds of stories deleted. id pay a million dollars to get them back and look back on them now.

i would also recommend reading! other peoples fics, fiction books, even non fiction can be inspiring! whatever your preferred reading media is, read it! or listen to it! audio books are amazing, they help you pick up on things you might not notice while reading :)

lastly, dont give up hope!!!!!!! i promise you that if you keep at it, you'll start getting the recognition you deserve! itll take some time, and you might feel like giving up along the way, but keep going! always remember that the person you are TRULY writing for is YOU. and if you like your work, that is all that matters! notes are secondary to your self expression , what matters most about writing is that you're writing what YOU want to write , not what other people think about it.

(also on tumblr, dont forget to tag your works so people can find them easier! the character's name, the fandom they come from, the type of pairing and the genre are great tags to add to get your work out there on people's FYP.)

i hope this helped bb! keep at it! i hope one day ill get the pleasure of reading one of your works :) <3

[mi6-cafe]

It's Juxtaposition January!

This year we are trying out quarterly themes, the first of which is Secondary Characters! Along with that, our monthly challenges will be more focused on a creation form than on a specific type of content (aside from perpetual favorites!). This month we ask you to create juxtaposition: a clear side-by-side contrast. This could be done in writing, visually, with podfic audio, with recommendations, or any other method! Just tag with #mi6cafechallenge and include @mi6-cafe so we can find it.

Quarterly Theme: Secondary Characters

Between each equinox we will have a different overarching theme. To start us off, it is secondary characters. This could look like creating things from secondary character POVs, centering secondary characters, recommending works about secondary characters, or anything else you enjoy! All you have to do is make a post, use the tag #Quarterly Theme, and include @mi6-cafe so that it shows up in our activity feed.

Festive Fanwork Fiesta

Thank you so much to everyone who participated in the Festive Fanwork Fiesta! We are so pleased that these creations could help add to the festive spirit! If you would like to check out these fancreations, you can see them here!

End of the Year Survey

As we have been doing since 2017, we have an end of the year survey which we hope you will all fill out to help continue to make this community as wonderful as it is. This is a chance for you to tell us what you liked, what you wished would change, and any other suggestions you have for the Cafe. Take as much or as little time as you want, but we really do value your feedback and use it to plan the next year. You have until January 17 to fill out the survey!

The Saturday Cafe: January 13th and 27th!

Come join us in the fandom Slack as we write, draw, sprint, plot, brainstorm, cheerlead, and generally have a good time trying to get things done together. If you’d like an invite to the Slack, go ahead and message @castillon02 or @spiritofcamelot!

Long Fic Readalong, Saturdays at 9pm ET

Join us in the Discord while we read a fic together. In the next week or two, the group will be finishing “Treason, Traitors, and Treachery” by Kryptaria and zooeyscigar!

We’d love to see you there. You are welcome to listen if you don’t or can’t read aloud!    

When: Saturdays at 9pm eastern/6pm Pacific.

Where: We’ll be reading on discord in the readalongs channel. (Invite to discord here)

Please join us to read, to just hang out and listen, and to generally enjoy a good story together!

Weekly events:

WIP Wednesday: You can post an excerpt of your WIP on our post or make your own post and mention the @mi6-cafe. Either way it’s a fun way to show people what you’re working on, Bond fandom or otherwise.

Weekly Bond movies: Hosted by womble every Sunday at 8am Pacific time, join us in Discord to watch one of the Bond movies. Keep an eye on the watch party calendar linked below for updates.

Want to host your own event in the Discord or elsewhere? Let us know about it so we can add it to the calendars!

Calendars

Watch Party Calendar MI6 Cafe Calendar   If you need help adding these calendars to your personal one, check out this post.

[dwead-piwate-meggers]

Snippet Saturday

So @ejunkiet tagged me twice in the past little bit but I haven’t worked on anything because my life was chaos (LP had an ear infection, Ry had strep, then a secondary infection, then debilitating back pain, then TS ended up in fussy phase all in a two week span).

But then the Darlin’ & Asher hangout audio dropped. 

And waaaaaay back when I first started listening, I had an idea for a ‘5 times Tank defended the pack’ fic. And one of those times was defending the choice of Ash as beta. So, you know, vindication and all that. So have some very rough outline. (For context, Tank has insomnia, and listens to audio books of classic literature when they can’t sleep.)

———

[Christian bitching, Tank slightly out of the circle, minding they business. Watching Ash out the corner of their eye.]

“Machiavelli.”

“What?”

“I said, Machiavelli.”

[blank looks]

“Y’know, Renaissance writer, The Prince, better to be loved or feared?” [more blank looks, muttered] “Fuckin’ rubes, I swear to God.”

[Full volume] “[Machiavelli for dummies] David says jump and I’ll do it, but he ain’t exactly the type to boost my morale when he’s askin’ me to do some hard shit.

“Here's the thing, though. Asher could say [mimicking] ‘you know what would be great? If you jumped into an active volcano.’ And I’d be like, ‘that sounds fuckin’ weird, Ash, but alright, how high d’you want that jump to be,’ ‘cause he’s always done right by us.”

