#Ask me about this in my askbox if you want more information I always answer about my sillies [various mental conditions & states]

[pulsar-ray]

Today's thought is the ETERNALLY HELPLESS mindset / state of being .

"What the hell is that?"

I made up the term to refer to myself from some years ago but it seems broadly applicable I think so I am sharing it. Don't rb this post unless I know you or you're adding your experience . Copy paste it I am a very paranoid schizo who hates notes !!!! /lh

My silly silly experience is I got myself in silly silly abusive relationships twice & also never really felt emotionally attached to anyone for various reasons & also my ex pushed this onto me through her own whatever & her actions [btw I'm gay now. Happy Pride!] so anyway . silly silly brain pushed this ideology onto me :

EVERYBODY IS EITHER HELPLESS OR COMPLETELY INVULNERABLE !!!!! Does that make sense. Like either you need help or whatever or you DON'T EVER AT ALL mainly on issues of interest but also sometimes in general. Idk my brain didn't really go that far & I don't feel like vivisecting my ideologies .

Okay anyway so that set in. which of course led me, the helpless, to be all eternally getting worse & worse so that I finally get help, hence the name. [But oddly enough not like. in a showy way . Just to myself . Like if I made it obvious enough I was suffering though being literally unable to hide it I'd be saved. Anyway this is a poor idea on many levels.]

Examples of this include : Always had to have mental state [think depression et cetera] worse so I would make it worse even if I didn't tell anyone , could not comprehend both regressing & caregiving in one person , can't hear people I depend on cry or be otherwise vulnerable et cetera etc cetera

"Wow how unfortunate! How did you get better?"

Mostly just experiencing things I was afraid of & being fine to be honest . Getting actual care & help & so on. & I'm not completely better but we are chugging along. We are getting there . It's less bad than it was so that slays .

"Why did you post this."

Someone else has to relate right. I want to make it known enough that it's a bad mindset to live in so ergo if you see yourself in my post you can . stew on it in your little mind brain & hopefully feel better after a nice conclusion . I guess this could also qualify under BPD splitting so . do with that what you will. Et cetera . Anyway. Feel free to share experience NO VENTING PLEASE I WILL BLOCK YOU . If you're not sure it's a vent it's probably fine . Sorry for my silly tone throughout this the schizophrenia makes me oddly whimsical sounding to everybody's dismay. We ball

[buwheal]

[You've Got Mail!]

You can now send your favorite salesman emails!! YAY!!

Here's some rules and information about the askbox.

First and foremost;

I will not answer every single ask. Sometimes I just cant do anything with it that will work realistically with the perimeters of the world, and I apologize!! Its nothing against you guys!!

(Unless you break the rules ofc.)

So if you dont see yours after a long while, it’s probably something that wont work, sorry! You can always send it again for a second try or send more than one ask whenever and see if that one works instead!

Besides that, here’s the rest of what you need to know!

[RULES] :

Spamton can only talk through the computer, so dont send asks that have a physical interaction!! Sorry! Thats just how i decided to set up the world/situation, and is not really anything against you guys :-)

(more of a request than a rule tbh) Preferably try to send real questions or statements. most "joke" asks are funny, but are surprisingly hard to create an in character response for. You can still send joke asks if you really want to, just dont always expect an answer X-P (i.e. asks that contain nonsense,, you can still be funny and make regular jokes, and i should probably specify that, but things that are like "you look like a worm" or smth i have no clue what to do with lol)

I know he may be a personification of spam emails... BUT DONT SPAM!!! It clogs the askbox and is a real pain!! You can send him more than one ask, though, as long as you arent repetitively sending a ton in a short burst!! Send as many as you'd like as long as they dont qualify as spam.

Dont be overly sexual or romantic, please! Even "As a joke". I dont like Spamton like that and it makes me uncomfortable, and I can't really answer that in character in a way that wouldnt provoke more of that. (You can be a flirt, but not much more than that.) Thank you!!

Be respectful and patient!! I am just one person doing everything, and this got far more popular than anticipated, so i will take a long time. I try my best to get at least one out every other day but i'll need breaks eventually!!!

I cannot give/spawn/materialize things for/to Spamton if you ask because of the way it’s set up. You are really just lines of text from a computer to Spamton, BUT... You can still do a lot if you think outside the box. or,, errr,, outside the computer. More like IN the computer. Kind of. Your words and your actions affect him and his reactions to you, so word it correctly and you can get him to do something or say something. Hes not stupid though, and he CAN usually tell when your intentions are... less.. than good.

Try not to do RP as other characters please.(Thats my job…!) I literally have no idea what to do with them and i feel bad leaving them in there :frown:

[INFORMATION] :

(Optional read :-P )

[YGM!] is technically an AU!!! not only do the events of the game not occur, but this is also set before then!

Asks are put out one a day, regardless if i have more than one, UNLESS i need to connect two(or more) to complete one event. Or i feel like it. a little treat.

I am one person doing every ask and every unique frame of art, so expect 1 ask (If youre lucky, two) maybe every other day Monday-Friday depending on my workload per day.

This is just for fun!! I am using the askbox to exercise my drawing consistency, Spamton's personality, and the way he speaks and responds to different situations! This is a way I am using to improve my understanding of him as a character, so it wont be always consistent as I am growing and learning!

Just a little disclaimer, he WILL be mean. He is a sour, nasty, grumpy, bastard and I am absolutely not opposed to him responding as such. Just keep that in mind when sending an ask if you dont want that!

If you want a common outcome, talk to other people about it! go crazy! I dont mind long threads on my posts if you want to create a plan. Infact, I can even help and tell you things occasionally!!

What you say to him DOES and WILL affect the way he responds. It is possible to regain his trust, but still a little hard. He is not a trusting person to begin with and being mean certainly doesnt help. BUT.. I am not opposed to being mean. Infact, they are quite fun to do. Either way is entertaining for me, so do as you will. YOU can choose to hurt or help him, because it’s basically always reversible in a way.

Using tone tags, while not required, are really helpful and assist me in understanding the intention in your ask if you think it may be interpreted another way! (i.e. sarcasm) :-)!!

I pick and choose asks depending on his situation, or if i have a good idea for a response, so you may need to wait a bit before i can get to yours!! Ones that i have an idea for take priority, especially when its to progress a scene. Or, alternatively, i am saving your ask for something i have planned.

I WILL reuse frames and poses to get these out faster and for my convienence :-) especially for the frames where there is no need to change his pose! So like.. dont think too hard about it lol.

Also, i prefer if you specify if the ask is for me /or/ Spamton. I do still do normal asks!! If its for me, just let me know!! I can usually tell, but most asks will be interpreted as for Spamton. I appreciate ones that start with his name before said thing is asked/stated specifically!! (i.e. "Spamton, __ __ __")

I wont be consistent with the way its answered. Sometimes it's one panel, sometimes its a couple panels, or sometimes they're animated gifs!! It varies depending on what i feel, so if youre lucky you can get a gif, lol. Those take longer usually though. Ive mostly switched to a gif format rather than multiple panels in a comic style, because its much easier to view! The animation quality can vary :-)

Thats about it!! Have fun!! ^_^

[copperbadge]

Whenever I post about mental health/ADHD there's often kind of a wave of responses and questions that I end up posting. Which is totally fine -- enjoyable even, and helpful to me at times -- but which I recognize can be intense for readers who aren't here for the neurodiversity/mental health stuff. I try to keep it to one or two posts per day when one of these waves hits, because of that.

So I kind of wanted to post up a little notice, not so much "there's a bunch of this coming" but more "if you sent an ask or asked a question in notes and haven't seen a response, please be patient" as I try to meter out the posts a little. (But also there's a bunch of this coming.) Not that anyone has been impatient, but I want people to be aware they're not being ignored.

I don't always respond to everything, but I do try to respond to questions or responses that seem vital or informative. If you asked a question in notes and didn't get a response, give it a week or two, but also do feel free eventually to reach out via my askbox and reiterate it if you don't hear from me.

Always bearing in mind, of course, that I'm just a guy figuring his shit out :D I have no formal therapeutic/psychiatric training and often am not qualified to give an answer that's not entirely based in subjective personal experience. But like, happy to answer the questions I can, within reason.

[sincerely-your-fo]

Howdy! Have a birthday coming up and want your family member to wish you a happy birthday?

What about a desire to receive a valentine's day confession from your crush or a romantic letter from your significant other to celebrate?

How about a simple slice of life letter from your best friend telling you what they've been up to and what fun things they'd like to do with you next time you see each other?

Want to read how proud and happy your parent is to call you their child?

Then you've come to the right place ♡

Electronic

● $3 USD per letter

● guaranteed 4 paragraphs minimum

● can easily be a birthday/holiday gift for a beloved mutual via you giving me the username of who you want me to send a letter to + their f/o's information or just buy a letter and send me to your buddy's DMs :)!

● will always be sent via anon (if anon is allowed) with my handle @sincerely-your-fo attached in small letters at the bottom like so: @sincerely-your-fo

Physical

● $13 USD per letter

● guaranteed 3 paragraphs minimum ($5 per additonal paragraph)

● comes with the electronic copy sent to your askbox so you may have it there too (it will likewise bear the mark '@sincerely-your-fo' in the bottom corner)

●*can easily be a birthday/holiday gift for a beloved mutual via me sending the envelope containing the f/o envelope to you so you can then send it to your friend or you provide me with your friend's mailing information; whichever is more comfortable :)!

● will be sent in a second envelope to add protection to envelope containing letter

Customizable:

-wax color(s) & wax stamp

-envelope

Available upon request:

-flower petals

-perfume/cologne spritz

-star confetti

-washi tape

-miniature framed artwork

Additional notes:

-will do NSFW thirst writing for adult clients requesting a letter from a canonically adult character (ergo, a character that is NOT aged up by the client).

-I will need links to webpages / docs regarding the character I am writing for so please have that on hand or be ready to make one once I contact you :)!

- I have and will exercise the right to politely refuse a commission request if I am uncomfortable with the topic given to me to write or the character the client wants me to write for.

Important Qs & As

1. How to request a letter:

Please contact via sending an Ask and I will DM you.

2. How & when to pay for a letter:

Payment is required upfront and can be paid through PayPal or Zelle.

3. Which Fandoms do you write letters for?

I do not focus on Fandom but instead on individual case by cases instances when given a character to focus on; part of the process of writing the letter is me asking questions and getting webpages to refer to the character's personality.

4. Do you write for OCs?

Yes I absolutely do! Please be ready to answer lots of questions/have a doc on hand to describe your OC so I may be a good scribe for them :)

5. Do you have any references of already written works to browse?

Indeed I do! Please turn to this post to be able to view what I have done so far ♡

6. Do you ship internationally?

Yes I do! I am based in America (for now) and indeed am open to shipping physical letters internationally.

Please tell your friends / tell your mutuals ♡

[captain-mj]

May tumblr endure the pain of all the angst fics on it's sight for eating your askbox.

Well then, I'm really glad you liked the Selkie!Ghost prompt I sent in :D, I loved what you did with it ^^ -X/3NH

(If you want the old prompt just tell me)

Okay new prompt: Ghost is a monster that lives under the bed and in the closets of children. Soap has been the singular person he's haunted, not by choice, just because Soap won't have a single nightmare related to him. In fact, Soap sees him as a friend.

Ghost's kind feeds off nightmares related to them, so he's latched to Soap until he can get a singular nightmare out of him. But Soap is now in 141 and he still hasn't had that nightmare relating to him.

So Ghost now protects Soap because he's grown attached.

(Do what you want w this concept, but I was thinkin Ghost takes a shot for Johnny, but gets that nightmare he wants so bad, it's about him dying in Soap's arms. Ghost's now free, free to choose another contract, but he doesn't want to get anymore nightmares, he wants to be with Soap. (also his family isn't too nice cause "he's the reason SOap doesn't experience nightmares, he's doing it wrong" (No soap is just a massive fan of monsters and doesn't feel scared around them)))

Wow thats a lot, well enjoy ^^

Hello friend! I want to say, I absolutely adore your asks and I'm sorry for always taking so long to answer them! They usually need to be a tad longer than my normal stuff and I want to do them justice! Also, did some very mild experimentation with some formatting/punctuation. Nothing super noticeable but if you notice something looks weird, its on purpose!

Also, Ghost is also a child for the first portion of this. He matures a bit faster but their age gap is only really a year (felt weird writing about an adult monster under some kid's bed)

Ghost had never, ever heard of a kid like Soap. The kid was... well. If changelings were real, Ghost would put money on him being one.

Soap regularly grabbed spiders and played with him. Not the cruel playing of little tyrants that ripped their legs off, but a genuine, loving little thing. He'd pet them and let them crawl over his hands and set them outside when they started to get agitated.

Snakes fascinated him. The first time he managed to see one at school, he came home, sat on the floor and told Ghost all about it. How the scales moved and reminded him of Ghost's arms. Then he asked Ghost if he was a snake which made him lash out and try to yank the kid under the bed.

However, since Soap feared him no more than he feared snakes or spiders or soft kittens, he just went straight through him. It looked more like he tried to pat him than anything else.

Ghost couldn't believe it. Other monsters his age were back home! Bragging! And here he was, taking way too much time.

"I'm going to kill you!"

Soap sighed. "You're always so grumpy. Do you want me to make you a cup of tea?"

"...I guess." Ghost pouted.

Soap smiled at him, radiant. Ghost wondered if he was made out of the sun.

The tea was delicious. He even got biscuits on the side.

"Why do you want me to be scared of you anyway?"

Ghost refused to talk to him about it, worried it would ruin his chances of ever going home. Soap smiled at him.

"Is it like a grade? If you scare me, you get a better grade?"

"Something like that." Ghost agreed. "I need to scare you."

"I will do my best to be scared by you!" Soap smiled at him and finished eating.

On Soap's thirteenth birthday party, far far after when Ghost should be long gone, he asked for some odd things. Horror posters and books about mythology. Ghost knew he was trying to get more information on him, probably to banish him.

Soap never did anything though. He continued to be his friend with so much ease. He also never told anyone else. At some point, Soap realized this was abnormal and instead of panicking like Ghost had hoped or maybe telling someone, he just moved on.

"We're friends. I couldn't endanger you like that." Soap had answered honestly when Ghost asked.

"We are NOT friends."

Soap smiled easily. "I'll get you to admit it one day. I promise." He gently nudged Ghost's shoulder. Ghost hadn't been touched in a while and the fact that Soap could touch him but he couldn't quite touch Soap was... weird. A little scary.

Soap smiled at him gently.

Ghost hated the day that... man put the idea of the military in Soap's head. He inspired Soap apparently. Sent him on this spiral to try to get into the military.

"Fucking hell, Johnny. The military?" Ghost sat on his bed and stretched out. His shadows had shifted from... well shadows into dark clothing. Recently, he had gotten used to adjusting them to look like a leather jacket, leather pants and dark gloves. If this so happened to be exactly like Soap's most recent movie crush, then it was purely coincidental. And if maybe, just maybe, Ghost enjoyed the lingering gazes from Soap, that was also coincidental.

He cropped up in Soap's dreams sometimes, but it was never frightening. The only reason he even knew was because Soap sometimes muttered his name in his sleep.

"It would be great! Going out there, helping people, good innocent people. Going on missions and adventures."

"Your brains being splattered against the ground. Dying. Fucking up and hurting people that don't deserve it." Ghost grinned, ignoring Soap's scrunched up face.