You want someone to follow you? They gotta be scared, or they gotta like you. David’s got one. Ash has the other. So what’re you bringing to the table that makes you better?”

[scopop08]

Started vault hunters, and I was inspired by @theminecraftbee to write out some vault logs to keep me playing! (Because I am so lost. I have no idea what to do in the slightest) (if you don't want to be tagged just let me know!)

Buckle in for the back half of completely unexplained oc/persona lore. I'm writing it as if it's an audio log so I'm going to try and style it like auto-generated captions!

The littlest bit of context: This Scopop (5C0) is a robot built to imitate the actual Scopop, who died a couple hundred years prior to this audio log. Due to an accident, 5C0 recently reactivated and found himself server hopping with increasingly large gaps in his memory and a sense of dread about his identity he can't seem to shake

SERVER LOG - ENTRY 0001

-

MODEL 5C0 - REBOOT INITIATED

MODEM CONNECTION SEARCH INITIATED:

| MODEM IS DISCONNECTED. PREPARING TO PROCESS MULTIPLE RESTART ATTEMPTS |

MODEM DISCONNECT - MODEM DISCONNECT - MODEM DISCONNECT - MODEM DISCONNECT - MODEM CONNECTION FOUND. PREPARING TO CONNECT.

deBug.Log("Connection Found! Preparing To Enter Server!");

CONNECTED - PRIMARY MOBILITY=> BEGIN ACTIVATION - SECONDARY MOBILITY=> BEGIN ACTIVATION - OPTICAL UNITS => BEGIN ACTIVATION - INTERNAL TEMPERATURE SELF REGULATION=> BEGIN ACTIVATION - PROCESSING AND MEMORY STORAGE => BEGIN ACTIVATION

CODE REALIGNMENT COMPLETED, ALL ACTIVATION SEQUENCES PROCESSED

-

-

---

SERVER LOG - ENTRY 0002

0002

00:00 ●──────────────── 4:34

⇆ ◁ㅤㅤ❚❚ㅤㅤ▷

( THE FOLLOWING IS TRANSCRIBED FROM AUDIO RECORDING "0002" WITHIN THE PLAYER-SERVER-LOG SYSTEM )

Okay... Uh, do I know how... Yeah... (Shuffling) And there we go! We are recording! Here I am, your wonderful host, and this... Is the server!

Oh.

We aren't recording video. Awesome. Okay. Uh. Remember to edit this part out later. Actually I'm just going to... Yeah I'm gonna stop it and try again. Give me a sec.

...

We're back up! Okay, log entry número uno. Okay. Uh... Sorry, I'm trying to think of what I want to, I don't know, log.

Oh! It seems like before I got access- well, technically- the server was just recording my activation sequences. That was actually número uno. I'll try and wipe it later since there's about a billion pages of shit. You know, new server, code realignment and all that. First time doing it as- first time in a while I've server hopped, but feelings still the same I think. Nothing like the warm welcome of passing out and falling flat on your face at spawn. And, uh, speaking of the server, I have approximately zero idea where I am! That's a good thing to note. Absolutely no clue. Nothing except the book at spawn tells me where I got dumped, and even that's just a server name. 'Vault Hunters'. Or a pack name? It doesn't seem like a server, really. I think I'm completely alone.

Lots of new stuff here. Biomes, animals... Ores mostly. Almost made me have another system shutdown because I couldn't turn it back to manual when it was freaking out. Got pockets full of it now, and a nice little house going. Nothing with the mods. I don't know if I could deal with any of that stuff. (laughter) ... (Sigh) The only thing I'm missing is a roof, because I can't find enough copper. Admin knows you need help when you're getting drenched and the thing you're desperately wishing for is copper.

...This, uh, server seems to have completely rewired- Changed my code from the last one, though, so I do have to find things to eat. Er- yeah. Not so bad, I've already started up a wheat farm, and there's tons of sheep around here. Something about that last bit feels weird, but everything feels weird and if I knew why I would've already fixed it. Not like I know much of anything at this point.

(Sharp exhale) Okay, uh, no more melodramatics. I'm already talking to myself in an empty house, let's not make it any worse. I'm... gonna start digging though my chests. Get a basic inventory of everything I've got, and type it under this if I think anything seems important. Also a goal- Try and download some info about this server so I'm not completely in the dark. Before that, though, I have to fix my interface from when that creeper blew right the fuck up in my face. Respawn didn't want to fix that one. I guess because it's more of a mechanical or aesthetic problem than a functional one. But it still sucks. I had to loot my own corpse, by the way. Which was awesome. Glad this server lets you see your own dead body on the ground and makes you pick up your stuff from it. Not existential crisis inducing at all. But yeah- back on track.

Here's my list of goals. Uno, sort my stuff, find what I think is important. Dos, read the book I got at spawn over a couple more times. Doesn't help because it's more like a glossary than anything but maybe it'll finally get through my thick skull. (Metallic clang) (sharp inhale). Right. Uh. Tres, fix my interface and download the crafting recipes at least. Give me some idea of what's happening here.