"Stop being such a bawbag. This isn't going to scare me so you're just doing it to be a dick." Soap hit Ghost with a pillow.

Ghost laughed and laid flat on his bed. He went quite when Mrs. MacTavish passed by, asking if either of them needed snacks. "She can't hear me, can she?"

"Course she can. Why couldn't she?" Soap tilted his head.

Ghost frowned. At this rate, he might as well just become human. He already fucking was. "How long?"

"About two years now. She thinks you're super shy." Soap explained, not understanding how terrible this was for Ghost.

Ghost dissolved, slinking under the bed.

"Wait, Ghost!" Soap looked under the bed. "Come on. Are you sad about your family again?"

"LEAVE ME ALONE."

Soap flinched and sighed. "I'll make you tea, okay?" He left Ghost alone for a bit while he did.

Ghost did miss his family. He couldn't go back until he fucking got a stupid nightmare and he was hungry because Soap's dreams were so fucking devoid of any fear. Stupid asshole.

The tea made things a little better.

When Soap finally got everything together to join the military, he was 15. Too young to actually join, but that wasn't going to stop the asshole. He planned to join and Ghost had to go with him.

The problem? While Ghost was roughly 16, he didn't have any papers saying he existed and he couldn't just wait for Soap to come home on his leaves. So he just made some stuff. Fake documents and different things. he was also very, very fleshy. Soap and him had touched hands and his skin felt the same way.

It disgusted him. He really, really hoped that while they were in the military, Soap would learn fear.

But that didn't happen.

Because Ghost was accepted and Soap wasn't.

"You're clearly too young. Try again next year."

Ghost felt his heart drop.

Shit.

This did not occur to him as a possibility.

Soap immediately started in on the man while Ghost sat there, stunned. He tried to smoke away. Dissolve and reappear miles away and back home.

His body refused. Panic flooded him.

No.

Fuck.

Ghost spent... three years? Time was weird. But he bumbled around the military. For the first time... ever, he ate what he was supposed to. Nightmares. None of them were good enough. They weren't Soap. It was better than the nothing he had been experiencing the past 19 years. That's when they reunited again.

Soap flinched when he saw him before hearing him speak and immediately brightening. "Hello... Simon."

"Hello, Johnny."

So Ghost watched out for him. He had to keep him alive and safe. Both because of his job and also because Soap needed to dream of him to set him free.

Soap still dreamed about him. Ghost could hear him speaking his name in the dark of night. Saying it with a tone that Ghost heard other people use in these scenarios. It was different than the playful manner of when they were younger. For some reason, it made Ghost's chest flutter.

Somehow, Ghost became a Lieutenant and Soap became one of his Sergeants. They worked together well and no one ever suspected it was because they were old friends.

Ghost had long since felt human. Any connection he had to being a monster gone. Even if he fed off the fear of his comrades, they weren't exactly Soap. He still had to eat human food and had human problems like cold hands.

Still felt pain.

The bullet went straight through his chest and the blood from his wound splattered all over Soap's face.

Soap's blue eyes widened. He was finally afraid.

It tasted rather bitter.

Ghost collapsed into him and Soap cradled his body. His blood covered them both.

"MEDIC!"

Soap screamed his little head off. So loud and insistent.

Ghost wanted to dissolve. Wanted to sink back into the darkness and hide under Soap's bed again.

"never wanted to join the military."

"Why did you then?"

"wanted to stay close to you." Ghost admitted, panting. His mask felt tight around his face. "it wasn't just a job for me. hadn't been for a while."

"The military?"

"No. Johnny." Ghost leaned up and kissed him through the fabric.

He finally dissolved.

His consciousness floated somewhere. It felt like home. He could still smell the soap Mrs. MacTavish used on the sheets.

Soap dreamed of him. Ghost was rather violently dragged into it, spectating whatever Soap finally put together.

The fear and adrenaline was intoxicating. Finally rid him of the awful feeling of being hungry that had plagued him for so long.

Soap held his body. It looked much worse than it was. The entire world seemed tinged with Ghost's blood.

"Please. Please. Stay with me." Soap begged, rocking his body.

Ah.

Johnny wasn't afraid of Ghost. He was afraid for Ghost.

How endearing.

The bond between them, the hold, snapped. Ghost felt himself start to spiral away from Soap, his body wanting to spin back into smoke.

But he dug his heels in.

"No." Ghost mumbled. "Got this fucking far. Can't ditch now." He had spent the majority of his life with Soap and he was realizing now that he wanted to spent the rest of it with him too.

It continued to drag him and he struggled and thrashed until his eyes flickered open to see Soap staring at him.

"You're awake."

"Fucking hell, don't stare at me like that. And I'm supposed to be the monster here." Ghost sat up, fully healed.

Soap went to stop him before pausing. "Always forget you're not human. You okay?"

Ghost nodded.

"Do you remember what happened?"

He nodded again.

"All of it?" Soap batted those damn eyelashes at him.

"If you're asking for another kiss, you can just lean down."

This kiss didn't have fabric between them.

[h-sleepingirl]

Is it okay to dm you questions about hypnosis?

Hi! Thanks for asking -- I actually want to take a little time to explain my answer to this question.

Reasons I may not respond to DMs like this:

I have a super limited amount of spoons to respond to DMs from people in general. Existing as a feminine person on the internet means DMs are always a roulette, even if someone reaches out “just to ask a question.” I also don't like that DMs in general put a lot of pressure on my availability to respond (as opposed to like, email, askbox, etc).

Generally, I also have created an immense amount of educational material on hypnosis. Many times, someone will ask me a question that I have already talked about in a book, essay, or podcast episode. This doesn't mean I've said all I can say! Just that this is my livelihood which means I have limited energy to do additional private teaching, especially if someone hasn't looked through my existing resources, and double especially if I'm not being compensated for the time and energy to teach. Please consider going through my works before DMing questions! Or, ask me if your question is answered in any of my resources -- I can point you in the right direction.

Ways I probably WILL respond to DMs like this:

I will say! I have had people approach me in DMs telling me upfront that they have a question that goes beyond the scope of my existing resources, and that they would like to tip me for my time helping them with it. Respect for my time makes me feel really safe, comfortable, and motivated to help!

I also am generally more motivated to respond when the question is posed in a public way -- Tumblr's asks are the best example of this. This allows me to write something that can be informative to other people, and I can put the writing among my other resources.

--

In an ideal world, I would have unlimited time and energy to help everyone asking questions in a detailed and individual way! This is not about gatekeeping information or feeling like I am somehow “above” doing this, not at all. Legitimately I am just a chronically ill person who like, also needs to be able to afford groceries, you know?

Thank you for the question!

[comicaurora]

Question, from one aspiring writer to another: how do you manage to maintain the drive to keep writing and how do you not lose interest in what you've created before it's done? Asking because I need advice.

Tricky question. I don't think it has a single answer.

For me personally, there are a few things that buoy up my enthusiasm:

Rabbit Holes - random deep-dives into topics I find incredibly interesting. Because I have so many outlets for my rants about highly specific cool things, I don't need to stifle any random hyperfixations because almost all of them can be turned into scripts or worldbuilding concepts. If I feel the enthusiasm strike, I chase it down as far as I can and take as many notes as possible along the way. However, these things work like lightning strikes and I can't just get randomly super interested in any one thing. Almost all of my longform videos start out as these.

Comedic Reframing - the bread and butter of the channel and the lifehack that let my poor brain actually focus on extremely long and boring books through college. It's easier for me to retain information and enthusiasm if I can find humor in what I'm dealing with on a smaller scale. When working on illustrating videos, for instance, the way I avoid burning out on individual frames is by making sure they have witty dialogue or fun character moments, because I genuinely enjoy drawing those a lot more than just "character moves into position" or "scene change" shots. Same goes for the comic - the more dynamic or interesting the pose, the more interesting the panel is to draw and the easier it is for me to stay jazzed.

Audience Feedback - I feel like this part is simultaneously understated and overstated in different ways. Creating art solely for the accolades it might garner is seen as generally both gauche and inefficient - it'll turn into an existentially draining losing battle like all pursuit of fame for fame's sake does - but any writer or artist will tell you that people losing their minds over their art is the number one way to guarantee they want to make more art. When drawing the comic, even when I'm lower energy, I'll often think to myself "oh man, they're gonna be yelling about this panel" and that'll help give me a boost. Early on in the comic I read through the discord discussions almost every day, but now I'm mostly sustained just from people yelling in my askbox.

Letting The Characters Run Wild - I've mentioned this elsewhere, but one of the most fun parts of writing for me is when the characters kinda tap me on the shoulder and say "hey boss, I really wanna do this". Their character-moment is almost always spicier, more complicated and more interesting than whatever plot-serving guideline it's replacing. Making the characters act as automatons that solely move the plot forward is less interesting for me as a writer than turning them loose and seeing the havoc they cause. Before I ever put pen to paper for this story, half my fun would just be playing out extremely fraught conversations and encounters between characters - no script, no plan, just "here's the premise and GO." Lots of stories start out as daydreams, and daydreams are like the purest form of energizing creation, existing only for the joy of the creator and thus flowing almost effortlessly; I think it's important to retain the heart of that when the daydreams start being set down on paper. If it's not a little self-indulgent it's not gonna be too much fun, and sometimes all it takes is letting the characters do the wild thing with consequences you haven't fully worked out yet.

In my experience, the thing I enjoy most as a creator is solving puzzles. I have more fun writing my story when I only mostly know where it's going, and I have to work out the most interesting consequences to my characters' unexpected actions. I have more fun drawing out a joke if the punchline didn't even occur to me before I started the frame, because the idea is fresh and fun and hasn't gone stale from sitting in my head too long. And my enthusiasm for my older work is reinvigorated when I see how other people respond to it, because it lets me almost see my own work through fresh eyes, which is a rare treat for any creator.

And when I get really worn down, I treat that like a sign that something needs readjusting. I don't force it when I'm worn out or can't bear to look at my tablet - I step back, take a break, take a walk, indulge in Floor Time, watch a movie, buy a coffee, do something that isn't trying to floor the accelerator when I'm stuck in a creative snowdrift. Sometimes that means putting a project down for months. Sometimes that means realizing I wouldn't actually be able to make a project happen because it'd be draining my will to live the whole time.

I sometimes use the metaphor that a creator's mind is like a garden. Its works need to be cultivated, but sometimes they also need to be left alone, or maybe the soil needs to be actively left fallow for a while. It may look like the project isn't doing anything, when in actuality it's spreading its roots and developing a much more solid foundation where you can't see it. Maybe two concepts cross-pollinate in an unexpected way and you get a new third thing to cultivate. But the most important part of this metaphor is that the well-being of every individual thing growing in the garden is heavily dependent on the heart of the garden overall. If you aren't doing okay, your art isn't going to be okay either. If it's feeling like a fruitless and nothing is growing, you might just need rain. Or nitrogen-fixers.

[problematicfactive]

New intro Post

New intro post! How exciting! This is my celebration for reaching 25 followers so fast! Thank you all for your overwhelming support in this journey, it really has been a lot.

If you're new here, my boyfriend and I are both introjected from extremely problematic medias revolving around a very bad person that lived in real life. We are both from fictional medias, bit the person of which we introjected is very much real, and We've gotten a LOT of shit for it.

Spaces that claim to be safe spaces for systems-- or God forbid, safe spaces for *problematic* introjects and alters, tend to be rude or spiteful towards individuals who are factives from problematic sources.

I firmly believe this hateful stance comes from a place of not understanding, so I've created this blog to give people who don't understand a chance to talk and speak to us without losing their cool as we also stay anonymous on this blog. They're always nice until they find out who you are /hj . Since it's creation, the blog has since turned into a big place for problematic factives to just feel safe and seen. I'm beyond happy about this, and glad my blog can serve both purposes. More under the cut!

We post a lot of everything!

We answer asks from people who have questions about us or about being problematic factives, we make positivity posts for problematic factives, problematic factive culture is... posts, and lots of other things you could think of. Feel free to vent in our askbox or message us for a chat! We'd love to have a friend.

Some things off the top of my head that I can't do on this blog (but if you end up making a blog for these things and need a mod, totally hmu!)

Stimboards/Moodboards etc. - I would literally love to do these but the problem is I know like nothing about anyone. Of you were to ask me for a Donald Trump moodboard I honestly do not know what I would do my mind would just blank. That being said, in decently good at making them so if there were a person I knew well enough to do a stimboard on, I definitely could

Icon edits - This is somthing I'm capable of doing, but it isn't something where I would want this entire blog to just turn into requests. If you're making a blog specifically for these creative requests things totally hmu

Art - I cannot draw but my hope is that that changes in the future.

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Meet us!

My last intro post didn't really have any information on us as people let's try and fix that.

I can't tell you my name, but you can call me Anxiety. I'm the main mod and significantly less source connected/more source ashamed. I go by he/Anxiety with Anxiety being able to work in place of either a name or a pronoun. Unless the host is helping out with something, anything that isn't labeled comes from me. I'm the only one out of the two of us with the physical ability to type so when he posts something, it's a little special occasion and deserves a label.

My boyfriend doesn't have a name option other than a source one. On the blog he has only been referred to as my boyfriend, but if you need a name for him, call him NPC. He uses he/him pronouns and will sign off any post that he thinks up all on his own with -NPC and tagged with # npc posts

Tagging

Here is some of the tagging we use on this blog

# problematic factive culture = Problematic factive culture is.. posts

# kindness and positivity = Kind and Positive asks we've received

# good thoughtful questions = Good questions we received as asks

# positivity post = Positivity posts

# problematicfactive blog things = things that ate moreso related to one of the mods or running the blog than they are about problematic factives

# rainy day drafts = drafts that could be super old because I made them and them left them in the drafts so I could post when I don't have anything else to post

# queued because I am asleep 😊 / queued because hopefully I'm sleeping = posts that I queue to be 5-ish hours away from the last post. I often post somthing at 12 am Eastern Time regardless of the last something was posted, so those early morning positivity posts tend to also be queued with the tag

If you come across us and like what we do, consider boosting or realigning this post! I'd love for as many people to find out we exist as possible

# askers experience = Asks sent in where an asker tells me about their life

# npc posts = posts my npc wrote as a mod on this blog (does not apply to posts where "my boyfriend's answer" is me paraphrasing or trying to speak for him)

[jonathansknife]

More Mina!

I assume you mean more headcanons, in which case here you go! Ty for the ask!!!

Link to previous headcanons

She is around 21-22 years old during the events of the book (a baby :(.)

She feeds stray animals whenever she can.

She's a bit of a jealous person, but feels her jealousy is illogical and tries never to act on it. When Lucy got engaged to Arthur, despite how happy she was for them both, she got a bit sad and thought Lucy might tire of her once she was a married woman. She tried to hide her jealousy but it wasn't very hard for Lucy to suss out. Lucy had to gently remind her that she was already engaged to Jonathan. Mina was just like, “Yeah but that's Jonathan, he's one of us, he doesn't count.”

She, Jonathan and Lucy have all known each other their entire lives. As children they would all talk about getting married and Mina had a running joke of proposing to them both. But before she and Jonathan started courting in earnest, she secretly hoped he would marry Lucy because she couldn't imagine a lovelier couple.

She was very easily scared as a child but grew to love horror. Similarly, she cried often as a child but rarely does as an adult.