(Shuffling) (Chair briefly drawing across the floor)

Alright. Goodnight Chicago, thank you for tuning in to the podcast. I'll catch you next episode. And next episode is when anything important happens or I figure something out. And Chicago is me in the future listening to this. Hi me. Anyway. Ending it now. Goodb-

( END OF TRANSCRIPT )

USER INPUT:

List of important things: dimensional crystal (o smth close to that i forgot), 2 dias. Nothing else seems important. Check back later. i keep finding vases in the caves n they might have smth cool

( PLAYER-SERVER-LOG 0002 END )

I'll get into actual vault hunters stuff in the next one, I just wanted to have fun with this one, setting it up and seeing how I would want to write it!

[ao3feed-xicheng]

untitled 0584793

by Maxciel_99 alternately, the transmigration of one angry Jiang Cheng into an unnecessary fusion of two AUs. Jiang Cheng is an enthusiastic translator for writer Nie Huaisang's book. Not for the book, per se, but more so for the pay. He's supposed to earn as much to help out at home and go to college. And then he slips on ice, dies, and gets transmigrated into the very book he both likes and dislikes as the most loathed secondary villain--more loathed than the main villains--omega, Jiang Wanyin, whose future he's not sure of but knows is looking bleak. He's not sure if the changes in everyone's attitude is for good or for worse, though. Words: 6119, Chapters: 3/?, Language: English Fandoms: 魔道祖师 - 墨香铜臭 | Módào Zǔshī - Mòxiāng Tóngxiù, 魔道祖师 | Módào Zǔshī (Webcomic), 魔道祖师 | Módào Zǔshī (Cartoon), 魔道祖师Q | Módào Zǔshī Q (Cartoon), 魔道祖师 | Módào Zǔshī (Audio Drama), 陈情令 | The Untamed (TV) Rating: General Audiences Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings Categories: F/M, Gen, M/M, Other Characters: Wen Sect Characters, Cang Qiong Mountain Sect, Original Characters, Nie Huaisang, Nie Mingjue, Lan Qiren Relationships: Jiang Cheng | Jiang Wanyin/Lan Huan | Lan Xichen, Jiang Cheng | Jiang Wanyin & Everyone, Lan Zhan | Lan Wangji/Wei Ying | Wei Wuxian, Jiang Cheng | Jiang Wanyin & Jiang Fengmian & Jiang Yanli & Wei Ying | Wei Wuxian & Yu Ziyuan, Jiang Cheng | Jiang Wanyin & Original Character(s), Wen Ruohan & Yu Ziyuan, Jiang Yanli/Jin Zixuan Additional Tags: Everyone Loves Jiang Cheng | Jiang Wanyin, Everyone Wants Jiang Cheng | Jiang Wanyin, Jiāng Chéng | Jiāng Wǎnyín-centric, Soft Jiāng Chéng | Jiāng Wǎnyín, Omega Jiāng Chéng | Jiāng Wǎnyín, Cute Jiang Cheng | Jiang Wanyin, Everything's fluffy and lighthearted, and absolutely brain-rotting, and then we get hurt, Isekai and Transmigration, Alternate Universe - Old Western, Alternate Universe - ABO, Sects into Dukedoms, Wen Sect as the Royals, my compensation defense mechanism for not updating hwdii, i forgot to make Meng Yao good, Wei Ying is badass and best and worst gege, Jin Zixuan has a personality, Jiang siblings deserve better parents, Jiang Cheng is mighty oblivious, Alpha/Beta/Omega stereotypes, that JC tries to diverge from for the sake of his manly pride, he fails via https://ift.tt/xamQwih

[dragonatthedinnertable]

I got tagged by @malapertmarquess, so here goes:

Currently reading: I just finished "Light from Uncommon Stars" by Ryka Aoki. Weird, but incredibly heartfelt. I'm about to start Use of Weapons by Iain M Banks.

Currently listening to: literally just whatever turns up on my shuffle.

Currently watching: Dungeon Meshi. Probably once it's done, I'll have to read the manga…

Current hyperfixation: Linux. I've installed Linux on my PC, and am currently working on getting it working to the same standard as my Windows. The main problems are that (a) the audio won't play through my TV, and (b) my secondary monitor is connected by a USB-to-VGA, and Linux doesn't recognise it yet as a thing. (Not to mention I somehow lost or wiped the drive with most of my non-video files 😭)

Favourite colour: Purple!

Spicy, sweet, savoury, or salty? I have a really sweet tooth. The others I like in different measures depending on the time of day lol.

Last thing I Googled: something to try to fix what was initially wrong with my Linux installation.

Song stuck in my head: nothing currently. It's not a constant thing for me.

Favourite food: I honestly can't pin this down. There's so many good foods! But burgers are always a good reliable fallback.

Dream trip: Uhh… I'm too much of a homebody to think of that. I would like to go inside a castle someday, though.

I can't be bothered tagging anyone, sorry.