Elaborating on her OCD: she mainly has moral/scrupulosity obsessions but also has occasional episodes of distrusting her food, during which she sometimes spends several minutes inspecting each piece. This is especially the case after Dracula (not being able to taste or smell anything but rot doesn't help). Sometimes she worries that her food is contaminated with blood. For this reason, she prefers to make her own food.

Since she likes both fibercrafts and papercrafts, she really enjoys bookbinding. She also finds the process of gathering up a stack of information and binding it together satisfying on a conceptual level. She's probably made at least one fully bound copy of Dracula.

She likes rhythmic counting. She uses it as a calming technique.

She has relatively short hair (about shoulder length) because it was once cut off for purported health purposes (in the Victorian era this was a common treatment for brain fever among other things). She likes having it short.

She has creaky joints.

She enjoys really cursed food combinations that disturb the people around her. Again, especially true post Drac. I'm thinking instant ramen with chocolate syrup levels of cursed.

As a child she wanted to be a priest or an undertaker when she grew up.

Don't give her your pens and pencils if you don't like germs because they will end up in her mouth if she isn't paying attention.

Her hands are very sensitive after Dracula. She used to like when Jonathan squeezed her hands but after what happened she prefers to gently hold his hand or wrist. She often wears gloves.

She occasionally writes poetry. She especially likes sonnets.

She is not genuinely superstitious, but she, Lucy and Jonathan like to cycle through superstitions together to sort of test them out. They spend too much time in cemeteries to hold their breath the whole time, but they often hold it as they enter and leave so as not to spread the cemetery air. For a while they carried pigeon feathers because they were thought to hold off death. (This was generally thought to be a negative thing, prolonging the suffering of the dying, but they thought maybe they could “hack” the superstition and use it to their advantage.)

That's all I've got for now. If you wanted a different question answered regarding Mina (or any character), let me know! My askbox is always open and I love talking about my beloved blorbo <3

Send me character asks!

[ralseinumberonebiggestsupporter]

OKAY I'M MAKING AN INTRO POST

my main is @isitsafetodrinktherainwater32 so if you see it in your notes... THAT'S ME

hello my name is joe i'm a lesbian and i use any pronouns except he (YES EVEN NEOS) this is my utdr sideblog where i post my silly drawings and i scream about ralsei my favorite marshmallow man

i follow from there so um. Watch Out

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i've made a lot of deltarune aus lol but the ones i post about a lot are triscript, my lightner ralsei au and soap seam au!!!!!!!!! ^_^ i like making aus because i like putting characters in silly outfits. i made triscript because i wanted to try and make a deltaswap-style thing, lightner ralsei because i wanted an excuse to draw susie and ralsei being siblings and soap seam just popped into my brain one day. WOOHOO!!!

i also have a few deltarune ocs but i don't post about them that much... except for tenna because she's fun to draw xD

i have also made a 100% not serious parody of just dance called just dodge which is basically deltarune's story of undertale. it's cringe on purpose so i think you should definitely read it teehee heehee

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about tags:

#my art is anything related to art that i make (mostly drawings but there's also a few Other Things 0_0)

#epic slideshows 300 is for my cool epic videos that i post

#rb is my reblogs tag, self explanatory

#srb are self reblogs.. sometimes i reblog from myself

#welcome back to me screaming is the me being annoying tag. if you want to read my thoughts... it's there

#asks for answers to asks that i get

#req for drawing requests from my darling followers

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i reblog everything that i like (and is utdr related because. this is an utdr blog lol) and i try to say interesting things in the tags but i'm not that good at compliments lol... i'm trying

sometimes i don't reply to comments unless i'm sure that you know what my main blog is because i still can't comment from my sideblog. so it would just look like a random person entering a conversation LOL

reblogs are very appreciated ^_^ likes are good too but reblogs help spread my art, so if you think my drawings are good then consider reblogging them! maybe even write something in the tags if you're feeling fancy. no pressure though! i just like reading tags °_°

SPAM LIKERS / REBLOGGERS VERY WELCOME!!! I LIKE IT WHEN PEOPLE GO THROUGH MY BLOG AND THINK MY DRAWINGS ARE FUNNY ^_^

my askbox is always open and you can ask me anything (but please be normal lol) OR send me drawing requests!!!!! i will reply to everything unless it makes me uncomfortable

i don't have a dni, i think the block button is more effective LOL but if you have an empty blog i'm going to treat you like a bot and block you. PLEASE put on a profile picture it could be an ms paint drawing of an onion and write something like "im a new user!! im a lurker" in your bio so that i know you're human it doesn't have to be personal information!!!!! just act human!!!!!!! please!!!!!!

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also...

to all spamton fans, i have very bad news for you. if you've ever wanted to see spamton in my artstyle you must know...

i have taken an oath to never draw spamton. dig through the #spamton haters anonymous tag to find out why...

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THAT'S BASICALLY IT!!!!!!!!!!! HAVE FUN SCROLLING THROUGH MY exponentially worse content™

[yourmoonmomma]

FREE READINGS

My free readings are always open! You can ask through DMs or my askbox. Please do not send more than 5 questions more message/ask, as it becomes a little overwhelming, however you can send multiple messages/asks! Do not ask about health, death, or pregnancy. If you tip with the free reading request, I'll give you a more in-depth answer to your question(s). As well, as a disclaimer, the answers you receive are not set in stone. You can make the decisions in your own life, and you should not base serious decisions on what a stranger on the internet says. You control your own life. Not me, or any other reader.

PAID TAROT READINGS

3 Card Reading - $6.25 - You can ask 1-3 questions for this reading, however only 3 cards are pulled. Meaning either a 3 card pull for 1 question, or 1 card per question if you ask 3 questions. Clarifiers to be pulled if needed. This can be done as a written reading or a video reading.

Multi-Question Reading - $13 - A 3 card, at least, reading where I pull a minimum of 3 cards to answer each question you have. Meaning if you ask 3 questions, you will receive 9 cards. Clarifiers are pulled as needed. This can be done as a written reading or a video reading.

PAID ASTROLOGY READINGS

All astrology readings require your birth date, birth time, and birth place. Some readings may require additional information.

Transit Analysis - $18.75 - A written reading to either provide you with a week-ahead forecast based on how the week's transits interact with your Natal Chart, or to let you know how a specific transit will affect you (such as Mercury retrograde). This reading does require your current place of residency.

Specific Placement or Question Analysis - $24.50 - A written reading to either give you further insight on a placement in your Natal Chart (this extends to asteroids as well!) or to answer a specific question you have (such as "what career suits me best") using your Natal Chart. This reading is best for someone who has already read their Natal Chart/understands it.

Natal Chart - $44.75 - A written reading analyzing your Natal/Birth Chart.

Composite Chart - $44.75 - A written reading analyzing your relationship with someone in your life. It is best for learning how the relationship exists as its own entity, the way the relationship changes and shapes you both, and the world around you. I will need the second person's birth date, birth time, and birth place as well.

Synastry Chart - $56 - A written reading also analyzing your relationship with another person, however this is best for learning how you & the other person interact with one another, where the pitfalls & shortcomings exist in the relationship, and the way you two can support each other & communicate healthier.

Solar Return - $56.50 - A written reading analyzing your Solar Return Chart. This Chart is created once a year, on/around your birthday, when the Sun returns to the same position it was when you were born. It helps provide an idea of what opportunities and obstacles your Solar Year holds for you, and how you can best take advantage of the year.

If there are any other readings you are interested in, and you don't see them listed here, let me know. As well, if you have an idea of what you want, but don't know what reading is best, also let me know!

[frodo-with-glasses]

Been thinking about a particular LOTR what-if scenario (because my D&D campaign took a turn into collaborative LOTR fanfiction), and I'm interested in your perspective on it if you have time . . .

Supposing Boromir somehow survived protecting Merry and Pippin, what effect would that have on Denethor?

Denethor's being fed despair by Sauron either way. But I have always read him as the news of Boromir's death being the thing that breaks him and makes him start to believe it. His grief is certainly a large part of what's informing his treatment of Faramir (though certainly not the only thing, as I think there's textual evidence that Denethor favored Boromir all along).

If Boromir didn't die . . . would Denethor still give into despair? Would he still send Faramir on a suicide mission — and if he did, and Faramir still suffered the same wounds, would Denethor still end up in his whole "all is lost; better to die on our own terms" spiral? Or would he have the presence of mind to see to the defense of the city?

How would he react to Aragorn, a man who has all the qualities Denethor disdains in Faramir but even more so, and who people are now saying is the rightful king (who even his own sons, even favored Boromir, are saying is Gondor's king returned)?

(He almost certainly wouldn't be a fan of Aragorn's plan to draw Sauron's eye away from Frodo. He probably would be greatly displeased that the Ring had been allowed to go across the River to Mordor at all, and even Boromir would have trouble convincing him otherwise.)

Thank you for letting me ramble in your askbox, haha. Don't feel pressured to answer if you don't want to or don't find the question as much as I do. (But if you do answer, I will be delighted.)

As much as the Gondor Dudes aren’t my personal hyperfixation in LotR, I am nonetheless a big fan of overthinking hypothetical situations, so this is right up my alley. :-D (Also, it’s really cool that you’re running an LotR-themed D&D campaign!! Sounds like a blast.)

To be honest, you hit pretty much every point I was going to touch on; Denethor’s despair and consequent insanity were certainly motivated, at least in part, by grief, so if you take the grief out of the equation then naturally the results are going to be at least slightly different. But we still have lots of other factors at play here: fighting a hopeless war, the looming specter of deposition, knowing that your allies just sent a nuke into the territory of the Enemy in the hands of a garden gnome so small you could punt him, and Prolonged Exposure to Cursed Artifact are still going to take their toll on Denethor’s mind. He will doubtless be more motivated to hold on to life while his favorite son is still alive, but even if he doesn't turn paranoid and filicidal, he’s still going to be Deeply Messed Up regardless.

So since I'm not getting any new ideas by looking at things from a Watsonian (in-universe) perspective, I'm gonna steer this in a Doylist (meta) direction and talk about implementation instead. The question I always ask myself with these sorts of "canon but a bit to the left" fanfictions is this:

What do you want out of the story? Do you want to:

A) Return to canon as quickly as possible? B) Change just one thing and see how far it butterfly-effects out? C) Find something somewhere in the middle?

Because the thing with "canon but a bit to the left" AUs that you can make pretty much anything work. It's a hypothetical situation. The question is how far away from canon you're willing to deviate. If I'm writing a "Boromir Lives" AU, I might go a couple of different directions, and the one I ultimately choose depends on personal preference and what I want out of the story.

Putting this under a read-more 'cause it's about to get long.

Option A: Canon, but like .5 degrees to the left

Ever since the battle at the Falls, Boromir has been following Aragorn and doing everything the Three Hunters (well, Four Hunters) do. When Pippin looks into the Palantir, Gandalf decides to take him to Minas Tirith right away, and Boromir, who's eager to get home and feels some responsibility for Pippin, volunteers to go with them.

(Yes I know that Shadowfax travels at ungodly fast speeds to get from Rohan to Gondor, but it's implied that lesser horses can keep up with their lord when they need to, so even if Boromir took a different horse they might still have been able to make it to Minas Tirith in a similar time.)

Denethor gives an enthusiastic welcome to Boromir and a far less enthusiastic welcome to Gandalf and Pippin. That welcome becomes less enthusiastic still in the ensuing conversation/interrogation, when he learns that they totally had the Ring but they sent it into Mordor instead of bringing it here. Boromir tries to reason with his father. Denethor is very disappointed with him. He blames Gandalf for corrupting his other son with all this foolishness, and treats Pippin with suspicion because of the whole prophecy with the Halfling, and the convo ends with hurt feelings all around.

I might need the War Nerds on this blog to correct me if I'm wrong, but as I understand it, the attempt to take back Osgiliath wasn't a completely useless suicide mission, at least in concept. It is a major river crossing, and controlling transportation routes is like War 101. If you make it hard for your enemy to cross the River, you make it hard for your enemy to get to your stronghold, and that's good. Not a bad idea on paper. The only problem was that Minas Tirith didn't have the manpower to pull it off.

(And also there were Nazgul.)

Anyway, the point is, it's almost logical enough that you might be able to get away with Denethor ordering the Osgiliath offensive even without the grief-induced paranoia. Besides, there's still other paranoia in play: so far as Denethor is concerned, the Ring is walking into enemy hands, his son and most trusted captain has turned against him, and Gandalf is already planning a coup.

So here's what I'm thinking. Keep the Osgiliath battle, but send Boromir out there as well. Boromir and brother bravely bear the baleful battle, before their butts are badly beat and they get bit by the Black Breath. Dad feels bad, his boasts bashed as his boys' bodies burn with fever. Battle bears down on the beleaguered bourgeoisie, but their bereaved bigwig is barely bothered, too busy building bier bonfires.

…Sorry, I don't know where that came from.

Anyway, the point is, this puts us squarely back where we'd be at this point in canon: Denethor thinks he’s about to lose his family, his city, and his kingdom, and consumed by despair he decides that it's better to die on his own terms than in the hands of the Enemy. You can pretty much just follow canon from here and copy-paste Boromir with whatever is happening to Faramir.

(Except, of course, for the whole "falling in love with Eowyn" thing. But hey! Boromir was in Rohan! He and Eowyn probably know each other already! So they might have some fun conversations in the Houses of Healing.)

This is the route I would take if you want to stick as close to canon as possible and still keep Boromir alive. If adherence to the narrative is not your biggest concern, however:

Option B: Go stupid, go crazy

Boromir doesn't die. What does that change?

Well, everything, if you let it.

Let's say Boromir does return to Minas Tirith with Gandalf and Pippin like I suggested above. Let's say he's able to talk his father into begrudgingly going along with their unorthodox plan to save the world. Let's say Denethor doesn't call for the almost-but-not-quite-entirely-completely-a-suicide-mission to Osgiliath and instead puts Boromir and Faramir to work strengthening the defenses of the Minas Tirith. By time the Battle of Pelennor Fields rolls around, Denethor—now no longer occupied by the family barbecue—is available to direct defense of the city, with both sons acting as his captains.

Awesome! All this is great stuff, right?

Well, yes. So far.

The problem is that we lose so many great moments with other characters in the process. Pippin's pell mell run to find Gandalf. Beregond abandoning his post to protect Faramir. Eowyn and Merry, who slayed the Witch King together because Gandalf was too busy putting out fires (literally!) to get down there and do it himself. Aragorn, proving that "the hands of a king are the hands of a healer"! And if Faramir and Eowyn hadn't both suffered the Black Breath, they wouldn't both have been forced to stay behind as everyone else went to fight at the Black Gate, and they wouldn't have fallen in love in the same way.

This is not a statement meant to push your decision one way or another, but it's just a fact of the decision: If you dispense with Denethor's paranoia, and the insanity, and the murder arson, then you dispense with a lot of the other cool moments in this book. The question you've got to ask yourself is if that's a price you're willing to pay, and if not, how you can work around it.

Anyway, back to Pelennor Fields. I want you to imagine that Denethor is standing at the wall, watching the battle raging below him. It's not going well. The reinforcements from Rohan arrived, but they're barely hanging on. And to his dismay, he sees a fleet of black dots which could only be Corsair ships sailing up the river.

The foremost ship unfurls a banner, with the Tree of Gondor glittering on it.

And the army that pours out of them absolutely wrecks shop with Sauron's forces.

Is Denethor feeling relief? Yes. But is he feeling dread and apprehension and anger too? Also yes. He knows what this is. It's a challenge to his power waiting to happen. All his suspicions about Gandalf's ulterior motives are coming true: he has found someone to supplant him, and whether or not this kid is the true Heir of Isildur, the darn upstart's already gone all dramatic and made a war hero out of himself. Whoop-de-frickin'-do.

And then, he sees Aragorn's face.

And he's livid.

Fun fact: Appendix A tells us that Aragorn actually worked for Denethor’s dad, Ecthelion, for a long time. Aragorn went by a different name, of course, but he was so competent and so well-liked that he became Ecthelion's most trusted and honored captain, to the point that the Steward liked Aragorn more than he liked Denethor. We don't just have history here. We have beef. It's a little bit of a Tony Stark, Howard Stark, Steve Rogers situation where it’s like “Dad liked you more than he liked me and I’m his own son”.

You’d better bet your bottom dollar that when Denethor’s childhood rival rocks up to Minas Tirith, flying a banner made by an elven princess and carrying the Sword that Was Broken on his belt like he's somebody important, it doesn’t matter if Boromir and Faramir and Imrahil and everybody else in Minas Tirith likes him and happily falls in line behind him; Denethor is still gonna take one look at his face and go, “oh. it’s YOU. I freakin' HATE you.”

Whether this colors their ongoing relationship "coolly polite" or "passive-aggressive" or "outright hostile" depends on how vindictive you want to write Denethor. Because let's be honest, bro could totally order Aragorn to leave Minas Tirith and he would; Aragorn knows he's not the king yet, and he's humble enough to accept orders while the Steward is still in charge (as bass-ackwards as that is). But the thing is that Aragorn has the support of the people, and banishing him isn't gonna change that; if anything, it will probably garner sympathy for him, cause the people of Minas Tirith to distrust their leader, and maybe result in fracturing the loyalties of the populous.

So here's what you've got, okay.

You now have a David and Saul situation.

Think about it. Charismatic, upright war hero, beloved by everyone he meets, serving under the suspicious and deeply disturbed incumbent ruler who knows the newcomer is gonna boot him off the throne. You can't live with him: 'cause he's gonna boot you off the throne. But you can't live without him: 'cause you're in desperate need of his particular set of skills, and you'd be incredibly unwise to do away with him and earn the ire of the public. So you put up with him. And put on a show of liking him. And maybe chuck a spear at his head while he's playing the harp to calm down your possibly demonic fits.

But that's just Saul, so let's get back to Denethor.

The next step, in the book, is obviously the Battle of the Black Gate. And, obviously, Denethor is gonna think this military equivalent of knocking on the door of an axe murderer and threatening him with a pea shooter is a terrible idea, because it is. But the whole point—Aragorn and Gandalf and Boromir and Faramir and Imrahil and everyone else insists—is to distract Sauron long enough that the Ring-bearer can succeed in his mission. The plan isn't to win, it's to be bait.

Now you have a few options.

Denethor can, once again, begrudgingly go along with it, showing that he's slowly changing in heart. Perhaps Aragorn's humility is winning him over. Perhaps Boromir's impassioned pleas are getting through. In any case, you have a pretty good set-up for a redemption arc here, which could be interesting if you want to go down that road.

Alternatively, this could be the moment that Denethor entirely gives in to despair and basically says "fine, if you guys wanna go kill yourselves, I'll just be over here doing the exact same thing", and he tries to make Steward a la flambé. (Whether or not he succeeds is up to you, but I will say that this would be a pretty easy way to settle the succession crisis.)

Alternatively still, Denethor could publicly denounce the whole idea as stupid and order the people of Minas Tirith to stay put and defend the city, at the same time that Aragorn and the rest are urging those same people to come with them for one last stand. Now every eligible fighter in the city has to make a choice. Who will they follow? Lord Denethor, or Lord Elfstone? The people are divided. Factions are made. (This might be the moment that a certain member of the Guard sees Faramir standing with Lord Elfstone and decides, for the first time in his life, to break the rules.) In any case, the force that travels to the Black Gate is far smaller than it would have been if not for Denethor's interference.

If you go with the first option, it's a quicker road to a happy ending. Aragorn returns victorious, he and Denethor reconcile, and Aragorn honors the Steward and puts him in a place of high esteem. Everyone in Minas Tirith likes this, including Boromir and Faramir, and everyone lives happily ever after.

If you go with the second option, Denethor has either successfully or unsuccessfully attempted sudoku, which should probably disqualify him from public leadership either way. If he succeeded in barbecuing himself, it's the tragedy of a man who never got to see the upcoming victory; if he failed, it's the tragedy of a man whose mind was so utterly broken by the Enemy that he couldn't enjoy it.

If you go with the third option, congratulations; after Aragorn gets back, you still have to deal with the succession crisis. But I've waffled on for long enough and have basically no ideas how you'd handle this post-story, so I'm not gonna go down that road any further.

Option C: Pitch straight down the middle

Now what I've just presented are the two most extreme possibilities of a "Boromir Lives" AU that exist in my brain, but they're far from the only options. This thing is a spectrum. There are a potentially infinite number of possible storylines, some closer to canon, some further away.

If you like parts of one but not the other, you can mix and match. Take an exit ramp from the AU and get back on canon wherever you want, or just don't and see where it takes you. All I've done is present the furthest extremes I could think of to help shake up the ol' creative juices.

(I would have explored the possibility of Boromir arriving on the corsair ships with Aragorn instead of a few days earlier with Gandalf and Pippin, but that didn't change much except for Boromir having less opportunities to talk his dad down from bad decisions. So do with that what you will.)

Conclusion

I have no idea if this was the kind of answer you were looking for, but I guess I'm just returning rambling for rambling, LOL! In any case, I hope this helped, and if not, I hope it was a fun read.

But there is one more thing I can do for you, before I wish you good luck in your D&D endeavors, and that's turn it over to everyone else who reads this blog and see what they think!

HEY YOU GUYS! If Boromir lived, how would that effect Denethor's psyche?? Reblog with your thoughts!

[dog-id]

moderator intro . blog rules . tagging system

who is running this blog ?

My name is Orion ! He / Him . ΘΔ 🏳️‍⚧️

i'm level 2 support needs autistic and zoology is my special interest, but I have strong favoritism towards dogs. i am not a professional but i am an aspiring vet.

this blog is not about me and i don't intend to change that. you will not see me post about personal or political things unless it directly relates to this blog. (ie; a health issue keeping me from posting.) I will not talk about myself here unprompted. personal asks will be answered but tagged accordingly.

i have memory issues and struggle with mental and physical illness. i ask that you please be patient and do not always expect answers (especially quick ones) from me.

how do you run this blog ?

i have a queue schedhuled to post ten times a day all day! tagging me in posts is encouraged as it takes a lot of time to find my own. i am often busy with school, so i don't have all the time in the world to run this blog. The queue may occasionally run empty, but I promise i will try to avoid that when i can. asking me to identify dogs in posts, sending me your dogs to identify, etc is encouraged!

i can :

tell you about dog breeds in terms of history, lifestyle needs, common health issues, and temperament!

identify coat colors!

identify dog breeds!

i am not a DNA test or a professional ; i consider myself more knowledgable on dogs than the average person, but i am flawed! this blog is a hobby, and i do it for fun, so please be patient with me. as of current i do these off the top of my head, aided by the internet and sometimes books. feel free to correct me but please be kind!

i consider myself knowledgable on dog behavior and health, but since i am not a professional i do not feel comfortable speaking on these topics. if you ask me about your dog's health or behavior i will tell you to see a vet.

extra disclaimer : if i say your dog is not bred to breed standard it is not an insult. i mean your dog is different than others of their breed , which is not inherently a bad thing! ^_^

extra extra disclaimer : i am not good at identifying mixes or mutts! i operate on the constant assumption that the dog i'm identifying is purebred. this may lead to innacuracy, but if i am told a dog is a mix i will correct the original id.

do you have a DNI ?

not here! i just identify dogs!

i do want people to be aware that i am disabled and queer, so hate for that obviously wont be tolerated. that being said, i dont engage in discourse here: if i make a mistake i will just correct it and any bullying will be blocked! ^_^

This blog is a safe place for therians, pet regressors, kemonomimi, and furries! if you like dogs or want to learn about them you're welcome here!

i don't care if blogs that post NSFW interact but i ask you keep any direct interactions (reblog commentary, replies, etc) safe for work since i am a minor and my blog works with actual animals! i do not answer DMs, please only send asks!

how does your Tagging System work ?

🐾 = inconsistently added. not every post with this thing will be tagged.

'#not dogs ' -> not dog stuff !

' #dog id ' -> dog breed identification !

' #breed info ' -> information on a dog breed !

' #coat id ' -> fur color identification !

🐾' #askbox ' -> asks !

🐾' #unsure ' -> breed id's i'm not totally sure on !

🐾' #puppy ' puppies !

' #psa ' -> posts that arent dogs but will directly affect the blog !

i tag every post with the breed its about for easy searching!

[copperbadge]

I hope these questions aren’t offensive, you can just delete this ask if they are… Did it help you, mentally speaking, to be officially diagnosed as ADHD? Like, is it easier to know for a fact you’re neurodivergent and not just,,, weird? I’m pretty sure I’m autistic, and only undiagnosed because I’m a girl and I test well (my brother is autistic and has the same tendencies and reactions I do, but he got dx’d at 5), but on the other hand, what if I’m wrong? And I’m also a broke college student, so I’m kinda waffling on whether or not to actually pursue a doctor’s opinion, but I thought I’d ask your advice first, since you’re both a complete stranger and have gone through something similar

Anon, you sent this in SEPTEMBER, my apologies, it got pushed down a bit in my askbox.

The thing is...okay I'll talk about the psychological impact in a minute, but I also feel like it's the least relevant aspect, for me. Whatever a diagnosis did for my sense of self, what it also did was give me a document that impacts everything else in my life.

With a diagnosis I have access to medication that materially improves my condition (which is less the case with autism than with ADHD, admittedly). I have access, should I want it, to accommodations for my disability; those are imperfectly applied, you often have to fight hard to actually get them implemented, but especially as a student you would be given access to things like longer time periods for tests, study aids like audio recordings of your required reading, extra tutoring, pre-registration access to classes, etc. based on need.

This bleeds over into the mental health aspect a little, but I am also more confident in my research on ADHD because I have a medical doctor's opinion that yes I do indeed have it (and evidence of that from the efficacy of the medication).

In terms of whether it helped me mentally/emotionally...research is ongoing, I suppose. It didn't emotionally devastate me the way it did my mother, when she was diagnosed late with learning disabilities, but she came from a different generation and didn't grow up with a sibling who was diagnosed young, so she had different issues than I do. There is some bitterness about my late diagnosis, but that's situational, and I'm old enough to know how to work through/past it. I suppose it gives me more confidence in asking for informal accommodations -- recently at a party I asked someone if we could move rooms because I couldn't process what they were saying over the two conversations happening behind me -- but I was already pretty good at that. I'm having to re-examine some basic beliefs I held about who I am, but that's not a bad thing, just unpleasant to be in the middle of.

So now to the heart of it: "What if I'm wrong?"

First, almost nobody who self-diagnoses is whole-cloth wrong when it comes to neurodivergence. They might have the wrong diagnosis, or might not fully understand what's going on, but when that "Oh, I'm different" light flicks on, it's usually for a reason.

Second, okay, what if you are wrong? It's okay if you're just weird. You won't be punished for being Neurotypical-But-Weird any more than society was already punishing you, so you risk nothing in getting tested in that sense. You don't lose any ground, and you gain some self-knowledge. Might not be the self-knowledge you wanted, but it's not going to kill you.

True, there is the cost to consider, but as a student you should be able to go to the campus health center and at least get more advice on how testing would work, the costs etc. Your school's disability office, if they have one, may also have resources in that regard. It IS important to get adequately tested -- a lot of people miss a diagnosis because their evaluator's idea of testing was "asking combative questions and dismissing the answers" -- but more knowledge is always better than less.

The only downside to testing is that if you do get an official diagnosis, that can follow you for life -- earlier discussions I've had about this have brought up the fact that it can impact job placement, whether you're allowed to adopt or care for children, and other issues surrounding the way we punish people with disabilities for being disabled. A diagnosis of Autism can impact you legally. But I also think it's worth it to know and to have documentation that says you need accommodation.

I mean. This hasn't been the most fun process in the world, but I do think it's been one of the most important things I've done in my life. If you felt strongly about your self-diagnosis I'd say don't bother with the official, just live your life as if you had one, but it sounds like you have a lot of self-doubt -- so I'd work, as and how you're able, to lay that doubt to rest one way or another.

[the-little-crab-in-your-pocket]

Hi!

First of all, I thought I was following you this whole time.

Second, I don't know if you remember me but I was/am a long-time friend of @/commander-chaoss (now legally her sister).

Third, she informed me about the dog situation (I haven't seen you on my dash in forever and didn't know your username) and I've been praying. I am so so sorry for your loss and I'll continue praying for you and your family. <3

P. S. You don't have to answer this ask if you don't want it on your blog. Just please know that I care more than I know how to say and my dms/askbox are always open if you need to talk.

Hiii

Yes I know you! I’ve heard a lot about you. (I also thought I was following you??? Guess not)

And thank you, I appreciate that a lot. I’m always willing to listen if you need to talk as well.

[ten-cent-sleuth]

2023-12-06 EDIT: This event has flopped and been cancelled. Kindly ignore my having tried and failed to make this happen. I am embarrassed, humiliated, mortified, etc. etc. Lol, happy holidays! Can’t wait to see what fics y’all have in store for us in 2024. <3

Hey, Henry Cavill fans!

Are you interested in filling a prompt for someone while someone else fills a prompt for you? Do you want to participate in a Secret Santa with your Tumblr mutuals—or maybe find some new ones?

Then consider joining the first ever Cavillry Secret Santa! You can sign up via this GForm, and once you’ve done so, I’ll add you to the GSheet for prompts. The idea is you input three gift requests, and your Secret Santa will write for one (or more) of them. More information available on the Form!

If you are hesitant to join, feel free to peek at the prompts here. Anybody can view the spreadsheet, but you can only edit it once you’ve signed up and agreed to the rules.

Should this get big and we decide to do this again next year, I’ll probably make a separate blog for the event. But since this may very well flop, I’ll run everything from my personal Tumblr for now. So send in your doubts and uncertainties to my askbox! If you want me to answer privately, ask off anon and let me know that you don’t want me to post it publicly. :)

The prompts sheet will close at midnight UTC on 5 November 2023, so sign up asap! (You don’t have to have your prompts ready right away—just sign up first if you’re interested! You can always come back to the prompts sheet and edit your requests, and if you change your mind about joining at all after signing up, you can leave your prompts row blank.) I’m sorry for making this so last-minute guys hrjfbsjfh. If you would be willing to be a pinch hitter but don’t want to commit to the full event, you can sign up on the Form as well. And if you, participant or not, would like to be tagged with event updates, just let me know in the comments!

Please signal boost! Reblog this even if you’re not going to join… Share the link to this post and/or to the sign-up Form with your friends… The more participants, the more I can shuffle who’s whose Secret Santa, the more fun this’ll be!

Note: You don’t have to be “big” in the Henry Cavill fandom to participate. Heck, the moderator of this event (yours truly) has literally only ever published ONE Henry Cavill fic before and only has a few Tumblr followers. This is for the well known writers with long masterlists AND for the small blogs with (next to) no experience AND for everyone in between! <3

[For revisiting ease: link to sign up … link to view the prompts]